TheRamsIX

Great post! Seconded. A lot of good knowledge in there. Respect.

Not a bad question at all. Always good to know why, even if its hard to understand at the point in your training. Anytime you bring a fist back, it has the intention of bringing something back with it. This could be a gross movement, like a grab, or a fine movement, like a deflection that brings the opponents force past the body. Applications and bunkai can be very open in this regard. From a physical development stand point, it helps open the chest, which helps balance out power in the upper body. A tight chest will pull the scapula off of the ribcage which lessens power transmission from the torso to the hand. The back and forth motion when changing punching hands also develops connection between the two arms so the strength of both support each other through the back. When waist movement is involved(this takes a while to master, like years) the twist of the waist will actually transmit the twist into the hand, essentially becoming a whole body twist. The short answer is it is a component in kihon(basics). If you stick with the practice you'll come back to small stuff like this with "aha!" moments. Good luck in your training!

This.

I heard something similar in salsa dancing class! Especially about my deep musculature! Ok just kidding sorry. Sounds like a long way of saying it's in the hips... Nope. Its about small muscle control in the pelvis/lower basin in addition to the waist. Some styles of Taiji use the hips, but its rotation around a secondary axis. The spine is primary, which means one if not both of the hips are stabilized.

My first instinctual response is "Wait until Shodan". There can be conflicting body methods, you may have to chose which one is primary. Any technique base can be pretty malleable but body method is something that you grind into your subconscious to be automatic. It takes a ton of effort to switch habits as opposed to learning something from scratch and the experience of years of training to guide you into what is right for you is indispensable. Other than that, I'd say cross training in Chinese Martial arts should be high on the priority list for Karateka as it gives you a different perspective on pretty much the same animal. But I am heavily biased in that regard. It totally changed my Karate without changing it if that makes sense. I figure if both Miyagi and Soken Matsumura decided it was a good idea, then it's a good freakin' idea. At this point in my mind Te and Wushu(traditional, not modern acrobat) are just different sides of the same coin.

That is a fairly accurate assessment of Chinese Martial arts in my meager experience. Though this is pure conjecture, I would imagine that the reason why Naihanchi/Tekki was taught as a beginners form initially was for the same exact reason. If I was going to teach a beginner I would start with Naihanchi for the same reason. You miss far too much in the power development arena without good postural work and Naihanchi is pretty much that in spades. When you take that into the Pinan's/Heian's they become different animals entirely. I will say however that there can be a good amount of bobbing and weaving with "gamaku" in place. It just takes getting used to. However the type of bobbing and weaving is a bit different when taken in the context that these arts (whether Okinawan or Chinese) are for self defense as opposed to sport. Most of the bobbing and weaving is meant to get you into close quarters or to cut angles. Not that western boxing doesn't do that, but when grappling and close range short strikes are part of your repertoire your priorities produce different results.

The short answer is connected eccentric muscle contraction via intention (or continuous Kime) manipulated by deep internal musculature that is directed by moving through a central axis (i.e. spine/ribcage/deep pelvic muscles). There is a lot going on and it depends on the strike particularly and the effect you want on the opponent.