Karate training in the Middle East

[BigAl]

So I'm officially overseas now, got called up again for OIF so I'm back in the sandbox for a while. This has obviously put a damper on attending any formal
MA classes due to our busy lifestyle, but fortunately, like every good Marine/soldier, I have a backup plan.

I have decided to focus and specialize on one a single kata while I am out here, in addition to my basic kihon and the other kata with regularity but the majority of my emphasis will be on one single kata. The kata I chose was often said by many sources and a few of my own personal teachers to be the cornerstone of karate; to understand it was to grasp the essence of what karate actually is. Some history references claim it was one kata taught to all Okinawa karateka, aside from maybe one or two others. I've been inspired and decided to spend my year or so out here studying that single kata like so many before.

This begins my log of my in-depth study of the kata Sanchin.

I've noticed that Sanchin might be the ideal kata to learn how to transition from a solid, immovable stance to a mobile, quick one and back. Staying too rooted or too light on your feet tends to make your moves either sluggish or unbalanced, but with a lot of practice with Sanchin kata I think you can learn how to perform this transition flawlessly. This would make one's kumite a heck of a lot stronger and effective in my opinion.

I've also found that Sanchin dachi can show you an ideal kumite dachi as well. From migi Sanchin dachi, you simply rotate your rear left foot directly to your left while turning your hips and upper body towards the left as well. It comes out to be a strong, well-balanced stance for me, one I plan on working to become my main kumite stance. I picked this up a while ago but forgot it and had to rediscover it on my own.

Sanchin kata is also well-known for improving one's posture and breathing, both of which I've noticed a small improvement on since my thrice daily practice.

I can't claim all the credit for my choice of kata nor how I'm going about it. The main books that are aiding me, keeping me interested, and inspiring me are the following:

Five Years, One Kata (Burgar)
The Way of Kata (Wilder)
Uechi Ryu (Rymaruk)
Bunkai Jutsu (Abernethy)

I've also ordered The Way of Sanchin Kata (Wilder), but it was sent to Bragg and didn't arrive before I left so I imagine it's still floating around.

(Might as well apologize now. My "L" key broke off and works only if you push it with a lot of force, so if any L's are missing in a sentence you know why now.)

[seienchin]

Al - great to see you online. Stay safe over there! and come back with an AWESOME Sanchin-no-kata! You know you'll have to post regularly, or we'll all be worried...

[Bloke]

Be Safe BigAl

[Spirit]

Al great idea and well thought out plan...
Possible alternative suggestion
If you know them I would say do Tensho and Seienchin Kata's???
Each will provide you with a good balance of training
Tensho for the block and counter etc, and Seienchin for power and strength as well agility......

Stay sharp and wise... I'm shore the guys back in PA are all waiting for your safe return
Thanks for serving our Country!!! Semper Fi Marine

[BigAl]

Thanks guys! I figure the worst that could happen was that I come home with a good Sanchin kata, and there's not anything wrong with that! I'll actually be at a camp with internet access in my choo, so when I'm around and not working I'll try to be a bit more active. Besides....knowing me, if I don't write it down, I'll forget it, so it'll help me the most.

Sensei Mark - I thought about Tensho initially, but coming from a Goju background I've always had a fondness for Sanchin. I enjoy it a lot too, which makes training it much easier, and know it more intimately than Tensho. I still do Tensho with my other kata (I try to do them all every other day), but I figure it was probably wiser to focus just on one for right now.

There's always next deployment though

[powerof0ne]

Be safe, if you took the green ramp from Bragg too bad I didn't know, I'm stationed here on Bragg. All my Army friends here in NC are now in AFghanistan(dep with 3rd grp).
Anyhoo, I think you have a solid plan, stick to it...the only thing that sux is when you don't have an instructor to coach you on your form. Try not to get sucked in by the morons that are level one combatives thinking they're now mma masters.

[hasbeen]

yeah best wishes to someone with the same knickname!!

as spirit said=good plan......away from the situation i used to concentrate on my flexibility and stretch+stretch.

along with everybody else i wish you a safe return !!

[meguro]

Are there any judoka in your unit? Or maybe you already know some judo. If so, have a look at ouchi gari and sanchin dachi. Goju guys are also folks to train with if you're interested in sanchin kata.

Have a safe deployment.

[Davidkyokushinstudent]

Hi big Al, what part of the middle east are you in?
Ay where near south lebanon? there is a kyokushin dojo there, never been, i saw it on the honbu website

[smoothsake]

Stay safe in the ME and thanks for doing what you Marines do. Osu!

[BigAl]

Thanks guys.

David -- I'm in Iraq, a bit dangerous to go around by myself unfortunately.

[Davidkyokushinstudent]

Iraq, of course. Be safe.

[Brad]

hi Bigal all the best over there my friend nick slughter is over there right now to. Hes a staff sergeant. In the Marines.

[BigAl]

Currently I'm noticing my Sanchin dachi and the kata itself seems to be ever so slightly adjusting itself. The two main things I've seen: I think I found my ideal footing for my Sanchin dachi. I used to turn the rear foot inwards at an angle before, but I never felt as balanced nor as mobile as I do with keeping my rear foot pointed forward. I also began visualizing my legs like a bow, an idea I jacked from the classic "Karate" book.

I've noticed something else too. If you really sync your breathing with your movements, at the execution of each technique you tend to almost "compress" into the movement. It's like your whole upper body sinks into the technique. It's a weird feeling and I'm trying to see if I can mimic it with my kihon to see if it's just something bizarre I feel or do, or if it actually adds something to a technique.

I feel pretty energetic throughout the day too, not sure if it's because I wake up every morning and do Sanchin, joint rotations, stretches, planks, and knuckle pushups or if it's because of all the deep breathing. Tough to say, but I do know I've been drinking a lot less caffeine and when I was doing my morning workouts before I still felt fairly tired throughout the day. I've started up the Ikken training again too, which is a good step too I think. Rather than using the postures from before though, I'm trying it with (naturally) Sanchin dachi.

Other than Sanchin, I plan on doing kihon and other katas throughout the week, and now that I have access to a gym two days of intense weight training and two days of bagwork. They also offer combatives classes so I'm hoping to hop in them too just to keep busy. The schedule I'm working is unpredictable: some days I'll be done super early, others super late. Just gotta keep doing what I'm doing I guess.

[Brad]

Cool BigAl yeah what youre doing is the way getting up training and what not past the time so you can get back home. Take care of your self brother.

[BigAl]

Getting some workouts in fortunately.

1.5 hours of grappling essentially. I probably rolled 9 or 10 times. Tapped out three people (rear naked choke, forearm choke, and Americana) and got tapped out the rest. Some good people to roll with as some have a lot of experience and the others have been doing lots of this for the whole time they've been there so it's fun and challenging. Managed to pick up a good counter to a triangle choke from the guard too. Good workout overall.

[BigAl]

Osu, everyone. Been pretty busy as you can naturally guess, but still managing to get in some decent training. I've been doing Sanchin at least three times a day for a consistent two months now and have noticed some improvements in my techniques, kicks especially. I tend to feel a lot more centered and successful at mimicing that same feeling of being in touch with your hara during kihon now as I do during Sanchin. Before it was harder for me to get his feeling, but now I seem to be doing it with much less effort and sometimes even without thinking.

I've also experimented with performing Sanchin in different areas (the thick muddy ground was the toughest) and have also created a pair of "jars" to do some hojo undo exercises with. I took two empty protein jars and filled them up halfway with rocks, then hold them in my fingers as I walk in Sanchin. I've tried different breathing patterns and even without tension. A super-slow, relaxed, deep-breathing Sanchin is pretty relaxing.

I've been narrowing down my kihon practice to 14 solid techniques rather than trying too much, thinking that if I can do these 14 well every other technique will make much more sense. I practice the other kata I know a few times a week, and have been making some okay gains in flexibility. Videos tend to be my teachers, my recent favorites being Iain Abernethy's "Combat Drills" (fantastic, by the way), and the Complete Kyokushin series (which, awesome to me, shows in the first one how Sanchin dachi can make a good kumite, something I was tinkering around with before!). I also finally got "The Way of Sanchin Kata" by Kris Wilder, which is becoming immensely invaluable in my training.

So all in all, making some use out of my time out here. My ultimate hope is to come back to the dojo looking like I never even left, maybe even in some ways improved.

[Bloke]

Glad to hear its all going well and that you are still safe BigAl.

[BigAl]

In a different area for right now and doing a bit more dangerous things, but nothing hair raising so far thankfully! Thanks for the well wishes Bloke, hope your training is going great as well.

[BigAl]

So, month three of doing Sanchin 2-3x daily. My balance for my kicks is becoming much much better than I used to have, I almost feel just as balanced with one foot off the ground as I do with two. I've noticed some increased muscular definition as well, though it's hard to say if that's because of the isometric tension or my regular weight training routine. Speaking of weight training, incorporating some parts of Sanchin into my own routine (i.e. lightly gripping the ground with your feet and having your pelvis tucked slightly forward) has gotten me some new personal records as well. Sanchin seems especially effective for kettlebell-type exercises as well.

I've been working with a few ideas from The Way of Sanchin and a few Uechi Ryu references as well. I took the idea of basing my kumite stance off of Sanchin one step further and now try to keep my elbows in a similar position when I turn. It actually gives me a good guard position up top: hands at just the right level, elbows tucked in, left slightly in front of the right. I've been practicing my kumite combinations from that stance pretty regularly now, and feel very balanced and able to transmit power into my strikes.

Another concept I've been working with regarding the arms was introduced to me by reading some ideas by Ihor Rymaruk, an Uechi-Ryu practitioner. His idea is the "120 Degree Principle", simply that your arm is at its strongest when it's closest to a 120 degree angle. He says that you can see this concept in many different areas, not just the arm positioning in Sanchin: chudan uchi uke, chudan soto uke, shuto gammen uchi, shita tsuki, etc. It's interesting and I hope to experiment a bit more with it. I've also tried out the Uechi-Ryu of Sanchin, which is very different. Not only is it a bit longer and all open-handed, but even the way they turn in the kata is different, although I do like their idea of turning a bit more. I'm at a loss for describing exactly how it is, but if you Youtube a video you can see the difference.

I have also noticed I'm making more improvements with maximizing tension right at the moment of impact thanks to Sanchin. Before I could only get it what felt to me was proper about 1 out of every 10 times. Now it's more like two out of every five. The punching in Sanchin also seems similar to what was on one of the Shinkyokushinkai DVDs I've been studying from out here. This particular fighter liked "punching from the pinky" and at the last instant twisting into the punch for more penetration. It seems pretty similar to a Sanchin punch as well.

That's all I have for now really. Still keeping up with my kihon and kata, as well as the occasional kumite workout. I'm really focusing on my kicks as of late, holding high chambers for time and kicking slowly while holding onto a chair to build more strength and flexibility. I've also begun doing the daily warm-up exercises of Kyokushin on a very regular basis as well, although I don't bounce with the stretches and modify a few that might be hard on the joints.