Ne waza or Ground fighting is essential in self defense.
So why are so few Karate practitioners not being taught basic Ne Waza or ground fighting skills… When I was coming up in Goju Ryu Karate as a teen, my instructors would stress learning judo for throws and groundfighting. Ok, so the following week I started Judo too, and they were right of course, it made me a far better, more well rounded Martial Artist and Karateka Even if the purpose of Karate is to finish an opponent with a single blow and never go to the ground. It's pretty bold to think no one could take you to the ground and frankly a little foolish. Ground fighting is just what it sound like, its fighting on the ground. It involves key control postions, escapes, joint locks, chokes, strikes, sweeps, etc.. Today, most quality martial arts and self defense systems include ground fighting to some degree, and you see it effectively used in combat sports; like MMA, BJJ and Wrestling. The Military and Law enforcement always train and use in their tactical training For a Karate, Kung Fu, self defense system, really any stand up practitioner, to remain ignorant about ground fighting is foolish. Every modern martial artist should learn basic takedowns, sweeps, falls and throws and of course ground fighting. Plus its great for your fitness level. 9 out of 10 fights go to the ground! Do the math! Why? Because because of Ego's and low quality, unquailified instructors that don't know any better. McDojo's, Fad based gyms trying to teach self defense, etc. Most of these places are out for a quick buck and they just never learned, so why teach it. Many folks don’t even know how to fall down, let alone stand up, correctly! I'm not trying to pick on anyone, folks just don't know about, what they don't know about! But, If you are ready to add some ground fighting to your toolbox, make sure you find a high quality instructor. Regrettably there are far more unqualified than qualified, do your research. You need to learn the best ground fighting techniques for Karate, that are truely effective, not sport or rolling or stupid fancy techniques that would never work in a real situation. If your close to our Dojo drop in and learn some practical Ground Fighting, it will make your art even better. If you live to far away, schedule a seminar for your Dojo, you'll have a great time and learn real skills. It will be EXACTLY what you need to know about ground fighting; surviving, escaping, defending, and regaining control of the situation and either win or get the heck out of there. You see, according to Helio Gracie the goal is not to fight on the ground, that's the worse case scenario, you didn't trip, you got knocked on your a**. From a self-defense perspective, that’s very dangerous and will only get worse if you don't know what your doing. So train with the worse case in mind, prepare in advance. Plus its exhausting if your unskilled, you may only have 30 to 60 seconds of breath before you are completely exhausted trying to fight for your life.
Sensei Riedmiller All the pieces of an art or system involving the martial arts are very much like a wheel with spokes, each spoke or piece has a very important job, regardless of large or small. I've seen many martial artist, competitor, athlete, etc.. try to cherry pick the best moves and throw the rest away. This may get the job done and even make sense regarding short term goals, but long term its a mistake. One key area of big picture, long term planning is the components of fitness, after all a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. There are seven basic movements the human body can perform, and all other exercises are merely variations of these seven: Pull, Push, Squat, Lunge, Hinge, Rotation and Gait. When performing all these movements, you will be able to stimulate all the major muscle groups in your body. These motions focus on recruiting multiple muscle groups, making them efficient for those using time as an excuse not to exercise. Mastery is in footwork and should be developed daily, hip movement in Jiujitsu. Cardiorespiratory endurance is a measurement of how well your heart, lungs, and muscles work together to keep your body active over an extended period. Aerobic exercise in Karate, Jiujitsu, and Judo is very important, more common areas also include running, jogging, swimming, bicycling or even speed walking because all these activities get your heart rate up and generally use larger muscle groups. Naturally, your breathing increases as your heart rate climbs and your lungs fill with oxygen. Should be done daily An estimate of a person's maximum age-related heart rate can be obtained by subtracting the person's age from 220. For example, for a 50-year-old person, the estimated maximum age-related heart rate would be calculated as 220 - 50 years = 170 beats per minute (bpm). Combine strength days with cardio days. It’s a simple equation: the more muscle you can get working, the more it will challenge your heart and your cardiovascular system. Instead of building cardio-only workouts integrate the whole body; Karate, Jiujitsu and Judo require every muscle in the body to be involed. Measuring and training with a heart rate monitor Power is the ability to move the body parts swiftly while applying the maximum force of the muscles. Power is a combination of both speed and muscular strength. For example, fullbacks in football muscling their way through other players and speeding to advance the ball and volleyball players getting up to the net and lifting their bodies high into the air. Karate, Jiujitsu and Judo pin-point to very small targets to maxamize effect. Muscle strength is the ability to exert a maximal amount of force for a short period of time. In the gym, that may be bench pressing a heavy barbell 5-8 repetitions. Muscular endurance is the ability of a muscle or group of muscles to sustain repeated contractions against a resistance for an extended period. It is one of the components of muscular fitness, along with muscular strength and power. Muscular Power: the ability to exert a maximal force in as short a time as possible, as in accelerating, jumping and throwing implements. While strength is the maximal force you can apply against a load, power is proportional to the speed at which you can apply this maximal force. Relative strength is the amount of strength to body size, or how strong you are for your size. This reflects a person's ability to control or move their body through space, a vital trait in athletics. ... Absolute strength is the maximum amount of force exerted, regardless of muscle or body size. This is very important in the martial arts where the smaller but trained fighter can defeat a larger stronger untrained fighter. Mobility relates to movement while stability relates to control. Stability is defined as the ability to maintain control of joint movement or position by coordinating actions of surrounding tissues and the neuromuscular system. Flexibility is the range of motion in a joint or group of joints or the ability to move joints effectively through a complete range of motion. Flexibility training includes stretching exercises to lengthen the muscles and may include activities like yoga or Martial Arts. Body composition is used to describe the percentages of fat, bone, water and muscle in human bodies. Because muscular tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, our body composition, as well as our weight, determines leanness. 15 % fat or less is ideal Speed is the ability to move quickly across the ground or move limbs rapidly to grab or throw. ... Movement speed requires good strength and power, but also too much body weight and air resistance can act to slow the person down. 1. Visual Reflexes: This component focuses on the training methods that will increase your ability to spot openings and track movements. Exceptional visual reflexes allow you to recognize, track, distinguish, adapt to, and counter movements with precision and confidence. In the martial arts, visual reflexes are primarily utilized during long range fighting. In addition, visual reflexes are critical to the success of world-class athletes in all competitive sports. 2. Tactile Reflexes: This component focuses on the training methods that will develop your tactile (touch) reflexes. With practice, you can learn to instantly feel what the opponent is attempting to do by quickly interpreting the direction of his body force. You must anticipate the opponent’s every move when you are in the grappling or trapping range. Ninety-five percent of all fights end up in close range. Be prepared! 3. Auditory Reflexes: You can improve your auditory reflexes by enhancing your listening skills. It is important to react quickly to what you hear. In a situation where you must defend yourself against multiple attackers, you will more than likely hear the attack before you see it. If you have ever experienced blind sparring, or fighting in the dark, you know the importance of this attribute. 4. Adaptation Speed: This component deals with your mind’s ability to instantaneously select the perfect action in response to an attack or opening. You should develop the ability to instantly select the most effective movements to use at any point during a physical confrontation. Highly developed adaptation speed will allow your reflexes to carry out the movement selection process automatically. With training, you will learn to respond quickly, accurately, and seemingly without thought. 5. Initiation Speed: You must focus on the development of your explosiveness once you have chosen the correct action to initiate. It’s not how fast you move, but how soon you get there that really counts. Your attack may be very fast in flight, but a slow takeoff will severely reduce your chances of effectively landing that attack on target. Train yourself to make your movements felt before they are seen by developing a flawless poker face and the ability to relax at will. 6. Movement Speed: Movement speed is the ability to quickly transfer part or all your body from one place to another. It is the speed that is most recognized by the public at large. In addition to genetics and body weight, your ability to contract and relax your muscles efficiently will determine your movement speed. Don’t be concerned with “demonstration” speed. Your training should focus on developing the “applied” speed that will help you overwhelm and subdue an opponent in seconds. 7. Alteration Speed: During your training, be sure to engage in drills that will develop the safeguard known as alteration speed. Alteration speed involves the ability to quickly change directions during movement. Essentially, it involves control of balance and inertia. Through mastery of body mechanics, you can develop the ability to stop your movement instantly…just in case you initiate a wrong move. Balance is the ability to stay upright or stay in control of body movement, and coordination is the ability to move two or more body parts under control, smoothly and efficiently. There are two types of balance: static and dynamic. Static balance is maintaining equilibrium when stationary, while dynamic balance is maintaining equilibrium when moving. We use our eyes, ears and 'body sense' to help retain our balance. Coordination is a complex skill that requires not only good balance, but good levels of other fitness components such strength and agility. Balance and coordination can be improved through practice and training within specific sports. Coordination is the ability to use the senses together with body parts during movement. For example, dribbling a basketball. Using hands and eyes together is called hand-eye coordination. Accuracy – This is partly covered by the definition of agility, but accuracy refers to the ability to control movement in each direction at a given intensity. Reaction Time – Also closely related to agility, is defined as the time elapsed between stimulation and the beginning of the reaction to it. Agility is the ability to move and change direction and position of the body quickly and effectively while under control. It requires quick reflexes, coordination, balance, speed, and correct response to the changing situation. Agility is the ability to change and control the direction and position of the body while maintaining a constant, rapid motion. For example, changing directions to hit a tennis ball. Reaction Time is the ability to reach or respond quickly to what you hear, see, or feel. For example, an athlete quickly coming off the blocks early in a swimming or track relay or stealing a base in baseball. The interval time between the presentation of a stimulus and the initiation of the muscular response to that stimulus. A primary factor affecting a response is the number of possible stimuli, each requiring their own response, that are presented. Quickness is defined as rapid reaction and movement time in relation to a given stimulus. Training for quickness is not the same as training for absolute speed. Quickness relies heavily on immediate movement reactions. Think of quickness as the first phase of speed. Stamina is one of several components used to evaluate health and fitness. It includes cardiovascular and muscular endurance, which is the ability of your heart, lungs and muscles to work for long periods Fun Enjoy what you are doing, the process, the people and life as a whole. Over pushing yourself, over taxing body to quickly, will result in long term failure and very possibly permanent damage. Many of the great martial artist have trained very actively into their 70's, 80's and even 90's that train smart. Breathing: Training breathing muscles will help to increase lung capacity, leading to better performance during aerobic activities, all while helping with overall fitness. There are simple inhalation exercises which can be practiced aiding this. Proper breathing during exercise Breath in 4 count, breath out 4 count don’t breathe to movement or music, don’t hold your breath when exercising. Meditation and Visualization are empowering tools to get you in proper state of mind, enhance consciousness and self-awareness and to focus the mind. Visualization is a healthy way of bringing positive energy into your mind, body and spirit, expanding your capacity for creativity. Meditation, “it activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which lessens the stress response. “But meditation also has a large learning component. The person who practices meditation consistently learns to understand his own mind and the way thoughts come and go.” These learning processes change the brain in a good way, she adds. “Likely, the combination of meditation and exercise is especially effective because the change in autonomic and central nervous system activity is quite profound.” This seems like alot to cover in a workout, however high quality instructors and coach's should be able to build organized classes and training plans that take all this factors into consideration. All the classes at Summit Martial Arts are based on these key components of fitness and the highest quality Martial Arts. With a little education and thought anyone can design and plan smart workouts. The result will be long term success. Kyoshi Riedmiler |
AuthorKyoshi Charles Riedmiller 7th Dan Head Instructor/Owner Summit Martial Arts Delaware, Ohio and has over 45 years experience in the Martial Arts, he started training in Goju Ryu karate and Judo at age 13. He been training in Goju Ryu & Shorin Ryu Karate, Kobudo, Judo, Jujitsu, Aikido for over 4 decades and BJJ for over 20yrs with Professor Pedro Sauer. He has been dedicated to teaching authentic, high quality Martial Arts his entire life. Sensei Riedmiller has taught thousands of Military, Law Enforcement, pro-fighters/champions and martial art students of all ages. Archives
September 2023
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