ashi-bari

[bushido_man96]

But there is one very overlooked aspect in ashi-barai: grabbing. When you sweep, you should grab your opponent's sleeve with one hand and use it to further unbalance him. I have seen this done often in international karate championship.

That is a good point. I didn't even think of that.

I'd love to do that but our sparring guidelines don't allow us to grab in tournaments. We can grab to deflect, but not grab to hold.

One little 'trick' that you could try is that when you block a kick, you sweep the technique away with your hand, and 'hook' the leg with your hand as you finish the block. This will give you a split-second hold on the leg, and also pull them off balance, which will help to facilitate the sweep.

Give it a try, if you get to feeling froggy!

[RichardHangHong]

I use that technique a lot in kumite, especially when my opponent does a mawashi geri, it's very easy to set them up for it.

[Shotokan-kez]

yeah that a great tip bushido, i do that a lot with mae-geri. You can block it with a hook and swing them round so you can get a counter attack in their back.

Speaking of grabbing i did that once, i grabbed my opponents gaurd arm and then used my other arm to get a point to the face. M sensei said not to hold on for to long but never gave me a reason why??

[EclecticFighter]

Speaking of grabbing i did that once, i grabbed my opponents gaurd arm and then used my other arm to get a point to the face. M sensei said not to hold on for to long but never gave me a reason why??

I can give you two reasons for this:

1) it is a tournament rule

2) when you grab, you must do something with it (unbalance your opponent, follow with a jointlock, etc) otherwise it is your opponent that will use it against you. He can countergrab you much more easily than you grabbed him or worse turn your grab into a jointlock or he can punch you easily because you only have one hand left to block...

[bushido_man96]

Speaking of grabbing i did that once, i grabbed my opponents gaurd arm and then used my other arm to get a point to the face. M sensei said not to hold on for to long but never gave me a reason why??

I can give you two reasons for this:

1) it is a tournament rule

2) when you grab, you must do something with it (unbalance your opponent, follow with a jointlock, etc) otherwise it is your opponent that will use it against you. He can countergrab you much more easily than you grabbed him or worse turn your grab into a jointlock or he can punch you easily because you only have one hand left to block...

This is what I would guess as well. You definitely want to 'pull' them a little to get the advantage out of your hold. In the street, this would be a good tactic. It is always beneficial to control a limb.

[Shotokan-kez]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense, that'll be why he said that. I will still sometimes grab tho, just for a split second to get that cheeky jab in to the face.