I've not studied Sanchin kata yet, but the body mechanics described in this clip are transferable to many techniques from other kata:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBoECsZLYT0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
22 Jun 2013
9 Feb 2011
Twitter feed
I've just gone live with a Twitter account @fkarate. Next task will be to put the widget on this page.
Koryu Uchinadi - Galway Training Camp
I have become increasingly impressed with the Koryu Uchinadi syllabus the more I learn of it. Similarly, the high standard of teaching from Ben Ryder has been a huge influence on my decision to get more involved in KU.
For these reasons it was a really attractive prospect when, just before Christmas, Ben suggested I attend the gashyuku with the KU team in Galway and train under Shibucho (Chief Instructor) Ante Brännbacka for a weekend during January.
On Friday night we covered the standing portion of the KU two person Shime-waza (chokes and strangulation techniques) drill as well learning how to apply these techniques in response to Habitual Acts of Physical violence such as haymaker punches and bear-hugs. Sensei Brannbacka then increased the difficulty level by encouraging us to react as quickly as possible to a threat. The threat was simulated by closing our eyes and allowing our training partner to give us a quick tap on the head or a slap, as a trigger for our defensive response. Obviously in this simulation when you have your eyes closed you don’t have a clue where your opponent or his limbs are in relation to you, or where his strike is coming from.
After training some of us went down to an American style diner for hamburgers then to a pub for a swift one.
On Saturday morning we went through the solo and two person version of the Keri-waza drill in detail.
KU also includes some weapons work in the guise of Yamane Ryu kobudo, which initially involves learning the Bo.
I’m already keen to organise a training session so I can work on all this new material.
For these reasons it was a really attractive prospect when, just before Christmas, Ben suggested I attend the gashyuku with the KU team in Galway and train under Shibucho (Chief Instructor) Ante Brännbacka for a weekend during January.
On Friday night we covered the standing portion of the KU two person Shime-waza (chokes and strangulation techniques) drill as well learning how to apply these techniques in response to Habitual Acts of Physical violence such as haymaker punches and bear-hugs. Sensei Brannbacka then increased the difficulty level by encouraging us to react as quickly as possible to a threat. The threat was simulated by closing our eyes and allowing our training partner to give us a quick tap on the head or a slap, as a trigger for our defensive response. Obviously in this simulation when you have your eyes closed you don’t have a clue where your opponent or his limbs are in relation to you, or where his strike is coming from.
After training some of us went down to an American style diner for hamburgers then to a pub for a swift one.
On Saturday morning we went through the solo and two person version of the Keri-waza drill in detail.
KU also includes some weapons work in the guise of Yamane Ryu kobudo, which initially involves learning the Bo.
I’m already keen to organise a training session so I can work on all this new material.
5 May 2010
Girl Guides subject Martial Artist to Vicious Beat-down.
Yes - I got beaten up for money yesterday.
Thats a joke. Somewhat.
Yesterday I taught an introduction to Self Defence to a group of Girl Guides. There were two session of approximately forty minutes, with 16 Guides in each session. The number of students was pretty big for the topic, but that aside I managed to cover some of the essentials, and to dispel a few commonly held misconceptions. Hopefully they had a little fun too.
Forty minutes is not much time to go over the soft skills AND to provide some fun, physical practice. The danger is that you might resort to demonstrating crowd-pleasing (but ultimately useless) strikes or escapes purely to keep their interest levels up. I erred on the side of caution and perhaps the session came off as a bit dry and dull - but I'd prefer that than to be remembered for something that didn't work when the chips were down.
Thats a joke. Somewhat.
Yesterday I taught an introduction to Self Defence to a group of Girl Guides. There were two session of approximately forty minutes, with 16 Guides in each session. The number of students was pretty big for the topic, but that aside I managed to cover some of the essentials, and to dispel a few commonly held misconceptions. Hopefully they had a little fun too.
Forty minutes is not much time to go over the soft skills AND to provide some fun, physical practice. The danger is that you might resort to demonstrating crowd-pleasing (but ultimately useless) strikes or escapes purely to keep their interest levels up. I erred on the side of caution and perhaps the session came off as a bit dry and dull - but I'd prefer that than to be remembered for something that didn't work when the chips were down.
3 May 2010
Koryu Uchinadi - a study session
Last Sunday I attended the Koryu-Uchinadi study group session, instructed by Ben Ryder - assisted by Stuart Sadler. Lee Richardson of Halifax Jissen Karatedo hosted the training. Here's a quick (!) run-down of what we covered.
We began with a tegumi flow drill which doubled as a good warm-up. This drill includes commonly used strikes e.g. straight and hooking punches, uppercuts, knees, plus parries and traps.
The tegumi drill also serves as a great springboard from which to practice other techniques such as joint locks, take downs and clinches and indeed this was the main focus of the study session.
From each of the basic strikes we then practiced counters that flow through into effective clinches leading to takedowns then ground-based submission or control and restraint techniques.
On numerous occasions, Ben pointed out where the various postures seen in each grappling technique could be found within traditional kata such as Naihanchi/Tekki, Empi, Niseishi/Nijushiho, Gojushiho, Passai/Bassai Dai, Jitte, Nipaipo etc.
After a short break (during which I tried to mentally catalogue all that I’d learned in the previous couple of hours!), we then learned escapes and counters to the grappling clinches we’d learned earlier. All the while we practiced these clinches and their escapes from a pre-emptive strike or habitual act of violence at realistic range.
There then followed logically sequenced ne-waza (groundwork) techniques including upper-four-quarters with knee strikes, scarf-hold with associated jointlocks and strangulation methods, the mount, and the guard and escapes from all these.
The final forty minutes or so were spent consolidating this vast amount of material in a two person drill which can be practiced with varying levels of compliance to allow testing of the techniques with increasing realism.
I thoroughly enjoyed the training and learned a great deal. Thanks again to Ben, and Stuart (yeah, cheers Stuart, my thighs are still knackered from the demonstrated method of releasing a bearhug! *grin*) and to Lee for organising everything.
Look out for the next session - this one was a bargain at only £10 for four hours training!
We began with a tegumi flow drill which doubled as a good warm-up. This drill includes commonly used strikes e.g. straight and hooking punches, uppercuts, knees, plus parries and traps.
The tegumi drill also serves as a great springboard from which to practice other techniques such as joint locks, take downs and clinches and indeed this was the main focus of the study session.
From each of the basic strikes we then practiced counters that flow through into effective clinches leading to takedowns then ground-based submission or control and restraint techniques.
On numerous occasions, Ben pointed out where the various postures seen in each grappling technique could be found within traditional kata such as Naihanchi/Tekki, Empi, Niseishi/Nijushiho, Gojushiho, Passai/Bassai Dai, Jitte, Nipaipo etc.
After a short break (during which I tried to mentally catalogue all that I’d learned in the previous couple of hours!), we then learned escapes and counters to the grappling clinches we’d learned earlier. All the while we practiced these clinches and their escapes from a pre-emptive strike or habitual act of violence at realistic range.
There then followed logically sequenced ne-waza (groundwork) techniques including upper-four-quarters with knee strikes, scarf-hold with associated jointlocks and strangulation methods, the mount, and the guard and escapes from all these.
The final forty minutes or so were spent consolidating this vast amount of material in a two person drill which can be practiced with varying levels of compliance to allow testing of the techniques with increasing realism.
I thoroughly enjoyed the training and learned a great deal. Thanks again to Ben, and Stuart (yeah, cheers Stuart, my thighs are still knackered from the demonstrated method of releasing a bearhug! *grin*) and to Lee for organising everything.
Look out for the next session - this one was a bargain at only £10 for four hours training!
5 Aug 2009
Flow drills
I’ve started a steep learning curve recently, based upon two person flow-drills. Continuous training drills were a feature of my original karate study, but they were so stylised as to be irrelevant in terms of real combat application. The most significant advantage of these new drills over the ones I worked previously, is the realistic range.
Basic Tegumi flow drill –
Incoming RH direct punch/throat grab
Parry across your body with LH (outward-to-inward motion is quicker than inward-to-outward), RH haito to his wrist, press/trap with LH, Punch direct with RH.
Interestingly – this most basic of flow drills is essentially the same technique as the first part of Jitte no bunkai ichiban. It’s a shame it was always practiced as a defence against a chudan jun tzuki in zenkutsu-dachi stance from a full stride away instead of a close range boxing-style jab punch.
The traditional karate foundation (or at least its training drills) on which my skill set was based, begins all its techniques with the protagonists a step or so apart – which gives a fraction of a second of preparation time that does not necessarily exist in a realistic conflict. Certainly, if you have your wits about you at this range, the chances of stopping a situation from escalating either with avoidance, awareness, dialogue or pre-emptive strikes are half-decent. The real training need kicks in if everything has fallen apart – when you’re forced to cover, block or parry incoming strikes – then your arms will connect with your adversary’s and this moment is crucial as the phase of combat transitions from kicking/punching range to clinching.
Most martial arts possess drills to train the practitioner to capitalize on this moment of connection with the adversary. My research has indicated that Chi-sau, Hubud, Kakie etc. are distinctly different methods from traditional arts, but they focus on the close range fight scenario.
Steve Morris says of Hubud;
“The Kali hubud drill is one similar to that used within Tiger systems and Uechi-ryu. It's a way of making offensive, defensive or counteroffensive contact on the outside or inside of the man's arm, and on the basis of that contact and his reaction to it, initiating your next move and so on and so forth…
…it forces you to work with your hands out in front of you, not cocked or 'chambered' as in a karate. They become antennae, looking for contact and learning to interpret and act upon cues of touch. At that range, you can't use your eyes. Your working range is from elbow to hand, so it's not only half-beat but half-range working range. That's why the emphasis within the southern systems is on short-range strikes.”
Patrick McCarthy has developed drills in his “Koryu Uchinadi” syllabus for traditional karate practitioners to achieve the similar ends - some of these drills I’m learning and messing with for my own training regime.
The challenge for a keen practitioner or wannabe-instructor like myself is to bridge the gap between these valuable drills, and the actual fight. A drill will only ever be a drill, regardless of how much training value it can imbue. Unless you put the drills to one side and so some actual fight practice its all still academic – especially if they are stylised. Why keep one hand in hikite during a drill, unless that hand is there to simulate a grab…?
Basic Tegumi flow drill –
Incoming RH direct punch/throat grab
Parry across your body with LH (outward-to-inward motion is quicker than inward-to-outward), RH haito to his wrist, press/trap with LH, Punch direct with RH.
Interestingly – this most basic of flow drills is essentially the same technique as the first part of Jitte no bunkai ichiban. It’s a shame it was always practiced as a defence against a chudan jun tzuki in zenkutsu-dachi stance from a full stride away instead of a close range boxing-style jab punch.
The traditional karate foundation (or at least its training drills) on which my skill set was based, begins all its techniques with the protagonists a step or so apart – which gives a fraction of a second of preparation time that does not necessarily exist in a realistic conflict. Certainly, if you have your wits about you at this range, the chances of stopping a situation from escalating either with avoidance, awareness, dialogue or pre-emptive strikes are half-decent. The real training need kicks in if everything has fallen apart – when you’re forced to cover, block or parry incoming strikes – then your arms will connect with your adversary’s and this moment is crucial as the phase of combat transitions from kicking/punching range to clinching.
Most martial arts possess drills to train the practitioner to capitalize on this moment of connection with the adversary. My research has indicated that Chi-sau, Hubud, Kakie etc. are distinctly different methods from traditional arts, but they focus on the close range fight scenario.
Steve Morris says of Hubud;
“The Kali hubud drill is one similar to that used within Tiger systems and Uechi-ryu. It's a way of making offensive, defensive or counteroffensive contact on the outside or inside of the man's arm, and on the basis of that contact and his reaction to it, initiating your next move and so on and so forth…
…it forces you to work with your hands out in front of you, not cocked or 'chambered' as in a karate. They become antennae, looking for contact and learning to interpret and act upon cues of touch. At that range, you can't use your eyes. Your working range is from elbow to hand, so it's not only half-beat but half-range working range. That's why the emphasis within the southern systems is on short-range strikes.”
Patrick McCarthy has developed drills in his “Koryu Uchinadi” syllabus for traditional karate practitioners to achieve the similar ends - some of these drills I’m learning and messing with for my own training regime.
The challenge for a keen practitioner or wannabe-instructor like myself is to bridge the gap between these valuable drills, and the actual fight. A drill will only ever be a drill, regardless of how much training value it can imbue. Unless you put the drills to one side and so some actual fight practice its all still academic – especially if they are stylised. Why keep one hand in hikite during a drill, unless that hand is there to simulate a grab…?
26 Apr 2009
Naihanchi / Tekki
I finally spent some time learning the sequence of Naihanchi/Tekki kata this weekend. Its a pretty short form. I've been taught a large number of practical applications for it recently. Many of these applications are clinch fighting techniques and hence provide a great addition to my skillset (which is predominantly longer range still).
Its a great kata for solo practice (if that's your interest, though obviously solo practice of a form will only provide limited training benefits) in the home since it requires so little floorspace.
Its a great kata for solo practice (if that's your interest, though obviously solo practice of a form will only provide limited training benefits) in the home since it requires so little floorspace.
12 Mar 2009
Internal Battles
Its not easy to for me to write this kind of stuff.
Inbuilt in me is a need to record some of my thoughts on martial arts/self defence, and to share them. Unfortunately the very act of formulating all this material, in order to put it into words tends to become so long-winded that the thought has then passed on, morphed into something else or been discarded for more pertinent information. Perhaps the act of writing is a good exercise, a way of stretching my communication skills by describing a coherant shape to things that were unformed.
Another part of the difficulty that I battle with whilst writing is to do with the martial arts/self-defence topic itself. This content is very sensitive because of the simple fact that I don't want to spread any mis-information. If I'm going to write anything down on this subject I want to be as sure as I can be that its fact, or at least workable and practical. Its one thing to teach martial arts as a means of attaining fitness, since this is relatively easy to achieve if you're leaping about room for an hour trying not to get hit by someone. Its a totally different animal to teach someone to become more aware of their surroundings, and equip them with a means of coping better with violence should they encounter it.
I know in my heart-of-hearts that some of the material I can offer is worthy of reading by the right audience. Its sometimes difficult to acknowledge or have confidence in this though, because the standard of information and the quality of delivery from some of my sources is so solid.
That may seem like a pair of contradictory statements, but look at it this way; There's no point in me regurgitating information straight from the likes of Iain Abernethy and Rory Miller, they deliver it far more succintly than I ever will - you're better going straight to the source. That means in order to have something to say I need to add value to the debate, and quite honestly thats a tall order.
I guess Sgt. Miller has said this already though in a far more succint way:
"I’ve put as much personal experience into my teaching and writing as I can, along with advice from people I know and trust to be experienced. I also quote or paraphrase researchers (many of whom have never bled or spilled blood in either fear or anger) when the research sounds right. Take my advice for what it is worth. Use what you can use. Discard anything that doesn’t make sense. Test everything."
Inbuilt in me is a need to record some of my thoughts on martial arts/self defence, and to share them. Unfortunately the very act of formulating all this material, in order to put it into words tends to become so long-winded that the thought has then passed on, morphed into something else or been discarded for more pertinent information. Perhaps the act of writing is a good exercise, a way of stretching my communication skills by describing a coherant shape to things that were unformed.
Another part of the difficulty that I battle with whilst writing is to do with the martial arts/self-defence topic itself. This content is very sensitive because of the simple fact that I don't want to spread any mis-information. If I'm going to write anything down on this subject I want to be as sure as I can be that its fact, or at least workable and practical. Its one thing to teach martial arts as a means of attaining fitness, since this is relatively easy to achieve if you're leaping about room for an hour trying not to get hit by someone. Its a totally different animal to teach someone to become more aware of their surroundings, and equip them with a means of coping better with violence should they encounter it.
I know in my heart-of-hearts that some of the material I can offer is worthy of reading by the right audience. Its sometimes difficult to acknowledge or have confidence in this though, because the standard of information and the quality of delivery from some of my sources is so solid.
That may seem like a pair of contradictory statements, but look at it this way; There's no point in me regurgitating information straight from the likes of Iain Abernethy and Rory Miller, they deliver it far more succintly than I ever will - you're better going straight to the source. That means in order to have something to say I need to add value to the debate, and quite honestly thats a tall order.
I guess Sgt. Miller has said this already though in a far more succint way:
"I’ve put as much personal experience into my teaching and writing as I can, along with advice from people I know and trust to be experienced. I also quote or paraphrase researchers (many of whom have never bled or spilled blood in either fear or anger) when the research sounds right. Take my advice for what it is worth. Use what you can use. Discard anything that doesn’t make sense. Test everything."
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