Chambering

[Lupin1]

Well as most of you know, I've recently gotten a taste of a style different from my own. It didn't turn out all that well, but I still learned a good deal from it. One of the things I'm very glad I learned is the different ways to do things. It's made me question and consider why my class does things the way we do (I still love my class and think what we do is great, but asking why you do what you do is very important for growth). One of the things that I've never thought of before is where to chamber your hands.

Now since I started karate way back when I was 8 with the same Isshinryu instructor I have today, I've been taught to chamber my hands alongside my belt or, if I'm not wearing one, where my belt would be. Doesn't matter whether I was chambering for the vertical Isshinryu punch or the corkscrew punch we used occasionally while working certain techniques-- it was always along the belt. Then when I tried out TKD for a few weeks, I kept getting yelled at for having my hands so far down (15-year-old habits break hard-- I was trying, but when you're concentrating on other things, your hands tend to go where they've gone for the last decade and a half). Apparently they chamber their hands up a lot higher alongside the ribs (I don't know any other way to explain this, so I'll say it the way the girl working with me explained it-- for us women, it falls right beside the breasts). I found this incredibly awkward and hard to maintain for any length of time, probably because I'm so used to my way, but it got me wondering if maybe this isn't the norm.

So where do you chamber your hands?

[MasterPain]

Simply put, I don't. I punch from wherever my guard is.

[tallgeese]

Ditto. Usually from up near my head.

The whole chambering thing is an effect of kata from back when they were actually moving textbooks. As it was explained to me, the chamber is not in fact a ready position, but part of the set of movements that indicated a push/ pull motion of a joint manipulation. In this case, a standing arm bar designed to destroy the elbow.

Think about it, if you've gained control of a bad guys wrist and you want to control it where to you want to pull it to own it. To you side, about belt height where your hips control it. In several instances this is followed by what is often called an inside block. What this is is the second half of the movement. You turn the body (sometimes seen in kata as well) to extend it and strike opposite the elbow joint to injure or destroy it.

So, that's the easy "why" to chambering. In the interveaning years we've lost the concept of the tuite concepts behind many of the movements and decided to call them strikes and blocks. Often they aren't.

To this end, if one were to talk about proper chambering posture, you'd actually be correct as to it's placement. Control is always better when locked to the hip rather than higher on the body.

[Wolfman08]

Hand chambering you only really see in Karate, Kung Fu, and the styles that derive from them (such as Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do). Most Southern Styles of Kung Fu schools chamber their hands at their upper rib cage, and most Karate and Northern Kung Fu schools chamber at their hips. The advantage to Karate style chambering is that it forces the practicer to focus on the movement of their hips. The advantage to Southern Kung Fu styles of chambering is that it develops the bicep muscle and (if the backward movement of the arm is done with force) develops a backward elbow strike.

Cuong Nhu (despite being heavily based off of Shotokan) use the more Southern Kung Fu method of chambering

[Montana]

Hand chambering is used to learn proper technique for punching, not for sparring.

[Kuma]

For kihon purposes (which I assume is mostly what this is about), in both Goju Ryu and Kyokushin I was taught to place my hikite near my floating ribs, so that the forearm is vertical to the ground but not so high that it raises my shoulder. I've always thought Sanchin kata was good for this, as the elbow positioning is on the same plane where I like to hikite.

[joesteph]

I was taught to place my hikite near my floating ribs, so that the forearm is vertical to the ground but not so high that it raises my shoulder.

Is this to keep your upper body relaxed, Kuma? When there's a "shrug," I wonder if it interferes with stamina as well as speed.

[Lupin1]

For kihon purposes (which I assume is mostly what this is about), in both Goju Ryu and Kyokushin I was taught to place my hikite near my floating ribs, so that the forearm is vertical to the ground but not so high that it raises my shoulder. I've always thought Sanchin kata was good for this, as the elbow positioning is on the same plane where I like to hikite.

Yeah, we do it that high for Sanchin, too, but that's the only time we do.

[Lupin1]

Hand chambering is used to learn proper technique for punching, not for sparring.

Exactly. In a real fight, the last place I'd put my hands is down at my side where they can't protect me unless I was going to try some aikido type move or something (which would probably be my last thought in a real fight), but I'm talking chambering for kata and kihon and stuff.

[GeoGiant]

I chamber midway between my belt and my ribs but thats where my arm naturally falls. I've never had my instructor tell me to lift or lower my chambered position. I will look around the room during my next class to see where others are chambered.