Traditional Karate at Southwest Washington Shotokan Karate Club

Traditional Karate at Southwest Washington Shotokan since 1996 Karate Club

Today’s work out is brought to you by The Sweeps. About 24 min, give or take.

1. Let’s warm up with some sumo squats. Wide stance. Drop down to a very low squat. Rise up with right leg reaching towards a mawashi geri starting position. Switch legs. 25 total squats. 3 min. 2. Deep stretches for the body sides. Feet slightly bent, reach to the left then the right. Holding the stretch for a good 30s per side. Repeat several times. 2 min 3. Ham string stretches by reaching down to toes knees bent & back curved, reach mid level back straight & knee caps pulled up, rise all the way up. Repeat 12 times. Yoga style. 2 min. 4. Left leg forward, step forward with the right foot traveling in a low mawashi geri like arc. Extend right foot to nearly a full leg length. Support leg bent. Fists & elbows pointing forwards. Pause. Next, pull knee upwards finishing the sweep. Land in a front stance right leg forwards. Next, step back to a left leg forwards front stance. Upon landing, let the left foot sweep upwards & inwards as done in Tekki Shodan’s wave kick or nami-gaeshi. Try 20 step forward sweep, step back sweep sets. Switch sides. 6 min. 5. Next, we repeat the same techniques as above but add in arm techniques. When stepping forward, add in right hand back fist strike jodan followed by gyaku-zuki reverse punch chudan. Stepping back add in down block, then the left leg sweep, then reverse punch. Another 20 sets and switch sides. 6 min. 6. Warm down with 3 Tekki Shodan’s. 5 min. 7. Bonus: Bio-feedback: find something like a tree trunk. Use shoes if you want. Left leg forwards. Slowly, sweep against the trunk of the tree, pressing with the in-step part of the right ankle. Pause, then pull back. Next, using the left leg, press the sole of foot inwards against the tree trunk. Again, pause, press then release. Slow is great. 24 sweeps total then switch sides.