This article seeks to summarize the article So You Want To Learn Implicitly? Coaching and Learning Through Implicit Motor Learning Techniques by Jamie M. Poolton and Tiffany L. Zachry International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching Volume 2 · Number 1 · 2007 and to relate how implicit learning may be applied to Karate and Martial Arts training.
by Adrian Cartland
Llb (with Hons.) BEc GDLP
2nd Dan Goju Ryu
The Author is indebted to Dr Greg Lovell Mbbs Dip Dhm FACSP for his guidance, learned discussion and supervision.
Implicit Learning
“At its onset in 1992, implicit motor learning was investigated as a means to overcome a
breakdown in performance sometimes seen under psychological stress [1]. To learn implicitly basically means to remove the verbal and/or analytical systems (i.e. working from memory) from the learning process, while explicit learning techniques often encourage the use of those same systems by employing various types of instruction and/or guidance”
Put another way, implicit learning seeks to bypass the conscious learning mechanisms so that students do not need to rely on their conscious memory. Under explicit learning students eventually develop into unconscious competence of a given skill; however there is a risk that the conscious may re-engage, especially under periods of high stress, in which case the skill has a higher chance of breaking down.
An example of explicit learning in Martial Arts is as follows (admittedly exaggerated somewhat to emphasize the difference between explicit and implicit learning):
Students new to Karate are shown how to defend against a straight right punch to the chest (Gyaku-Zuki Chudan). The instructor demonstrates and explains in front of the class that the students should:
From natural stance (Heiko Dachi) step out 45 degrees to their left into deep stance (Hidari Zen Kutsu Dachi) and execute an inside to outside block with their right arm (Migi Chudan Uchi Uke). Then execute a right ridge hand strike to the attacker’s throat (Migi Jodan Haito Uchi) and shuffle step behind the attacker, turning them anti clockwise, and grab your right hand with your left hand to execute a rear naked choke (Hadaka Jime). With your right leg right kick the opponents right leg (Kansetsu Geri) to bring the opponent lower and make the choke more effective.
The students are then paired off and begin to practice the entire sequence.
Initially one would expect that students would struggle with all these techniques - between them having to learn to punch, block, choke and kick - and they would no doubt be very actively thinking about each technique. Especially since this is their first lesson. Perhaps this was too advanced to teach an absolute beginner? However, let us assume that the instructor is wise and makes the students practice the sequence every class for many months and the students eventually are able to apply the sequence fluidly and unconsciously.
Where there this research says that there is a risk is that under stress the student who has learned in this manner may revert to having to consciously thinking about the skill, with the potential to break down. That is, there is a risk that if the student had to apply these techniques under a (very stressful) self defence scenario they may have to think about how to defend themselves, consequently decreasing reaction time and the ability to apply their techniques.
Benefits of Implicit Learning
Learning without using the conscious memory (without using verbal and/or analytical systems), that is implicit learning, may remove the risk of reverting to conscious thinking under stress, however does a teacher in a manner so that students may learn implicitly?
Implicit learning it not a novel technique that is the one way to teach students. Rather there are many ways in which a student may learn implicitly. However, the initial research into implicit learning was not entirely helpful:
“The trouble with the initial implicit motor learning techniques, however, was that they tended to be somewhat less than practical for a teaching or coaching environment [9]. For example, to ensure that learners were not relying on their verbal or analytical systems, the earliest study had participants attempt to randomly generate and call out letters of the alphabet ... while they are practising golf putting ... Obviously, using these methods in the practical arena would beat best a nuisance and at worst confusing and demotivating to learners”.
Fortunately more recent research has developed implicit learning further.
Errorless Learning
“Errorless learning does not literally mean that no errors are made, but simply that errors are kept to a minimum, especially early in the learning process. The concept behind it is a method that practitioners have been using for centuries to teach people new skills – start easy and gradually increase the difficulty. In its applied form, errorless learning is a more rigid use of this concept and it attempts to constrain the learner’s environment such that errors are prevented, if not altogether, then at least for the most part. The idea is that with a reduced amount of errors will come a reduced propensity to form and test hypotheses that would lead to a buildup of declarative knowledge. For instance, the first errorless learning study by Maxwell and colleagues [7] had an errorless group start putting golf balls at a distance of 25 cm from the hole and gradually moved back to 200 cm in increments of 25 cm (50 trials at each distance). An errorful group, which started from the furthest distance and worked their way closer to the hole, was included as a contrast to the errorless group. Unlike the errorless learners, this group was put in a position to encourage more errors early in the learning process. A group that putted from the different distances in random order was also included to act as a control group, and none of the groups were given any kind of verbal or physical guidance. One of the most important findings of this study was that the errorless learners were able to maintain their performance level despite...[other tasks that they were required to concentrate on]”
Errorless learning is a concept familiar to many who have studied Karate and other traditional Martial Arts. Having a very slow learning curve might be seen in learning one Kata for several years, e.g. Higashionna Kanryo would teach Sanchin kata for 3 or 4 years, and Gichin Funakoshi wrote that he spent 10 years studying Naifanchin (Karatedo: My Way of Life, Funakoshi, 1956).
Applying errorless learning to the teaching example above the instructor might drill the students on transitioning from Heiko Dachi to Zen Kutsu Dachi, and then teach the Uchi Uke from Zen Kutsu Dachi, and only once they have perfected both move on to combining the both of them. Then perhaps teach the Chudan Gyaku Zuki and then in pairs practice Uchi Uke against Chudan Zuki. Slowly add in the further components of stepping, Haito Uchi, shuffle stepping, Hadaka Jime and Kansetsu Geri.
“Does this research suggest that a coach eager to pass on years of wisdom and expertise is now obsolete? To address this question and to further emphasize its usefulness as a means to impart implicit motor learning characteristics, a study by Poolton and colleagues [11] showed that errorless learning is most important in the early stages of acquiring a skill and does not suffer ill effects if verbal instructions are introduced later on in the process.”
“This revealed that, as a learning technique, errorless learning can have positive effects even if
combined with the explicit “rules” that had been shown to be detrimental in previous studies;
the only stipulation is that these rules should not be given to the learner until a period of
implicit (in this case, errorless) learning has taken place.[Underlining added]”
Therefore if the students have already built up the skill sets in question, the explicit teaching method is no longer detrimental: that is, the students will not suffer from a possible breakdown in technique or reversion to conscious memory under stress and will instead be able to execute the techniques with unconscious competence.
Therefore if the original example is changed so that the students learning the techniques are not beginners but are instead Black Belt student who have trained all of the techniques in question through errorless learning then explicit instruction method would be well suited and the students should be able to perform the techniques under stress.
As a final point on errorless learning, under a state of physical fatigue errorful students (that is students that are allowed to make mistakes during their learning) have significantly reduced performance in a state of fatigue whereas errorless students are either unaffected in their performance or at least significantly less affected.
Unfortunately the research on performance by errorless students does not currently extend to performance under psychological stress (such as the type that may be encountered in a self defence situation) although it would be expected that errorless students would perform better than errorful.
External Focus of Attention
The intention of an external focus is to prevent the student “from becoming too engaged in the step-by-step mechanics of a skill and allows more automated performance to occur”
“What this means in simple terms is concentrating one’s attention on the aspects of a movement which relate to its outcome, rather than on the movement itself (which has been dubbed an internal focus of attention)”
Put another way, internal focus is focusing on the individual movements that make up the skill, external focus is focusing on the overall result and the letting brain take care of the rest.
A simple example of the difference between external focus of attention and internal focus of attention is hitting a ball with a bat. Internal focus is where the striker concentrates on the movement of their arms or on the bat or on both of them; external focus is where the striker concentrates on the movement of the ball. It is common wisdom that it is better to “keep your eye on the ball”, and the research into an external focus of attention supports that external focus of attention supports this common wisdom. Specifically, in studies contrasting external focus and internal focus the external focus participants have been found to have:
* better retention of the skill practiced;
* better accuracy and co-ordination;
* more attention resources available (useful if multiple tasks are being undertaking, e.g. striking and also warding off strikes);
* less knowledge of explicit “rules” (the problems with which are explained above); and
* more automated performance.
A classical example of external focus of attention in Karate is thinking of striking “through” the target: the focus on the target - specifically upon striking through it - will improve the technique. In contrast an internal focus while punching might be: 'as you strike the target feel the arm straightening with the elbow extending and the wrist holding straight and with the weight moving forward from the body'.
The external focus can also be applied when executing Kihon and Ido (basic techniques). That is, a focus on an imaginary external target when practicing techniques in the absence of a target.
Finally, an external focus of attention when practicing Kata will improve the techniques demonstrated; the external focus applicable is the bunkai (application) of the Kata. For example when demonstrating the final techniques of Saifa the practitioner might think of the Haito Uchi and Hadaka Jime (rear naked choke) described above. (See video below for an example) Naturally and external focus of attention during Kata is made easier by having specific bunkai for each technique - or set of techniques -rather than performing mere movements that may have a multitude of applications.
Analogy Learning
Analogy learning should be something familiar to many Martial Artists. Indeed, the first example given in the Paper of analogy learning is that from the original Karate Kid movie where Mr. Miyagi uses “wax on, wax off” as an analogy to executing blocks.
Analogy learning is a type of implicit learning, having the benefits described at the outset of this article. Further, analogy learning has been tested directly under psychological stress, whereas errorless learning and external focus have only been tested indirectly.
Analogy learning is often coupled with an external focus of attention, e.g. in golf “let the club perform a pendulum like motion”, or may be used to create an external focus of attention. So the final technique in Saifa may be described as a Haito Uchi to an opponent followed by a Hadaka Jime etc.
An important component to analogy learning is having a culturally relevant analogy. For example a Gyaku-Zuki being blocked by an Uchi Uke (as described in the initial example) could be described as“one-homed ox” and “keeping a flower” (Posture 37, page 222 of the Bubishi: The Classic Manual of Combat, as translated by Hanshi Patrick McCarthy) which the writer assumes may have historically been an appropriate analogy in China. While modern readers will struggle with old chinese analogies it is up to the learner to develop new ones that are applicable to him.
Each of us have different backgrounds and can (if prodded) come up with our own new ideas as memory devices. That way we will remember them much more readily. It may be in everyone of us to create the next “wax on, wax off” that will be used by countless students into the future, or which is pored over by historians hundreds of years in the future.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Sanseiru "MMA Bunkai" Seminar
Visited some old friends on Saturday where I did brief seminar on Bunkai (applications) from the Kata Sanseiru. Because of the audience I showed how bunkai from Sanseiru could be modified to fit in with material that I had been taught in MMA seminars. This recapitulation of the techniques is designed to serve as an aide memoir for the participants, and also to stimulate discussion for others who are interested in Sanseiru.
I have posted some video of Sanseiru applications before.
Technique 1 (Opening 3 punches)bunkai: pummelling for underhooks
Here is an example of pummelling
Technique 4 bunkai: single leg takedown.
(techniques 2 and 3 were skipped)
I went through a couple of variations, namely pushing with the left hand on the knee, on the hip, and using body weight to take down)
There are some examples of this here:
At the end, of this
And here it is done in a more MMA/wrestling oriented way
Combination 5 (the up-elbow, cross, front kick, turn-outer block combination) was done in a slightly changed order (to fit the MMA theme):
*catching a hook punch with the elbow (one can also dig into the attacker's arm);
*cross punch;
*use front kick to step past opponent
* turn for a winding throw (cross between Tai-Otochi and Seio Otoshi)
Have a look at this video for some more ideas on this:
For the "X-block" it was used as a Morote Gari. I have previously
described this technique.
Here is another video of Morote Gari being demonstrated:
Final technique (Morote Ko Uke) I used as a single collar grab, similar to that used in the wrestling ankle pick video above.
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| Karate Sanseiru Seminar 31-07-2010 |
I have posted some video of Sanseiru applications before.
Technique 1 (Opening 3 punches)bunkai: pummelling for underhooks
Here is an example of pummelling
Technique 4 bunkai: single leg takedown.
(techniques 2 and 3 were skipped)
I went through a couple of variations, namely pushing with the left hand on the knee, on the hip, and using body weight to take down)
There are some examples of this here:
At the end, of this
And here it is done in a more MMA/wrestling oriented way
Combination 5 (the up-elbow, cross, front kick, turn-outer block combination) was done in a slightly changed order (to fit the MMA theme):
*catching a hook punch with the elbow (one can also dig into the attacker's arm);
*cross punch;
*use front kick to step past opponent
* turn for a winding throw (cross between Tai-Otochi and Seio Otoshi)
Have a look at this video for some more ideas on this:
For the "X-block" it was used as a Morote Gari. I have previously
described this technique.
Here is another video of Morote Gari being demonstrated:
Final technique (Morote Ko Uke) I used as a single collar grab, similar to that used in the wrestling ankle pick video above.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
SA BJJ titles 7 March 2010
First I will make some observations about my performance. The lead up to the competition was easier this year because I have been 90.5kg - 0.5kg under the weight limit for the 85-91kg category - for the last 3 weeks and therefore haven't had to drop a few kilos in a couple of weeks as I did the last two years. This removed stress from making weight and allowed me to eat regular meals leading up to the comp. I was even able to have a few drinks.
I did not mentally prepare as much as I wanted to. Usually I run through the diary of techniques that I keep (writing down each technique we do in training) so that I can list what I can do from each position. This forms a rudimentary game plan. However time constraints leading up to the comp prevented this.
I entered into 4 divisions: weight class gi and no-gi and open weight gi and no-gi. I did much better in the gi divisions, probably because I hardly train no-gi. But it was only good experience to go into as many divisions as possible. In the first open weight gi match I used my regular game plan well; pulling guard later moving to spider guard sweeping to mount and doing a gi choke. That caused a rotation into back mount where I got another gi choke eventually, though not after going through ankle pain for leaving my hooks down too deep. My bad.
The next match the ref said that I tapped out to a triangle choke (no points scored) that I had plenty of airspace on. I didn't tap at all! But I guess that the ref was just looking after the fighters. *shakes fist*
In the Weight gi division (when the match finally happened 3 hrs late) I pulled guard against a really strong opponent (I won't mention names on this blog unless I have permission) who could easily control my arms, which made attacking from guard that much harder (basically impossible). In the last 30 seconds I pulled an arm bar as he stood up, which was my best move for the day - I just saw the opening and jumped for it.
In summary of the other matches I need to work on my top game and some finer points of guard passes. I also had a rematch against my very strong friend in the open no-gi and he got me with a footsweep and landed on mount and then as I turtled to escape he got my back and finished with a rear naked choke - very nicely done. I ended up with a bronze in 85-91kg Gi, which is at least something. I will hopefully post a couple of videos shortly, although because much of my game uses the guard some matches are pretty boring to watch.
Second I will make some general observations about the competition:
There were allot of injuries. A couple of people said that people weren't tapping out of hopeless positions and so maybe that was it. One guy said he had a tight armbar and was popping his opponents elbow but still the opponent didn't tap for a while. It is one thing trying to win, it is another trying to win when you have lost. Suck it up and tap. Or get injured and tap anyway.
* I like the relaxed nature of competitors. I got to chat with people from many different clubs and all the people I talked to didn't have egos and were really relaxed. This includes dojo instructors from clubs who I was competing against. It certainly shows the good spirit of the competition when you are able to exchange compliments with a competing dojo's instructor.
* Congratulations to IsoHealth for winning the team element of the competition. The comments in the preceding paragraph certainly apply to those I met from this team. BTT took third this time after winning last year. We will have to get lots of our new guys to compete so we can hopefully win the next one.
* Match of the day I think went to a BTT member who fought a rippling musclebound machine probably 30 kgs beaver than him and who held guard for at least 3 -4 minutes (losing no points during that period). That his opponent didn't rend him within 30 seconds certainly gives him a moral victory and shows how good technique can prevail over strength.
* Kudos to the freestyle Karate guy from Elizabeth who without any ground experience went in the no-gi competition. It is great to see people throw themselves into the deep end. I hope that he continues to practice grappling.
I did not mentally prepare as much as I wanted to. Usually I run through the diary of techniques that I keep (writing down each technique we do in training) so that I can list what I can do from each position. This forms a rudimentary game plan. However time constraints leading up to the comp prevented this.
I entered into 4 divisions: weight class gi and no-gi and open weight gi and no-gi. I did much better in the gi divisions, probably because I hardly train no-gi. But it was only good experience to go into as many divisions as possible. In the first open weight gi match I used my regular game plan well; pulling guard later moving to spider guard sweeping to mount and doing a gi choke. That caused a rotation into back mount where I got another gi choke eventually, though not after going through ankle pain for leaving my hooks down too deep. My bad.
The next match the ref said that I tapped out to a triangle choke (no points scored) that I had plenty of airspace on. I didn't tap at all! But I guess that the ref was just looking after the fighters. *shakes fist*
In the Weight gi division (when the match finally happened 3 hrs late) I pulled guard against a really strong opponent (I won't mention names on this blog unless I have permission) who could easily control my arms, which made attacking from guard that much harder (basically impossible). In the last 30 seconds I pulled an arm bar as he stood up, which was my best move for the day - I just saw the opening and jumped for it.
In summary of the other matches I need to work on my top game and some finer points of guard passes. I also had a rematch against my very strong friend in the open no-gi and he got me with a footsweep and landed on mount and then as I turtled to escape he got my back and finished with a rear naked choke - very nicely done. I ended up with a bronze in 85-91kg Gi, which is at least something. I will hopefully post a couple of videos shortly, although because much of my game uses the guard some matches are pretty boring to watch.
Second I will make some general observations about the competition:
There were allot of injuries. A couple of people said that people weren't tapping out of hopeless positions and so maybe that was it. One guy said he had a tight armbar and was popping his opponents elbow but still the opponent didn't tap for a while. It is one thing trying to win, it is another trying to win when you have lost. Suck it up and tap. Or get injured and tap anyway.
* I like the relaxed nature of competitors. I got to chat with people from many different clubs and all the people I talked to didn't have egos and were really relaxed. This includes dojo instructors from clubs who I was competing against. It certainly shows the good spirit of the competition when you are able to exchange compliments with a competing dojo's instructor.
* Congratulations to IsoHealth for winning the team element of the competition. The comments in the preceding paragraph certainly apply to those I met from this team. BTT took third this time after winning last year. We will have to get lots of our new guys to compete so we can hopefully win the next one.
* Match of the day I think went to a BTT member who fought a rippling musclebound machine probably 30 kgs beaver than him and who held guard for at least 3 -4 minutes (losing no points during that period). That his opponent didn't rend him within 30 seconds certainly gives him a moral victory and shows how good technique can prevail over strength.
* Kudos to the freestyle Karate guy from Elizabeth who without any ground experience went in the no-gi competition. It is great to see people throw themselves into the deep end. I hope that he continues to practice grappling.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Koryu Uchinadi Seminar
Had a great seminar with Renshi Jason Griffiths on the weekend who travelled down from QLD. On Saturday we focused on bunkai (applications) for Pinan Nidan and on Sunday did Choku gata futari geiko. There a large amount of material covered and these couple of lines hardly do it justice.
For reference here is a video of Chokyu gata, which is related to the Gekisai kata we do in Goju Ryu.
The event was organised by Chris Gillies
For reference here is a video of Chokyu gata, which is related to the Gekisai kata we do in Goju Ryu.
The event was organised by Chris Gillies
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Working vs Training - or both?
It is 8.45 pm and am still at work at the moment! I will probably be at work for a while... This is one bad thing aboubt being a Lawyer. But 95% of the time work is fun. (Note: 95% may or may not be an accurate figure)
Being a Tuesday I usually try to get to a MMA class at Brazilian Top Team followed by a Gi BJJ class for about 3 hours of training total. Tonight there was also our monthly Advanced Karate seminar which was on a special Kata that catalogues all of the blocks of Karate. It is being presented at the camp this weekend and the test run was tonight. Unfortunately I could not get to any training tonight :(
I had some urgent work come up and so had to skip training. Work comes before training unfortunately. To make it worse the work is basically administrative work and will probably not be billed (so no happy time sheet). And I still have heaps to do...
Thankfully while I am waiting for documents to print and scan I am able to do some Kata practice in the hallways. I am working on Shisochin at the moment, and have managed to fit it in between the desks in my office because of the symmetrical nature of the Kata. The only modification I have to do is not extend my legs for the Mae Geri (front kicks), otherwise I will knock over a filing cabinet and/or put a hole in the wall! I am also practicing the Kata quite slowly so as not to sweat in my business attire (or rip it).
The Kata is definitely being used as a moving meditation (and is helping keeping focus on a mundane task), but I am also thinking about bunkai (applications) and so am mentally going through self defence applications. While this is probably not as good as lots of hard training, it certainly is more useful than pacing up and down the hallways.
Osu!
Being a Tuesday I usually try to get to a MMA class at Brazilian Top Team followed by a Gi BJJ class for about 3 hours of training total. Tonight there was also our monthly Advanced Karate seminar which was on a special Kata that catalogues all of the blocks of Karate. It is being presented at the camp this weekend and the test run was tonight. Unfortunately I could not get to any training tonight :(
I had some urgent work come up and so had to skip training. Work comes before training unfortunately. To make it worse the work is basically administrative work and will probably not be billed (so no happy time sheet). And I still have heaps to do...
Thankfully while I am waiting for documents to print and scan I am able to do some Kata practice in the hallways. I am working on Shisochin at the moment, and have managed to fit it in between the desks in my office because of the symmetrical nature of the Kata. The only modification I have to do is not extend my legs for the Mae Geri (front kicks), otherwise I will knock over a filing cabinet and/or put a hole in the wall! I am also practicing the Kata quite slowly so as not to sweat in my business attire (or rip it).
The Kata is definitely being used as a moving meditation (and is helping keeping focus on a mundane task), but I am also thinking about bunkai (applications) and so am mentally going through self defence applications. While this is probably not as good as lots of hard training, it certainly is more useful than pacing up and down the hallways.
Osu!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Practical Kendo
While many people take up Karate or BJJ for self defence, very few people take up Kendo for self defence - and for a good reason: there are not too may Samurai walking the streets these days.
However because of the interest in the Japanese sword arts (Iaido, Kendo etc) and their availability to the public the incidence of violence occurring involving a Katana ("Samurai Sword") is surprisingly high. Here is a quick article that has compiled a few incidents in one area. While I cannot find the news article anymore there was a gang fight in Sydney a couple of years ago that involved two gang members facing off with Katanas. If I recall correctly one gang member had their wrist severed (or at least badly injured) and each had some bad cuts. Humorously my initial thought was scoring with Kote!
There has been quite a bit of writing in the last few days about the incident involving a Johns Hopkins University student who slew a burglar with a Katana. Here is one example news story for the details. Further details state that the Katana wielding student scored a Kote, dealing alot of damage to the thief's hand and cutting into the thief's chest. While some think this is cool I am not going to make any jokes here. As some have already mentioned, this incident will probably scar the victim student psychologically.
Perhaps that is where Kendo is really practical in an incident like this: providing a physical release from stress and cultivating a strong mind and spirit. If one accepts completely committing to a technique and applies it to their life by completely committing to their actions then perhaps they will accept and deal with the consequences easier.
However because of the interest in the Japanese sword arts (Iaido, Kendo etc) and their availability to the public the incidence of violence occurring involving a Katana ("Samurai Sword") is surprisingly high. Here is a quick article that has compiled a few incidents in one area. While I cannot find the news article anymore there was a gang fight in Sydney a couple of years ago that involved two gang members facing off with Katanas. If I recall correctly one gang member had their wrist severed (or at least badly injured) and each had some bad cuts. Humorously my initial thought was scoring with Kote!
There has been quite a bit of writing in the last few days about the incident involving a Johns Hopkins University student who slew a burglar with a Katana. Here is one example news story for the details. Further details state that the Katana wielding student scored a Kote, dealing alot of damage to the thief's hand and cutting into the thief's chest. While some think this is cool I am not going to make any jokes here. As some have already mentioned, this incident will probably scar the victim student psychologically.
Perhaps that is where Kendo is really practical in an incident like this: providing a physical release from stress and cultivating a strong mind and spirit. If one accepts completely committing to a technique and applies it to their life by completely committing to their actions then perhaps they will accept and deal with the consequences easier.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Contact in Karate
Last weekend (when this was written, though the time of posting is a couple of weeks after that) we were fortunate to have a 6th Dan from our network fly in from interstate and conduct as a grading for the Adelaide Dojos and do a seminar on Kumite (sparring). At the end of the seminar there was naturally some Kumite matches, and in one of them someone's Mae Geri (front kick) got blocked too hard and they asked for the match to be stopped. Actually the kick was not blocked that hard, but there was a pre-existing injury on the leg and the block aggravated it.
Anyway Shihan said that even if you get injured in Kumite you should not show it or stop the match, unless the injury will require hospitalisation or some such. Even then you should try to remain as composed as possible. The reasoning for this had a street application: if you are attacked and you show that you are injured then the attacker will be encouraged to attack you further because they can see that you are being beaten and are weaker than them.
Showing strength and determination even when in pain is also related to Zen because of the drive and focus to achieve the end goal. Just as a punch requires full commitment to be effective, so to does all aspects of Karate, including training with commitment to the Kumite match.
Shihan mentioned that in the past Dojos he has trained in bouts were not stopped even when teeth flew onto the floor! I can think of several examples told to me by people I have trained with of a similar acceptance of punishment while still sparring, but most stories occurred in or before the 1980's - well before my time. Comparing these stories (which, because I have heard them from such a variety of sources I assume to be a true contrast to today) with Kumite today it seems that there are many more people who train with much less contact.
The interesting discussion is how much contact is the right amount of contact in Karate?
Firstly I would like to say that I think that "Non-Contact Karate" is really not appropriate. While it goes without saying that Kids training should be non-contact, and there is no harm in not contacting a beginner, if black belts are not familiar with contact (of any kind) and able to accept it I think that Karate would actually be making their life more dangerous for them (and possibly others) from a self defence point of view. If someone thinks that waving their fists and feet around doesnt cause pain they are going to be in for a rude shock if they are ever called to use their skills. If someone has gained confidence from Karate to face an attacker but does not realize how much it hurts to get hit then their confidence is going to take a massive shock, and so not only would they being more confident than they should be, they are also doubly scared and demoralized. They would have been better off being sure that they knew nothing.
At the other end of the scale I think that the core demographic of Karate students are not interested in "full contact", at least not initially. Naturally I am excepting Kyokushin from the definition of Karate that I am using, not because it is not Karate, but merely because it attracts a different demographic. I think that in the western world the core demographic for Karate are middle class suburbanites. Ignoring kids the people that make up Karate classes are teens, Uni students and people over 35 who approach training with a more mature mindset. For differing reasons each of the groups do not want to turn up to work/study the next day with a broken nose or barely able to walk. Therefore training with full contact is not appropriate.
I would like to seque here and note that even in full contact Karate (Kyokushin) they do not have 'full contact' matches every class. They usually spend most of the class doing bagwork, sparring drills, conditioning drills, basics (kihon) etc. Similarly other full contact styles (eg Muay Thai) do not pound each other 'full contact' every class. One quite simple reason for this is that even a strongly contitioned human body can only take so much damage. It is usual to have months between full contact matches to have time to re-cuperate and train for the next match.
An interesting proposition that arises from the fact that full contact training does not involve full contact each class is that by definition a student must be able to train (to a certain extent at least) like a full contact fighter without being subjected to the rigerous bodily punishment of a full contact match. Obviously there is a huge amount of experience to be gained from the actual matches that would be missed, but I wonder how much the correlation would be from training. Would someone who trained at a Kyokushin dojo but never entered any full contact matches be 90% as good as someone who has trained for the same length of time but who enters full contact matches? Put another way, what proportion of the skill of a 'full contact fighter' is attributable to experience in full contact matches, and what percentage is attributable to training methods that are less than full contact? I might hazard a range of 10%-30% of skill being attributable to the full contact matches. I really dont know for sure. Moreover it would be difficult to measure.
But unless the actual 'full contact fighting matches' accounted for the majority of the skill in full contact fighting a student can still get most of the way there, without actually 'stepping into the ring'. This is a reasonable proposition because of the amount of time full contact fighters spend doing 'non-full contact' training.
On the other hand it cannot be said that martial arts would be the same if no-one did full contact fighting, because how would it be known which drills and training prepare people to deliver and receive that type of impact? It could be guessed, but never known for sure. Also, the challenge of competition encouraages the development of new fighting training methods.
Therefore a club that has exposure to full-contact fighting via a couple of its students (but not all) could train the rest of the students most of the way to the skills of full contact fighting, without the other students having to compete in full contact fights.
Sequeing back to the topic I like the level of contact that it seems that our network has - low/none for beginners and increasing to a quite strong contact (expecially to the body) for more senior ranks. While this not necessarily the only "happy medium" level of contact, it seems to me to address all of the points that I raised above, namely:
-Dont have useless/deluded black belts
-Dont damage people who need to take a 'pretty face' to work/study the next day
-Practicing committment/follow through with techniques
-Having people with the knowledge of the drills necessary for more contact orientated fighting and their effectiveness who can disseminate the training methods to the 'non full contact' students. (Including having people who have experience in the full contact arena, although I will continue to decline to name people in this blog)
What do you think?
Anyway Shihan said that even if you get injured in Kumite you should not show it or stop the match, unless the injury will require hospitalisation or some such. Even then you should try to remain as composed as possible. The reasoning for this had a street application: if you are attacked and you show that you are injured then the attacker will be encouraged to attack you further because they can see that you are being beaten and are weaker than them.
Showing strength and determination even when in pain is also related to Zen because of the drive and focus to achieve the end goal. Just as a punch requires full commitment to be effective, so to does all aspects of Karate, including training with commitment to the Kumite match.
Shihan mentioned that in the past Dojos he has trained in bouts were not stopped even when teeth flew onto the floor! I can think of several examples told to me by people I have trained with of a similar acceptance of punishment while still sparring, but most stories occurred in or before the 1980's - well before my time. Comparing these stories (which, because I have heard them from such a variety of sources I assume to be a true contrast to today) with Kumite today it seems that there are many more people who train with much less contact.
The interesting discussion is how much contact is the right amount of contact in Karate?
Firstly I would like to say that I think that "Non-Contact Karate" is really not appropriate. While it goes without saying that Kids training should be non-contact, and there is no harm in not contacting a beginner, if black belts are not familiar with contact (of any kind) and able to accept it I think that Karate would actually be making their life more dangerous for them (and possibly others) from a self defence point of view. If someone thinks that waving their fists and feet around doesnt cause pain they are going to be in for a rude shock if they are ever called to use their skills. If someone has gained confidence from Karate to face an attacker but does not realize how much it hurts to get hit then their confidence is going to take a massive shock, and so not only would they being more confident than they should be, they are also doubly scared and demoralized. They would have been better off being sure that they knew nothing.
At the other end of the scale I think that the core demographic of Karate students are not interested in "full contact", at least not initially. Naturally I am excepting Kyokushin from the definition of Karate that I am using, not because it is not Karate, but merely because it attracts a different demographic. I think that in the western world the core demographic for Karate are middle class suburbanites. Ignoring kids the people that make up Karate classes are teens, Uni students and people over 35 who approach training with a more mature mindset. For differing reasons each of the groups do not want to turn up to work/study the next day with a broken nose or barely able to walk. Therefore training with full contact is not appropriate.
I would like to seque here and note that even in full contact Karate (Kyokushin) they do not have 'full contact' matches every class. They usually spend most of the class doing bagwork, sparring drills, conditioning drills, basics (kihon) etc. Similarly other full contact styles (eg Muay Thai) do not pound each other 'full contact' every class. One quite simple reason for this is that even a strongly contitioned human body can only take so much damage. It is usual to have months between full contact matches to have time to re-cuperate and train for the next match.
An interesting proposition that arises from the fact that full contact training does not involve full contact each class is that by definition a student must be able to train (to a certain extent at least) like a full contact fighter without being subjected to the rigerous bodily punishment of a full contact match. Obviously there is a huge amount of experience to be gained from the actual matches that would be missed, but I wonder how much the correlation would be from training. Would someone who trained at a Kyokushin dojo but never entered any full contact matches be 90% as good as someone who has trained for the same length of time but who enters full contact matches? Put another way, what proportion of the skill of a 'full contact fighter' is attributable to experience in full contact matches, and what percentage is attributable to training methods that are less than full contact? I might hazard a range of 10%-30% of skill being attributable to the full contact matches. I really dont know for sure. Moreover it would be difficult to measure.
But unless the actual 'full contact fighting matches' accounted for the majority of the skill in full contact fighting a student can still get most of the way there, without actually 'stepping into the ring'. This is a reasonable proposition because of the amount of time full contact fighters spend doing 'non-full contact' training.
On the other hand it cannot be said that martial arts would be the same if no-one did full contact fighting, because how would it be known which drills and training prepare people to deliver and receive that type of impact? It could be guessed, but never known for sure. Also, the challenge of competition encouraages the development of new fighting training methods.
Therefore a club that has exposure to full-contact fighting via a couple of its students (but not all) could train the rest of the students most of the way to the skills of full contact fighting, without the other students having to compete in full contact fights.
Sequeing back to the topic I like the level of contact that it seems that our network has - low/none for beginners and increasing to a quite strong contact (expecially to the body) for more senior ranks. While this not necessarily the only "happy medium" level of contact, it seems to me to address all of the points that I raised above, namely:
-Dont have useless/deluded black belts
-Dont damage people who need to take a 'pretty face' to work/study the next day
-Practicing committment/follow through with techniques
-Having people with the knowledge of the drills necessary for more contact orientated fighting and their effectiveness who can disseminate the training methods to the 'non full contact' students. (Including having people who have experience in the full contact arena, although I will continue to decline to name people in this blog)
What do you think?
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