Speed
Someone wrote to me with the problem that he was slowing down before the end of the technique. This was my response:
I have had this problem at various times in my career and seen it many times in other students.
You are fortunate IMO that you have a good, quick start, as that is a much more difficult and time-consuming 'fix'. :-)
If you are slowing down before the end of the technique, I can think of only two basic reasons: 1) You focusing too soon, very common in strong, muscular people; or 2) you are unsure of the ending structural position and/or which muscles to utilize and in what order to create a proper focus.
I suspect your problem is the first, because you said "I am technically sound with all points [a pretty bold assertion, actually, because what you think is sound for your level may not be sound, i.e. refined enough, for the next level :-) ] so it's a matter of finding a way to avoid this ugly habit without sacrificing that soundness." I would like to briefly address both issues though.
#1) Focusing too soon is common, as I said, and it's relatively easy to fix, but it will feel silly at first. My premise here is that strong people 'know' they have to be strong at the point of impact and in anticipation of the impact, they tighten too soon (especially the upper body), slowing the technique for the last third of the motion. The maddening thing is, the harder you try, the worse it gets (this actually helps to identify the problem). To fix it, you must perform the technique with no power at all, and focus AFTER you have completed the motion. It will seem ridiculous at first, and it may be a bit of an over correction, but my experience says it tends to balance out in a week or so. So, for a week, or at least a couple days, perform a technique with no intention of focusing, just some speed and good form, and, after you finish, tighten sequentially; center and legs first, along with the drawing arm, and the technique arm last, if at all.
It seems very strange, but the sensation is that you get more power from trying less. If this works, and then seems to go away, you'll have to keep coming back to it, until it replaces your current inclination. Thin and quick people may have no clue as to why this is a problem for you.
#2) This structural and or sequential kime problem may be related to the first. In fact, if you have the first it could cause the second. Here the problem may be structural, like position, or lacking in proper muscular support. If your end position is in some way unsound, even minimally so, or if your body is not sure of the position, your body might be protecting itself from injury. It avoids being thrown into a potentially damaging position and hits the breaks to save your knees, or back, or shoulder, whatever. If it's not structural from your and or another's analysis (it's always tough to know what you look like), it might be muscularly unsound.
Many people tense into what results in a static position, which jars different parts of the body. To me a focus has a "settling" feeling, and continues to flow into the ground and into the target, rather than a true 'end' of the technique.
A way to test this is to perform a technique, like say a counter punch or oistuki with maximum kime. Hold the position for a second (a real second) and then relax. If you "settle" on the relaxation; air comes out of your lungs, your should settle down into a relaxed position. etc, then you are "tensing" and not focusing. A focus should pull your body together. Try it at this same end position. Squeeze your center, settle through your legs into the floor, grab with your toes, let air out of your lungs, pull your drawing arm (but not really the drawing shoulder, the pects should be tightening on both sides, so your shoulder remains relatively stable) (at the end, even though you may have spun to get there, both hips and both shoulders are going forward, along with your center, and meet at an imaginary point a few feet in front of you.). Relaxing from this kime, air should come IN to your lungs (without you trying to inhale) and your shoulders lift to their natural position (they were compressed towards center) and you should feel lighter on you feet.
Another common problem when learning to focus is people tighten the small muscles around the joints. You usually notice this as small cramps around the hip joint or pain in the back, but many go on joyfully squeezing in spite of these indications it may not be a good idea (sometimes looks like over tuck of the hip). If you can learn to focus the 'center' the joints themselves actually stay pretty soft and pliable. This is for any stance, especially when punching in kibadache people tighten this area incorrectly.
Honest, the big muscles squeeze, (center, legs, etc) and sometimes feel like they wrap around the bone, but the kime kinda flows throw the joints. Do not tense them. Not the hips, not the knees, not the ankles, and eventually, not the shoulder or the elbow.
To fix this, just make sure to keep practicing the end positions over and over, kime slowly and completely, then release completely (failure to release is part of the initiation slowness). Eventually to go with speed, you don't initiate the technique and move towards kime, you just remember the kime position and assume it. If the motion is slow enough for you to perceive, (like most people's oistuki) it is too slow to be of any value. Snap into the end position, and pretend the middle doesn't exist.
A final, closely related problem might be AIR. You may be taking too big of a breath, which takes time and slows you down (extremely common in oistuki) or, you may be holding your breath, which is ultimately a type of too much or misplaced tension (could be mental apprehension). You gotta breath, but not too much 8~D
Ok, It's late. I'm going to sleep.
If anybody read this and they have an opinion, please share it either publicly or e-mail me private.
Sincerely,
Dave in Minnesota
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Makiwara
>What does everybody think about makiwara training? I await your reactions.
[I see that my response is very long. I hope it makes sense. It is much easier to show and teach than it is to describe. :-) ]
I think makiwara training is one of the most important and most misunderstood training aids to karate development.
Karate has never come very natural for me. Throughout my karate development, I have always been slow & tense. In order for me to progress, I had to come to understand the basic body mechanics of each movement, the expansion & contraction of the body center, and how they relate to movement and to transference of energy into the target.
The 3 most necessary activities that produced results for me are (in no particular order): Slow repetition emphasizing exact body mechanics and expansion contraction (especially for kicks), makiwara training, and the kata Hangetsu.
(Looking at what I just wrote, this might all be one thing.) :-)
Makiwara training, IMHO, should be a training device for developing ‘center’, ‘stance’, and ‘focus’. The fact that it conditions your hands and makes you physically stronger is just a side benefit.
I feel the most common mistakes are; trying to ‘hit’ the board, trying to hit the board hard, ‘reaching’ for the board, bracing for the anticipated impact, tensing and expanding the body frame in an attempt to push the board, taking too big of a breath, and failure to hold the focus long enough to feel what you are doing.
While avoiding all of the aforementioned problems, what you want to do is to refine your body motion and muscular contraction, using the board for immediate feed back.
I think of it in these terms:
“Isolating the Finishing Position” / “Isolating Initiation” for the Twist, “Maintaining” the body frame & muscular direction during the movement
“Isolating the Finishing Position”:
One of the first exercises I have people do on the makiwara, and I do my self when I have been away from it too long, is put yourself in a ‘good’ reverse punch position with your punching hand on the board (I recommend starting with your bad side). Without too much detail on the stance, your initial position can be fairly high, especially if you are using this as a warm-up (which I do after tons of arm circles & rolling out my joints), and try to feel that your center slightly leads the rest of your body (chest & shoulders). In your finished position, you are done with your twist and both hips and both shoulders should feel they are pulling forward and together to meet your center, including your inner thighs, at a point several feet in front of the board. The pressure should feel like it is coming from ‘underneath’ your body & not ‘over the top’. To help with this feeling, you can slightly lift your front heel, while simultaneously dropping the muscle group under your hips on your back leg, and squeezing your inner thighs. The result should be a feeling of generating energy down & forward from your center at a 45 degree angle. This is a ‘settling’ feeling and not a tense or forced feeling. (Try to understand this compression and consciously control the contraction rather than relying on exhaling a lot of air to compress your body. )
Increasing this feeling and using your legs to push your center forward should result in more pressure on your fist on the board. There is no more reach or penetration from here, you are already done punching. Sit in this position and relax, so that the weight in your center comes to dominate the feeling. (Nishiyama says ‘soft elbow’, ‘soft shoulder’). If you can, feel the weight on your back heel, under you hip, your center, and your fist; and try to maintain this lineage. (Although at first people may have to think of their elbow and not their fist, but either way, as the punch extends it feel like your elbow is being pulled closer to your center, even though in reality it is moving away).
“Isolating Initiation” for the Twist, [although you can hit the board harder by shifting your weight back and forth as you hit the board; adding shifting power to twisting power, I strongly recommend that you leave your center stationary and isolate the twist]
This is where almost every messes up. I feel the dominating feeling should be one of your body pulling together. I think most people initially initiate by starting a muscle action that results in the body separating. Lets say you are in your reverse punch position and you are about to jab. To get the ‘pulling together’ feeling, have someone grab your extended arm and pull lightly on it. You will respond by trying to pull the energy (and fist) through your center to your back heel, without actually starting the twist. (Also pull the drawing arm elbow to your spine & there is an elbow to elbow relationship) As you feel this pulling energy bringing your body together, it sort of hits a wall in the back of your center and this becomes the base that you start to twist from. When you feel like you have the energy going the right way, twist and jab.
Now they grab your extended jab and you again visualize pulling the energy through your center, into your back leg. As you feel the weight increase in your back heel, let that be the energy that starts your twist. This is very similar to the idea that you generate the force by using your heels/ feet/ ankles to push on the floor. It is just a higher degree of refinement. The energy to your heels relates to your center and your whole system, and the weight never comes off the feet, it is still compressing when you hit the target. It is also the same as ‘more drawing arm’; it’s just sort of a ‘drawing body’.
If, when someone pulls on your extended arm, there is a significant settling of your shoulder (or for that matter, any of your joints), your are over extending, or reaching. There should also not be a major switch in muscle direction. Have this same helpful partner pull on your extended arm, and you respond by pulling together; then have them push on your fist & you should pull even more. It is a very common mistake for someone to try to ‘push’ against the push, but as they come to understand focus a little better, they will start to get the importance of pulling together and feeling the energy flow though them rather than try to directly resist the action.
“Maintaining” the body frame & muscular direction during the movement:
At the initiation of each movement, this directional contraction that leads towards and results in a focus, but it is not the same. Many people, especially those that are already prone to excess tension, try too hard and focus too soon and in so doing, disrupt the continuity and connection they started with. To combat this, after you have the contraction to start the motion, move your legs, move your hip, and let your hand go last (only as a training method), and fly into the board with no effort on your part. AFTER you have hit the board, try to settle and focus and hold the position. When you release this held focus, you should feel a sharp inhale of breath (but not on purpose) and a slight ‘up’ feeling due to the muscle expansion. If, when you release your held position, air comes out of your lungs and you sink a little it means you are tense. (your focus should represent your most settled position). Try to try less. Do not anticipate the impact of the board; Your hand just happens to hit the board as you complete your punch. If you are still tight at the point of impact, give up the focus and do just the punches, but hold the end position, until it starts to settle like in the first section. If it isolates in your shoulder, back off and hit the board very lightly, no power. Just a little powder puffy punch, and then practice settling into position.
It is important that you are able to succeed. If the board is too stiff, or you are trying to penetrate too deep, you are interfering with the ability of your body to come together.
Every once in a while, you will relax enough to hear the board ‘smack’. Your excitement to reproduce this will ensure that it won’t happen. As you get more confident in your punch, start to commit a little deeper, but only to the point where you are still succeeding.
This energy that flows through your system should generally feel like it goes through the center of your bones. If it doesn’t there is either some structural defect to be corrected or there is a misdirection of muscle contraction. Another feeling is that your bone structure is very straight and tall and remains that way during the focus, while the muscles contract around the frame and the energy flows without disrupting the structure..
OK. I’ve used up far more than my fair share of space. I hope it’s understandable. Please write back with input.
Dave in Minnesota
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Hangetsu
Re: Matt D’s questions about Hangetsu.
Warning: this is a long post, but if you have ever read any of my other posts, you will know this is normal. :-)
Before I start, I should tell you Hangetsu is considered by most to be a pretty advanced kata. However, I do feel all levels can benefit from it’s practice.
Of all the Shotokan kata, Hangetsu is my favorite. Throughout my karate career I have been plagued with being too tight (excess tension.) and too slow. Hangetsu taught me to relax and be sharp (relatively speaking :-). I first learned it at 5th kyu level, because it was my instructor’s favorite kata. I liked the insights it offered to expansion/contraction and breathing, so, although I knew it was advanced, I worked on it every once in a while for the next few years.
When I passed shodan, I decided it was time to work on it for real and dedicated the next year or so to working on it consistently in preperation for my ni-dan (we have a two year minimum between shodan & nidan exams). One day my instructor (a different and more senior instructor) had us all working on our own kata and was walking around giving us feedback. After watching my performance his comment was, “Are you just learning this kata?” Not quite sure how to answer, I came up with my usual brilliant response, and kinda said “Ahh…”, seeing my hesitation he then prompted, “you’ve been working on it for about a year?”. I nodded and said, “Hai”. “You’re just learning this kata”, was his pronouncement. This was a clue. :-) Maybe this kata was still a little beyond me and maybe I should pick something else to work on. So I did. After passing nidan, I again started to work on Hangetsu, (thick headed :-) Due to injury, family and work conflicts there was actually about 10 years between my Sho dan & San dan exams. I performed it for my San Dan exam and passed on the first try. (Somewhat unusual where I come from).
I still love it, even though I’ve been working on others, I still come back to it.
So, finally in response to Matt’s questions:
>explain the alignments of the feet, legs and hips for this stance.
>what I understand, it is 2 shoulder-widths in length and 1 shoulder-width
>in depth, with both knee's bent in and the feet turned in as much as
>possible so it feels uncomfortable. Apparently if practiced over a long
>period of time it can cause knee pains to develop. I've also heard that
>this stance is associated with inner tension. Could someone please explain
These days it is sort of trendy to teach the hangetsu stance as sort of a front stance with your front foot turned in. I do not do it this way. To me it feels more like an elongated sanchin dachi, but it has it’s uniqueness also. My stance ends up a couple inches shorter and sometimes a titch wider than zenkutzu. As is true with many karate techniques and concepts, many of the feelings and positions and movements are difficult to write about, but I will try. Also, with time, each individual must find the positions and tensions that are right for them. YOUR KNEES SHOULD NEVER HURT from doing this kata. If they do, it is coming from a misunderstanding of the leg/hip/feet angles and their related pressures.
To find hangetsu stance start from a front stance inside block (uchi uke?) position, so your hips are at a 45 degree angle. This is important, and I think most people miss it. Shift your weight back to 50/50, turn in your front foot about 45 degrees, and squeeze in with your knees. This is the inner tension they are talking about. It is huge, especially at first, when compared to a front stance, but if this remains the dominant feeling of your stance, you will probably hurt your knees. I am tempted to say that the back leg from the knee down is the same position as the front stance, but standing next to my computer now (in my office, where no one has yet paid any attention to the weirdo shifting position from front stance to hangetsu stance, and occasionally sanchin ;-) I find that my back foot is actually turned in a little more than front stance position, if my front stance rear foot position is about 60 degrees, then hangetsu is about 65 or 70 degrees.
After squeezing in, you must relax and sink. The inner tension tends to lift you up, and isolates pressure in your knees. As you sink into a better position, the pressure goes out, especially from your knees to the floor. This is where you can really feel the “hour glass” concept. It is narrow and pulling in at the top and then widens dramatically and pushes out at the bottom (basically from the knees down, although this isn’t quite right either.) The pushing out actually starts above the knees and pushes out through the knees along the center of bone to the floor. So, from one point of view, the inner pressure really just sets your bones into position, and with in this new framework or structure, you try to get pressure from your center to flow through your legs to the ground.
Stay in this position and slowly try to counter punch. You will find your hip rotation is slightly limited. It will not go completely straight (like in zenkutzu) with out changing the position of your front leg. Don’t do this. Try to learn the new position.
Most people think the stance is confining and rigid. It is a little confining at first, but if you learn to work within this new framework, you will discover new relationships, with their own freedoms and advantages. IMHO no stance should ever be rigid. Many people make this mistake. If you can’t feel the energy flowing, sinking, and transferring through your position, it is wrong.
A GOOD EXERCISE for learning the stance, and for getting a better idea of front stance too:
Get a partner and an extra belt (or one of you take off yours). Loop the belt around your waist (low; at the hip/leg joint) and have your partner stand behind you holding both ends of the belt. Assume a front stance (zenkutsu dachi) and have your partner pull straight back (behind you) and down towards the ground at a 45 degree angle or so. You should be able to resist this pressure, not by directly pushing against it, but by increasing the pressure from your center to the floor, and sinking into your stance. Now have your partner stop pulling and move around to the front. When your partner applies pressure forward and down, you should be able to resist it the same way, do not switch your position and try not to lose the pressure to the back leg (very difficult). In your front stance you should be able to handle a lot of force straight from the front or back. Try to keep the pressure from your center to UNDER your hip.
Standing either in front or in back, if the pulling partner moves off to one side, even a little, you will either lose your balance or be forced to change position to maintain it.
Now start in the hangetsu position. When your partner starts to pull from behind, you may have difficulty maintaining the position. This is actually a weak spot in the hangetsu stance. Pay special attention to squeezing in and tucking in your butt cheeks. Try to keep the tension flowing along the bottom of your legs to the floor.
After you have this position, have the person start to circle around you and maintain the pulling pressure. This is where you can start to feel the pressure shift in the stance even the position doesn’t change. When you start to lose it, push down harder from your center and inner thighs and grab with your toes. You will start to get an understanding of new connections.
Try to recreate this feeling when ever you do the kata, even without the person pulling on you.
Next try performing the kata with this type of resistance. The first move is one of the most difficult. The squeeze in between moves is VERY important. Start with straight in, straight out elbow motion. It may evolve to slightly circular. Make sure to get your elbow past center when coiling.
At first when performing the kata, try to focus each move completely, release completely and move on to the next move. Eventually, the release of one move IS the beginning of the next, and each focus has a direction; when released, naturally moves towards the next position.
Observations from the kata Hangetsu:
- Hangetsu stance utilizes multidirectional stability
- Teaches how to create a base using indirect pressure and use this base to operate from
- Teaches how to separate squeezing and expansion/contraction from breathing
- Your elbow and knees sort of match (and the pressure along inner arm and inner leg)
- Your front foot position is already set to be the back leg if you were to shift to the inside, i.e. if you are in a left foot forward hangetzu stance, the angle of your knee and foot is such that you can shift directly to the right (moving in and out with your foot work) without losing any drive or requiring any reposition of the structure to move. This is a huge advantage over the front stance where this is not possible. Try both by having your partner pull from the side.
- Both of your front two hip joints should have pretty sharp angles in relationship to your legs. If they start to become smooth, you are over-tucking.
- It is better to start in this stance a little too short, rather than a little too long. Being too long increases the chance of knee injury. You can only go as long as you can maintain positive pressure on the joints. Compression rather than pulling apart.
- Training in this stance and kata teaches you more about all stances and kata.
:-)
Even for me, this is a long post. I have to get back to work now. As always, I appreciate any feedback in private or on the list.
Sincerely,
Dave in Minnesota
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Side Thrust Kick
>Shotokan appears to execute the sidekick with the kicking leg coming from behind, i.e. one steps across with the front leg and kick with what would be the back leg (if one were standing in kosa dachi). Is this a correct assessment of the Shotokan side kick, and if so, how does one manage to avoid being impeded by the front leg?>
Why do we do this? It is important to understand that kicking from kiba dache is meant to be a simplified training method to learn the technique. It is NOT meant to be used this way. In actual application (in s/d or in kumite) you would not start in kiba dache and cross in front to kick with the back leg. We usually launch it from our “fighting position”; 50/50 weight distribution, left side forward, body turn 45 degrees. If you want to kick with the back leg, you coil pretty much like a front kick (except for the foot position and inner thigh tension) and thrust from the coil, pivoting hips and support side as necessary (or personal preference).
Training from kiba dache should develop the ability to side thrust with either leg, in any direction (from fighting position). A different teaching method I have seen used in other styles, is to cross your left leg behind, already pointing to the back, and coil and thrust with the kicking side. (this is actually closer in concept to our back thrust) The advantage of this method is, it’s easy, you could actually use it right away. It also gives you a broad range of target acquisition, as the kicking foot and leg are in striking position from the beginning. It’s also simple. No twisting or turning or anything. IMHO, though it is somewhat limited in it’s potential, and it doesn’t develop the same versatility of use. I have seen advanced practitioners of this method who still must turn before they kick. For a much more detailed description, please read the next section (if you don’t care, then skip this part :) ):
I have thought about our methodology of teaching the side thrust (we also have a side snap and a back thrust) quite a bit, as it does appear to be a somewhat unique (and complicated) teaching progression. We practice the side thrust moving across the floor in kiba dachi stance. Start in kiba dachi (like if you were practicing punching in side stance or horse stance). If you are going to kick with your right leg, you turn your head to the right and move your arms into sort of right “fighting position”, your right arm is reaching to the right side and your left arm is across your body, also pointing to the right.
Cross your left foot over your right and plant the ball of foot in line with the right foot (like the first move of tekki/nihanchi). Simultaneously drop your left heel to the floor and coil the right leg. In this coiled position, your body is still upright and your hip is still underneath you. Your knee is up and sort of makes a 45 degree angle, up and to the right (so it doesn’t point straight to the right, it’s a little more towards the front). There is actually a pretty strong body center contraction going on at this time. This center contraction is not a focus, but it is a contraction like you are on your way to a focus. The center contraction has the feeling of drawing the inner thigh, knee, inner shin, and inner sole of foot towards your center, making your coil tighter and more controlled (edge your kicking foot). Your kicking knee is continuing to want to move towards the target, building a potential energy in the system (kind of a result of the knee moving towards target verses the center squeezing it back in).
From here, you thrust. :-) Although the mechanics don’t match, the feeling of thrusting should be made by increasing the pressure to the floor from the center. While making pressure to the floor, keep your knee up, extend leg, twisting your hip and support leg to the end position. Initially, over-twist your hip (to almost a back thrust position) to teach yourself the muscle action, and let your support leg pivot as far as it wants to (it may end up facing 180 degrees away from your target). In this thrusting position, you must focus (kime). The main pressure, as I mentioned, is from your center to the floor, but there is also a strong pull along the bottom (inner side) of your kicking leg, pulling into center and being directed to the floor. This is helped by strongly edging your foot. So the end foot-position is horizontal, striking with the heel edge. It is important in all focused techniques for the feeling of “pulling together” and “settling” to be dominant, rather than any sensation of pulling apart. Try to perform all these actions while maintaining the vertical plane established by the initial stance.
As the practitioner gets more of a feeling for the kick, some things will change. The twisting of the hip will lessen, but the muscles will still do the same work. The support leg may not pivot as far, in fact a flexible individual may not pivot at all.
In general when kicking, try to make the support leg the heavy leg and the kicking leg the light leg. Sometimes this is difficult. Especially when thrusting, people tend to overemphasis the kicking side and totally forget about the support leg and center. Eventually, with the thrust, you should develop the center and the support leg to be the base and the dynamics of the coil and center contraction/expansion/contraction will start to give the feel the kicking leg is drawn into center and “bounces” or rebounds out into the target. When this becomes more automatic, it allows you to concentrate more on directing energy from the center to the floor and into the target. Make sure to hold the thrusting position for a second or two. It gives you a chance to actually learn the position.
Common mistakes in the side thrust: Too much emphasis on the kicking leg (or a lack of pressure on the center and support side, depending on your point of view). Changing position during the coil; leaning, hunching, changing the body plane, and the biggie: letting your bottom hip out of place when initiating the kick.
One training method I like to use to fix these problems is to train against a wall in three different ways. The first way, is just for stability when going through the sequence of the kick. In place against the wall, standing with your feet together, I use a five count method. 1) COIL to sort of a side snap position: here make sure your body is straight, and your center is together with your hip underneath. 2) COIL HIGHER: pick the knee up higher and increase the pressure to center (at this point your hip is still underneath, too many people tilt their hips and stick their butt out here). 3) THRUST; as previously described, drop your weight and twist into the extended thrust position (the muscles under your left butt cheek should still be connected), hold the position long enough to feel the control points and feel the pressure pulling your kicking leg to center and the energy flowing towards the ground. At first, you may lean backwards for balance, but eventually your shoulders will remain relatively stable, and become a secondary base. 4) RECOIL back to side snap position, with pressure settling towards floor. 5) put your foot down. :-) Eventually you can skip 1 and hold at 2. Then you can bounce through 1 and 2 and hold the thrust (3)
The next method of using the wall is the same except you move across the floor in kiba dache to a six count. Start with your back to the wall in kiba dache with your heels positioned about two inches (5 cm) or so away from the wall. The first count is cross, and the subsequent counts are from the previous exercise. Try to feel like your shoulders and hips are staying parallel with the wall (like touching) as you do each count. Still make pressure into the floor though. Hint: if when you thrust, your hip bumps the wall and pushes you away, you are breaking the plane of the thrust when you kick. ;-)
The last methods of using the wall, is similar, except you face the wall as you move along it. This one has some great feed back ;-) In kiba dache, put your toes about 6 inches (15 cm) or so away from the wall. Assuming your are kicking with the right leg, rest your left forearm on the wall (in front and across your body) as you move through the sequence, make sure your forearm maintains contact and feels forward towards the target (to your right). If it pulls away, it is an indication your are stretching apart when you thrust. If you hit your head on the wall, you are again breaking the plane of the by bending the hip in the wrong way. :-)
The end of another overlong post!
As always, I welcome any comments, critiques, suggestions, or other input.
Sincerely
Dave in Minnesota
