Karate, Fighting And Confusion

If you tell somebody that you do karate they immediately make a joke reference about not arguing with you given that you're now trained to kill with your bare hands etc. etc. I laugh it off - actually I'm not that trained (less than one year does not an expert make) and even if I'd done my 10,000 hours, the automatic assumption that I would be able to defend myself against an attacker or attackers would be unlikely given that - one, the free sparring I practice is a highly stylized sport designed to show control, not injure and involves little actual karate. Two, as a small women my strength would be very much inferior to a larger male (stereotyped attacker). It's strength that wins fights regardless, unless vastly out skilled. Three, I've never experienced a hostile attack, the type carried out by those capable of habitual violence and as such, would probably fail to realize the gravity of my situation until too late. When it comes to self defense, avoidance remains the best option. Failing that, talking your way out is a close second. Fighting your way out is the option of last resort. It often ends badly.

The reason why I practice karate and probably others too, is because it teaches me self control, shows me how to carry on when I don't think I can, shows me that I can do things I never thought possible and it keeps me fit. Way, way down on my list of way I do karate is that it might help me defend myself. Perhaps it can. At least I'm used to taking controlled blows through a pad, perhaps a reflex reaction may make the difference. I do hope so, but it remains very hard to explain to non martial artists that we're not all doing it to become trained killers. So, it's best just to laugh their comments off (you sound odd if you try to explain) and smile modestly, perhaps if they were a would be attacker they'll pass you by.

Apsire To Be Like Jonathan Mottram!!

Kata will always be an essential form of karate. They hold within them the basic stances, blocks and strikes requires to perform karate and also for kumite (even though few of these principals are demonstrated in modern competition sparring). This is not all however, timing, breathing, mental control, kiai and transitional movement are all contained within kata. Good kata performance is breath taking to watch - for example the recent Mottram vs Valdesi bronze medal contest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVQVfcHS6Cg

So how to improve your kata? We all know practice makes perfect, but practicing kata badly will only perfect your imperfections, so rule number one - find the very best teacher you can  and congratulations to those in the UK lucky enough to train with Jonathan Mottram! For the rest of us, watch good kata on YouTube so you know what to look for and look around and find the best Sensei you can.

Once you've found your Sensei, develop your own system that can be applied to practice any kata. This is what I'm using at the moment:

• Learn the moves
• Master the moves - do them slowly without reference to timing so they really sink in, try it mirror image then try it backwards. Try it super fast - if you don't really know it, you'll go wrong!
• Work out the bunkai - not in PhD thesis level, just something plausible that works in your mind, practice with a friend. Now you have turned a series of moves into a number of opponents. Now you can make sense of the timing, power and when kiai is needed etc.
• Break down each opponent section and practice it in isolation with good technique, power and spirit, mentally finishing off each opponent. Visualize them
• Work out a good beginning and a good end - every performance is improved by a decent start and finish
• Perform it slowly holding each move with contracted muscles to improve your strength without thought to speed or timing
• Consider how you should be breathing
• Work on how you get from one move to the next and remember that speed and power come from your legs and hips
• Do it Tai Chi style - slowly with focus on breathing and relaxation - I'm not sure this last one really helps, but I like it!

Lastly, if you get really good, learn to ignore the screaming girls that will follow you from competition to competition

Toe Injuries And Karate

I don't want to cover the obvious here - toe nail injuries or fractures from blunt trauma. Unfortunately broken toes are quite common and there seems to be little to recommend other than wear protection, improve your technique and get faster! I'd like to cover two forms of injury I've had in the last 3 months. Firstly, turf toe - this is straightforward sprain of the ligaments abound the big toe, usually when the joint get stretched beyond it's normal range of movement. Usually, it's a sudden impact thing (at least it was for me) accompanied by bruising and immediate pain and restriction of movement which gradually subsides over weeks. The usual management - rest, ice, compression, elevation (RICE).

The problem I currently have is a little more insidious - sesamoiditis. Never heard of it? Well if you have big toe pain, close to the ball of your foot and more on the inside (medial surface) which you can press to induce pain, this may be what you have.

It may not come on suddenly and can creep up on you. Sesamoids are bones within tendons and there are two within the big toe joint to act as pulleys to allow the joint to be extended and flexed with ease. If repetitive use and unaccustomed use triggers inflammation in this region you have sesamoiditis. The same RICE treatment applies, but add in shoe pads and no high heeled shoes - how boring!

Loyalty In Martial Arts - Bow To Your Sensei!

Loyalty was central to the Samurai Code or Bushido.
Wiki link
Today, it is almost universally included in the code of conduct of most Dojo, mine included, but what does this really mean? You may think it means to be loyal, or to put a more Western slant on it, display the level of respect that is deserved by your teacher. This is not however what most martial arts Sensei would understand by loyalty. In martial arts terms loyalty is simple, you must obey you Sensei (however crazy they are).

So how far does this go? Well in a traditional sense, you may even be asked to perform tasks for your Sensei - in one example I know of, a student lived with a great master of some martial art or other, made breakfast for him and his wife, essentially in a state of servitude in exchange for great knowledge - or at least you'd hope so. Needless to say, he tired of this and went on his way. There was a price for his behavior, a great  falling out which could not be recovered. Presumably applicants for the vacancy were tested on their cooking. Another example is one I've come across more than once closer to home - a student attends 2 or 3 different Sensei in secret so that each thinks they are the unique Sensei. This is quite common. Weird isn't it? In your everyday life, normal rules apply, then for the martial arts part of your life - you're Sensei's bitch.


So far I've met 3 types of practitioner:
1 - the ones who seek out the open, do-as-many-other-classes-as-you-like clubs
2 - the ones who do secret classes
3 - the ones that suck it up and stick to one control freak

Why does anyone ever consider options 2 or 3? Usually it's because the Sensei in question is exceptionally good (at least the student thinks so) or because the student has certain inadequacy issues.

Why Are There So Many Irritating Men In Karate? There Goes Another Olympic Bid!

Controversial title and I'm not picking on men, it's just that there's so many more of them in martial arts than women - they stand out. I should define 'irritating' further. It has a variety of forms that you may recognize. For example, those with the idea that there is only one way of doing something - their way. For example, after move x in kata y the right hand should finish in a fist facing upwards. While it's quite reasonable to teach one way for simplicity, good teachers appreciate this is not the only way. It exemplifies the total failure to understand that the point of move x. If it was to, for example, block a strike to the face and the issue of importance is it's effectiveness as a block rather than where the limb ends up! This resolute adherence to the poorly thought out exemplifies 'irritating'. A further example would be the ability to disagree with your Sensei and set up your own (slightly different) club. So that over time, more and more, slightly different clubs emerge. Granted, some may be well thought through developments that are well run and adhere to strong principals, but most are founded on ego alone and second rate. The Sensei is the one who shows the way, not the one in it for themselves. This sort of irritating behavior is much more dangerous to karate since it turns the sport into an amateur shambles that has just got knocked back (again) from being accepted as an Olympic Sport. Worse, it exposes novices to bad teaching and this is much more unacceptable, particularly since to the man in the street it appears to teach violence. It's a bit like the building trade, you only need one or two cowboys to make the rest look bad.

So why is this? In part it's human nature - none of us are perfect, we all want it to be about us, our success and our importance. Ironically, this is the very opposite to the very founding principals of karate - humility and respect. There is however another truism about karate - it can be a solitary practice and solitary practices always attract those who could never succeed in team sports ie those with restricted social skills. I don't mean to imply that everyone choosing to practice a martial art is on the autistic spectrum, far from it, look at you and me, we're extremely sociable! But, it does have a higher proportion than say football. Although, on the plus side karate has avoided drugs, drink and sex scandals so far and can only look on with envy as cricketers and footballers keep making the tabloids. Anyway, back to the point, what can be done? Regulate, regulate, regulate! This is getting better, slowly and those at the top know this of course - the problem is, getting all those 'irritating men' to agree to follow one coherent plan! Catch 22.

Kata By Opponent

There are many ways to think about kata; in terms of precise movements or the reasoning behind the movement eg a block, strike etc. They are relaxing, exhausting and fun all at the same time. They were once a way of training warriors in fast, fatal hand to hand combat and a means of maintaining family honor and status. Initially, we all start out by just trying to remember the moves in sequence. After this we can move on and focus on what it's really about. After some thought I've decided that although kata is a form with many benefits, it is simply about one thing - effectively fighting opponents. A perfectly executed kata with not a limb out of place would be useless without effective power, no more than a dance. Far better to go out there with spirit and blunder through an imperfect reproduction with one or two effective moves than to dance across the Dojo. My Sensei often refers to a students less than perfect kata as 'having spirit'. By this he means it was really pretty bad, but at least you tried. However, his response to a move-only kata performance evokes a mixture of annoyance, disappointment and nausea in him all at the same time followed by a 5 minute lecture on the importance of 'technique' by which he means making moves that generate effective power. After I've learned the move sequence, I want to understand the opponent sequence and try to visualize finishing of each one.

Kata - Not Really Getting The Detail

I like kata. The problem with karate classes from my point of view is that it's easy to get stuck focusing on just the moves of the kata. I find this in my class, particularly as a beginner. In addition to the 5 Pinan katas which I know pretty well, I reliably know the moves to 2 advanced katas - Bassai Dai and Annan and intermittently know / forget 2 others - Matsumura Rohai and Seienchin. This is because I don't do enough practice. When it comes to kata practice I believe that on a non-class day even bad practice ie just walking through the moves in front of the TV is better than doing nothing - at least you remember the moves! My Sensei would be horrified! Despite this sometimes the TV or life wins completely and no practice gets done.
However, the numerous higher grades that make up the class know loads of katas, so it's easy to understand why the Sensei will go over 5-10 in the last 40 minutes of a class for the benefit of various individuals who are grading soon or doing a competition. But I can't learn them that fast, indeed it would be useless to try so many at my stage, so like others at my level, I sit out those I can't do (usually glad of the rest). Occasionally we'll go over one in really good detail and get a chance to learn it, but then it's back to making a fortnightly or monthly appearance. It's amazing how long it takes to learn a kata and how fast it is to forget it!

Separate kata classes would help, but most students prefer sparring and the bottom line it that for my club not enough students would attend to justify keeping a kata class running. Perhaps time will help and I will gradually learn more and more, but kata is not just about knowing the moves, it's about defeating opponents.