Elbows, Knees, Shutos and Head Butts.
One of the first things I got excited about while training in Kenpo was the drilling in the use of these weapons.
All of these strikes are in Karate, but outside of their use in Kata, you don't see them practiced much.
This is a shame as these are powerful self defense techniques and are essential in close quarter combat.
I recommend that all artist make an effort to drill in these techniques. Use them while training in Ippon Kumite. Drill in their use while practicing various self defense techniques. Practice close quarter combat attacking and countering attacking with them.
If you want to take your art beyond the sport aspect, hard training in these four weapons will dramatically improve your ability to defend yourself and add to the total grasp of your art.
Learn real self defense
KARATES NEGLECTED WEAPONS
Effective Striking For Serious Self Defense
Effective striking with the weapons of the body to the opponent’s vital points is essential for a victorious outcome in a hand-to-hand struggle. A person must be able to employ the principles of effective striking if he is to emerge as the survivor in a serious self defense situation..
1. Attitude. Proper mental attitude is of primary importance in your ability to strike an opponent. In hand-to-hand combat, you must have the attitude that you will defeat your attacker, no matter what. In a serious self defense situation you must have the frame of mind to survive above all else; the prospect of losing cannot enter your mind. You must commit yourself to hit the opponent continuously with whatever it takes to drive him to the ground and end his resistance.
2. Thrusting Strikes. A strike should be delivered so that the target is hit and the weapon remains on the impact site for at least a tenth of a second. This imparts all of the kinetic energy of the strike into the target area, producing a fluid shock wave that travels into the affected tissue and causes maximum damage. It is mperative that all strikes to vital points and nerve motor points are delivered with this principle in mind.
3. Target Selection. Strikes should be targeted at the opponent’s vital points and nerve motor points. The results of effective strikes to vital points cause temporary mental stunning and muscle motor dysfunction to the affected areas of the body. Mental stunning results when the brain is momentarily disoriented by over stimulation from too much input—for example, a strike to a major nerve. The stunning completely disables an opponent for three to seven seconds and allows you to finish off the opponent, gain total control of the situation, or make your escape. Sometimes, such a strike causes unconsciousness. A successful strike to a nerve motor center also renders the affected body part immovable by causing muscle spasms and dysfunction due to nerve overload.
Effective striking in a self defense situations can make the difference between walking away with you and your family safe, or becoming a victim to an aggressive attacker.
Ippon Kumite: The Essense of Karate
Ippon Kumite
The most practiced and least understood part of most martial artist training regime.
As a beginning karate student you are taught Ippon Kumite as a basic exercise, Attacker steps forward with an attack, defender steps back and blocks. This is fine, it teaches the new Karateka to use good form and how to transition from one stance to another.
Most martial art instructors have their students increase the power and speed as they advance, but never take it to the next level.
In Shotokan Karate, when we would train Ippon Kumite, we wouldn't know what attack was coming, we would be attacked from a standing or a fighting stance. The defender, who usually derives the most benefit from this kind of training would have to block or evade and would return with his own ippon, learning to see the opening, picking the correct weapon and striking with focus.
All of this needs to happen as a reaction, someone throws something at you, you duck or weave out of the path of the object, no training or practice, just reaction. Now lets combine this natural reaction with training, timing and focus.
Eventually every strike will be the final blow, not a combination of feints leading to the kime, but every blow as kime. Attaining this level is the essence of self defense taught in Shotokan Karate.
Ippon Kumite is so much more then basic training.
