Perfect technique
When you start in Karate you notice that at our club we focus a lot on building techniques. We are what you would call Kihon-centric in our approach. Lots of basics, reps and drills to try and “program” in the correct form for each movement and we harp on it and work it till you conform to the basic movements. Perfect techniques are required to transfer force in techniques, not get hurt and actually learn a variety of responses to violent stimuli that can come up in altercations and also sport Karate.
As a white belt student, most students will be sloppy, choppy and unsure of what they are doing. Kicks will lack recoil; they will throw limbs about with abandon and basically will look like they are totally without focus or control! This is not a bad thing because we were all there at one point. We don’t understand how things work or even how these weird new techniques are to be applied.
White belts are hard to work with because as interested and keen as they often are….we don’t know what they are going to do and they don’t know what they are going to do…this is why a black belt should always work with white belts….spontaneous reactions are what you should be looking for in a training partner to hone your response.
A reverse punch is weak; hips not being used for the punch, back heel floating around, arm over extended past the unused hip and basically the arm is thrown out with no body power behind it. The Front kick is sloppy and often the knee is not used in the kick, the back hip floats and the kick has no recoil. All the techniques look like this and they are not pretty at all!
Intermediate beginners like Green and Orange belts are a bit more stiff as they try to perform perfect form but don’t know about relaxation. They have decent enough form and try to adhere to the expectations of seniors and instructors, but their lack of relaxation may actually work against them and hurt them…and not just as a practitioner but literally. Pulled muscles are common and sore, and achy joints will be common as they jerk kicks out and try to focus and snap back not realizing that they are to tight and robotic.
Again, this is a natural progression to good techniques because the “cookie cutter” approach ensures that we all have the same form and go through the same training to polish and perfect form. At this level its important to try and work on poor form, herky jerky movements and any dangerous form mistakes, like hyperextension of joints and other poor mechanics. But its also important to realize that the students are working the techniques as “Gross ‘grand’ motor skills” or BIG MOVES with little to do with finesse!
Intermediate level students now know what Gyaku zuki means and Mae Geri is a front kick. They have key components that they know to do…but they are choppy and the back heel still floats around on occasion, but they know its wrong. The form is forced and choppy and they need to relax. The other key issue is that they cannot stay down in stance. When they kick they lift up as they are not using forward momentum to move but stop like robots and have to fight gravity by standing up.
Advanced beginner levels like the Brown belts are now working with okay form, huge power and have the ability to hurt someone…as much as they do themselves. Brown belts are normally a pain to train with because they want to show their power. They spar like they want to express explosive power in every move and they now have good form to use for that purpose.
For Brown belts the most important thing is to keep the form while they inevitably use that power they want to generate. Instructors pull their hair out as the student’s transition into a position where they are no longer nervous about using Karate skills and are wanting to “fly free” and throw caution to the wind as they spar and blow each other apart with powerful counters and dynamic attacks…and form and technique starts to slip away. Thankfully that normally ends around 1st Kyu as the constant badgering by instructors sinks in and Brown belts begin to figure out that its Form over Functional ability that leads to moving techniques and ability to the next level.
This levels basic techniques like Gyaku zuki and Mae Geri are still a bit robotic, but they also lack control because they throw everything with power and no control. Their Gyaku zuki has issues with hip rotation because they are thinking with the shoulders and arm more often than not, but the heel stays put and the power is shown. The Front kick normally is limited to Chudan because the flexibility they have produced is countered with the need for power in everything. They are easy to counter because they cannot relax enough to react after a technique has been launched.
By the time a student reaches Black belt they should have fallen back to the “cookie cutter” version of the perfect form of a technique. The power is more natural, form is near perfect and the relaxation in form and technique is starting to improve together. The problem is…everyone still looks the same.
The form is present but some of that fantastic power that Brown belts have has left when they realized they are not doing the movements with fluid and natural relaxation then split second Kime. Black belts, when they first get to that level, suffer from an identity crisis. They are now a senior but striving to show perfect form as a beginner would. They cannot mentally relax and have mental fits over form and function, are they inadequate or do they lack something. They question themselves and they need to learn relaxation even more now.
Things like the Reverse punch and front kick again seem to be a bit slower, but perhaps smoother. The form is back and little mistakes are cleaved off as practice time mounts again. The need to be powerful and reckless seems to be replaced with a attention to detail and a want to express perfect form. Heels are down again, more dynamic use of the hips and power translation is starting to fall back into natural form and functional standards. Basically the Black belt looks smoother and with better form, but not as loose and free and explosive as Brown belts tend to.
Something happens as a Black belt progresses and become more relaxed. They begin to explore their ability and they begin to fall away from the “cookie cutter” use of techniques. They explore options and they realize that some changes to form are not bad things at a higher level because they understand movement and their own body more. A more dynamic ability comes into play, they can now move more freely and still stick to the laws of movement that govern the style of Shotokan. They begin to come into their own and create a sub style of movement.
At this time they normally abandon the use of Sport Karate or Shiai Karate in favor of a more fluid and natural moving style that may not earn points but will win battles in real life. The heal may come back up or the leg may not chamber all the way, some recoil may be lost to help generate momentum in a different direction and techniques looked at individually lose some “perfection” but overall the whole movement skills become more natural and a thing of beauty. The individual people don’t look the same anymore and you get a diverse number of skills and use their body more effectively but not looking “perfect” doing so.
This level of proficiency starts to wright its only rules of movement and the student now has a more natural flow to their movements and they create reactions on the spot that are dynamic and varied. They don’t react the same way twice as they see the options for reactions and technical adjustments happen naturally and in the moment. They are no longer programed to react a specific way and they start to be more creative, relaxed and self-assured that they are doing their own Karate but still make it look as and feel like Shotokan, but a personal version of the basic foundation style.
The levels I outline are not really based on belts. I have trained with black belts that were stiff and ridged as a purple belt but have gone as far up the chain as they can and I have worked out with 3rd Kyus that never went to the “power and explosive action over form” phase and probably never will, and I have on occasion trained with juniors that moved like seniors and tended to create as they moved, instincts dictating movement and not the hard wired responses. The latter being VERY rare however.
I have also trained with those that THOUGHT they were at the level of seniors and were just sloppy and left form behind way to soon. Not everyone goes through all the phases and the grand use of these terms were simply for illustration and a example of a road map that one can follow to the next level. However, having said that…one cannot take short cuts to the top, they must go through these phases generally to get to the point of complete reflexive creation of movement within the principles of Shotokan Karate movement.
One also has to remember that perfection of techniques and movement is a goal, not a destination. One continues to grow even through the senior level of technical proficiency and into new avenues of movement. If you want proof you simply need to look at senior Karate people like Tanaka, Ueki, Yahara, Kanazawa, Osaka and others to watch their progress. With old movies on You tube and other file share programs its easy to watch as the senior Karate men go through changes to get to the place they are at now. And will continue to be interesting as we see them develop even further.
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