2026-05-04

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

We spent the whole night on kata tonight. We ran through all the Heian katas, then Tekki Shodan, and then started moving through Kanku Dai. Everyone did well, but I’m going to highlight a few things that I thought were worth correcting.

Many people tend to straighten their legs and sort of “pirouette” when they turn, but doing so causes several problems. With your legs straight, it’s impossible to “drive” in any direction. You have to let your hips fall first and, for that, you’re at the mercy of gravity. Since you’re not able to drive, it takes longer to move into the next stance, but since you’ve probably habitualized your stance timing, your slower motion will result in a shorter stance.

When executing a hook punch, keep your elbows connected as long as possible, only separating near the end of the punch. Many people allow the elbow to separate from the body, resulting in a wide, slow arcing strike rather than a more direct thrusting action. I teach students that the first half of a hook punch is identical to the first have of a straight punch. The only difference is what happens after the elbow loses contact with the body.

In Tekki Shodan, the haiwan uchi nagashi-uke that precedes the back-fist strikes needs to be a block. That seems obvious, but many people execute this move with the “blocking” arm passing entirely to the outside of the head, rendering it entirely incapable of blocking anything. This block should be executed in a way that causes the blocking wrist to cross your eye line, thus guaranteeing that an attack to the face will be intercepted.