Killer Miller

The knee will screw up in the first year or two if you are not developing proper technique. Be sure you are using proper tension at the proper time - especially with the snap kicks. See how fast you can pull the leg/hips back to ready position with proper tension. This will help from over-extending the knee. Also, if your stance is too long or short, you will also over-extend the knee and put unessary stress on the knee - stand in kiba dachi at exactly two shoulder widths, then turn into zenkutsu dachi (front stance) at that time with the exact same footing. This will be the exact length that your stance should be. Also, use proper breathing from the lower diaphragm so that you properly tense all body muscles which keep joints tighter, and from over-extending, which in return protects joint from abuse. So as you can see, there are many non-medical reasons why your knees can be bothering you from training. Make sure this is not the reason why. And like I said, this typically occurs in the first year or two of beginners. Once you learn proper technique, these problems usually won't return. Of course, medical issues are a whole nother story... - Killer -

Doesn't make sense to me... Two shoulder widths in length long on the stance and 45 degrees on the hips. A longer stance would put too much weight on the rear of the front foot causing an imbalance of the stance. Over extending the 45 degree of the hips is not necessary and I would think you would pull muscles in the process. So, I don't understand their logic. I'd be curious to know their technical explanation for doing this??? - Killer -

Well, you have to train hard with the visual that you are truly defending youself. Not to be beaten, but trained hard and strict so reaction and muscle memory are the same whether you are training or truly defending yourself. If this is the stick, or old method, I'm for it. If just intentionaly beaten without purpose, I'm against it. If traied with a lot of discussion, and little physical training by comparison, and the instructor is "nicey nicey" for money and diplomatic reason, I'm against it. If this is what you mean by the carrot? Too many people taking martial arts get into classes with false impressions as to what martial arts truly are. If it's too rough, they quit. So you have dojos that will teach students what they want, instead of what they need to learn the art, in order to retain a student and make bills for the high and fancy overhead. I use to have parents complain to me that their son or daughter had to mop the floor before training. What they were really doing was running up and down the dojo floor, bent over with a rag in their hands, which not only cleaned up the bacteria from the floor for their bare feet, but also was a good warm up and strength builder for their legs. This was an old Japanese tradition that I firmly believed in doing. I explained this to the parents - they were not satisfied with my explanation. I told the parents that this was tradition, my training method, and they were welcome look for another Karate instructor for their children elsewhere. One did, one stayed. My point is that there are arts or instructors that may have strict training methods with a good purpose. You don't get a lot of explanation as to why, but the results are for a life time. There's other instructors that are just strict and without purpose - not good and stay away from. There are schools that just teach you what "you" want and take your money in the process - not good, but might be a good social venue for you (which I not totally against if this is the reason for taking the class with that instructor). But any good instructor will never teach you what you want, or always explain what you want to hear, but recognize you needs and weaknesses to build you as a whole for the end result of the art. I use to explain things in my classes if I felt the explaination was beneficial for their understanding and development at that time. But if I felt that the explanation, at that point, would confuse them on the big picture, I will not explain, but develop more important factors of the development instead. When I had my dojos, I was up to 80 and over 100 students at one point - sometimes classes of 30 to 50 in a class. The spirit energy of these classes were amazing. Oh, and I also don't believe in private lessons... Waste of time because you need the variety students and spirit of the class to truly learn the art. Am I old school? Definately. Is that perceived as mean? Perhaps? But when my students went to a tournament of had to truly defend theirselves, they reacted naturally and appropriately and did very well. This makes me feel good that they truly learned something and my valuable time was not wasted... - Killer -

??? I don't get it? Perhaps a little more explanation??? - Killer -

A little word play humor there - and perhaps a small point about the use of words when asking a question. Yeh, I know what you meant... - Killer -

Let's see. Since I don't fight, I guess the style would be to kill... Or, are you talking about Kumite in tournaments and such??? Then it's a whole nother story! - Killer -

I think that there is a HUGE MIS-UNDERSTANDING as to the purpose of hip rotation/hip vibration. Hip rotation is the starting action to execute a technique - primarily generating speed, and although a great deal of force is required to generate that speed. At the time of hip rotation or vibration (two separate techniques btw), a nano second, both feet must have full contact with the floor. At this time, you also obtain a certain amount of tension in your legs that acts like a coiled spring. To intiate the rotation action, you are cocked ready to fire and release the trigger so-to-speak. The tension of the forward leg pulls you and the side rotating forward, and the tension of the reaward leg pushes you and the side rotating forward at the same time - in unison. This is the starting action, speed and force of hip rotation and vibration. Now you kind of relax and go for the ride for another nano second. At this point you have generated all of this speed and energy (force being the end result). But what are you going to do with it now? If you hit something in this state, your arms and legs will fold or break, and/or you will bounce back??? Remember that for every action there is an oposite and equal reaction. What ever force you have generated will return to and through your body with equal force - and the weakest part of your body will give away if you do not have a solid frame at the time of impact. This is where Kime comes in... To turn this into this speed and energy into force, at the last nano second (notice that I'm referring to nano seconds to specify a rapid span of time) you contract ALL body muscles to create a solid frame from the intended target, through your body, to the ground, and back to through your body and the intended target. Force is now applied for the intended result of that force. Nock-down power as we commonly refer to. After the force is applied, we relax and are prepared for the next action with the same process. Note: This all occurs in less than a second and is very fluid with practice. Many have a tendancy to apply Kime too early which slows down the speed and also quickly dimenishes the energy that will be applied as force. The above process is where breathing and breathing timing become very important. Breathing controls muscle contraction and expansion (or tensing and relaxing). Breathing is also your body's clock and timing for a given action. Anotherwise, if you breathe slowly, you contract slowly and for a longer period of time and technique execution. If you breathe fast, you contract fast and for a shorter period of time and technique execution. This is true whether you are rotating or lunging with your entire body. The body action is always in sync with your breathing from start to stop. This is known as breathing timing. Understanding your own breathing and breathing timing for technique execution, you will also better understand your oponents breathing timing and technique execution. The object is when you understand your oponent's breathing timing, you will know and see signs in their breathing, regardless of how minute, as to when they will be in a relaxed state. THIS IS WHEN YOU ATTACK WITH THE ABOVE METHOD WE ARE DISCUSSING. It will never fail if you truly understand starting action, kime, and breathing timing. If you don't understand this natural gift of a body clock, you will be late in technique execution and will get nail in return every time. Final note and thought on this topic. Hip rotation/vibration is not the sole source of a given action. However, is a vital part of the complete action. To "GET IT" (as we say so-to-speak) in terms of an effective complete action, you will "GET IT" far quicker if you work on Hip Rotation and Breathing Timing first as separate entities. The rest will fall into place naturally with little effort! Fuel for thought. BTW, watch Shirai nail somebody with a lunge punch from 12 feet back. You won't believe someone can move that fast in such a great distance. He is an expert where he understand breathing timing to levels of perfection where his contraction is so large, yet so fast that his body naturally moves that great distance in the same time as his breathing. As long as this is, I probably should have submitted this as another article. Oh well... - Killer -

As we say in Table Tennis, Bring it on Hobbes... Just to warn you, I do play with $200 blades (paddles), $4 balls, $100 shoes, and on $1200 tables - be happy to loan you a blade. It's like playing table tennis with a supper ball... I am also well known internationally for my custom wood/composite blades I make and sell for quite a bit of $$$. Actually, that's how I met my first Karate instructor. I was playing table tennis in college and started teaching a friend that just happened to end up being a JKA nidan. Luckily he was very mild mannered considering how bad I would smoke him at table tennis. - Killer -

Thanks Hobbes. I always tried to be creative with my classes - especially with young kids. You have to make it fun as well as get the point across. - Killer -

Well, I know what you are saying Hobbes, but when you go to team training and the no contact means you wake up bruised and thrown on the floor a few times, it's pretty hard on the Gi. But in general, you are right... And yes, I think Nishiyama does bring out the acid rain some how! - Jack -

A good Tokaido will last a year or two of heavy training. However, the cheap Gis won't last a month... But, beginners won't train that heavy, a a cheap Gi is fine for a couple of years. - Killer -

I understand what you are say weaponless, but the circle concept is not the best training method to develop hip rotation. What happens is, they "think" too much instead of doing the right movement with the right part of their body. When you say "think" circle, yes it's true that they will rotate, but they mis-interpret what that really means. Most interpret that as meaning to tense the upper body and shoulders in the process which severly slows down the action. When in reality, the upper body and shoulders have be be totally inactive - dead like. In order for a student to truly "get it," you have to "mentally" cut off their arms/shoulders and get them out of the picture. Then work specifically on the hips, proper breathing and starting speed of the hips. Then bring the arms active into the picture and hip rotation happens naturally with 3-times the speed and power. This mis-interpretation is why I'm totally against the circle, rotate arms/upper body concepts when developing techniques that require hip rotation/vibration as a natural function. They just never get it in time and students develop bad habits that are hard to break later on... I also see this concept explained in other sports by "experts" that totally mis-lead the student in their development. - Killer -

Just for clarification, what is the definition of "chamber" or "chambering?" It's not a term we use in Shotokan and I want to make sure I'm on the same page as those using the term if I write a reply on the thread. I'm asking for technical description reasons... - Killer -

Here's a Killer Miller special training method to develop hip rotation and hip vibration... You need: - A belt - A couple of plastic wire ties - Two plastic or paper cups - 1 Ping Pong ball (40mm ball of course not the 38mm... Just Kidding about ball size.) 1. Put a belt around you. 2. Poke two holes in the side of each paper cup and put a wire tie through the poked holes. 3. Wire tie the paper cups to each side of the belt - left and right side. Note: You might have to position the cups slightly for proper ball ejection. 4. Put the ping pong ball in the side you are working on. The object is to shoot the ball out of the cup as fast and hard as you can with only using the Hips. You must relax the shoulders and arms totally as if they were not even there... For Hip Rotation: Rotate the hip back to a 45 degree position, and while total relaxed, rapidly exhale, overexagerating with mouth open at first, as fast as you can to geenerate the starting speed of the hips to rotate the forward. Then apply focus, or kime, at the stopping point where the ball should shoot out. For Hip Vibration: Do the same as above, except you start from the straight ahead (ready) position. When the driving side executes forward, as the ball shoots out, quickly rotate the hips back to the ready position as fast as you can. Again, see how fast you can shoot the ball out - key word for hip vibration is "fast" not hard (but you should still get a fairly powerful shot of the ball out of the cup...). That's it and it really works. - Killer -

Tokaido all the way! - Killer -

Nihongo de Leopardte tsuki... - Killer -

Perhaps the intention and purpose of your post would generate more participation. Is this a story for a book, a screen play, etc...?

I think P.A.L. gets the abuse award so far... - Killer -

Sounds like a fictious story brewing here that's not completed??? I not sure that what you wrote is realistic as to what we do here as Karate-Ka... - Killer -

1. As a shodan, and the person I trained regularly with, we both kicked at the same time with the exact same kick - mae geri. The ball of my foot hit his shin. We both hobbled a bit and kept sparring in the tournament. The same match, we blasted each other in the mouth at the same time. We both sparred almost identically and the same timing for attacks - because we had the same instructor and trained together. As I recall, this was a finals match for 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th. Needless to say, the inside of my mouth was just tore up from being hit, and 30 minutes resting on the bleatchers after the match, feeling fine I decided to get up and stepped to the floor and fell flat on my face in pain of an injured foot... 2. The same karate-ka in training, we were working on timing training. We were working on moving "though" the oponent while attacking - gyaku tsuki, oi tsuki. I blasted a lighting punch to the solarplexus. Thinking a was about 1/4" from making contact and moving though the oponent. When I turned around, after passing him, he was on the ground and out cold and brethless. I honestly didn't think I touched him, but I penetrated him enough to creat some potential serious damage. Luckily, he was ok a couple of minutes later and breathing ok. Really scared me - he was a really good friend... 3. In a tournament, a less experienced karate-ka moved in on me as I was in final focus (kime) of my punch to the face. I dislocated his jaw - ambulance came and all. Again, I felt really bad. 4. Getting ready for a demo with one of my students - a good one two. I was working on a arm block from a punch, round house to the stomache, sweep the leg down, and finally reverse punch to the head - all from kneeling position. I stressed to him that whatever he does "DON'T FALL FORWARDS" bacause my folcal point will be "here" the head. We were getting ready to do it full speed after doing it slowly many times. He wasn't expecting the speed that he was about to experience. Guess what? He moved forward on me after the sweep. I hit him pretty good in the head. He immediately grabbed his head. I asked him if he was alright. After a minute or two he said he was fine. I told him that we were done for the evening and we would continue the next time. Again, I felt really bad. But this is not the end of this story... I left home and locked up the dojo. I get a call about 45 minutes later. "Come to the hospital!" I rush down to the hospital. His head had later "split open in blood." Over 30 stitches later, he was fixed up and the bleeding had completely resided. Now, I FELT REALLY BAD!!! This, and a couple of bar incidents at the time dubbed me the nick-name, "KILLER MILLER." - Killer -

Nishiyama Sensei would only have us work on a couple of techniques for tournaments - in all possible variations of those two techniques. You would work on them to where you NEVER had to think about where and when to use them - it was natural without thought. Although, this does not mean that you didn't use other techniques and variations to create openings for points using these primariy techniques. Secondly, Nishiyama Sensei would never tell us that we had to specifically use any two particular techniques in tournaments or development. He would try to hone in on what best fit your build and style, then perfect it, but not which ones you had to use. You were kind of on your own as an individual and part of your own personal growth in Karate. But with all the training, development, coaching, learning all variations of all techniques, when the time was right, you knew exactly which two were best for you. It's kind of funny that with all of the structured training we received, and all the techniques we all worked on together, and all the perfection of team kata, no two Karate-ka sparred alike... Similarities, but still different. So what am I trying to say here? No one tells you what techniques to use in sparring - but coaching perfects them. Simplify your sparring by working only on a couple of sparring techniques for the winning or killing point. Use these techniques in all possible variations and work on other techniques to compliment their use naturally. Work heavily on "breathing timing." Use proper breathing techniques when sparring and take it a piece at a time to fully understand your breathing and utilization. By doing this, you will understand your oponent's breathing timing and know when to naturally strike for the kill or point. Work on attacking to the mid section only regardless of what technique you decide to perfect. The mid section is the most guarded part or your's or your oponents body. Try to get them to open up the mid-section and immediately attack it utilizing breathing timing. If they open up the mid-section, this means they are inhaling and in a relaxed state and this is your oportunity to attack while they are unprotected - it happens in a nano second. You get good at attacking the mid-section with proper speed and power, you can attack ANYWHERE on their body with NO PROBLEM AT ALL...! After warm up and warm down, work at least for 30 minutes, with a partner each sparring training session, on brething timing. Work 30 minutes on variations of your two tournament techniques and all variations. Work only 15 minutes on actual sparring utilizing and perfecting these two techniques in actual free sparring. Work in the above concepts 3 days a week - only. The rest of the time should be dedicated to perfection of basics, kata, stretching, etc. If you follow the above plan, you will see dramatic improvements in a few short months. Tournament wins and trophies, if that's what you are looking for, will soon be forth coming. Not too many out there work on this concept and they don't expect it, nor do they know what to do with such natural perfection of technique from any and all openings. Osu. - Killer -

lol

For those who are interested, here's a stretching website I strongly recommend. Great site and Great example art work... http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/stretch.html - Killer -

Don't touch my mustache! Those whom speak nihongo will understand... - Killer -

Shotokan has always been bashed. There are several reasons why. We are kind of a secluded art and don't really mingle with most of the other arts. Generally, we don't cross train with others, we don't recognize other ranks, we don't invite others to our tournaments, we don't invite others to our dojo, and we don't participate in non-Shotokan tournaments. This is viewed as snooty and un-friendly. But, this appearance is very decieving to the outside groups... We are actually a very friendly group that is very BUSY and Structured in our training. We don't have time to participate or mingle with other groups and tournaments because we are a very active organization in our own activity. Many of us are/were, like I was, active 6 or 7 days a week training or going to tournaments, testing, and training camps. We welcome others to train with us as guests, respect their rank, but do not recognize their rank as an equivelent to Shotokan standards. This is not to say many didn't meet up to our standards - and many didn't even come close to our training standards either. Regardless, they were treated with respect and open arms just the same. Typically, visitors wouldn't come back because they felt the training was too brutal for them. When a training session started in one of our Shotokan classes, it was dead quiet and you trained you tail off. The classes are very structured and with a primary purpose and goal for the day. The instruction is reasonably standardized across the organization. Yes, there are still instructors that just never got it... and had poor technique and are not very good instructors. You will also find minor variations in interpretation of the art and technique in general. But, the basic structure is still there organization wide. It's a great organization just the same and what you will learn, and who you will meet will benefit you the rest of your life. I stongly recommend it to anyone... Commonly, it would be Shotokan, and then everyone else. We were just considered outsiders. However, considering all of the bashing, when we walked in somewhere, or checked out a tournament in our limited time, they knew who we were and were quite polite and quiet around us - which in my book was definately a sign of respect to us as to who we really were in the world of MA. - Killer -