Tension in kata

[jedimc]

Hi

 

at my dojo sometimes i've been told to do my kata in tension, meaning i put tension on my muscles and i do the kata very slow and hard,if you could tell me wat the importance of tension and why we do it.

[AngelaG]

Tension is used to stop the punch or kick before you hyper-extend your knee or elbow. Each move should be fluid until the very last bit, when you then lockdown every muscle for a fraction of a second to stop everything swinging wildly around and give the kata focus (kime).

 

Like everything else too much tension is a bad thing and not enough tension is a bad thing. Tension will slow you down. I often find that big built blokes are full of tension, relying on strength rather than technique, whereas gangly people (especially teens growing into their bodies) often have too little tension and therefore look wild.

 

When we are working on tension we will practice our kata in 3 different ways. First of all with maximum tension as slow as possible. Every single muscle in your body is tight. This gives you the feeling of what tension really feels like. If you are doing this properly by the 3rd move you should be sweating and feeling quite tired. If it's too easy really try and concentrate on tightening every muscle, including bum cheeks, stomach, legs etc.

 

Secondly we do the kata with no tension at all. As fast and whippy as possible, not worrying about where the moves stop, so that we can feel what flow and fluidity feel like.

 

After that we try and combine the two and get the feeling of the fluidity through every move, right up until the last bit and then, BAM, we throw the tension in to stop the move dead in its track. You should now know what kind of feeling you are looking for.

 

It's worth while noting that if you are hitting a bag (or someone) there is actually no tension needed as the impact will stop you before you get anywhere near hyper-extending. As Force=Mass x Acceleration (F=MA) you don't want anything like tension slowing down your speed as it will reduce the force with which you hit. It's very important to learn to relax when hitting and not become too "shouldery" and start to rely on brute strength rather than technique.

[Kaminari]

Very well said, Angela. What she said is true, you want fluidity, but some tension is needed to keep your limbs from flopping around.

[informer]

jedimc

 

are you doing "sanchin" kata?

[jedimc]

jedimc

 

are you doing "sanchin" kata?

thank you all for your tips

 

no, im not doing sanchin kata (but i believe i have seen video clips of it)

 

as for my kata they all have been made up by my sensei and maybe a few were ones from his previous dojo.

 

[Killer Miller]

I agree with what you say Angela. However, in the context of the poster, there are also other reasons why you would do kata slow and with tension. One of them is to totally break down each and every move in the kata as to understand breathing, breathing timing, total body muscle contraction, and above all is the "inside" feeling of all techniques. Going fast is to naturally develop the fluidity of the outside movements. Doing it with proper timing is to bring both of these concepts together with good speed, breathing, muscle contraction, relaxation, good inside feeling as well as good outside feeling.

 

I'm not disagreeing with what you said, it's just that the reasons for doing it goes much deeper - although it may appear we both say the same things. In general understanding, yes. In terms of a concept of learning, it's two different concepts of learning.

 

- Jack -

[AngelaG]

I agree with what you say Angela. However, in the context of the poster, there are also other reasons why you would do kata slow and with tension. One of them is to totally break down each and every move in the kata as to understand breathing, breathing timing, total body muscle contraction, and above all is the "inside" feeling of all techniques. Going fast is to naturally develop the fluidity of the outside movements. Doing it with proper timing is to bring both of these concepts together with good speed, breathing, muscle contraction, relaxation, good inside feeling as well as good outside feeling.

 

I'm not disagreeing with what you said, it's just that the reasons for doing it goes much deeper - although it may appear we both say the same things. In general understanding, yes. In terms of a concept of learning, it's two different concepts of learning.

 

- Jack -

 

I do understand the different reasons, but I feel the deeper reasons don't tend to come in until later, when you actually understand what you are supposed to be working on and thinking about.

[SevenStar]

as for my kata they all have been made up by my sensei and maybe a few were ones from his previous dojo.

 

 

He made up your kata???

[P.A.L]

i am agree with "Angela"'s first post, but i think the main reason was in "Killer Miller"(as he mentioned not only breathing but also timming of breathing)post, i do Sanchin and Naihanchi Sandan with shime, for me it is a muscle and breathing exercise, one more thing is ,if you start shaking it's too much and can disturbe your blood circulation ,i'd like to know how far every body else goes.

 

Jedmic, what style of karate you practice? ,do you have name for the katas or numbers?

[smr]

as for my kata they all have been made up by my sensei and maybe a few were ones from his previous dojo.

 

 

He made up your kata???

 

Nothing wrong wth that, so long as he doesn't claim that they are a series of ancient kata long lost to modern civilization which he was taught be a shaolin monk who believed him to be the one man spirited enough to carry on the ancient wisdom.

 

Somewhere down the line, every kata was made up by somebody.