Kata class led by sensai
Practiced sai basics. Work on rolling the wrist. Hold the sai by the “blade” and roll both inside and outside.
The move Lara used to describe as around-the world in Sai-Dai-Ni is a down block followed by a strike. Turn the wrist so the block happens on the outside (back) of the sai, then come back over the top to strike.
Practiced Fukyugata Ⅰ and Sai-Dai-Ichi.
First class of the new year led by Zack. Practice over the break seems to have kept my kata fresh for the most part. Weapons class focused on sai basics as well as Sai-dai-ichi. The balance of the class was spent working on all open-hand kata from Fukyugata Ⅰ through Wankan except for Naihanchi. Also practiced Fukyugata Ⅰ bunkai and in the black belt class, the middle part of Pinan Ⅴ bunkai from the otoshi-uke to the wari-uke.
Some things to consider from tonight:
Sai-dai-ichi
Jessan performs the double strike more as a flip. I think I’m exagerating the motion and dropping my hands too much. When executing the jodan-uchi moves at the end, keep the sai tight against the forearm. The upper blocking arm should be at a 45 angle and hand should be near the forehead. The other arm blocks down in the middle. Perhaps protecting from an attack to groin?
When performing chudan morote soe-uke (augmented chest block) in Pinan Ⅰ, Ⅳ, Ⅴ, there should be some twisting in the augmenting fist as well as the blocking one to drive the technique.
I need to work on Pinan Ⅲ as well as Wankan. The turn and elbow blocks in the former felt awkward, and I messed up direction of the second turn from the end as well as slide punces in the latter. On the plus side, Pinan Ⅳ and Ⅴ were good even with little practice – I just let them flow without thinking too much. Zack complemented the energy in my perfomance of Ananku.
Hiatus from blog posts, not karate.
Class led by Sensai.
In weapons class worked on sai and bo. For sai, we broke into two groups of four with each person performing the kata of their choice for the others. I picked one I’ve practiced more lately – Sai Dai Ichi. Sensai commented that I need to work on keeping my thumb at or below the weld on strikes. I need to keep my back leg straight in my zenkutsu-dachi.
Worked on Matsubayashi-ryu bo kata again. Practiced the Four directions (kihon bo) kata as well as Shiromatsu-no-kon.
Performed Naihanchi Ⅰ- Ⅲ, and Ananku kata changing direction 90° each time.
Worked on yakusoku kumite Ⅰ-Ⅴ with Zack
Kata class led by Zack.
Worked on Fukyugata Ⅰ through Pinan Sandan and Naihanchi Shodan with emphasis on using good technique and power.
For weapons training, broke into two groups, one to work on bo and the other to work on sai. I chose the sai group which worked on sai-dai-ichi.
In the black belt class worked on Shiromatsu-no-kon.
Class was led by Zack.
The first part of class focused exclusively on open-hand kata, performing Fukyugata and Pinan katas each a couple of times including renzoku. I worked up quite a sweat on Ananku and Naihanchi Sandan.
In the black-belt class we worked on Sai dai Ichi, Sai dai Ni and Hanagushiku no Sai.
Worked on open hand kata with Sempai Wands
Pinan Godan
Kaku-zuki should have follow-through and not be stopped. Your anatomy pulls it back.
The Chudan Hasami-uke block should be about nose height, fingers should be straight.
Otoshi-uke is both a block and a strike.
Naihanchi Shodan
The morote-zuki strike should be lower than shoulder, almost a chudan-zuki. Allows you to use your torso and hips for power and not just your shoulder.
The uraken-uchi in all Naihanchi kata should have a snap at the wrist.
Naihanchi Nidan
In kosa-dachi, the back leg braces the front providing strength and balance.
Naihanchi Sandan
The punch after the uraken-uchi is immediately followed by a chest block.
I’m not entirely clear on the count in either Naihanchi Nidan or Sandan. Some counts have multiple techniques. Need to check with Sensai.
Sai Dai Ichi
3x shizentai-dachi (strikes) to jigotai-dachi (down block) back to shizentai-dachi (punch)
zenkutsu-dachi (clearing) to nekoashi-dachi (settling) back to zenkutsu-dachi (double strike)
Turn is back to jigotai-dachi (down block) then again to shizentai-dachi (punch)