October 2019

Strong technique – fluid transitions.

Not a contradiction, but rather compliment each other. In Shotokan karate we strive for the beauty of one finishing blow technique (Todome), one of the unique aspects of our karate is kime (mental and physical focus), or how to to deliver the total energy of the whole body, in the shortest instant, to intended line of energy at impact. A well-trained Shotokan karate dojo will always emphasise that Shotokan karate is known for powerful technique, at the same time when making strong kime it is easy to lose the smooth transition and fluidity. This is dangerous because if we miss […]

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Efficient technique and injury prevention go hand in hand

Avi Rokah

The principles that make karate technique effortlessly powerful, will also keep you injury free. That is one of the beauties of karate! In karate we are striving for the “beauty of one finishing blow technique”, and also, I believe, that we are striving to train and keep improving till old age. Those 2 concepts are not at all contradictory, at least not in Shotokan, on the contrary, a good, effective technique should have all the same qualities that will reduce stress from our joints and spine, will keep our spine and joints stable, strong, pliable and healthy. In fact, the

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Sen – be mentally ahead

Avi Rokah

Sen literally means “ahead”, “before”. It implies that when opponent initiates attack, committed, that is a moment of Qio (chance), the best moment to catch opponent is while moving, committed, the split second that he/she cannot change thir power direction. The ideal is to hit the opponent at the decision to attack, before the physical action, and this is called Kake no Sen. To catch the opponent with Sen timing, one cannot use the eyes and conscious brain, it has to be a feel, the reaction has to be by breath which is reflexive, by-passing conscious brain. The breath make

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Power Needs direction

Avi Rokah

Sensei Nishiyama repeatedly said: “power need direction” What does it mean? There are few components to this. First component, One does not need to be as strong as opponent, but should be able to integrate the whole body, and produce force from the body center, using ground reaction, to any direction, instantly. This is a key principle taught in adult karate classes. We must learn to recruit our full potential, teach our nervous system to use all muscle groups and all body segments to cooperate to one direction, and produce force in a shortest amount of time, at one point

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Kime Is From Eye

Avi Rokah

Sensei Nishiyama used to repeat “eye, face guiding (the) body (when changing direction), Eyes, face setting the body at kime, when eye(s) stop this is kime”, “kime is from eye” or “at kime nothing moves, even eye(s) don’t blink”.We all know that at kime we make pressure to floor and sharp total body contraction, but we cannot forget that in a sense kime is from eyes. In karate classes for adults, instructors emphasise how eye focus enhances body coordination and power. If eyes are blinking at kime, coordination between breathing and muscle action is lacking, also if eyes moving at

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The Power of Karate is in the Brain, Not in The Muscles, says recent Oxford University Research

Avi Rokah

Group of healthy controls was compared with a group of karate black belts, who are able to perform rapid, complex movements that require years of training. Understanding these abilities is why many join karate classes for adults. Researchers chose to investigate karate experts’ ability to generate extremely high impact forces as this ability is not replicable by novices, and the mechanism used to achieve this feat not fully understood. The research investigated weather the ability to control ballistic movement is associated with difference in white matter microstructure in the brain. Early studies found that although karate experts were able to

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Karate Journey Is Like Climbing A Mountain

Avi Rokah

When you climb a mountain and you see a peak, you think “oh, this is the mountain top, let’s push and get there to the end of the karate journey”, when you get there, you realize that there is another peak you could not see until you got to where you are, and than you keep going and keep finding out as long as we live. When we learn a technique, we can only receive so much information, and as we train and gain experience we have tools to get more details, and than we realize that the simple techniques

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Body Shifting – Understand to Use Effectively

Avi Rokah

In karate body dynamics and inside muscle action are the main sources of power (of course, controlled my the mind, so we could say the mind is the main source of energy). Body shifting is one of the 6 body dynamics. Shifting is used to produce force as well as to adjust distance, and it is generally used to apply techniques in longer distance. This principle is also taught in self defense classes for kids to help young learners understand effective body mechanics. We use straight shifting, such as in case of Oi Zuki, or side shifting, such as in

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Listen To The Breath!

Avi Rokah

Aiko San always surprised me with her depth of understanding, intuition and wisdom. One evening about 10 years ago, I was doing kata and Aiko San was standing with her back to me, and all of the sudden she turned around and said: “you are using too much top power.” I felt it was true but asked her how she could tell, since she did not look at me, and she replied that she knew by the sound of my breath. Since then she surprised me over and over. Without looking at me she told me if my elbows were

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Breath Reveals Quality of Technique

Avi Rokah

I wrote in the previous article that Aiko San could correct my technique without looking at me, just by listening to the breath. Why is that important? Because while at the beginning levels we focus on external form and mechanics of technique, at the higher levels the breath controls the techniques— all aspects of it— and the mechanics and form should be forgotten, or not consciously attained. For example, breath initiates the technique, acting like the trigger that controls the timing of the technique. If we cannot apply the concept of “breath triggers technique,” we cannot talk about breath reaction

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