The role of kitae(conditioning)

[Spartacus Maximus]

Conditioning the body to take and give strikes used to be taught as a fundamental skill in Okinawan karate. Nowadays it isn’t something that is practiced commonly, except by some exceptions and uechi-ryu. Outside of Okinawa it is rarely taught and hardly known.

Most who actually teach it are direct students of Okinawan instructors or have close technical connections with Okinawan masters. My lineage maintains conditioning of every blocking and striking surfaces identical to what is found in uechi ryu. Every student is shown and taught how to do it, but it isn’t mandatory as it was previously.

Besides the makiwara and other equipment, several partner drills and solo exercises are done for limbs, body, fingers and toes. Is conditioning a part of your own personal training? Do you teach and train it in your dojo? If yes, how often should it be trained to be productive? Obviously it is a slow cumulative process with recovery periods in between..

[Wastelander]

My late Sensei was big on tai tanren (body conditioning), and we worked the arms, legs, and body pretty regularly--enough that I wasn't out of my depth training with Kyokushin folks. It's definitely important, and should be touched on at least couple times a week, but it's uncomfortable/painful, and that doesn't usually do well in most commercial schools, which is why it's largely fallen out of favor. On top of that, the prevalence of point fighting has made it so tons of karateka have never and will never be hit or hit someone, so conditioning would be a waste of time for their competition preparations.

[Drew]

Honestly, some of those really conditioned folks have the thickest adaptations, and I definitely wouldn't want to get hit by them. But personally, I already deal with so many random pains at the ripe old age of 32 that I can't see myself seriously pursuing those conditionings.

[aurik]

As a Uechi-Ryu practitioner, conditioning plays a fundamental role in our training. A usual class for us starts with the following four things: junbi undo (warmup exercises), hojo undo (supplementary exercises/kihons), sanchin kata, and kotekitae/ashikitae. One can also consider Sanchin kata to be conditioning as well, since one purpose of Sanchin is to strengthen the entire body through dynamic tension. At higher grades, we frequently test a person's focus in Sanchin through "shime" testing; -- an instructor will pull, push, and strike a person while they perform Sanchin. This tests their mental focus (ie, can you continue doing Sanchin through distractions), their stance & balance (ie, if I push you, can I make you break out of your stance), and their overall conditioning (ie, I'll strike various parts of the body, forearms, legs, abs, pecs, lats, and traps to check if they are keeping the muscles tight and protecting themselves.)

This conditioning plays a vital role as students enter the brown and black belt grades. At those grades, students practice rensoku-style kumite drills -- ie, the drills are done full power, full speed in a flowing back and forth motion. Students who haven't conditioned their arms will find bruises forming on their foreams when they block in certain sequences. Students who haven't conditioned their shins will get bruises there when doing certain kicking sequences. As a general rule, it takes about 2 years of regular conditioning training to build an appropriate baseline.

Of course, if you condition hard enough, long enough, with enough intensity, you can do really cool breaks like these:

As far as "how often and how long" do we train -- we train kotekitae most classes for about 10-15 minutes. The key is for an individual to figure out how much punishment he/she can take without bruising or injury. There is a very definite line between "not training hard enough", "training just right", and "training too hard". You can generally figure out how much training is "just right" when your arms are bright red and things are shaking just a bit (we call those the "uechi shakes").

I once made the mistake of training leg conditioning too hard and gave myself a bone bruise on my shin -- it took MONTHS for that to heal, and while it was healing, I was unable to do any meaningful conditioning. So until a student figures out how hard is hard enough, err on the side of caution.

Here's an example of what we do in one of our classes:

[sensei8]

Besides the makiwara and other equipment, several partner drills and solo exercises are done for limbs, body, fingers and toes. Is conditioning a part of your own personal training? Do you teach and train it in your dojo? If yes, how often should it be trained to be productive? Obviously it is a slow cumulative process with recovery periods in between.

Excellent responses so far. There's no effectiveness whatsoever for any MAist if there's no conditioning. It's paramount.

To the first question found in the above quote box...Yes, conditioning is a part of my own personal training. Not just as a MAist, but also as someone who's fight still continues with some serious health issues.

To the second question...Yes, when my dojo was open. What training and conditioning I did to stave off my health issues are beneficial to all of my students, and not just me, except, swimming in the pool because, well, my dojo didn't have a swimming pool.

To the 3rd question...It should be trained every day. Training ethics is everything. So many make excuses to not train, after all, a few minutes a day is akin to an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

[Montana]

We do what we called Kotoate drills, involving roundhouse kicks to the inside/outside of the legs. stomach, ribs and back. The idea was to accept as hard a kick as you could manage. Arm techniques involved doing outside to down blocks whacking each others forearms against each other. Thee is also one using an open hand block, but I cant really describe it.

I have a grandson in Tang Soo Do class right now and offered to show it to their sensei if he'd like to incorporate it into his training. No interest..lol.

[bushido_man96]

We do what we called Kotoate drills, involving roundhouse kicks to the inside/outside of the legs. stomach, ribs and back. The idea was to accept as hard a kick as you could manage. Arm techniques involved doing outside to down blocks whacking each others forearms against each other. Thee is also one using an open hand block, but I cant really describe it.

I have a grandson in Tang Soo Do class right now and offered to show it to their sensei if he'd like to incorporate it into his training. No interest..lol.

I'd take you up on that.

Most of the schools I've been a part of have not indulged in this kind of training. I've dabbled a bit in the past, years ago, but without really knowing anything about what I was doing. I've seen a partner forearm blocking drill that I think would work really well, but never any of the leg kicking stuff.

I do think this kind of training would be beneficial, so long as it's done right. I'd be afraid of getting that "no pain, no gain!" style instructor that would batter someone up to the point that movement was difficult and actually causing injury.

[aurik]

We do what we called Kotoate drills, involving roundhouse kicks to the inside/outside of the legs. stomach, ribs and back. The idea was to accept as hard a kick as you could manage. Arm techniques involved doing outside to down blocks whacking each others forearms against each other. Thee is also one using an open hand block, but I cant really describe it.

I have a grandson in Tang Soo Do class right now and offered to show it to their sensei if he'd like to incorporate it into his training. No interest..lol.

I'd take you up on that.

Most of the schools I've been a part of have not indulged in this kind of training. I've dabbled a bit in the past, years ago, but without really knowing anything about what I was doing. I've seen a partner forearm blocking drill that I think would work really well, but never any of the leg kicking stuff.

I do think this kind of training would be beneficial, so long as it's done right. I'd be afraid of getting that "no pain, no gain!" style instructor that would batter someone up to the point that movement was difficult and actually causing injury.

A certain amount of pain is beneficial, but there's a very distinct line between "a good amount" of pain, and "too much" pain. Any damage you can't recover from in a couple of days is too much pain. It's one of those things where you figure out what the right amount is as you go along.

[Montana]

We do what we called Kotoate drills, involving roundhouse kicks to the inside/outside of the legs. stomach, ribs and back. The idea was to accept as hard a kick as you could manage. Arm techniques involved doing outside to down blocks whacking each others forearms against each other. Thee is also one using an open hand block, but I cant really describe it.

I have a grandson in Tang Soo Do class right now and offered to show it to their sensei if he'd like to incorporate it into his training. No interest..lol.

I'd take you up on that.

Most of the schools I've been a part of have not indulged in this kind of training. I've dabbled a bit in the past, years ago, but without really knowing anything about what I was doing. I've seen a partner forearm blocking drill that I think would work really well, but never any of the leg kicking stuff.

I do think this kind of training would be beneficial, so long as it's done right. I'd be afraid of getting that "no pain, no gain!" style instructor that would batter someone up to the point that movement was difficult and actually causing injury.

Kicks are easy. Only hit as hard as your partner can take, but take all you can. Does no good if you're not pushing your limits. receiving end determines how hard.

1. Face each other, right or left legs forward. Roundhouse to partners thigh. Alternating turns. Emphasis NOT flinching the knee away or could be hurt! Do other side. At least 10 reps each leg.

2. One person with right leg forward, other left. Same kick but to the INSIDE of the thigh. Roundhouse kick. Same thing, don't flinch!

3. Back shoulder kick, facing each other, right let, right hand on top of the head. Roundhouse under the arm to kick back of shoulder blade.

4. Stomach kicks. Partner stands sidewise to you, hands behind back, horse stance. Partner roundhouse kicks to stomach 10 times.

There's one using an openhand block where a partner punches you, block, then upwards against their forearm then double chop down. Easy to show, hard to describe. If I knew how to do a video on here and get it to you, I'd show you. Really good for toughing up the forearms.

[bushido_man96]

Those sound simple enough. When you round kick, are you striking with the top of your foot or with the ball of the foot? Or do you switch it up, or do you start with the top of the foot and work up to ball of the foot?