How to Improve Karate Explosiveness - Seminar by Naka Sensei and Okuma Sensei

It was a great experience training with Naka Sensei and Okuma Sensei of the JKA Japan Headquarters. I attended the 2nd day of the Sydney Seminar when they conducted in a beautiful hall overlooking Bondi beach up in Dover Heights. The main Instructor for that session was Okuma Sensei and the theme was to harness more power, explosiveness and speed in Shotokan Karate.

First point: Always maintain your body's centre axis even when you are switching between "shomen" and "hamni".

Second point: Use of groin muscles, inner thigh muscles and feet. We need to understand when to expand and contract those muscles when you are executing the techniques.

Third point: The correct use of body shifting. When moving (whether its forward,, backward, or sideways), we need to be able to move our body as one unit instead of having a disconnected movement.

Lastly, Okuma Sensei reminded us that kihon training is an essential part of Karate. We should not train kihon just to learn the combinations and drills for grading, but rather, we should train kihon to improve our kumite and kata. It is the sinlge most important tool in becoming a good Karateka.

Osu.