Denver Area Martial Arts Karate Blog Since 2005

Karate Bunkai in the Denver Colorado Area

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:37:36 +0000

After warm-ups, we did some basic pinans and katas. I did some subtle mess-ups with a wrong foot there, or the wrong punch here but it was still all cohesive. Then we tripled up to do some bunkai using some of the higher rank forms. Did circle of the tiger and kata 6. It helped in picking out some of the moves in a form in what the practical application is for. I learned one or two extra things.

Another Huge Leg Night

admin — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:56:57 +0000

We were warned that the focus will be on legs tonight. Here’s what we did:

- Warm-ups added in some exercises with forward and backward leaning stances
- Partnered up with kick shields to do kicks while having to squat or lunge first and then do the kick
- Person holding the kick shield had to squat at the same time the kicker did
- Did some hand pad work while incorporating some footwork, going backwards and forward
- Ended the class doing a jab, jab, round house followed with a spinning hook kick, both right and left handed

Kicking the Pads

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:51:03 +0000

After warm-ups, we tripled up to run through some of our DM’s just to loosen up some more. With the same people, we used some kick shields to run through some basic kicking exercises: back kicks, side thrust for both right and left sides.

Killa Leg Workout for Karate Stamina and Balance

admin — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:12:06 +0000

I did a half hour private and we practiced our stabbing knife techniques and even learned a new one.

The Highlands Ranch adult martial arts class started off with a warning from the sensei. He said, “Tonight will focus on nothing else but legs,” and he was right. The warm-ups included 25 squats, 10 on each side forward and backward leaning stances. Then we did 5 reps and 3 sets on each leg by starting with going down on one knee, rise up and do a front ball kick, go back to the knee position, rise up and do another front ball. 5 from each knee. Then all over again doing a crescent kick and then a roundhouse. That’s 15 total from each knee. Then we did 10 pushups while rotating in a circular motion without resting.

The lesson started off with us partnering up to do some more back and forth kicks by mirroring each other. 20 kicks on each leg. Then we each got a hand pad to do more one for one kicks while hitting the hand pad. 20 on each leg. Started off doing a frontball, crescent and a roundhouse.

That’s about 190 total kicks in about 50 minutes. We did some more kicking exercises but don’t remember the specific ones…I was too tired to remember.

Kempos, DM’s and Gauntlets

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:23:37 +0000

Tonight’s Monday night karate class in Highlands Ranch started off doing some forms mixed in with the warm-ups. Then we tripled up to do our kempos, five at a time starting with #1. Got up to # 20 or so. Hestitated on one or two of them. Then we switched over to DM’s, starting at #1 in five increments. Hesitated on one or two of them again. End of the class was doing DM gauntlets on about 10 people. Started off doing DM #1, #2, #30, #9, #4, Kempo #9 with 3 extra stricks added in for some flair, #9 again, #2 again, #5, #23. I guess it’s good I didn’t follow the easy #1 through #10 routine and just did what came out in any random order. Sensei liked the #30 when doing a gauntlet.

I think we should do some free-style gauntlets.

Buddha Palm and Pads

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:09:20 +0000

For this Wednesday’s karate class in the south Denver area, I did a 60 minute private lesson with another BB. This person has been away for a while so I showed him the #1 through #22 kempos, while the sensei was making sure proper technique was being applied.

After the private, the 7:00 PM adult karate class started with some buddha palm exercises. With a partner, we did stage 1, 2 and 3 buddha palm. I did stage 4 using a rising knee and a hand/arm check to form a wall. After this was done, we got some hand pads to do some basic right/left crosses, followed with a kick. Near the end of the class, it got a little more technical by doing a roundhouse, spinning reverse hook-kick, followed by a back-fist and palm heel to the face.

Killer Leg Workut Using Martial Arts in the Denver Area

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:32:57 +0000

Tonight’s adult karate class in the Denver South area, we mainlt focused on doing various leg kicks to a partner while using good form. Each leg exercise was done 20 times with the right leg and 20 reps with the left leg. The exercises consisted of” front instep, front ball, side blade, thrust, rear kick, crescent, reverse cresent, roundhouse, and hook kick. That’s a total of 360 kicks / 180 with each leg.

Then we got some hand pads to be used as a hand block with some of the various kick combos we were doing. One combo was doing a front ball / roundhouse kick. Another was doing stepping stool into a crescent follow-up with a roundhouse. The person doing the blocking would then conclude the combo with a spinning reverse hook kick.

Hip Flexors for Kicking Flexibility

admin — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:45:28 +0000

Sensei Roger had the class focus on hip flexor exercises for kicking flexibility. One exercise consisted of doing a front ball kick and then into a back kick or a round house, but doing real slow while holding onto a kick dummy for better balance and control. Then we partnered up to do front ball kicks or front ball/round house combos to get the other person to guess which one is coming at them, all due to the initial rising of the knee.

A Regular Karate Training Class in Dnver Colorado Area

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:40:07 +0000

I did a 1/2 hour private and started off doing three kata’s – circle, northern and Hans. Then I did some remedial work on kempo 33 and 35.

In the 7pm adult karate class, we tripled up to do our top 15 dm’s. Then we moved on to do some hand pad work by doing a set of right and left hand combinations. Near the end of the class, we broke out the kick shields to do some corss-over/rear back kicks exercises.

Back to Karate Training After a Six Week Layoff

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:35:57 +0000

Due to some business travels and meetings, I was basically not available for five of the six weeks during mid-February to the last week in March. Around February 22, I revisited with my orthopedic surgeon and he said that I need rotator cuff surgery when looking at the MRI, but since I have decent range of motion and minimal to no pain, he recommends no surgery until I can’t stand it anymore.

Tonight’s Monday karate class, Sensei Roger had the class do some auxillaries techniques such as collar grabs, choke holds, should grabs, etc… It’s been a while since I did them so it was a good refresher.