2026-02-25

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

Averages are the devil. Beginners almost always want to split the difference. Their hips are supposed to be square when attacking, and turned back when blocking … but that’s hard, so they just “split the difference” and keep their hips somewhere between the two. Likewise, front stance is supposed to have about 70% of the weight on the front leg, both feet pointing forward, and hip width, while back stance is supposed to have about 70% of the weight on the back leg, the back foot at a right angle to the front, and no width … but that’s hard, so they just split the difference.

Splitting the difference is awful because it guarantees you’re wrong 100% of the time. If you just did front stance with your hips square all the time, at least you’d occasionally be right, but splitting the difference every time makes you wrong every time. That’s one of the beautiful things about karate … you have to care. You have to put in effort. You have to do it right.