Tonight’s workout was a good one. I showed up a bit early and got to run a few white belts through their first time of Heian Shodan. Class started out in normal fashion, warmups, and the warmup combination of the month. Then we added a new combination: slide back and downward block with the left leg, stepping forward lunge punch toward the face, front leg front kick, then step back, then shuffling back (as Sensei Yaguchi puts it “TSUGI ASHI!”) downward block, finishing with reverse punch.
After what felt like a million of those, we took a water break.
Then it was partner training time! We did basically a one-time drill, the attacking side did a lunge punch to the face, the defending side did a rising block and counter-attacked. The attacking side then shifted to a 45 degree angle and downward blocked, then counterattacked with a reverse punch. At the same time as the counter, the original defending side counterattacked with a front leg front kick. I had some trouble getting the footwork down at first, but after awhile I was humming right along. Sensei Yaguchi quickly amped up the count and implored us to go faster and harder, and after a few hard hits I felt a familiar calm that I’ve not felt since I’ve been here… that of rabies taking hold.
Sensei Yaguchi rolled up to watch, counted a few out, and I noticed he was sticking around to watch me and my partner. After about five, he said “Yeah. Is good,” nodded, and walked down the line to watch some more. I’ll take a little praise, it really made me feel good. We ended the class with a few reps through Jion and then our own personal katas.
It was a good workout, more in a few days!!
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