Build a Better Back Kick in three easy steps!

Karate last night was great as always. The first class consisted of a ton of kata for the lower ranks, the black belts got to help correct. I am both amazed at our lower ranks and underwhelmed all at the same time.

There are the shining examples ( and ) and then there’s the not-so-shining examples (who will remain nameless for tax reasons). Lately there has been a bit of an influx of the creepy, stupid, or irritating (Hat-Man, Spaz, etc) but by and large they are all trying to better themselves. The more I try to help people like that the less and less they appear to try to fix themselves, but at the same time made a good point yesterday… people’s bodies are retarded and take 10,000 iterations before they actually begin to learn things. I just have to keep that in mind a little more readily.

So the first class went off pretty well, Tasha and Sarah left to hang out at the house after the first class. The second class consisted of a Sensei Brewer basics transmuted to sparring set of exercises, ending in some spinning back kick drills that my stupid body kept wanting to side thrust kick in the middle of.

Sensei Hartman noticed that I was turning my shoulder when I was looking before the kick, causing the rest of my body to wheel around in a retarded scarecrow dance of a side thrust kick. A few well timed taps on the spinning shoulder showed me where the problem was, and I started to get it by the end of the drill. I shouldn’t be surprised that I stink at that technique as rarely as I actually work on it. I’ll have to change that.

Something else that I would like to work on is kata… it seems like a long time since we’ve taken time to run through the basic four black belt katas in class. Doing Empi for Sensei Hassell in St Louis was probably the first time I’ve done it in-class since Macomb, and we all know the “quality” of kata instruction that entails. It seems since work lets out around five and it takes a half-hour to drive home, it’s dinner right to Karate… if not for that I could show up a half-hour early to work on it then. I have to start getting my ass out of bed and to the Saturday workout.

It was a very good time last night, it always seems like I learn a lot in classes with brown and black belts when I get across from Sensei Hartman or Brewer. The other black belts teach me things too, but I just seem to get more out of it when I fear for my life a little.