For part of the class on Tuesday, we practiced our katas. One of the katas I practiced was Saifa and my sensei said I had it pretty much down pat, except for one main issue. After the 3 steps in shiko dachi, you had to stand on one foot and do a mae geri kick. I sometimes stood on one foot for either too long or not long enough. When I asked him how long should I stand, I was told a few seconds or until you get your balance. I've seen some higher-ranked students stand for only 2 seconds, while others stand for up to 5 seconds. My question is, how long exactly should you stand, or am I getting caught up in too small of details?

A second issue, although not related to Saifa, is for the shiko dachi shiko geri ido sona mama sagaru (doing it backward/in reverse). Quite often I find that I'm not going into a proper 45 degrees shiko dachi and I believe it's due to the fact I'm swinging my hips too hard to bring the front foot that just kicked, to the back. I've tried to gently have the edge of my heel or big toe touch the floor to add some friction, but regardless my sensei says that I kind of bob up and down.

I'm fairly certain the solution to this problem is practice, however, I have my next belt this coming weekend. I had some trouble, albeit not as much, when doing this same ido for my previous belt test and the sensei ensures we shouldn't make the same mistake across different tests, as it shows a lack of significant improvement for a particular technique. So, my last question is how do you correctly get into a 45 degree shiko dachi when going backward/sono mama sagaru?

Work on your balance and don't worry about it. One device if you have access to it is a bosu ball. It is an excellent device for this application. I would just do deep knee bends/squats on it. It will dramatically improve your ability.

Woops, I was re-reading my post and I think my fingers were ahead of what I was thinking. For my second question, it wasn't shiko dachi shiko ido but instead was meant to have been shiko dachi sokotu geri ido.

I've seen bosu balls at various fitness stores but never bought one, mostly because I had no clue how to use it and when I tried, I landed in a heap on the floor. I'll try using one, I think we have one at the dojo

BOSU balls, wobble boards {there are different styles}, stability balls, TRX, and even just standing on one leg. They very in price with the stability balls usually starting around $40 and the BOSU's going for $150 or more.

Every piece of balance equipment has it limitations along with working the balance in many different, hence challenging, ways. I like to use them all, this way you don't get too comfortable on any one piece of equipment. The main thing is to practice your balance, in all endeavors and ages in life. If you don't use it you'll lose it.

One thing we as MA's can practice on the different balance tools is our basics, blocks, punches, kicks, etc. Why not? The difference here is that you are not working on perfect form, you are working on balance! Yes, you can also do one legged work on the different balance equipment.

Check outside your MA club, and take a look at some of the local gym's and rec centers as they usually have different classes on this stuff {I know, I teach them...}. Most people that are looking for the basic information generally only need to attend a few classes then they can go off by themselves to play. The price point for these types of classes "usually" isn't to expensive.

My balance needs improvement, as well. I use Kwonkicker's balance drill videos on YouTube. It seemed to have helped me. I haven't lost my balance at all in karate today.

Good luck.