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You explain this very well , this is the what the aim is . I found that my karate training helped me in other sports too ,like playing tennis or football or basketball . I scored a goal playing football by using a back stance , a classic shotokan back stance . I redirected a shot from a team mate that was going wide of a goal by changing direction and going into a back stance allowing the ball to hit the inside of my foot pointing at the goal and the ball flew off my foot past a frozen keeper , and I was just inside the box ...some distance from goal .

correct ,but martial arts involves taking risks , by all means the risk factor varies between techniques , for example a jodan mawashi geri carries a high risk factor ,more than a front kick ,but then again a front kick could be caught and used against for a take down etc. I personally like to use a teisho like palm hand with my fingers bent and held together ,much safer bet . As you said palm hand strike could be followed by a grab or even a safer bet like elbow strikes ..that could devastating.

This is the problem that almost everyone have when they start , it is a learning process like every other activity more or less , comes with practice and lots of it ...providing you know what you are aiming for and set goals to get there . practice consciously thinking your limbs are like rubber ,tighten your fists only so much that forearms are not tense , breathing correctly in and out from abdomen will help you to stay in a relax soft mode , the shortest of kime only at the point of impact is the only time the body is tensed , fraction of a second is the aim and quickly back in the relax mode again ready for the next move.

Best to use your fleshy part hitting the opponent's boney parts and your boney parts hitting their fleshy parts.

I don't know how long you have been training . i think a long time ago I probably had this problem too ,not completing everything at the same time . the remedy for this and anything else similar to this is to train in them SLOWLY ...S..L..O..W ! in zenkutsu dachi stance ,moving slow allows you to think of each part of the movement ,think of the initial push off your leading foot and the push from your back leg to propel you forward ,check the halfway stage as your kness come in close together and then the final stage as you land and contiousely think of puting your weight down into your front foot ( about 70% on forward foot and 30% on the back foot . keep repeating this many times until it becomes like second nature when you don't need to think about it . As a beginner I was really terrible at karate ,did not come to me naturally and I lagged behind other students in my level . It took me a lot of effort and good few years but eventually it paid of and those that I used to run away from in kumite and finding myself mostly on the losing side started running away from me and losing to me . mostly because once I got to brown belt and all the way to second dan I never stopped attending the basic class as they did and did both the basic and advance class for about 10 years ,towards the end even higher dan grades than me who were my seniors I found myself getting the upper hand on them , just because of all those kihon training .

First of all welcome to the site and good luck with your shotokan training and studies . you kind of answered yourself at the bottom of your post , training in kihon in deeper stances prepare your body to learn to move efficiently forward ,backwards ,sideways ,conditioning your muscles ,ankles and joints . similar to wearing ankle weights that one uses for conditioning and strentgh training but you take them off when you go into a match be it karate or football or basketball. Even as a dan grade one needs to do this kihon training to condition their body ,maybe not as much as a beginner karateka has to but even senior grades need to do it . Stances are transitional ,never static in free fighting ,at the point of delivering a technique you might go deeper for an instant as other posters mentioned here . if you belong to a bonafide school of shotokan and train under a competent instructor then trust their wisdom and keep at it and like my signature says "never give up ! " ,,your efforts will be paid back handsomely .

I also agree with you guys about kihon . It does a great job on strengthening your body and also polish your techniques ,the best time to practice doing your technique as perfect as one can is at kihon time . My sensei said kihon is like the tax you pay , as a beginner you pay a lot and as you go higher in rank you pay less tax , so as a beginner you start paying 100 % tax and as a rough guide when you reach second dan you pay about 30 or 40 % and maybe about 20% when you are 4th dan and above ,but you never stop paying ! Even as a 5th dan and above you always need to pay your dues and taxes meaning one should never stop doing kihon .

Even when you walk and take step forward you have to push your foot to the ground to generate power to go forward , I think it is called action reaction .. but the faster you do it the more power you generate and in case of punching and kicking we learn to channel that energy from ground up to our striking hand or foot .

I don't think it would have any negative impact , the punches are not that different ,maybe just the way we breath in and out during punching ,once you get a bit more training in karate and advance further you will notice the punches are not that different .

No, even though they share the name. The style I speak of was created by Master John Bryan, who's based in the UK. It's grounded in Goju Ryu, with elements of Shotokan and Wado Ryu. Shotokan is always a popular Karate style, and for good reason. While you're training, I highly recommend picking up "Karate-Do: My Way of Life" by Master Gichin Funakoshi if you haven't yet; He founded Shotokan and introduced Karate to Japan in the 1920's. Great read, and it would undoubtedly impress your instructors if you were to know the style's origins. Karate is about physical and mental discipline, after all. Thanks for your reply , as far as I know Kanzen ryu was founded by Farhad Varasteh in late 1960s based on Goju ryu and elements of shotokan and wado ryu as you mentioned . He currently lives in Canada and I believe his son and daughter are following his tradition . My sensei was a student of master Enoeda 8th dan JKA and also trained at the infamous JKA instructor course in Japan back in the 1970s alongside such masters like Yahara ,Osaka , Tanaka under supervision of shihan Nakayama. He is himself like an encyclopedia of shotokan karate . I have not read the book you mentioned but I have the one by Nakayama sensei which is like the text book of shotokan .

Speed is the key , mass x velocity = power the faster you can move and deliver more power is produced ,of course correct body mechanics is a factor . this is how a smaller man can have more power than a much bigger man. one important key to have is a relaxed muscles to increase speed ,tensing only at the moment of impact (kime) for a fraction of second . It is a process that takes time to develop but certainly worth the effort .

Punch bag is a great tool and training partner , it will tell you how good your strikes are so you would know that if that was a real person how effective your strike would be . we can't do that with our training partners in the dojo and we have to control our blows . I always kind of mostly worked on two or three or four combinations of technique on the bag and mainly focused on delivering a fast and powerful technique to cause as much damage , always looking for a killing blow or ippon in my mind . Those combinations could be anything from punches to elbow strikes to kicks and knee kicks ,from close range to mid and long range ,long range could be a stepping punch ,followed by other strikes ,coming in at different angles . I left other parts for the dojo and working with a live partner , it is also very important how and when to deliver your striked and avoid getting hit back ,that can only practiced effectively with a live partner .

I agree with this totally . over the years we were introducd with new ideas and concepts from other arts but we were still doing shotokan . which brings me to this story , many years ago when I was a low kyu grade we had this purple belt guy who was kind of a bit please with himself , cheeky and arrogant . one day apparently he bullied another lower grade and he got kicked out for good and we never saw him again . Until we heard that a year later he had opened a club in a near by town and teaching karate as a second dan !

Kanzen Ryu of varasteh ? interesting ,who was your instructor if I may ask . I am from shotokan school , my older cousin who I kind of looked up to got me going and I just was lucky to be in one of the best shotokan dojos anywhere .

Good luck in whichever style or school you choose . My advice would be rather than looking which style to choose look around your area and find the best teacher in which ever style he or she happen to teach. standards vary a lot in martial arts , to pick a genuinely a top martial art instructor is like a lottery depending where you live . The concept of shotokan is to avoid getting hit and hit back ,regardless of your size ,fast hands like you have and fast body evasion and movements produce power ,speed is power ,economy of motion meaning finding the shortest route to your target and learning the technique to get there most efficiently means less time to get there ,it definitely suits a smaller person to win against a much bigger person . shotokan emphasise a lot in the beginning on correct stance and posture and correct form ,all those stepping front punch oie zuki ,like the three consecutive ones in kihon kata or hian shodan . Once these become like second nature and in correct form then it will pay off later in your career , add timing and distance and strategy to all of that . I am sure other styles would also teach this or emphasise on other issues more . this is my experience of karate and shotokan only , I have seen many great kyukoshin and other styles karatekas . that is why I recommend you look for the best teacher you can find in your vicinity. Dont just fall for the style they teach but how well they can teach . Can they teach and have the knowledge and ability to teach kyukoshin or shotokan or whatever ? If so grab the chance with both hands.

Can you explain why you believe that to be true? Hian katas are building blocks to reach a level of understanding to perform katas like kankudai ,just like going to primary school first and then to secondary school . one needs to learn the alphabet first ,then simple words and make simple essays before getting to more complex literature . Now there is nothing stopping someone starting kankudai from scratch without any prior knowledge or experience of martial arts but I believe the ones who started off from beginner katas such as hian katas will build a better foundation to understand and perform katas such as kankudai .

Very impressive first fight , I admire your courage and your knockout hizageri which you meant and delivered very well .

Here is my sensei Dave Hazard demonstration at an event back in 1997 ,he comes in at minute 3 ... https://youtu.be/cImNQ4pKhQE this is a promotional video of his book ,born fighter . I recommend any martial artist regardless of style to read it ,you won't be disappointed.

Wkf has the most number of participating countries with as many as 150 or more.

As I said, the lack of an answer is answer enough. I appreciate your efforts. A karateka who spend 2 years on hian katas and then 3 months on kankudai has more ability and understanding than a student who spent 2 years and 3 months on kankudai alone .

22 is a good age to start , you have many years ahead of you ,enjoy the journey and let it happen as it happens , have your goal of reaching 3rd dan set but don't rush towards it ,concentrate on gaining the knowledge in training effectively . I started at the age of 16 for about six months and I stopped and returned when I was 24 and felt the same way as you , but luckily I came across a great sensei and mentor and never looked back . Which brings me to what I want to say regarding gaining new skills late in life . Almost 2 years ago I took on learning a lifelong desire to learn to play the guitar ! ...at the age of 53 .. I took my wife with me on my second lesson and ten minutes into the lesson she said : forget it ! you and those fingers can never play the guitar ! I said to her I am going to prove you wrong ! I used the skills I learned in karate and applied the same principles to learning the guitar . paying attention to correct technique and repetition after repetition ,instead of my hands and feet and my knuckles it was my fingers and developing hard skin on tips of my fingers . I am not a great player but I can now play songs that I used to dream of and played in my head for many years ,I am enjoying the journey ,most of all she has begun to enjoy listening to me ! Sure if I started when I was 10 years old when I first felt that desire things might have been different but better late than never , I love playing the guitar and when I learn a new song and play it I enjoy so much .

very interesting read keith ....I agree Hian or pinan as you say in wadoryu represent different concepts and yes Kankudai has many grappling moves . you explained it much better than me ,you seem to have a broad knowledge of okinawa ans japanese karate . I never had the time or patience to study them deeply ,just buried myself deep within training in shotokan .

This person is either a bully or lacks good technique ,have a word with him and if he doesn't change then either stop sparring with him or have a word with your sensei or hit him hard ! there is no need for that way of sparring , in the dojo we help each other to gain knowledge in martial arts and prepare us for self defence in the street ,if we keep injuring each other after a while there will be no one to train with ! I have had that before even in basic one step kumite training , you attack as fast and as hard as you can trying to score on your opponent ,thus giving him a good work out to test his own defence and some take it the wrong way and on the counter when they have a free shot they hit you hard ! I tell them try and score on me when you are on the attack and I have the chance to block ,not on the free shot on counter .

I base my opinion from my 30 years experience in shotokan karate , I have no experience in other schools of karate . shotokan karate is based on building a strong foundation from start , hian katas are part of that building block that take a novice student step by step further up the ladder ,it is a long and slow process as there are no short cuts in achieving a higher level . Now if there are schools that don't do it this way and skip hian katas and go straight into brown belt katas like kankudai ,Basai dai and so on then so be it . I don't agree with it but good luck to those who do it that way . I don't think they can understand or perform it the way a student who has gone through rigorous training in hian katas for two or three years before doing brown belt katas . You didn't answer the question being asked. I am trying to understand what precisely a student gains from going through the hiean kata, that he cannot gain from spending the time studying kanku dai? You state that things are done a certain way in Shotokan and that Kanku dai is a brown belt kata. But Gichin Funakoshi, the Shoto in Shotokan, published a syllabus in 1925, in which kanku dai was the third kata. Why would he have done that if what you say is correct. We also know that Kanku dai was created some decades before the heian kata were created. If what you say about the necessary progression is correct, how did they manage? Please don't see this as an attack. These are three questions that I genuinely am curious about your answers to. Hi Dave , I don't know why you think I have an obsession with syllabus and grade ! It is not an obsession ,just the way I trained and I based my opinion on it . I did say this is one way and does not mean it is the only way ,if other styles or schools do it different way then so be it , I am not saying they are wrong . I did answer your question ,saying Hian katas are the steps we take to prepare and progress towards gaining knowledge and condition our body and mind towards more advance katas . what funakoshi did and train in 1925 belongs to that era , karate has evolved and when I started in 1984 shotokan had evolved and progressed to the present time training . I still do Hian shodan to polish my techniques ,it still is one of my favourite katas ,it conditions my limbs . Hian shodan despite being a basic kata and one of the first katas that beginner students in shotokan learn is a great kata for conditioning even for those advance karatekas . If I don't know a karateka beforehand watching him perform hian shodan gives me a good indication on how prominent he or she is in their karate. I have no knowledge of wadoryu ,shorin ryu or any other ryu . I only comment on what I know which is shotokan . shotokan is my way but I know it is not the only way and I am not disregarding other ways ,just commenting on the way I know ... If in other styles they start off in kankudai from day 1 and skip Hian katas and make good progress then good luck to them . I do believe that all martial arts reach a same summit despite taking different routes to get there .

What I see in this video is a very basic format that beginner students practice in very early stages of their training ,it has some value for 9th kyu students but soon they should start moving backward or in an angle sideways to avoid an attack to get used to the idea of best form of defence is not to be there !