A Preparative System

Application

A Preparative System

Kata is a preparative system in that it is broad, versatile and adaptable. This doesn't seem to jive with how many people think of kata, but each functional movement is not tied down by specific application. It is what ever you can make it. This means that memorizing individual scenarios is mostly worthless. What we have in its place are rules for application, like the rules of grammar. One can flounder about and get the job done. This is fine, but one must work and refine their skill to do their floundering better and better. In this style of training, we only memorize what we can do to a person, the different categories of techniques and explore how we can achieve those ends with our kata. The information that is most important in conflict is our available weapons and our available targets. They are the options for the expression of our functional movement. In this method partner practice is about seeing the opportunities for use. It is learning to read the situation and the mode of use. It is rather simple. Let's use striking as an example. One strikes when there is an available target and a available weapon to hit it with, nothing more. We are looking for the conditions of success and exploiting them when we see them. See target, hit target. See opportunity to sweep, sweep. See opportunity to break fingers, break fingers. We must become comfortable and acquainted with our weapons, and the effective targets, the weak points of the other person. This should be done as efficiently as possible meaning that it is only an opportunity if you can act immediately upon said opening. Not a step from now, or after a set up but immediately. If you have studied your pattern, the shape and the functionality of each movement than you will know how you need to move to get the job done. Does the force vector match the direction you need to go? Is that direction available? Is there a target open, which can be exploited? Do I have the available tools? These are things we feel during practice and we exploit and attack ruthlessly.

Criteria for Successful Application Practice

The more well versed one is with moving freely and transitioning through the kata movements and understanding the body mechanics of each, the better one will be able to practice applying the kata. When we read if we take too much time trying to identify each letter or syllable the meaning is lost. We literally forget what we were reading. The letters, syllables and words need to be internalized to a point that we can receive the message that these words are trying to transmit to us. When we try and apply the kata we are doing the same thing. It requires baby steps, but it requires real effort and exposure to failure. Memorizing a sentence is not reading. We know what the sentence is, but we are not really reading. Reading is looking at a group of words and instantly and effortlessly receiving the meaning. We must do the same thing when we try and apply our kata. We need to be able to see targets and opportunities we can instantly act on in a dynamic situation and this means unscripted partner play. It also means trying and failing. We need to be able to try to apply the kata in a haphazard or even terrible way without having to think about how to make the motions. We must just try. We must exercise those cognitive muscles to match movement with result and result to goals. This takes patience, but it also takes play and a willingness to shed one's ego enough that we allow ourselves to fail. If we don't try than we never succeed.

Principles

There are two principle ways, which a kata movement can be applied. There is the general and the specific. These can also be described as how you apply the kata when you know what's happening and when you don't know what's happening. The general application of kata movement is used when you don't know what is happening. It should be the default operation of application when one is overwhelmed, frozen or doesn't see an opportunity to exploit. It is a whirlwind grinder application meant to overwhelm and crush a person. The specific application of a kata movement is used when you do know what is happening. You are able to read the context of the situation and apply a movement to reach an appropriate end. For instance, using the body mechanics of a movement to lever someone off their feet to allow you to escape. A useful example might be that of a sledge hammer. When splitting logs one must be precise to hit the wedge and split the log. Missing the wedge can cause damage to the shaft of the hammer. When knocking down an old garden wall, one doesn't need to be so precise, you just hit the wall until it comes down.

Towards the Goal

People tend to mistake the “how” of technique with the result of technique. What is important is the result. It is not important “how” one does something if it puts them further toward their goal of survival, only that it moves them there. The result is what we are working towards. How we get there doesn't really matter as much. It is very Machiavelli in this regard, but this is not politics it is dangerous and violent conflict. If it's important to punch a certain way, instead of just striking than this is style or aesthetics and unimportant. It's what you do and not exactly how you do it that's important. Kata gives you the body mechanics for the how, so you have a way to employ and infinity of techniques.

Kata is Not Predictive

Kata does not and cannot predict the actions of another person. The movements in kata are not something you specifically do in response to an attack. It is something you do to another person. They are proactive not reactive. This means that you can apply the kata without specific responses from that person. All movements in kata are offensive with a defensive component, but they are chiefly attacks. The most important information of a martial art is how to take out another person. This is the surest method to surviving an attack. Brutally and efficiently breaking a person as quickly as possible. Kata in the context of the old Ryukyu kingdom needs to be thought the same as fighting with swords, knives or guns. It cannot be thought of as a chess match. This is your weapon to defend yourself against brigands, thieves and murderers.

Ignore the Embusen

I am convinced that the lines of performance mean almost nothing. There are many theories suggesting that they demonstrate the proper angles of attack, yet almost all attacks work better from off angles, from the side or behind a person, so I find this theory dubious. The angle of movement is only a representation of footwork. One must need know how to efficiently move to left, right, forward, backward and other orientations. Besides this it is an unnecessary limiter of application. Kata movement either works or doesn't. If one finds a way to make a movement a weapon, but doesn't move according to that specific angle of representation than this should be encouraged.

Use Every Part of the Movement

Every part of a movement, the gross movement, can be used in a conflict. Many times people focus on this narrative of use where the technique only takes place at the end of the movement when one has finished moving. The application however takes places during the movement, not before or after. It is wasteful and inefficient to use more movement than is requried.

General Use Applications

The kata movements are the how, but application has more to do with the when. The when of the general application like the specific application is when you can. If you are a solo practitioner this is really where your application training will stop. Without a partner to act on you can only really apply the kata as a general use ballistic grinder application. This is not nesseccarily a bad thing and this can be practiced to a very great degree. It just needs to be kept in the context of the practice. General, nonspecific destructive grinding.

Bunkai is not Application

I've specifically chosen to use the term bunkai very sparingly in this text. The popular definition for bunkai has become application or technique. This is wrong mostly because bunkai means analysis. This entire book is actually a bunkai book, but has very little technique in it so far. It's because it is to help you analyze yourself and your kata, not give you a laundry list of techniques. Waza actually means technique. It's one of those weird blissfully ignorant qualities of popular karate, which people seem to ignore and change to fit their present understanding of how a kata works. In this next section, we will be looking at the application of kata. How to start analyzing the destructive qualities of your kata and how you may or may not apply it in different situations.

What Makes Application

An understanding of the shape, structure and function of each kata movement makes application much much easier. All applications of one movement are only one thing and that is the function, that piece of the pie in our sphere of influence. The shape, structure and function of a movement dictates the best uses for said movement. Application can be very fluid. There are so many different situations, contexts and environments that it is impossible to have a laundry list of all available techniques, which might work or not work, so we need to develop rules for application. Think of two hammers. They are identicle in shape and size, but one is made of steel and one is made of glass. Their size, shape and structure dictate their function. One is used for pounding stuff and the other is decoration. You apply the one by driving nails and you apply the other by displaying it on your mantel or in your “man cave.” One is a tool, the other is decoration. The context changes how useful either of these hammers will be. In the shop the glass hammer is fragile. In the home the steel hammer is ugly. Each has a purpose. The context provides the way we apply the kata, which means we don't get to choose how we use the kata in an emergency. Having your five favorite techniques in your back pocket and hoping they will fit the context of the situation is relying on luck as your primary strategy. You need to know how to apply the kata in a dynamic way based on the context for it to be a viable and versitle tool. Remember the kata is not a list and it is not applied like a list.

Recap

We've discussed the pattern and we've discussed function in earlier sections. They are our ABCs of violence. Collectively they make up the language of kata, which we apply to break a person. Like our alphabet they need to be automatic and ingrained to the point where we don't need to consciously attend to them, just like we don't consciously attend to individual letters as we read. Half or a third of the equation in conflict is our own position and our own available weapons. Knowing the sequence and the function gives us this answer. We should know how to generate power or do damage no matter what position we may find ourselves. We feel our body position, so we can automatically take in information by touch and propreoception, so we know what our available weapons are. This is dynamic. We should be able to move with a person and hurt with every move, Hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt, hurt.

Brawl

Karate is not applied as a chess match. It's applied like a brawl. We are all killer apes, and we have the capacity to be wild killer apes. It's part of the reason the technique based, attack, counter attack, counter-counter attack paradigm is not used in this mode of practice. In true application, you are a feral apex predator fighting for survival. It will not be pretty. It's not supposed to be pretty. It's supposed to be functional. The only think you should be thinking about is fighting towards the goal. At its most base form the application of kata is just a more intelligent and efficient way to flail violently. This is good. Results are what matter.

Parts of the Weapon

Contact Points

Our body is our weapon. In previous sections we've been studying our body and how it works, but this is how we use it. These are our contact points places, which we make contact with another person. In karate we use every part of the body as a weapon. Not all weapons cause damage, some just off balance or knock down, but all of you is a weapon. The major points of contact are the forehead, shoulders, forearms, hands, hips, knees, shins and feet. These are the main parts, which we will use to damage or manipulate a person. This is merely a rough list, and it should not be used as the end all be all. The only limits in the way you can apply a kata movement are what works and what doesn't work. The limbs in the general use are used like a grinder. Everything they touch should get damaged, broken and suck the person deeper into a position of weakness. They are like clubs or swords. Everything they touch should be destroyed. In the specific use they are precision bombs obliterating targets with accuracy.

Two Way Action

When you punch, push or kick, the limb must go out and must come back. We must use all parts of the movement in kata, which means that every a limbs goes out to damage it should try and do damage on the way back. With punches and pushes this is a gouging grab to try and further off balance a person. With a kick it can be a trip, or a kick on the way back to a nearby appendage. A trip or sweep can start with a kick. Everything that goes out comes back and should be used.

Center of Gravity

The closer to the center of gravity an application happens the stronger it will be. We need to apply our mass in close range fighting in order to do damage and retain chemical energy.

A Blank Slate

Your kata is a blank slate. It changes and conforms to the context of the situation, but the movements remain the same. They are the tools for which you will apply your will. That is the will to fight, the will to survive. It's a hard thing to think of each movement only being an abstract mass of body mechanics and physics, but this is what it is. Nothing more and nothing less. In effect it is everything and nothing. It is everything because it embodies an infinity of possibility. It is nothing, because of all those possibilities it is merely movement and how we apply this movement is the judge for how worthwhile it is.

Application is the next level of specificity after movement just as words are the next level after letters and just like words you need to know what they're made of before you can use them. We combine, dissect, augment and layer movements in order to exploit opportunity. The label for this exploitation is called technique. As far as we're concerned this is the label or classification that will be used after the fact to describe the action. The outward expressions of the preparative and predictive systems will now start looking similar, but the difference is that instead of waiting or planing to use a technique, we will merely act on the opportunities presented to us.

Because we will be training to recognize and exploit opportunities, we don't need to know the specific names for different variations of techniques, nor the different specific scenarios that we might match them too. Technique based training is like having a phrase book in a foreign country. It can help, but you're not speaking the language. You're miming the language. All we need concern ourselves with is learning to recognize the opportunity to use a technique and how to power the technique with an appropriate movement. This is the recognize and exploit portion of our strategy.

Our standard operating procedure will always be violent action, but this action may open up the opportunity to further disadvantage or damage a person. This is the recognize portion. Recognizing is reading the situation and knowing what you can and can't do. Each technique has certain criteria for success, certain situations where they can be used. For instance a strike can be used when a vital point can be immediately acted upon by an appropriate striking surface and you have a way to power the strike (power movement). We need to learn to recognize these situations before we can exploit them.

Exploiting an opportunity means seizing the moment and ruthlessly acting on any opportunity we see as soon as we see it, and we keep acting on it until it disappears or what we're doing has no effect. If we see another opportunity we act on that, if we don't, we move violently.

We will take what we are given.

All of these are taken generally from Rory Miller's Infighting DVD. If you're a visual learner, well just buy it anyway. It's awesome.

Techniques fall into a few broad categories: moving a body, strikes, locks, gouges, take downs and chokes. The movements in kata can act on the opportunity to use all of these technique categories. They are the outward expressions of our movement, but we do not choose what we use. Opportunity chooses. This in no way should mean that you are bound to these categories. The kata is to be used efficiently but creatively. Once the principles of movement are internalized you do what's needed and that's it.

Moving a body

At the very core of karate and any other martial art this is what it's about, moving a body. Every single technique, because of physics is about moving a body. It's simply applying weight, structure and movement to make a big meat puppet out of someone and I think it should be at the core of partner practice. All kata movements can be used to move bodies, navigate limbs, deflect or jam attacks, push, pull, shove, body check, hip check and anything else you can think of to move or manipulate a body. This is the core level of the specific application of kata movement. We use our mass and structure to move a person by manipulating their leverage points. These are under the chin, base of the spine, above the elbow, above the knee and at the shoulder.

Take downs

These are effecting a persons inertia for the means of putting them on the ground. Try not to follow them there unless you're adding your own mass to increase the devastating effect of the technique. These redirect the momentum of a person by moving out of the way and tripping or entangling them. Throws use your hips or shoulders as a fulcrum for levering their body around you. They require that you get their center of gravity over your hips. Sweeps involve either posting a person's weight on one foot and then kicking it out from under them, or keeping a foot or leg from moving forward or backward to a point to act as support. If you're going up stairs and you snag your foot on the step you trip, your foot isn't there to catch you. The act of walking is a controlled and timed fall where you catch yourself by swinging a foot forward. If the foot isn't there it can't catch you, make sure their foot isn't there to catch them. You can also destroy structure by collapsing a knee. Every step and kick in the kata can facilitate all of these actions. Most turns can facilitate throws.

Gouging

Every closed hand movement of a kata can act as a complimentary gouging action. Every out going strike can be immediately followed with a pulling gouge that comes back. Grip is king in karate.

Strikes

As stated before strikes require an open vulnerable target and an appropriate striking surface that can act immediately on that target. A skull can shatter a fist, so use an open hand as a striking surface. A good rule of thumb is to hit the hard targets with soft stuff and the soft targets with hard stuff. Don't become too fixated on using your hands exactly how they're demonstrated in kata. Your hand formation should conform to the context of the situation. Kata is a tool, you're not a slave to kata. Primary targets: throat, solar plexus, collar bone, floating ribs, liver, spine, kidneys, back of the neck at the c-1 vertebrate, and the joints.

Every kata movement can generate force for a strike and usually is already aimed by default toward one or more of these targets. We need to know the targets so we know when we can attack them.

The extreme close distance of karate requires that we cannot rely only on the acceleration aspect of the power generation. We need to know how to put our mass into our hits and as much mass as possible. We do this through dropping our weight, using sharp rotational movement at the hips and using a whip action. These can be used separately or together. Don't over complicate the hip action wit these weird double wind up hip moves that you see in tournament kata. Just pull the opposite hip back as quickly and sharply as you can and it will push the other side of the body into the strike. Keep in mind that power movements can have more than one contact point for striking. You can hit with your elbow, forearm, knee, shin and foot all at the same time. Don't limit yourself to just trying to strike with the hand or foot.

Strangles and chokes

You can either cut off air, which is long and slow, or you can cut off blood to the brain, which can make someone pass out in ten seconds or less. Apply pressure to the carotid arteries on either side of the neck and kink one like a hose by pressing on the back of the head.

Joint locks/ breaks

Three joints you can lock. Hinge, ball and socket and gliding. Hinge joints lock by getting a straight arm and applying leverage in opposite directions above the elbow and at the end of the forearm. Let your body weight and structure do the work. Ball and socket (shoulder and hip) joints are locked by getting a 90 degree bend in a limb and turning it like a water faucet. You lock gliding joints by bending and twisting them. Gliding joints are the wrist and the neck, but you don't lock the neck. All of these can also break the joint by apply force faster than the joints can compensate. Twist hard, drop hard.

Stacking

All kata movements give you the opportunity to perform several of these techniques at the same time and in the same motion. All of these techniques only require kinetic energy and the proper conditions. Know the conditions and know how to apply energy. We do not react to movement, we exploit the weakness in movement, we exploit the weakness in structure. We apply our strengths to their weaknesses based on movement and touch.

If we memorize the conditions for these techniques and know our power movements than we can exploit these opportunities as we see them. We are not predicting crap or memorizing specific scenario. You strike when you can strike, you lock or break when you can lock, you take down when you can take down and you choke when you can choke and you can almost always gouge when doing all of these. In partner practice we will be learning to read and watch for these conditions and to act on them.

We move, we watch, we recognize and then we exploit. This can only be achieved if our kata movements have been ingrained enough that they can be used below the level of conscious thought. This is possible. You are using the mechanics for reading right now and you don't even notice.

Practice

More About Bunkai

As before one should take time out from practice to fight an imaginary enemy. One should think of each of these modes of application seperately and together. How can I achieve this with this particular movement? In what situations can I use this application? This is not to extract techniques for us to study later, but for us to start thinking creatively about the kata. We should test everything thoroughly however we can, but first we need to use our brain. Then we test, test, test.

Partner Play

It's very possible for two people to just spar and experiment with the kata and slowly weedle out everything by operant conditioning. This is stimulus response and reward or punishment. This is the mode, which we will be encoding successful uses of kata application, which will form the core of your own personal karate practice, but one needs to think and explore different avenues so one doesn't pidgeon hole themselves or limit their options. Exposure to opportunity is still key. We need to leave ourselves open to luck.

The best way I've found to play with the kata is by using again Rory Miller's method of One Step, Flow Drill and Free Play. The first two are meant to allow you to think while not being competitive. You move slow, so you can apply your kata at full power and using proper body mechanics. The first the One Step is meant to work on your efficiency. Each person gets one action. This is not one technique, nor is it one movement in the context of the kata. A kata movement can have several actions. One person initiates a slow action and the other responds. This is looking for the golden move. (Insert golden move). One thing I like to do is to get a metronome to tick off the tempo, so that you and a partner can act simultaneously. This is where we really work to make our kata applications efficient. The flow drill is still slow, like push hands, where we move slow and use proper body mechanics, but move in a dynamic way, adapting, acting on and responding to your partner. It is to help you see the opportunities, which you will act on. This is practicing the meta strategy or rule for application, which is move, recognize and exploit. Free play is full speed, but pulled strikes practice where everything is on the table. This can be competitive, but one needs to work at the comfort level of one's training partner.

These three drills are dynamic and help you to read a dynamic situation and reinforce good habits and weed out bad habits through operant conditioning. The punishment is the failure of a technique or application. The reward is the application working. It's important to note that during free play one should let go of the kata. This is not the time to think. One should only be concerned with fighting. Hit, hurt, grab, pull, practice being the feral apex predator we all are deep down inside, but in a safe way. We don't want to break our training partners.

Revisiting the Confirmation Bias

All kata are made up of complimentary sets of power movements. Because every movement is just a means of producing and using kinetic energy for no real specific purpose just as each letter is representative of a sound with no specific means other than the sound the only real distinguishing trait for each movement is that it will work when it can work and won't work when it won't work. This can be a strange concept, but it's really not all that strange at all, because a group of letters is only not a word when it's not a word. It's also only a word, when its a word. The only difference is in the knowing. Because we're dealing with movements in the physical world it might be more conducive to understanding to describe them as hand tools. Hand tools are skill based and are merely a means to an end. A hammer has no meaning. It's a hammer. It's usefulness is based completely on knowing what it is and what we can do with it. It hammers and it takes practice to get good at. It's also why the other theories fail. If you want to apply punch kick block to kata it works, your flow drill, it works, 30 or 305 of the most common attacks, it works, your basic techniques and counter drill, it works. If you're looking for a way for kata movement to succeed you will find it, but success tells you nothing. It's basically the same as trying to figure out what a hammer is by seeing how many different things you can hammer with it. Wedges, nails, dowels, pegs, chisels can all be hammered fairly successful with a hammer, because it's a hammer. It hammers stuff. You can hit anything with it. What it's really crappy at is cutting things. Saws are good for cutting things, but suck at hitting things, plyers ply, screwdrivers drive screws. They are all a means of applying power and maximizing leverage. They also compliment each other because you can build some really awesome stuff with a simple set of hand tools and some wood.

Kata is your primer for movement, but unlike the tools you buy you have to build these. The first step is learning your primer. Learning the kata.

Kata as a 2 Primer

A primer in the past was a tool used to teach children how to read and write. It was sometimes called a horn-book and consisted of little more than the alphabet. The alphabet and the idea

of kata as a primer is very similar,

You might be thinking right now how someone could learn to read and write from just knowing the alphabet. Language and especially the written language is complex. It has rules and certain ways

of doing things. This was not always the case. At one time there was no standard English spelling or grammar rules. Everything

was spelled phonetically based on how the writer said the word

in everyday speech and based on he which letters best described that word. Letters are merely the written representation of

sounds. In the past, if you knew the alphabet than in a very

real way you knew how to read and write. It is merely the

base fundamental aspects of the written language. An alphabet

is very simple, but it‘s use can create long, and complex

works of art called novels. We'd run into a similar problem

with the alphabet if we thought that it represented not letters but a list of basic words. We could use in variety of combinations of letters to form different words and understandings without

actually knowing what the alphabet was, because the alphabet is not a word. It makes words.

u.

not a technique, it is a means to make a technique. Instead representing sounds, it represents how‘18 efficiently

produce kinetic energy using body mechanics. It is an expression of human capability. A different movement, 7f§different direction or force. It does not need to be perfect, it can be almost!

righgsklike hearinr'a‘ifhiclf accent. l'he words stil‘r‘i‘mey the message even if they¢'re not perfect.

s gives us a greater tool than just specific technique. It gives us the fundamental basics for fighting without the need for memorizing specific scenarios, techniques, variations, or responses by the opponent. It allows a way to make fighting effectively and efficiently as speaking or writing. Remember writing is an effective and efficient means for delivering ideas and it all comes from 26 letter

Historically this really starts to make sense. The secrecy,

the hiding, the jealousy, why it would be paramount to know the hats to your bones and how a few basic applications were supposed to show you the possibilities for use. It's like a code. If

you don't want someone to understand you, you use a code, which is effectively just an alternative language. If they know your code, your kata than an enemy will know exactly what you're

going to do, or at least have a pretty good idea. It's best

to not show your hand if you're in the business of violence.

technique

Technique is the next level of specificity after movement Just as words are the next level after letters and just like words you need to know what they're made of, before you can use them. We combine, dissect or augment movements in order to produce techniques. This is where preparative and predictive systems start to look similar, but this is only because the outward expressions are the same. the rules we follow are different.

A technique is the expression of our movement. Because we are building techniques from movement and none specific movement. The type of technique is really just the label we give it after the fact. We don't need to know the nuns specific names for different variations of techniques or need to know specific criteria for when we might need to use a technique, because

we will largely just be exploiting opportunity and should not really concern ourselves with how we exploit it at the technique level. we only need to know that they are possible, how we

apply our power movements to achieve them and the criteria

for success, so we can recognize the opportunity for use and know how to exploit it. We're learning our vocabulary and thankfully it's a pretty short list.

Before I get into the nitty gritty of h the criteria or essential elements for each technique. I'm going to talk about generally what every technique needs no matter what to have a chance to

be successful, means, opportunity and intent. we could add motive but this belongs more in the tactics portion.

Intent is the willingness to perform the technique. It's no point learning how to gouge people's eyes if you don't have the

stomach to do it. We could also call this spirit if you like

or ferocity. We need the means. Our means in this case is a power movement strong enough and appropriate to provide the engine

for the technique. We need the opportunity. We need to be in range, with a clear target, and in an environment conducive to get the job done. Trying to kick someone in chest high water might not be conducive, but hey that's what drowning is for. nithnxXxhaxl without all three of these things a technique will fail. Like a fire it needs fuel, oxygen and heat, but if it's

good enough you'll have a fire. Let's look at the principle techniques and what we need to make them work.

Let 's recap just a bit. Techniques require energy, if we don't rely on muscle that m energy comes from moving our mass. whether we drop, act on the friction of the ground to push, or use torque, rotational energy. so act on opportunity. so we take

what we are given. so act generally based on movement, which

we feel through touch, not sight. Unless we're in some sort of rule bound game, we act on opportunity ruthlessly and abandon anything just as ruthlessly if it isn't working. be tales what

we are given only. Okay, on to the techniques.

All of these are taken generally from Rory Miller's lnfighting DVD. If you're a visual learner, well Just buy it. it '3 awesome.

Moving a body

At the very core of karate and any other martial art this is what it's about, loving a body. Every single technique, because of physics is about loving a body. it's simply applying weight , structure and movement to make a big meat puppet out of seasons and i think should be at the core of practice. More on this in the practice and training section. Take downs These are effecting a persons inertia for the means of putting the. on the ground. try not to follow them there unless you're adding your own use to increase the devastating effect of the technique. Momentum ploys redirect energy by moving out or the way. throws use your hips and shoulders as a fulcrum for levering their body around you. they'll require that you get their center of gravity over your hips or shoulder. Sweeps involve either posting their weight on one foot and then kicking it out from under them. or keeping a root or leg from moving forward or backward to a point to act as support. If you're going up stairs and you mag your root on the step you trip, your foot isn't there to catch you. You can also destroy structure by collapsing a knee. Every step and kick in kata can facilitate all the sweeps. Host turns can facilitate the throws.

Gauging and liking

Every closed hand movement of a kata can act as a complimentary gouging action. Every out going strike can be immediately followed with a pulling gouge that comes back. Grip is king. strikes require a corresponding target that is vulnerable to the strike. A skull can break your hand so use an open hand technique. Hand formation for all strikes in kata are optional, but if they're open in kata it 's the optical use for the Movement.’ A general rule is soft surfaces to hard surfaces. and hard surfaces to soft surfaces. Fri-cry targets: throat, solar plexus. collar bone, floating ribs, liver. spine, kidneys. back of the neck, and joints.

Every kata movement can generate energy for a strike and usually is already defaultly aimed toward one of these targets, but we need to know them so we can exploit opportunity as we recognize it. Move, recognize exploit. fake what we can get. Maximize exposure to opportunity. Violent action trumps technique. Luck favors the prepared. this should be the mantra of karate kata.

the extreme close distance of karate requires that we cannot rely only on the acceleration aspect of the mass* acceleration equals force equations, so we need to know how to put our

mass int! and as much of our mass into our hits as we can to maximize our force. We do this through sharp rotational movement at the hips, dropping our weight, and using a whip action. Separately or together. Don't ever complicate the hip action with these weird double wind up hip moves that you see in tournament kata. Just pull the opposite hip back as quickly and sharply

as you can and it will push the other side of the body into

the technique. Keep in mind that power movements can have more than one contact point for striking. You can hit with your elbow, forearm, knee, shin and foot all at the same tine. Don't limit yourself to just trying to strike with the hand.

Foot strikes: As mentioned earlier every step in kata can be a rake, stomp, knee :1, shin or toe kick. They should be incorporated automatically and generally into every single step.

Strangles and chokes Shaka: You can either cut off air, which is long and slow or you can cut off blood to the brain, which can make someone pass out in ten seconds or less. Apply pressure and kink it like a hose. Shirts, sticks, arms, legs, anything solid that can go across the carotid to depress the artery and then apply pressure in the opposite direction to kink it. Like

a hose.

Joint locks

three joints you can lock. Hinge, ball and socket, and gliding. Hinge joints lock by getting a straight arm and applying leverage in opposite directions. Above the elbow and the end of the forearm Use a two way action, get your center of gravity over the lock. Ball and socket are locked by getting a 90 degree bend and turning it like a water faucet. Gliding Joints you bend and twist.

Leverage points

Forehead, under the chin, base of the spin, above the elbow and knee, push or pull on the shoulders.

All kata movements give you the opportunity to perform several

of these techniques at the same time if you practice recognizing the opportunity and exploiting it. All these techniques only require kinetic energy and the proper conditions. They can all be powered and achieved by kata movement. We do not react to movement, we exploit the weakness in movement, we exploit the weakness in structure. We apply our strengths to their weaknesses based on movement we feel by touch, which correspond to one

of the kata movements. Move, recognize exploit. Take what we

can get. Maximize exposure to opportunity. Violent action trumps technique. Luck favors the prepared.

This is still preparation. We're learning our options, the tool attachments for our dremel if you like, so we can learn what options we have, what opportunities we need to recognize and how we can exploit them. Movement leads to technique, technique leads to tactics, tactics lead to strategy. Know your movements. Know your kata.

If they are moving and you can't than lever them around you, or better if they 're moving and you can move, pull and lever them into the ground. If you can't move and cant lever name sure they run into something strong, hard and point. Elbows and knees are good. If they can't move or you need to move then throw something strong, hard and pointy into them, or conversely

pull them into something strong hard and pointy. Take what you are given.

It's because of this general nature of physics that we can out down our list of gross general power movements to general directions, complimentary movements and the two way action of each movement. Every movement has some sort of rotational element, which can be used to stack effects. what this means in the most general, immediate and gross sense all we need to know is where the opponent is going and how we can move to exploit the natural weaknesses. The close in your face fighting distance of karate takes advantage of this because we will use touch.

Touch

Touch is faster than eight and for us the karateka is much better than sight. Sight is very specific and requires our brains to interpret several things at the save time and our brain isn't even particularly good at it. A lot of the tine your brain just fills in the information it thinks its sees, hence misreading words, c colors, expressions and actions. It needs to interpret not only color, texture, speed through rate of change, depth, but also needs to translate it into something meaningful, sometimes it's wrong. Touch on the other hand is almost never wrong, and combined with our sense of balance and our natural propreception that is we can sense what position our body is in and slight shifts in direction and acceleration thanks to tiny hairs in our ears, we have a giant and accurate and instantly translatable information gathering 001, which covers our skin. Almost every portion of our skin is covered with specialized nerve cells, which sense pressure. Their only job is to sense differences in pressure and this information gets shot right to our brain min, which only has to translate intensity. If we fight based on feel, we fight faster, more accurately and we can I: constantly adapt and change to our opponent‘s movements.

In essence karate is designed or evolved to react to the opponent t 's movements, by using a short list of complimentary damaging movements by using our bodies largest sense organ, the skin, to

register, adapt and act on these movement. I'm sorry, but that‘s fucking awesome.

We take what we are given. structure The other essential element that makes a power movement functional is your structure. Structure could be described as your posture and has been. out it's essentially the proper alignment of your skeletal system for efficient work. In this case we're talking about fighting. Structure does a few different hinge to help us fight better. we want to rely as much as possible on the

Structure is proper skeletal alignment for the use of energy. Ne don't want to use or rely on muscle power to drive our techniques, but we also want to be able to use that energy

as efficiently as possible. A lot of this has to do with not being a shock absorber for our own techniques. We want to deliver as much impulse or follow through into our techniques and movement as we can, and part of doing this is by not being squishy and bleed energy. The postures and positions

we take and make during kata should represent the optimal structure for using the energy we've created with out movement. Generally, speaking like the movements the structures we make in kata are strong in only one plane and weak In in the rest this will also give us a big clue for where the energy is being directed. rho general idea is that we want our skeleton to support the force of the technique and not our muscles and

a pretty good example of this is just standing. Our femurs, fibula and tibia act to support each other when we stand. The

only muscles we use are the supporting muscles that keep the bones in alignment. We can stand for a very long time way and use a relatively small amount of energy. Now if we were to squat down like we were about to sit on a chair our skeleton is not supporting us at least not directionly. The antagonistic muscles of our legs are working on the bones and holding us in this position. the muscles are doing all the work. We don't want this. we want to rely on our skeletal structure, our alignment. This takes many different forms

and lineal every structural strength has a corresponding structural weakness. Phis applies to arm position, your torso, your legs, feet, stances, punching everything. Relying on structure also allows us to stay relaxed and pliable.

we never need to be tense or contract our muscles for support even when we strike. this will Just make you tired and won't add to the structural integrity. If you don't believe we try flexing all your leg muscles while you're waiting in line

the next time you're out shopping. We don't have to contract our large muscles to stand and they sometimes support hundreds of pounds for hours at a time. You don't need to tense.

Tactics

Techniques eventually lead to tactics and like techniques they are contextual in the preparative model. Every situation will call for something different. Everything is always different because time moves forward, not backward and there is no way to truly repeat anything especially when it comes to human interaction. Otherwise pick up lines would have a 100% success rate. Tactics are what people most often confuse with strategy. Tactics are the more case specific means to which you implement your larger strategy. You could probably generally call these tips and tricks and I think they are the simple things and immediate plans needed, which are not covered in the kata. People confuse this point. They get it into their idea that because a supposed block precedes a supposed punch than that means tactically you always block and then counter attack. This especially wrong when it cores to tactics, because it means you are waiting for an action, which you might know is coming. If you know it's coming why are you standing there like a moron waiting for it. This is the level where people most confuse the tactics of games and sport with the tactics of survival. Using the same tactics you develop in sport for self defense is like apply trying to apply the same tactics you use to winning a game of monopoly to becoming a real estate tycoon. It's not going to work.

"The attributes of the uncertainty we face in real life have little connection to the sterilized ones we encounter in exams and games." Taleb

It's possible we're not even playing the same game.

There are general tactics to fighting and self defense and these can be better explored in other books, but in general they go along the lines of stop the threat, not the attack. Fight toward the goal, if attacked high counter low, if attacked low counter high, ignore the flurry, strike to disrupt, disrupt to strike.

I would generally say that if the world is predictably unpredictable than specific scenario based tactics are rather pointless, but we can think generally about them and at

this level tactics is going to influence techniques just as much as techniques influence tactics. what's really important is recognizing what kind of situation you are in and knowing how to get out of it. Fighting is not always the best option. 21 Avoidance, de escalation, escape, evasion need to be explored as well. Kata does not cover this. The strategy of self defense is to stay safe, not fight out of trouble. The tactics need to facilitate this, the techniques need to facilitate this and the movements can and will facilitate this, but it all starts with your movements. It's rather pointless discussing tactics if

you don't know how to move to facilitate them. Like discussing how you’ll explore the abstract nature of time in your post modern novel, once you learn the alphabet that is. Once you

figure out how you best use your movements to exploit opportunity and express techniques than you can start thinking about tactics.

Strategy

the meta strategy or rules that I apply generally to kata is move, recognize exploit. No matter what you have to move and you have to move toward your goal. If you have absolutely no idea what to do you move and you keep on moving. Flail like a wild killer ape on moth. This is really the beauty and strength of applying the preparative model to kata. Kata gives you a general set of complimentary power movements, which you can use in a mindless non-specific manner. It is intelligent and efficient flailing at it's very core. We've well I've been discussing the different parts and levels that need to be studied and understood for the preparative model to be effective. Work up front and results that pay continual

The more important negative results that we ignore have to do with kata application. Every single plausible effective kata application excels in one way and is nearly worthless in all other ways. This commonality is the directionality of applied energy. A11 effective applications work in only one plane of space and are almost worthless in any other plane of space. It’s on two fronts and only two fronts, to the side. It is not only worthless, but detrimental if it receives any sort of pressure from the front or back. A toddler could push over a line backer in sumo stance from the front. This is the key. Not what a movement can do, but what it can't do. This is very, very important. I'll slow walk you through this, because it's the essential piece that all karateka want to know and that all good karateka already know, but can't explain.

What do all effective kata applications have in common? They all efficiently utilize the movement. What do all techniques whether they are strikes, gouges, throws, trips, locks, blocks or an; chokes have in common? they are the application of efficient body mechanics and kinetic energy. Kate is not the what or the when of technique it's the how. How do I take advantage of the kinetic energy my body can produce in different planes of space? Kata is the primer, the basic fundamental

tool that can be used to create efficient kinetic energy. The alphabet is representative of sound for the transmission of ideas and concepts. Kata is representative of movement for the transmission of kinetic energy during violent conflict. It is also about communication, because what says don't hurt us better than slamming someone into the asphalt. It's the most basic

and primitive of communication, but refined for efficiency and ease of transmission.

How a general movement can be useful and why

Movement or each pattern of movement in a kata has two aspects , which we need to study and pay attention to. that is the power movement and transition. “sch and every gross motor movement is a power movement and a transition at the same time because it involves moving your own mass. It's the engine. If you don't move in this way, you are either deflecting or exploiting movement of the opponent through structure or you're using muscle. If we use muscle we want to use it smart. Movements exploit your mass by moving it and your structure, which you use to efficiently apply the power you are generating. This doesn't explain why it's helpful. this has to do with two concepts or rules that we will apply to the general use of kata. Those are unpredictability and the idea that violence

of action trumps technique.

The very nature of a preparative x system is that you cannot predict what your opponent will do. The only time you can be hopeful of accuracy with a prediction is if you know more variables that are involved than the other pinyin person, size, relative strength, location, type of attack and the ferocity of the attack. If you know these things you are the bad guy. if J~he people who designed the kata understood the unpredictability of fighting. They knew that

if you can't predict than you need to expose yourself to as much opportunity as possible. We can see this in most kata movements because they involve a multi level attack. They attack the feet, ankles, knees, abdomen/ torso and head/neck at the same time by using all available contact points on

our own body. Hands, elbows, fists, forearms, shins, feet, hips knees and forehead. Basically all the supported bony prominence and hard structures, which will not instantly shatter. The
fist might be arguable, but I include it for thoroughness.

It's important to note that most of the body movements work better thee loser they are applied to your body. I would say the maximum distance that a kata movement can be applied generally with success is no further than the distance from your shoulder to the end of your elbow. Let's say a foot from your torso. this exposes us to the most amount of opportunity and let's us take maximum advantage of our structure and mass. Sometimes the energy is focused into a smaller space for maximum damage to say the neck or knee, but this is usually a response to opportunity and not sudden violence.

This works very similar to amid British soldiered with muskets in the revolutionary war. Muskets produce an unpredictable trajectory. They have limited range and are not suited to aired fire. They compensated by maximizing their exposure to opportunity namely by using buck and ball and firing in mass coordinated volleys. They knew that the damage from the rounds would be

devastating if it hit a person, so to increase their odds they put as much lead in the air as they could. Kata movements war in the same way.

In more modern terms we might think of each movement as a shotgun loaded with buckshot. We don't x truly aim them, we point them, but unlike buckshot, which does not have a predictable spread, we know the "spread" of our movement.

Every movement is also a transition from a previous position. There is no wasted movement in kata. We want to continually produce kinetic energy. There is no prep, adjustment, or set

up in Rats. Every movement sets up the conditions for the

next movement. This is actually more important than knowing each movement separately, because even though kata are linear in nature with a beginning and end we won't get to choose how the fight starts. Just because A is the first letter of the alphabet doesn't mean we start all words or sentences with A. The use of movement gets dictated by the situation. We can't call tine out, so we can adjust our feet so we can deliver a proper strike or technique. We need ways to produce energy from whatever position we find ourselves in. For example in the version of Seisan I practice the first repeating set of techniques have the following variations. Feet parralel, left foot forward righti‘oot back, right foot forward left foot inxnxnd back, left foot forward rightf cat back. Balance of technique, or repetition are not the point of this. These make up the possible foot positions and transitions for this movement. I either

need to use it with my feet pnetarting in a parallel position, with my left forward, or with my right forward, and I need

to know how to apply it in a continuing fashion with no wasted movement. It covers the possible and useful foot movements

for that particular power movement, because you can only

ever start from the positions of feet parallel, left foot forward or right foot forward. If there's another position

I'd like to here of it, while standing ofc curse.

When do you use each movement

Considering that there are more right answers than wrong answers when it comes to applying kata movement it's actually more useful to know how not to use a movement. Kata movements are generally directional in nature. They are just the most common directional attitudes that you'll need to memorize to cover

or adapt to the most general and fundamental circumstances.

Each letter represents a sound, each movement represents a

way to produce energy in a specific but general direction. Up, down, left, right, forward, backward and the simplest variations of these. Pay attention to the complimentary aspects of movement , how to transition from one to another to adapt to changing circumstances, remember both you and the opponent move, and understand how they don't work.

This is counter intuitive, but it makes things simple. It

would be exhausting and time consuming to try and figure out the best thing to do especially when there are so many options, but it's usually pretty easy to identify the wrong thing to do. we're not concerning ourselves with best, but good enough.

what not to do is the key

Remember that violence of action beats technique and exposure

to opportunities. we want good enough. This is hard to understand if you've spent years beingXxnid given scenario based techniques and told that mastery is about doing everything perfectly. Maybe if you're practicing caligraphy, but we're just writing. As

long as it's understandable it's good enough. This is what

I mean by know what you can't do. Because kata movements are directional in nature, they work in that one way and are

terrible any other way, but they are not specific responses.

The only functional meaning they have is that they are used

for u going that direction and only that direction. They are

not paired to any sort of response or action by the opponent except the opportunity for use. An example: If our kata shows

us how to produce energy by going in four directions, forward, backward, left and right from a stationary position than we

will have memorized our functional options. Those directions.

Our hypothetical enemy is not in space, so will be limited in which direction they can attack us. If we get attacked from

the left, and can't move effectively to the left to stop the threat than we move in any of the other four directions. If

we can't move forward and left than backward or right will do.

If we can't move left, forward or backward than we move right.

If It's possible to move in any direction than we just intuitively and instinctually pick a direction and move. Remember move is

the most important part of the meta rules of move, recognize, exploit.

This seems mind numbingly tedious, and it is. No one said it would be fun. The nature of the preparative system is that you need to put the work in up front to reap the rewards later. Language isn't fun until you can express yourself. The sane

is tnue here. A system is greater than the sum of its parts. we still need to make all the connections.

Pransitions

Let me state again that nothing in a kata is predictive not matter what it may look like. The idea that a fixed group of movements of something that could be a hundred years old or more could predict the movements and reactions of aliving breathing person is ludicrous. The kata is not magic. lhese complimentary movements can be used as a means to produce counter techniques, but they are not counters, they are Just a means of producing energy from your last position to another position. lhere are no resets

, set ups or preping in kata it is only energy movement, to energy movement to energy movement. They really only seem like counters or flow drills or whatever you might want to call

them because it's Just a means of creating kinetic energy immediately from your current position while you transition to another position. It's just convenient, because it's usually creating energy in an opposite or opposing way. Every kata movement uses all of the movement. If a hand goes out it has

to come back, and it does work on the way back by pulling, gouging, redirecting or all three. No wasted movement. Ybu

want a means to be generating and using power all the time. It may look like prediction when applied, but it's Just taking advantage of the whole motion. What goes out must come back. This will be important to how we practice and apply Innxknxx

our kata. Adaptability just looks like predictability after

the fact, because after the fact we usually finally discover

the important variables that were with held from us previously. Everything becomes obvious after the fact. These power movements make up a set or series of sets depending on the kata of different general ways you will need to produce force to power techniques in different directions and levels without wasted movement. Each kata will have their own individual way of doing this based on the style and overall strategy of the creator. Different kata naturally lead to different things by design, but they are all Just the fundamental application or rather production of kinetic energy. On their own they don't mean anything, or they mean everything. It depends how you look at it. The most basic kata sometimes just have a left side and

a right side like Naihanchi others can be a little more complicated and explore more avenues of power generation, but they are all just power generation. Your opponent, the environment and luck will have more to do with how we apply the kata than any preplanned group of interpretations. It will do you more good not to have them. Sound familiar. When Funakoshi said his teachers didn't explain anything it was actually a good thing.

Know and Understand

quiliarity with the kata movements and ease and speed of transition is what's important. *his is not achieved without studying the three aspects mentioned. We cannot blindly churn out repetition after repetition of a kata and expect to make any progress. Each movement or section of a kata only receives the oriefest amount of attention when we practice it in sequence. rhis leaves little tine for examination

and reflection. we must break apart the kata d and handle each of ixx: its component parts in turn from the smallest heel turn to itss most flamboyant limb actions. we must ask the question why? ihis is not the technique why? but the

why does this help me move, how does it facilitate the rest of the movement? what is the strength of moving in this way and more importantly what is the weakness?

aniliarity and speed of transition is essential when applying your kata because each of the movements can cover the weakness of another. You need to be able to smoothly and quickly move from a position of weakness to a position of strength Imam ihis however cannot be down without understanding each component movenent to the upmost of your ability, practicing until it becomes second nature while keeping attention to detail. You will eventually be able to move between each of the kata movements in any order in any number of repeated movements quickly, naturally and without a need to think about how to perform each movement. lhe mechanics of movement

should move below the threshhold of consious thought. ihis

can only be done with thought, attention and practice.

Creativity

A person cannot be made to think of these things. *hey are required, but even just following this advice wihtout expending any mental energy would be futile. we must keep mostly to

the form of the kata, but we need to create an environment four ourselves that gives us permission to experiment, think creatively and practice trial and error. If it is an act of cognition than we need to allow ourselves to think and play with the kata. One of the main differences with a single kata practice and the more conventional approach to karate is that an what you are doing is your own. You make it what it will be. ihere is no rank structure or teacher to bow too.

We are in charge of our own training, and there are so many things to explore and work on even within a single kata, which can be as deep as we make it, that it would be a shame to succomb to boredom. Practice must be engaging and fun. You should feel free to make it this way for yourself.

A Kata is Linear, Application is Not

Kata must be recorded linearly, because time moves forward. It would be impossible to demonstrate kata in 3 none linear fashion because one movement regardless of the order must follow the next. This is only the order for the transmission of kata. lhe alphabet is linear as well, but we do not use

or apply it in a linear fashion. "A" does not precede all words. It is used when it is needed. Kata works in the sane way, a movement is used when it is needed. It is also not applied in order. Because of this we need to examine all movement sets and study how they relate to a1 1 of the other movement sets. It is easy to become accustomed to how movements relate to their adjacet neighbors. We easily become cognizant of these relationships, but it is mush harder to become aware of how movenents whéeh are not neighbors relate to one alother because they can sometimes be seperated by up to a minute of time. Even with highly developed language skills it can be hard to grasp the identity of a word if letters are shown successively but just ass one one hundreth of a second slower than normal reading speed.

Context

we as humans can sonetimes have trouble applying principles across contexts. fheory to practice, school to life, subject to subject. It is because of this that we need to examine each snall part of the kata. Examine a movement and how it relates to all of the other movements so we can become familiar with it outside of the context of the linear kata pattern. A movement may have a million different contexts, but this does not change the principle of its body mechanics and its function. Ne are not changing the movement nor thinking of it as separate individual entities, but exploring its varied and rich utility.

Avenues

Despite the various "interpretations" of kata movenent there

are really only a limited number of avenues of use because of the general workings of physics and human anatomy and physiology. We are for the most part all bound by these rules. Physics definitely. If we look at the macro variations of movement,

there are a limited number of avenues for attack or defensive movement. To the front, to either side, blind turns backward, stepping turns, upward vectors, downward vectors, stationary.

we could also threw in medial and lateral limb movements. This does not mean that there will be a separate movement for each because some can do double duty. A turn to the side can sometimes in becone a turn to the rear.

Because of the various applications of each kata movement there is no real functional difference between attack while moving forward, defending while moving forward, moving an opponent backward and for the opposite there is no difference between defending while moving backward, attacking while moving backward or pulling/ moving an opponent backward with you. A kata movement can be all of these things at once. It is therefore critical to know how to move between all these different avenues, while continually staying on the offensive.

it is not the mindless drilling that leads to understanding or even muscle memory. It's constant attention to the details

and the importance of ingraining cognitive mechanics to below the conscious threshold through diligent and continued thought which trains the brain and the body to making these procedures more efficient and less stressful. It is the none observable ingrained cognitive functions/ complex functions, which we want to develop and foster, not Just the outer facade of performance.

#145?“

Too much confirmatory data is useless. The adaptable and infinitely numerous ways for a kata movement to be used successfully does not help us to understand a movement. A successful application in a defensive manner and a successful application in an offensive manner are seemingly condradictory conclusions. fhese accumulations of reasonable and plausible uses soon become noise. fhis means we must strive to find how the movenents fail. Failure is much more distinct and is useful information. For example a movement may work in a thousand different ways while you remain stationary. Every tine you

try a different variation while staying in one spot you seem to find a plausible explanation or application. If you try

it while moving forward, you fail. You try it while moving sideways and you fail, you try it moving backwards and your applications fail again. Every other way you try and use the movement it seems to fail except for when you remain stationary. fhis means that the utility or function of the movement is affecting the opponent when you cannot move freely. fhis is very useful information, because it means you will no longer waste time trying to apply the movement in any other situation. rhis takes examination, diligence and discipline.

A willingness to experiment and use trial and error during partner practice. You need to find the edges and the weaknesses of a movement and by contrast you will find all of its: infinite strengths.

its?“

(I would say that it would be better to hold off on judgement

and theorizing on the use of different kata movements until you are thoroughly familiar with the small mechanics of each movement and transitioning thoughtlessly between each sequence in any ordff at will, but this is just not possible or reasonable. It w 1

It will happen, so I will not make an attempt to stop you. In fact I will encourage it. Pheorize think, play and experiment with your kata as much as you can. The better you know the capability and complimentary nature of your kata the better

it will serve you. Study other people's theories and bunkai, their thoughts, their feelings. But do not become married to or attached to any one way of thinking. The strength of the movement's abstract nature is that as your understanding of combat, fighting, violence and nature deepens your applications of the movenents can change, be refined and adapt to your expanding knowledge. Because all techniques, tactics, strategies and concepts will be applied with a small set of highly versitle a functional movements new knowledge becomes additive rather than dilutive. You will not need to learn k new body mechanics for each subsequent technique, because you will

know how to apply the body mechanics you have al ready mastered to perform the technique. I will give a warning. Ecur karate practice is your own. it should be personal and tailored to your individual needs and temperment and no one cares more about your own needs than you. someone will be happy to sell you their strategy and techniques in place of your own and

take your money. fhinking is part of the package. If you don't think and explore you will fail.

Many kata movements act as a meat grinder. As of this writing

1 make my own cat food. It's cheaper. A chicken thigh no

matter how it is inserted into the grinder will be caught up crushed, squeezed, torn apart and finally ground into

hamburger. By the spinning screw like thing that pushes it

into the spinning blade of the grinder. A kata movement

should pull your opponent into a continual state of disadvantage , which deepens as 1k; you move through the motion until umey are crushed.

what to consider during kata practice

Structure, body mechaxica, gravity, skeletal alignment, breathing posture and the nature of producing force. Each must be

attended to and neighter can be completely excluded from the other. Knowin these things will go a long way to understanding the functions use of each movement.

General principles for study

Part of learning is learning to learn. Learning is a skill that is not often talked about or even rentioned in most circles except in reneasssance man style circles to which I belong. (Unrelated to karate) People learn and think differently ani while 1 sons might be able to get by with a few kata and

a copy of the Bubishi most need a little more to go on. i111 why Fighting like everything else has a cognitive component. Knowing how you think and learn will go a long way to help you in this and in life. I suggest going online and taking

a mye rs briggs test and then researching the characteristics of their learning styles. Its not perfect, but it will help.

The very basic principles of a single kata practice is

patience, practice and play. It is meditating diligently on each component of each layer. One thing I will say over and

over again especially in the later sections is that of increasing exposure to opportunities, experimentation and

the use of trial and error. Increasing exposure to opportunities means not limiting yourself to one type of practice or

even one type of thinking. Despite the limited number of movements in each kata it is an adaptable system. It is adaptable because you use knowledge and creativity to apply the movements instead of placing them into rigid technique categories. Practice anyway you can. As long as its not destructive to

your health even counter intuitive things can teach you about karate. My biggest lessons have come from the world of mmmufmmw.manmthsmmorwWofuML Learning anything helps you learn more things. It is a Rental muscle, which will serve you in other ways besides karate.

As much as people may wish it to be so, the application of kata or any martial art technique for that matter is not a like

a cheat code in a videogame. It is not just something you memorize and then use to become the most unstoppable fighter known to man. It is a learned skill. it‘s not particularly hard, , but it is something developed over time.

W

it will be hard to split one layer l category or aspect from of training from the other. All aspects influence the others. As your practice continues, your practice and your study should become self re enforcing meaning that though you may still

be practicing technique, you are still practicing the body mechanics and application. You are doing both. Application will make your body mechanics better and your kata will be influenced by the knowledge and sensory exerpeience of

partner practice. ihere are no clear out divides 1 in any

of these layers. We can't jump ahead too much, and we cannot completely back track. Try to ignore the meaning of a word when you first perceive it. Your internal processes don't have an off switch. At a certain point aspects of training are

Just things that you do. This is why we need patience. One thing will lead to the other and we must be constantly striving to learn and study. This is a continual process. It is not a pit stop.

W

A carpenter who knows his tools, knows his skill and knows his wood will make beautiful furniture. The karateka who knows himself, knows his movements and knows how to adapt to their opponent will make art out of application.

3138”“

Application is like surfing. Each wave is different. It comes once and passes. One must seize the opportunity as it arises, because it will not come back.

‘5‘?“

techniques tactics and strategy are higher order concepts, 1 which are built from the foundational building blocks of

body mechanics, function and application. i can't subscribe

to technique based training. It is slow and the fill in the blank type of drilling does not lead to the type of ingrained cognitive processes that are needed to read and respond to

the infinity of possible situations. Every single one will be different because time moves forward. You train to read the situation like reading a book. Environment, position, available weapons, open targets, type of situation and the goals or

ggzigafjituation (escape, avoidance, damage, restraint?).

Normally a teacher would fill in these blanks, but most if not all must learn this on their own in karate.

Negative results are what are important. This neans testing

for failure not success. In science, an experinent is designed so that it can prove an hypothesis wrong. In every movement, there is natural strength and weakness due to its structure

and force vector. Resting only to confirm means ignoring weaknesses. Our weaknesses are the very things we should be aware of, so we can overcome them, adapt to them and move

in relation to them. Master chess players don't choose their moves based on the strengths of each move, but on the weaknesses of the available moves. Self defense, survival fighting is not

about winning, it is about not losing.

we do not stay in the form. rhe goal is to move freely and naturally without thought according to the needs of the situation. In application you do not think of the form,

body mechanics or try to force your perception of reality onto what is happening. ihe world is ever moving, ever changing, second by second time slips by never to come again. Any interpretation that does not accept this is living in a story. of the worh.. It is fast, messy and brutal. We as a species are fast, messy and brutal. Kata training should make you fast, efficient and brutal. fhe kata is a template, a toolYou are the one who thinks and adapts.

fhe kata is a guide for movement, which is applied in a contextual fashion. You don't need to know every infinity of variation.

You only need to know that you can use it. Moment by moment recognizing what your options are. In the alphabet we employ

alphabetic prind ple that letters represent consanants and vowels, which can be combined to represent spoken words.

Kata employs the kinesthetic principle, which is destructive body mechanics. Phere is no one way only yes or no. what works and doesn' .

«nit-5*

Can I hurt them? Yes

Do I have a movement to get the job done? Yes Use movement.

Can I hurt sonaone? Yes Can I use movement? No

Can I use another movement? Yes Use that movement.

This is a very simple process, but it needs to be cultimated and recognized so we go from asking these two questions and skip to see opportunity, exploit opportunity.

this is what partner practice is for. Shut down the attacker not the attack.

Structure is your skeletal alignment. Ehere are naturally strong ways to use your body. Standing is a good example. A person

can stand all day. It will eventually be tiring, but the alignment of our femur, fibula and tibia carry the burden of most of

our weight. i‘he only muscles used are those that keep the bones in line. i'his is a natural strength. If we were to take a half sitting position like mm half a squat than we must use almost all muscle power to keep ourselves in this position. l'his is

structurally weak, but can act as a shock absorber. Everything has their strength and weakness.

i'm having trouble with function for sore reason. It's an important concept. *he last of the concrete concepts that one should internalize. each job is wade to do work, a particular type of action, which is different than the rest. It is general and

not preci e, but it can be used to do specific things. It is like a hammer or a tool. It has a purpose, but it is only as good as the person who uses it. If you have a narrow grasp

it will be used in a narrow manner. This is the root of the versatility of the kata. It is what gives it strength and adaptibility though it x is just a few amount of movements. This is part of the abstract concept of the kata. The idea that a few movements could be used for so much. Ihe function is really Just a principle of body nechanics. It is how to move in a best case scenario. fhe application will not look like the kata and after a certain point should not look like the kata. Discovering the strength and weakness structurally will lead you too its function. It should be easy. Your whole body is working towards a common goal like a power lifter using their oouy and momentum to lift a heavy weight. It is the same

except instead of lifting a weight you are destroying a person.

Structure is your skeletal alighment. There are naturally strong ways to use your body. Standing is a good example. A person

can stand all day. It will eventually be tiring, but the alignment of our femur, fibula and tibia carry the burden of most of

our weight. lhe only muscles used are those that keep the bones in line. Phis is a natural strength. If we were to take a half sitting position like sums half a squat than we must use almost all muscle power to keep ourselves in this position. lhis is structurally weak, but can act as a shock absorber. Everything has their strength and weakness.

A Kata is linear, Application is Not

Kata must be recorded linearly, because time moves forward. it would be impossible to demonstrate kata in a none linear fashion because one movement regardless of the order must be followed on aher

the next. This is only the order for transmission. The alphabet is linear as well. but we do not sue or

apply it in a linear fashion. “A“ does not precede all words. It is used when it is needed. Kata works in the same way, a movement is used when it is needed. it is also not applied in order. Because of this we need to examine all movement sets and study how they relate to all of the other movement sets. it is easy to become accustomed to how movement relate to their adjacent neighbors. We easily become cognizant of these relationships. but it is a much harder thing to become aware of how movements which are not neighbors relate to one another because they can sometimes be separated by up to a minute of time. Even with highly developed language skills it can be hard to grasp the identity of a

word if letters are shown successively butjust one one hundredth of a second slower than normal

reading speed.

Three facets of movement

Each individual kata movement has a function. the body mechanics and it's context. The function is the general use or larger job of the movement. Each movement is meant to affect a person in an efficient and brutal manner in a particular way Some movements sweep aside. others spread a person apart tram the middle. others twist a person around their axis. They are large gross motor movements meant to have as big an effect on the opponent as possible. They are not specific little techniques for specific scenario. You use each movement like a tool when it is needed. Each movement can overlap all the others in that they can strike, gouge. lock and take someone down, but they all do so in their own individual ways. Some have overlap in utility. but each has a weakness that the other kata movements cover. They compliment each other. The body mechanics are how you move your own body and your

propreception of your body to achieve this function. The context is how each situation changes how we

can apply and use the movement. The options for functional use or application.

These three aspects of movement cannot be isolated from one another completely They are

inseparable, but we can put an emphasis on exploring each of the aspects while practicing. They must be studied. picked apart and examined little by little. Knowledge of one without knowledge of the

others is of limited value. Know and Understanding

Familiarity with the kata movements and ease and speed of transition is what's important. This is not achieved without studying the movements individually and together in varied sets. We cannot blindly churn out repetition alter repetition of a kata and expect to make any progress. Each movement or section of a kata only receives the bricfest amount of attention when we practice it in sequence. This leaves little time for examination and reflection. We must break apart the kata and handle each of its component parts in turn from the smallest heel turn to its most flamboyant limb actions. We must ask the questions why? This is not the technique why, but not the what. This is how does this help me transfer energy. keep structure. generate power. how does it facilitate the rest of the movement? What is

the strength of moving in this way and more importantly what is the weakness?

Familiarity and speed of transition is essential when applying your kata because each of the movements can cover the weakness of another. You need to be able to smoothly and quickly move from a position of weakness to a position of strength. This cannot be done without understanding each component movement to the up most of your ability. practicing until it becomes sew? nature while keeping attention to detail. You will eventually be able to move between each of the kata movements in any order in any number of repeated movements quickly. naturally and without a need to think about how to perform each action. The mechanics of movement should move below the threshold of conscmus

/ thought. This can only be done wrth thought, attention and practice.

Avenues

Despite the various “interpretations” of kata movement there are really only a limited number of avenues of use because of the general workings of physics and human anatomy and physiology. We are for the most part all bound by these rules. Physics definitely. lf we look at the macro variations of movement, there are a limited number of avenues for offensive or defensive movement. To the front, to either side, to the rear, blind turns, stepping tums, upward vectors. downward vectors‘ stationary. We can also throw in medial and lateral limb movements. This does not mean that there will be a separate movement for each because some can do double duty. A turn to the side can sometimes become a turn

to the rear when needed.

Because of the various applications of each kata movement there is no real functional difference between attack while moving forward, defending while moving forward, moving an opponent backward and for the opposite. There is no difference between defending while moving backward, attacking while moving backward or pulling/ moving an opponent backward with you. A kata movement can be all of these things at once. It is therefore critical to know how to move between all

these different avenues, while continually staying on the offensive. A

The Grinder

Many kata movements act like a meat grinder As at this writing. l make my own cat food. It's cheaper. A chicken thigh no matter how it is inserted into the grinder Wlll be caught up, crushed. squeezed. tom apart and finally ground into hamburger By the spinning screw like apparatus that pushed the meat into the spinning blade of the grinder A katn movement should pull your opponent into a continual state of disadvantage. the movement takes up and crushes whatever it is given. which deepens as you move

through the motion until they are destroyed.

Function is not application. Application will change based

on the context and available resources. function is the utilitarian characteristics of a movement. Each movement takes advantage of your mass and structure to apply kinetic energy.

rhe function stays the same, h the application can change a million tines.

em

what is important is studying the directionality of force vectors and the structural strengths and weaknesses of a movement will tell you more about a movement than its strengths. Find the weakness. If you are using muscle to nmke an application work you are using muscle.

*3?“

imagine each movement as a tool box full of hand tools. Hammer,

saws, wrenches, screwdrivers. ihey each have functional limitations and functional strengths. lhese tools and their uses are only

limited by the skill and creativity of their user. Knowing and internalizing the function or each movement will let you know when you can use them. Xou use a saw to out, a hammer to hammer. You use a downward vector of force to push someone down to the floor, bend them over backward or drop an elbow on someone. A movement with a downward vector can support

a technique in that directional plane if your structure can

back it up. it's a tool, it has a function, but you use the tool. the tool doesn't use you.

this is why being familiar with all the movements in any combination is so important. fhe transitions become the key. If you know the movements and know their functionality than you should be able to instantly and effortlessly be able to

recognize all the ways you can instantly apply kinetic energy at any time.

fhis is the essential foundation needed for application, recognizing opportunity, tactics, strategy. Knowing these few foundational things will all you to produce a near infinity of technique. It won't even be technique. It won't do it justice. You will simply be moving and hurting.

winkiHi

Remember exposure to opportunity. Luck favors the prepared.

it they are moving and you can't than lever themaround you. or better if they're moving and you can move, pull and lever them into the ground. If you can't move and cant lever vans sure they run into sonsthing strong, hard and point. Elbows and knees are good. if they can't move or you need to move than throw s msthing strong, hard and pointy into them, or oonversly pull them into somthing strong hard and pointy. Take what

you are given.

it's because of this general nature of physics that we can cut down our list of gross general power movements to general directions, complimentary movements and the two way action of each movement. Every movement has some sort ofr otational element, which can be used to stack effects.

what this means in the most general, immediate and grosssense all we need to know is where the opponent is going and how we can move to exploit the natural weaimesses. ihe close in your face fighting distance of karate takes advantage of this

because we will use touch.

Touch

rouoh is faster than eight and for us the karateka is much better than eight. Sight is very specific and requires our brains to interpret several things at the same time ani our brain isn't even particularly good at it. A lot of the tin your brain Just fills in the information it thinks its ees, hence misseading words, c olors, expressions and actions. It needs to interpret not only color, texture, speed through rate ofchange, depth, but also needs to translate it into mmthira meaningful, sometimes it's wrong. Touch on the other hand is almost neverwrong, and combined with our sense of balance and our natural propreception that is we can sense what position our body is in and slight shifts in direction and acceleration thanks to tiny hairs in our ears, we have a giant ands ccurate and instantly translatable informtion gatheringt 001, which covers our skin. Almost every portion of our skin is covered with specialized nerve cells, which sense pressure. their only 100 is to sense differences in pressure and this infomtion gets shot right to our brain nth, which only has to translate intensity. if we fight based on feel. we fight faster, more accurately and we can a constantly adapt and change to our opponent's movements.

In essence karate is designed or evolved to react to the opponent 's movements, by using a short list of complimentary damaging movements by using our bodies largest sense organ. the skin, to register. adapt and act on these movemnt. I'm sorry, but that's fucking awesome.

we take what we are given.

otrue t ur 8

Phe other essential element that makes a power movement functional is your structure. fhXxxkxxhaxxxaxdmxxxxhxxhexunxtmaixxnngl afxniignnanx Structure could be described as your posture and

has been, but it's essentially the proper alignment of your skeletal system for efficient work. In this case we're talking about fighting. Structure does a few differentt hinge to help

us fight better. we want to rely as much as possible on the

Structure is pooper skeletal alignment for the use of energy. we don't want to use or rely on muscle power to drive our techniques, but we also want to be able to use that energy

as efficiently as possible. A lot of this has to do with not being a shock absorber for our own techniques. We want to deliver as much impulse or follow through into our techniques and movement as we can, and part of doing this is by not being squishy and bleed energy. The postures and positions

we take and make during kata should represent the optimal structure for using the energy we've created with out movement. Generally. speaking like the movements the structures we rake in kata are strong in only one plane and week an in the rest this will also give us a big clue for where the energy is being directed. The general idea is that we want our skeleton to support the force of the technique and not our muscles and a pretty good example of this is just standing. Our femurs, fibula and tibia act to support each other when we stand. The only muscles we use are the supporting muscles that keep the bones in alignment. We can stand for a very long time this way and huxlxanx use a relatively small amount of energy. Now if we were to squat down like we were about to sit on a chair our skeleton is not supporting us at least not directionly. The antagonistic muscles of our legs are working on the bones and holding us in this position. fhe muscles are doing all the work. We don't want this. We want to rely on our skeletal structure, our alignment. Bhis takes many different forms

and nimnxx every structural strength has a corresponding structural weakness. fhis applies to arm position, your torso, your legs, feet, stances, punching everything. Relying on structure also allows us to stat relaxed and pliable.

we never need to be tense or contract our muscles for support even when we strike. This will Just make you tired and won't add to the structural integrity. If you don't believe no try flexing all your leg muscles while you're waiting in line

the next time you're out shopping. We don't have to contract our large muscles to stand and they sometimes support hundreds of pounds for hours at a time. You don't need to tense.

Mental Tools for Study

The physrcal and cognitive tools for violence require cognitive tools for study Most of what is contained in this book are thought experiments and guided thinking problems and ideas for creative practice. We want to llex our problem solvmg muscles as much as our physical muscles it is easy however to get trapped by certain modes of thinking. 1 Will cover these again as they are relevant in each subsequent section. but I want to go over them now. so you can be thinking about them.

Ideas at Porters-tons

We should not think of ideas as possessmns. The point of practicing a single kata in the manner that follows is so that we can change our minds if needed. We will grow. adapt and change overtime. but this cannot happen if we get locked into certain ideas when it comes to practice. Our only concern should be improvement and getting better. and this involves acknowledging when we‘ve made a mistake or a wrong turn Does this mean don't think or have ideas? Not at all The whole point of this mode ofpnictiee is training our brains as much as our bodies. It is important to have as many ideas and theories as possible. but it also means not getting attached to them. We want to put all of these ideas to the test. and this requires sacrilieing our ego. We need to allow ourselves the room and opportunity to grow and this means allowmg ourselves to be wrong. A single kata practice is not about your ego. It's not about your ideas. It‘s about getting better Getting better means growth and growth can't be done in the dark.

The Conjirmalion Ema

The confirmation bias is our tendency to test and interpret things in such a way to prme our preconceived ideas about a SubJCCl. '1 his means that we ignore proofs or signs that point in the opposite direction. This is an easy trap to fall into as a martial artist because we are mostly concerned with what “works." We want to prove that our thoughts on application are correct. or prove that our chosen martial art is elTective. so we look for all the instances where our ideas are shown to be correct, while ignoring any evidence. which might prove it to be false.

This is an easy trap to fall into when one starts to apply their kata movements. We look for applications that work and we find them. but Vic tind too many applications that work. This is like having a math problem where you tiiid live answers when you were supposed to Find one. These coniirmatory results soon become noise.

Negative Rem/IA

in scientific research. one designs an experiment in such a way that it Will prove the hypothesis wrong. This is the same type of thinking that we need to adopt when examining and studying each aspect of our kata. from movement to strategy. [here are no definite right and wrong answers when it comes to knta. there are only What works and what doesn't work. l' here are so many ways that a kata movement

can he applied that it does as mun good to discover how it ntosenient consistently doesn‘t work This usually has to do ssith the tnmtiuii ot hotly titerhuitles and torce vectors nttlier than specific contextual seenanos An estiatplc is that certum ntoietiietita will work it they lollow ii cerium toree vector. but Will tall apart along utiv otliei lorw sector l or case ol the example imagine it compass. North. south. east and out A particular k iia iiiosenieiit may work \voiiderlltlly tor all application-i in the northcm direction. but will litll apart iii um otlter direction Ihis ts uit iiiiport int result. because knowrng how not to use a trim einent is a shorter list than all tlie ways it movement ctin work Another example would be it we were testing tltc penetrating poo er ot ti htillct ll we only test it hiillct's pcrlorinniicc by shooting through dillerent types ol tissue paper than it will appear that the bullet can go through anything Cometseh il \se only shoot at thick plates ol‘tenipei‘cti steel tltiiii it might not penetrate at all and we'd have learned titst as little We outit to liiid the very edge at its capabilities. so we should lire through an ever increasing range ol inuteriuls lrom tissue paper to steel to linrl tltnl edge Kate movements are the same A nto\ enter“ only hate ll millioti dillcreiit successlul applications in one

a\ crater htit tail tn all others lhe l‘iiiiuioit ol the movement will he that ascnue. not the millions of applications Search tor tlie iiegutue results lhere is it strength and nenktiesti to everything in km.

l ind the edges.

Allen/ion to Detail

This is a critical skill. but the details you Will attend to across your lifetime of practice will change. This is a continual mental examination of everything you are doing during practice. At the beginning this is body mechanics, how you are moving. At the end you will be examining strategy and everything else Will be automatic. This is a continual process without any set destination.

Delayed Gratification

This type of training requires an ability to delay gratification. You will “not get it" until you “get it." It's a yes or no question until you reach the higher concepts of technique, tactics. and strategy. This is very, very Similar to the process in which you learned to read and write. You can either read or you can‘t. You can sometimes get by With gucssmg, where you have the outer appearance of reading. but looking at squiggles and guesstng correctly that it represents a word is very different from looking at a group of letters and reading them. Even someone who technically can read. who can't put it into practice in the different contexts in which we encounter them on a day to day basis is considered illiterate. Reading is not merely recognizmg a list of words. It is receiving a transmissmn of ideas. A single kata practice involves applying principles in a dynamic situation. It is not regurgitating memorized scenarios.

Direct Action

This is an important concept for a Single kata practice and for life. It is the idea or strategy of only looking for how we can directly effect a situation or environment. In the case of karate. we will develop our skills in such a way that they do not require a specific response from the opponent. What they want shouldn't factor into the equation, they're the bad guy. They don't get what they want. They definitely don't get a “tum."

Environment for Creative Play Repetitive drills are boring. Drilling for the sake of drilling is not only a waste of time. but it puts

practice in the wrong context. Training should be fun. All aspects of training should be fun. There is a certain amount of training that needs to be done to internalize the pattem of a kata. to free up the

mental working space to move on to other aspects of the katn. but this is a very small pan of your lifetime of study. You should strive to create a training environment for yourself that encourages experimentation. creativrty and play. [his is an intemal process as much as an external one and we are not playing a matching game. “us is not :1 memory game. paint by numbers or Rock Paper Scissors This is art. and your art. so there needs to be a fair degree of freedom involved in the practice. Your kata should fundamentally slay the same. but how you choose to practice and the ways in which you study it can vary greatly. The kata is only wonh as much as your understanding of its application, so anything that has the potential to increase this understanding and doesn't damage you or others IS beneficial Even if you Just learn that certain exercises or training routines are wastes of time. Part of this involves “increastng exposure to opportunity." The indivrdual nature of karate kdta means that I can't hand you a list to check off and by the end you wrll understand your kata. It doesn‘t work that way. Every aspect ofour entire lives has changed ourjudgment and perceptions. What's clear to me may not be clear to you. so it's important that you experiment. play and study as much as possrble to form your own ideas. You never know what will make things click in your head. Carpentry. personal linance and a love of letters has probably done more to influence my understanding of my own kata than anything else. Don‘t limit yourself

There are no fixed applications in a Single kata practice. One uses their creativity. their brain and their study to apply the kata. It is merely a tool we make With our bodies. Art is made mth srmple brushes and paints. Beautiful fumiture made by stmple hammers. saws and skill. 11 is the hand that wields them that makes the difference not the tools themselves Function is the tool use of each movement and every good craftsman and artist knows their tools as well as they know their own art. Practicing and studying the function is building. shaping and sharpening those tools and getting to know them intimately. so one may apply them With merely the will of spirit.

Function is the heart of kata it is what kata is all about. Teaching and training your body and your mind to be aware of itself and its functional capacity. Kata cannot teach you tactics, strategy or technique. These are things, which we learn from other sources. It's why I believe books like the Bubishi were cherished by many because it was a tactical and strategical manual for applying kata. Kata is just movement and movement does not have a brain. How we apply our kata will be different for everyone based on our Size. temperament. our opponent and the environment. For lack of a better word. function is the next level of thinking in kata practice. It is the last concrete level. which is not contextual. Your body has fixed strengths and weaknesses. There are the Vital pornts. which we all hear so much about. but there are strengths and weaknesses to every movement and every action inside the kata The strength of one movement 15 the weakness of another and these overlap and compliment each other so they become strengths only. Function therefore is being aware of these strengths and weaknesses.

The body has a set amount of capacrty. We have our mass and we have our skeletal structure and these two things are our two biggest weapons when it comes to functional movement. Our mass no matter how small we are is a reservoir for potential energy. It is weight we can put into motion to do damage. Imagine a bowling ball. in respect to a human body, it is very light, but dropping it on someone's foot would be very painful if not damaging. Our bodies are much heavier than a bowling ball. Force is created by the acceleration of mass. The smaller the mass the more you need to accelerate it to do the

same amount of force as something larger. We can move our bodies much slower. because of our mass and achieve the same damage as dropping a bowling ball on someone We use grayity and our body mechanics to increase the acceleration and deliver as much force into a person as pOSSlble We use this force or kinetic energy to do work. This is movmg a body, striking. locking. gouging. throwing and all the other applications at kinetic energy. which are used to power technique.

The effiCiency of this energy is very much dependent on our stmcture. which is also a fixed amount. Our skeletal system is our structure Like a suspension bridge. we must use our skeleton con-ectly to absorb. redirect or transmit as much energy as possible. Suspension bridges work through geometry and triangulation to focus the mass to its strongest points Kata movement works along the same lines. Poor structure means weak energy transfer. which means weak technique.

This is something wholly apart from muscle or chemical energy. Muscles don't hurt. they can lend mass. which we can use. but relying on muscle means that anyone stronger than you Will have the advantage. This means if you rely on muscle you are planning on only applying your karate to people who are weaker than yourself. Chances are if someone wants to attack you they are already stronger than you otherwise, they'd probably leave you alone.

Loch movement in a katzi has strong and weak points because our bodies only work in a few limited ways. The mints only bend certain ways. Bones align in certain ways to take or give force and we only have so much mass to our disposal We need a variety of ways to use our mass and structure. which is why there are a variety, but fixed set of movements in each kata. In a Simple kata. let's say that we have a forward function, a turning function. a left function and a right function. This means we have ways to generate force in these four avenues. These work as a set. The strength of one is the weakness of another By knowing the strength and weakness of each function we know when we can or can't use it. It is like a set of hand tools The hammer can't cut. The saw is used to cut. but it can't hammer. You need a saw and a hammer to build things. You need both and you must know the strengths and weaknesses of each to apply them effectively. The functional aspects of movement in kata are the same.

Force Vectors

The force vector is the direction. which a group of forces head. The nature of many kata movements means that their force is all generated in a similar way, but the way the limbs are used. the path they take and the shape they make cause dilferent directions of force. The limbs transfer the energy. The force vector Will the be the place where energy is applied the easiest and this can be anywhere in your sphere of influence It's why it's important to experiment to find such avenues for each movement.

Natural Movement

The strengths in kata are natural The movements seem awkward and unnatural at the beginning only because we have not practiced them, but the strengths of the movements are strengths that we encounter every day in our waking world. We have learned not to attend to them, or they are so natural to us that wejust don't think about them. We have no real need to examine them. but they are there. When we were small we ran. iumped mid climbed on playgrounds. We scrambled up these metal structures in ways that they were not deSigncd by using the natural strong pomts of our anatomy and phySiology. Whatever was the easiest way to get up the slide was how we got up the slide. We do the same thing as adults when we move furniture, walk or negotiate a parking lot full of puddles. We don't move. so that it's hard, we move in a way that's easy.

As adults we have somewhat trained ourselves to move badly through exercise Many types of exercise especially tor aesthetics teaches us how to stress our muscles effectively, but is poor movement. it is the poorest application of strength on purpose to stress our muscles. Look at how a power lifter hits and a bodybuilder: The strength, which we want to apply With our kaui is easy it Will feel easy almost as ifwc are cheating, because we are taught with exeroise that if it feels easy we aren't doing the exercise properly or we need to go harder This is not the type of strength we are trying to apply We are making our structure and mass work for us. So we do not need to apply muscle. or very little of it. Proper function ofa movement Will feel easy.

Function vs. Application

Function is not application. This is the difference between how you use a tool and what the tool is itself. This is where the fundamental difference between a single kata and a mulitple kata practice happens. Knowing and intcmalinng the functional use of body mechanics allows you to apply that movement in any way you chose. lhe use of movement is only limited by your imagination. There is no right or wrong there is only what works and what doesn't work. There is no wrong way to use a kata movement if it is effective. lhcre can be a million and one different applications for a single kata movement, but that movement doesn't change. It stays the same. The ability for the movement to become so many dichrent applications and techniques resides with its structural strengths. These applications succeed as opposed to those that fail, because the strength ofthe movement restdes in this avenue of application. I Wish there were simpler terms to put this in, but there are so many different kata movements and kata that one cannot list them all in any reasonable manner Let's use a straight punch for example. The strength of it lies in the alignment of the arm bones, horizontal to the body. its

weakness is perpendicular to this alignment. Try holding a weight by extending your arm straight out from you. The natural strength of the arm does not come into play. The only thing keeping the weight up are your back muscles. Now hold the weight straight above your head. The alignment of your am. your skeleton bears the brunt of the downward force and you use very little muscle. Your skeleton does the work. All kata movements have this same basic set up. A strength and a weakness

Function and application cannot be completely divorced from one another. Application is all of the defensrve. offensive, techniques. multiple level attacks and ballistic grinders that the movements can be. but these are only possible because of the structural and shape aspects of each of the movements. The original meaning or purpose of the kata movements if there ever was one becomes inconsequential because if you understand how you produce kinetic energy and take advantage of your body mechanics in each movement than you can apply it at will in an ever expanding variation of techniques and tactics. but because they are all married to a Single movement each repetition of the movement despite its application burns the movement deeper and creates a connection in your head to that application. A pathway for accessing the information. The more you use the movement despite the application the stronger the connections get until you don't even have to think about the function of the movement you just see an opportunity to use the movement. so you move. Application is the ditfcrent ways to use the movement and there is a system to this as well. but this has nothing to do With the function aspects of the movement. Each movement is a tool and to really know and understand a tool you need to know how you can abuse it in at least three different ways Knowing how to abuse a tool means testing it to the limits and finding the very borders of its usefulness.

Confirmation Bias and Negative Results

it's important to test your movements in as many ways as you possibly can and test to see how they fail. Only testing in one avenue can leave you susceptible to the confirmation bias. We are looking for the edges of the structural integrity of each movement and how you can apply your mass. The negative results will be more telling than the positive results, because they will be hard. They Will be a bear to try and force and these are where a movement is weak. ln application. we need to know both the weakness and the strength of a movement in order to know how we can use it effectively or when it isn't working.

Sweet Spots

The kata represents a best cased scenario representation of movement. The best case scenario is something that we will rarely get. Movements have a range of orientation. which they work best. Stances don't need to be perfect Your toes don't have to be just so, and the positions of your arms can vary. These are sweet spots where a movement can still work, still do something even if your alignment isn't perfect. They are adjustable to the situation. Find the sweet spots in your movements.

Kinestlretic

Karate is close range and this type of karate is done by touch rather than sight. it is one of the reasons why one must pay attention to the feeling of each movement. Our brain functions have propreoception, the ability to sense the position of one's own body in a space. Tiny hairs in our ears sense momentum and direction and our skin is covered in millions of sense receptors specifically for touch and pressure. We use the largest sense organ we have to our disposal, which is linked directly to our brains and more accurate than Sight to tight. One may not be able to see what they're doing. We must be able to rely on touch as well as sight.