Went to class for the first time since the dojo closed down for renovations and relocation(over a month and half delay). I went into class and truthfully, I think the break did me well. During the break, I was able to work on things like improving overall strength, balanced left and right strength, and improve on dynamic and static stretching (I can now do the splits front and side ways).

It was just me and shihan again. He emailed the people that were waiting for the dojo to open again and hopefully they will be coming to class soon. One of the prospects is a man hailing from the philippine islands that is in the US military services and trained in kyokushin in the philippines. He is a shodan so i'd be nice to have more imput on kyokushin from on outside organization.

We had two people come in and speak with shihan about classes and they observed.

Last night we practiced on conditioning by exchanging punches and front kicks to the body and legs. Followed with bag work for kicks. We also did sanchin a few times and then followed up with strength training.

Shihan showed me a manipulation of the gedan mawashi geri, where you start the motion by kicking high (around waist level) then coming down to hit the thigh at an angle. This is supposed to add power similar to "dropping the hammer" as opposed to a "flat" kick across a plane.

In theory I suppose I see how it could, but application is a different story. I'll try it out and see how it works.

Any comments or suggestions are always welcome.

OSU!