The Way of Least Resistance

Introduction I have an idea that this article is going to surprise some folks.  Or, given my declaration at the end of last year that I was over "polemic writing", maybe it won't... Anyway, over the past few years, my thoughts on the issue of the " double hip " have changed subtly - but significantly - and I thought I'd elaborate on them. My views have changed not because I've altered my own way of practising martial arts (and karate in particular), but because I've come to understand better how and why others do so.  (I probably always understood this - but chose to write in my typically polemic style.) Yes, I've railed against the emphasis on "koshi" - hip use in kata very strongly. Why?  It seemed to me that it had become quite popular to practise this kata with a hip  pre-load  on every movement . Those who didn't do so (eg. JKA shotokan) were derided as lacking understanding or knowledge of the "true essence...

I saw this video featuring Michael Jai White on the subject of "telegraphing" quite some time ago, but here is the "extended version". It is certainly worth a watch: I have posted this video because I often get skeptical looks from other martial artists when I raise the issue of telegraphing and other extraneous movement . "Surely it doesn't make such a difference," they say (or, at least, they think - I can see the raised eyebrows, if nothing else). "Telegraphing might make a difference if the movement is huge. But some subtle shoulder lift or twitch that happens a microsecond before the punch? Are you telling me I need to be fussed about "refined" technique when my "rough and ready" does the job? Are you telling me that I am being "inefficient": that I can't do a little hip load before the punch - to give it "power"? You obviously haven't seen how fast I hit!" Well here is my...

Introduction In my previous article I discussed how the humble "lunge punch" (oi zuki) of karate is largely scorned by combat sports practitioners and other "pragmatic" or "reality-based" martial artists. I'm not just talking about a "lunging punch" executed the leading arm: that technique is as ubiquitous as any other common technique. No, here we're talking about the standard karate-style punch as seen in basic kata – you know, where you take a full step (with your legs passing each other) into a forward stance (zenkutsu dachi) then, at the completion of the step, you execute a punch with your leading arm. The classic example of this is to be found in the kata heian shodan. Defending the step-through oi zuki I've had various responses to my previous article, many defending the lunge punch after a step-through. But ultimately I've been unable to come up with a single video example of such a punch being executed (at...

Introduction There is a classic principle in the internal arts (specifically taijiquan) commonly referred to as “the rule against double weighting”. To me, this is one of the most misunderstood principles associated with the internal arts. Many proponents of this principle will insist that the body should never “double-weighted”. In other words, weight is always biased on one leg or the other, not distributed equally over both. A drill I teach beginners who are learning the Chen Pan Ling "99" taijiquan form The fallacy: your body inevitably passes through double-weighted points! In literal terms the “rule against double weighting” is clearly a fallacy. Consider for a moment that you will, sooner or later, have to transfer your body weight from one leg to another. And as you do so your body will have to pass through a point where your weight is, however transiently, evenly distributed over both legs. In Chen Pan Ling taijiquan we acknowledge this ...

Introduction I have written a number of articles concerning what I call “non-contextual” hip loading or pre-loading (starting with " Whole lotta shakin': pre-loading the hips "), however it occurs to me that people might not realize what I mean by this. When I refer to loading the hips “contextually” I am not referring to “loading them against an opponent”. I mean loading up naturally and appropriately in the circumstances, rather than artificially . Artificial hip loading in hip isolation exercises So what is “artificial hip loading”? Artificial loading of the hips is something one would, and should, do in hip isolation exercises. A good example of such an exercise is where you are punching a makiwara or other striking surface. In this case, you can load up as much as you like and take all the time you want, because the makiwara “sure ain’t going nowhere”. It is clearly “artificial” loading because a resistant opponent would not give you such an opportunity. But i...

Introduction I was going to call to call this article “For goodness sake, don’t do the hippy hippy shake”. But then I realised that this would prompt readers to think that I was referring to my old pet peeve, pre-loading the hip (or the “ double hip ”). 1 This article is not about that subject (which is only obliquely relevant). Instead, this article is about the kind of shaking that results from extraneous and uncontrolled movement (rather than deliberate, if contextually inappropriate, hip loading). Punching with “hara” It was in 1988 that I first trained with Graham Ravey, founder of the TOGKA and former deshi of Higaonna Morio. At that training a certain local goju kai teacher (who shall go nameless, but who introduced himself as “Shihan […]”) pulled me aside and said: “You have good technique – but you have no ‘hara’. “Hara,” he told me, “means ‘heart’. Your techniques have no heart.” Of course, “hara” is a Japanese term that is used in the martial arts to refer to the d...