Retracting punches vs. "leaving the hand in"
Over the last 6 months I have been staggered by the number of correspondents who say that karate and other traditional martial arts are ineffective because their practitioners "leave the hand in". By this they mean the arm is not retracted in a punch. Simply put, this issue is completely and utterly misconceived. It is so misconceived that I hardly know where to begin in terms of addressing it... Let me start by making this fundamental observation: Leaving the arm there or retracting it makes no difference in destructive terms . It's the outward speed that counts (and your ability to deflect it in its outward phase)! In my school we train traditional punches first (no retraction) so as to develop kime (focus). This is the concept I refer to in my article "Visible force vs. applied force" . After the students have developed focus they move to snap punches. Nenad demonstrating kime in reverse punch In the last 22 years of teaching I've found that if you go...