On the hill – 7/13/10 – Tuesday Karate class

Today, Sensei Noia took us out on the hill for some good old fashioned outdoor Karate training.  I am going to call this area the hill but I imagine it is more like a crater like you find on the moon.  I have never visited the moon so I cannot be sure.

That hill is steeper than I remember…….

We started out with a little warm up by running from the low point of the hill all the way to the top and back.  Next, we got into a front stance and moved up the doing a single punch, block or kick, then back down.  Going down seems much harder to me.  Next came any combination of blocks and punches.  From there it became harder with one legged  double kicks going up the hill.  Then came jumping kicks up the hill.

The next thing we did was low walks up and down the hill.  After that came kata.  we did two Heian katas, Tekki Shodan and then our own belt kata.  Doing Kanku Dai on hill was somewhat tough when it came to doing the side snap kicks but the double jumping kick wasn’t too bad.

We finished up with frog jumps from the bottom of the hill all the way to top and then back inside we went.

Slow motion….

Now, back inside we did slow motion free sparring.   The object of this drill is to focus on what your partner is doing and look for openings to attack them.  This is a neat drill because it takes all of the ego out of sparring and lets both partners attack and defend without the pressure.  We switched partner about eight times and it was interesting working with some of the younger kids.

Wash your hands when you are done…

We finished up with the sticky hands drill.  For this drill, your put your wrist against your partners wrist and try to read when each other is going to attack by feel.  If you can feel the attack, you can block.  We did one and two handed versions of the drill with many different partners.

It was a great class but I am not sure how hard walking will be over the next couple days.

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The tire is only flat on the bottom – 7/8/10 – Thursday Karate class

Sensei Cieplik shared a very balanced class with us today.

After our warm up, did standing front snap kicks.  From a high fighting stance, we lift our front leg and kicked.  The idea was to use our core muscles to pickup the kicking leg and not use our shoulders or upper body.

Quick kihon….

Next, we moved on to basics.  We did moving forward and back with rising block.  Sensei explained that we need to keep the angle of our fist, at the top of the block, at a 45 degree angle.  This way the bone on side of our arm does the blocking, or striking, when executed at that angle.

We moved on to the inward block and downward block with reverse punch.  Next came back stance with knife hand block.  Sensei told us to do the movement with a quiet front foot.  When in a back stance, the majority of our weight should be in the back leg and the front foot should land very lightly.

Kata and then partner up….

We worked on Heian 1 through 5 and Tekki Shodan.

Next, we partnered up and worked on a drill that we have done in the past.  We start in a fighting stance, one partner steps in and attacks and the other partner quickly switches feet and counter attacks with a punch.  I remember this drill from the past and am still not very good at it.  Switching my feet fast like requires a lot of hip action and my hips were screaming after only a few tries.

Kata from another style….

We cooled down with a some katas that Sensei’s Sensei shared with him.  The first kata that we is called Rohai.  This is a really cool kata.  Very flowing yet dynamic too.  We did that three times and then Sensei walked us through a black belt kata called Sepai.  This was an interesting kata, that I did at a referee seminar a few years ago that has some nasty self defense application.

During class, Sensei told us an interesting story about when he had a flat tire many years ago.  A man stopped to help him out and said something very enlightening.  He said that the tire is only flat on the bottom.  The idea behind it is if you make a mistake in your Karate it doesn’t mean that all of your Karate is bad just that part and like the flat tire, it can be fixed with a patch an some air.

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Figure eight side thrust kicks – 7/6/10 – Tuesday Karate class

Sensei Noia really worked us hard tonight!

Awesome warm up….

Sensei Noia warmed up the class and I have to admit, I felt really loose and ready to go.  Many really good stretches.

Up and over….

Sensei had us get a pad and place it on the floor.  From there, we stood in front of the pad and did a right leg, outside in crescent kick followed up with a left leg inside out crescent kick.  We got into a rhythm and did them alternating left to right and right to left.  We did that drill for what seemed like 10 minutes but my legs felt really good until what came next.

Figure eight side thrust kicks….

This drill was torture.  We got a partner and one of us held two pads in front of us.  The other partner did a side thrust kick and then moved the kicking leg in a figure eight around both the pads in one direction then the other.  Next, we did the same drill but then hopped on our stationary leg one person to the right and did the same thing, then to the next person on the right down the line until we got through about 20 people.  Needless to say, walking was not too easy after this drill.

Sticky wrists and pull….

For the next drill, we stood in front of our partner with the outside of our wrists touching.  From there, we moved our arms and at the right moment, we pulled our partners hand down and to the side and reverse punched them to the head.

The last drill of the day was to do the same drill but as we pulled our partners hand down, we did a front leg sweep.

It was an a really hard class and one that I and my legs won’t forget any time soon.

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Ten-no-kata – 7/1/10 – Thursday Karate class

Sensei Cieplik had us spend a lot of time working on kihon and kata today.

Knee strike, turn and more….

After our warm up we started with knee strike, turn 90 degrees and put the knee strike leg down behind us. The key is to turn 90 degrees using the core, not the shoulders and to put the leg that did the knee strike down hard.

The drill was similar.  We did knee strike, front snap kick, turn 90 degrees, put the kicking leg down behind and reverse punch.  Turning from the core is something that needs to be worked on otherwise there will be no connection between the upper and lower body.

Ten no kata….

I always like ten no kata.  We start in a ready stance.  From there, we step forward with the left leg and do a front punch and then move back to ready stance.  We then step forward with the right leg and do a punch again and back to ready.  Then we step back with the right leg and do another punch and go back to ready.  For the forth move, we step back with the left leg and do a front punch again.  This can be done with blocks, punches, kicks, combinations of blocks, punches and kicks and a full Karate can be designed on just this movements.

Lots of kata….

We finished up working on Heian Shodan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan and Kanku Dai.

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Same hand block and counter – 6/29/10 – Tuesday Karate class

Sensei Plocharczyk filled in for Sensei Noia tonight and gave us a class full of self defense drills.

Get those legs warm….

We started with some simple kicking drills.  With a partner, each of us threw alternating front snap kicks.  After that we worked on alternating roundhouse kicks.  Then came a drill where we did rear leg roundhouse followed up with front leg roundhouse.

Same hand block and counter….

We spent a good amount of time working on some same hand block and counter drills.  One of the drills, that I really liked, started with our partner throwing a front hand jab that we block with our front hand and then immediately counter with a jab.  We did a similar drill where instead of countering with a jab, we used a back fist.

The only problem with classes like these is that so much information is shared but it is hard to absorb and remember all of it.  I know that I am going to be working on those two drills going forward.

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