Avi Rokah

Karate Competition and Judging

Avi Rokah

Kata Look inside and not to the outside, of course, the outside form should be correct, but people have different body types, and the point is not to judge how fancy and beautiful but rather how effectively one uses their bodies, how the whole body cooperates into one purpose, using ground reaction, proper body action and muscle action, and transferring this energy to the technique. Judges should learn to see how well ones uses whole body snap, make strong and proper kime, pressure to floor and sharp total body contraction to line of technique. In kata, one should project strong […]

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Thoughts About Traditional Karate

Avi Rokah

Embracing the old as a foundation from which to seek unlimited, infinite growth and development. This is what traditional is to me, the word “traditional” might imply to some people stagnation, sticking rigidly to some meaningless rituals and kata, so maybe I don’t love the word traditional but I don’t have any other. But to me, traditional karate is using the kata as a vehicle to understand timeless principles that were discovered through many generations, and building on top of that. Sensei Nishiyama used to stress that kata gives us many examples and through those examples, we must find out

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Increase Sensitivity and Awareness to Reduce Effort

Avi Rokah

Ruven Sharf told me another great analogy that he heard from his Alexander technique teacher, Meir. In a military Bunker there were 10 soldiers and they were always exhausted because they were almost always on guard around the bunker. A new commander came, and he put a high observation post, so one soldier was in the post, and 4 around the bunker, and now the other five soldiers could sleep, and they kept rotation, so everyone was fresh and functional all the time. We can notice that many people in kumite tend to be too tense all the time, they

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Karate Technique Starts From The Center And Energy Increases In A Ripple Effect

Avi Rokah

Imagine a stone falling into a still pond of water, at the point of which the stone enters, there will be an explosive splash, followed by powerful ripples traveling away from this point. Sensei Nishiyama used to say: “karate technique starts from the center and increase energy in a ripple effect, from the muscles around the spine, to bigger, outer core muscles and to the extremities”. The outer core muscles, (buttocks, obliques and hips) are the most powerful in our body, the inner core muscles are not as powerful and mostly responsible for stability and providing a base for the

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Protect Your Back And Improve Function By Improving Posture And Firing Sequence of Muscles

Avi Rokah

If you asked Sensei Nishiyama what is the best training for yoko geri, he would say “do yoko geri”, and this is totally true. Most of the training for a karate person should be karate technique and timing, but at the same token, some supplemental training can help. We talk about moving from the center and out of optimal posture. If we don’t have a strong and stable center we cannot move effectively from the center and might also hurt our spine, especially when producing big forces. If we don’t move out of optimal posture we won’t fulfill our potentials

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