Central Illinois Shotokan Karate

06/23/2026

Well, rumor has it there is a high probability that a test is the near future, so tonight's class at the Mapleton dojo was a bit of a test prep. Started off with moving in front stance and fixing some of the more significant issues with stance. Front stance only the length of the gym. Then we moved into basic techniques, maintaining stance, half speed to the half court line then full speed the second half of the gym. Went thru lunge punch, front kick, and the block/punch combinations. Mantra for tonight - I can, I will. Time to tell that voice in the head - shut up and train! Great job everyone. Some excellent improvement tonight.

06/21/2026

06/19/2026

AMERICAN SHOTOKAN KARATE
in Mesa Arizona!

Hosted by Desert Valley Shotokan!
This Saturday, June 20th!

Sensei Ted Quinn will be one of the line up of featured instructors!

Sensei Quinn is a fifty year veteran instructor, with 12 years of training and competing in Japan. He now regularly teaches classes in Pekin.

06/19/2026

Pekin practice tonight!
Great group!
We warmed up doing all Heian kata. Then basics!… and we took some combinations off of the Nidan test for everyone. We did sparring combinations with 3-4 techniques and spent extra time practicing foot sweeps paying attention to proper contact tactics. Then we spent the last half hour doing 3-5 offense and defense drills. A portion was back and forth attacking then we had one partner standing close to the wall so they could not back up!
Fun class!
Enthusiastic group!!

06/18/2026

Tonight at the Mapleton dojo we continued with our lesson on using relaxation to create faster, sharper technique. After warm ups we started straight into slow, fluid straight punches. We identified several extraneous movements that took time and focus away from the technique. Once we smoothed out some rough edges we sped up our punching. We also worked on relaxing our front snap kicks. This theme carried over to all of the basic blocks as well. Finally we spread out for some kata work. I assigned a black belt for each lower rank to set the tone and pace for the lower ranks. First kata was done slowly, fluidly, and relaxed. Next attempt was slightly faster with minimal tension. Just enough to bring the techniques to a complete stop. Finally we attempted the katas at full speed. After the first attempt I explained that no matter how fast they “thought” they could go, they all still had another level of speed trapped inside them. This lead to one last attempt at “combat kata” speed. Less attention to perfect form and more paid to actual combat speed. Everyone gave a great effort tonight!
💯❤️‍🔥👊🏼🥋

06/16/2026

Tonight at the Mapleton dojo we focused on the concept of relaxation as it relates to speed and snap in basic techniques. We started by warming up the arms with relaxed, continuous straight punches. We started off slow and gradually built up to full speed punches. We moved on to large, relaxed arm swings from our shoulders that helped us punch faster during lunge punches as well as during reverse punches. Next we tried to relax our upper bodies while doing front snap kicks. A couple rounds of squat snap kicks followed by front kicks moving forward in front stance. We rounded out our evening with more arm swings while trying to speed up and snap our downward blocks and our rising blocks. I’m looking forward to continuing this concept on Wednesday night.
❤️‍🔥🥋❤️‍🔥

06/13/2026

A typical Saturday Morning Breakfast Club this morning. We started out with basic techniques to warm up and loosen up a bit. Moving across the gym with a 3 punch combination first. Two reverse punches then a lunge punch. One set moving forward and one set backwards. Then a three part front kick combo done the same way. Two front kicks and stepping back with a third front kick stepping forward. Next we worked on pressing blocks, both jodan and chudan levels while doing reverse punches. The third punch was a lunge punch with a lower level simultaneous pressing block. We finished up discussing using blocks to not only gauge distance but timing a counter attack when you felt your partner beginning to withdraw their attacking limb.
Second hour began with Sanchin kata, with close attention given to our 3D connection concept and proper outward tension in our stance. Then we began putting these concepts into basic kata, namely Taikyoku Shodan. This lead us into some interesting hand and arm combinations while using the Taikyoku embusen line. 🤯
Some very insightful discussions and input by everyone. I’m guessing everyone had some well deserved “lightbulb moments” this morning as well. Keep asking the hard questions and eventually the correct answers will appear.
🤔😉💯❤️‍🔥🥋💪🏻❤️‍🔥💯

06/11/2026

Karate practice at the Pekin Y has been cancelled tonight due to weather concerns.

06/09/2026

Tonight at the Mapleton dojo we had Sensei Jon leading class and his topic/concept for this week is stances. We started by breaking down front stances and covering the basic components for a good front stance. Then we moved across the gym first with 2 count front stances then went back one stance per count. This continued with back stance and with horse stances. Next we combined these 3 stances and worked on changing not only stances, but directions as well. Finally we paired up and one side worked on moving backwards in back stances while their partners tried to overtake them using front stances. We then used a slow pass through Taikyoku Shodan to cool down. Very excited for part 2 of Sensei Jon’s lesson on stances! Great job everyone!
❤️‍🔥🥋❤️‍🔥

06/07/2026

This morning we had another great Saturday Morning Breakfast Club where we strengthened our bodies and our minds. 😉
First hour started with some stationary jab-reverse punching and front kicking. This lead us to moving in with jab then sinking and rotating in with a long reverse punch, letting the back heel come up. Our next combo we stepped in with a double rising block, then a double hammer fist to the torso, and a finishing double close punch. After several reps across the gym and back we decided to add in another wide U punch to our rear ( à la Bassai Dai). Only it wasn’t a double U “punch”. Instead it was a hip throw. Several more reps of this combo followed by an in depth discussion about finding multiple uses for techniques in our katas. After a quick water break we began doing Empi kata. After a couple passes through this kata we broke down some combinations from this form and worked on applying them under pressure. A lot of great input, discussion, and lightbulb moments. Great work everyone!
❤️‍🔥🥋❤️‍🔥🥋❤️‍🔥