MAKING A FIST

I have been helping teaching kids (and adults) and watching children (and adults!) I realized that step number #1 in karate, regardless of the style, school, dojo etc., should be actually a lesson of HOW TO MAKE A FIST.

About 4-5 years ago I went through a very dramatic self-revision of my karate and one of the fatal mistakes I had identified in my own karate was the actual fist formation. With a weak fist a punch will never be powerful enough. Makiwara is a good test for it and I am planning to write about it later.

So, what was the issue? Little finger was not tight enough and the thumb was not in the right place. It has been fixed since. I believe I need to review it again. Therefore I am asking for your help and advice regarding any issues my theory and my application currently has. 

Making a fist (as I see it) should be happening in the following sequence:

1. Open the palm

2. Bend all four fingers (no thumb included) to their base in a way that the highest level of tension is created by your little finger, yes the "pinky" :-) Stay focused on that one during the rest of the procedure.

3. Roll them further towards the base of the palm creating a fist with a thumb still pointing out.

4. Now bend your thumb in a way that it makes a latch preventing the first two fingers (index and middle) to get released from the tight hold.

The way I see it is if the pinky is not tight enough the whole fist will be weak and if the thumb is not in place creating a latch the elements of the fist will be disconnected. All these lead to a weak fist, potential injuries, impossible work on makiwara and punching the air as the only use of one's karate.

And of course all this is supposed to be done as one and very fast. So, the more you practice the better. Nothing new, right?! It has to become as hard as a stone. Test it on the even flat surface (I use wall). Do not hit it (why would you do it?) but rather just softly put your fist against the wall the way you punch and see how strong or weak your fist is. Now imagine when you hit an opponent who is approximately 90 kg and potentially moving towards you throwing his attack at you... Right? Your fist should be extremely strong and placed correctly to survive the impact and create some damage to the opponent. Considering the fact that it is weak in connection to your arm point anyway.

Please feel free to comment, advise, criticize and just give any input you wish. This blog is the right place for it. Thanks in advance. 

Ossu!

JKA GASSHUKU INTERNATIONAL

This week-end I participated in the Gasshuku International of JKA France which was held in Saint-Julien en Genevois, just on the border with Switzerland.

First, I liked it very much. JKA representatives were very friendly and welcoming (I am not a member of JKA) . The amount of attendees was high. I lot of senior karateka and many children. I didn't spot many teenagers though but this is rather usual for karatedo from my experience.

The course was split on three sessions to swap sensei (there were three) between different levels (colored, brown and black).

1. Daniel Lautier Sensei (7 dan, JKA Fance) 

Impressive session focused on techincs in GYAKU HANMI. Surprisingly for me it was relatively complicated. Well, I am usualy quite comfortable performing GYAKU-technics. But when we started to move back and forward performing different sets of technics, all of them in GYAKU HANMI I found myself a bit lost from time to time. The SANBON KUMITE in GYAKU part was ok (I faced a couple of opponents and definitely dominated) but still I feel like there is something I have to work on: more flexibility, HIKITE, point of application etc. We finished with a couple of KATA to glue the GYAKU HANMI KAMAE. I liked the session. It was very informative and left a lot of home-work for me. I am going to review it again this week.

2. Izumiya Seizo Sensei (7 dan, JKA)

Entire session was dedicated to the kata that I had never learned before, BASSAI SHO. Very good session. Actually it was my favorite from all three sessions. We broke KATA on several parts in order to learn the sequence first. Once it was done sensei started to show applications for each movement, kind of BUNKAI, and I was very lucky as for the rest of the session I was chosen  to assist   Izumiya sensei. All the technics were shown on me! :-) I have to say that all the applications were real and doable. No dancing! I benefited from my young judo years as I was forced to fall many times, too many times! As one may imagine falling on the bare floor with no previous experience is quite tricky unless you are a former judoka :-). So, we worked all applications in pairs. I felt very confident (probably due to the fact that I was assisting :-) ). Actually BASSAI SHO didn't look very complicated to me. Why Have I Never Practiced It Before?? From now on I include it in my KATA arsenal. During the practice I noticed my SHUTO UCHI became stronger and snappier. I am still not very confident in MANJI KAMAE. I have to figure out the last two movements of the KATA. We did worked on them but it still takes some mind efforts to do them, no automatism yet. Very inspiring session it was.

3.  Sergio GNEO Sensei (7 dan, JKA Belguim)

We did UNSU. I found it to be a very difficult KATA for my level, I guess. Interesting KATA. Many new technics. One day I will learn it. For now I will try to remember the basics only. Generally speaking this session I liked the least. I didn't learn much as I had to focus on copying moves looking at others who also didn't feel confident. So, it was rather messy. The way sensei was teaching is also not my favorite as there were many jokes and chats and suggestions regarding applications etc. but no clear system. No method. So, unfortunately for me it was rather a waste of time though I am very thankful to the sensei for the new KATA .

Summary. Very good practice.Shame it doesn't happen often in "my area". I will be definitely looking for more. And thanks to JKA and to the Sensei for interesting lessons. My mistakes are getting more and more exposed like that.