Control: Distance vs. Speed

Nobody wants to get hurt and most people don’t want to hurt others, but there’s no denying that part of karate training is learning how to hurt others when it becomes absolutely necessary. Still, we need our training partners to keep coming to class, so it’s important to pracice our techniques with “control” to avoid injury. But what is “control”? What are we controlling?

Typically, when we talk about “control” in karate, we’re talking about the ability to do precisely as much damage as we intend to do. “Damage” is a function of the force applied, and force (as we recall from physics) equals mass times acceleration. The more mass you have making contact, and the faster that mass is moving at the moment of contact, the more damage you’ll do.

Another way of thinking of “control” is as a function of two variables: Distance and speed. Of course, target placment can also affect damage, but for purposes of this discussion, we’re going to talk about damage done to a given target by varying distance and speed.

Speed

It’s easy to understand how the speed of an attack can affect the damage. A slow punch isn’t going to do as much damage as a fast punch. This doesn’t really require more explanation, does it?

Distance

Another way to control the damage of an attack is by controlling the distance to the target.

• If your attack penetrates the target (distance < 0), you’re likely to do some damage.
• If your attack stops before reaching the target (distance > 0) then you haven’t hit anything, so there can’t be any damage.
• If your attack “grazes” the target (distance = 0) there can be some discomfort, but “damage” should be minimal.

Learning “control”

When we teach a new technique to students, we have them do it slowly, not because we’re trying to teach them to control damage, but because we want them to learn the proper course of the technique. Once students can perform a technique slowly, we add speed. This makes sense. First you learn to crawl, then you learn to walk, and then you learn to run.

But then we put students across from a partner and have them go slowly again. Why? It’s “for safety”, of course, but wouldn’t it be just as safe if we stood 10 feet apart and had them go full speed? Sure it would. So why do we prefer to regulate speed instead of distance?

Because it’s easier …

When I throw a punch at a partner, I’m fully in control of how fast that punch is going. I’m the one who decides whether the punch is going 5 mph or 25 mph. But distance is another story. Distance is the relationship between my position and my partner’s position and, because my partner can move, I’m not fully in control of that relationship. Of course, my partner could affect the net speed of impact by “rushing in”, but typically being in the wrong place and getting hit at all is a more significant contributor to the damage than the additional speed at impact.

The problem is that, left to their own devices, students tend to continue expressing “control” in terms of speed, not distance, because it’s easier, and that’s how we’ve taught them to do it. But, since when has karate been about doing things the easy way? Besides, a slow punch is also much easier to block or dodge. Only a fast punch properly tests my tactics and my partner’s defenses.

To be sure, there’s a time and a place for going slowly. However, absent instruction to go slowly, I believe techniques should be executed at full speed and “controlled” in terms of distance, with light contact to the body and no contact to the head.

Doing better

So how do we help students practice “control” of distance at full speed? Easy. I often tell students that the best way to practice hitting things is to hit things. Likewise, the best way to pracice not hitting things should be to not hit things. The emphasis, of course, is on practice … putting in the repetitions.

Start by removing the danger of hurting someone else. Have students stand in front of a (non-mirrored) wall, in kiba-dachi and practice getting their punches and kicks as close to the wall as possible without touching it. Then move closer, and closer, and closer. Get them to the point where they’re comfortable “grazing” the wall, without hurting themselves.

Next have students stand across from each other, again in kiba-dachi and do the same thing with attacks to the body, taking turns attacking and “being the wall.” Each partner should get comfortable “grazing” the other person’s gi without actually hitting the person wearing it. Of course, this drill also improves the “target” student’s skill at trusting the attacker and not being “afraid of the ball.” Once they get really good at this, you can let more mature students direct attacks towards their partner’s face.

The next step is to move back to the wall, but this time have students step forward to attack instead of doing it from a static stance. This adds a bit of difficulty, as students learn to regulate the length of their steps. Again, the goal is to get closer and closer to the wall until each attack just “grazes” the wall without hurting the student doing the attacking.

Next, students return to their partners and do the same thing, with one student stepping forward and attacking while the other plays the part of the wall. Again, if they get really good at this, you can let mature students start directing attacks at their partner’s face.

Finally, repeat this drill again, but this time the student playing the part of “the wall” starts in front stance too, and both students step forward. You’re probably going to want to do this drill with a count, so both students move at the same time, but the goal is the same: The attacking student should get comfortable being able to “graze” the other student’s uniform, even when both students are stepping forward quickly.

Are you going to hit people? Of course. Are you going to get hit? Of course. Is it going to hurt? Of course.

But what about the slow moves in kata?

I’m glad you asked. Slow moves in kata typically indicate a grappling application. When you think about it, you can’t control damage with distance while grappling because distance = 0 by definition. Therefore the only variable you can alter is speed. If you don’t want to hurt someone while grappling, you have to go slowly.