Cardio and Karate

Prior to beginning my career in karate, I was a competitve swimmer.  I was never particularly gifted in the water, but I did manage to develop a significant cardiovascular capacity; aerobically and anaerobically I was incredibly fit.  My cardiovascular fitness has yet to approach that level since I finished swimming.  Moving into karate, I was daily confused by the cardiovascular fatigue that I would feel very shortly into the average karate training at the dojo.  I began searching for new methods of cardiovascular conditioning which would further my ability to perform effectively in the dojo.

My first cardio-love since leaving the pool behind were the roads and trails.  I love running, I try to run as often as possible, I even participated in a number of road races; 5k, 10k, marathon, no distance was too daunting.  However, I saw very little carryover into my karate, which I found very strange.

Boxers and combat fighters for years have used "road work" as a staple to their training.  Why did it work for them, but not for me?  I began reading, researching and analyzing the various combat sport rules and training styles and began noticing things.  At the longest a boxer needs to be conditioned to perform for 15 3-minute rounds, for a total of 45 minutes with only 1-minute rest between rounds.  The MMA fighter has a maximum of 3-5 5-minute rounds for a total of 15-25 minutes.

From there I've tried a number of different conditioning routines and I think for now I've found what works best (for me).  Let's start with the options, benefits and drawbacks.

1) More karate - The main benefit is that you're training your body to perform the activity for an extended period of time.  It's like training to run long distances; the best thing you can do is just run a lot.  With varying degrees of intensities inherent in the training scheme of the typical class, the cardiovascular system will get a veritable kick in its aerobic and anaerobic ass.  While this is (in my opinon) one of the best options, it's far from ideal from the vast majority of the karate population.  Karate, for most people, is a hobby, and as such they are unable to devote so much extra time in the dojo or in training in general.  Now one might say you don't need to be in the dojo to train karate, and that is true, but for many people the lack of class environment (or simply the lack of the dojo) makes the karate training experience less authentic; naturally the enthusiasm is lost.  Time being another consideration, if one does not own one's own dojo, it's hard to train at the dojo outside of normal class times.  I know that given my personal schedule, I can only be in the dojo 2-3 times per week, which is only open in the evenings.  Training early mornings might be an option if the dojo were open at those hours.

2) Running - I know I just said that running did not work, but I was referring a very specific type of running protocol, and that is Long Slow Distance (LSD) running.  The average karate, or even karate competitor, will find little benefit in running distances longer than 3 miles.  Furthermore, running at a steady state does very little to prime one's cardiovascular system to operate among the different levels of activity one will find during the average karate training session, let alone during a competition.  The best form of running would be sprint intervals, highly intense but short bursts of speed followed by ample recovery will better mimic the interactions between fighters during kumite.  Also, Fartlek (Swedish for speed play) is another great option; running a long distance at varying intensities, speed up/slow down over chosen intervals while still getting some good aerobic conditioning.  I would say that the pros and cons listed apply to almost any typical cardio exercise (ie. cycling, swimming, elliptical, etc.)

3) Skipping Rope - This is one of my favorite options, you don't need too much space and all you need is a rope.  As far as equipment is concerned, it's fairly simple.  Primary benefits are that you can gain aerobic as well as anaerobic conditioning by varying tempos, and even more importantly, you will learn to be lighter on your feet.  As such such your explosiveness and foot work will also be improved through skipping.  The downside, in my opinion, is that skipping rope requires far more time to achieve results, and requires a significant level of coordination.  I know many skilled karate-ka that are still unable to skip rope effectively.

4) Barbell or weighted complexes - Another personal favorite, and the one I believe will most benefit a karate-ka that doesn't put too much emphasis on muscular/power training in the gym.  Take a string of easily connected movements using one implement.  That can be a weight plate, a dumbbell, a barbell, a kettlebell, etc.  The idea is to set a specific number of repetitions per exercise, and bang out each exercise for the prescribed reps without putting the implement down; that's one round.  Rest and repeat.  By doing this, you will give your body a full-conditioning workout whilst also improving your strength and strength-endurance.

These are my top choices for conditioning, depending on situation, schedule and other factors I might do one or more of these 2-3 times per week.  Currently I'm focusing on strictly running, but I'm doing sprints everyday 6-days per week based on a program made for me.  Let me know if you have other options or ideas, I'm always looking for new conditioning ideas!

Weight Lifting and Karate

When I had first started lifting weights, I had started it as a way to become stronger in my chosen athletic activities at that time; namely, swimming and then karate.  I continued for a while as a karate athlete and as such my lifting regimen was devoted to making me a stronger, better conditioned and faster athlete.  Having been out of the competitive sphere for some time now, I began pursuing a more powerlifting oriented lifting program with Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program.  I have noticed that my strength and speed have improved dramatically, as most beginners tend to achieve quicker gains than an advanced lifter.  I've been lifting weights for some time, but never with any serious dedication to a program and as such I still consider myself a beginner/novice level lifter.

The great side-benefit of becoming a stronger lifter has been improved performance in the dojo, and most recently in the karate tournament I participated in recently.  I'm far from being interested in continuing to compete regularly in karate competitions, but they do make for an entertaining diversion from standard karate training.  What I've found, however, is that it isn't necessarily the increased strength that has made me a better karate-ka.  It has been my dedication to becoming a more physically-balanced individual.  Many times anybody interested in lifting weights to enhance sport performance beginning considering loading their standard athletic movements (ie. rubber inner-tubes and ankle weights).  This is a problem and tends to create a huge pattern overload.  If your body is trained to throw gyaku-zuki over and over, then it will typically happen that your pec minor, anterior deltoid, triceps and serrattus anterior muscles are all highly over-developed in relation to the opposing muscle groups.  Adding load to this will only cause the muscle imbalances to increase and create potentially joint-damaging environments.  As is often seen with advanced karate-ka, a multitude of braces and bandages are worn whilst training; it is my contention that muscular imbalances are generally the cause.

When a karate-ka takes up lifting weights to supplement one's training, it is important to take a holistic view and not a strictly karate-based view of training.  Training in any sport creates the potential for injury, so it is necessary to build the body into a stable platform upon which to practice these sports.

In karate, we typically use the whole body which is to our benefit, but more emphasis is placed on punching and kicking as opposed to blocking techniques.  The problem that arises is the dependence on the "mirror" muscles for punching and kicking.

It is incredibly important to incorporate all kinds of pulls into one's lifting regimen to create balance.  The standard I use, for a pure beginner, is to do twice as many reps/sets of pulling exercises as opposed to pushing.  If doing bench press, then do 3 sets of 10 but do 6 sets of 10 of lat pull downs, rows or pull-ups.  If doing 3 sets of 10 squats, do twice that in dead lifts, hamstring curls or any hip-hinging movements (ie. stiff-leg dead lifts, Romanian dead lifts, pull-throughs, back extensions, etc.).

As balance is restored to one's joints it is acceptable to return to an equal number of repetitions between pushing and pulling, but never neglect the pulling muscles.  The entire posterior chain is tremendously important to one's overall physical health, and athletic ability.  Increasing one's posterior strength will do more than save the body from injury, but help to forge one's body into the weapon it's meant to become through severe training.

Enjoy the benefits and make sure to keep at it!

My typical lifting routine:
Monday
Shoulder press superset with chin-ups (I do a ton of sets of both of these exercises)
Arm work (biceps and triceps superset)
Facepulls and shoulder isolation

Tuesday 
Deadlift (Again a number of sets are done, the dead lift is probably the greatest exercise any person can do, and should never be overlooked or short-changed.  Learn proper form and go ahead and grip n' rip!)
Abs and lower back superset (sit-ups and back extensions usually)
Obliques and hip-hinge isolation

Thursday
Bench press superset with chin-ups (or some other rowing exercise; a ton of sets completed)
Dumbbell bench press and dumbbell row super-set
Arm work

Friday
Squat (The second greatest exercise ever, when done correctly there are few exercises that force structural integrity)
Single leg work superset with front squats (Martial artists operating on one-leg as often as both, if not more often.  Let's get strong unilaterally as well as bilaterally.  Use Bulgarian split-squats, lunges or step-ups.  Front squats don't only do a number on the quads but when done right really give your middle back a hard workout)
Finish off with leg extensions/leg curl superset for some isolation.

That's it, getting stronger is pretty simple, but it's rarely easy.  Each of these workouts is a sweat drenched brutal hour.  For the very basic template I use for determining rep ranges and weights pick up a copy of Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program, click here.

Grand Champions International Cup - 11/17/13

My first tournament back as a competitor in 8 months, and I'm very glad this was my re-entry as it was a smaller event.  In the past this tournament has been quite large, but the last several years has been seeing a decreasing number of adult competitors.  This year, in particular, the tournament director decided to allow no registration at the door, pre-registration only.  It's very typical, in the adult divisions, for competitors to come on the day of the competition and register, so removing this ability certainly limited the competitor's pool.  On to my performance:

Kata - 2nd place
Opened first round with Sochin against Gojushiho-Sho, the Gojushiho was pretty good, but a little wobbly.  My sochin, however felt very strong, good solid, finishes to stances and stayed low throughout.  I had a little fumble with my feet from the last shuto-uke into the mae-geri, but nothing to throw me too far off.

Second round was Kanku-Sho against Kanku-Dai; this competition had brown and black belts combined, so there were some lower level kata thrown in.  However, the kanku-dai wasn't particularly good.  Too many pregnant pauses, and a lot of rising and dropping when there shouldn't be.  Kanku-Sho was a little wobbly for me in the opening sequence but settled down with oi-tsuki soto-uke combinations and went strong from there.  Mae-geri were very sharp with good body momentum into tate-uraken-uchi.  The jump, as far as I could tell, was very nice, once I stop attempting to make my hand and foot meet with the mikazuki-geri it's usually fairly smooth.

Finished off with Gojushiho-sho against Sochin, I'm pretty steamed about this one.  The kata felt perfect!  And then, disaster struck; after the shuto-uchi/shuto-uke sequence did soto-uke, mae-geri with the drop punch and stepping away with the gedan barai behind...and instead of pulling back with the shuto-uke I pulled back into gedan barai as if I was going into empi.  I was beyond livid, caught myself without too much hesitation, but it was pretty obvious.  The rest of the kata felt just as great as before the mistake...oh well, got me a second place (of course, if I'd gotten first place, I would have competed for Grand Champion with a grand prize of $500).

Kumite - 3rd place, doesn't say much since there were only 4 in my division, I was fighting heavyweight.

Kumite was completely different from usual, my fighting was leaps and bounds above how I was fighting previously, lots of angles, changes of direction, misdirection and constant action.  I lost 7-1, but my fighting was still the best yet, I think I got robbed on a few points, but it is what it is.  The guy I was fighting is a national team member plus a local favorite, somethings can't be overcome.  Anyway, I definitely feel like my regular gym sessions are really paying off, my legs have more spring and power in them than I remember, my cardio hasn't suffered as much as I expected to have.

No more competitions until Feburary, so over the winter I'm going to start incorporating more sprinting sessions to increase power output in my legs and continue lifting the way I have been; aggressively and explosively.  Skill work is definitely on the menu, that's for the dojo, though.

All-in-all a decent performance, and if I can find any videos I will certainly post them.

Thanks for reading!

Never Stop Growing

I realize that there are many people that only pursue karate training as a hobby, as a form of exercise or for the sheer pleasure.  Not everybody is as passionate about this activity as I am (which is a shame, but nobody's perfect), but even those people pursuing a hobby should want to get better at it.  You can't improve at an activity without learning more about it, that involves daily training but research, reading and questioning as well.

Everyday I try to read more about karate as a topic (history, training methodology, and karate blogs), about physical training, weight training and psychology.  All of these are aspects of my improvement in becoming a better karate-ka.  I wrote a post on a different blog which pertains to life in general, but is perfectly applicable to karate or any other endeavor.

As karate-ka we have to continually grow, to cause evolution of the art, and improve the transmission of the art beyond our generations.  Read, learn and practice; that's the formula to constant growth.

Enjoy the linked post.

Never Stop Growing

What kind of karate-ka do you want to be?

I'm sure everybody has some perception or idea of what kind of karate-ka they wish to be, or what shape or general design they want their karate to look and feel like.  However, I doubt most of us have every put that concept into words and identified the attributes, or even properly defined what we're attempting to do.  Sit down right now and take out a pen and paper; efficiency experts in all fields always attribute success in any given endeavor to hinge significantly upon list-making and goal setting.  Your karate-career aspirations are goals like any other, and the method by which you get there is a process just like any project for work or school.

Once you have those goals written down, you have a tangible target to aim for.  It might be another karate-ka you wish to be able to emulate; becoming the next Frank Brennan or Kagawa Sensei are not easily attained goals.  Respectable as that might be, I'd much prefer to be the first me.  In that regard, I refer back to a tip I received from Edmond Otis Sensei during a training camp in June of this year.  Choose 3 words that you would use to describe the general impression you want your karate to have; I chose dynamic, powerful, flexible.  Each of these words have variable definitions and that's kind of the point.  I can decide when I'm ready whether or not I've met those words, and then choose to change the definition or change the descriptions entirely.

Having goals is useful puts an "end-point" in sight, and that can be detrimental to our progress.  I refer to Andre Bertel Sensei's post, Endless Journey, which soundly ascribes the journey as opposed to the end.  I agree the journey is most important, but every trip has stop overs along the way.  Create your own layovers and sight-seeing spots, these are your short-term goals.  The next rank test or competition are just that, layovers along the way.  Your end-goals are the same, not endings but points to continue from.

So tell me what you think of your karate?  How do you want your karate to be described?  What kind of karate-ka do you want to be?

What does rank represent? - Part 2

Having put forth a somewhat concise description of the AJKA-I ranking system, I'd like to move on to how rank carries over to other styles and how some different styles establish rank.

Many people will look down upon styles that utilize time-in-service for determination of testing for the next rank, saying that this is widely used by McDojos.  While I agree, there is also a certain status quo that time-in-service represents; namely, effort put into training, deck-time and desire for advancement.  The military also uses time-in-service for determining promotions, and during peace times or at bases in the US and in stations that don't see much action, this is largely the only useful method for promoting commissioned and non-commissioned officers.  If it's good enough for the military, why shouldn't it be good enough for martial arts schools?

Obviously, the military and martial arts academies are hardly parallels, and the argument can be made that time-in-service in the military often accurately represents a soldier's efforts in serving and training, but depending on the quality-control in a martial arts school, the same assumptions can be made.  What we do see, however, especially in the military, is rank being given for tasks/missions accomplished, which is much the same as giving rank to martial artists that successfully compete at an elite-level.  Martial arts elitest/purists will often say that there is an aspect in promoting a person that falls upon their character development and such other arbitrary justifications, but how does one judge that?  I know many elite and high level karate-ka that are boorish and immature, as well as children that have somehow achieved a high rank.  Personally speaking, one's physical ability and knowledge of a martial art should be the only representation of one's rank.

With that being said, with my nidan rank (and hopefully soon-to-be sandan), I should theoretically be able to to transition to any JKA-style, Shotokan school and retain my rank and continue on from there.  However, depending on how strict the ranking system is within that school, I may be told to restart, or that I have "3rd-kyu technique" or any number of other negative statements.  However, if I went to a school with very lax requirements such as Tiger Schulmann's (not Shotokan but serves to prove my point), then I might very easily seem to outrank the instructor running the class.  That last statement certainly sounds immodest of me, and it was, I'm highly modest of my ability but I've seen enough Tiger Schulmann's karate classes...it doesn't pay to be modest in this regard.

Any martial arts style from Japan, China or Korea, tend to follow similar ranking systems with a black belt/sash/obi being the highest belt color with a variety of gradations above that.  There are other styles, such as mixed martial arts, Western boxing, wrestling, muay Thai and their derivatives that have little in the way of ranking systems.  Time-in-service has little emphasis on one's being an authority and there are no belts around their waists.  How do they determine hierarchy?  Simply by one's ability and knowledge.  The old way, and personally speaking, the only right way to judge rank.

I'm sure we've all heard of supposed 12-year-old 5th dans, and then those ever so powerful 15th dan practitioners, and let's not get started on the plethora of titles that you can here for practitioners.  At the end of the day, let's all question our rank.  What is our rank worth to others, but most importantly what does your rank represent to you and how do you represent your rank?

What does rank represent? - Part 1

I was told recently that I would be testing for sandan next month, the date has yet to be set, and naturally I was excited about that fact.  I have been training diligently since I started my karate career and kicked my training efforts up even higher since achieving my nidan.  At no point in this time did I ever really wonder when I would be taking my next rank test, or how long it would be until I got my shodan, nidan, etc.  I've never much cared for rank.  All I knew was that everyday I would enter the dojo, put in 150% effort and learn something new (or refine something I already knew how to do).  Naturally, this didn't happen literally everyday but that was my general plan upon going to the dojo.

Now I've come to the point where I'm reaching a level within my style that represents, to my opinion, a certain level of expertise within a style.  It has always been my understanding that a sandan in a style like Shotokan (within an organization with a strict syllabus and quality-control), was representative of an expert within that style.  If you're familiar with Rob Redmond's soon to be defunct blog 24 Fighting Chickens, Mr. Redmond espouses this same viewpoint.  My thinking on this comes from the ideas behind the testing requirements for each rank.  I train with the American JKA Karate Association - International, whose syllabus closely mirrors that used by the JKA in Japan (as it was written in the 1980's, at least, when the AJKA-I was first formed).

For shodan and nidan testing, the requirements are fairly straightforward: perform the requisite kata and kihon, practice some jiyu-ippon kumite (for shodan only) and then jiyu-kumite with other karate-ka of varying rank (higher and lower).  The purpose of these test criteria is simply to judge each karate-ka's individual ability and precision of technique.  The exams are strictly technical in nature.  Once an examinee reaches sandan the testing becomes somewhat more complex, now the examinee is required to not only demonstrate technical ability but technical knowledge as well.  How to teach a technique, and how to properly perform techniques to create maximum efficiency.   The test for yondan, within the AJKA-I is probably the most intense level of testing, not only is physical ability tested, but the examinee is also required to write a formal research paper on a subject put forth by the technical committee.  Between sandan and yondan, I believe, is where physical "mastery" often takes place (in the ideal candidate).  Beyond yondan, the physical is less stressed and the mental ability and commitment to the organization become paramount.  Beyond sandan, the karate-ka is now urged to create and develop his own style of practicing Shotokan, it is those differences in execution and application that differentiate the upper echelons of the various JKA-style organizations.

Put into simple academic terms, you might look at 9th-4th kyu as high school, 3rd-1st kyu as college, shodan is graduation, 2nd dan is applying to grad schools, whereas 3rd dan is being in grad school.  4th to 5th dan is like a masters degree and 6th dan and above is one's PhD.  I took a very simple ranking system and gave it meaning within an academic setting.  Each individual's opinion will vary based on their experiences and styles, of course, but this works for me.

With that being said, I've gone far afield from my original purpose in writing this article, but it creates a nice platform from whence to continue.  To be continued in Part 2

Training to be a better karate-ka

For the past year or so, my training has been focused primarily on rate-of-force development (ROFD) (translation: more power) for the sake of competitive success in Germany in September.  However, I've come to the point that making the trip out to the Ippon Cup is not feasible, and is highly unlikely to actually happen.  With this in mind, I've been beginning to wonder if my focus has been in the wrong place, or at the very least misguided.

There's nothing wrong with the competitive aspects of karate, I enjoy it thoroughly (within some federations, anyway, others are questionable), but it's not the be-all-end-all goal for my karate.  My karate has always been about becoming better at karate.  Many people espouse the "dojo-kun" to be the primary purpose of karate training, and while this sounds noble in essence, personally I just find those people to sound holier-than-thou.  The dojo-kun is all well and good, it's a list of strong character traits that all people, karate-ka and otherwise, should aspire too.  At the same time, however, you can learn most if not all of these traits through many different activities.  Rob Redmond of 24FightingChickens likes to bring up baseball as his activity of choice that can "teach" these activities, and in many ways, I'd say baseball is more effective.

Regardless, my karate is my karate, I want it to be effective but I also want it to be aesthetically pleasing.  This has nothing to do with desiring to be a kata champion or tournament kumite champion, I want to create effective, destructive technique.  So my focus in the gym remains the same, I'm utilizing heavy bi-lateral lifting protocols to increase my ROFD, but not to increase speed in a game of tag.  I want speed that translates into power.

This post is beginning to ramble, but I guess long and the short is that I'm worrying more about good, clean, effective karate.

Posterior Chain Development

Preface: most of what I will say/write in the post will be anecdotal with a significant amount of scientific terminology tossed in.  There is some research to back up what I will say, and given the time I will put links in to support my point.  However, my anecdotal evidence is substantiated by several years of experience, research and observation.

Now, onto the meat: We, as karate instructors, often given calisthenic type exercises to physically condition our students during classes, and then we hope that they will continue to do these on their to continue their physical development.  You and I both know that is a fairly rare occasion when this actually happens, but that's a completely different point.  The question that I'd like to bring forth is: are we prescribing the right kinds of exercises?

A typical calisthenics routine at most dojos will incorporate the following: push-ups, some variation of sit-ups/crunches, squats, lunges and very likely squat jumps and burpees.  From a generalized physical preparedness (GPP) standpoint, I cannot say anything against these exercises as they are all fantastic for physical conditioning.  I have issue with several of the exercise selections, and will address others in future postings, but for today, I would like to focus on squatting and squat jumps.  Squats and squat jumps certainly have a place in any karate-ka's physical development, however, I don't feel they do a significant job developing the muscles required for developing power in karate technique.

Any competent instructor will teach students power development through hip movement, whether that be through rotation, compression and expansion, snap, swing and thrust.  Each of those methods of moving the hip girdle begins with activation of the posterior chain of muscles, from the heels, to the calves, hamstrings, to the glutes and into the lower back/lumbar spine.  Ultimately, this chain of nerve enervation results in the hips being thrust forward underneath the upper body, which as we know is the force that creates devastating power for kicks (specifically mae-geri), and any punching technique.

If a dojo has access to barbells and weights on premises, I would highly recommend karate-ka to pick up deadlifting and all variations of deadlifting as a primarily power development exercise.  The main thing to understand about deadlifting, is that it is a hip dominant exercise, which can be tweaked to become more or less quad intensive depending on body positioning.  The key to remember, though, is that we were looking to generate power through the hips by way of kinetic linkage through the floor, triple extension of the ankles, knees and hips and the forward thrusting motion at the peak of the lift.  These three processes are what generates forward thrusting power behind kicks and punches.

However, not everybody has the time to go to the gym, or have easy access to gym equipment.  In these cases there are a variety of other options.  The easiest and simplest option would be the standing broad jump.  As opposed to the squat jump, the standing broad jump incorporates the three power generators mentioned above, the squat jump only employs two of the three.  Another great substitute for the deadlift would be kettlebell or dumbbell swings.

Now, these are ways karate-ka can develop this power outside of karate technique, there are, of course, methods to generate this kind of hip generated power using karate technique as well.  The primary tool for this kind of training would be rubber inner tubing or elastic straps.  By either attaching them to a fixture or having a partner hold them, the karate-ka can now practice various techniques against accommodating resistance.  Strap the tubing to your belt and begin by simply stepping forward in zenkutsu-dachi utilizing strict form, slowly at first and gradually increasing speed.  The same can be done whilst throwing various kicking and punching techniques.

The most important thing in all this is to remember that we, as karate-ka, owe it to ourselves to properly condition our bodies to create maximal levels of force in the most efficient manner.  Begin including these exercises as you see fit, and program your workouts appropriately and watch your speed improve dramatically.

Teaching Discipline

I've always believed that discipline isn't something that can be taught.  It can be instilled in children by way of example from their parents and mentors, but you can't teach a child to be disciplined through lessons of any kind.  The same applies for adults, especially since as we develop, our brains are less susceptible to take in and absorb new information.  So why do martial arts schools always tout "discipline" as one of the biggest benefits of training in their respective styles?

I have trained in Shotokan for most of my teenage life and now continue into my adult life, I was an average student in school in high school, and below average in college.  I was an above average student in the dojo, though.  So why the dichotomy?  Why was I disciplined in the dojo, and why did that not carry over into my everyday life?  I believe in large part this is due to passion towards what I was learning in the dojo, as opposed to what I was learning in school.  More than that, though, is a question of application.

In many karate schools, instructors tout kata application as the highest form of martial skill.  It is applying the lessons taught in the kata that truly brings one's karate alive and teaches real self-defense and fighting technique.  Whether or not you believe this concept with regards to martial arts, it is very true regarding the carry over from the martial arts training to real life.  I learned to be disciplined and focused in my training through repetition and actually doing.  I forced myself to have discipline when it came to training, and being passionate about what I was doing definitely helped.  However, lacking conviction and passion regarding what I was studying was severly detrimental, and led me to have poor grades in college.

So, can one teach discipline?  Not at all, parents that want their kids to become more disciplined should be leading by example in the household and not expecting to learn it from a karate teacher with whom they spend less than 3 hours a week with.  If the kids aren't disciplined, then there are two things to consider: 1) they're too young to be expecting discipline from them and 2) you are failing as parents to show what discipline is and what the benefits of discipline are.

Bunkai Training - Pointless or Pointful?

The level of incorrectness of the word "pointful" notwithstanding, there is a serious problem with bunkai training, and what it represents the entire karate community becoming.  Many self-ascribed self-defense "experts" teach bunkai as the be-all-end-all of self-defense, but I can't help but feel that this is more than just simply wrong.  It is my opinion that the current paradigm for teaching self-defense is, in fact, detrimental to the students and will do a fair job of putting the student into greater danger.

The current method for teaching bunkai is similar to the method for teaching ippon kumite: single attack and pause while the defender performs a multi-technique defensive maneuver on a static opponent.  How is this realistic in any way?  Not to say that there aren't any exceptions to this rule.  There are men like Andre Bertel Sensei in New Zealand who utilizes kata bunkai to teach oyo-kumite and Iain Abernathay Sensei in England that does a similar thing and uses more alive drills through bunkai application to teach effective self-defense.

What is the point of teaching bunkai then?  For most, as I said, it is a tool for teaching self-defense technique; which is to say, it's meant to teach technique in a situational method (ie. if the attacker does A, defender will do X).  By teaching in a situational manner, by deciding that each individual has a specific part to play makes this methodology a type of role playing, which I believe has its place, but it is not the penultimate step in self-defense.  Situational self-defense prepares students for specific situations, and not for violence, in general.  Self-defense is about teaching a person to deal with violence in a proper and effective manner.  The only way to do this effectively is through regular, hard-contact sparring and drilling.

I am of the opinion that bunkai, as currently taught, is largely useless.  It can be an exciting and fun mental and academic process and study into the history of the style, but for real use it has no utility.  I love Shotokan, and I believe the style has a lot to offer a student with regards to striking and dealing with an attacker that comes out swinging, but teaching a student to only defend that kind of attack in a bunkai setting can be dangerous.  By and large, it will be rare to see an aggressor attack with a perfect oi-zuki or mae-geri, or any other typical martial arts technique.

At the end of the day, the only effective method for teaching bunkai would be to incorporate it into free or semi-free sparring.  Have each side have the goal of utilizing specific chunks of kata within a sparring environment as opposed to within the contexts of a controlled one attack-one defense situation.

Those are my thoughts on bunkai as a whole, do you have a differing opinion?  Please comment!

3/3/13 - Training Update

I have been extremely remiss of late, and I haven't written any posts regarding my training for Ippon Cup in September (and potentially USANKF Nationals in July).  So far so good!  Due to my time constraints with work and school, I've been forced to cut back on the number of days per week that I'm training karate.  Originally, and ideally, I was training karate 3-4 days per week, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 3-4 days per week and lifting weights 3 days per week.  Lately, my karate training has dropped down to 2 days only every week, with an occasional 3rd day if something changes in my schedule.  At first I was concerned that by less karate, I would be becoming worse and less capable on the mat.  Turns out the opposite is occurring; my performance during classes and training sessions is a hundred times better.

I think I have to give a lot of credit to my time spent in the gym and in BJJ.  My level of fitness has skyrocketed from before, my strength is increasing daily and I'm becoming more flexible and relaxed while performing every activity during classes.  Coach pointed out something to me that made a lot of sense, everything is karate training, whether you're punching and kicking, or working through life's daily problems.  Everything you do is karate training, and everything makes your karate better as long as you're pushing the pace and working through things.

Anyway, so karate-wise I'm doing much better, performed spectacularly at America's Cup last month, gold in kata and silver in kumite.  There was a tournament today, but unfortunately had to skip it.  It was a big one too, so it really was unfortunate.

One big issue I'm having while working through kihon and kata is that the heel of my base leg during transitions keeps popping off the ground.  I'm not sure if this is an issue of ankle flexibility, or just a lack of attention to that detail, but it's destroying the rhythm of some of my kata, specifically Unsu and Kanku Sho.  The other thing I've been focusing on since the Shotokan Symposium is the pressure in my hips during stances, forward pressure for front stance, backward for back stance, etc.

By tightening my glutes into the front stance, I'm finding it much easier for me to keep my body upright and hips underneath my center of gravity, thus making all techniques much nicer to look it and more effective.

So anyway, that's it for now, hopefully I'll be more attentive over the next several weeks and continue to post updates as we go forward.

Benefits of Shiai Kumite

I have written previously about the problems I see in the ways that kumite is taught in most traditional karate schools; gohon, sanbon, ippon, jiyu-ippon, jiyu-kumite.  This trend may vary somewhat depending on the school, or there might be more steps included, but by and large this is the template used by practically every JKA-style Shotokan dojo.  One big criticism that I've been hearing though is how effective jiyu-kumite training actually is.  If you read the interview with KUGB legend, Elwyn Hall, on The Shotokan Way; Hall says that jiyu-kumite is where karate-ka can pressure test all kihon-based techniques in a semi-controlled environment against a resisting opponent.  I couldn't agree more, and this is absolutely true.  However, many schools today focus less on realistic sparring, or jissen-kumite, and more on competition-style, shiai kumite.  There is nothing inherently wrong with shiai style of sparring, sport is sport, but the issue that arises is that many instructors pass this along as teaching a karate-ka how to truly handle himself and fight.

I will be the first person to say that this is absolute garbage.  If you're familiar with Mr. Rob Redmond of 24 Fighting Chickens, you know that he refers to karate, Shotokan in particular, as a dueling art.  Mr. Redmond has written numerous articles regarding the lack of realism within Shotokan kumite and how it is lacking in true self-defense efficacy.  I highly recommend perusing his blog (www.24fightingchickens.com), he has a wealth of knowledge and first-hand experience.  Now that's enough criticism of shiai-kumite, I could spend an entire post talking about the down sides.  My purpose here is to discuss the benefits.
So what are the benefits?  Looking at any competition scenario and it might be hard to visualize anything as being useful, but in my opinion there are three primary benefits of this type of sparring; distancing, footwork and timing.

Distancing
The distance at which most competitors fight is highly unrealistic, watch the video below of both WKF-style and JKA-style championships and you'll notice that the competitors maintain a very long range between them for the majority of the match.  What is the point of this exaggerated range?  This teaches you where you are in danger, and where you are not.  In self-defense, the quarter of an inch can have a significant effect on whether you walk away uninjured or not.  So, while the distance in which we operate during a competition is very artificial, it does teach us our safety zones compared to the danger zone.  The third video you will see shows Sensei Edmond Otis discussing distancing in competition.

Footwork
If you watch the training for football and basketball players you will often see them using tools like agility ladders to improve their foot speed and overall agility.  This is what makes running backs and receivers in football so dangerous - not only do they have tremendous speed, but they also have the ability to change directions with tremendous speed and power.  It is this ability that makes their faking from side to side so effective in confusing their covering man.  Footwork in karate is similar in concept, if not in training, but by training for shiai kumite a karate-ka is forced to decrease the time in contact with the floor and increasing speed.  This gives the fighter the ability to cover the great distances that we start at during a match.  From a self-defense stand point, the ability to change directions is highly beneficial as it allows one to dodge attacks with only the slightest pause.

Timing
I would think that this is obvious by watching the typical tournament match, but everybody is a counter-fighter, or at least everybody wants to be.  It's more impressive to allow the other guy to start and beat him anyway.  Wayne Otto has been known to say, "When I attack, I score; when my opponent attacks, I score."  This is pretty typical of everybody's mindset in fighting, but some live on counter fighting.  Timing is critical for this and in self-defense, or in real fighting, timing is even more important.  Timing helps us to attack pre-emptively, timing helps us to catch our opponent off balance and vulnerable, timing helps to win more than anything else.  You can have incredible footwork and a supernatural sense of distance, but if you can't time your attacks you will never catch your opponent's rhythm.

So long story short, is shiai kumite overly flashy and demonstrative to a fault?  Yes, without the shadow of a doubt, but is it completely useless as some purists would like to tell us?  Not at all.  Many people who lose in competition complain by saying things like, "If it had been a real fight I would have done..." or "I would have never tried that in a real fight."  You've all heard these complaints, but in many ways if you have to realize, if your opponent is faster than you in a tournament match, then a real fight your opponent will still be faster!  Don't let your ego be bruised when you lose, shit happens, but keep being realistic about what happened.

Shotokan Symposium - Part 2

The symposium was one incredible weekend; I'm pretty sure that everybody was able to take something away from it, and learned new ideas.  Of all the instructors that were teaching at the camp, I was only exposed to Otis Sensei (it was both good and bad, but mostly good.)  Azoulay Sensei, my usual instructor, and DeAngelis Sensei, another sensei that I have trained under were in charge of heading other groups throughout the camp, and as luck would have it Otis Sensei always chose to work with the competitors and dan rank classes.

As with the usual Camp Shotokan curriculum  the Shotokan Symposium had an overlying theme to the classes.  The running joke, though, is that the theme for camp is always the same thing, body dynamics, but Otis Sensei and Safar Sensei just call it different things.  This year's theme was body compression and expansion (body dynamics by any other name, but one can make the argument that Shotokan itself is just body dynamics by any other name).  The main idea being that the body compresses in transition during techniques to lead to the expansion into the strike/kick/block/punch.  Simple idea, but rather difficult to truly accomplish correctly.

For competitors, the question was of footwork, and using a very simple pattern of compress back, shift forward to attack, side step out, compress and then expand to attack again.  The process was repeated in attack and defense, and using several different techniques, but relying primarily on gyaku-tsuki and kizami-tsuki.  The classes were attended by some of my fellow AJKA-I US Team members, as well as one member of the WKF US Team, and his brother who is a gold medalist from the Maccabiah Team as part of the US delegation.  Aside from them there were a number of solid competitors with pinpoint accuracy and significant power.  It was a rough couple of days of competition training.

The regular dan rank classes were similarly basic, but incredibly complex in their own ways.  Primarily focusing on relaxing into stances and using the inherent compression to create tremendous power in attacks.  There was also a big focus on kata peformance and oyo drills used primarily for utilizing intelligent body dynamics for self-defense as opposed to technique based bunkai drills.

It was one incredible weekend, and hopefully as more details come back to me I will be posting more about it.

Back to the gym

I can't describe how good it felt to be lifting again...I missed it far more than I realized.  Unfortunately, I was a bit overzealous and managed to tweak my shoulder and had some minor issues with external rotation of my right arm.  Luckily a little Tiger Balm, and my shoulder is back to normal.  The level of soreness I'm experiencing right now is incredible, though.  I was lifting for about an hour, I'm again following Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules regime.  Hypertrophy I, workout A covers the upper body, utilizing an alternating set routine.

For day 1 all rep ranges were 5x5: incline dumbbell bench w/ seated cable rows, standing dumbbell shoulder press w/ lat pulldown (or pullups), and close-grip barbell bench press w/ high pull, all followed by 3x15 for abs, in this case I did decline bench crunches.  The rep ranges rotate between 5x5, 4x10 and 3x15, abs are always 3x15.  I've decided to supplement the full workouts with some isolation work, on upper body days I will be doing 3x15 for biceps or triceps (alternating by workout), and 3x15 for calves on lower body days.  The specific exercises will change workout to workout, but I'm just hoping for a little extra mass gain in those specific parts.  We'll see how it works out, I might change it based on physical fatigue and he like.

If that wasn't enough, I ended the day with an hour of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is always fun.  It was about 30 minutes of drilling and 30 minutes of hard sparring.  Basically reviewing the basic hip throw, while adding a new grip to the throw, and then working on scissor sweeps from guard.

All in all, I was pretty wasted after all that, but today I woke up feeling energized and ready for another day like that (yeah, I'll get it on Wednesday).  I'm looking forward to karate tonight, hopefully get some free-sparring and good kumite drills.

Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track with my weight-lifting, weight-loss and training goals and peak just in time for Ippon Cup in September...wish me luck!

1/5/13 - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

With the new instructor, the classes are only an hour long instead of two hours, but seriously, I feel like I was run over right now!  One big difference is that a large portion of the time was involved in live rolling and hard sparring.  With our last instructor, we had a 2 hour session with about an hour of passive/compliant drills, 30 minutes of semi-alive training and then 30 minutes of sparring, but during the sparring session there was rarely more than one pair going at a time.  Last night, we had 30 minutes or review of Wednesday night's class with some tweaking of technical details, and then 30 minutes of live rolling, there was very little break in between. We were all rolling at the same time, with each of us going at least 4 times.  I was lucky enough to roll 5 times...hence the way I'm feeling today!

Anyway, technical details: when bringing the leg over the head to sit back into the arm bar, it's important to not just simply step over the head.  You can make a lot of open space which gives your opponent time to get his head clear and sit up in your guard.  Most important thing is to slip your leg over without creating space.

When going for an Americana lock, the important point of tapping your opponent isn't necessarily torquing the arm upward, some people are just too flexible for that.  It's more important to bring their elbow down tight to their ribs and then torque, this puts the maximum amount of pressure on the shoulder and often will tap people without even turning the arm.

With the cross collar choke, the most important detail is the grips, if you don't shoot your hands deep enough along the lapels, it will take much longer to finish the opponent, giving them extra time to breathe and think.  You're better off shooting your hands towards the gi-makers brand tag behind the neck and try to make your knuckles touch there.  Then lean forward and turn your palms up.

I'm already looking forward to Monday's class, it was nice to see that our head instructor's teaching style is very similar to his instructor's, who was the primary teacher on Wednesday night.

Shotokan Symposium - Part 1

Every year the American JKA-International holds an international training camp in Carlsbad, CA.  The training camp is, simply called Camp Shotokan.  This year, unfortunately, the location we utilize is under construction and our usual training areas are currently compromised without guarantee of being ready for the summer rush when the organization comes together.  The executive committee instead decided to take the AJKA-I on the road, with several separate training camps being held across the country at different times of the year.  The first one coming up is the Shotokan Symposium (1/18/13 - 1/20/13), in Buckingham, PA at the Solebury Club.

The Symposium is being run by Sensei Rob DeAngelis, 6th Dan, Director of the AJKA-I East Coast Instructor Training Program.  The camp will be taught by three primary instructors, all members of the AJKA-I Executive Committee and several guest instructors.  The primary camp instructors are: Sensei Edmond Otis, 8th Dan, AJKA-I Chairman and North American Chief Instructor; Sensei Avi Azoulay, 7th Dan, AJKA-I Technical Committee from New York; and Sensei Rob DeAngelis.

Sensei Edmond Otis, 8th Dan
Otis Sensei is well known in all parts of the world, he travels extensively between the US and New Zealand, where he currently lives, and also teaches annually in Europe at the AJKA-I International Instructor's Camp. He began training 1967 under Nishiyama Sensei in Los Angeles, and continued training under Nishiyama's senior student Sensei Ray Dalke in Riverside.  While there, Otis Sensei trained extensively under Dalke Sensei, and Sensei Frank Smith (long considered the greatest American JKA fighter of his generation).  Otis Sensei brings years of teaching, coaching and judging to the dojo floor and provides amazing insights into the most basic of karate's techniques.  He is well known for saying, "Karate is very simple."

Otis Sensei coaching competitors at Camp Shotokan:

Sensei Avi Azoulay, 7th Dan
Azoulay Sensei has been training continuously since 1971 in his native Israel under the guidance of Sensei Satoshi Miyazaki (JKA Belgium), after championing the Israel Open two years in a row, Azoulay Sensei made the move to the US to train under Sensei Alex Sternberg.  In the early 90's, Sensei made the move to join the AJKA-I while training under Dalke Sensei at Camp Shotokan in Colorado.  Azoulay Sensei has been on the US Maccabiah Team three times, and was the captain for the team in 1993 to the World Maccabiah Games in Israel.  In his competition days, Sensei has medaled in various national and international competitions including silver and gold medals at the World Maccabiah Games.  He is well known for his technical mastery and for making every class both enertaining and instructive.

Sensei Rob DeAngelis 6th Dan
DeAngelis Sensei is without a doubt one of the fiercest fighters and competitors I have ever met, with an incredible blitz attack and phenomenal judo, he is a scary individual to meet on the street or on the competition floor.  DeAngelis Sensei began his training under John McClary in New Jersey and then continued his training under Sensei Leslie Safar, 9th Dan, AJKA-I Technical Director and Chief Instructor for Europe.  DeAngelis Sensei has an incredible knowledge and intuitive knack for employing superior body dynamics and breathing to create destructive power.  His many competitive accolades include: 2nd Place - Kumite 2007 World Cup in Spain; 2nd Place - Kumite 1997 World Cup in Los Angeles; 1st Place - Team Kumite 2004 & 2006 Euro Cup in Hungary.

This will be without a doubt an incredibly instructive and exciting weekend full of karate.  There will be classes for all kyu levels, black belts and competitors of all levels.  Furthermore, camp participants will get the chance to train with past and present AJKA-I US Team members, who are preparing for the Ippon Cup in Berlin, Germany in September 2013.

I can't wait for training to start!

Starting the New Year off Right

While the gym is still not open, I haven't been able to begin my fitness goals in full, but I have been in the dojo, and let me tell you...wow!  Two weeks off from training because of the holidays and work commitments and it felt amazing to be back!  Wednesday night was the first day of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, new instructor and new training scheme.  This instructor, in my opinion, is much better the last and his teaching style is far superior, at least for me.

His first session teaching was very basic, but highly technical.  His teaching method is based on starting from the feet, and flow down to the ground and into several submission ideas.  First, the take down: basic osoto-gari from gi-grips, from the take down assume side-control.  Main points to remember, keep the sweeping leg in motion throughout the take down to ensure full motion and no stoppage, also when down in side-control keep the hips low and use your knees to block your opponents hips from moving.  Lastly, throughout the process of take down to side-control, keep your head close to your opponents shoulder to add extra weight to your position.  From side-control, go for mount and then three different submission options.  When taking mount, remember to base your hips, block your opponents knee and then step over.

Three full-mount submissions:
Cross-collar choke: use one hand to open the lapel and feed your other hand deep into the collar and grip, first hand then slips under and takes a deep grip.  Put your head down above or next to opponents and rotate your palms up.

Americana: if your opponent is defending the neck to prevent the collar-choke, isolate one arm and pin the ground with fingers pointing above the head.  Using a thumb-less grip, slip your bottom hand under the arm and grip your own wrist while gripping your opponents wrist with your top hand.  Shift your attacking side knee back and pull your opponents elbow down and gradually lift up to apply pressure to the shoulder.

Arm-bar: if your opponent attempts to push you off, post on his chest with one hand between his arms, and the other arm looped around one arm.  Twist your hips so you ride up the elbow and keep your weight on his chest.  Step your back leg over your opponent's head and sit back.  Get wrist control so the thumb is pointing up and pinch your knees together and your heels to the floor.  Apply pressure upward with your hips and down on his wrist.

Yesterday's karate class, was also nice and intense, some simple kihon to warm up: oi-zuki, gyaku-zuki, age-uke-gyaku-zuki and age-uke-maeshi-mae-geri-gyaku-zuki.  This was followed for the rest of the class by ippon-kumite.  Starting was basic, practicing the combinations we used during kihon, and gradually went to a more complicated combination, coincidentally also playing with osoto-gari.  As the opponent steps in with oi-zuki, shift your lead leg out to the side and do a high jodan soto-uke, mawashi-geri with the back leg to mid-section and immediately with the same leg shift back and execute osoto-gari to your opponent's front leg.

The classes were mostly basic, and that's exactly what I wanted.  I need to start talking to Sensei about more specialized and specific training for Ippon Cup, as I need more time to work on my kata and more importantly my kumite.  Hopefully we'll be able to work something out soon.