Class was led today by Zack.

Worked independently on kata for the first 10 min. before stretching.

After that, we  worked on blocking drills alternating left and right.
The first round was to move to the outside of the attack using uchi-uke and counter punch. The second round was to move forward and block a chest punch with uchi-uke and jodan-uke, then block down and counterpunch as in Pinan Shodan bunkai.  It is important to cross your arms (protect your center) before the blocks.

Next we alternated through Yakusoku kumite Ⅰ-Ⅶ. Some notes:

• I need to remember to stop my hiji-ate in Ⅲ rather than follow through.
• When attacking, there should be no hesitation between the punches in Ⅳ.
• Ⅴ is the only one that has a kizame-zuki, which is important because it sets you up to deliver the kick from the rear (right) leg.
• In Ⅵ, the attacker starts in kumite-dachi and the defender feints left twice, then right twice, then once forward before the attacker steps in punching right. The defender taps down, grabs and strikes with uraken.
• In Ⅶ, the attacker grabs the defender’s gi with the right hand and pushes backwards twice, then pulls forward twice. The defender uses left outside uchi-uke to contain the attackers grabbing hand and when the punch comes, taps down and counters with the right.

We ended up with a short session of free sparring. Sempai pointed out that I am generally aggressive when I spar, but that my attacks are predictable. That make it easy for an opponent, who can get me out of rhythm by hesitating before attacking. I can work in the same technique, a shoulder fake for instance, to add variety to my attacks. He also pointed out how trying to step around the opponent actually closes a lot of distance and can open me up to an attack.