Kings Cross Shotokan Karate Club

The heat returned on Thursday night's lesson so we cranked up the intensity of the class and worked with the kids on their kicks.

We worked on balance and extending the kicks out and lengthening through the body, before moving onto the pads and bringing in the power and faster reflexes. We then trained all the kicks HIIT style by adding in some jumping and running elements over and around the bench.

It was a dynamic and sweaty class to finish the week! Footage of the equally (if not more) tough adults class to follow...

We had another busy class on Monday night. The kids class covered jiyu ippon kumite with an emphasis on reaction times.

The adults then practiced a number of takedowns and throws of increasing difficulty and the adding in resistance as they got more comfortable. Our two new students did very well to keep up in an advanced class.

Looking forward to more tomorrow night.

Before it heats up again, in Monday's class we took advantage of the slightly cooler weather and got in some harder training.

With the kids, we worked on a rapid stance drill, building on the sequence as we went and using angles with our techniques.

The adults class focused on joint locks with a flow drill that taught control as well as pain compliance (as is evident in the video on uke's face!).

Due to the sweltering heat, we trained outside again last night and trained sensibly with frequent water breaks and slowing down the pace.

With the kids, we worked on a couple of stance drills, moving slowly to place emphasis on our movements and how we generate power through our movement, while maintaining good posture.

With the adults, we continued the theme by applying what we'd learned in the first class in our kata. We worked through Heian Shodan and Nidan and then Bassai Dai and Empi.

A big well done to those who turned up and trained well in the heat.

Next in the Empi bunkai series, showing a defence for a wild right hook as an initial flinch reflex and then moving into a strike and controlling the head.

Our second video in our Empi bunkai series showing an application for the signature section of the kata. We had some good discussion around the usefulness of a rising strike and what makes most sense to us from an application point of view.

The second in our Empi bunkai series showing an application for the signature sequence of the kata. We had some good discussion around the application and usefulness of the rising punch.

It was another hot one in class tonight, but the dojo was still packed. It was great to teach alongside Jamie Sensei.

The first class covered oi zuki and gyaku zuki, emphasising the transition between stances and then working this on the pads to generate power.

In the second class, Jamie Sensei continued to teach the kata Empi and I gave the class options for bunkai. We kick off the Empi kata series with the opening here and we'll continue to cover other sections in the coming days.

Well done to all students who turned up tonight and trained in the heat and gave it their all!