Kata as a muscle-memory building tool

[Muga_mushin]

I wanted to share this video on interpreting kata as general movements of the body rather than specific techniques. I think it's important to have a conceptual base for your katas while having the specific movements represent the most efficient way to express those concepts. Thank you, also if you would like to see more interpretations of other movements please leave a comment here or on the video.

[Judodad_karateson]

Thats pretty much how I've always viewed it. Being against Kata is on par with being against no-contact drills in any other activity. If you're against Kata, you're against Shadow boxing, you're against running plays, you're against using a bat weight, you're against target practice, you're against Firefighter challenges, you're against obstacle courses, etc.

But Karate is more than than, it's also the curriculum of Karate in physical form. It's taking everything you have learned and turning it into a cohesive lesson.

[liger]

Thats pretty much how I've always viewed it. Being against Kata is on par with being against no-contact drills in any other activity. If you're against Kata, you're against Shadow boxing, you're against running plays, you're against using a bat weight, you're against target practice, you're against Firefighter challenges, you're against obstacle courses, etc.

But Karate is more than than, it's also the curriculum of Karate in physical form. It's taking everything you have learned and turning it into a cohesive lesson.

I am glad to see that I am not the only way that feels this way. You used the same thing I was going to say with boxing.

[Muga_mushin]

That's hilarious! we actually filmed a section that compared drilling kata to shadow boxing. Great minds think alike thanks for the response!

[sensei8]

Thats pretty much how I've always viewed it. Being against Kata is on par with being against no-contact drills in any other activity. If you're against Kata, you're against Shadow boxing, you're against running plays, you're against using a bat weight, you're against target practice, you're against Firefighter challenges, you're against obstacle courses, etc.

But Karate is more than than, it's also the curriculum of Karate in physical form. It's taking everything you have learned and turning it into a cohesive lesson.

Solid post!!

[Th0mas]

Nice video, thank you for sharing.

Although in principle I agree with the thread title, I think kata is slightly more holistic than that. In essence the two of you have a high degree of experience and knowledge of the fundamentals and are able to apply the fighting principles that you have learnt through kata and other aspects of your training. I would not expect someone who has not gone through that journey to be able to apply the movements in the free form way you have demonstrated.

Outside of muscle memory what the structure of kata practice brings is an understanding of HOW you can apply techniques to a given context.

I look at Kata as a type of "lesson plan" which demonstrates fighting strategies and tactics for dealing with real civilian self protection with a set of techniques to provide examples of how the principles are applied. This is essential to enable the student to transition from learning the techniques for a given situation to start developing a set of fighting tools that they can apply to a broad set of circumstances.

For example, first learning the fundamentals of how to apply an arm/shoulder lock from a wrist grab using the gydanberai movement. Then learning how to apply the same principles of body mechanics and mechanical advantage by shifting to the outside of your opponent for a wide variety of situations as you very nicely demonstrated in your video.

Personally I believe good kata practice ( which includes solo, partner, free flow restistance, and fighting practice) produces a really good training framework to develop these skills.

Cheers

Tom

[RW]

I see Kata as a lesson plan too, for different reasons.

Kata is a good way to practice the concepts in the curriculum for that person's art.

Say you need to know the front punch, high block, step-drag and palm strike in order to advance to yellow belt. You will be taught those moves first, practice them, etc, and you might be taught a kata that incorporates those very concepts too.

By practicing say. "kata A" with front punches, high blocks, palm strikes and step drags, you will also be practicing the moves you need to know for that belt, but in an integrated manner, which will develop muscle memory and also teach you to link moves together, so you no longer see them as isolated techniques.

[Th0mas]

I see Kata as a lesson plan too, for different reasons.

Kata is a good way to practice the concepts in the curriculum for that person's art.

Say you need to know the front punch, high block, step-drag and palm strike in order to advance to yellow belt. You will be taught those moves first, practice them, etc, and you might be taught a kata that incorporates those very concepts too.

By practicing say. "kata A" with front punches, high blocks, palm strikes and step drags, you will also be practicing the moves you need to know for that belt, but in an integrated manner, which will develop muscle memory and also teach you to link moves together, so you no longer see them as isolated techniques.

That is true, but only if the contex setting is correct (dealing with the reality of real combat not dojo kumite against karate style attacks) and a basic understanding of how to interpret a kata's structure... For example that you move in relation to your opponent standing in front of you, not in relation to attacks coming at you from the four compass directions etc.

Not forgetting the range, i.e close, and all that that implies.

[The Pred]

When I was younger I hated doing kata (still not my favorite thing to do) but now I realize the importance of it. However, it's a great workout, plus there are so many self-defense moves you can get out of it.

[sensei8]

Providing that the muscle memory is the proper muscle memory, and not the wrong muscle memory. The longer one is in the poor muscle memory, the longer it'll take to break, and re-train.