Thread: the fists at the waist thing...

Yeah, your right... in life or death I would go all out too... Heh, don't you hate being right all the time?

In the book "KARATE" the empty hand by h. nishiaymia who is to shotokan karate what god is to religon, nishiaymia shows to throw a reverse punch, rear foot flat on the ground, knee straight, hand on hip, body straight, On the next page is a picture of nishiaymia braking boards, body leaning forward, rear heel up, back leg bent. point? dont mistake training exercise's for actule fighting princaple's.

Karate "experts" tried to be scientific. They failed.

Of course they failed, trying to be scientific about things like overly wide overly long front stances is just stupid.

Training exercises SHOULD be the same as fighting principles.

Spank has the correct.

I didn't feel the tricep thing either.

hi all, i am new to this forum.

the fist on the hip thingy...commonly called a "chamber" of the fist.
i was taught in taekwondo some of the things that have been stated already on this thread....i disagree with the statement that doing this (pulling back) decreases power. i think the equation mass x acceleration=force applies to the weight of your arm in proportion to how quickly it is moving. not to our body weight. the power generated from this technique (chamber) is roatational power, you twist your hips into the punch yes? in turn your shoulders also rotate yes? by forcefully retracting your non punching arm you are accelerating the other arm, thus adding power to the punch. only my opinion.
later i was taught in okinawan karate jutsu(not karate do) that the "chamber" is not even a chamber and you would never see a real karate expert fight that way!!! it is done in kata, but you should view it not as a chamber of the non punching hand, but see the WHOLE MOVEMENT...watch a karateka perform kata, when he/she punches you see a punch with the right, and a chamber with the left, this is incorrect i was told...it is NOT a chamber, then ask yourself how could i use that "movement" in a real situation? have any of you ever PULLED your opponent into your punch? or pulled some part of their body with one hand while punching with the other like maybe a joint lock? or elbowed someone who is coming up behind you? these are some applications of the "chamber"....
this concept applies not only to chambers, but to "blocks" as well, blocks are not really blocks the way most people think of them, the "movement" that most see as a block has many applications most of which are not blocks, i was taught there is no such thing as a block, if you block you have to touch your opponent anyway so why not make it something that counts. in other words every move in kata has an OFFENSIVE purpose. if you view "blocks" in this way, you are not bound by them and are free to use parrys and dodging to evade....i think many mmartists could learn alot about traditional karate by understanding this. karate is not as ridgid and fixed as most think.
it is also true of stances, they are transitional, not fixed...for example if you get your opponent in an armbar...transition into a front stance (zenkutsu dachi)...this puts your body weight forward, and gives you more leverage which allows you to use less muscle power.
i read on another post about all karate styles were invented for children, this is partially true i think, the idea stems from ankoh itosu (teacher of gichin funakoshi and many others) he wanted everyone to be able to learn karate and wanted to introduce it into the school curriculum, but to make it safe for all to learn he "hid" if you will, the true meaning of the kata's from them, and changed the arts focus from combat (jutsu) to self cultivation (do)
just my two cents.... this situation can somewhat be likened to what jigoro kano did when creating judo, as opposed to jujutsu.
that is some of the difference between okinawan karate, and japanese karate, what was introduced into japan by gichin funakoshi was this "childrens karate" if you will....what were his reasons for doing this? he may have been ordered to....would you teach your fighting secrets to an invading army that burned your crops and homes? would you teach small school children deadly fighting techniques, joint locks, chokes, and pressure points?....i am not disrespecting japanes karate, or even karate do in general, the so called secrets are still in the kata, you just have to know how to look for them. so the way this or that art is taught is just as, if not more important than the style itsself.

throw a rock at a wall.....what determins the force that rock will impact the wall....the weight (mass) of the rock, not the person throwing it....multiplied by how fast that rock is moving. in other words the mass in mass x acceleration=force is the weight of the object that makes impact upon another object. i didnt say body weight was in any way irrelevant...just seperate from that equation. where the persons weight would come in is how it accelerates the rock therefore to me they are seperate pieces of the whole picture.
you dont have to agree, i was simply stating my opinion no need to say its nonsense.

TB - LMAO and agree 100%. The power of the punch comes from(as it is said) putting your wieight into it..this is true of any striking stlye