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shotokanman70
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Heian Shodan in a Restricted Space

The Covid-19 pandemic is making it difficult to train at home. In this video, I demonstrate how to adapt your footwork to fit your kata into a limited space.

cheers,

Andy

Marc
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Thanks for posting that, Andy.

The switch step is a great tool to do kata in restricted space. It is also a nice reminder/exercise to keep your knees bent and your head at the same height when stepping.

We make use of this a lot when teaching kata online, as many participants only have two to three square meters available to them. Sometimes we switch with the back foot in place as you show in the video. Sometimes we switch with the front foot in place, depending on the situation.

With some katas it also makes sense to just step forward with one step and then back with the next instead of switching. The third option we use, depending on the kata, is to take the front foot back next to the other and then stepping backwards with the back foot again.

Also we drop or modify some of the turns so that instructors and participants will be able to face the camera/screen at all times. We figured that participants get confused when they have to turn away from the screen.

Using all these little tricks we were able to teach the students even new katas. The correct turns and steps can be added back in when we'll be able to train in the dojo again.

Take care everybody

Marc