QUOTE
July 23rd, 2009
Hello
In This Issue
> The Long Strech (Part One)
> Correct Footwork Leads To Powerful Techniques
> myGKR Training Tip Sample
Regular group classes are the main focus for many martial artists, but in order to truly excel in your art you must be willing to put in extra time outside of regular practice in order to fully internalize the techniques and movements you are learning.
When you start in martial arts, there is a tendency to feel that the regular class is enough. However, as you progress and see how truly deep the art goes, you begin to realize that much more training is called for if you really want to excel.
You will never reach your potential if you only think about karate when you are training in class. Of course, you must attend the public classes. That is where you are taught the specifics of karate techniques as well as kata and kumite, but it is up to you to spend the time necessary to actually learn or internalize what you are being taught. Supplemental training is your opportunity to do this. Note too that the effort you put into training outside of class will quickly be apparent when you are in class.
Running, swimming, strength training as well as home karate practice are all common supplemental training programs people engage in. One that people often neglect is stretching.
The Long Stretch
One of the most important aspects of Martial arts training is proper stretching. Training is difficult enough without having to be concerned that our muscles are not ready for what we will ask of them. In most karate classes, stretching is primarily focused on specific muscles or muscle groups of muscles that are to be used during the class. It usually entails pulling muscles in opposite directions in order to loosen them up. The stretches concentrate on short extensions in preparation for the rigorous physical exercise that is to come. Other muscles, which may only play a supporting role, are often insufficiently stretched.
The Long Stretch can be described as a holistic practice. It concentrates on the body as a whole instead of individual muscles. It focuses on the interconnectedness of the muscles of the body and works to strengthen and tone them effectively.
In karate the body is trained to move as a complete unit. Each muscle works in harmony to produce an effective technique. Proper stretching, which enables each muscle to do its part, is a priority. The better we train all of our muscles the better they will respond when called upon to perform.
Practicing the Long Stretch helps coordinate the muscles and get them all working together. It works to lengthen, tone and stretch your complete musculature along an extended range of motion. This is done by slowing down the pace at which you stretch and bringing mindful-awareness to your body. Deep breathing and relaxation are used to gradually lengthen the muscle extension, enabling the release of the tension trapped within.
For your home training, it’s a great idea to engage in the Long Stretch after you do any type of exercise. The great thing about stretching is that you can do it in the comfort of your own home, even while watching TV.
The results will be better mobility, flexibility and balance each and every time you exercise. It will also decrease muscular soreness and prevent injury.
Next month I will discuss other essential elements of getting the most out of your stretching.
The best performance in kata and/or kumite comes from the students that remember and do the basics very well. But Basics do not just include throwing techniques from heiko datchi, nor do they just include holding the various stances. An area of Basics often neglected by students is that of transition. In other words, moving from one stance to executing a technique in another stance.
Good preparation within your footwork transition can help you deliver a faster, more balanced and overall, more devastating technique.
Some people seem to have the mentality that because their feet are already on the floor, there’s no need to worry about them and focus only on the punches, blocks and kicks. Stances are a big area of importance and you must have a strong foundation for delivering more powerful basics.
Transition entails what happens over your entire body while you are between techniques.
Some people hold a great technique in stance. Then move through poorly (the transition), and end up in a great finished stance. This is not enough for good karate. The transition (the period of movement between the two techniques and stances) is of equal importance.
When doing your punches and blocks in line, your return hand is always brought back to chamber, ready and prepared to deliver the next good technique. We all know that if you don’t pull it all the way back, that the technique will come out come out sloppy and less powerful. The same applies to your footwork and hip work. So it is important to remember to bring your feet in to the right preparation point to be able to achieve the right finish.
If you are moving forwards or backwards from one stance to another, the correct position for your feet at the half way stage would be your ankle joints almost brushing each other. So your Gi pants should scrape past each other (just like when you’re punching, your sleeves scrape past your body). Many people have the habit of, for example, when stepping through in forward stance (Zenkutsu datchi) of keeping the feet one shoulder distance apart all the way through to the next Zenkutsu datchi.
Your foot should come into a central point to be able to fire back out into the right position. Think of how slinky works, when you push it down the stairs it reaches a half way fully coiled position and energy fires back out to go down another step. If you meet the right compact transition point half way, then you can fire out properly with full control.
Here’s something for you to try, use any of the four basic kicks. At a fully extended position, keep your leg there and try and turn 90 degrees four times so you are back to facing the front where you started minimizing how much you wobble. Then practise the same idea, this time bringing your leg out and back for each turn so it’s, for example for front kick, your ankle is next to your supporting legs knee when you do the 90 degree twists. I’m sure with or without trying you’ll know which one gets a better results.
If you now focus on this principle when moving in any direction, I’m sure you’ll get a better understanding and higher level of achievement within what you apply it to, be it Kata, Kumite and even self-defence. Your body has huge amount of natural power regardless of size and strength, so using it to it’s own advantage can help unlock a massive amount of potential within your karate and many other areas.
To many karate-ka, kata is a means to an end. In other words, ‘develop your kata so you can grade and go on to a new kata’. Or, ‘Develop your kata so you can win a gold medal’. Others simply enjoy the physical and mental challenge that comes with trying to master the mechanics of each kata.
Kata however is far more than a means to an end and a coordination challenge. Ultimately, kata contains the majority of karate’s self-defence philosophies and principles.
Because of this, a student should be mindful of far more than just what angles to hold their hips, hands or feet on etc.
Over the following weeks, we shall discuss some of the underlying principles of kata. With the knowledge of these, a student can train in kata with an improved mindset and ultimately increase their overall karate ability.
There is no one single application (Bunkai) for a kata technique.
Students may often ask, “what is the correct application for this technique?” The truth is, there is no single correct application. Yatsune Itosu, the Instructor of Gichen Funakoshi wrote, “There are many movements in karate. When you train you must try to understand the aim of the movement and its application. You have to take into account all possible meanings and applications of the move. Each move can have many applications and students should even come up with their own applications for kata techniques. There are no right or wrong applications, only those that work and those that don’t!”
If a bunkai you have been shown, or yourself invented is different to what others promote, it does not make it wrong. So long as you have the ability to use it effectively then it can be viewed as a correct Bunkai. However keep in mind the following:
All Bunkai should end the confrontation immediately.
If your bunkai interpretation leaves your opponent still standing, or able to fight then it should be viewed as incorrect.
As an example, many kata use a combination of multiple blocks. If you practise the bunkai with these blocks, yet without a devastating follow-up, or where the blocks do not lead to a completely disabled attacker, then it would be an incorrect bunkai. Keep in mind that kata applications were deliberately hidden to prevent onlookers uncovering karate’s secrets. Therefore, just because a technique is a block, it does not mean it was intended to be used that way in bunkai.
Hello
In This Issue
> The Long Strech (Part One)
> Correct Footwork Leads To Powerful Techniques
> myGKR Training Tip Sample
Regular group classes are the main focus for many martial artists, but in order to truly excel in your art you must be willing to put in extra time outside of regular practice in order to fully internalize the techniques and movements you are learning.
When you start in martial arts, there is a tendency to feel that the regular class is enough. However, as you progress and see how truly deep the art goes, you begin to realize that much more training is called for if you really want to excel.
You will never reach your potential if you only think about karate when you are training in class. Of course, you must attend the public classes. That is where you are taught the specifics of karate techniques as well as kata and kumite, but it is up to you to spend the time necessary to actually learn or internalize what you are being taught. Supplemental training is your opportunity to do this. Note too that the effort you put into training outside of class will quickly be apparent when you are in class.
Running, swimming, strength training as well as home karate practice are all common supplemental training programs people engage in. One that people often neglect is stretching.
The Long Stretch
One of the most important aspects of Martial arts training is proper stretching. Training is difficult enough without having to be concerned that our muscles are not ready for what we will ask of them. In most karate classes, stretching is primarily focused on specific muscles or muscle groups of muscles that are to be used during the class. It usually entails pulling muscles in opposite directions in order to loosen them up. The stretches concentrate on short extensions in preparation for the rigorous physical exercise that is to come. Other muscles, which may only play a supporting role, are often insufficiently stretched.
The Long Stretch can be described as a holistic practice. It concentrates on the body as a whole instead of individual muscles. It focuses on the interconnectedness of the muscles of the body and works to strengthen and tone them effectively.
In karate the body is trained to move as a complete unit. Each muscle works in harmony to produce an effective technique. Proper stretching, which enables each muscle to do its part, is a priority. The better we train all of our muscles the better they will respond when called upon to perform.
Practicing the Long Stretch helps coordinate the muscles and get them all working together. It works to lengthen, tone and stretch your complete musculature along an extended range of motion. This is done by slowing down the pace at which you stretch and bringing mindful-awareness to your body. Deep breathing and relaxation are used to gradually lengthen the muscle extension, enabling the release of the tension trapped within.
For your home training, it’s a great idea to engage in the Long Stretch after you do any type of exercise. The great thing about stretching is that you can do it in the comfort of your own home, even while watching TV.
The results will be better mobility, flexibility and balance each and every time you exercise. It will also decrease muscular soreness and prevent injury.
Next month I will discuss other essential elements of getting the most out of your stretching.
The best performance in kata and/or kumite comes from the students that remember and do the basics very well. But Basics do not just include throwing techniques from heiko datchi, nor do they just include holding the various stances. An area of Basics often neglected by students is that of transition. In other words, moving from one stance to executing a technique in another stance.
Good preparation within your footwork transition can help you deliver a faster, more balanced and overall, more devastating technique.
Some people seem to have the mentality that because their feet are already on the floor, there’s no need to worry about them and focus only on the punches, blocks and kicks. Stances are a big area of importance and you must have a strong foundation for delivering more powerful basics.
Transition entails what happens over your entire body while you are between techniques.
Some people hold a great technique in stance. Then move through poorly (the transition), and end up in a great finished stance. This is not enough for good karate. The transition (the period of movement between the two techniques and stances) is of equal importance.
When doing your punches and blocks in line, your return hand is always brought back to chamber, ready and prepared to deliver the next good technique. We all know that if you don’t pull it all the way back, that the technique will come out come out sloppy and less powerful. The same applies to your footwork and hip work. So it is important to remember to bring your feet in to the right preparation point to be able to achieve the right finish.
If you are moving forwards or backwards from one stance to another, the correct position for your feet at the half way stage would be your ankle joints almost brushing each other. So your Gi pants should scrape past each other (just like when you’re punching, your sleeves scrape past your body). Many people have the habit of, for example, when stepping through in forward stance (Zenkutsu datchi) of keeping the feet one shoulder distance apart all the way through to the next Zenkutsu datchi.
Your foot should come into a central point to be able to fire back out into the right position. Think of how slinky works, when you push it down the stairs it reaches a half way fully coiled position and energy fires back out to go down another step. If you meet the right compact transition point half way, then you can fire out properly with full control.
Here’s something for you to try, use any of the four basic kicks. At a fully extended position, keep your leg there and try and turn 90 degrees four times so you are back to facing the front where you started minimizing how much you wobble. Then practise the same idea, this time bringing your leg out and back for each turn so it’s, for example for front kick, your ankle is next to your supporting legs knee when you do the 90 degree twists. I’m sure with or without trying you’ll know which one gets a better results.
If you now focus on this principle when moving in any direction, I’m sure you’ll get a better understanding and higher level of achievement within what you apply it to, be it Kata, Kumite and even self-defence. Your body has huge amount of natural power regardless of size and strength, so using it to it’s own advantage can help unlock a massive amount of potential within your karate and many other areas.
To many karate-ka, kata is a means to an end. In other words, ‘develop your kata so you can grade and go on to a new kata’. Or, ‘Develop your kata so you can win a gold medal’. Others simply enjoy the physical and mental challenge that comes with trying to master the mechanics of each kata.
Kata however is far more than a means to an end and a coordination challenge. Ultimately, kata contains the majority of karate’s self-defence philosophies and principles.
Because of this, a student should be mindful of far more than just what angles to hold their hips, hands or feet on etc.
Over the following weeks, we shall discuss some of the underlying principles of kata. With the knowledge of these, a student can train in kata with an improved mindset and ultimately increase their overall karate ability.
There is no one single application (Bunkai) for a kata technique.
Students may often ask, “what is the correct application for this technique?” The truth is, there is no single correct application. Yatsune Itosu, the Instructor of Gichen Funakoshi wrote, “There are many movements in karate. When you train you must try to understand the aim of the movement and its application. You have to take into account all possible meanings and applications of the move. Each move can have many applications and students should even come up with their own applications for kata techniques. There are no right or wrong applications, only those that work and those that don’t!”
If a bunkai you have been shown, or yourself invented is different to what others promote, it does not make it wrong. So long as you have the ability to use it effectively then it can be viewed as a correct Bunkai. However keep in mind the following:
All Bunkai should end the confrontation immediately.
If your bunkai interpretation leaves your opponent still standing, or able to fight then it should be viewed as incorrect.
As an example, many kata use a combination of multiple blocks. If you practise the bunkai with these blocks, yet without a devastating follow-up, or where the blocks do not lead to a completely disabled attacker, then it would be an incorrect bunkai. Keep in mind that kata applications were deliberately hidden to prevent onlookers uncovering karate’s secrets. Therefore, just because a technique is a block, it does not mean it was intended to be used that way in bunkai.
Any thoughts?
, except they accredit the original author... it foes descibe what the long stretch actually is though
