Learn. Polish. Sharpen.

As a 1st Kyu, I've reached the point in my training where I have learned all of the required elements I need to know to test for my Shodan (with the exception of Hangetsu, but I'm not going to go there right now). The next step for me is to continue to practice and polish all of my techniques from Basics to Kata, everything needs tweaking here and there to make the leap from just knowing how to do it - to actually performing it well. For me, this is the fun part, stopping during a Kata or Basics and analysing where my feet are vs. where they should be, adjusting my shuto hand to the precisely correct level, or making sure I'm not just in a decent front stance...I'm in a proper one, and making mental notes as I go (and actually running to my Notebook to jot them down).

At some point I will transition from polishing these details to finally sharpening everything up in preparation for my test. This feels like it is such a long way off for me, but I'm sure it will be here before I know it. I can feel a crispness slowly starting to creep into my techniques more and more as I practice - is crisp the same as sharp? Hmmm, perhaps it is part of the transition - and it is starting to feel good.

Things I need to polish:

1. Back stance: weight distribution is 70/30 - really practice this one.
2. Front stance: nail this in every Kata, don't brush over it to keep the momentum. Too many people really ignore this stance throughout Kata and practically walk upright for the duration.
3. Empi: don't step out so far on the first move.
4. Nukite: relax/lower shoulders and pull down on lats.
5. Heian Nidan: the last two gedan are narrow stance - don't over-rotate the turn.
6. Right down to the littlest thing...even your toes need to be touching when your feet are together as you bow.