Agree to disagree….with respect

 As a long-term martial artist I can tell you that the first thing we are taught as students is not just the kicky and punchy things, its to bow and show respect. Respect becomes a core principle of Karate and its training, not just because its polite but because it has to start to premiate every aspect of training. Without respect we would not listen to our Sensei or pay them the proper respect for their hard work, and more importantly we would not respect our partners, and it would turn into a fist fight every time Sensei calls for us to do Kumite. However this respect, for some reason, tends to start and end at the Dojo door for some.

 

        One of the lost skills I have noted over the last few decades is the art of Conversation. I am not talking about the demise of boys talking to girls, which also apparently is a thing, but the art of talking to your neighbor or fellow adult about almost anything. You can not even say “nice weather” with out an argument coming up, so its often best to just say nothing at all. Years ago, pre-Trump, I would purposefully hunt out people with opposite opinions than me and talk to them about their thoughts on politics ext. Now I have a plethora of people to talk to as I live in a strange province in Canada that is polarized to the tenth degree from other places. See we bounce from Canadian left to Canadian right politically and the centralists like myself (Liberals in Canada) tend to not run anything, in fact the logical center as I call us, tend to be ignored and have not held office in Manitoba yet. Period, I mean EVER!

        Before Trump I could sit with the lefties and the righties and chat about politics, their thoughts on how the government was doing, who was in power and how they were doing and most of the conversations were okay. We would talk about childcare, health care, Gun control, the education system and other hot topics up to and including religious topics and I found that I grew to understand others ideas and opinions and respectfully agreed or disagreed and we moved on. Our chats went from inquisitive chats to downright debates, but we always found common ground or just agreed we were both good people and we just did not agree on stuff.  My opinions tend to be slightly right sometimes and slightly left sometimes, I try and create a logical base for my thoughts and if I can not then I push to figure out if Im just wrong or if I have to find a harder base to my opinions. 

I have always say that in a respectful debate you have to present facts only , not emotional based opinions. Now you can be emotional about the facts, but you cant go all ad hominin on a person, in other words you can not go insulting or calling into question a personas character or other aspect of who they are to try and “win” a debate, the minute you start this you lost already. To this day if you call me old, fat or ugly or stupid I thank you for your chat and let them know that now I am done talking to you about this subject as you can’t substantiate anything without it being an insult war. If you can not debate clearly and honestly then you should not do it. Now, not everyone can debate, some of us are not made for that.  Recalling facts and details while you are trying to keep your emotions in check is not everyone’s strength, so at that point you just agree or not and move on. Debate and conversation are very similar and important in growing and making yourself a better person. Unfortunately, it’s a lost art and now, especially now, it is often a two camp situation and if you are not in my camp…you are the enemy. Debate time is over and it’s time to fight and not grow. Someone once called it “Trump derangement syndrome” and I am starting to agree that people who are trapped in one of the two camps, and this extends beyond Trump and his followers, are actually showing a form of mental illness.

 

Now, not everything is worth debating or arguing over.  Any married man knows that you can argue logic against your partner, and you can argue emotion or opinion about things but often its just best to not argue or debate. You figure it out after about two minutes that this is not a “fight” anyone is going to win and you just figure its not worth the argument.  Now somethings are worth the conversation, but others are simply not. For instance, if you are fighting over buying a couch, yah that one may be worth the chat and debate, but if your partner is pro guns and you are anti guns, to the point that its one of the key cornerstones of your belief system…you are probably not getting into a fight that is going to lead to any outcomes worth the fight. You often have to find accommodation to your belief and your parters belief, like you can keep a gun in the house, in a safe with the ammo elsewhere or you can have it, but only for home defense and the target range.

Religion, having children and politics are perhaps the biggest fights you will have as a married person, and they are huge! But, talking to friends and in some cases Karate students or peers can often be filled with a lot of pit falls that you need to avoid.  Not everything is worth debating as well.  And the way you debate is important as well.  Respect is the primary component of any good debate, but also go into it with a specific intent, how you proceed after that is also important but most importantly don’t go into a debate to argue alone, don’t become disrespectful if you see you are not “winning” and most importantly…stop thinking you need to change your partners mind, instead think you need to learn how to understand their stance better.

 

Now, in my dojo….post Donald Trump…Politics have no place in my Dojo. Pro or anti, for or against….nope Don’t really want to hear it. Now I will admit that I tend to break my own rule and get caught up in uncomfortable chats, but most of the time its when I totally agree with my partners not when we are sharing opposing views, but lately I back away right away and crack a joke, even if its about DJT. Politics have become the hot topic that religion and sexuality used to be. Now no one really cares if you are gay, catholic or protestant or straight, they want to know if you are right or left…and when you say NO or BOTH they get upset.

I once told a very right leaning student that I was a centralist, and they challenged me by saying that does not exist, you have to agree with the “logical right leaning people” or you were a communist. To which I laughed and said “given those choices…comrade…I pick left” you should never try and change the mind of a centralist by simply telling them if you are not with them you are against them…stupid argument to start with does not mean you will get a favorable outcome. Politics have become omni present as well. You cannot go anyplace or talk to anyone that is not highly political now a days.

My wife used to ask me who our prime minster was, who was the president, are they doing a good job and when I brought up the whole split Canadian government system and how its superior to the states she rolled her eyes and asked me who the hell I was talking to that brought up politics! Now, she literally comes into my office with “Did you hear what XYZ did today” or “Im so proud to be in a country that has Wab Kinew and Doug Ford” and when I try to tell her that she is comparing a right winger and a left winger together she knows…and she is so on top of the trade issues between Canada and the US as well as the issues with the war in Iran. When my wife is tuned in about this stuff you know its important, but a lot of the info that we are dealing with on a daily basis is not worth getting into fights over.

 

Now politics have soaked into everyday life and almost every corner of our mind is filled with the new American political voices and the separations that its causing down south and internationally, and a lot of the conversations people are having are directly related to Trump and his representatives or his political moves. But it has NO place in the Dojo. Most of the people I talk to about Trump and the states are all on the same side, like 80% of my Canadian friends loath him and everything he does, often just as a reflex with out real reason, but most of the time with reason.  The other 20% just do not give a hoot about him, they just want this roller coaster to end. Online however about 75% of my friends are anti Trump and about 25% are pro Trump. Sometimes I like to talk to my pro trump friends and ask “why” to them a lot….like a great deal of the time…but they often come back with talking points that make no sense and make them sound very controlled by the MAGA groups. I do this online or on the phone, but never in my Dojo…well never again.

Politics have NO place in the Dojo, and Karate suffers when you let it seep in. Politics are now one of those topics that are so hot button that if you bring them up and you are very passionately opposed to the ideas that your partners in the Dojo have it could lead to ill feelings for each other and a new issue has creeped up as well.  Before if you were a left leaning member of a Dojo (Think Deep NDP thoughts) and you were sparring with a far right ( PC) member, nothing was going to change, you know your partner has opposing political views, but it meant NOTHING. Now people will actually spar and bring up “oh, how do you like that….like the vote you guys lost” I swear to GOD I overheard a conversation during Kumite that was like this. Which is one more good reason to make students wear mouth guards during any and all kumite, can’t debate with a mouth guard in your mouth!

The most dangerous time for political discussions is before and after class, however. I would normally talk to my students while doing pre class warmups and depending on the time we may bring up what is going on in the world, and 99% of the time it went to the political side, which I had to put a end too as we had some very passionate students. To say that their were adversarial moments before class is an underexaggerating to say the least. We had one very, very right wing student who was actually Pro-Trump, could not stand the left…or center and tried to tell everyone why they were simply wrong. She had the most closed mind I have ever seen, but outside of her weird political views and her strange views on things like COVID and the vaccine she was a very nice lady, which is why it was so sad that I got weakly complaints about her. She would come out to class on Thursday and Saturday and by Sunday my inbox was going crazy with complaints.

I am not going to say that this was all her fault in the beginning. I do take some responsibility for opening stating my political thoughts as a centralist, and I openly explored my thoughts and stances on different political stances, but the worst were the people who complained early on about her. Those that were more left in the Dojo took offense at her stances and often complained to me via email to the point that I had to start to curtail political chat in the Dojo. It was at a time that most of this was new to society, before this era it was considered rather rude to bring up politics in the club, if you had an opposing view, you just did not talk about it, you were there after all for Karate, not a civics debate.

After some time I had to put my foot down and state that politics should not be a topic in the Dojo, it leads to otherwise nice people becoming caustic and aggressive and hurt feelings, I should have said on both sides because my right leaning student got stuck on that and said that it was because the other students were snowflakes, and to a degree she was right, but she failed to see that she too was overly reactionary and took everything to heart. I started to not bring up Politics, even in my private life and I found that before Trumps second run, I was much happier not talking about it. Turns out Politics should be left to the politicians for the most part and open debates lead to NOTHING but anger and stupid insults.

 

One of the key fundamentals in running a successful Dojo is to have all the students training in the same direction, on the same page or simply in Harmony.  Adding political pressure and emotion to the mix never works. When you step into the Dojo and put on your Keiko Gi and Obi you are single mindedly focused on development of skill, decompression for stress relief and creating a stronger, healthier body and mind….trust me when I say its better to learn to agree to disagree or leave it outside the Dojo when it comes to your beliefs and your opinions no things not Karate.

I have had to referee several conversations and several situations in the Dojo and when it got political, I had to actually separate people physically from each other. And the arguments lead to other silly situations that should have easily been avoided. One student got very upset when they got hit in the head (Forehead) by a punch from a partner and came to me to complain stating it was because the other person hated her thoughts as she is conservative and he is a lefty socialist. My reply to her was that “The mechanics of a poor block do not care if the person attacking you is a socialist, communist or right winger, learn to block no matter what doctrine your partner follows”….I started to loath Politics at this point. I also had a left leaning student refuse to spar with our right leaning student and I had to explain to them that there is a need in Karate to train with people of all kinds of back grounds and them showing intolerance made them worse than the other person simply because you don’t agree with them on political ideologies.

 

Not everyone thinks the same way! Duh!  I was told this by a person that was losing the argument we were having terribly, but I felt a lot of respect because the person did not go low and start calling me names, I would not be shocked if they thought I was some kind of idiot for my stance, but at least they were pleasant about it. That the key! Show respect and don’t get worked up.  Getting angry because someone does not agree with you is silly. Today we see way to munch in the way of reflexive direction changes, and people getting very angry with other people who don’t agree with them. Anger that is misdirected and not controlled does a lot of damage.  The student who was on the right used to be seen by the other students as a great person, someone who was warm and caring and they loved sparring with her as she had a never give up mentality, but her attitude and belief system caused a toxic rift between her and others.

There is a difference between hiding your beliefs and not sharing them. Or at least picking when to share them. Oh, and we are not talking fringy ideas that cause damage and concern amongst your friends and family, I mean things that are much less caustic but still very aggressive. There is a time and a place to talk about these, the Dojo is not one of them. Obviously not everyone thinks the same things, or has the same opinions on different topics. I often laugh because Maggie and I have different ideas on things all the time, mostly silly things that don’t affect our relationship, but more so like I love pork chops and she hates them….or she likes her coffee with cream and sweetener and I have only one sweetener. We do tend to align politically but we try not to harp on it to much.

Not everyone has the same priorities, think the same way or have strong feelings about everything, however in todays world people tend to manufacture opinions, emotions and strong feelings for EVERYTHING and we all feel that our thoughts and opinions NEED to be expressed, they don’t…and no one really cares about your feelings about the Ectogenesis or the plight of the Vaquita Porpoise…..I had to look both of those topics up by the way.

I think one of the strangest conversations I have ever had was one on line when one of my very left-learning friends brought up that DJT and the supreme court ended Roe v Wade in 2022. They were aghast that I did not care to much about it, I have to admit that it’s A) Because I am not American and B) our reproductive rights in Canada are fairly firm…and C) I am an old man with no uterus and no child to worry about their reproductive rights. Now, my left-leaning friend was quick to point out that it’s not that I don’t care but that I have not really thought about it, which was wrong. She assumed if I was being honest with her, I would side with her or I was an idiot that did not agree with her. I had to point out that I did think about it a bit and when I realized that it does not affect me personally or anyone I know…CUZ IM CANADIAN…and she was trying to force me to take a side..she got even more offended…because we all need to be on a side. No, we do not. Not everyone has the same thoughts, feelings and opinions, its one of our strengths as a society that we all have a different stance, different focus and different skills…its not a weakness.

 

Here is another ideology I tend to live by, not everyone is always right or wrong. Not everyone that you trust and respect is right all the time, and not everyone you hate and or disagree with is wrong all the time. One of my favorite people in history was Gandhi, he of course was a historical figure who was widely viewed as a good leader of his people, a moral compace that taught the world about peace and love. Yet, he also had some very questionable if not disagreeable stances and habits that modern critics consider harmful or even just wrong. Yes, he was into non-violent resistance, but he also was a racist. He wrote a lot of negative things about Black Africans that were extreme and racist, he also was a bit of a pedo, he experimented with chastity and to test himself he slept next to his grand niece to test himself. We also now that bad people do good things too.  Oskar Schindler was the subject of a famous movie, he was a Nazi profiteer who also managed to save 1200 Jews from the gas chamber. Al Capone was a mobster and murderer who sold illegal booze and killed people to profit, but he also fed the hungry and supported Chicago during an economic hard time. 

Based on these extremes you can not look at any one person and just hate them and “all they believe in” simply because of their stance you don’t agree with. I am NOT saying let the Nazi and the criminal off the hook or make anyone that does good things a untouchable in your mind. Those are extreme examples. Your friend who believes in gun rights is not evil because you are a gun control advocate or the fact that your friend feels that a woman’s body is their own to decide on is evil because you are pro-life. No, what it means is that just because you hold different stances on something does not change who they are other than that one subject.

 

One of the lost skills our grandparents had is the art of sitting outside your opinions when your input wont help or is not warranted/needed.  In the old days we used to view opinionated people as annoying and silly people who should themselves be ridiculed. It was rude to give your thoughts to someone randomly or to voice your thoughts without being asked. I remember a TV show called little house on the prairie and one of the characters was a store owner who was a busy body who supplied anyone who would listen with her thoughts on any subject, she gossiped about people inserting her own thoughts into the situation at will. She was the bad guy on that show, often being made fun of after she made someone’s life difficult. She was “put up with” but never really liked. She was in a position where people had to come to her and buy important goods, but everyone knew who she was and that she would give her thoughts to anyone that listened, and they were often negative about anything and anyone. One time she was picking apart the politicians of the time and people rolled their eyes, she was an outlier and her behavior was unusual.  Now her type of person is the norm not the exception.

The fine are of sitting outside your opinion is when you see something or hear something and KEEP YOUR OPINION TO YOUR SELF! Its easy, someone says they support Trump or Carney or Ford and you simply say “That’s nice” and change the subject. Or if they say “I am pro-life” say “That’s nice” and move along. I don’t get why everyone has to share their thoughts and opinions as well. I have had conversations in which I have greeted someone knew and in ten minutes of meeting them they have stated 3 political stances they have made. We used to make fun of Vegans as they tended to tell us their food/lifestyle preference upon greeting them, but now it seems this is the norm for everyone. I ran a meet and greet at the club once and a student came up to me and told me that they were a school teacher who supported children’s right to decide their own gender and they were a “new vision” teacher….still don’t know what that means as I went blank on the gender thing. She then asked me my thoughts on children’s gender and I said “Oh, nice talk to you in a bit” and left the situation. Which was Rought with booby traps.  I also had a situation in which a friend of mine was talking to another friend of mine who is indigenous and started to lecture the indigenous person on their rights and historical hardships. I had to drag my friend away as smoothly as possible before that got ugly.

Social media is filled with ideology, peddling and manufactured anger towards topics that don’t have anything to do with the person. We want to show that we are all on what we see is the right side of a topic and that we are morally superior to those that don’t hold the same ideas. Our moral compass is replaced with dog whistle topics and vertu signaling to prove we are better. We are also rolling over history to try and replace what actually happened and replace the true history with change, which does not work…what do I mean? Well locally we have changed names of streets and roads because the name of the person some how makes us uncomfortable, and we flip the opposite using names to replace the roads that will somehow make us better…but it does not, or they start moral grandstanding to try and boost their personal status or make others feel that they are doing something.

 

A lot of performative actions are also done to try and look like they hare on a moral high ground, when nothing they are doing is changing anything. Rallies are good for making people aware of situations, but some are just them to make the people involved in the rally feel better about themselves. We live in a culture of outrage, if you say the sky is blue you are in for a fight, water is wet…boy you better get ready for a fight….and everyone is 0-100 in seconds when it comes to be offended and if you are not 110% pure on their side then you are 100% against them. You can think that Gaza is a war crime, but that automatically makes you Anti Semetic. You can support the state of Israels right to defend themselves but now you are anti Muslim. No one is willing to keep a thought in their head without it falling out their mouth!

Part of the issue with sharing your thoughts and stances is that we do live in a reactive culture now, we get offended so quickly and we don’t just share our displeasure, we vent our outrage. This is now seen not only as acceptable but also as a right or a character trait that is accepted and viewed as a good thing. When I was first getting into talking about politics, we had a word for someone who got offended and vented their feelings all over the situation…snowflake.

 

So, what does this all mean to a Dojo. Well if you choose to be offended and voice your thoughts, to over share about politics and proselytize (look it up) in class or engage in not just conversation but arguments with your fellow students…well you may get fired as a student.

The student in question began talking just to me and debating the right vs the center/left, which was sort of safe because I knew what I was getting into, but then she started expanding her topics and begin talking about right wing conspiracy theories and trying to recruit others, or just talk about her thoughts with other students. When COVID came around she had already created a lot of ill will with some of the adult students who did not really like her stance on the vaccine and COVID in general, we had a break for a year or so when we were doing Karate online only, but then when we came back she did not want to wear a mask, was preaching herd immunity and pushing others to not wear a mask or get the vaccine. She was spewing toxic ideology to anyone who would listen, and now it was not just me getting complaints about her support of the right to the adults, but parents saying she was dangerous and they did not feel comfortable with her around their kids.

I sat down with her and talked to her but she came back with “its my right to voice my opinions” to I tried to tell her that she does have the right to her own opinion, but she is an adult and should show tact in when its voiced and to whom. She disagreed and told me that she can say her thoughts and spread her information to anyone she pleased. I had to put my food down and informed her that the Dojo is not a democracy despite her thoughts, it’s a dictatorship and a company or business, if she chooses to tell everyone her thoughts, well I would have to ask her to not and to just train. She was good for a week then a parent reached out and told me she was now cornering them in the parking lot to complain about them saying something, ironically, she missed her mark and complained to the wrong family.

I called her up on a Sunday and told her that her behavior is what was at question now, not her beliefs. And she was to find a new Dojo now. I had to fire my first student in my life time…

 

Well, after all that…what is the moral of the story. Learn to agree or learn to disagree with respect. Its not worth your frustration over people not sharing or caring about your position. Even today most people are not very political, but a lot are reactionary, if you go out of your way to share your thoughts, they will react…positive or not. As a martial artist we must seek peace, but more so we have to learn to avoid conflict. 

The Kinetics of Kokutsu dachi

 The Kinetics of Kokutsu dachi

 

Kinetics

·         a branch of science that deals with the effects of forces upon the motions of material bodies or with changes in a physical or chemical system

 

·         the rate of change in such a system

 

·         the mechanism by which a physical or chemical change is effected

 

Kinetics is the branch of physics that deals with the effects of force on materials to create change, in this case the change is motion, or stability….its a focus on generation and conduction of power from the ground to the target and it’s also how not to fall down.

The last part was in jest, but you do use stances to hold up your body and thus you are placing forces on the joints and controlling your body weight with the stance, which can lead to injury. The whole point of Kokutsu Dachi is to create distance between you and the opponent while also generation of kinetic energy from your stance to your target using the stance.

 

Kokutsu Dachi is one of several “Basic” Kata Dachi that we use in Karate, it’s a fundamental stance often characterized as being defensive. The stance uses approximately 70% of the body weight on the rear leg and 30% of the weight on the slightly bent front leg with the majority of the weight being on the ball of the front foot and the whole of the rear foot.  Bending your rear leg you sort of “Sit” into this stance.

As my students are well aware I have an affinity for this stance and also, I cringe when I see some “Masters” or high level instructors forming this stance, not only do they do it poorly they promote this poor position to their students and expect that the students wont pick up their bad habits.

 

Forming the stance

                The Kokutsu Dachi or back stance is formed by first placing the “front” foot straight out from the body, the rear foot aiming to the side or perpendicular to the front foot, or 90 degree angle from the front foot. Slide the front foot out or step back the rear foot keeping the angels the same. The feet should be roughly shoulder width apart.

                Bend the rear leg pointing the knee to the side or 90 degrees away from the front. 70% of the weight should remain on the rear leg while 30% of the weight is placed on the ball of the front foot, the front foots heal being slightly up or lightly touching the floor and all the weight on the ball of the front foot. The rear foot should have a balanced weight placed on it with some preasure on the outside blade of the foot.

                The front leg should be slightly bent at the knee, not pushing the knee forwards. The front hip should “Pinch” in as should the rear hip creating a flat position for the pelvic bones and the “Sits” bones aiming straight down.

                The feet can be aligned with the front heel aiming at the rear heal creating a “L” like stance or to the center of the foot forming a “T” type stance. The rear knee should bend hard towards the rear foots big toe. The hips should sink into the stance but remain limber and mobile.

 

 

Key Features and Structure

·         Position of the front foot: The front foot must aim directly straight forwards aiming the big toe straight forwards and all weight on the ball of the foot not the heel.

·         Weight distribution: Primarily the weight is on the rear leg, however with your center of gravity being dropped some weight will be placed on the ball of the front foot. The split is roughly 70/30%.  If your weight approaches 50/50% you have lost your stance and will have to reset. To much weight to the rear and you are forming more of an open Neko Dachi (Cat Stance).

·         Contraction of rear hip: Most people focus on the feeling of sitting down and if lucky they remember to contract the front hip, however the rear foot should feel like you are contracting here as well an focus on the “pinch” feeling as you squeeze the body down.

·         Contraction of front hip: My favorite instruction is to squeeze or “pinch” the front hip as your front foot pushes into the torso. Do not let the hip raise up or you will lose the pressure from the front foot. One of my instructors once said “ like a shark biting” as he showed the front hip pinching shut. This allows for a total torso drop wit the rear and front hip squeezing closed.

·         Slight bend of front Knee: straighten the front leg pushing the weight into the ball of the foot, then slightly bend the front knee to ensure that you control your stance and allow for more mobility. This also allows for more weight to be placed on the ball of the foot.

·         Turning the muscles of the front leg: one of the less talked about “Feelings” when forming a Kokutsu Dachi is the way that your thigh muscles twist or torque.  The thigh muscles should turn out or roll over the femur to the outside of the leg as you contract the hip. This will ensure your knee does not roll in and also allows for the hip to create pressure you can use for power into the techniques.

·         Counter torsion of the rear thigh muscles:

·         Angle of the hips: Hips are normally turned 45 degrees to the side, not a full 90 degrees.  Forcing the hips to 90 degrees or straight front is more done to add power to the techniques.

·         Alignment of the heels: Both the “L” and the “T” alignment are perfectly correct.  The width of the feet from a more linear “L” to a more open “T” mainly is determined by the width of the pelvic bones and flexibility.  Both offer their own benefits and draw backs.  Personally I teach the T stance formation to start with and then based on the students flexibility, balance, strength and mobility we choose to stay the same or move to the L.

·         Pleasure from front foot to the rear hip: One of the most important points for the Kokutsu Dachi is that you put all the weight of the front leg on the ball of the foot and “Push” the front foot into the rear hip. This gives the stance stability and allows for better power transition from the ground to the arm technique. Use the front and rear hip for balance and power transition, but the front foot is integral to creating a powerful stance.

·         Dropping the body weight on the rear leg/slightly in front of rear hip: when you “pinch” both the front and rear hip properly you align the hips and create a balance as well as “Flattening” the hips to the floor.  Drop your body weight down when you contract both hips and drop your body weight onto the rear foot or just slightly in front of the rear leg.

·         Slight body tilt: Tilt your body forward, not to the rear. By bending to the front slightly you will avoid the lean back or to the side that some people experience when doing a proper stance. A big component of this is the dropping of the hips and contracting both hips to create balance and stability. This is a SLIGHT body bend not a hard lean.

·         “Sit down” feeling”: One of the most important things I teach is the “Sit down” on the piano stool method of forming the stance.  Pretend that the piano stool is sitting next to your rear leg and lower your body weight onto the rear leg pushing the rear down as if you are sitting on a stool.

 

 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Leaning Back: Ensure the upper body is upright or slightly forward, not leaning back into the rear leg. This throws off your balance and opens the front hip, which it is also often caused by. This puts a lot of pressure on the rear hip and knee leading to injury.

Leaning to the side: One other common mistake is leaning to the side. Most people do this to avoid leaning back however. This also creates a balance issue and adds extra weight or force to your rear knee which could lead to knee issues.

Sticking the butt out: Not as common is the student who pushes their pelvis beyond their rear leg/hip.  This is very bad for the rear knee and leg. The injuries can also travel up the rear knee to the low back. This also eliminates balance and can cause technical problems with any arm techniques that the stance supports.

Rear Knee Collapse: The back knee must not buckle forward; keep it pushed out over the back toes. When the knee collapses it puts a lot of pressure on the knee ligaments and can cause overuse strain and even evulsion issues.

Lift the front foot too much/Not enough: In this case lifting the heal way to high or putting pressure down on the heel causes the power generated from the front leg to be limited if not totally lost.  Flat heal is what I call “Tripod” stance where you hold your body weight up but there is minimal translation of power from the front leg and stance to the arm techniques. Lifting it to high also limits the power transfer but also creates a different kind of tripod issue where you are just holding up your weight and can not translate power from the stance to the techniques.

Pushing the rear knee too far out: Opening the rear hip to much does not allow for the pressure that you create from the front foot to go into the techniques. This also stops you from contracting your rear hip properly. One other side effect of this is opening the knee laterally causing ligament damage from wear or suddenly.

Not squeezing the legs together when moving forwards/Back: When moving you must “come to the middle” or squeeze your knees and legs together before opening the legs again to form a new stance. If you do not squeeze the adductor muscles together then you slow down your movement and lose control of the stance. Stay low and use your contraction of the legs to form a centrifugal motion before extending the leg out straight.

Standing up to high: This can be a mistake made when moving or when standing. If you do not squeeze and maintain a lower posture, you lose the ability to draw power from the ground. The up and down movement also bleeds off energy and takes longer to complete the movement.

Letting the rear knee fall in: Almost as bad, or often worse, than having a stance to wide is letting the rear leg fall into the stance. This is dangerous for the rear knees stability and it also limits mobility. You need to pinch the rear and front hip down and ensure your rear hip, knee and big toe are all aiming 90 degrees to the side and roll the rear thigh muscle over (out) while maintaining the hip contraction.

Incorrect Hips: Avoid facing 90 degrees to the side; the hips should be set at a 45-degree angle.

 

 

Purpose and Usage

 

·         Defensive Stability: Excellent for blocking (e.g., *shuto-uke) and defending against incoming attacks due to the loaded, spring-like nature of the back leg.

·         Rapid Transition: Allows quick shifting into forward stance (zenkutsu-dachi) or cat stance (neko-ashi dachi).

·         Distance maintenance: One of the other benefits of Kokutsu Dachi is that you can use this stance to maintain defensive distance and then shift into Zenkutsu or front stance and to instantly adjust distance from a more defensive posture to a more aggressive offensive one.

 

 

Physics and applying it to the Back stance

                I am not going to get to much into the weeds with physics here but more describe the transition of power from the floor to the arm waza. Lets take Uchi Uke (inside block) Kokutsu Dachi (Back stance) and show the transition.

                Staring at the front foot the weight of the body is on the front foot and pushing up into the ground slightly to create a refractive preasure up the front leg into the front hip. The front hip should be contracted, flattening the pelvis and putting more force up the leg into the front hip area.  This then transitions into the rear hip which is held in place with the rear portion of the stance, creating a “wall” to bounce the force off of.

                The force bouncing off the rear hip travels up the torso, which is slightly leaning forwards. The force from the rear hip, traveling up the torso, goes into the lead arm which is forming the Uchi uke. (see diagram).  This transition of power, along with the proper form of the stance is much like a “ping pong” or “pinball” game. This force is slightly continuous but also a “pulse” of power can be generated by applying a force to the ground and feeling it travel up the body and into the arm instantly.

                One could break down the physics and look at force, frictional energy loss and the rest, but the description given is more than likely more helpful to the majority of people.

 

How to improve your Kokutsu Dachi

                Over the years I have studied this stance from a students point of view and a instructors point of view trying to create a better stance in myself and my students. Some of the key training components and exercises that I have used to help my students and myself are unique, most I feel are used by all instructors in the JKA and other Shotokan groups, these are the key exercises I use to improve the stance.

 

Use of the wall:

                The wall can be used to push the rear hip, knee and foot against to ensure that you are not over or under moving the knee in or out. Push into the wall at first and then give yourself a bit of room from the wall but maintain the same feel of pushing the front foot into the rear hip and then ricochet the energy to the lead hand.

 

Partner work:

                Use the partner much like the wall at first. Both partners take up a Kokutsu Dachi and push the hip and knee together so that you touch, ensure that both partners are pushing equally and not one leaving a gap that the other then must overcompensate for.

                Partners can, of course, be used to check the stability of the Kokutsu by gently shoving the student when they take up the stance, remind the student of the need for the joints to be in specific positions by again doing light pushing.

               

Focus on “Sitting on the piano stool:

                One other key to use visualization for the technique is to visualize sitting on a piano stool and pushing down into the stance. Ensure that the “imaginary stool” is situated under your pelvis and you simply drop your weight down.

 

End notes

                Kokutsu is one of the key Kata Dachi for Shotokan Karate, it appears in almost all Kata and most students do it poorly. This is not only a defensive stance, it has a lot of dynamic uses if you practice it and watch the details in training. Do not think of this as only a defensive stance as it can be used to sneak your front foot into an attackers lead foot and then Ashi Barai/Foot sweep the opponent. This can only be done however if you have a solid, flexible stance.

                I did not go into use of rotation in Kokutsu as I think only the most advanced student should focus on this. The hip rotation adjusts or augments the thigh muscle position and could be a whole blog entry unto itself.

                One reason that I advocate a deeper dive into the training in this Kata is the fact that doing it poorly can cause knee and hip issues. The human knee is essentially held together with very firm connective tissue outside and inside the knee, normal movement is made safe by the four major structures associated with the knee joint as well as other tissues that cross over the joint such as the patellar tendon, however the cruciate ligaments and the Lateral and medial collateral ligaments are susceptible to excess wear and injury. The improper use of the stance or mechanical issues that arise from doing the stance incorrectly can lead to painful consequences. If the stance is done correctly however, the outcome is stronger legs, a very useful tool in your tool box and much nicer looking Kata.

                As Kokutsu is a very important and often ignored stance, work on it as often as you can each month and make it part of your regular routine. Once you have mastered this stance or at least have worked it to the point that you understand how to make the stance you will see the value in its use beyond just using it in Kata. 

An argument for Slowing down rank progression

 Here I go again. When I was a kid and started Karate you wore a white belt and you progressed every three to six months, but you were working out hard every week…four or five times a week and even then you moved slow through the rankings, invited to rank two or three times a year.  From the lowly white to yellow belt level you looked up at the high ranks of Shodan and Nidan and were convinced you would never make those ranks.  The Black belts were the big boys, the gang of excellence. They had a look to them, a Pride and aura about them.

The black belt was the peak of training. You were no longer held to the same rules of basics, Shitie Kata and controlled Kumite, you were expected to be doing more advanced training and your level was such that you could build your own training, select your own Kata and work in it….yes you followed Sensei but you had specific freedoms we did not have. You were the peak of training. Not everyone would make the elite level of Shodan. It was not simply showing up, it was pushing through the harder and harder training program. It was about pushing through increasingly difficult classes, becoming fitter and improving your movement skills, your internalization of the Karate basics and fundamentals, becoming more accustomed to kumite and becoming better.

When you got your Shodan you were just better. But your ego was always kept in place because above you their were Nidans, then Sandans the rare Yondan and back then maybe one or Two Godans in the whole province…then their was Sensei. If he felt you had an ego…he fixed you. Of the 1000 new students that walked through the door each year (yah…not kidding) maybe 100 stuck it out to intermediate level of purple bel.  Maybe 50 stuck it out till Brown belt and honestly 2-5 maybe got Black belts . Of those 2-5, only about 1-2 would stick it out and continue on to Nidan. Even that training was seen as insane.

 

Contrast that to the new training and the new martial artst hat we see, even my own Dojo has the “new issue”.  Kids and to some extent adults seem to avoid hard work like its going to harm them. They want to show up and be coddled and spoon fed the work outs, no warm up time, no pre class work outs. If I had shown up at the Dojo and sat around chatting I would have been a target for one of the black belts to show the others that this behaviour is not correct. And the work outs, I actually have kids training who complain allowed about how hard the classes are. I would NEVER have done that growing up in Karate. You pushed yourself till you threw up or till you passed out, both of which I have done as a child Karate student and again as an adult.

I try and teach a more balanced, less meat head approach to Karate now.  I mean I don’t want to harm kids and the stuff I did to my body back then has left me “marked” for life in a lot of ways, and while on some level I absolutely loved that crazy training and wear my pain with like a badge of honor knowing that others can not say that they went through the same degree of self destruction, I also know that my student are probably not interested in the same style of training, the same intensity and veracity in training.

So, I watch and see what others are going through to get their Shodan or first black belt level and I am often shocked! One of my close friends put her kid into Tae Kwon do and when I found out he got to black belt with out training in even the most basic of Kumite I almost fell over.  I also see kids show up and train, they test and get what we call “B” belts or “Almost did it” belts and then get up to black belt, having done very little really and they want that belt. They want to be given the belt because they paid for it. They showed up. 

We have somehow gotten weak.  We try our best as instructors to instil the same drive and determination we had as students. However we all know that they are not the same.  I don’t know if you would say we have mental issues or something but it’s a special kind of crazy to be so dedicated and to put yourself through the level of training we did in the 70’s-90’s.  However the new bread of student expects that because they pay us monthly amounts and show up that they will see progress in rank. I blame this on the styles like Tae Kwon Do that split off from us (super simplification I know) and the Sport Karate groups that seem to have take up the idea of participation equalling improvement. We have lost the spirit that we once had that saw us value hard work and realize that the only way to move forwards was to work for it.

We still tend to value hard work and things we have to work for, but now we expect it to be easy and we don’t want to fight for it or work for it at all. This is caused by people getting participation trophies and not having to suffer a little to get ahead. We see people complain that they actually have to work for a paycheck and not just show up and get it. They get mad when we dare to insist that they get off social media to do their jobs. And we get down right upset when we are told that we have to pay taxes on our work so we can get things like health care, police and other services….how dare they ask us to pay for such things. We showed up after all.

Today the students cower and even turn their backs when faced with a challenge in Kumite. They refuse to actually fight. It is rare that I get a student to face me and actually want to put the effort in to push themselves and show progress. It all stems from the current idea that kids in Karate/martial arts are some how not to be challenged. They go through a watered down form of training and they get a false sense of accomplishment and security thinking they are now somehow able to defend themselves.  Worse yet they learn very bad habits that will not help them out in life. They are taught that they don’t have to work very hard and they will still get to an elite level. They don’t have to suffer, they don’t have to work or do the extra efforts to build and grow, they just get the fancy belts that others get…cuz they are here too.

It also is tied to a great deal of self importance, lack of respect for others, intolerance to authority and entitled to everything with out working for it.  These are dangerous lessons to teach kids, because as we all know…kids get older. I feel failing a kid and seeing how they respond is a better gage of character than just giving them rank because they showed up. Through this new “show up and move up the ranks” mentality of some instructors the black belt has become something it never was before….basic. We see this mentality in the seniors now too. When I was younger in Karate the highest levels of instructors in Canada were some place around Godan (5^th Dan) and Rokudan (6^th Dan) and that was just accepted. You had maybe four 6^th dans across Canada, now…maybe five in once province.  Its why I stopped looking at rank as anything more than politics playing out.

 

We have to put off student grading to allow us to have more time to teach them, and for them to learn. We have to step back as instructors and stop doing what the sport people do in collecting trophies/medals to prove that they are good coaches. We forget that the depth of our training took us time and so much effort, but we feel we are giving it away and they should be able to get it with out going through the trials we did.  We need the same amount of time, if not more to pass on the lessons we learned, not all of which were physical and we need to be able to keep the students humble.

Karate should be hard, all martial arts training should be a trail of the spirit. The lessons that are passed on to us through this trial will help build up our spirit and teach you things like respect, discipline and goal setting. Karate should be hard….if it wasn’t everyone would do it…but everyone should.

 

After chatting about my conversations and the experience of my friends son I came to a conclusion, or more a question….what are we teaching the students if we continue to give away the ranking and not insist on doing the harder training with them.

Here is where my big suggestion comes in. First off im suggesting we go back to the way that my instructor did things near the end of his teaching. We SLOW DOWN ranking. You end up making it fare for others and at the same time you do end up with exceptional students in each rank. They are not rushed to the next rank just as they are becoming good at their current ranking…and you find that your members stick around more as you may be increasing the intensity and the work, but you are also giving everyone time to grow, become better and more proficient at the skills you are to show at each rank level.

 

Again, all this is just to say “slow it down” don’t rush so fast to the next rank and push yourself as hard as you can to be the best you can be at the rank you are currently in. And none of this is to bash Tae Kwon do, we see this kind of Martial Day care in all arts today.