Karate Questions and Answers: February 2015

"The Author, it must be remembered, writes from his own standpoint!"
My personal "Interpretive" Lens!

Do You Have A Question?

If you have a question not covered in this blog feel free to send it to me at my email address, i.e. "snow" dot here "covered" dot here "bamboo" AT symbol here "gmail" dot here "com"

"One thing has always been true: That book ... or ... that person who can give me an idea or a new slant on an old idea is my friend." - Louis L'Amour

"Ideally, your self-defense will never get physical. Avoiding the situation and running or talking you way out - either of these is a higher order of strategy than winning a physical battle." - Wise Words of Rory Miller, Facing Violence: Chapter 7: after, subparagraph 7.1:medical
"Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider..." - Francis Bacon

Warning, Caveat and Note: The postings on this blog are my interpretation of readings, studies and experiences therefore errors and omissions are mine and mine alone. The content surrounding the extracts of books, see bibliography on this blog site, are also mine and mine alone therefore errors and omissions are also mine and mine alone and therefore why I highly recommended one read, study, research and fact find the material for clarity. My effort here is self-clarity toward a fuller understanding of the subject matter. See the bibliography for information on the books.

Note: I will endevor to provide a bibliography and italicize any direct quotes from the materials I use for this blog. If there are mistakes, errors, and/or omissions, I take full responsibility for them as they are mine and mine alone. If you find any mistakes, errors, and/or omissions please comment and let me know along with the correct information and/or sources.

Why do we do kata that way?

First, watch this video then read the post.

Note: This should not be construed as a critique or criticism of the kata, the practitioner or karate in general, it is simply a question as to another perspective of kata training and reality based self-defense.

Caveat: This post is mine and mine alone. I the author of this blog assure you, the reader, that any of the opinions expressed here are my own and are a result of the way in which my meandering mind interprets a particular situation and or concept. The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of other martial arts and/or conflict/violence professionals or authors of source materials. It should be quite obvious that the sources I used herein have not approved, endorsed, embraced, friended, liked, tweeted or authorized this post. (Everything I think and write is true, within the limits of my knowledge and understanding.)

Now that you have watched it take notice that every single, or almost every, technique is done from a motionless body stance and posture. Granted you have energy generation from slight movements in the body such as from the waist but where I question it is in power generation, power generation comes from the forward movement of your body mass. True and powerful, power.

I ask this, “if attacked don’t you need to apply the greatest amount of power to the adversary to stop the damage and leave for safety?” I would think so as my understanding of a violent attack, i.e., a surprise, aggressive, pain filled, fast, hard, close attack means I have to end it fast to stop the damage and find alternatives to fighting (fighting is mutual and illegal making both participants criminally negligent).

Why don’t we see a type of movement in kata practice that helps train the body-mind for that type of movement that generates power? Again, I have heard the arguments of power through chinkuchi, gamaku, etc., but is that the type of power that is perceived through impressions and perceptions coming not from actual live violent experiences but from a perception of perceived power through the feeling of muscular tension over true effortless principle based power generation? I think so ….

When I practice my kata and techniques and combinations today I work to execute them with body mass movement that generates power. It is difficult as I am overcoming that typical kata training that sets a stationary stance before, not during the execution of, technique application. It is like the boxers drop-step technique in generating power, i.e., if the step is completed prior to the fist hitting the target, some and maybe most of the power generated is lost.

Just because your uniform snaps and pops, just because your fist makes a large resounding sound when hitting the makiwara and just because in kumite you feel a solid connection when tagging your partner does not mean it generates the power necessary to stop an aggressive, experienced and experienced street adversary - especially when it involves the asocial process/resource predator attack.

Do you feel this is not a valid concern because you feel strongly that when you apply your martial arts in a fight that what you do now is enough power? Or, do you feel when you need to hit hard and with power in a fight you will be able to do it just because you tell yourself you will do it in a fight? Think about that and those types of things NOW, before you have to depend on it when attacked.

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:

MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.

Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense:

Ayoob, Massad. “Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self-Defense”Gun Digest Books. Krouse Publications. Wisconsin. 2014.

Goleman, Daniel. "Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition [Kindle Edition]." Bantam. January 11, 2012.

Miller, Rory. "ConCom: Conflict Communications A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication." Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 2014.

Miller, Rory and Kane, Lawrence A. "Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-making under Threat of Violence." YMAA Publisher. New Hampshire. 2012

Miller, Rory. "Force Decisions: A Citizen's Guide." YMAA Publications. NH. 2012.

Miller, Rory Sgt. "Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected." YMAA Publishing. 2011.

Elgin, Suzette Haden, Ph.D. "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense." Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 1983.

Elgin, Suzette. "The Last Word on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1995

Morris, Desmond. “Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior.” Harry N. Abrams. April 1979.

Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense" Barnes & Noble. 1993.

Elgin, Suzette. "The Gentle Art of Written Self-Defense" MJF Books. 1997.

Maffetone, Philip Dr. “The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-stress, No-Pain Way to Exceptional Fitness.” McGraw Hill, New York. 2000

Strong, Sanford. “Strong on Defense_ Survival Rules to Protect you and your Family from Crime.” Pocket Books. New York. 1996.

and more … see blog bibliography.

My Blog Bibliography

Chiron: http://chirontraining.blogspot.com

Cornered Cat (Scratching Post): http://www.corneredcat.com/scratching-post/

Kodokan Boston: http://kodokanboston.org

Mario McKenna (Kowakan): http://www.kowakan.com

Mokuren Dojo: http://www.mokurendojo.com

McYoung’s Musings: http://macyoungsmusings.blogspot.com

Martial Views: http://www.martialviews.com

Shinseidokan Dojo: http://shinseidokandojo.blogspot.com

The Classi Budoka: https://classicbudoka.wordpress.com

Wim Demeere’s Blog: http://www.wimsblog.com

Does the snap you hear of the karate uniform indicate power?

No, it is simply a misconception of those who are not truly understanding of power generation and it comes from the time those same folks started to use the snapping of the uniform to grade tournament kata competitions. There are many misconceptions about the snapping of the gi. It got so bad that uniform makers began to make and sell karate uniforms with the end of the sleeves and pant legs made thicker so they would always snap or pop no matter how one performed the techniques. Just another way to get the judges to award points to accumulate trophies.

One reason I believe this occurred is because of the lack of information and knowledge practitioners who teach failed to rectify as they progressed. This comes from newly minted black belts, sho-dan’s, mistakenly thinking that because they are now a black belt they can go open a dojo and teach people to be black belts. Since the first failed to learn what was necessary to be a good sensei, these passed on that same failure to their students who would then miss more and so on till they all were merely dancers with no substance. I did this for years until I ran into folks who actually knew what they were doing and even then I found in the last ten years that those guys were also missing a lot.

The snap means absolutely nothing especially when it comes to power generation. It gives one a false sense of power and it sends the wrong message. It is a focus that is misplaced in my opinion.

Look at the early pioneers who first started to use the karate-gi, they often either didn’t wear the top or they used them with shortened sleeves that did not and would not snap or pop in practice. It also serves another purpose, in the dojo and not the street, of removing the sleeve from grabbing techniques from the elbows down. (Note: notice I said dojo, I don’t consider it important in self-defense simply because one is never wearing the dojo karate-gi when they are attacked on the street. Then again, what do I know.)

Focus on those power generation important fundamental principles and if you by some chance hear a snap or pop on your uniform - cool sound huh? Don’t lose site of what is important for circus arena entertainment valued sound effects. Sound effects don’t stop a predatory adversary who is hell bent on you getting damage while they either get what ever resource they are after or worse, apply the damage that attains the process they were after in the first place.

There is apparently so much missing from martial arts regarding self-defense. Now, if you are only in it to impress others and build your trophy collection then go for it, buy the specially made uniform and snap and pop to your hearts content.

Oh, and the snapping punch itself is only one small aspect of applying techniques and it is not even the best one to use in self-defense. Just sayin!

How can a dojo incorporate survival-stress training for Self-defense into their program?

It occurred to me that an example provided in the book, Facing Violence by Rory Miller and Lawrence A. Kane, seemed kind of familiar to me. It was a survival-stress reaction test the author experienced during a shooting training exercise. It involved strenuous exercises done in a way and under a time constraint that induced the effects one might experience in a survival situation. (Caveat: I am not a professional and I don’t have the experiences in the adrenal flood to validate my post but I would consider this type of test to be physical, mostly, and not indicative of what occurs when the mind is flooded, etc.)

There is no real way to induce the type of mind or psychological mind-state that one will encounter when life and limb are on the line under circumstances that involve no rules and a very real danger of loss of life or great bodily harm but this would get the practitioner a modicum of experience.

What I suddenly realized is that the Marines use the same type of training over a long period of time, basic training that lasts about three months, that expose recruits to such stresses that would provide the same survival-stress type exposure, experience and testing. The moment a recruit steps off the bus and assumes the position on the famous, for Marines anyway, yellow footprints. Take a look at the current video’s on Marine recruit training or any of the military training. Consider that for some that extends into other training regimens and those combat circumstances. Thinks also training requirements for Grunts, Marine Recon and others like the Navy’s Seal/Buds training, the Army’s special forces and so on.

Now, considering this and the example provided by Miller and Kane, can you come up with scenario’s that would also induce such stress reaction training for the dojo?

Consider those ancient training beliefs many Asian martial arts programs use such as the winter training done in the cold and snow. Add in some of the training stresses that are described by both Miller and Kane or Military stuff and you might actually have some stress inducing training that will provide some semblance of reality for self-defense martial arts.

Add in those training opportunities like the many commercially run challenge races, i.e., the Spartan Races type challenges. Those quasi-military training challenges that will definitely induce stresses that you can use to train your mind-set/mind-state. An example, take the Spartan race challenge (I just picked this one out because some family and friends like the Spartan races) for example. You can get a group of practitioners together to run a race and then have half attack and the other half defend throughout the race to induce survival-stress like situations (careful here, you may have to let the race promoters know what you are doing so they don’t think racers are fighting.). Or, you can do kata and two person drills immediately after completing certain challenges or obstacles through out the race (better yet, so they won’t assume racers are fighting).

Once you get some of this going on in your training, use your imagination to create more opportunities to create stress-survival like training.

Primary Bibliography of Self-Defense:

MacYoung, Marc. "In the Name of Self-Defense: What It Costs. When It’s Worth It." Marc MacYoung. 2014.

Miller, Rory Sgt. "Meditations of Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence" YMAA Publishing. 2008.

Secondary Bibliography of Self-Defense: