We started off practicing contraction and expansion - dropping and compressing the rear leg and expanding by using the rear leg to push us forward and generate power. We then combined this with hip rotation and gyaku zuki to created a powerful punch. I also emphasised the importance of a straight wrist and punching with the first two knuckles. If the wrist is not aligned correctly, you can hurt yourself - potentially with a broken wrist.
As requested last lesson, we then moved on to breaking boards - using gyaku zuki to break them. You had to make sure your wrist was correctly aligned, punching with the correct part of the first and that you generated enough power with your legs and hips to break the board. Breaking boards is hard - everyone did well. You must believe you are going to break the board and punch through it, otherwise you will fail.
Finally we finished off with some more fun - mae tobi geri and nidan geri (jumping kicks).
We'll move back to the standard syllabus in preparation for the December grading.