My Seisan

[Lupin1]

I've been debating all weekend if I'm brave enough to do this, but I think I'm going to go for it!

My instructor has been recording me doing some of my new kata as well as some of our basic kata for my records and to help me improve. Last night he recorded my Seisan. I've never posted a video of my karate up here, but I thought I'd put this out there for you all to see and critique.

The belt was an April Fool's day joke

The main things I took away from it is that I need to be deeper and more obvious with my horse stances and I need to watch out for the constant opening of my opposite fist before punching (I think that's a product of my just beginning to play around with the loosening of the body's muscles and then tightening at the end of the strike).

[sensei8]

Nice!!

If you're style is Okinawa based, and Issinryu is, then I believe that your horse stance is fine. I would like to see your back more straight and that your knee's would bend more in order to keep your back more straight. This might help your horse stance!!

That's me! What your Sensei says, goes and overrules me totally and completely!!

As far as the re-grabbing goes, it's natural to do so that you're not constantly tensed after said technique, but it's learning to know how to re-grab so that it's not so noticeable to your opponent. Said Kata has moments where your hand opens up, and I believe that this was to relieve you having your fist closed throughout the Kata. Also, your gi sleeve is getting in the way of many things; might roll them up.

Imho!!

Here's a BB, for comparison...

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=isshinryu&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=032FE30535FB928ABDB2032FE30535FB928ABDB2

[Montana]

When you post a video of yourself you open yourself up to critique from others..which is braver than I am! lol

I don't know what actualy belt you hold, but from an instructors (since 1978) point of view and a long time tournament judges opinion, I would say your hand techniques were good, except a few were kind of low (outside block for instance), but speed and power (kicks also) were good for a mid-level belt.

Where I would suggest you focus more attention to are your overall stances, which seemed nearly straight legged at times, and not strong. I also do an Okinawan system and use higher/shorter stances.

Again, not knowing what actual belt level you hold, I would estimate you are around a 6 kyu level or so?

[cathal]

The belt was an April Fool's day joke

Fantastic I'm sure it was a hit.

Again, not knowing what actual belt level you hold, I would estimate you are around a 6 kyu level or so?

The youtube description tells us she is a brown belt.

I have little experience with this kata & style. So please take my response accordingly. I agree with the knee bending & keeping your back straight. You'll find that your technique & transitions will flow more easily. When it comes to the arms I'd like to mention two things.

The first being your core. Focus on keeping your movements starting from there and then moving the arms out, rather than moving the arms and then the core. See this? http://goo.gl/3FJbJS I find if you focus on your core and allow your arms to move from your centre the techniques will improve.

The second thing is the speed. At a few points with your arms & hands I got the impression you were rushing. Is the kata performed that quickly? If not then I suggest practicing the kata more slowly. Another method is to focus on your breathing so you don't have to worry about firing off your arm/hand techniques so quickly. Once you've controlled your breathing & core the arms & legs follow along in a more natural rhythm. If your technique is done in accordance with the kata then never mind.

I am impressed you and your sensei record kata (and possibly more?) because this is a fantastic & effective practice. Not only is it great for sentimental reasons for 20 years from now, its an effective training tool. You can receive a lot of feedback about your execution just from your own analysis. Along with your sensei's advice, coaching, etc you'll be able to personally see the improvement over time. This is also effective for demonstrating to other students just how great of a training tool this is. They will see that senior students started off as novices just like them, made mistakes just like them, and aren't superhuman. Keep this up!

Old axiom (but still relevant): practice, practice, practice!

With videos: Practice, practice, analyze, practice!

On a personal note I'm very impressed you put yourself out there for critique. At the risk of sounding like a commercial, KarateForums.com is the ideal place to go for constructive feedback. I've been so many other places on line and while there are gems out there, KF is the only place where you'll find humility and wisdom tempering all of that constructive feedback. So you know that no one is going to tease nor bully.

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I'd like to suggest you hem the gi, IMHO. It seems too long for your arms since your hands are covered. This can be a safety concern when practicing techniques like tuite, or even sparring. As for the pants I expect your style prefers the pants to only slightly brush the top of your feet if not a few cm above them. For free sparring you'll find hemming much farther up is preferable and will reduce the occurrence of you getting grabbed during kicks.

[Bulltahr]

While not qualified to comment on technique or anything , I would say thanks for putting yourself out there in Youtube land. I enjoy watching training and serious non-MMA stuff.

Good for you!

[Lupin1]

That's for the input, everyone!

I am a brown belt (guess I have to practice a little harder...). I've never done this kata for competition or anything, so it's certainly not practiced to competition readiness-- just normal run throughs in class.

I'll try out it bending my knees a little more to see if it helps with my posture. Isshinryu generally has higher and narrower stances than most other systems. For example, here's the founder of Isshinryu doing the kata--

His are still bend more than mine, though, so I'll try to work that in.

I like the advice about the speed and the core-- will work both those things into my practice.

I, too, like the fact that my sensei video tapes us. He shares a lot of his old, grainy videos from the late 80s/early 90s with us via e-mail, and it's very interesting to see how things have changed/stayed the same as well as see some of our instructors when they were just learning. It's also very helpful when I'm learning kata to watch a video of a sensei doing it and be able to pause, go back, etc. And now that he's starting to tape me (for my own use), I'm definitely seeing the usefulness of seeing myself. I'm picking up on a lot of things both big and small I never realized I did before.

Thanks for the advice about the gi, as well. I'm short and bigger, so it's generally a pain to get them to fit and they need a huge hem on them. I usually end up rolling my sleeves to the elbow for training, but left them down for the video to make it look better. Guess that didn't work out so well...

Thank you to all who have commented so far! Any other advice would be appreciated!

[Spodo Komodo]

I am not qualified to comment on the kata but who was the guy walking across your line? How rude!

[Wastelander]

I take it you train with Victor Smith Sensei? Or one of his students? I've never met him, personally, but I have followed his blog for years, and am connected with him on Facebook. He has always been an open, sharing, passionate karateka, in my experience. It doesn't surprise me, at all, that he uses video to help his students .

I will say that I'm certainly not qualified to comment on the mechanics of Isshin-Ryu. From my perspective, it always looks a bit strange--not "wrong," or "bad," of course, but different in a way that I can't quite place. One thing I will say is that it seemed like in some sequences you were generating power more efficiently than others. That is to say, you know how to do it, but it isn't showing up in every sequence. Now, that may be the way the kata is supposed to be done, so my comments on that may be irrelevant. As for the re-gripping, I'm in complete agreement with sensei8. It's a totally natural thing to do, and will be something you'll make more subtle over time. Check out the videos on YouTube of most old Okinawan masters, and you'll see it, if you really look for it.

I definitely recommend shortening the gi sleeves and pant legs, but I tend to prefer the old-school Okinawan cut (long jacket, short sleeves/legs). I find that longer sleeves and legs tend to hide parts of movement that can be useful to see. They also exaggerate motion, because they keep moving after the limbs have stopped. All of that is fine for tournaments, of course, but for analyzing your kata on video, it can make things hard to see. And, of course, it's just more practical for training, as you already know, since you roll them up for training .

[cathal]

Thanks for the advice about the gi, as well. I'm short and bigger, so it's generally a pain to get them to fit and they need a huge hem on them. I usually end up rolling my sleeves to the elbow for training, but left them down for the video to make it look better. Guess that didn't work out so well...

It'll certainly remove the need to roll them up, which many instructors frown upon. Aside from personal safety and the safety of your sparring partners, it also just looks better. IMHO it shows you take pride in your appearance and this can go far. Not that you weren't taking pride in it before, mind you.

If you don't have a sewing machine, a seamstress will cut off the cuff, shorten the arms/legs and re-attach the cuff. That way you still have that nicely sewn cuff to make the gi look like it was tailor made just for you.

[Lupin1]

I take it you train with Victor Smith Sensei? Or one of his students? I've never met him, personally, but I have followed his blog for years, and am connected with him on Facebook. He has always been an open, sharing, passionate karateka, in my experience. It doesn't surprise me, at all, that he uses video to help his students .

Yes, I've trained with Mr. Smith off and on since I was eight (mostly off, unfortunately). He is very into his blog, especially recently as he's been stuck home the past few years since the issues with his cancer treatment. He is very passionate about what he does and has a wealth of knowledge. In addition to his Facebook and blog posts, he also sends us a compliation e-mail at least once a week with even more research he's done, interesting videos he's stumbled across, or thoughts and observations he's had after class.

I'll try to work on the power thing-- that's something I've noticed as well. I go into it consciously putting a lot of power into each sequence, but at certain points I'll lose the bubble and my movements won't be as sharp until I bring myself back to it. I think it's a concentration thing. I need to work on that.