Teaching online has led some to creative new training drills. Some of these have drawn heavy inspiration from YouTube clips and other online posts from senior Goju Ryu instructors, such as Higaonna Sensei and Nakamura Sensei. One of my favourite drills has been kata practice in a confined space as demonstrated by Bakkies Sensei, see this previous post. We have practiced Gekisai Dai Ichi in this format and we found that Sanseru worked very well too.

Today we developed a version of Shisochin kata, not only in a confined space (not moving from Heiko Dachi), but also adapted to only using closed hand techniques. To differentiate from Shisochin kata, which has many open hand blocks and strikes, I have named this Shisochin Go (Hard). Although hard by name, it shouldn't be too difficult once you get the idea! We've recorded this at a slow speed but this could obviously be practiced at a faster pace as it becomes familiar.

The class tonight took inspiration from this YouTube video from the world famous Higaonna dojo, enjoy.

In our class this morning we practiced all of the basic techniques in kata Gekisai dai ichi. We then practiced the kata with arms only (plus the kicks), according to the instruction of Bakkies Sensei (IOGKF 9th dan). Although this is a simple routine, it is an interesting experience to disconnect the arms from the footwork. We started slowly and then pushed ourselves to go as quickly as possible.

The original video can be found on the YouTube channel of Bakkies Sensei and he has just added kata Saifa.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuCku5lXQBDCO9k6vyKdkUQ

We held our first online class yesterday morning as a trial. We will start running regular classes from this week on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Please see Classes page for details. I will continue to post links to helpful videos on YouTube and perhaps one of our online classes.

Life has been truly turned upside down for so many people, but in these difficult times the karate world has opened the dojo doors to the outside world via the internet. We are looking into running some online classes for club members but there are so many online resources from the world's masters. Here is the second class from Nakamura Sensei:

This will be tricky if you don't own a chishi but it is an important aspect of traditional Goju Ryu training. If any club members would like to borrow a chishi please get in touch to make arrangements.

Chokusen Gekisai Dai Ichi is a variation of kata Gekisai Dai Ichi performed in a straight line. This can be practiced as a two person drill known as Renzoku Bunkai. Here are the two parts, which can of course be practiced as an individual. 

A message from Nakamura Sensei, IOGKF Chief Instructor:

In this class Nakamura Sensei covers warming up exercises, basic techniques and combinations. 

We recorded a few short training videos today, enjoying the Spring sunshine in the privacy of our back yard. Watching these videos has been an interesting experience as I have quickly found several areas that require development. I'll upload these short videos over the coming days, but please remember they are only intended to inspire you to continue training, I will continue to share videos from senior Goju Ryu instructors.

Thanks to our friends Marc and Els from Brussels for the T-shirt. Credit to Sensei George Andrews for the San Dan Gi.

Part one of a fantastic series of instructional videos in Higaonna Sensei's Dojo in Naha, Okinawa. Junbi undo exercises to start the class, which the vast majority of which you will be very familiar with, taken by Uehara Sensei.

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