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Karate man doing the Hook Punch in Tekki kata
Technique-natural movement
Karate As We Age – Part 3 of 6 – Moving From The Waist!

Older, martial artists often develop sore joints, especially hips and knees. Ironically, this can actually be made worse by one of the key principles as taught by Japanese and Korean Masters. However, a relatively small adjustment to emphasis moving from the waist (rather than the hips) as the Chinese styles do, can help to relieve hip pain, reduce wear over time, and is actually more powerful!  When you examine the Tekki/Naihanchi kata, one of the older kata’s and one if the most central kata’s in Karate, we can see that it actually doesn’t work very well when we emphasis moving from the hips, but it works much better when we learn to move from the waist.

 

 

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Karate man in horse stance
Technique-natural movement
Karate As We Age – Part 2 of 6 – Joint Alignments (Take Pressure Of Your Joints)

Correct alignment of your joints is important at any stage of your training, but even more so as we get older. It is often taught that we should push our knees out to the side, supposedly for stability.  However, this puts lateral pressure on your knee joints, which will damage them over time! These teachings also fail to take full advantage of the body’s natural power line for pushing forward, losing power in all of your techniques. So learning the correct alignments will make your stances more comfortable, more effective and help take the pressure of any damaged joints.

See the video below for a full explanation:

 

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Low kick to bag
Technique-natural movement
Close Quarter Kicking For Devastating Finishes

In the video below, we look at close quarters kicking for self protection. Obviously when you think of close quarters, using the knees comes to mind. Some kicks such as the Round House/Turning Kick (Mawashi Geri) and Side Thrust Kick (Yoko Kekomi Geri); are usually seen as long range kicks. However, with just a small adjustment and by keeping them low; they can be used to devastating effect at close range and are very difficult to block!

For more tips on effective kicking, check out the Youtube Module on 10 Kicking Tips at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

 

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Man hitting punch bag with ridge hand strike
Karate Technique-natural movement
The Most Effective Way To Use Ridge Hand Strike

Most traditional martial arts teach the use of the Ridge Hand Strike (also known as Reverse Knife Hand Strike) as striking with the base of the forefinger (where the finger joins the hand) or even with the thumb. No disrespect to anybody who practices or teaches that way, but it does leave a small joint vulnerable to damage. When we strike with the forearm instead, it is much more powerful and more versatile. In this video, I demonstrate the difference between striking with the hand and striking with the forearm and the forearm is clearly significantly more powerful. If you have any doubts, then please try it yourself on a bag or with somebody holding a substantial pad.

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