no kata

[Ippon Ken]

Some makiwara don't "spring". They are wall mounted or very secure and are for training the karate-ka to hit a solid target that doesn't give much or move in the opposite direction. If you do makiwara training right you won't ever develop visibly huge callouses or knuckles. Now if you make a tight fist they might look different, but with a relaxed hand it should look no different than anyone else's. If your knuckles look deformed or grotesque then you're doing it all wrong.

For advanced practitioners 20-30 strikes per fist is sufficient, and you don't have to do it everyday. For beginners 10 max (per fist) is all you should do.

Again' this is as an exercise in proper mechanics and alignment more than it is fist conditioning. If you "wing it" , make the fist too horizontal (or vertical) and snap your punches, then you are using bad form. There is a way to stand and use a solid base (without thrusting forward with your rear foot), and a way to drop your weight or raise it up and torque your hips, when you use the makiwara. At first the lack of give will jolt you. After you figure out how to hit it, your punch will be much stronger than it could ever be hitting a heavy-bag, and you'll send that rebound energy right back into the makiwara.

I'll leave it at that. Seems I write on this site for no reason anyway. The only time anyone has recently even paid attention to what I've posted was when I disagreed about the validity of a Japanese style of karate claiming it was Okinawan.

Have fun and train smart. Oh, and go find a real sensei to train under.

 

[TimoS]

I am not comparing karate training to boxing or sport karate,I am talking about one punch one kill.

Personally I view the "one punch one kill" slogan as a more of a philosophical guide than an actual technique.

 

[jakmak52]

I believe kata/forms/poomse is the foundation of the martial arts I have studied. It has developed and increased my focus,concentration, memory, technique, and endurance as well as the other variaton of bunkai to assimulate attacks from multiple opponents. It also wins me trophies:ultracool

 

[GAB]

Hi All,

Please use the speed bag and the other bags that are avaliable.

Much better for you...:whip:

Do your Katas and Forms and Dances and Sets, stay away from the beating of your hands or gaining lots of callous on the inside of hands from hard work or the knuckles from the boards!!! (carpentry)

Learn FMA, don't beat up your body, much experience talking hear/here!!!

Regards, Gary

 

[GAB]

Hi,

If you want to talk about the one punch one kill, and train for it, you are on a path that is probably not real fullfilling.

One shot one kill, for hunters, that is the way some view the ultimate prize.

In self defense, or the reason you are taking the art, if that is the reason. Go and start training with a firearm.

I have seen many shooting's, one shot, one kill works good, when you have a shotgun and the victim is about ideally 20 feet from you with 00 or 000. Closer, I prefer # fives or #fours.

I have seen people shot to rags and still live, then I have seen some shot once and die.

Being gut shot is not a good thing, my Dad was gut shot accidently as a teenager spent 6 mos in the hospital in Denver CO. It was in the 30's very lucky person. Hey, I would not be here giving you this lecture. Sorry dude...

I grew up, no guns.

I had bow and arrows, crossbows, made alot of them myself, and blow guns and slingshots and spears and knives and swords and bayonets and throwing knives hand to hand combat, but no guns..

It is a very sad and disasterous thing to take someones life, even if they deserve it. The ramifications are endless...

In some countries they don't do it and in others they do.
If you are truly the warrior and have that mindset, you will be ok. Maybe???

If not you will be better to stick to training in Katas. IMHO

Regards, Gary

 

[BlackCatBonz]

i do believe in the one shot idea, but i want robert to correct if i am wrong.
i believe the philosophy comes from the saying "ichi byo shi" which means "in one breath".
i take that to mean this, when an attack is started the issue is decided and ended as quickly as it began, in one breath, or at the same instant.......i think this is maybe a better philosophy to live by from a self defense point of view.

shawn

 

[Wikket]

Referring to kata:
Unfortunately too many people now only practice the performance aspect of kata and have lost site of its value as a training tool, just like Makawara, mitts etc. It surpasses these by training real applications which when practiced in context develop defensive skills. The difficult bit is finding someone who can teach this. Tournaments and lack of handed down knowledge has reduced kata in many circles to being almost simply a dance - techniques are adapted to look good and the bunkai is changed to suit the new performance based style.

I especially liked this from page 1

Just as one who knows how to “read” kata can go further and deeper into training. Kata are the “reference manuals”, “dictionaries”, and “thesauruses” for martial arts. Those who don’t value their worth don’t know how to “read” them

 

[loki09789]

i do believe in the one shot idea, but i want robert to correct if i am wrong.
i believe the philosophy comes from the saying "ichi byo shi" which means "in one breath".
i take that to mean this, when an attack is started the issue is decided and ended as quickly as it began, in one breath, or at the same instant.......i think this is maybe a better philosophy to live by from a self defense point of view.

shawn

I have never heard that interpretation of the idea before. It makes more tactical sense to me than the artistic/stylistic goal of 'one shot' finishers (which might be an aesthetic/artistic focus but isn't a fight/self defense reality).

Just last class I was telling students to do the self defense technique in one long exhale to really improve fluidity and relaxation/coordination....cool.

 

[Keetoowah]

I used to feel this was about kata. That is until I became a real martial artist. I had to grow. I also used to scoff at the idea of chi and internal arts.
What can I say? I grew up. What does bother me is that I am studying a mixed kenpo/kungfu Frankensteinian style. However we do Okinawan kata that looks absofreakin-nothing like our circular and flowing techniques. I would LOVE the kata if it used the self defense we learn. Right now it's pretty worthless because they are just moves that are dances that we gotta do to get the next belt because they are not what we do in combat - and they therefor do not help us understand our techniques. If you are having a hard time imagining what I am talking about just imagine how effective shotokan katas would be for a Bagua student. Duh. Like total waste of time. If I ever taught I would either teach tai chi forms or invent my own to coincide with the techniques. And if you purists don't like that then sorry - some one had to invent katas.

 

[MahaKaal]

In my art we dont have katas as such, but over the time that a student practises and learns strategies / concepts / techniques he develops his own Penthra (footwork, strategy, technique, flow) and the student is encouraged to mentally think of attacks and defences, counters and counter-counters. In the mind there is constant imagery of combat, and over time you develop a dynamic, ever changing, adaptable and flexible "kata" which aids your fighting and at the same time developing mental processing and calculations of techniques.

This is expressed by the students Bhaavna (emotion) and each student will develop soemthing which is individual to him, but he will still stay within the format and boundaries of the art.

 

[Em MacIntosh]

I find kata is great for warming up and developing muscle memory but patterns can be detrimental and make you predictable. I prefer a "sticking hands(ish)" style to learn to react with the apropriate technique to the random attack. That way I can learn visual reaction congruent with muscle memory without having to visualize and concentrate harder than my surroundings require. The japanese language won't help you defend yourself, and what is learned in kata can be learned through other methods I personally find produce improvements of a higher quality more efficiently. To me, katas are a combination of renzouko-waza put together as a substitute for written record, I find no spiritual meaning in them though they do have meditative properties. I perform kata for tradition's sake and I do learn for the time I spend doing them. I prefer to break a kata down into it's component movements and try to learn to transition from one technique to the other but not in the same order as the kata.

 

[Jim Greenwood]

Kata has meaning and there is a reason you do it... it is to train you to do without thinking. You learn to fight from the void and defend without thought. You do it over and over and over to train your body to react in that split second. Yeah “kata” can’t be done very well with sparring because if done right it’s dangerous. Kata is the essence of Karate, any system of Karate… No matter if its Okinawan system or Japanese or Chinese or American or even Tae Kwon Do it’s all empty hand combat. Kata also teaches balance, coordination, pivoting and doing multiple things with different parts of your body at the same time. Then you can get into the whole aspect of hidden movements and what kata really is teaching you for real self-defense, joint locks, sweeps, kicking and punching combinations to do the most damage, proper angle and directions to strike the body, head, arms and legs… and then you can add in the pressure point or nerve attacks and how it teaches you to properly do this. Bottom line, kata is good for many reasons and I think if you study any martial art you should learn at least one or two kata and really study them and learn them for what they are really for and not just performance katas either. If you say you are a karate practitioner and you don’t study katas you aren’t learning karate you are learning self-defense period. Which is fine and great if that is what you want to do and if it works well for you that’s all the better.