Shotokan help heian shodan knifehand block ending

[chrisw08]

As some know i am self learning shotokan karate at home. I have got heian shodan down except for the final knife hand block move as far as exactly how to work your fingers position your hand and how to come forward and back with it. Any help like a video tutorial of more specific ending of the kata would be helpful thank you. I just want to get it down right.

[JusticeZero]

First - have you had someone who knows that form come watch you in person to make sure you aren't doing something that looks right but is so, so wrong? I got really irritated with a PE teacher once for having kids do a cardio kickboxing routine once, leaving their feet straight forward while doing reps of shin kicks. Someone who hasn't been taught sees those, they see kicks. Someone who has trained with supervision and guidance sees those, they see painful knee surgery. Other things make me see other forms of surgery or orthotics. Most of these things are things that I would never expect anyone to ever do, until they do them in front of me and I have to jump up and say "Please stop that before I have to call an ambulance."

Second - there is usually a lot of subtleties in every technique. Do you really expect people to write a small book on each movement? particularly when it will likely be misunderstood or misplaced..

You should really ask someone in person for that stuff. Even if you can only get to visit with someone with a kyu rank once every month or two or even three, you will still be far safer and more effective in your training. Alternately, do a different line of Karate that you actually have access to, and just plan to later re-tune to the Shotokan standards when instruction appears.

[Ueshirokarate]

Highly recommend you pay attention to JZ's post. I have studied my style of karate off and on for over twenty years. It is only recently that I have reached the point where I can learn kata from a book/video. This is only possible because I have a solid foundation of so many techniques and already know so many of them. That said, I still need to have someone of higher rank review what I am doing and fine tune things. There are so many subtleties to learn that are impossible to know of when you self-study. Even high ranking practitioners who have studied for over 40 years still seek instruction from others. Think of it this way, professional golfers who do nothing else but play golf and practice it as a full time career still seek out coaches to make sure they are ok.

[Dobbersky]

Both solid posts from JusticeZero and Ueshirokarate, I can't any more to this, OSU