This page is under construction, but when it's up, it will address such topics as

The explained purpose of a move: Does it work as advertized? Most application is BS and if you look at it from an outside perspective, it quickly reveals itself to be such. Or as our co-author of Becoming a Complete Martial Artist once asked someone about extraneous moves in a kata -- explained as fighting two people at once -- "What is that guy going to do? Stand there and do nothing while you kick his friend?"

Finding breaks in the power chain: Where do you stop delivering force into your opponent and allow him get his leg's back under him? This is a big reason not only for technique failure, but also why fights can go on too long.

Link to the LAC test ... what has been lost? What has been added? What is the context of the move? Before you can fix a broken technique, you need to know these issues.

Pauses/extra movement in Kata. One theory of pauses in kata is they are a "This Page Intentionally Left Blank" implying that there is an 'advanced' move that is to be inserted into the form that was withheld from either lower ranking students or non-Asians. Another theory is  "Here be a crossroads" to indicate that from this position, other moves are possible.

Then we'll discuss the idea that extra, unnecessary movement was put into forms in order to hide a system's effectiveness from prying eyes. The idea is to hide the link between effective moves (A+B =crunch) by inserting confusing and extra moves (A+2+7+9+3+5+B = WTF?)

Then we'll contrast those actions with lost concepts (For example, in order for this move to work, there needs to be a small shoulder bump at this point ... unfortunately the instructor didn't learn that from his teacher).

Once you understand these ideas you can begin to diagnosis why what you are doing isn't working so well.

Return to top