About
Apr 14th, 2007 by doug in Uncategorized
Welcome to www.shotokanplanet.org.
My name is Doug and I am a 40+ year old Chicago born Shotokan Karate practitioner. I have been studying Shotokan Karate since June of 2004.
Currently, as of December 2009, I am a 1st Kyu (Brown belt) working toward my black belt. Sitting behind a desk for over 20 years has impacted my training but I have steadily improved with a lot of pain and hard work over the last 5 years and have made it much farther then I ever thought I could in a fairly short time.
I train with in an Illinois based Karate club called the ISKC (Illinois Shotokan Karate Club) under Sensei Dominc Noia – Ni-Dan (Second Degree Black Belt). I also take an advanced class, recommend by Sensei Noia, under Sensei Martin Cieplik – Roku-Dan (Sixth Degree Black Belt), who is the Chief Examiner and a Senior Instructor for the ISKC. I also train under Sensei William Gatch, Sensei Brian Plocharczyk, Sensei Ed Brien, Sensei Beth Noia and Sensei Stephen Wail.
About shotokanplanet.org
Shotokanplanet.org is a blog about my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond. I am sharing my workouts and the information that I learn in class to help me remember what has or has not worked for me and to hopefully help others who are taking Karate and working toward similar goals. I intend to publish all of my Karate workout information and some special tips that I learn along the way.
About Shotokanmaster.com
Shotokanmaster.com is the website where I published my Karate workouts in the past but the web hosting provider that I was using had many serious server issues and I wanted make sure that I could keep my journal up to date and minimize downtime so shotokanplanet.org was created. I am now using shotokanmaster.com as a blog about interesting things that I find about Karate on the internet.
I hope you enjoy my blog and if you see something you like or want to talk about, leave a comment.
Hi,
I also take sensei Cieplik’s classes (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and enjoy them tremendously, though I’m a lower rank than you.
Great notes, btw.
I heard Mr Cieplik is so MEAN but he was my instructor at my last test (I’m a 3rd kyu brown-going for 2nd kyu) and he was actually so NICE which kind of surprised me
In my opinion, Sensei Cieplik is one of the most misunderstood Sensei’s in our club.
I went to watch one of his classes almost two years ago since I had heard so much about him from my other Sensei’s. I was amazed at his teaching style and the “feeling” that I had just watching him. I signed up for the next session and have been taking his class since then.
He often pushes our class very hard and some might feel that he is being mean but that is not his intention at all. He expects his students to take learning in his class as seriously as he takes teaching it. He often corrects me, sometimes many times in one class but his intention is never to be mean but to make my Karate better. I truly believe that my Karate has improved a great deal since I started taking his class. He has given such good advice on little details that I would have never corrected and most of those details I pass on to the students that I assist in other classes.
He teaches what I like to call real Karate. Not only do we do kihon and kata, he gives us extra things that not only apply to Karate but life too. He often tells us that it is his job to make sure that we are prepared when we leave the dojo. What it means is that he teaches us to be ready for what might be waiting outside in the dark shadows of the parking lot. He often says when doing our kihon moving forward, we are learning but when we move backward, it is for real.
I can honestly say that he is one of the people, that just by knowing him, has made my Karate and my life better.
Also, best wishes on your upcoming exam. I am a 3rd kyu going for 2nd kyu so you might see me at the exam.
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Have a great day!
mr.cieplik and i were friends many years ago,(30plus)we both were very interested in martial arts and harleys,of the friends i have had in my life he was the truest. rick fick
I’m a long time legacy of the club; not around much anymore, however, Re: Sensei Cieplik…he’s a wonderful person; salt of the earth both inside and outside of karate. Everyone ought to include Sensei Cieplik’s class as part of your training. Additionally, you’ll find that training with Marty will not only significantly improve your karate, but help you maintain a balanced perspective re: Karate, Shotokan Karate, and ISKC.
Enjoy
Doug,
First let me give you props for not only creating this blog, but also for maintaining it with regular posts, I know it takes a lot of time. I can see how it can be extremely helpful to you and as you mentioned in your intro, could be very helpful to other people following the same path.
I too train with Mr. Cieplik and have been doing so consistently for over the past 14 years. Mr. Cieplik’s sharing about the arts has been tremendous for me and has truly impacted the way that I approach Karate, as well as the other martial arts that I have had the pleasure to train in. Mr. Cieplik’s insights go beyond the minor tweaking of your basics or kata, but bring you to a place to better understand how and why this tweaking makes it better. This can get a little deep at times and definitely not something that everyone can readily understand, but if you stick it out and pay your dues…….with patience and humility….you’ll get it.
The most important thing to remember about training in any martial art is that it is all about sharing …and, that you can get a lot more by giving, than you can by just taking. Doug, it sounds like you’re on the right path and you’ve certainly got one of the best Sensei’s I’ve ever had the pleasure to train with…….good luck with your journey!
Nick Christopulos
Nick, thanks so much for the nice comments and the great advice.
One of my main reasons for this blog was something that Sensei Cieplik mentioned in class one day. He asked his Sensei what he could do to thank him for all that he had shared with him, he told him, take what I have shared with you and share it with 10 other people. That really stuck with me when I heard him tell us that story. From that point, I felt that I would like to share with others what all of my great Sensei’s have shared with me.
Even though I help out with classes, I can only share what I am learning with a limited amount of students. Because of this, I wanted to find a way to share it with a larger number of Karate students and hopefully this blog will help.
Thanks again.
Doug,
I have a question… I would appreciate you insights on this. You don’t know me from Adam, but I have read your blog and you seem very passionate about Shotokan, and karate in general. Does it seem odd to you that a Sensei would not drill the students on the materials for the upcoming belt test? Our Sensei has not had the class practice the kata even one time in the past 4 weeks and the belt tests are now. Is this something I should be concerned about? Again, I know this a very odd question. I appreciate your thoughts.
Thank you so much.
I do find that odd based on my own experience. I help out with various classes and one of my main tasks has been to spend a lot of time working on test basics and kata. We have been working on kata, to help with the belt tests, for at least two months now for the white belts on up to high purple belts (4th Kyu). I know that I, along with the Sensei’s that I help, do ask the students to practice kata outside of class but we spend a lot of time working on it in class since many, not all, of the younger students practice much outside of class.
In the four advanced classes that I take each week, we have worked on kata in 90% of those classes for the last two months and in some of my classes, we do kata almost every class, testing or not.
I hope this helps.
Doug
Doug,
I have been taking Thursday night class with you and your family for a while and also trained with Sensei Cieplik on Tuesday. I have been out of class for the last session after breaking my thigh bone in 3 places and will miss the coming session. I just wanted to thank you for putting all of this on the internet…Reading it has allowed me to feel a bit like I am in class. Congrats to “boy san” on earning his black belt.
Hi Lynn,
I am sorry to hear about your leg and I hope that you are recovering well.
I am really glad that this website helps you. I started this website thinking that I would be the only one reading it but I found out that many others from our class read it too.
I will tell “boy san” congrats from you and I hope that you recover faster than expected and also hope to see you soon.
Doug,
It was good to meet the man behind the blog yesterday. I look forward to reading your future posts.
Jim