How do I train kime?

[TenHands]

I'm often told that kime can be better practiced by a.) relaxing, and b.) finding that "sweet spot" of tension at the end of a technique. From my understanding, kime is enhanced when the distance between the point of relaxation and the point of tension is shortened (in other words, instead of tensing the punch up 5 inches before impact, tensing it up 2 inches before impact, if that makes sense).

How do I shorten this "sweet spot" and what exercises can I do to improve this aspect of my training? Like, if I were to do absolutely nothing except kime-enhancing exercises for 3 months, what would you recommend?

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Practice correct breathing, balance, and stance, and forget about when to apply tension in a technique. When your body aligns, your punches will be fine.

What you are describing sounds to me more like a different phrase, chinkuchi, but I'm not an expert in Japanese terms. Kime to me means focus.

Nevertheless, producing power in karate involves the entire body, in my experience. If you stop worrying about when precisely to tense your muscles and simply practice good body mechanics, the punches will take care of themselves.

 

[isshinryuronin]

I'm often told that kime can be better practiced by a.) relaxing, and b.) finding that "sweet spot" of tension at the end of a technique. From my understanding, kime is enhanced when the distance between the point of relaxation and the point of tension is shortened (in other words, instead of tensing the punch up 5 inches before impact, tensing it up 2 inches before impact, if that makes sense).

How do I shorten this "sweet spot" and what exercises can I do to improve this aspect of my training? Like, if I were to do absolutely nothing except kime-enhancing exercises for 3 months, what would you recommend?

What you are describing sounds to me more like a different phrase, chinkuchi

Interesting question. Chinkuchi and kime are similar, but have some subtle differences in meaning. The following is my understanding of the terms, though there may be other shades of interpretation:

Kime is a Japanese word and has the general meaning in karate as tightening the muscles so the technique stops at a certain point. This is also often called "focus." A controlled strike in tournament point sparring where the punch stops with power and speed 2" from the opponent's face is an example.

Chinkuchi is an Okinawan word and also implies a controlled tightening of the muscles. But rather than just for suddenly stopping the fist in a punch, however, it entails locking the entire body including the lats, pecs, hips abs, and feet as well as the arm. And breath control as always.

Furthermore, and more importantly, the purpose of chinkuchi is not so much for control, or focus, but for power generation and the transference of that power into the opponent (ateifa/atifa in Okinawan.) So this term, I think, is deeper in meaning and more specific, stressing the power component more so than kime.

As for developing these physical concepts, relaxation is one of the keys, as well as having strong body mechanics as Bill stated. For chinkuchi, practice in muscle control is needed and a "feel" for power/energy projection as well. I would hesitate in giving specific exercises as I feel that it is a byproduct of extensive practice incorporating several skills and will "come" once you have achieved a certain level. There is no shortcut.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

tensing the punch up 5 inches before impact, tensing it up 2 inches before impact,

Why do you want to tense before impact?

Do you tense for your hook punch?

 

[Argus]

I'm not a Karate practitioner (at least, not anymore. I did it for a short time), but I have practiced many traditional striking arts, so I'm mainly bringing this up as a question / potential thing to think about:

Is it a good idea to specifically practice tensing up at the end of the punch, and to focus heavily on that?
I've always considered this an artificial element of training -- something that we do to prevent injury to our own joints (hyper extension) or to cultivate control so that we can avoid hitting our training partners.
A certain amount of tension at the end may be necessary to give a punch structure (keep the wrist from buckling), but tensing up too much just results in stopping / pulling the punch. It's my impression that the more relaxed you remain, the more speed and power you can generate.

In Chinese martial arts, I found the image of an "iron bar wrapped in a wet towel" to be a helpful phrase when envisioning the sort of soft and relaxed, but heavy (and solid/structured) punch that we're going for. The muscles used to stop the punch actually work against this.

Hitting a bag or something is good for this reason -- you can practice releasing power and not pulling your punches without hyper extending your elbow.

As I mentioned before though, some tension in the wrist at the end of the punch may be necessary to keep it from buckling. I think this is something you get a good sense for also by hitting a bag.

To some extent you can learn to isolate and contract only certain muscle groups, which may also prove beneficial.

But, as I said, I'm not really familiar with the role or purpose of "kime" or "chinkuchi," so I can't comment on those concepts or how they should be interpreted. And I'm always looking to learn, because I'm not nearly as experienced as many of the other guys commenting here.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Is it a good idea to specifically practice tensing up at the end of the punch, and to focus heavily on that?

Agree! Before we can discuss "how", we should discuss "why" first.

 

[_Simon_]

Good question, and oft debated haha!

Some great responses already, but yeah kime is often thought of as a 'tightening', but I've heard it said that it's not a helpful way to frame it, but it's rather a shoring up of the links throughout the body so that it's the most direct and efficient resonating line of energy transferring and flowing through your body. A tightening is like a "stopping" of that energy flow, whereas we want a natural flow, in which energy is transferred efficiently, and for the musculature to help support that rather than stifle and halt it.

Found this video very helpful and much of his stuff is incredible:

Also a very fascinating and insightful article too:

the-dojo.org

This domain may be for sale!

the-dojo.org

It also touches on ki, muchimi, looseness and importance of starting from and returning to relaxation... ties it all together nicely. Although a long article a really great read, and the YouTube videos along the way are great examples too.

In terms of specific exercises I would say just get more in tune with your body. Paradoxically, much slower training can help you feel the kinetic chain that runs through body. Impact work (eg bagwork) can also be very informative and gives you great immediate feedback. But solo training where there's more of an inward focus can really flesh out where you're holding unnecessary tension, at what points you're actually putting on the brakes in your technique. Practice practice practice!

There's another video I have in mind but can't find it argh... will get back to you haha

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

This thread remind me the discussion between the Karate roundhouse kick and MT roundhouse kick.

- The Karate roundhouse kick is like to tense up.
- The MT roundhouse kick is like to go through.

What's the difference there?

If you throw

- fast 3 straight punches in 1 second,
- circular punch such as hook, uppercut, overhand, hammer fist, back fist, ...,

do you tense up at the end of each punch?

 

[TenHands]

I took all your replies into consideration + asked my sensei. I think I see what my issue was now.

Apparently, when they say "relax and contract at the very end," this does NOT mean "relax at the start, then progressively contract, reaching maximum contraction at the very end." In other words, what I was doing was starting my contraction as I throw the technique and simply maximizing the contraction at the very end of it, while I should be staying totally relaxed and suddenly and rapidly contracting at the very end. I have begun to fix this simple misunderstanding and within only a few days I'm feeling improvements. I might post a video later on.

As usual, thanks to all who replied! This forum has so far cleared up a lot of problems that I've had with my training.

 

[Koryuhoka]

I'm often told that kime can be better practiced by a.) relaxing, and b.) finding that "sweet spot" of tension at the end of a technique. From my understanding, kime is enhanced when the distance between the point of relaxation and the point of tension is shortened (in other words, instead of tensing the punch up 5 inches before impact, tensing it up 2 inches before impact, if that makes sense).

How do I shorten this "sweet spot" and what exercises can I do to improve this aspect of my training? Like, if I were to do absolutely nothing except kime-enhancing exercises for 3 months, what would you recommend?

I think that you are putting too much thought into this. Kime, is the point when you basically connect, and through the amount of power you generate - release the energy into the target.

The only thing I could think of that is "kime-enhancing", would be real makiwara training.

The problem I see is that you are looking for a time-frame in which to accomplish this. Real makiwara training, and karate training in general, has no end or definitive time-frame for success.

A makiwara is an implement that will have its way with you. Before you begin to understand it, you will hate it and regret taking that step towards correctness in skill and understanding. It will teach you real fast how little you know about punching - atemi in general.

But you need someone to show you, who really knows about makiwara. It's not something you want to tackle without guidance. And I am referring to a REAL makiwara, not one of those clapper junk type you find at online marial arts supply stores. .

Training in karate/martial arts will develop your kime as a side affect from your hard work, and there is more to it than what I explained.