End the session with some hard work – 8/30/11 – Tuesday Karate class

Sensei Noia ended this session with some extra hard kata work.

Class full of kata….

We started class with our own belt kata as a warm up.  For there, Sensei counted each move, sometimes making up start over again and making us repeat groups of moves, for Heian Nidan, Jion, Heian Yondan, Bassai Dai and then Heian Shodan.

We then did Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan and Heian Godan with 10 push ups in between each kata.  We then did 25 squats and Jion and 25 more squats and Kanku Dai.

We spent the rest of the class working on some joint locks from the various katas.

It was a good class and a good end to a great session.

Backfist, backfist and more backfists – 8/26/11 – Friday Karate class

This was a fun class today.  Sensei Brien had us work on moves that we don’t practice enough but can be useful.  Karate is not only about punches and kicks and there are some other moves that it wouldn’t hurt to know.

Backfists all over the body….

Sensei said that we need to add some more movements to our arsenal of movements instead of just punches and kicks.  Today he had us work on backfists.

We started with multiple target backfist strikes.  These were aimed at the groin, ribs, collarbone and temple.   We also worked on what I call a knuckle backfist.  At the end of the backfist movement, you flick your wrist and and hit with the knuckles to get a little extra snap to the movement.  I could see it being useful when attacking the temple or collarbone.

We also worked on using a knife hand to the groin, ribs, collarbone and temple.  After that we did a palm heel to the same areas.

We spent the rest of the class working on a drill with punch and backfist combinations.  For example, throw a low reverse punch to the stomach and then rise up and throw a backfist with the other hand to the head.  This is a great combination and pretty effective  since most people do not expect a backfist when sparring.

Sadly, this is my last Friday class for a while but I really enjoyed taking class with Sensei Brien.