Hi, I have a lot of friends that are active in some kind of sports. They all are persuading me to follow their example. Anyway, I do not share their point of view. I am into karate. After some research, I found out that there are a lot of types of karate. The one that interested me the most is called shotokan karate. Can you tell me something more about it?
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Hi, shotokan karate was founded by Gichin Funakoshi. It is a combination of several martial arts. Shotokan is one of the main karate styles in the world. It is divided in three sections of training. The first one is kihon-basics. Second part is kumite-sparing and the last part is kata. These three parts present deep and long stances. This then provides stability and powerful movements and also strengthens the legs. These are actually the characteristics of shotokan karate. It focuses on power and strength over slower movements. Also, shotokan turns to health, energy and great mind and body control. You have chosen a great way to improve not only your health, but your entire way of life too.
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brice hit it pretty well on the head. I'm bored so I thought maybe I'd elaborate on a few things that I believe (humbly) are key components of Shotokan Karate. First; Connection. Ever hear the term "connect the punch?" It's emphasized here. You are trained to keep the heel of your standing leg down and connected at all times to the ground. This combined with proper hip and shoulder placement make you sturdy and nearly immovable to backward force. They test this in my dojo by having us make a front stance in a punching position and then placing all of their weight against the fist in an effort to move you backwards. If you're properly positioned, they wont be able to no matter how they try, and it will take no real physical effort on your part to hold them back. This is key to having penetrating power in your striking. Let a Sandan hit you, you'll know what I mean by "penetrating power".
Second: physics. I love this stuff because its all so well thought out. You never forget the laws of physics, in fact, you use them to your advantage. If I throw a tennis ball at your back, it will probably sting. If I throw a cement bag at your back, even with a fraction of the speed I used to throw the ball and it hits you... I don't care who you are, your going down. It's physics. So if I throw my fist at you, I'm throwing the weight of my arm and fist at you. Mass X Inertia = Force. So lets say my arm weighs... maybe 8 pounds (guessing)?If I throw it at you at a set speed it will generate a set amount of impact force. More than likely, enough to knock a person unconscious depending on the speed. Now my whole body on the other hand happens to weigh about 180 pounds. If I can utilize the weight of my entire body through proper (and hard to master) hip movements, I can then plug 180 pounds into the equation and see the results. Add to that the extra inertia of throwing your fist out quickly while executing said hip movements AND the inertia of your opponent moving in to attack (google search "irimi"), and you get WAAAY more than enough impact force to break bones and rupture internal organs. With years of practice, and maybe even a little bit of a fluke, one could foresee-ably kill a person with a single strike, even if directed to the opponent's stomach.
Finally: No conscious power. In other words, relax. Tense shoulders and upper body muscles just slow you down. The more relaxed your upper body is, the more speed you can throw your punches with. And speed fits into the equation above. It also helps you not to become fatigued nearly as quickly. I am constantly getting yelled at for this at the dojo. Ok, enough jabbering from me. Just thought I'd take a chance to ramble about something I enjoy immensely. I hope you get to try it. You'll either love it or you'll hate it!
Second: physics. I love this stuff because its all so well thought out. You never forget the laws of physics, in fact, you use them to your advantage. If I throw a tennis ball at your back, it will probably sting. If I throw a cement bag at your back, even with a fraction of the speed I used to throw the ball and it hits you... I don't care who you are, your going down. It's physics. So if I throw my fist at you, I'm throwing the weight of my arm and fist at you. Mass X Inertia = Force. So lets say my arm weighs... maybe 8 pounds (guessing)?If I throw it at you at a set speed it will generate a set amount of impact force. More than likely, enough to knock a person unconscious depending on the speed. Now my whole body on the other hand happens to weigh about 180 pounds. If I can utilize the weight of my entire body through proper (and hard to master) hip movements, I can then plug 180 pounds into the equation and see the results. Add to that the extra inertia of throwing your fist out quickly while executing said hip movements AND the inertia of your opponent moving in to attack (google search "irimi"), and you get WAAAY more than enough impact force to break bones and rupture internal organs. With years of practice, and maybe even a little bit of a fluke, one could foresee-ably kill a person with a single strike, even if directed to the opponent's stomach.
Finally: No conscious power. In other words, relax. Tense shoulders and upper body muscles just slow you down. The more relaxed your upper body is, the more speed you can throw your punches with. And speed fits into the equation above. It also helps you not to become fatigued nearly as quickly. I am constantly getting yelled at for this at the dojo. Ok, enough jabbering from me. Just thought I'd take a chance to ramble about something I enjoy immensely. I hope you get to try it. You'll either love it or you'll hate it!
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Hi,Good to see you going with what you have in your mind...You know karate is the most prestigious sport and let not you get diverted by your friends and no other sport can protect you when you are attacked by others and protect yourself from the attackers..shotokan karate is best characterized by its long and deep stances and its use of more linear movements.Shotokan Karate has little of the circular movements found in Okinawan styles of karate, nor does it have the body conditioning and supplementary training exercises typical for Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate...gud luck great day
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