2023

2023-12-27

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight was the last class of 2023. I had two visitors observing class, so Murphy’s Law kicked in and all of the students in the youth and family class completely forgot all their vocabulary. Regardless, it looks like they’re going to give it a shot starting next week, so that’s good. In the adult class we continued going over basic footwork and sparring drills. Admittedly, these drills are a bit above the white belts’ pay grade, but they’re getting it.

On a side note, it’s been almost two years since classes began at the YMCA, and I’m very pleased with how things are going. It looks like I’ve got about 15 active students, with two more looking to join next week.

2023-12-20

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I announced the results of the adult class kyu grading tonight, though one of the examinees is on vacation so I won’t announce them here just yet. Classes were a bit small, which is to be expected during the holiday season.

2023-12-18

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight I announced the results of last week’s kyu grading for the youth and family class, and we had a small grading for two students in the adult class. Everyone in the youth and family class passed, though some to differing degrees. As a reminder, for students under 16, I divide 9th - 7th kyu into four belts each. This gives me the ability to reward progress, even if it’s not enough to make it all the way to the next “full” kyu grade. In my experience, it’s much better to tell a child “You passed part of the way” than “You failed to make it all the way.” (And to be clear, this has nothing to do with revenue - I only charge for the belt.) For adults of all ranks, and children from 6th kyu on, I reduce this to two, so I can differentiate between those who meet and those who exceed expectations.

After class, we also had a small chat about tardiness and being out of uniform. I don’t punish these things, because I feel like they punish themselves. I’m sure I feel differently about this than most do, but here’s what I told them:

Of course I want you to be here on time, and in uniform, but the most important part is being here. If it’s a choice between being late and being absent, be late. Likewise, if it’s a choice between being out of uniform or not being here, be out of uniform. Cars break down, work runs late, and sometimes the laundry doesn’t get done, but you can’t learn anything if you’re not here at all, so just show up.

Having said that, I also make sure I have an understanding with my students: I respect that karate may not be their #1 priority. (In fact, it probably shouldn’t be.) In exchange, they understand that their rate of progress is directly proportional to the hours they put in.

2023-12-13

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Kyu gradings in the youth and family class went well, but ran a bit longer than I’d like. I had four grading for 8th kyu and two for 9th kyu. Results will be announced at our next class on Decemmber 18. As a reminder, I like to take the evening to think about everyone’s performance and write up individual feedback, explaining what each person did well and what they can do to improve for next time.

The adult class has their kyu grading next time, so we spent tonight going through the test just to make sure there were no surprises. The white belts were a bit lost going through the 8th kyu test, but being placed firmly outside your comfort zone is okay every now and then. We worked on some sparring drills near the end of class and I got a bit frustrated, so I took a moment at the end of class to make some things clear. Everyone gets frustrated from time to time and, when I get frustrated, I’m not frustrated with them. Rather, I’m frustrated with myself for not coming up with a way to explain things that’s getting through to everyone.

2023-12-11

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The youth class has kyu gradings on Wednesday, so I asked the class if there was anything they wanted to be sure we worked on tonight, and we spent our time on that. About half the students wanted to work on kata and the other half wanted to work on yakusoku kumite, so that’s what we did.

Kata went about like you might expect. Students did kata, I critiqued, etc. Everyone had different issues to overcome, but a common theme among those performing Heian Shodan was the lack of “oomph” in their knife-hand blocks. I told them to think of knife-hand block like slapping something out of the way. You really have to generate some speed in order to have an effecive slap. That seemed to help.

When working on yakusoku kumite, I noticed a common issue with defenders waiting too long between the last attack and their counterattack. I explained that the feeling should be as though you simply can’t wait until it’s time your turn to counterattack. It’s as if you should be thinking, “Is it my turn yet? How about now? How about now?” If you wait too long, the attacker could just attack again. In other words, you aren’t counterattacking because that’s the end of the drill. You’re counterattacking because you want to end the attacks.

2023-12-06

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had a good laugh in the youth class tonight. After class, I asked the students how many times they planned to practice their kata at home between now and Monday. One of them said, “Probably zero.” I told her I appreciated the honesty, but asked if she thought her karate might get better if she did practice at home? It went down like this:

• Me: “Practicing karate at home is like doing homework. Do you think doing homework helps you get good grades at school?”
• Her: “My school doesn’t do homework.”
• Me: “But your dad is a teacher, right? Does he give homework in his classes?”
• Her: Nods
• Me: “And if you asked your dad, who do you think he’d say gets better grades? Students who do the homework or students who don’t?”
• Her: “The ones who do do homework.”
• Me: " … You said ‘doo doo’."
• Everyone: Laughter

2023-12-04

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

It’s December already! Rank exams are coming up for my students: The 13th for youth and the 18th for the adult class. Most students I consider eligible to test by virtue of attendance appear also be ready to test, so that’s good. The rest is up to them.

I had a lesson in humility this evening, when I realized that my black belt hadn’t made it back into my bag over the weekend. Ordinarily it never leaves my bag, but something was different this weekend - I don’t recall what. Regardless, it wasn’t there, so I grabbed the white belt I use for Aikido (which was in my bag) and wore that while teaching the first class. Sure, we all had a laugh about how “Sensei is a white belt tonight”, but it made for a good teaching point: Your belt isn’t important. Your skills are. I still move just as fast, punch just as hard, etc., whether I’m wearing a black belt or a white belt. Furthermore, if I had to choose between having skills and no belt, or a belt and no skills, that’s no contest. I’ll take the skills every time.

2023-11-29

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight we reviewed what we did on Monday, primarily escapes for wrist grabs coming out of Taikyoku Shodan and Heian Shodan. Then I spent a bit of time going over some vocabulary and concepts that aren’t tested per se, but that I still expect students of certain ranks to know. We spend most of our time sweating on the floor, and rightly so, but I believe it’s important for students to know, and be able to articulate, concepts like:

• What style of karate do we practice?
• What’s the difference between jodan, chudan, and gedan?
• How are the hips generally positioned while attacking? What about while blocking?
• What’s the difference between kihon, kata, and kumite?
• Can you count to ten in Japanese and tie your belt correctly?

Knowing these things may not be the difference between life and death “on the street”, but I believe there’s more to karate than just the physical skills, and I’d be doing my students a disservice if I didn’t give them the skills and knowledge they need to walk into any Shotokan dojo, anywhere in the world, and be able to participate.

2023-11-27

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Last night we spent at least half of our time, in both classes, on kata applications. The first class, which has only white and yellow belts, worked on a cross-side wrist grab release using the “downward block” at the beginning of Taikyoku Shodan and the ever-popular same-side wrist grab release using the “hammerfist strike” in Heian Shodan.

Some students were already familar with these, so I was able to save some time by pairing the “old timers” up with the “noobs”, but it still took a while. It always does. Having students practice techniques that have a chance of failure always takes more time than teaching them to punch air. Nevertheless, I’m scoring it as a win since one of the students said, “I never knew why we did kata before.”

The adult class worked through the same two applications, and then added a three-step application of the first three moves of Heian Nidan that goes something like this:

1. The attacker steps forward with a right-handed “haymaker” punch to the head. The defender steps forward with the left leg into back stance, jams the attacking arm just above the elbow with the front arm while executing a roundhouse punch (mawashi-zuki) to the attacker’s face with the “back” hand. It’s important that the defender’s front leg be in contact with the outside of the attacker’s front leg, preferably about knee-to-knee.
2. With their right hand neutralized, the attacker then swings for the defender’s head with the left hand. The defender deflects the punch with a left-handed jodan nagashi-uke while simultaneously executing a close punch (ura-zuki) to the attacker’s ribs.
3. The defender now uses the left hand to push the attacker to the left, causing him to trip over the attacker’s extended left leg.

The main lesson in this combination is that you need to become comfortable moving into an attack and getting close. The mawashi-zuki on step 1, the ura-zuki on step 2, and the trip in step 3 all depend on being close to the attacker.

2023-11-22

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Attendance was sparse (the day before Thanksgiving), so I made sure to tell the students who did come how much I appreciated their dedication. In the adult class, we worked on tai-sabaki and fundamental kumite combinations again.

We started with basic footwork moving forward: yori-ashi, yori-ashi, then ayumi-ashi. Next, we added some kihon, with a kizami-zuki on the first count, gyaku-zuki on the second count, and mae-geri keage on the third count. Then we switched to moving backwards: 2 x yori-ashi straight back, one more to the rear diagonal, and then stepping back onto the line (which will make more sense in a minute.) Next we added the kihon to the backwards set: jodan nagashi-uke, gedan-barai, and gedan-barai/gyaku-zuki on the diagonal.

Finally we put it together with a partner: The attacker moved forwards, attacking with punches to the face and body, and then a front kick to the body. The defender moved backwards, blocking the face, then the body, then moving off the line and blocking to avoid the kick, before countering with a reverse punch and stepping back on to the attack line to prepare for the next set. This drill alternates sides on every set. It was a lot, partiularly for the white belts who’d just started, but I wanted to do something different for the day before the holiday, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

2023-11-20

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

In tonight’s adult class we spent a bit of time talking about how to turn in kata, emphasizing the difference between “turn and step forward” and “turn and THEN step forward.” Call it semantics, call it a change in mindset, or call it whatever you want, but it works. I find that, more often than not, beginners tend to step forward in a straight-line stance after a turn of more than 90°. So how do we fix that? Like most problems, we start by identifying the source. In this case, it’s almost always what I call “deploying the leg too early.” In other words, students start the “step forward” part of the move before they’ve fully completed the “turn” part of the move. The trick is to put a tiny pause in between them.

Let’s take the 270° turn after the kiais in Heian Shodan as an example. We start in right-foot-forward zenkutsu-dachi, having just finished the oi-zuki and kiai. Most people describe the 270° turn by saying something like, “Now turn and step forward.” Instead, I often say, “Now turn … and THEN step forward.” (The elipsis represents a noticable pause.) That seems to work, but if it doesn’t, I then say, “Now turn … full stop … and THEN step forward. (Yes, I actually say the words “full stop.”) I’ve found that if I can get them to complete the turn in a “get to halfway, then continue” fashion, they tend to step forward with proper width.

2023-11-15

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight’s classes both worked quite a bit on sparring footwork, working towards smoothness. I don’t swim, but I expect if I did, I’d find that jerky movements don’t work nearly as well as smooth movements. Karate is no different. Getting to the point where the limbs move by themselves, only deviating from their normal course when necessary, is our goal. That’s not to say that we want to become complacent. Instead, it means that the “fundamentals” should become natural to us, allowing us to spend our attention on the more complicated movements.

2023-11-13

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight’s adult class had record attendance. It was great to have so many people, but with a rank disparity running from yondan to white belt, it can be hard to keep everyone challenged. That’s where it helps to have a firm grasp on what everyone needs to work on at each grade, so you can give everyone similar but challengingly grade-appropriate exercises to perform. For example I have students do the following at the same time, depending on grade:

Grade	Technique(s)	Learning focus
10-8 kyu	Stepping forward rising block	The path of the rising block, itself.
7-4 kyu	Stepping forward rising block, then reverse punch in place.	The smooth transition from the previous count’s reverse punch into the current count’s rising block, and the generation of power (through hip rotation) for the reverse punch.
3 kyu - 2 dan	Stepping forward rising block, then front-leg front kick, then reverse punch in place.	Avoiding the tendency to rock the hip backward on the front-leg front kick.
3 dan & up	Stepping back rising block, stepping forward roundhouse kick, land with backfist strike, then step forward lunge punch.	The path of the roundhouse kick, landing with proper width afterwards, and the timing of the backfist strike on landing.

This is my “matrix” of rising block drills, but I have a number of these matrices in my back pocket, just to keep things interesting for students of all levels. I’m curious how others reading this handle this issue.

2023-11-08

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Today’s youth and family class spent a lot of time working on turns in Taikyoku Shodan … a lot. The best way I’ve found to do this is to start with a 90° turn, then work on a 180° turn, then move to the 270° turn. By pulling the turns out of the context of the kata and just working on the turns by themselves, we build that skill in isolation. Then we put it back in the kata.

In the adult class we worked on punching fast and controlling our distance. I’m of the opinion that students tend to regulate power by slowing down rather than punching fast and controlling power with distance. Students also tend to be “afraid of the ball” when allowing other people to punch at them. So we worked on both. We started by lining up against the wall in kiba-dachi and punching at the wall, trying to get as close to the wall as possible without hitting it. Then we did the same drill with a partner, where one partner played the part of the wall. We added a few more variations (which will be in a forthcoming blog post) but I think everyone understood the two points I was trying to make: 1) Punch fast and control power with distance, and 2) Trust your partner.

2023-11-06

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had another night of high attendance with a total of twelve students across both classes, including another new student, the father of an existing student who’s been with me almost from the beginning.

The youth and family class spent most of the evening working on tai sabaki, specifically yori ashi. The “secret”, as I explain it, is to use the foot that’s closest to where you want to go. If you want to move forward, start with the front foot. If you want to move left, start with the left foot. Etc. After isolating our footwork for a while, we started adding hand techniques. When moving forward, we added jodan kizami-zuki on count #1 and chudan gyaku-zuki on count #2. While moving backward, we practiced jodan nagashi-uke on count #1 and gedan barai on count #2. Finally, we put them together with a partner drill. The partner moving forward would jab to the face while the partner moving backward would block, etc.

The adult class went back to basic basics, as we had a new student. After I dismissed class I kept the “old timers” around for a few extra minutes of practice, and worked on an advanced version of the tai sabaki drill I described above. In this version, the attacker shifts forward with kizami-zuki, then again with gyaku-zuki, and then steps forward with mae-geri keage. Meanwhile the defender shifts back and blocks the face, then shifts back again and blocks the body, and then moves off the line to avoid the front kick before countering with a reverse punch to the body.

2023-11-01

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We tried the rebreakable boards again tonight, but without much more success than we had last time. It’s unfortunate that we spend so much time “punching air” in class. If I couild find a way to build a makiwara at the YMCA, I wouild, but I’d have to find a way to make it portable so I could hide it away in the supply closet when class isn’t in session. If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Meanwhile, training is going well for the two new students in the adult class, and the experienced students in the adult class have generally agreed to stick arouind a few minutes after class to work on more advanced topics. Overall, things are going well.

2023-10-30

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I spent last week back in Illinois with friends and family, including attending the fall clinic and dan grading with American Shotokan Karate and some regular training with my old dojo, the Central Illinois Shotokan Karate Association. The dan exam was great, and included a shodan and sandan promotion for two worthy candidates.

Returning to my own students, even after a week, I was pleased to see the progress everyone had made. I joked that I need to go on vacation more often since everyone looks so much better when I return. While I was in Illinois, I picked up a couple of rebreakable boards at a thrift shop, figuring they’d be a nice change of pace for the students. Sure enough, a few students wanted to try breaking them, but most of them weren’t able to do so. Looks like we need to add a bit more impact training to the schedule.

2023-10-17

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I’ll be honest - it’s been a few weeks since I’ve written anything on here, and I have no one but myself (and perhaps Bethesda) to blame. If I were to look for a silver lining, it’d be that karate training is largely unchagned from week to week. It’s all about repetition and muscle memory - at least at the lower ranks.

Despite a couple of weeks of sagging attendance, owning mainly to fall break at local schools, tonight’s classes were very well attended, with seven in the youth class and five in the adult class. Our next round of kyu gradings is scheduled for December 13, and everyone is making good progress. The 9th kyu students are working on Heian Shodan, with emphasis on transitioning stances between the last four moves. Meanwhile, the 7th kyu student is shoring up Heian Nidan, especially the part between the fourth knife-hand block and the morote-uke.

In other news, I’m heading for Illinois later this week. My karate organization back home, American Shotokan Karate, holds seminars and dan gradings semi-annually, generally in April and October. Given that October coincides with my wife’s and stepdaughter’s birthdays, I generally make it back for that one. My good friend Sensei David Bracklow of ISKF Tempe will be covering my classes on Wednesday, and all of next week, while I’m out of town.

2023-09-20

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Last night in Tempe, I caught a green belt with the old “throw a mawashi-geri, then catch them with a yoko-geri kekomi when they charge forward to counter” trick last night. He ran right into it and he deflated like a baloon. (Fortunately, this wasn’t the Olympics or I’d have been disqualified. 🙄)

Anyway, it worked, so I decided to teach it to my adult class tonight. I don’t know what it is about this combination, but there’s something about throwing a roundhouse kick that seems to just scream “I’m done; come get me.” So we worked on it: Throw a roundhouse kick, let your knee track past the target just a touch as you recoil your kicking leg, and it’s already in a chambered position to throw a side thrust kick.

2023-09-18

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had another new student in the adult class tonight - a 73-year old woman who’d observed class last week and decided to take the plunge. Karate really is for everyone. Everyone has different issues, from youth and inexperience to age and creaky joints. My cyborg hip reminds me of this almost every night. Still, as Funakoshi said, “Spirit first; technique second.” Showing up and training with a good attitude is the most important thing. Do that, and the rest will come.

2023-09-13

In last night’s adult class, I shared a bit about how I think of chambering the foot for yoko-geri keage. I’ve never heard anyone else describe it this way, but it seems to help students so I’ll share it here in case it can help others.

Side thrust kick is all about using your leg to push your heel away from your hip, on a direct line to the target. So, at any point during the kick, your heel should be on the line that connects your hip to the target. I don’t know about you, but no matter how high I lift my knee, my heel is still below my hip. And if my heel is always below my hip, then it can only ever be on a straight line to targets that are also below my hip. To “fix” that, we need to find a way to get the heel higher before the kick begins. If you’ve ever seen a baseball coach toss a ball into the air before hitting it into the field, that’s how I think of side thrust kick, except my heel is the ball and the rest of my leg is the bat. Allow me to explain …

Much of krarate deals with being able to control tension and relaxation. To begin side thrust kick, I relax my kicking leg and then only use the muscles necessary to “toss” my heel up into the air. Then, once the heel is “on line” between the hip and the target, I “swing the bat” by using my leg to thrust heel towards the target.

2023-09-06

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

What a night … no one seemed to have any energy at all. I don’t know if it was the holiday week, if everyone was up late playing Starfield, or what, but the energy was at an all time low tonight in both classes. As a result, I opted to work on tai sabaki tonight, with some drills that didn’t require a lot of quickness, just trying to build muscle memory. It wasn’t the most exciting night ever, but I was able to pivot to something that the group seemed capable of doing with their reduced energy levels.

2023-09-04

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Labor Day holiday - no classes.

2023-08-30

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The youth class is mostly 9th kyu now, so we spent a good amount of time working through Heian Shodan, including some time on applying the drawing of the tettsui uchi as a wrist-grab escape, and some time with pads working on generating power with the hammerfist strike. It’s not just the arm, of course - it’s a whole-body, rising and dropping motion.

In the adult class, we had another visit from our Chilean Goju-ryu friend, Patricio Gonzales. After working on some basic jiyu kumite drills and going over everyone’s kata a couple of times, we finished out the evening by inviting him to teach us one of his style’s basic kata - Gekisai Dai Ichi. It was great to be challenged by a relatively simple, but still completely new kata.

2023-08-28

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I announced results from the kyu grading tonight, and everyone did extremely well. The youth class had four students promoted to 9th kyu and the adult class had one promoted to 9th kyu and one to 7th kyu. Congratulations, everyone.

2023-08-23

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had a kyu grading tonight and, although I don’t announce results until the next class, I can say I was very pleased with everyone’s performance. One of the hardest things for beginners to “internalize” is the need to rotate the hips back for blocking techniques and forward for attacking techniques. We’ve been working on it quite a bit, and overall it looks much better.

Some of the more advanced students had side kicks on their grading for the first time and, as usual, making side snap kick and side thrust kick look distinctly different has been a challenge. We talk a lot about the differences: how side snap kick rises into the target while side thrust kick goes straight into the target. One is more like a backfist and the other is more like a punch, I suppose. Work on kata application is progressing nicely, and students are getting more comfortable with being aggressive with their stances - using them as more than just a “launching platform” for hand and foot techniques.

2023-08-14

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Classes were huge last night (huge for us anyway) with seven in the “youth & family” class and four in the “adult” class.

Everyone in both classes is working towards next week’s kyu grading. All the students have been given individual feedback on what they need to do better, and everyone has time to make those improvements, but the responsibility is ultimately theirs. We’ve had “the talk” about the need to spend time practicing outside of class. Two hours a week simply isn’t enough time to see much improvement. Ideally, you attend class to learn what and how to practice, and then spend time honing those skills on your own.

In the adult class we spent quite a bit of time looking at basic applications of kata techniques, particularly in Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan. My hope was that students will find it easier to remember and execute kata techniques if they know what they’re doing, beyond just waving their arms in the air and posing in certain “shapes.” Since their performance appears to have markedly improved on the portions of the kata we went over, I’d call that a success.

2023-08-02

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Well, it finally happened … one of the students in the youth class took a pop to the nose tonight, so we had to have “the talk” about the liklihood of getting hit in class. Karate is safe because we practice it safely, but accidents still happen. After all, if we’re learning to punch and kick other people, it stands to reason that we’re eventually going to get punched or kicked ourselves, right? Everyone seemed to understand. It’s still no fun to get hit, but if we’re never in danger of being hit then we aren’t really practicing how to block or evade, are we?

Oddly enough, this “lack of realism” came up in the adult class during yakusoku kumite practice, when a black belt kept telling one of the beginners to punch straight for his face, not over his head or off to the side. If you’re not punching where you’re supposed to punch, you’re not practicing how to hit your target and you’re depriving your partner of practice blocking a legitimate threat. We create safety by punching full-speed, on-target, but sun dome - missing by an inch.

2023-07-31

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight was another side-kick night in the adult class. With kyu grading coming up on August 23, we really need to work on them. Nailing the difference between the two side kicks is another example of something we start to take for granted at “advanced” ranks. But it’s really hard for beginners, who’ve probably never had a reason to toss their legs out to the side like that, to wrap their minds (let alone their bodies) around doing so in two distincly different ways.

In other news, Sensei Stan Hirohata stopped by to visit tonight, along with a couple of guests visiting from California. Sensei Hirohata started the first YMCA karate club in Mesa back in 1970, and that’s him on the back cover of “Best Karate” volume 1.

2023-07-26

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight was side-kick night in the adult class. Some students had never done them before and some had only done them a couple of times, so we were essentially starting from scratch. We began by using the ballet bar attached to the wall for balance, holding on with one hand while kicking with the opposite leg. I didn’t allow anyone to kick any higher than their own knee for starters, since most people try to kick too high before they have the proper form. Otherwise, it was just repetition after repetition, stressing the differences between the two kicks:

• Side snap kick:

  • The knee chambers sideways, towards the target.
  • The contact surface is the side of the heel.
  • The angle of attack is an upward arc, with the kicking hip moving upward.
  • The leg is pulled back immediately.

• Side thrust kick

  • The knee chambers forward at 90° to the target.
  • The contact surface is the bottom of the heel.
  • The angle of attack is into the target, with the kicking hip moving towards the target.
  • The leg is allowed to “linger” on the target for a moment.

2023-07-24

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The youth class has two new students, though they only come on Mondays, a young girl and her father. The girl is technically too young for the class, but she pays attention and she’s well behaved, so I’m fine with it. The father has trained in some kind of karate before, so he’s doing a great job of helping his daughter get up to speed. The rest of the class is also doing great with helping the “newbies”, understanding that there’s a lot to be learned from helping others and setting a good example.

2023-07-19

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The youth class spent a lot of time on kokutsu-dachi today so, to change things up a bit, I introduced them to Heian Shodan. Now that all the building blocks were there, I thought why not let them try something new? The footwork for the last four moves was a challenge (as it always is when first learning it) but nothing that repetition couldn’t solve.

The adult class only had one attendee tonight - sometimes that happens - so we tailored the entire night to his needs. Most of our time was spent making sure the hips and shoulders are square when punching, and making sure the back leg has enough bend to allow forward hip rotation when blocking. By the end of the night we’d made significant progress and I’d given the student a few “homework” drills to work on for next time.

2023-07-17

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

One of the students in the youth class was not having a good day today. He clearly didn’t want to be there, but his mother made him join class. (Good for her.) Fortunately, I can out-frown anyone, so I spent most of the class reminding him that “there’s no smiling in karate”, … which made him smile every time. By the end of class he was all smiles, and you may not think that’s what karate is all about, but isn’t it really about improving people’s lives?

2023-07-13

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We went at vocabulary hard again in the youth class. One student is getting it pretty easily, the other … not so much, but we’re working on it. The two little girls who attended on Monday didn’t attend tonight. That’s disappointing, but the father had asked about uniforms, so perhaps they’ll be back.

The adult class continued to work on basic kumite combinations, moving forward with yori-ashi, one partner throws kizami-zuki, then gyaku-zuki, while the other partner moves back with jodan nagashi-uke, then gedan-barai, before countering with a gyaku-zuki of their own. We’ve now progressed to the point where students can perform the drill, back and forth, without a count, and can even switch roles on command. In terms of kata, neither of them has been working on their kata for more than a few weeks, but they’re coming along nicely.

2023-07-11

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I had two little girls join the youth class as a “walk-in” today, to see if they liked it. They seemed to, but we’ll see … In other news, the adult class continues to work on basic kumite combinations and new katas. They’re coming along.

2023-07-05

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The students are returning! Two students, gone for a month-long vacation, returned to the youth class today. They hadn’t been here since our last kyu grading, not even to get their results, so we went took care of that first. As a reminder, I give every student a personalized, written, feedback sheet explaining what they did well and what they could do to improve, and I go over it with each student in front of the whole class. That way every student knows my expecations and everyone knows where they need to be focussing their attention.

The adult class still only had one student, the same one as Monday, so we continued our deep-dive into Heian Nidan. She can now get all the way through it, with a count, but still stumbles a bit when doing it without a count. That’s totally normal at this level, and will work itself out with repetition.

In other news, I’ve scheduled our next kyu grading for August 30 and updated the calendar accordingly.

2023-07-03

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight brought a whole new definition to “small classes” with one student in each class. Of course, it was the Monday before a holiday on Tuesday, so lots of families probably make a long weekend of it. Nevertheless, we made the best of it and the two students who showed up got tailor-made classes.

In the youth class, we spent lots of time working on vocabulary while doing techniques. Instead of sitting cross-legged on the floor, memorizing vocabulary, I had the student practice kihon while saying the name of the technique each time. (e.g. He’d step forward and punch, saying “oi-zuki” each time.) Not only does this make it more interesting, but it gets more senses into the game of helping to memorize the words. Hopefully the act of doing the technique while saying its name will help the knowledge stick.

In the adult class, we pressed hard and made it all the way through Heian Nidan for the student who recently made 8th kyu. She’s a quick learner, so we made good progress. As usual, I also went over some applications of the techniques in the kata. When I learn kata, knowing what I’m supposed to do is nice, but knowing why I’m doing it always helped me learn it faster.

2023-06-28

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Classes continue to be small in the weeks following the end of school, but I’ve started to get a few back from vacation. My youth class spent a good deal of time working on going faster in kata. Mechanically, their performance is where I’d want it to be for their level, but it lacks in terms of spirit, and part of it is their kiai, so we spent a lot of time working on that.

We played what I call “the banana game”, which I use to help kids practice being loud.

In the banana game, students form two lines in opposite corners of the room, as far from each other as possible. Let’s call them line 1 and line 2. Play proceeds like this:

• The person at the head of line 1 runs across the room and whispers a word to the head of line 2, then joins the end of line 2.
• The person at the head of line 2 shouts the word across the room to the new head of line 1.
• I ask the new head of line 1 what the word was.
  • If he/she is right, great.
  • If not, everyone does five push-ups (including me).
• Play proceeds with the head of line 2 runing over and whispering a word to the head of line 1, etc.

If there are plenty of kids in the room, the “side chatter” can get pretty noisy, making it even harder. If not, you can make it harder by playing music. The goal is for students to become comfortable shouting … something they’re generally discouraged from doing outside of karate.

Incidentally, I call it “the banana game” because I typically have the first person yell “bannana.”

The adult class continuted working on basic kumite movement and combinations. As mentioned last time, one partner would move forward with kizami-zuki, then gyaku-zuki, while the other would move back to block with nagashi-uke, then gedan-barai, before countering with a gyaku-zuki of their own. They’re starting to get the hang of it, but it’s still a very herky-jerky motion that I tell them should eventually smooth itself out, like swimming. Next we worked on kata, with two students working on a new kata for either the first or second time. Again, the motions were very herky-jerky, but again … that comes from lack of familiarity and will smooth itself out over time.

2023-06-26

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

There was only one student in my youth class tonight, so we really dialed in on the things she needed to address, and made a lot of progress. There’s really no substitute for individual attention. We spent a lot of time correcting distance and yakusoku gohon kumite. Then we spent some time getting her front kick to be more “snappy.” As it happens, she was pausing between lifting her knee and starting to kick, so we just “smoothed out” that pause and we were good to go.

The adult class only had two students, but I worked them hard, going through lots of high-speed kihon before moving on to kumite. We practiced tai-sabaki for some time, moving forward, backward, and side to side with yori-ashi before adding the hands to the mix. Near the end of the class, we had one student moving forward with a kizami-zuki/gyaku-zuki combination, while the other moved back, blocking with nagashi-uke/gedan-barai.

2023-06-21

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

It looks like I’ve got another new student - maybe two - for the adult class. That’s great. Earlier this week, I talked about a sort of “critical mass” of students, below which it’s hard to entice new students. And “recruiting” (for lack of a better term) seems to be especially hard in adult classes. For whatever reason, karate has become “something kids do.” Adults who’ve trained in the past, and miss it, are a fairly frequent occurance, but adults who’ve never trained are very difficult to reel in. I’m curious how others overcome this.

2023-06-19

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Classes are still small in the weeks after school lets out for the summer, and I have at least three students on vacation. That’s keeping class sizes smallish, which has what I believe to be an unfortunate side effect. It seems to me that karate classes have a “critical mass”, below which it’s hard to recruit new students. For example, when a potential student shows up to watch or particpate in class, and there are only two students in the class, it seems to discourage them from joining. The trick, then, is reaching that “magic” number of students.

2023-06-13

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

In our second class, our visitor from Chile joined again, and we had a great time learning from each other. For example, Okinawan Goju Ryu doesn’t have “back stance” as Shotokan thinks of it, but they do have a stance called “kokutsu-dachi” which, unsurprisingly, looks very similar to what I’ll call the “pre-Gigo” era back stance in Shotokan, seen below, demontrated by Gichin Funakoshi, himself, from his 1922 book “To-Te Jutsu.”

Since we have a newly minted 9th-kyu in the class, we spent some time working on applicaitons of the hammer-fist strike found in move #4 of _Heian Shodan.” The typical Shotokan application for this is an escape from a same-side wrist grab as seen at the very beginning of the video below:

However, I’m not a big fan of applications that only work if the bad guy grabs you “just right”, so I also taught an application of the same move against an opposite-side wrist grab, very similar to what you see at 1:38 in the video below:

And, just for fun, if you pin the attacker’s fingers to your arm before you execute the second version, it’s essentially Aikido’s nikkyo, as seen below at 1:52:

2023-06-13

Subbing for ISKF Tempe at the Tempe Family YMCA.

Tonight we had a visitor from Chile who’s in town for a couple of weeks and wanted to find a place to train. He’s a sandan in Okinawan Goju Ryu, so there were pleny of diferences, but that just gave everyone something to learn and it was a pleasure to have him in class.

At the end of class, he and I demonstrated how kata have evolved over the years by performing the “same” kata in both styles. He did Seisan and, at the same time, I did Hangetsu. Everyone couild tell they were different katas, but they were also able to tell that they clearly had a common ancestor. For more on the differences that creep into kata over time, have a look at my article “Kata and the Ship of Theseus.”

2023-06-12

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We had a student return to the youth class today after a long hiatus, so it took a bit to get him back up to speed on Taikyoku Shodan. However, a quick appeal to the “rules” was all it took. To review those rules (again, just for Taikyoku Shodan), they are:

1. How many feet do you move at a time? One.
2. How many hands to you use at a time? Both.
3. Which way do you turn? You turn your head over your punching shoulder and turn that way.
4. Which foot to use when you turn? If you just kiaied, use your back foot; otherwise, use your front foot.

Sure, there’s plenty more to learn, but this list is short, simple, easy to remember, and gets students through most of the problems they’ll encounter in the first kata.

2023-05-31

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Classes were a bit small last night - probably because school just let out and people are taking trips - but we still had a good time. The first class had a student return after several months off, but another student helped me get him back up to speed pretty quickly.

Similarly, my second class had none of my regular students, but two ladies showed up, a mother and daugther, both of whom had trained in Shotokan before, but not for many years. It was a treat. The mother is a black belt and the daughter is a brown belt, and it showed. Both of them got on the floor and started banging out techniques like they’d never stopped training. We even got through Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, and Jion. The mother is just visiting, but I believe the daugher will be signing up.

2023-05-31

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight we went over rank exam results. As I mentioned last time, I was pleased with everyone’s performance and I believe everyone got the result they hoped to get. Later that night, someone unrelated to my karate activities asked me if students usually pass their tests. I explained, no, not always, but I think a good instructor’s students should usually pass for three reasons:

1. A good instructor shouldn’t let a student test if that student doesn’t have a good chance of passing.
2. If you’re a “good instructor” then, by definition, you’re good at teaching karate, as measured by your students’ success.
3. At the lower ranks, I subdivide youth belts into “d”, “c”, “b” and “full” grades so, if a younger student isn’t quite good enough to earn the next full kyu, I can still award them what amounts to a partial promotion. To be clear, this isn’t an attempt to collect more testing fees. It’s solely about motivating students. I’m much rather award a student a half belt than “fail” them.

In the second class, my senior student got promoted to 8th kyu so, after going over feedback, we spent the second half of the class starting her on Heian Nidan. We made it up through the first kiai, including a few applications of some of the techniques up to that point. Some people think that applications are more “advanced” and should only be learned after you can get through the “moves” of the kata, but I tend to think that knowing what you’re supposed to be doing acutally helps students to understand how to make the “moves.”

2023-05-24

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight was test night for my students and I was very pleased with everyone’s performance. In some cases I was surprisingly pleased as some of the issues that some students have been having in class seemed to disappear on test day. As usual, I’ll be giving out results next time we have class, so I have time to write up individualized feedback for each student.

I’ve also come to a decision regarding the young man who came to me as a junior sandan from an out-of-state Shotokan school with which I’m not familiar. It’s one thing when a black belt from another school is visiting your class, getting in a workout on vacation or whatnot. However, when they join your dojo, it presents challenges. It’s the age-old “can I wear my old belt” question, and I’ve come to a conclusion, at least for now.

If someone has earned a black belt from anther Shotokan school, I respect that, and I’m not going to make them “start over”, but our standards and curriculum are different and, without regular testing to help find and fix issues, it can be difficult to motivate students to make corrections. Likewise, it’s difficult to know when it’s time for them to take their next test.

For example, suppose someone comes to you as a black belt but, for whatever reason, their school didn’t do side snap kick - something that you begin testing at 7th kyu. Your own students have to learn it, and are tested on it, but because this new person came to you as a black belt, and won’t be taking those kyu gradings, they won’t necessarily ever be tested on it. So what do you do? On the flip side, they may have skills we don’t teach, and therefore don’t test, and that should count for something.

To be clear, I’m not talking about someone who joins at 8th kyu, and I’m not talking about people coming from a different art, or even a different style. I’m talking about reasonably solid black belts joining from other Shotokan schools.

What I’ve decided to do with students like this is allow them to wear their old belt, but have them take kyu gradings alongside my other students. I’ll make my own determination about where those tests will begin, depending on my assessment of the student’s skills. Yes, they should pass those early tests with flying colors, and I’ll have to figure out how to handle kumite when the time comes, but that’s not the point. The point is to leverage the existing curriculum and testing standards for their intended purpose - finding and eliminating problems to improve a student’s overall skill level.

2023-05-22

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight, I had a couple of visitors from “back home.” A brown belt and a green belt from my organization back in Illinois. It was great to have them and, since one of them actually lives in town now, I may end up with another new student. One of the reasons this was so great was the timing. We’ve got a kyu grading coming up on Wednesday, and it’s always good for students to work with new people, just to make sure their skills are actually good and not just “attuned” to the same partners they train with every day.

The youth class is also going nicely. Everyone is in uniform now and, as I mentioned last time, there’s something magical about wearing a gi that makes students’ performance come up a notch. Everyone has made good progress these past few months and I’m confident that Wednesday night’s kyu grading will go well.

2023-05-17

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

One of my youngest students wore a uniform for the first time today, and it made a big difference. (He’d been wearing workout clothing before now.) There is something magical about putting on a karate gi, and this young man found it tonight. He was faster, sharper, and looked like he “belonged” in class. I don’t require students to purchase a uniform, but I do tell them they can’t wear a belt without a uniform, so most students end up purchasing one no later than their first grading. Still, I find it remarkable how much of a difference it makes.

In the second class, we went immediately from warm-up exercises into yakusoku sanbon kumite, and covered a lot of ground. In short, it’s the attacker’s job to set the initial distance appropriately, and it’s the defender’s job to avoid getting hit, which may mean adjusting that distance or being “creative” with your footwork to accomodate different attackers. To put that another way, if the defender is too close, that’s the defender’s problem. The attacker shouldn’t alter his/her distance to “be nice.” Similarly, if the defender is too far away, that’s also the defender’s problem. Learning to block effectively requires one to become comfortable in the “danger zone”, where you can actually be hit. I often tell my students, if you have to reach for an attack to block it, then it wasn’t going to hit you in the first place.

2023-05-15

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I had two yondans show up for the second class, in addition to the usual students, so I tailored the first half of class to challenge them with some different kihon. Then we went over the usual students’ katas before allowing the yondans to pick which kata they wanted to do together. They chose Meikyo and, just for fun, I had the other students follow along after the yondans demonstrated it once. Everyone seemed to enjoy that. Finally, we finished up with some yakusoku sanbon kumite in anticipation of next Wendesday’s kyu grading.

One of the things we talked about during kata training was spending more time thinking about the back foot. Oftentimes I find, when students finish a turn, their back foot ends up pointing off in some random direction. So I encourage my students to give more “love” to their back foot. In other words, I tell them that their front foot already knows where it’s supposed to go, so concentrating on where their back foot is supposed to go isn’t going to change that - it’s only going to improve their stance.

Take, for example, the 270° turn at the first kiai in Heian Shodan. Many students finish this turn with their front (left) foot in the right place, but they allow their back toes to “remain behind” pointing off in some direction other than the direction the student is facing. However, I’ve found that by having students concentrate on making sure their rear foot points in the right direction, everthing about the stance gets just a tiny bit better.

2023-05-10

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Thanks again to Sensei Dave Bracklow from ISKF Tempe for covering my classes while I was on vacation! I returned to class to find an additional student. That’s always good! A few “regulars” didn’t show up, but I’ve been gone for a month so there’s no telling what’s going on in their lives. Someone told me it was finals week at local high schools and, since I always tell students and parents that school is more important than karate, I can hardly complain if they take a day off to work on their futures.

As a matter of policy, I don’t give students grief about missing class at all. After all, who am I to judge their priorities for them? The only time it bothers me is when people don’t modify thier expectations to meet their attendance. If you miss class, it slows your growth - it’s that simple. People who miss class, for any reason, but still expect to keep up with those who don’t, need to adjust their expectations.

2023-04-12

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

This was my last class before going on vacation, and thank you again to Sensei Dave Bracklow from ISKF Tempe for covering for me while I’m gone.

Tonight in the youth class, everyone really surprised me with the ability to start (and finish) Taikyoku Shodan regardless of which way they’re facing at the beginning. That was awesome! I did “cheat” just a bit though. I have a portable kamiza that I use in class. It’s a folding frame photo frame that holds two 5x7 aluminum plates: One is calligraphy of the dojo kun and the other is a photo of masters Funakoshi and Nakayama. I set it on a box in the front of the class, so we have a shomen. For this exercise, I moved the box and the kamiza to the new “front” and had them all face that direction to begin and end their kata. So they are still “anchoring” to something, but not the entire room.

In the second class, we spent a lot of time on hip rotation. We moved up and down the floor doing basic block/counter combinations, concentrating on hip rotation. Then we stood in stance, in front of the mirror, doing those same block/counter combinations, very slowly. The things we talked about included:

• Minding which direction the hip was rotating in relation to the technique.
• Making sure the start and end of the technique coincides with the start and end of the hip rotation.
• Concentrating on the rear leg, bending it to pull the hip back and straightening it to fire the hip forward.

Our next kyu grading will be on May 24, about two weeks after I return from vacation, but everyone seems to be tracking very well towards their next grading, so I’ll see you all on the other side!

2023-04-10

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight the first class spent a lot of time on not “anchoring” to the room during kata. In other words, we started kata facing in different directions and even worked on it with our eyes closed. It’s strange, but starting in different directions tends to throw students off, but doing it with their eyes closed tends to be much easier, so I recommend doing it in this order:

1. Have students try their kata staring facing different directions, having each student face either forwards, backwards, “left”, or “right”. (Don’t have anyone face the corners just yet.) Try this several times in a row.
2. Next, have all students face “forward” but do the kata with their eyes closed. To keep things safe you should do this by the count (whatever count you use) and promise students that you won’t let them run into anything. Chances are good that some of them will open their eyes anyway, but that’s okay. Have them do this several times too.
3. Finally, ask them, “If you can do the kata with your eyes closed then, when your eyes are open, why does it matter which way you’re facing when you begin?” Then have them close their eyes again, grab each student by the shoulders, and turn them to face a random direction … and start counting.

For some reason, this works. Maybe it’s because they can’t get confused by visual cues when their eyes are closed. Maybe it’s because they really have to think about which way to go when they can’t see. Honestly, I don’t care as long as they “get it.”

2023-04-05

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Only one student attended the second class tonight, which meant I got to devote my full attention to his improvement. I often joke with students:

The good thing about small classes: Lots of individual attention.
The bad thing about small classes: Lots of individual attention.

And that’s true. When you’re the only one in class, you get 100% of the instructor’s attention, fully dedicated to your improvement. However, you also don’t get any breaks. Sensei is never looking at someone else to make corrections, meaning you have to be “on” 100% of the time. I’m not saying that’s bad, necessarily, but it can be grueling, particularly if it’s not the norm.

But it also cuts both ways. As an instructor, a large class gives you a chance to fix lots of little things. A small class lets you spend more time on each student, but it also runs the risk of allowing yourself to become hyper-critical, which can be bad for student morale. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “Ah, I’m going to fix this one thing tonight, no matter what!”, but it’s important to remember to change it up every so often, if only to prevent burnout.

2023-04-03

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I taught an important lesson in the youth class today. It’s okay (and necessary) to look at other people when you’re just learning a kata, but once you can get through it on your own, you need to stop looking at other people. Otherwise, their mistakes become your mistakes. I explained this, but it clearly wasn’t sinking in, because several students kept watchign others and making mistakes when I knew they knew better. To fix this, I stood in front of the class and told them we were all going to do Taikyoku Shodan together, by the count. Then I started counting and intentionally making mistakes in my kata performance. I turned the wrong way, I blocked when I should be punching, etc. Sure enough, half the class (all of whom can get through the kata on their own) mimicked my mistakes. Ha! Gotcha! We talked about it again, and this time they understood. So to build their confidence we spent the second half of the class going through the kata individually (so there was no one to watch).

In the second class, we spent some extra time on moving backwards with block-counter combinations, particularly soto-uke/gyaku-zuki. The junior students were having some difficulty coordinating the preparation of their block with their backwards motion - essentially moving the arm before starting to move the body. This particular combination was a good exaple of how moving the arm actually helps to move the body. Many people tend to break posture when moving backwards, going “butt first”, but pulling the arm into the preparatory position for soto-uke actually helps fix this issue as it tends to propel the upper torso backwards. To put that another way, rather than thinking about the combination as two separate things (moving backwards and blocking), it helps to think of tying the hip and elbow together into one motion (moving backwards while blocking).

I reminded students that I’ll be on vacation after next week, until mid-May, and my good friend Sensei Dave Bracklow from ISKF Tempe will be covering my classes while I’m away. I also reminded everyone that our next round of kyu gradings will be held on May 22, a couple of weeks after I return.

2023-03-29

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I introduced the youth class to Heian Shodan tonight. It was against my better judgement, but one of the students is going away for several months and, when I asked him if he had any requests for his last night, he said “I just want to do kata.” Be still my heart! Fortunately, Heian Shodan and Taikyoku Shodan are practically identical, so everyone was able to make it through without much difficulty … even the students who only joined two weeks ago! When we got done, I told them I had good news and bad news: The good news is that a lot of katas have similar parts to them, so you often don’t have to learn everything all over again. The bad news is that you’ll often get confused and switch to a different kata when you hit one of these “shared” sections.

In the second class we went over a few combinations that we worked on last time. Then, when it came to kata, I had them go through their katas very slowly for a change. Going fast masks a lot of errors, and even going “regular speed” can mask a few, so sometimes I like to slow things down to a crawl. Going as slowly as possible really helps point out problems with balance and timing. The easiest place to see this is to compare the first move of Heian Nidan with the first move of Heian Yondan. In both cases, the hands and feet are all supposed to stop at the same time, but it’s much easier to see when they don’t in Heian Yondan because you’re moving so slowly.

2023-03-27

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Spring break is over, everyone is returning to class, and I’m pleased to report I’m up to seven students in the “youth & family class.” That’s great, and I decided to do something a little different today. We worked on ashi sabaki, specifically yori ashi or “sending foot.” To be clear, this is the method of moving where the lead foot reaches in the intended direction of travel, and then the other foot moves to follow. To be even more clear, the “lead” foot isn’t necessarily the front foot - it’s the foot that’s closest to the intended direction of movement. For example, you move your front foot first if you’re moving forward, your left foot first if you’re moving to the left, etc.

To teach this, I have everyone start in a short front stance with the left foot forward, then I have them “reach” with the front foot and then “drag” the back foot forward until they’re back in the same length stance. I start by saying exactly that: “Reach with the front foot … and drag the back foot.” I do this until they’ve got it, and then I shorten it to “reach & drag, reach & drag.” I’ve found it’s important to start this way because we need to break the human habit of always moving the back foot first when moving forward. I’ve also found that it helps to avoid the word “step” because we humans tned to “step” with the back foot first.

2023-03-22

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The two newcomers who attended on Monday night showed up again, so I think I may have won them over. That’s good. Small classes are great, but I also think classes can be too small. At a certain point, you need variety in training partners. Regardless, it looks like the youth class is picking up steam, and I’m happy for it.

The adult class spent a lot of time on back-and-forth punching and blocking drills, very similar to yakusoku kumite, but not quite, because this drill has no final counterattack. Rather, the attacker and defender just switch roles and immediately go back in the other direction. The drill goes like this:

• Attacker performs oi-zuki, jodan while the defender steps back with age-uke.
• Attacker performs oi-zuki, chudan while the defender steps back with soto-uke.
• Attacker performs oi-zuki, chudan (again) while the defender steps back with uchi-uke.
• Attacker performs mae-geri keage, chudan_ while the defender steps back with gedan-barai.
• Attacker performs oi-zuki, jodan while the defender steps diagonally back to the inside with age-uke, then resets in front of the attacker for the next count.
• Attacker performs oi-zuki, chudan while the defender steps diagonally back to the outside with shuto-uke (in kokutsu-dachi), then resets in front of the attacker for the next count.

I counted everything for tonight, but the goal is for students to eventually be able to transition from technique to technique, and from one direction to the other, without being prompted.

Because tonight was their first attempt with this drill, I wanted them to concern themselves with learning how each block “works.” For example, I find that uchi-uke and soto-uke work equally well against chudan attacks from an attacker of equal or greater height, but against shorter attackers uchi-uke is more challenging. At a certain point, even gedan-barai becomes preferable.

2023-03-20

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I had two new students in my youth class tonight, but have recently learned that I’ll soon be losing one. It’s ebb and flow, I guess, but I’m happy to teach whoever shows up. The two “newbies” are brother and sister, ages 8 and 11, and both have clearly done some kind of martial arts before. That makes things a bit easier, but the younger sibling doesn’t speak much English. I’ve never (knowingly) had to work through a language barrier while teaching before, but that’ll just add to the challenge.

In the adult class, I had a good friend visit and train with us, and we hit the kihon pretty hard. Two things stood out and needed work, both coming from the venerable soto-uke, yoko empi-uchi, uraken, gyaku-zuki combination.

1. The backfist strike in this combination is often executed as though it’s sokumen uraken-uchi (along an almost vertical path as in Heian Sandan, but in this combination I think it ought to be executed on a horizontal plane, as yoko (or yoko-mawashi) uraken uchi. I think this is important because (and I have no scientific basis for this) the momentum of the returning arm along a horizontal plane just feels like it helps prime the rotation of the hip for gyaku-zuki.
2. The transition from the uraken-uchi in kiba-dachi back to zenkutsu-dachi for gyaku-zuki is challenging, because often there’s a feeling of pulling the lead foot back to make the change. I think this stems from most people’s habit of making kiba-dachi too wide. Both Nakayama’s “Dynamic Karate” and Okazaki’s “Textbook of Modern Karate” have zenkutsu-dachi, kokutsu-dachi, and kiba-dachi all at equal lengths. I frequenly have students check this by transitioning between these three stances without lifting their heels, and usually find that front stance and back stance are about right, but horse stance is way longer. Shortening it to the proper length results in not having to pull it back when transitioning from horse stance to front stance.

2023-03-15

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Last night in the beginner class, after working on kata, I asked my students, “What am I actually doing in the kata?” One student answered, “punches and blocks”, which is correct, but not really what I was going for. I clarified, “Yes, but why am I doing those things?” The same student answered, tentatively, “Because you’re being attacked by four people?” I wanted to fix this misconception right away, so I called for a sit-down and we talked a bit.

I don’t believe kata were designed to practice defending ourselves against a gang of attackers. Rather, I see it as a menu of possibilities. Kata isn’t a series of logical “and” statements; it’s a series of logical “or” statements. In other words, instead of one person attacking, and then another, and then another, I see one person attacking this way, or maybe that way, or maybe another way, and the kata teaches us to deal with each possibility. Of course, we may be attacked by more than one assialant, but kata recognizes the difficulty of these situations and teaches us to deal with one at a time by moving in ways that only allow one assailant to attack at a time.

I’ll leave it at that for now, but I plan to write a full blog post on this later. If you can’t wait, chapter 4 of Kane & Wilder’s “The Way of Kata” is devoted to the “rules” of kata interpretation, and it’s quite good.

2023-03-13

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We talked a lot about stances and structure in last night’s advanced class, and how I view them. Much of this comes from, experience, a lot of reading, and a heavy dose of Iain Abernethy’s views as expressed in his podcast episode called “My Stance on Stances”, and the related article on his website. To sum it up:

1. Like the foundation of a house, stances are literally the foundation upon which your techniques are built. If your stance isn’t sturdy enough to support itself under a “normal load” (i.e. your own body weight) it’ll never be strong enough to withstand the stresses applied when striking, blocking, kicking, etc., an attacker.
2. Stances aren’t techniques unto themselves, and techniques don’t really happen in stances; rather, stances are the postures we find ourselves making between techniques. (They’re the “spaces” between the “words” of technique.) If you start in a front stance and perform oi-zuiki, ending in front stance, you’re only really in front stance before and after the punch. During the punch, you’re in transition between those stances. (And the transition between stances is often more important than the stance itself.)
3. The almost-but-not-quite exception to the second point is when your stance is used as part of a technique … as a base, fulcrum, or obstacle that the rest of the technique requires in order to work. We see this when a hand technique causes the opponent to trip over our leg, or when our stance is used to lift or throw an opponent.
4. All of this, like all of karate, changes with experience. As beginners, we start with large, powerful moves. As we gain experience, we learn to generate power with smaller, less “formal” moves. Stances are no different, hence Gichin Funakoshi’s precept, “Hitotsu, kamae wa shoshinsha ni ato wa shizentai”, often translated as “Formal stances are for beginners; later, one stands naturally.”

2023-03-06

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight’s beginner class had a lesson in not “anchoring” yourself to landmarks in the room when it comes to performing kata. Students tend to do this without realizing it - for example, growing accustomed to “turning towards the mirror.” It tends to happen less often with students who practice regularly at home, but that’s another issue. For now, I was determined to point it out, and work on fixing it, in class. To accomplish this, and after arranging them to avoid collisions, I had each student face in a different direction and go through Taikyoku Shodan. As expected, it was a bit of a train wreck, but my point was made. So then we discussed how simply going back to the “rules” would help. Forget about where you are and what direction you’re facing and, instead, focus on what you’re supposed to do and where the imaginary “bad guy” is. With that in mind, the second attempt was much better.

In the advanced class, we spent a lot of time on pivoting, using the turns in Heian Shodan as a model. We stepped forward with gedan-barai five times, then turned 180° and did a downward block, then four more, then another 180° turn, and so on. Then we switched feet and did the same pattern on the other side. Next we stepped forward doing downward block until we had the left foot forward, and then turned 90° to the left with gedan-barai, then four more downward blocks, then another 90° turn, and so on. Then we repeated that pattern on the other side. Finally, we stepped forward doing gedan-barai until we had the right foot forward, then did a 270° turn into downward block, then four more, then another 270° turn, and so on … and then we switched to the other side. Unsurprisingly, the 270° turn was the hardest. Even though none of those turns come up with the other foot forward in Heian Shodan, the 270° turn was the hardest to learn the “right” way, so it made sense that it would give students more difficulty on the “wrong” side. The lesson here was that you need to practice techniques and turns on both sides, even if that’s not how they appear in the kata.

2023-02-27

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The beginner class is making it through Taikyoku Shodan pretty regularly now. Of course there are still mistakes - there always will be - but they’re fewer and farther between. We did have a little talk about “focus” tonight, though. Some minds were wandering and I thought it was a good time to remind the class that karate isn’t just about learning how to punch, kick, and block. It’s about learning to control your mind and body, completely, and that involves the ability to stay focussed and attentive. After all, it’d be easier for a predator to attack someone who wasn’t paying attention, right?

The advanced class we spent a lot of time working on hip rotation - specifically the rotation required to launch a reverse punch. We stood in front of the mirror, in front stance, starting with the opposite hand forward as though we’d just done a reverse punch. Then we would rotate the hip back and block (any block), then rotate the hip forward and reverse punch. The important parts are:

1. Keeping the front knee stable and forward.
2. Preventing the back heel from moving.
3. Most importantly, bending the back knee to facilitate the backward rotation of the hip, followed by straightening of the knee to fire the hip forward.

This drill can be very tiring, turning the front leg into jelly after a few dozen repetitions, but isolating this rotation, and allowing no energy to be wasted with extraneous motion, is one of the most importation concepts in power generation. It’s critical. We often talk about power coming from the hips, but the hips don’t move in a vaccuum, the legs move the hips. The faster the leg straightens, the faster the hip moves forward, and vice-versa.

2023-02-22

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We got all the way through Taikyoku Shodan in the beginner class tonight! There were a few “bobbles” but, for the most part, everyone made it through sucessfully! We did it a few times together, with me telling them exactly what to do at each stage. Then, for the final run, I stood up front facing them without giving them specific instructions. Instead, I counted and, between each count, simply said things like, “Okay now … think about which arm and leg to use next, and think about where you’re supposed to end up.” It worked!

In the second class we spent more time on Heian Shodan, particularly pivoting with the heel down. We went through it a few times “normally”, then a few times with our hands on hour hips, just concentrating on the transitions between stances. Once we had that looking good, we added the arms back into the equation. Next we did some impact work, concentrating on gyaku-zuki, mae-geri keage, and kentsui tatte mawashi uchi. Finally, we worked on mawashi-geri, using the ballet bars attached to the wall, with emphasis on bringing the kicking leg up parallel to the floor, with the knee no farther forward than the hip prior to the rotation, and on not rising up on the supporting leg. It was exhausting, but we got through it.

2023-02-20

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We made a lot of progress on Taikyoku-shodan in the first class tonight. We continued on last Wednesday’s lesson of remembering the “rules” (see below) and then spent quite a bit of time going over the 270° turn. First we broke it into several steps and exaggerated the movement for the sake of clarity, then we sped things up and shrunk them down until the turn looked pretty close to how it should. Towards the end of class, we managed to get all the way through the kata.

We began the second class with the promotion of my senior student to junior 8th kyu. Her test was excellent, with the exception of her kiai which continues to be a challenge (but we’ll get there). From there we moved on to some kihon, with emphasis on pushing the hip forward while punching. Then we moved on to a standing drill, blocking followed by reverse punch, with all four of the basic blocks normally executed from zenkutsu-dachi. We talked about the importance of keeping the spine aligned vertically, capturing all the rotational force rather than allowing it to escape along odd paths by leaning. Finally we worked on kata, and spent a good deal of time working on heel pivots. I’m of the opinion that heel pivots are mechanically simpler than pivoting on the ball of the foot, so I use them in most places. The keys here are to keep the weight on the heel and keep the center of gravity over the axis of rotation.

2023-02-15

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Our first class spent a good deal of time on turning during Taikyoku Shodan. This is proving really difficult for about half the class, so we started by going over the “rules” related to turning in this kata:

1. Always put your chin on your punching shoulder. That’s the way you’re going to end up facing (even if you turn the opposite direction to get there).
2. You block with your front hand, and step with your front foot, unless you just kiaied, in which case you use your back hand and back foot.

But even then we had difficulties, so my plan is to address each of the three types of turns, individually. They are:

• A 180° turn, from right-side oi-zuki to right-side gedan-barai.
• A 90° turn, from left-side oi-zuki to left-side gedan-barai.
• A 270° turn, from right-side oi-zuki to left-side gedan-barai.

Tonight, we focussed on the first one.

We had a kyu grading for my senior student in the second class tonight. She’s curently 9th kyu, grading for junior 8th kyu. Her test went very well and, as usual, I’ll prepare written feedback to share with her and her classmates next week. Sharing each examinee’s feedback with the whole class helps the class understand the expectations on each exam. Likewise, it publicly congratulates the examinees for things they did well while helping hold them accountable for improving where it’s needed.

2023-02-13

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

We spent the whole class introducing the new students to yakusoku gohon kumite tonight. Granted, after warm-ups and stretching, that’s only about 45 minutes, but it still took a while to “herd the cats” and get all the way through the exercise with both jodan and chudan attacks. It wasn’t that they weren’t “getting it”, per se, but rather that it just takes a while to talk through all the little steps while making sure nobody gets whacked in the head by mistake. Here’s how I broke it down:

1. Start by having everyone step forward doing jodan and chudan oi-zuki. That takes care of the attacker’s part.
2. Next, have everyone face the mirror in shizen tai and practice stepping backward into zenkutsu-dachi with age-uke. Then repeat with gedan-barai.
3. Repeat step 2, but add gyaku-zuki after the block. (At this point, you’re basically doing the defender’s part of yakusoku ippon kumite. I do this to help them later when they learn that sanbon and ippon kumite are really the same drill.
4. Now have them step back and block five times before adding the reverse punch.
5. Finally, put them in front of a partner and review the “etiquette” of the drill: Setting the correct distance, announcing the attack, etc.

In other news, I’m planning to give my senior student her 8th-kyu exam on Wednesday night.

2023-02-08

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Let’s talk a little bit about stretching and strenthening exercises, and why I lead them myself in every class (as oppsoed to having a student lead them). Habits, good or bad, are powerful things. In karate, as in life, we want to build good habits and break bad habits. Keeping strong and limber is important, particularly as you get older, but children have trouble recognizing long-term benefits and adults are often “too busy.” That’s why I lead warm-up exercises myself.

1. I’m setting a good example for everyone. If I do it along with the students, it shows that I think it’s important and that I’m not going to ask my students to do anything that I’m not willing to do myself.
2. Fewer people “slack off” when I’m leading the exercises. On one hand, I’ve noticed that when I’m up front knocking out push-ups with the class, fewer people tend to “phone it in.” On the other hand, while a yellow belt leading warm ups might be shy about calling out a brown belt for slacking off, I’m not. 😉
3. It maintains my own habit. I’m a busy adult, just like my students, and it’s very easy to “just skip today”, but by leading exercises myself, I help maintain my own stretching and strenthening habits.

2023-02-06

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

My beginners seem to be having a lot of trouble with front snap kick, particularly kicking with force, so we spent more time using the ballet bars tonight. We all started facing to the right, with our left hands resting on the bar, left foot forward, and kicking with our right feet. Having their hands on the bar for stability allowed students to stop worrying so much about losing their balance and just kick hard. I told them they can do the same thing at home by resting their hand on the back of a chair, or their couch. The trick, of course, is to go from holding the bar, to merely resting your hand on the bar, and then to hovering your hand over the bar without actually touching it. At that point, your balance will be “solid” and you don’t really need the bar at all.

2023-02-01

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

I’m back! After a month “off” it was great to get back to teaching. I even had another new student! I spent the first class going through basics, just to see how far everyone had progressed over the last month. Everyone seemed a bit sleepy, not least of all me, so I reminded everyone that attackers don’t care how tired you are. In fact, they’d prefer that you be tired and distracted so, even if you’re exhausted, you can’t show it. Your fighing spirit has to be like a lightswitch that you can just “flip on” at a moment’s notice.

In the second class my “senior” yellow belt showed great improvemnt in her kata. The other adult looks like his stance is coming along nicely and we spent the balance of the time working on Heian Yondan. Everything looks good!

2023 Remainder of January

My good friend Sensei David Bracklow, of ISKF Tempe, will be teaching my classes while my wife and I are on vacation. Train hard, everyone. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone when we return.

2023-01-02

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Tonight was the first class of the new year, and my only class for the month. My wife and I will be going on vacation for the remainder of January, and my friend Sensei David Bracklow, of ISKF Tempe, will be teaching my classes while we’re away. Nevertheless, I wanted to kick off the year right, so here’s what we did:

In the first class, we reviewed the basics in front of the mirror. Everyone admitted they didn’t practice 3 hours every night as we’d agreed. 😉 Everyone had a good handle on things, so we continued kihon drills, this time moving back and forth across the floor. So far, so good. We finished up with a review of kata and yakusoku sanbon kumite.

In the second class, we reviewed all five Heian katas and Tekki Shodan before retuning to Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan in detail. We went through both, steps by step, ignoring speed and power while concentrating on perfection of form. Kihon drills progressed normally, but we spent a good deal of extra time working on mawashi-geri, even going to the ballet barre mounted against one of the mirrors for additional help with balance while we perfected the motion.