Chambering

[BDPulver]

ah, the good ole why do we chamber like this scenario hehehe.

being an isshinryu practiioner like you lupin we mainly chamber for proper form and excution so you can get the feel of how your body responds. And when you watch the old movies of Tatsou you can see him somewhat doing the same.

For sparring, even though it doesnt look like it but in your fighting stance you constantly stay in a somewhat chamber guard.

Plus chambering mentally challenges you on how much force is actually needed to throw that punch. The only thing I really chamber is my kicks while sparring.

[Kuma]

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.

Exactly. If you have it too high, you're going to raise your shoulder and lose a fair amount of power as well as wear yourself out quickly. Just like in boxing, you want to keep your shoulders down.

[DWx]

Then when I tried out TKD... 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.

Was it permanently chambered high? It depends on the TKD style but what we do is to have the fist at the hip, or wherever the natural bend in the arm makes it sit, then on punching pull back slightly (not very much) and lift the fist up to where you describes so that the biceps feel almost tight, almost like a U-shape if you were looking at the person punching in profile. Then fire it forward making sure the whole thing is fluid and doesn't stop at the top chamber position. Reason for this is that when punching from the hip level to chest or head height you end up punching upwards and aren't necessarily hitting the target perpendicular. Raising the arm up first tries to make the first travel more horizontally rather than diagonally upwards.

[quinteros1963]

Your hands should protect your chin. Your chin should be tucked. Unless you are fond of being KO'd!

[JusticeZero]

We don't actually use the concept. That said, my hand will be one of three places:

By my hip and open, where I can drop and put it on the ground; by my chin, with my elbow covering my ribs; or in front of my opposite shoulder as I cover near my face with my forearm.

All my hand stuff is from one of those three positions; different techniques for each.

[sensei8]

Formally: Chambered hand at my hip and my lead hand center mid-high.

Informally: Lead hand center mid-high and my rear hand in front of my solar plexus.

[ninjanurse]

Our guard is high-with fists chin level and elbows tucked in to protect the ribs. I stress efficiency of movement-wasting energy during execution decreases the power of the technique. During basics the hand is at the belt and takes a direct route during execution-again so as not to waste energy.

[honoluludesktop]

The logic to chambering the fist low is to help relax the shoulder. The rational to keep it higher is to place the forearms vector in-line with the target. Both are good rationals. When striking from basic positions, follow the convention and compensate for its deficiency. For example, when chambering the fist high, work on relaxing the shoulders, etc.

In kumite, you will strike from any position anyway.

[bushido_man96]

In the TKD I have done, we chamber pretty tight to the ribs, as opposed to lower on the hips. The rational for the pull-back of the non-striking hand has always been Newton's law of equal and opposite reaction; one arm out, one comes in. This helps to develop the power from the hip, as well, and trains more muscles. As students develop better body mechanics, they can produce the same power without the pull-back, because of the good hip involvement. At least that is how it is taught.

In sparring, I never return my hands to this position. Only on forms and one-steps do I do this.

[honoluludesktop]

At one time, I too believed that pull back was the rational to punching basics, but now know that "equal and opposite reaction" is not the reason why. If that were true, standing in "yoi" punching by the arm as hard as possible should cause you to twist or fall over, but you don't. Newton's law predicts the force returning to your fist when you hit a wall, or to your leg when pushing down on your foot.

There is a lot of pseudoscience that was used in the 50s to introduce Karate to the West that still remain with us today. Some of the worst have been dismissed over time ("the twisting fist improves accuracy, like spinning a bullet"), but many like "pull back" continue to remain with us.

On the other hand, many unexplained phenomena are "poo, poo(ed)" because they are offered without explanation. The "unbend-able arm" is often dismissed as a trick because no scientifically believable reason is offered. Fact is that it is a demonstration of the "stretch" muscles that are not felt when engaged.

IMO, its sometimes best to follow the conventions without thinking too much, but that goes against modern nature. >_<