Tonight marked my return to the Arvada dojo from a few weeks abroad.  The workout was a sweatbox, they’re still doing renovations on the dance studio where we train and the air is intermittent at best.  I was the highest ranking black belt aside from Sensei Tarrant, so the honor to warm up the class […]

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Today was a much needed Breakfast Club workout in Mapleton. I inadvertantly overslept, however I really wanted to train with the old crew so I showed up late. Sensei Hartman, Liz, Jason, Cathy, and Tim were underway on Kanku Sho when I arrived and I was happy to join in with them. I enjoy that […]

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Tonight was a special night to be back at the home dojo. My good friend Liz had just gotten her black belt a few days ago, and tonight was the ceremony for awarding her belt. Liz is the only female black belt that I can recall ever from the Pekin dojo, and most certainly the […]

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Tonight was a hot one. They are doing construction on the studio where we train, so the air conditioner was off. One of our dojomates is testing for Shodan this weekend, so tonight was a workout focused on his test preparation. He is 15, getting ready for his first Shodan exam so it was fun […]

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Karate night tonight, we opened up the class with some basic combinations done in a circle.  Then we moved on to their Shodan test basics, transcribed from a 2006 dan exam: Sanbon tsuki Variations on lin-geri (front kicks, round kicks, side kicks) Inward block, elbow strike, backfist strike, reverse punch Outward block in back stance, […]

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This weekend, I went camping at Olive Ridge Campground just outside Rocky Mountain National Park.  In the camping group was Paul B, so it was predetermined that we were going to try to get some karate in. On Saturday, we ventured up Lily Mountain Trail on a hike with our gi’s in tow.  Unfortunately, the […]

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Tonight’s workout was interesting, it started out with five Heian Shodan kata followed quickly by a combination extracted from Unsu.  The combination was the ridgehand strike, rear leg front kick, twisting behind with the leg still raised and inward block to the face, then stepping back and reverse punch. We did about 50 of these […]

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Tonight’s karate started out with 5 Heian Nidans.  After that, we did a combination from free sparring stance.  Jab with the front hand, rear leg front kick at the same time, then a reverse punch when landing.  Then we slid the front leg back with another jab, a front kick with the opposite leg and […]

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I headed back to the dojo tonight, and wow what a workout!  We opened up with nearly 10 Heian Yondan kata, followed by side snap kick drills, utilizing the dance studio’s bar to keep our balance.  We did a bit with partners on this, where they would catch the kick to check foot angle before […]

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Today Matt and I ventured up the Bald Mountain trail to do some Sochin.  We succeeded in doing 11 kata apiece (12 if you count the one we screwed up) and did some slow sparring to round out the day.  There wasn’t another soul up there today, so it was really peaceful and fun. Bald […]

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