Internal Focus

[HanshiClayton]

Internal Focus is the set of skills that harden and brace the body at the instant of impact. Things like having the rear heel on the ground, tightening the stomach muscles, twisting the striking forearm very hard to lock it down, keeping the elbows tight against the body, etc. There are actually quite a few specific muscle groups that have to be involved in a good focus.

The most important focus muscles are the latissimus dorsi muscles. Be sure to study that article.

One muscle group that is often missed is the hamstrings. During a karate punch (a gyaku zuki, for instance), significant additional stability and power can be added by clenching the hamstrings at the moment of impact. This takes all the "slack" out of the forward leg and pulls the hips forward toward the point of impact.

Be sure to see the essay on Shotokan Microtechnique for more information on this topic.

[colinwee]

May I ask how does internal focus change when one is taught to lift ones heel off of the ground to help enhance hip rotation and additional distance and perhaps even extra thrust?

I am perhaps the smallest person in the class, and many of my students are bigger and taller than myself. Yet, I hit them hard enough for them to take notice.

I talk about striking power typically as 'transmission' of body mass - either standing still or linearly accelerated.

The two main exercises on a makiwara seem to be hitting it and leaving the strike extended, and hitting it and retracting the striking tool. I think both teach you how to punch so that the entire body is connected, and thus allowing you to strike with more than the 1kg that your arm weighs.

You could strike a target with such power without the overt hip twist - so long as you ensure to 'pulse' the strike from the legs, move the body forward, establish core tension, and create the link with body mass. I did this in a recent beginner's class against a kickboxer - showing him the difference between a roundhouse punch, and then this strike done with kime.

However, such strikes done with kime typically encourage me to drop my elbows and keep my feet on the ground. I want to hit the body aiming at solar plexus or ribs or floating ribs ... and I want to hit them subversively - keeping the striking tool under their visual field. This is different from a shoulder rotation roundhouse punch, which benefits from me raising my elbow, cresting over the opponent's guard and reaching for that higher target.

Cheers,

Colin

[colinwee]

I no longer hit a makiwara or break boards, but I do still strive to punch a hole in a newspaper, if anyone would care to elaborate on the mechanics of that type of punch?

If you're talking about a reverse snap punch, the deceleration of the punching arm coincides with the instantaneous shifting of the centre of gravity into the front foot, the vibration of the hip forward, and the tensioning of the abdominal muscles to 'transmit' the power generated from the lower body into the upper body. The punching arm is linked to the body via the lats, and the upper body is 'tensioned' so that the rotational movement occurs as 'a system' (further increasing the mass supporting the striking tool). The punching hand is rotated palm down because ... well, if you were to support your weight on a table in front of you, you would place your palm down and lock the arm in place. The punching hand turned down allows you to 'drop' your weight into it.

I know I could do it well, but again I do not recall hips being involved, only the thought in my mind of penetrating the newspaper, being totally relaxed except for my fist and thus punching faster than I have ever punch in my life, due to my relaxed body condition.
Tom, even noted I have a strong punch, right Tom?

At a basic level, we look at linear lunging acceleration, hip rotation, and shoulder rotation to drive punching power. The hip rotation or 'vibration' is a concept that can of course be done with more subtlety. So if an expert such as yourself has learned how to punch using the body's core - then you've just dispensed with that module of the basics that uses overt hip rotation to generate such power.

That leads me to a question on the candle punching, can a tense person punch out a flame or does it take a relaxed body, or how cares, or is it more to do with the wind?

I think the relaxed body accelerates the punch more effectively. A larger stronger person doesn't need this ... they just use their tree trunk arms to kill you. Smaller people need coordination in order to use the entire body at once.

Your use of the word “pulse” make me think of plyometrics and one pulsating/ bouncing off the floor, your thoughts Colin?

Plyometrics describes exercises that have an assymetrical or eccentric contraction. If I were to jump off a bench and land lightly on the floor I would be doing plyometrics. In a reverse snap punch, you effectively 'drop' the body relative to the floor whilst still standing on it. The body drop is sent 'forward' into your front foot at the same time your hand hits. Then you snap yourself back to position. This is all done within a small range of motion, but yes, I suppose there is some correlation with plyometric exercises (and that's why they work so well).

"I did this in a recent beginner's class against a kick boxer - showing him the difference between a roundhouse punch, and then this strike done with kime."

I think you just answered a question I had on ‘kime’? You describe it as, “…such strikes done with kime typically encourage me to drop my elbows and keep my feet on the ground.” Isn’t that what a Shotokan practitioner would be looking to do? Anyone...

Yeah, I guess. Most fighters would agree to this though, save for the capoeira guys.

Wow, raising your elbow, is your arm still in alignment at this time? When cresting over the opponent’s guard as you put it, are you looking to score a pint of as Bruce or Tom may put it, fatally injury them?

The arm need not be in linear alignment to transmit power. It is of course more effective when the arm is in an obtuse angle tending towards 180 degrees. But I'm not saying that a roundhouse punch is my preferred way of delivering striking power. I'm just saying that if you're raising your heel off the ground, that's something I would do if I were tactically trying to reach over my opponent's guard.

I wonder how one’s body dynamics, condition changes, if at all at a more advanced level when one raised ones heel off of the ground?

Cheers, Gillian

If you have bypassed hip rotation, and can leverage body mass behind a centreline punch, then I would say you would be able to do the same with your heel lifted off the floor. If however you are lifting your heel to get greater reach, then this is counter to the hip-rotation-kime. Don't you think?

Colin

[PLopresti]

Having the heel on the ground is a myth. You need not have it that way to generate power. Period. In fact I believe it may limit the amount Of force for a reverse punch. Try standing on the balls of the feet only and see how much more torque you get in the hips and spine. Now drop your heels and see how much you get. For my cage fighters, it's all about hitting hard and moving fast and they don't have the luxury of a board standing still, although some of them have heads like that. It's all in the ability to turn the hips over and back for the next set of strikes. If you visit my YouTube page you'll see some if this in action. Look at the John Schlosser fight specifically. Perfect hip movement and you'll see the result.

But I never train the heel to be on the floor, toes always point forward yes, but hips square and up on balls of the feet.