Denver Colorado Karate Classes Blog

Monday, July 31, 2006

I missed last week due to being out of town so tonight was my first class as a brown belt. It felt a bit different and now I am lining up closer to the front of the room. I learned tonight from a fellow dojo peer that on July 22, the person I fought against had a broken neck two years ago. He found this out from the broken neck person during the brown belt test. I didn’t know and I was clocking this guy in the side of the head with ridge hands and spinning back fists.

Tonight’s class was a back to basics class. First we did our usual warm-ups and then we partnered up and we did all of our DM’s without stopping. After that we did all of our Kempos in succession.

Then we partnered up to do lapel grabs and headlock holds.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Start Time: 9:00am
End Time: It was so long I can’t remember
Weather: 85 degrees, sunny & hot

It was hard and challenging.

Monday, July 17, 2006

I was given a Brown Belt test card at last Saturday’s private training class. 11 months at the Green belt level, taking extra privates during those 11 months and coming into the dojo on Friday’s to train on my own gives me the confidence that I am ready.

Tonight’s adult karate class started off on the basics. The drills we did were:

- front ball kink
- front instep kick
- side blade kick
- back kick
- round house
- crescent
- reverse crescent

Then we moved to doing our 8-point block while half-mooning, then with counter strikes and then with these combinations:

- spear hand
- spear hand/poison thumb

After these exercises, we partnered up and did out DM’s and Kempo’s with the Green belt and up level performing them lefty.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

It had to be 90 degrees + in the dojo this evening. I knew it was hot when I started to get beads of sweat on my forehead when I bent down to put my shoes on. Either the A/C broke or they shut the air off to save $3.00 that day.

Tonight’s adult karate class started off with some challenging pushups. First we started in the full extended position and notch it down an inch or two on each count until the count of 10. At the 10 position, our body had to be one inch off the floor and hold it for about 5 seconds. Then we reversed the count back up one. We did this three times over. It was a killer.

Then we paired up to do our DM’s lefty. After that, we did our Kempos one for one. After that, we lined up in two lines to form a gauntlet and then go from person to person to do DM’s. I did #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #12, and #14. These are the easier ones to pop off in a rapid manner.

After that, we did Kempos in the gauntlet. I did #1, #2, #3, #5, #8 (missed the block and grab), #9, and #15

I try not to do the gauntlet DM’s and Kempo’s in any thoughtful order, I just do what comes out naturally. That probably explains why only 7 Kempos were done. I know a solid 21 but these 7 are the ones that came out in a rapid attack situation.

Monday, July 10, 2006

After warm-ups, we formed two single lines and partnered up to do our DM’s. Only this time, one person had to be on their back and spring up to perform the DM. It was hard to get the proper footing and stance but it’s probably more realistic if you ended up on your back and had to get up off the floor.

After that we went into dragon circles to do our DM’s again. I was with the Black and Brown belts and went second. I did #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #8, #9, #11 (why I did that one, I don’t know), #12 and #15. It all worked OK and improvised by using a few back kicks.

Monday, July 3, 2006

Tonights adult karate class was focused on trying to evade and defend against a knife attack. The attacked held a 1″ in diameter by 4″ long piece of colored chalk and the goal was to not get any chalk on your gi.

I first paired up with a black belt and he got me a few times. Then it was my turn and I got him a few times too. At one point we ended up on the ground and did some impromptu wrestling.

My next attacker was a younger white belt. He got me a few times and my gi had about 10 marks on it. I am all for being humble but when he started gloating to me on how much he got me on my gi, something clicked in my head and I said, “Wait until it’s your turn.”

All I can say is I marked up his gi with so much chalk that he looked like a candy stripper. I also used his belt and gi to pull him towards me so I can control his movement. I don’t think he’ll be gloating in the future.