What does "suppleness" mean in Shotokai Karate ?
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We usually call Shotokai Karate a supple style of karate. But we never really specify what we mean by "suppleness" and so everybody develop their own view on the topic.
Mostly when we speak of suppleness we think of something I call "acrobatic suppleness". Meaning we call people supple who are able to lift their legs high up in the air and who can do the splits.
A beginner may well have this notion of suppleness but after some years of practise we must arrive at a better understanding of what being supple in Shotokai Karate means.
By saying this I do not want to disdain people who have supple hips and legs for these are very useful in executing numerous kinds of kicks. Some warming up exercises may therefore be dedicated to enhancing this kind of suppleness. But don't exaggerate and always keep in mind to make your body supple in a different, more wholesome way. Trying to force yourself into doing the splits at any cost will do you more harm than good. For in most cases one only manages to do the splits by tilting the hips to the fore which results in an exaggerated flexion of the lumbar vertebras which in turn has to be compensated for in the dorsal part of your spine. The result: most people who force themselves to do the splits end up with very stiff back and shoulders.
Keep in mind also that progressive suppleness in one part of your body must not be gained by wrecking another part of yourself. Think of your body as a whole. From your neck to your feet, your back muscles are linked to make one chain. Often one forces oneself into an akward position and thus harms one of the chain's links. Yet it has to be the chain as a whole which must be elongated harmoniously. Very often though we only work on and elongate one part of our body and transfer the stiffness to another part in another place without any overall benefit. That way you usually carry on working on the parts that are already supple and elongated and neglect the rigid zones of your body.
In this respect, as in many others, gentleness does more good than brute force. Listen to what your body tells you.
You must also know that a certain kind of build of the hips and top of thighbone prohibits large sitting positions and legs' movement. Even though everybody can make some progress, some will always do their Yokogeri higher up than others yet this does not make their practise better or more supple. For, I'd really like to make a ppint here, this is not the kind of suppleness, even though useful in some respects, which is important in Shotokai Karate.
What is important and what should make Shotokai Karate practise stand out is that you let go and relax while you move. Once you have come to be quite supple while not moving thanks to a set of sensible gymnastics you must try and stay supple when you move as well.
This requires teaching correct techniques that do not cause any unnecessary tensions. Maximum precision in form and coordination must be attained. Let's not forget that in Shotokai Karate efficiency is due to form. Form creates force.
The efficiency of an Oitsuki for instance depends on the kind of Zenkutsu you perform at the moment of the impact. When you push with your front hand while in this position, the push must reverberate in your back foot, and if you push down your back foot your force must be completely transmitted to your fist. Try this with someone who strongly resists your push: you will feel contracted zones in your body and it is they which will first give in to the pressure. Very often these zones will either be located in your shoulders or in your lower spine.
You are in a correct position when it is your sceletal structure that maintains your position and thus allows your muscles to relax. On the other hand if your position is wrong your muscles will have to make good for its faults and tensen up. In such a case repeating these false positions and moves over and over will lead to ever more tension and not to suppleness. So good practise makes you progress, bad practise makes you regress. Instead of enlargening your physical capacities you wear your body down. There won't be any progress, stagnation at best, due to a sterile repetition of mistakes.
Repeating correct techniques must first of all give you a balanced body. The big traditions in Martial Arts, be they Japanese or Chinese, have a word for this: They speak of a "Setai" body. Thus, reaching a certain technical level must at the same time produce a balanced body. Only from this overall balanced state you will be able to proceed to the execution of more sophisticated techniques.
Progress in relaxation will lead to progress in technique and repeating correct techniques will favour relaxation. So progress is a never ending to and fro between body and technique. The more subtle the technique the more it will build up the physical capacities and the greater those capacities the more they will allow for an increase in technical skill.
At first this dynamic progression depends on improving relaxation, on a better muscular relaxation. The biggest problem for people in western countries is usually located in the shoulders. In the West strong and msucular shoulders symbolize strength while in Martial Arts' thinking strength resides in the Hara.
If you think that strength comes from large shoulders and strong arms you feel inclined to develop these muscles and you will also unconsiously contract your shoulders. If on the other hand you believe that strength comes from your abdomen, you will relax your shoulders in order to let your body's strength be transmitted to your fists without blocking it.
This kind of thinking is the first step to an inner way of working. Without going into details for the moment I would like to point out to you that this is yet another level of bodily relaxation which partains in particular to the abdomen and the diaphragm. But before we venture onto that level of inner work I would liketo propose to you to work on an intermediary stage first. After discussing the notions of relaxation and letting go I want to introduce the notion of elasticity for relaxation must not end up in softness or sloppyness.
What is elasticity?
A good rubber band can be stretched very much and yet it returns to its initial length very fast. A bad rubber band may also be stretched very much but either it remains stretched or it breaks. The same goes for your muscles: if relaxation turns into sloppyness, your muscles will be relaxed but wont of tonus, the force which which allows it to return to its initial lentght instantaneously. You will move in a relaxed way but slow and without force.
Muscles must work like new rubberbands and make you feel fast and dynamic. Your body as a whole must feel elastic. This will allow you to move in one flowing movement especially when you go through several techniques following each other.
When you think your body to be elastic this will be easier, for it is the way you think which determines they way you move. In order to develop this kind of thinking and sensation again you must move your body as a whole, not just move it in bits and pieces. This means that in any given technique you use all of your muscular system and not just part of it. This is what makes you powerful and fast.
The notion of elasticity may thus be defined by the difference between relaxation and contraction and the velocity with which one passes from one state to the other. The two centre-poles of martial arts, speed and power are deteremined by the difference between these two states. The bigger the difference between the two the greater the power. In this way you produce an explosive kind of force and not only an attack based on the strength of your arms or even the kind of shoving you somtimes see in Shotokai Karate.
This difference can be made bigger by working in both directions: by rising the contraction or by deepening the relaxation and suppleness.
Trying and improving your contractions can be useful for some time especially for people with a certain lack of muscular tonus. But most students of Karate will soon come to a dead end going this way as maximum contraction is quickly achieved. On the other hand there is almost no end to deepening your relaxation and inhance your suppleness and their numerous positive effects.
So there we have a choice to make and prefer one way of working over another such choice often being what defines the style of Karate one practises. In Shotokai Karate this choice was initially made by Master Egami. Of course it was inhancing suppleness he chose, a choice which almost imposed itself on him. Yet when you look at pictures of Master Egami in his youth one has to say he was prone to contraction. But working in strength led him into a technical dead end as to what concerned efficiency.
This choice, this decision in favour of suppleness must still be stood up for and developed, deepened and enriched so we may further progress in our technical skills.
For this we need:
• Gymnastics which really soften your body rather than just some warming up exercises. All so called "soft" gym exercises are of interest, even though they're not the one and only thing leading to success and even though they have the inconvenience of taking a lot of time. But here everyone must proof responsable and work on their own in between courses. The book by Bertherat on Anti-Gymnastics is a good introdcution to the subject and makes you first and foremost realize what you shouldn't do, what the big mistakes in gymnastics usually are.
• Watchful correction of techniques in Kihon. It is the trainers task to analyse the techniques and to grow aware of the different ways in which one and the same technique can be executed. A correctly done technique does not cause useless tensions, it gets better when suppleness and elasticity grow and it is powerful and fast because it is well-coordinated.
Master Egami himself wrote an article in the Japanese Shotokai magazine which was translated for us by Kiyoko Ohshima to be wary of two dangers lurking in our practise:
• A false kind of suppleness which turns our moves from Karate techniques into a kind of dancing.
• The urge to find efficiency by going back to old contracted techniques.
Shotokai techniques must be supple and powerful because they are supple. Not sloppy in a pseudo-kind of suppleness which might justify, to some point of view, their inefficiency.
Shotokai Karate is one of the youngest Karate styles. It owes it itself to be the most dynamic and the most inventive of styles and it can probably become one of the best. It has the potential and it is us who can realize it.
© Copyright Patrick Herbert, Technical director Shotokai Europe, November 2004
Mostly when we speak of suppleness we think of something I call "acrobatic suppleness". Meaning we call people supple who are able to lift their legs high up in the air and who can do the splits.
A beginner may well have this notion of suppleness but after some years of practise we must arrive at a better understanding of what being supple in Shotokai Karate means.
By saying this I do not want to disdain people who have supple hips and legs for these are very useful in executing numerous kinds of kicks. Some warming up exercises may therefore be dedicated to enhancing this kind of suppleness. But don't exaggerate and always keep in mind to make your body supple in a different, more wholesome way. Trying to force yourself into doing the splits at any cost will do you more harm than good. For in most cases one only manages to do the splits by tilting the hips to the fore which results in an exaggerated flexion of the lumbar vertebras which in turn has to be compensated for in the dorsal part of your spine. The result: most people who force themselves to do the splits end up with very stiff back and shoulders.
Keep in mind also that progressive suppleness in one part of your body must not be gained by wrecking another part of yourself. Think of your body as a whole. From your neck to your feet, your back muscles are linked to make one chain. Often one forces oneself into an akward position and thus harms one of the chain's links. Yet it has to be the chain as a whole which must be elongated harmoniously. Very often though we only work on and elongate one part of our body and transfer the stiffness to another part in another place without any overall benefit. That way you usually carry on working on the parts that are already supple and elongated and neglect the rigid zones of your body.
In this respect, as in many others, gentleness does more good than brute force. Listen to what your body tells you.
You must also know that a certain kind of build of the hips and top of thighbone prohibits large sitting positions and legs' movement. Even though everybody can make some progress, some will always do their Yokogeri higher up than others yet this does not make their practise better or more supple. For, I'd really like to make a ppint here, this is not the kind of suppleness, even though useful in some respects, which is important in Shotokai Karate.
What is important and what should make Shotokai Karate practise stand out is that you let go and relax while you move. Once you have come to be quite supple while not moving thanks to a set of sensible gymnastics you must try and stay supple when you move as well.
This requires teaching correct techniques that do not cause any unnecessary tensions. Maximum precision in form and coordination must be attained. Let's not forget that in Shotokai Karate efficiency is due to form. Form creates force.
The efficiency of an Oitsuki for instance depends on the kind of Zenkutsu you perform at the moment of the impact. When you push with your front hand while in this position, the push must reverberate in your back foot, and if you push down your back foot your force must be completely transmitted to your fist. Try this with someone who strongly resists your push: you will feel contracted zones in your body and it is they which will first give in to the pressure. Very often these zones will either be located in your shoulders or in your lower spine.
You are in a correct position when it is your sceletal structure that maintains your position and thus allows your muscles to relax. On the other hand if your position is wrong your muscles will have to make good for its faults and tensen up. In such a case repeating these false positions and moves over and over will lead to ever more tension and not to suppleness. So good practise makes you progress, bad practise makes you regress. Instead of enlargening your physical capacities you wear your body down. There won't be any progress, stagnation at best, due to a sterile repetition of mistakes.
Repeating correct techniques must first of all give you a balanced body. The big traditions in Martial Arts, be they Japanese or Chinese, have a word for this: They speak of a "Setai" body. Thus, reaching a certain technical level must at the same time produce a balanced body. Only from this overall balanced state you will be able to proceed to the execution of more sophisticated techniques.
Progress in relaxation will lead to progress in technique and repeating correct techniques will favour relaxation. So progress is a never ending to and fro between body and technique. The more subtle the technique the more it will build up the physical capacities and the greater those capacities the more they will allow for an increase in technical skill.
At first this dynamic progression depends on improving relaxation, on a better muscular relaxation. The biggest problem for people in western countries is usually located in the shoulders. In the West strong and msucular shoulders symbolize strength while in Martial Arts' thinking strength resides in the Hara.
If you think that strength comes from large shoulders and strong arms you feel inclined to develop these muscles and you will also unconsiously contract your shoulders. If on the other hand you believe that strength comes from your abdomen, you will relax your shoulders in order to let your body's strength be transmitted to your fists without blocking it.
This kind of thinking is the first step to an inner way of working. Without going into details for the moment I would like to point out to you that this is yet another level of bodily relaxation which partains in particular to the abdomen and the diaphragm. But before we venture onto that level of inner work I would liketo propose to you to work on an intermediary stage first. After discussing the notions of relaxation and letting go I want to introduce the notion of elasticity for relaxation must not end up in softness or sloppyness.
What is elasticity?
A good rubber band can be stretched very much and yet it returns to its initial length very fast. A bad rubber band may also be stretched very much but either it remains stretched or it breaks. The same goes for your muscles: if relaxation turns into sloppyness, your muscles will be relaxed but wont of tonus, the force which which allows it to return to its initial lentght instantaneously. You will move in a relaxed way but slow and without force.
Muscles must work like new rubberbands and make you feel fast and dynamic. Your body as a whole must feel elastic. This will allow you to move in one flowing movement especially when you go through several techniques following each other.
When you think your body to be elastic this will be easier, for it is the way you think which determines they way you move. In order to develop this kind of thinking and sensation again you must move your body as a whole, not just move it in bits and pieces. This means that in any given technique you use all of your muscular system and not just part of it. This is what makes you powerful and fast.
The notion of elasticity may thus be defined by the difference between relaxation and contraction and the velocity with which one passes from one state to the other. The two centre-poles of martial arts, speed and power are deteremined by the difference between these two states. The bigger the difference between the two the greater the power. In this way you produce an explosive kind of force and not only an attack based on the strength of your arms or even the kind of shoving you somtimes see in Shotokai Karate.
This difference can be made bigger by working in both directions: by rising the contraction or by deepening the relaxation and suppleness.
Trying and improving your contractions can be useful for some time especially for people with a certain lack of muscular tonus. But most students of Karate will soon come to a dead end going this way as maximum contraction is quickly achieved. On the other hand there is almost no end to deepening your relaxation and inhance your suppleness and their numerous positive effects.
So there we have a choice to make and prefer one way of working over another such choice often being what defines the style of Karate one practises. In Shotokai Karate this choice was initially made by Master Egami. Of course it was inhancing suppleness he chose, a choice which almost imposed itself on him. Yet when you look at pictures of Master Egami in his youth one has to say he was prone to contraction. But working in strength led him into a technical dead end as to what concerned efficiency.
This choice, this decision in favour of suppleness must still be stood up for and developed, deepened and enriched so we may further progress in our technical skills.
For this we need:
• Gymnastics which really soften your body rather than just some warming up exercises. All so called "soft" gym exercises are of interest, even though they're not the one and only thing leading to success and even though they have the inconvenience of taking a lot of time. But here everyone must proof responsable and work on their own in between courses. The book by Bertherat on Anti-Gymnastics is a good introdcution to the subject and makes you first and foremost realize what you shouldn't do, what the big mistakes in gymnastics usually are.
• Watchful correction of techniques in Kihon. It is the trainers task to analyse the techniques and to grow aware of the different ways in which one and the same technique can be executed. A correctly done technique does not cause useless tensions, it gets better when suppleness and elasticity grow and it is powerful and fast because it is well-coordinated.
Master Egami himself wrote an article in the Japanese Shotokai magazine which was translated for us by Kiyoko Ohshima to be wary of two dangers lurking in our practise:
• A false kind of suppleness which turns our moves from Karate techniques into a kind of dancing.
• The urge to find efficiency by going back to old contracted techniques.
Shotokai techniques must be supple and powerful because they are supple. Not sloppy in a pseudo-kind of suppleness which might justify, to some point of view, their inefficiency.
Shotokai Karate is one of the youngest Karate styles. It owes it itself to be the most dynamic and the most inventive of styles and it can probably become one of the best. It has the potential and it is us who can realize it.
© Copyright Patrick Herbert, Technical director Shotokai Europe, November 2004