365 Ways to Practice Your Karate, Grappling, and Martial Arts Techniques: The Martial Artist's Daily Pocket Companion

INTRODUCTION

It is helpful to learn how to approach a frightening situation with a controlled calmness. Having been there prior to the actual encounter is a great way to condition your body and mind, even if you have only been there in training. This book will introduce you to 365 ways to practice your martial arts techniques, extract information, and analyze the concepts you have learned in class, so that you can gain the skills you need to approach your technique training with confidence and maximum intensity.

Martial artists frequently focus on how to perform the techniques, but spend minimal time and little emphasis on how to make rational decisions. You learn hundreds of specific techniques without discussing or exploring how you or a potential opponent feel or react to these techniques. The ability to reason is important both to the sports competitive martial artist and the self-defense oriented martial artist. Understanding the human psyche is perhaps even more important than executing a technique correctly. Techniques are predictable; the human mind is not always so.

Knowing what to do is a step toward knowing how to do it. You must learn proper mechanics of technique before you can learn the concepts of technique. When you understand the what and the how, the next step is learning the when and the why. Since all techniques don’t work equally well all the time, knowing when to use a technique is crucial. Mastering the concepts means mastering the highest stage of learning: correlation. Or as has been said: Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he will eat for life. Many of the exercises in this book therefore focus on developing critical thinking skills for learning the stand-up and grappling arts. They are designed to raise questions and trigger your imagination, and not necessarily designed to answer your questions outright.

Learning the martial arts can take a lifetime of work. The suggestions for practicing and thinking about the martial arts techniques presented in this book equal the number of days in a year. To make your journey manageable, study one suggestion each day, and you will soon have broadened your views beyond the basic instruction you receive in the training hall.

GETTING STARTED

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Your first impression when stepping into the training hall may determine whether or not you come back for more. When you bow in, the setting may be formal. Your first lesson should be interesting without overemphasizing any particular task. The first lesson is the beginning of a journey that will set the course for future training. Practicing the martial arts involves practicing specific details about your particular style of martial art. Can you identify the essence of the style you are practicing? What is it? How does your chosen style of martial art compare and contrast to other styles?

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If you are new to the martial arts, use the first lesson to familiarize yourself with the experience. When you leave, you should be looking forward to coming back. The first lesson should make a favorable impression by teaching you something useful in addition to giving you some background information about the art. When you leave, and during your drive home, reemphasize in your mind what the gist of the lesson was about. Was it about how to clench your fist and throw a punch correctly? Was it about how to maintain balance and move efficiently across the floor? Or was it about the historical uses of the martial art?

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It is not necessary to memorize every detail of every technique you learned in the first lesson. But if you make an effort to pay attention to detail early in your training, techniques will come to mean more. When you get home from a lesson, write down everything you remember about the techniques you learned, or tell a friend in your own words how you understood the material taught.

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In the second lesson, you will likely be a bit more relaxed and ready to let some information sink in. As you gain familiarity with the etiquette of the training hall, you can practice the material with greater ease without feeling burdened by rituals. Name one thing you learned in your second lesson that made you excited about returning for more.

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Many martial arts schools ask students what they hope to gain from the lessons. Your school might post words on the wall, such as integrity, perseverance, and self-control. What do these words mean to you, and how do they relate to the meaning your school has assigned them? Does your school have a mission statement that is short, clear, and to the point? If so, what is it and what does it mean? How important is it that you adhere to it? Will you be comfortable studying the martial arts at this school even if you disagree with the creed or mission statement? One way to find value in a creed or mission statement is by acknowledging that it sets your school apart from other schools, and therefore gives you identity and a sense of belonging that is special and unique.

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Warm-up prior to workout is essential to avoid injuries and may be the first element you learn in any given lesson. If the classes are short (45 minutes or less), you may want to come in ten minutes before start time and engage in some light stretching or shadow boxing on your own. The benefit of warming up on your own is that all class time can be used for learning. The drawback is that many students don’t know how to warm up properly. In your view, how long should a proper warm-up last and what should it include?

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Although it might prove beneficial to save time by warming up on your own prior to the start of a lesson, warm-up conducted in unison with other students and led by the instructor can prove a good motivator. Name two ways in which a group warm-up can get you focused and excited about the coming lesson.

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Your school might teach one-hour classes, or it might teach 45-minute classes. Some schools adhere to the belief that students don’t retain much of what they learn past 45 minutes. It is wrong to assume that we all learn at the same rate, however, or that the level of retention is the same for everybody. If the instruction is complex, a short class may prove beneficial especially with kids. But many adults would not find a short class worth the drive to and from the school. If your instructor teaches lessons of short duration, try to spend some time directly after class to cool down and think about what you have learned, or continue practicing on your own at the school or at home while the material is still fresh on your mind.

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The time immediately following warm-up can be used constructively to review the last lesson or talk about what the current lesson is to cover. After warm-up we tend to practice basic stances, strikes, blocks, and kicks in unison with other students. Frequency of repetition affects how quickly the techniques become muscle memory. But drill work is recommended also when you have some experience and know how to perform the techniques mechanically. You must now look for opportunities to apply what you have learned. Drill work should therefore not be a mindless rut. If you warm up by shadow boxing, for example, also think about how the techniques you use during this exercise would apply to specific martial arts or self-defense situations. When you drill the basic stances, strikes, blocks, and kicks, paraphrase to yourself how these might be used.

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Practicing the martial arts involves more than practicing the moves of each technique. You must also consider many ideas and concepts that relate to the physical and mental conditioning required to meet a threat with confidence. A muscular body can withstand strikes better than a weak body, and a supple body can maintain balance also when performing difficult techniques. A strong and supple body further gives you speed and ease of movement. Cardiovascular endurance may be your most important physical attribute, but muscular endurance is also important. You won’t know in advance how long a fight or self-defense situation will last. But even in tournament competition, he or she with greater endurance can often score a win over a more skilled opponent. View a sparring match on TV or in your training hall and observe how the fighter with the greater endurance is likely to dominate his opponent. Consider what you can do to boost your endurance.

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It has been said that the best defense is offense, despite the fact that the martial arts are popularly thought of as self-defense. To prove effective you must practice both offense and defense; an important part of which involves developing a proper attitude. The way you carry yourself when faced with a threat may determine whether you will be a winner or a victim. Some people equate proper attitude with confidence. You can also think of it as combat presence. When you square off to spar with your opponent, strive to look as though there is no place you would rather be.

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Have you ever seen how some people manage to sneak in and out of the training hall almost unnoticed? Have you noticed how they never say anything or draw attention to themselves? Combat presence means that you strive to let others know who and where you are. You want them to notice you. You want them to understand that it is dangerous to enter your space. Practice combat presence in forms or kata demonstrations by doing your forms with intent and intensity. The audience should feel your presence in the room. Look at yourself in the mirror. If you had to fight a clone of yourself next, would you have respect for the person you see in the mirror?

STANCE AND MOVEMENT

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Many karate schools teach the basic punches, kicks, and blocks from a neutral stance (horse stance). Some say that the value of practicing the basic techniques from the horse stance is to allow you to focus fully on your techniques without confusing you with footwork. But since we hardly ever spar from the horse stance, consider whether it might be beneficial to practice the basics from a left or right fighting stance instead of a horse stance. Practicing the basics from the stance that you will use in sparring facilitates learning, because it eliminates the extra step needed to transition from your practice stance to your sparring stance. All schools have their own ideas of how to teach and maintain the tradition of the art, but here are some things you might want to consider when learning stance:

1. You will learn to protect your centerline by training from the stance that you will use in sparring.

2. If you do the basics from a horse stance, consider using a non-rigid stance that permits rotation in your hips and body. This will help you learn correct mechanics for powerful striking from the start.

3. When practicing from the horse stance, we often bring our hands down to our hips between strikes and blocks. If you use a high guard in sparring, it may also be a good idea to use a high guard when practicing the basics.

4. Identify the value of stance