Beginner Class

On Thursday we combined everything with our punches. Practice these at home.

1) Chudan (straight punch)
2) Vertical Fist Punch
3) Upper cut punch
4) Hook punch
5) Rising punch
6) Round House punch

We also did our first Ippon. Stepping back with the right foot and high blocking left. Kick off the back foot to the stomach and leave that leg (right leg) in front. Throw a knife/shuto strike to the neck with your right hand. Punch left and then right to the stomach. Step back with the right leg and throw a down block with the left hand.

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Advanced

Today we spent a majority of the time going over kata variations, 1 steps, and walking kicks.

With kata variations, we took H-Form and changed the opening and general moves from the low block and punch, to maybe a high block and high punch. Or a low block, right kick, and then a right punch along with starting it and finishing it differently (as your choice).

We did plenty of 1 step quick defense techniques with a right punch coming toward you as well.

Finally we concluded with walking kicks such as walking side kicks, spin kicks, round house, front kicks, and so on.

Please try to come to class on time. This helps everyone to be on task without interruptions.

If you are coming in late to class, please wait at the door until you are noticed and acknowledged by an instructor or the person leading class to come in.

Depending on how late you come in, push ups may be assigned. Remember that its very possible you may be assigned push ups, jumping jacks, and so forth (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc.) according to your rank before joining the class.

Do these exercises in the back and then join the class at the END of the line regardless of your rank. This way everyone doesn’t have to shift over because you were late. So please be on time. Thank you.

~ Sensei Sasha

Beginners Class (6:00 pm - 6:45 pm)

Today we worked on A LOT of stuff. So I hope you practice it. Along with a general review we went over 5 basic punches:

6 Punch Series:

1) Middle Chest Punch
2) Vertical Fist Punch (Can punch)
3) Upper Cut
4) Hook punch (comes around level with your neck arm bent like an L at the elbow)
5) Rising Punch (Hits the stomach/solarplex and shifts up to the chin and stops there)
6) Round House punch (we didnt work on this one but it comes around like a straight punch except you turn the hand over a bit - your knuckles towards the ground - and come around to the temple/ear area on the head).

Some blocks as well 6 Block Series

1) Middle chest block
2) High block
3) Low block
We also did a lot of walking basics. Stepping and punching and turning and punching. PRACTICE THIS! IT IS IMPORTANT!

The next thing we did was a tennis ball drill to get your hands to start and stop together. Standing close to the wall and taking the ball in one hand throwing the punch and releasing the ball towards the wall at the last second when you would make contact and then throwing the punching with the other hand catching the ball at the first second. Then as that 2nd hand goes out again releasing the ball. Its tough to explain, but if you were there you can work on it at home.

Finally, we concluded with going over some kicks. Front kick and front leg front kick on the bags.

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Advanced Class : (6:45pm - 8:00pm)

We worked through ippons, kihons, and teuzus 5-10. If you remember 11 and 12 on Ippons AWESOME!

Don’t forget to practice these for Thursday, we will go over them again hopefully, or get ready for the random ones on next Tuesday.

We did a few kicks mostly the “sliding” side kick. Also the crescent kick on the bag.

Finally we concluded with the tennis ball drill mentioned above in the beginners class as a warm up drill. Then we did a few with partners.

1) One person held one ball and you stand about 10 feet apart. Execute a reverse punch and aim for the opponents head. They should block with their lead hand (catching the ball). Then your opponent puts the ball in the other hand quickly and throws their reverse punch at you releasing the ball at the last second.

2) Same drill as above just front hand
3) same drill as above just moved around (now it got really hard)
4) same drill as above but added another ball doing it at the same time keeping your eyes focused on multiple things at once.

Well Done!

Karate and the martial arts is a different setting than a regular classroom. All teachers expect respect in the classroom, however within the martial arts more is expected of you. Why? Well you start training together, sweating, working with weapons, or even partners you can be seriously hurt if you don’t listen and pay attention to the Sensei (instructor/teacher).

So when you see a Udancha (black belts) coming in the door the first time. If you are the first one to see them, call out “KEOSKEI” which means come to attention. (hands and feet together standing up). Face the door way and wait for everyone else to stand up and get up. Then call “REI” which means to bow. This can happen anytime throughout the class whether its in the middle of a workout, or at the beginning of class any black belt coming in deserves the respectful bow-in.

When working with partners, please bow before starting your moves or exercises (as a greeting) and again bow once you conclude with the exercise.

When you are being taught whether its by a black belt or an assistant, please wait for an appropriate time to ask questions and ask in a respectful manner according to the situation. (such as raising your hand so the Sensei can see you).

~ Sensei Sasha

BEGINNERS CLASS (6:00-6:45pm)

Today we worked on stances in the beginning of the class. How to properly move your feet from one position to the next position. Remember: Back foot to front foot, then take the other foot back. When stepping out in a kiba dachi (horse stance) move only one (1) foot - the left one!

Practice walking zen to zen (front stance to front stance) moving one foot to the other foot and so on.

We also did some blocks. If you forgot here are some tips:

Start in a kiba dachi (horse stance)
1) the middle chest block. (chudan uke)
(One hand goes up, then the other hand goes to it, slide that hand up up up and over across your body and snap it over)

2) high block (jodan uke)
(one hand in front of your face, then the other hand slides up up up and snaps like your punching the roof. Your hand should face like your going to wave to your friend and make sure its covering your head).

3) low block (gedan uke) - We didn’t get into this one, but if you want to work on it, then here are the steps
Take your right hand and make a fist, move it across your body and pretend like you almost will touch your knee (about 3 firsts away). Take the other hand (your left or hadari fist) and put it to your shoulder. Slide that left hand (hadari hand) down your right hand towards your knee across your groin. Don’t forget to pull the other hand back to chamber position.
Additionally: We worked on the front kick again, and a kick OFF the front foot. Its almost like the regular rear or back leg front kick, but you put a little more weight on your back foot and do the same 4 step process to execute your kick out front.

DON’T FORGET TO BOW WHEN YOU ENTER AND LEAVE THE DOJO, BRING WATER, AND PRACTICE!

~ Sensei Sasha
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ADVANCED CLASS (6:45-8:00 pm)

Today we worked on ippons/kihons/teuzus 1-5 on all of them. Please practice or review 5-10 for next time or 5-10 at least or 3-7. We did Anaku Kata as our kata.

We then moved to self defense. We ran through just about every self defense attack there was switching sides and so forth. Also we did a random walk around and random grabs self defense techniques.

Afterwards, we evaluated the 1 self defense technique per group, whatever it was looking at advantages and disadvantages of everyone in every position. This was almost like a chess game trying to figure out who had a better position and what the other person could do.

Finally we concluded with a mini/slow grappling like session where 1 person does one attack or defense, then waits, then the next person does an attack or defense to try and get a better position. With each counter attack or defense people switched. Your goal was to try and get a better advantage over your opponent by THINKING things through. Some people ended up in the ground, grappling positions, head locks and so forth, but good job!

Until next time, practice, run, relax, work on some ippons/kihons/teuzus and nihan-shi sho kata.

~ Sensei Sasha