Last night’s karate workout was a good one.  It was a small group (only four of us and Sensei Tarrant), and we worked primarily on jab/reverse punch footwork.  We started out in sparring stance in both cases, but the first combination was pushing off the rear leg and lunging forward with the jab without stepping forward.  Then we were allowed to shuffle up half-way for the reverse punch.  I found this more difficult because I feel like I have very little power on that jab, but it did cover marginally more distance.  I recognize that not only am I less comfortable with this type of jabbing, but this is the jab that Sensei Quinn mystifies pretty much everyone with.  It’s strong, it gets your body moving forward quickly, and its intimidating.

The other combination we worked on was a half step up with the rear leg into the jab, followed by the reverse punch.  This was a lot more natural and I felt like I had more hip action propelling the jab forward.  This is the jab I tend to use when sparring, but I understand that it is less “convincing” and is more for a speed fake.  Yes, it may work if I happened to connect with it, but its not a stopping technique.

The rest of the workout was spent on kata.  We did Tekki Shodan, then each person took the class through their personal kata (we got to do Sochin twice because both me and another guy in the club is working on it) and then we split into two groups for more kata.  I was with a Shodan named Jeff, and we worked on a variety of black belt katas… Jitte, Sochin, Nijushiho, and Empi.

It made for a fun night, and it was nice to have some personal instruction from Sensei Tarrant.  More soon!

This afternoon, Paul and I met at the gym for a workout.  It started out with 20 minutes on the treadmill for another two miles in the books.  After that, we did a smallish karate workout that consisted of basics, blocking/punching combinations, and Heian Shodan.  It was a nice leisurely workout for a Sunday afternoon!

The rest of the evening was taken up with our grocery shopping and watching the closing ceremonies.  Good times.

The Karate Rosary
Originally uploaded by dalcher

Thanks to yesterday’s gym workout, tonight’s workout was an exercise in pain. A lot of arm movements and body shifting defined the workout, however that’s not what I want to talk about tonight.

Tonight, I want to talk about my buddy Matt. We’ve trained karate together for as long as I can remember, and I got word today that he has returned to the dojo after a break in his training.

Matt and I have shared many excellent karate memories including learning to teach together at Kid Power, getting ready for our respective belt tests, and many, many sparring matches. In 2006, we embarked on perhaps the most insane karate thing I have ever done to date: a goal to do 2000 Sochin in a year.

For my birthday that year, Matt made me a karate rosary to help me keep track of my progress. On the last blog post where I kept track, I had made it to 2105 Sochin kata in a year and Matt wasn’t too far behind me. It was one of the most epic things I have done to-date, and he was there with me. And so was the rosary, which has quickly become one of my most prized possessions.

Anyway, long rambling story aside… welcome back to karate, Matt. I wish I could physically be there to train with you again, but at least we’re together in spirit! I’m proud of you for getting back in there. Osu!

Tasha and I braved the snow to make it to the gym, where we met up with PW.  He and I had a good karate workout, starting out with standing basics.  We quickly knocked out 600 techniques: punching, blocking (rising, inward, outward, downward), and front kicks.  After that we did front stance training where I held him down in a good front stance while he did punches for a minute each leg, and then he did the same for me.

After that, we did some partner sparring drills, where we working on using different blocks.  I attacked with sanbon tsuki and he did a rising block and two mid-level blocks.  After he did that for awhile, I had him do rising block, inward block, and downward block to show the difference in how the blocks can cross the attacker up and make it harder for them to attack back.

We closed the workout with his kata (Heian Shodan) once before we were done.  Good workout, more soon!

This afternoon Paul B and I got together for another sparring workout.  This time we worked more on ironing out some of his stylistic differences in preparation for his cross-rank exam for Shodan.  He tends toward having a high, boxing style sparring guard which leaves him somewhat open to lower counterattacks.  He also tends to like to spring in and finish with a jodan downfist strike, which place him at a relatively dangerous distance for the good ol’ fashioned Shotokan reverse punch.

So we went back to some basic sparring drills, three-time attack, three-to-five time attack, and some semi-free sparring.  After the kumite was done, we did a few Tekki Shodan kata to finish up the workout.  It was a good time!  More tomorrow!

Tasha was working today, so I ventured out to the rec center to have a karate workout.  I got there early and knocked out Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai before Paul arrived, once he showed up we moved into basics.  We did some stationary blocking training, and I gave him an introduction to pressing block.  Before too long we were discussing distance and timing, and he asked how this can be used in sparring.

I explained to him how shifting in and out with the attack was important, so we went through some distance drills while shifting in sparring stance.  The workout was cut short when Paul’s ankle started to bother him from the pressure of shifting, and we opted to call it a short workout instead of risk injuring his ankle further.

It wasn’t the world’s most difficult workout, but I did get a sweat going and that’s all that matters.

For starters, let me say that I really didn’t want to go to karate tonight.  I had a really long/bad day at the office, and I really wanted to just sit down and veg out tonight.  But after Paul called, we both decided it was best if we worked out.  So off to the dojo we went!

Tonight was a master class in roundhouse kick.  We did various two-kick combinations, starting with the rear leg and later the front leg.  Eventually we did these kicking combinations with a partner, where they would provide targets with their hands as they moved back.  We wrapped up the class with a few Heian Yondan kata, then Tekki Shodan, and finally our own personal kata (Sochin for me).

For whatever reason, my left hip still continues to hurt.  It’s affecting how high I can kick on my left, and how dynamic of a motion I can make when stepping down after kicking.  Time for some ibuprofen!

After flexing some time back and sleeping this afternoon I made it to the dojo for karate.  We worked on several combinations with backfist strike and back kick, doing some cool partner training where we worked on the mechanics of the spinning motion.  One side would jab, the defender would do a pressing block and slide in with reverse punch.  The attacker would put their hand up as a target by their face, then the defender executes a backfist strike with their punching hand.  After that, there was an option: either spin around and execute a stomach level backfist strike, or spin around and catch the opponent as they stepped back with a back kick and reverse punch combination.

After that we did a few Heian katas, a few Tekki katas, and our personal katas (again, Sochin in case there was any doubt).  That was it!  More on Friday!

Before the Super Bowl, Tasha, Paul and I got together at the rec center and had a karate workout.  We opened with a full compliment of stretching and warming up, followed by a good hard basics review and some Heian kata.  Because it was Tasha’s first karate workout in a long time, we opted to go slowly through the basics and took some time to focus on stances before moving on to kata.

I was really impressed with how much muscle memory she still has, she was able to get through Heian Shodan without any help at a pretty brisk pace.  We did Taikyoku Shodan, Heian Shodan, and once through Heian Nidan before calling it a day.

I’m going to work on stretching a bit more in my own personal workouts, I’m noticing that my hamstrings are really tight and my left hip actually hurts when doing side kicks and roundhouse kicks for some reason now.  I’m going to have to ask my chiropractor about this, but I don’t like the stiffening up… I’m not THAT old yet. 🙂

Over the last few days I’ve been working hard on some karate site revisions.  I’ve been talking with Sensei Brewer over the last few days and I’m excited to report that soon we will have a new and improved website for the Central Illinois Shotokan clubs!  To do this, I have been using my recently honed WordPress template skills, and dusting off some old CSS knowledge that I have let get rusty.

I’ll post the official announcement once the site is ready to go, but keep your eyes peeled!