Naihanchi drills

The key kata of my style is Naihanchi Shodan, and in essence for us "all things are Naihanchi" in basic techniques.   With all the time spent on online sessions, my Sensei have started to present a series of pad drills centred on the kata, for use in lessons and to be tested as a part of gradings. 

This is my attempt to document them to refer back to, and where I can spot the relationship, pin them to the kata.  The videos are of me trying to memorise the drills, so aren't the best for form or power.  However they do I believe, show the core elements, and will give a basis for comparison as I progress.

The common features of all the drills, whether pro or reactive in nature, are to occupy the oppontent's space, unbalance the person, then disable them.  This may take one step or many and we are told that sequence is not important, just the principles.  The techniques that can be applied depend on the opportunities presented, rather than the sequence in which we practice them.

So to the drills themselves:

Naihanchi Drill 1:

#1Teisho, hammer fist, elbow, knee, step back drag down

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

Drill 1 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8xCYdlaxuU

Drill 1 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0v4ECif7QU

Naihanchi Drill 2:

Initially I had this noted as:

#2 Teisho, crash, head clasp to shoulder, shoulder bump, head butt, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head clasp, turning drag down

But this has developed into:

Teisho, crash, head clasp to shoulder, shoulder bump, head butt, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head clasp, elbow, step back drag down

As with the videos for drill #1 the videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side. The first video features the first version of the drill and the second features the second version of the drill.

I believe this refers to the opening section of the kata, from yoi to the pull in after the stike and elbow sequence. The step overs represent the knee strikes and this is shown in the third video.

Drill 2 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIOjYresdf8

Drill 2 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5VBYC5rBmE

Drill 2 Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJOgKC_qutY

Naihanchi Drill 3:

#3 Step back foot across to side, low block, hook, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head grasp, rotating drag down.

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

I believe this refers to the section of the kata, from gidan uke to the next step over. This is shown in the third video.

Drill 3 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LCUyz6NO1g

Drill 3 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn9OccwQSbc

Drill 3 Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5VTx3p5Mw

Naihanchi Drill 4:

#4 push down and uppercut, roll into backfist, clinch and knee into heel stomp, cm neck crank takedown.

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

I believe this refers to the section of the kata from the ukes to the wave kicks. This is shown in the third video.

Drill 4 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiGnCo3Xq5U

Drill 4 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRr6OscPfpM

Drill 4 Video 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdOyRtmiLow

Naihanchi Drill 5:

#5 Percussive clinch, knee, hammerfist into side of head/jaw, forearm strike into base of skull, turn and throw into wall/person/ environment.

The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:

Drill 5 Video 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nEbZOIsfz8

Drill 5 Video 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaXSGZy7J3Y

This is very much a work in progress, but thought it worth documenting, for reference and to be able to check my progress. Thank you for reading, if you got this far :)

Basic bo and the value of variety.

It's been an interesting week.  Workwise challenging, karate wise, a few unexpected variations thrown in.  At least one new technique to me (jumping front kick), and an extra lesson (in bo).  What was good was that something I had been struggling with in bo clicked into place, always a good feeling ☺☺☺☺

5th and 6th of May

On a personal level, karate is one of the things that keeps me motivated, and definitely the one that most helps me stay calmer in challenging circumstances.  There are a good few of those when there are four of you all under the same roof for what is now the eighth week, I would imagine even people without issues would struggle. Deep breathing, being able to let things go for the most part, doing kata and working on the pads ll play their, part.  Lessons and practice give something to effectively plan the week on, work allowing, and so we get by.

Just as the Sun goes down

This week the lessons concentrated on fundamentals, kata, a different interpretation of some of Naihanchi, kicks, the quadrant drill and pad work.  The different interpretation of Naihanchi involves a pull back into Shiko dachi, coupled with a palm strike, covering pulling hand, step back into Zenkutsu dachi to extend arm then arm bar.   We also did a few less often practised kicks in the jumping front kick (I actually got off the ground! ☺☺☺), spinning back and hook kicks.  The spinning back kick I can just about do now, but the spinning hook kick is a little ways off.  

Then there was an unexpected extra, a bo lesson, before my tablet ovrheated (hot day on Saturday!!).  It was just going through the kihon kata (outlined below).  I finally worked out what I was doing wrong on the up strikes of the first four (sometimes drawing back to the wrong side), so now I can practice them correctly ☺☺☺☺

Another good week in the virtual dojo! ☺☺☺☺

Bo kihon and improv.

Contents of the lessons

0405

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Receiving techniques - slow and fast both sides
Punches - slow and fast both sides
Kicks  - slow and fast both sides
Other techniques, hisa geri, ashai uke, shuto,
Kata

0705

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Kata
Naihanchi Shodan, Nidan
Fighting stance,
Step back into Shiko dachi
Rh pull back, Lh pslm strike
Lh cover on Rh
L leg step back into Zenkutsu dachi
Lh, Rh drag back to left hip
R leg step through into arm bar
Quadrant drill, through to Ashai uke

Sunday working

0905

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Working on kicks - with and without chair
Yoko geri, Ushiro geri. Mawashi geri, Mai geii
Then
Jumping front kick. Fighting stance, swap guard, raise leg as if going to do Mai geri, hop and do front leg Mai geri.
Spinning back kick. Fighting stance, front leg across then continue rotation 270 degrees  until side on.  Deliver back kick, rotate same direction back to fighting stance.
Spinning hookkick. Fighting stance, front leg across then continue rotation ??? degrees until ??????.
Extend back leg out straight and continue spin with leg out back to fighting stance
Pad work, hook RH, LH, hammer fist RH, LH, palm strike RH, LH,cutting elbow, RH, LH,
Combinations, RH LH, hook, hammer fist, palm strike, elbow.  RH LH, 4 each hook, hammerfist, palm strike, elbow.
Naihanchi Shodan

Bo

Lost video for warm up

Kihon kata

Shodan - Fighting stance - Cat stance strike up, step forward into Shiko dachi, strike down, back into Cat stance, strike up.
Nidan- Step out into left fighting stance, transfer bo - Cat stance strike up, step forward into Shiko dachi, strike down, back into Cat stance, strike up.
Sandan - Fighting stance - Cat stance strike up, step back into Shiko dachi, strike down, forward into Cat stance, strike up.
Yondan - Step out into left fighting stance, transfer bo - Cat stance strike up, step back into Shiko dachi, strike down, back into Cat stance, strike up.
Godan - bo in front horizontally hands at 1/3 point either side,.Put bo out from body and look at left tip, rotate to right swapping over hands, eyes track tip, pull bo into body look to centre. Put bo out from body and look at right tip, rotate to left swapping over hands, eyes track tip, pull bo into body look to centre.
Rokudan- bo in front horizontally hands at 1/3 point either side,.Put bo out from body and look at left tip, rotate to right swapping over hands, eyes track tip. Step out right into Shiko dachi, leaving bo in postion, strike out at rotate bo, right arm full length with bo under left armpit. Pull back from Shik dachi and bring bo back to centre, pull bo into body look to centre. Put bo out from body and look at right tip, rotate to left swapping over hands, eyes track tip. Step out left into Shiko dachi, leaving bo in postion, strike out at rotate bo, left arm full length with bo under right armpit. Pull back from Shiko dachi and bring bo back to centre, pull bo into body look to centre.

Then my tablet overheated, bringing the lesson for me to an end.

A trinity of training

This has been more of a doing rather than a blogging week: for both my physical and mental health , I have thrown myself a little more into the practical side, trying to do my own workouts, incorporating refreshers of the previous lesson(s) where possible,  I think to start with I will leave Sunday as a day off and concentrate on actually doing two 20 to 25 minute sessions on the Tuesdays and Thursdays (as I did this week), gradually building them up to 30 minutes OR adding another session on the Sunday.  

This all depends on circumstances of course.  However, I think having some plan, any plan to focus on, is a major must have in trying to cope with the isolation and frustrations of been cooped up, that I am sure everyone is feeling right now.  I have been luck to find online mentors in Robey Jenkins, Noah Legel and Les Bubka, who have helped me develop my own cardio, breathing and relaxation routine to complement the wonderful work that Ben and Alison do with us and our families, so to all five a massive thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙇🙇🙇🙇🙇✊✊✊✊✊

The dojo diary this week is as given below. All were enjoyable lessons, and although I struggle in places (out at midday today was one of them lol), in general I'm getting through them with only the odd hiccup:

0604

Warm up
Mokosu and formal opening
punches, kicks and receiving techniques
Solo pad work, building up jab, cross, elbow knee combinations
Drilling the combination worked out on the pads
Shadow sparring
Kata - Naihanchi Shodan only.

0904

Warm up
Mokosu and formal opening
Quadrant drill
Jab, cross. hook
Hammerfist, looping left, hook
Backhand slap, elbow, step back left knee, step back, right knee
Headbutt, break grasp, shoulder barge.
Right mawashi-geri, land behind, swap stance,, left mawashi geri, land behind, swap stance, right mawashi geri, hold on kick, land behind, right mawashi geri, spin through, land in fighting stance, ashe uke
Mai geri, ball of foot to solar plexus, mai geri, ball of foot to solar plexus, mai geri, top of foot to groin
Left back fist, cross, jab, cross, jab
Right lower punch to organs, left lower punch to organs, right lower punch, bob and weave, step back open hand
Kata - Naihanchi Shodan only

1104

Warm up 
Mokosu and formal opening
Kicks, slow to knee, hold, extend, hold.  5 slow, then 5 fast:
Mai geri, right then left.
Ushiro geri, right then left
Yoku geri, right then left
Mawashi geri, right then left
Reminded to use chair to practice for balance, as per one of last week's lessons
Pad work, both sides working up to three strike combination.
Cross, Elbow, Cross then elbow, Knee, Cross, Elbow, knee
Finally 10 times through combination each side

Kata, Drills and Triangles, with a little bit of Tai Chi style

Saturday in the dojo was an interesting session, I learned maybe four things about both myself and my karate and they weigh out 50 - 50.  On the positives, I think my health is improving again, and my control in pairs is improving ☺☺.  On the negatives, I need to be pushing myself again and my kicking after exertion becomes very ragged 😞😞.  However, the big idea plus that made the lesson for me was the idea of triangles, I suppose it had been there all along, but the penny dropped when we varied a regular drill later in the session ☺☺☺.

We started with a regular warm up, but since I had been warming up for 10 minutes or so whilst watching my son, maybe I didn't need to attack it quite as much and it told shortly after when we did a form of circuit training:
Jump stepping in and out of rope ladder steps, receiving pad strikes using jodan uke, running round the outsides of a cone circuit, receiving pad strikes with tudan uke, forward rolling break falls, followed by mai geris to the pads  to close the circuit.

 I ran out of stream at end of first circuit, and my kicks were ragged as a result. I sat out most of the rest, but was encouraged to rejoin, so did last half of circuit with better kicks though still not brilliant,  so this is where I picked up the two negatives mentioned earlier: my ragged kicking after exertion and not re-joining without encouragement 😞😞.

Then it was time for Mokosu and formal start to the lesson, which opened with paired work with different partners.  This included:

Light sparring in various forms, including kicks and punches, kicks only and punches only.
Paired continuous contact drills, including taking the inside, gripping and breaking grip, gripping and breaking then striking
Paired Kicking drill, receiving right mawashi geri, left mawashi geri, right mawashi geri catchi, right mawashi geri step back, return mawashi geri

This is where I found that I was definitely improving my control in paired work ☺☺.  Was definitely so much better in the sparring and the kicking drill, well at least I thought so.

Then we were on to Kata - including Naihanchi Shodan tai chi style to open, I did performances of  Naihanchi Shodan and Naihanchi Nidan (which I was corrected for performing too slowly, oops too much Tensho and not enough of this kata 😞).  I went through forms of Naihanchi Sandan and Pinan Shodan, after which the higher grades did performances of their kata required for grading.

Then it was back to an old favourite to close out the session:  The Quadrant drill (single person practice shown here)

What we did in this session was the Quadrant drill with variations, using an expressly triangle form to receive and counter, explicitly to the part of the drill with hammer fist followed by two hooks.  It was there all along I suppose, but   the transition from receiving to striking with the forearm or elbow seems so simple when explained this way ☺☺. Another variation was that after head butt, the agressor finishes with a shoulder barge which the other partner had to avoid.

All in all, another excellent session of the dojo, with the big plus being that I realise my my stamina seems to be improving ☺☺☺☺

Dojo determination - round two..

Things still aren't right, I can walk distances just fine, but explosive exercise is still taking it out of me. Saturday in the dojo was more determination than substance but got to keep going....

I love the way our Sensei vary the content of the lessons, always keeps you on your toes ☺☺  Was a fairly regular warm up today, but hey we need those one in a while.  After the warm up, most of the lesson was drill and pad work, plus conditioning and what lesson would be complete without kata?:  We had in there (but not necessarily in that order):

Naihanchi drill, - crash and control, knee strikes , elbow to head, plush away
Conditioning. kicks (low, mid and high Mawashi-geri) and blocks forearm, inside and ouside Chudan-uke, Gedan uke.  First time I tried high Mawashi geri (always got to push)
Tegumi drill take punch, trap, slap to ribs, slap to face, hammerfist to arm, hammer fist to face
Pad work, including pad drills and inside leg kicks
Desensitising, slapping around the face
Kata - including be taught by a black belt in training
Naihanchi Nidan drill, bear hug from behind, sink, break by lifting arms, control arm, turn, elbow to ribs, turn again, strike.

I had to miss partway through, due to a chest flair up, but pushed myself as far as I could ☺☺  Plus I got to spend a bit more time than usual doing paired work with my Sensei and actually tried for a high Mawashi geri for the first time ☺☺

As an addendum, had to take today off work with a bad flair up and possibly found out why I am still struggling 🙀🙀🙀  Seems my chest is clear, but the infection just moved house and lodged itself in my upper respiratory system. so now on to round two....

Silent Thought: Uncomfortably Numb

Yesterday's atrocity took my mind back to 1996.  I had been due to go to Harbour Exchange on Friday, 9th February to check on systems I was responsible for in Harbour Exchange on Canary Wharf.  The day before, I finished what I was working on early, so decided to change my plans and go down to Harbour Exchange there and then.   I got off at South Quay station around 5pm and popped into the newsagents adjacent, before going to Harbour Exchange to do what I needed to do.

Little did I know how fortuitous that decision to turn out to be, as the following day, an IRA bomb was detonated in the car park next to South Quay station, at the same time as I had been there the day before.  The two people I saw in the Newsagents the day before were both killed in the blast, and it was a near miracle that only another 100 people were injured.   I was oh so lucky, but what happened next rammed it home.

It was thought to be a long shot, but I was immediately asked to accompany an Engineer to the building I had some responsibility for, to see whether we could get in to do a damage assessment.  As luck would have it, I used to live around the corner from the site, so when the cab we were in was stopped by police, we made our way on foot and I suggested a pedestrian entry point to the Engineer where we might get in.  There was only local Security on duty at that point, and we were let in as I was recognised.

What followed was to haunt me for a long time and left me numb.  We got the building in question, but the area was eerily quiet, and though  shielded from the masin blast, the severe damage that had occurred was readily apparent.  We completed the survey, and then came out and were immediately confronted by the police wanting to know who wanted to know what we were doing and how we got in.  Apparently it was still a live bomb site, as a second device was considered a strong possibility.  At that point, the whole situation hit home hard, both the luck I had and the enormity of the risk I had put myself in.

I felt numb for a long time afterwards, and each terrorist incident brings it back home.  My response to yesterday was to sink myself into Karate, both in practice at home and into today's dojo session.  Today's "Silent thought" was much needed, as was the workout that followed (basics plus Naihanchi Drills).   Please spare a thought for all the innocent victims of Terrorism, and the bravery of those who confront them 🙏🙏🙏

Dojo drilling

This Saturday in the Dojo was a day for drills, both long and short.  I'm still feeling the effects of the chest infection, but this seems to hit most during the warm up, but didn't stop me doing most of the lesson.  Still, maybe a trip back to the doctors beckons 😩 
The warm up - including rolls breakfalls and shrimping, along with the usual stretches, was followed by Naihanchi Shodan.   This was followed up with a series of short drills with different partners, including:

Back breakfall, kicks onto pads
Elbow - Drag through - Take down
Alternate grasping on inside
Alternate grasping on inside, with knees and kicks

Video from the Grasping and legwork drill

This was followed by a Patrick McCarthy inspired drill. all done with the same partner, but built up in stages:

Attackers:Right hook
Defender: left hand uke, strike open palm to temple
Pull head into shoulder
Bump head with bicep bump using nukite (knife hand strike)
Slap back of head and bring toward elbow
Forearm strike.
Roll forearm over face to expose eye socket
Use rear forearm as lever
Headbutt and push away to finish

Then it was on to a Naihanchi based drill we have practiced before, with a slight variation of a looping hook following on from the hammer fist.  As usual with the long drills, it was built up in parts, practiced with different partners.  We also practiced the #1 elements as a solo form, before working through the whole drill.

The full drill, plus the solo form are detailed below for future reference, along with a video of the solo form for comparison at a later date.  As ever, a good workout and overall enjoyable session ☺☺☺

#1   LH jab                 #2 RH parry, head to right
#1  RH cross                 #2 LH parry, head to left
#1   LH hook                 #2 Step in, two handed upper arm block and spread (Nidan)
#1  RH hammer fist         #2 Step back, cross arm block
#1  LH looping hook      #2 Step in, two handed upper arm block, inc LH shuto to neck
#1  RH hook                 #2 Step back to cat stance, LH block
#1  LH backfist         #2 RH receive   
#1  Forearm  strike         #2 Naihanchi block, LH palm up RH palm down
#1  LH uppercut to ribs #2 RH Gedan Uke
#1 RH uppercut to ribs #2 LH Gedan Uke
#1 LH haito to kneck
#1 RH haito to kneck
#1 grasp behind kneck, using thumbs as 5th finger (gable lock)
#1 pull head down left, switch leg back
#1 left knee strike
#1 switch legs, move head right, right knee strike    #2 Head up, break out, link hands
#1 head butt

Solo form of drill

#1   LH jab

#1  RH cross

#1   LH hook

#1  RH hammer fist

#1  LH hook

#1  RH hook

#1  LH backfist

#1  Forearm  strike

#1  LH uppercut (to ribs)

#1 RH uppercut (to ribs)

#1 LH haito (to kneck)

#1 RH haito (to kneck)

#1 grasp (behind kneck), using thumbs as 5th finger (gable lock)

#1 pull (head) down left  switch leg back

#1 left knee strike

#1 switch legs, move (head) right right knee strike

#1 Release, regrab, head butt

The Devil's in the Naihanchi

When we did the Naihanchi drill at the end of the Saturday session in the dojo, I asked my Sensei afterwards if he could let me see a copy of my attempt at the drill, which he kindly did,  as shown below:

Naihanchi is full of devillishly effective moves, which can be interpreted in a number ways, of which this flow drill is one.

We practiced the drill in five main parts and then tried to put it together as a flow at the end of the lesson.   I performed it as:

Part 1

Crash
Shuto neck strikes and head control, pull head down
Knee strikes

Part 2

Forearm strike
Drag through
Chin hold take down / opponent spin out 

Part 3 

Simultaneous arm drag and punch
Step through arm bar

Part 4

Opponent left hand lapel grab
Left hand to left hand control, right arm chop down on arm and back fist
Right hand to left hand control, left hand punch and back fist

Part 5

Stomping knee kick
Arm bar
Drag through and chin hold
Arm bar, hammer fist and push away

Part 5 should have been:

Stomping knee kick,
forearm strike to neck, which is blocked
then another stomping knee kick into arm bar into hammer fist to mastoid process

I missed the forearm strike and second stomping knee kick, then went to chin hold, before correcting into arm bar and hammer fist. Lots of good material there and not too bad for a first run through ☺☺☺

Flojo

So another Saturday in the dojo, with the emphasis this time on a flow drill taken from the who Naithanchi Shodan Kata.

Still struggling with my chest, so the warm up - running, running with floor touching and tuck jumps, kami rolls and break falls, press ups, sit ups / stand ups and more, was a little challenging to say the least!

After the formal opening of the lesson, it was into Kata pratice, with each of us asked to cycle through our known Kata, whilst our Sensei spent time with rach of us going over finer points.
My known kata are definitely Naihanchi Shodan and Nidan now, but still a way to go on Sandan.

After that we were on to the biggest part of the lesson, the Naihanchi Flow Drill.   Each part of the kata was broken down into elements, which we practiced with different partners.  There are quite a few elements to go through!  Some elements were taken as end pieces in themselves (knee, elbow strikes, takedowns), but then transitions were put in as if the techniques hadn't worked.

The final part of the lesson was putting it all together.  In pairs, we took turns in putting the whole drill together.  Lower grades like me, just tried in on one side, whilst the higher grades were asked to try it on both sides.  I didn't do badly, but definitely work in progress, I missed a couple of moves towards the end, but not to worry.  ☺☺

Dojo blues

The cold and damp don't agree with my conditions and I'm still suffering from the cold / minor chest infection.  It kind of gives me the Dojo blues because I get frustrated with myself only being able to get to 70 to 80% of where I would expect to be 😕 From a health point of view however, the workouts do me good as I get to sweat out some of the cold, etc.

On Saturday our warm  up included some different core exercises on our backs.  Then it was on to Kata, and I now perform Naihanchi Nidan as my highest known Kata 😋.  After that we went through fundamentals, and with one of our other Sensei there, that was enough for one of our white belts to grade  to yellow belt 😋

Then it was on to drills:
Punching out of a situation - feet, knees, sitting, on our backs
Naihanchi drill in pyramid form. Do element one, then elements one and two, then elements one, two and three
Pull hands down; pull down, jab; pull down, jab, back hand punch
change partner and add three elements
head butt; head butt, knee; head butt, knee, opposite knee
change partner add final three elements
backhand slap; backhand slap, elbow; backhand slap, elbow, drag and neck take down
Full drill: Pull hands down, jab, backhand punch, headbutt, knee, opposite knee, backhand slap, elbow, arm drag and neck take down.

Finally it was on to Kumite, I only managed 1st out of three before I got winded, but session certainly helped health wise. 😋  Earlier in the week I had managed to attend another class with the same intent, that class was small so we worked on Kata and Bojutsu.

Earlier on the Saturday, in his class my son got to perform Pinan Shodan all the way through for the first time 😋 His practicing at home has paid off, and he was one happy boy, who got plenty of encouragement from his Sensei too 😋😋

Dojo before the show

Given that we are coming up to our first demonstration before the end of the Summer holidays, plus we have a grading coming up in mid-September (for that, think I will miss out again, only doing one lesson a week, plus need to improve my yoko geri and ushiro geri kicks and practice more kehon katas); this was always going to be a diverse lesson.

After the warm up, the first hours of the lesson was concentrating on techniques.  For me in a lesson, I always want to run  through kata and this one didn't disappoint, as we went through both Naihanchi Shodan and Nidan  (I want a T shirt that says "Made in Naihanchi" 😉😉).   Then it was on to two person tegumi drills with different partners.  I have tried to document them as best as i remember:

Drill 1)

partners 1 & 2) Hooking hands

Drill 2)

partner 1) punch - chudan uke
partner 2) wrist grab (same side), backhand slap to ribs
partner 2) open hand slap to face, hammerfist to arm hammerfist to neck
partner 1) pushes received hammerfist hand down, clears arm
partner 2) follows one routine, starting with punch
partner 1) follows two routine, starting with wrist grab

Drill 3)

partners 1 & 2) left arm low blocks followed by right arm inner blocks.
partners 1 & 2) Hooking hands, followed by left hand outer blocks
partners 1 & 2) push outer blocks against each other
partner 1) pushes through jodan tsuki,
partner 2) pushes up , jodan uke
partners 1 & 2) reset, push outer block against each other
partner 2) pushes through jodan tsuki,
partner 1) pushes up , jodan uke
partners 1 & 2) reset, push outer block against each other
partners 1 & 2) repeat on other side

For the last hour we practiced what was wanted for the upcoming demonstration, with this featuring all three classes, shisa, cadet and adult: 
Breathing techniques
Kihon, Punches and blocks
Kata (Naihanchi Shodan)
Kata (Black belts - Passai Sho)
Padwork - kicks
Shisa - Tegumi
Cadets - Kumite
Kobudo kata (Black belts, nunchaku, sai and bo)

We went through this twice, so it was also valid practice of a sort.  Synchronised kata isn't normally for me, but for a  good cause why not? 😊😊😊😊

Keep on keeping on

We have a grading comping up soon, plus a short demonstration to do at a charity even. Accordingly, our session yesterday was a mix of elements.   We started of with Core drills (including rolls and shrimping) followed by Stretches.

From there, we did Kata (Naihanchi Shodan), followed by fundamentals: punches, receiving techniques and kicks.  After that we went through the 10 kihon katas that we practise,  I only need the first two for my grading but we go through them all.  I can remember the first four:

1. Step, forehand punch, backhand punch, mai geri
2. Mai geri, step forehand punch, backhand punch
3  Step, forehand punch, backhand punch, feet together, front leg mawashi geri
4  Feet together, front leg mawashi geri, step forehand punch, backhand punch

Plus I now remember the last two:
.
9 -   Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, spinning kick
10 - Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, hisa geri

Next we repeated the Tai Sabaki (body management) exercises from the Monday session - with one Sensei trying to hit with a padded kendo style stick and the other with a Shinai.   The trick was to evade, first of all to a lunge by stepping away, followed by a head swipe followed by ducking.  After that, we had to evade a leg swipe by jumping, followed by a head / leg swipe combination by ducking then jumping.  Finally, we had to evade a lunge by swaying, followed by evading a lunge, head swipe, leg swipe, lunge combination by stepping, ducking, jumping and swaying.

From there we went on to flow drills, working at two variations:

Flow drill variant 1: Fence push, crash inside hook, ridge hands into clasp, push down and away (Naihanchi)
Flow drill variant 2: Fence push, crash inside hook, ridge hands into clasp, push down, attacker comes up then bear hug. Lift one shoulder, releasing arm which goes round the back, step back (zenkutzu dachi) and turn, throwing the opponent  (Naihanchi / Pinan)

Finally we did Kobudo, with Nunchaku - doing the Hamahiga kata.  On top of that, my son was presented with student of the month, so a really good and varied session 😊😊