Simultaneous Technique or Economy of Motion:

Simultaneous Technique or Economy of Motion:

Published: 4/14/2014

By Spencer sensei

Every karate system has simultaneous techniques. This becomes obvious when twin blocks or strikes are demonstrated in kata, but these simultaneous techniques also occur in the most basic of applications. Simultaneous blocking and striking make karate a potent means of self-defense.

Let’s examine the basic middle punch from a horse stance. This is a building block exercise taught to all beginners. One fist is thrust forward in a punch while the other is pulled back and placed on the obi (belt). Why place the hand on the obi? Was it tired, or did simply need a place to go during the punch? In American boxing one hand normally covers the face while the other delivers a blow, but in karate the rear hand is often placed upon the belt. This chambering of the rear hand is a simultaneous technique. Simultaneous technique means one or more limbs working together to complete a single self-defense application. Many instructors describe this middle punch as a push-pull motion when instructing novice students. The rear hand is not simply resting on the hip. It too has purpose. It can be used to grasp the attacker and keeps them in your circle of combat until you’ve delivered the counterattack. It can also be used to pull an adversary into a punch that is being delivered. If you do not hold the attacker, he/she will be able to get out of your circle of combat. Once an opponent is outside your reach the power in your punch is reduced. When your arm is extended, punching power is eliminated. A single blow’s collision can be lessened simply by moving sideways or backwards so, it is important to lean how to control your opponent. This push-pull motion can also make the punch more powerful. Pulling the adversary forwards into the punch increases the impact. This impact is like two cars colliding head-on. Still there are other reasons for placing the rear hand upon your obi, and the reasons will differ with each karate system. If an attacker punches you, the rear hand can be used to deflect the attacker’s strike. Likewise if an attacker grabs your shirt the rear hand can be used to remove their grasp as it moves towards your hip. Moving the opponent’s arm away enables you to you deliver the counterstrike more effectively. Still most karateka place their rear hand on the obi, during a punching drill, simply because their instructor told them to do so. Examination of this basic karate technique shows us an example of the complexity that can be found in the application of most elementary movements of karate.

Seldom is the reason for an apparent anomaly within a technique explained to the novice. Sadly, by the time the student makes black belt the instructor takes for granted they understand why they’re performing a technique in a certain way. After receiving a black belt, the student’s education truly begins. At black-belt a student must begin to ask questions about why a punch or block is delivered in what appears to be an ineffective manner. Your instructor may not have an answer, so you may need to do your own research. Every nuance of how the masters performed a basic kick or punch should be closely examined. Do not take anything for granted or you could miss what makes a good technique a great one.

Next let us examine the middle outside block. This block stops just outside the shoulder and is designed to protect the centerline targets of the body and head. The elbow traditionally rests a fist and a thumbs distance from the rib cage while the forearm is extended on a 45° angle. The fist stops at shoulder level. Hip rotation and weight transfer all happen in concert stopping at the same moment to deliver maximum power. This block deflects a blow aimed at the centerline of your body by pushing it past your trunk but not too far. Over extending the block causes the karateka to expend the extra energy needed take to bring it back, so that it may once again protect the ribs and centerline targets, and the rear hand once again rests upon the belt, hip, or ribs. Students accept placing the fist on the obi as they march up and down the dojo floor, during performance of this block, without questioning. This oddity of the middle outside block also has purpose. You will rarely see a student use this block, as it is traditionally taught, while free fighting. During free fighting, only the cockiest of fighter will lower his/her guard or place his/her hands upon their belt, so why during practice do we repeat what appears to be a flaw in our personal combat? This is because most students do not understand the real life preservation application of this series of techniques they perform over and over. A block is not always a block. Middle outside blocks can also be used as a forearm strike to hyperextend an attacker’s elbow. The elbow cannot be hyperextend unless you control the adversary’s arm. To perform this application the rear hand must trap and rotate their arm into a position so the opponent’s elbow can be struck properly. This is simultaneous technique at its simplest. A rear hand can also be used to hold or prevent an opponent from escaping your circle of combat. Carefully note that the blocking hand often becomes the rear hand as the counterpunch moves forward. Ask yourself this question, what is in your hand as you place it on your obi? Another possibility is that when the rear hand is placed upon the obi, it symbolizes a finger lock used to pull the attacker towards you. This is most evident when one or both hands are placed on one side of the obi while executing a cat stance. The reverse action of the cat stance coupled with a finger-lock, forces the opponent to lean forwards exposing the striking points on the head and neck. It also allows you to easily front snap-kick to the attacker’s solar-plexus while using the opponent to maintain your balance. Every technique in karate has a simultaneous technique component. Learn these nuances.

In reality when trapping and locking an attacker’s limb the rear fist may not always be pointing upwards, nor will it always be perfectly seated on the hip. Kata is highly stylized, and symmetry is a beautiful thing, but this may not be the reason why the chambered fist is always pointing upwards during the executing of a blocking or striking technique. The positioning of the rear hand on the obi, if moved to properly, could show a skilled martial artist what the secondary technique of the might be, so it is quite possible the masters turned the fist upwards in every move, that contained a secondary technique, in an attempt to disguise the application. This constant hand position would not give away their response to a certain type of attack, yet the students would know that there was a secondary movement in the unwritten text. In any event we know the fist does not go to the hip to rest or look cool. Nothing in karate is done without purpose, and this includes the way we chamber the fist.

There are katas where both hands are held in a position that protects the karateka’s ribs and head. San-chin and the Goju-ryu version of Seisan kata both use a hands-up posture. This posture obviously protects the student’s centerline as they move forward, and from this same posture the karate student punches and returns the arm back into the same protective position. This shows us that the karate masters understood the importance of protecting the face and body, so why did they focus on placing the rear hand on the obi? As already mentioned kata is the unwritten text of the karate system. Some techniques in kata are simply notes to remind the fighter of good techniques, but when a movement is repeated over and over, it is because the technique is important. Controlling the attacker is vital to effective self-defense, and the best way to control an adversary is by holding onto a piece of them as they try to escape while you deliver a specific counterattack. You cannot lock or throw an attacker unless you have a hold on them. Study the possibilities of the rear hand applications within your forms.

Simultaneous techniques are what make karate a powerful method of fighting, and it is what separates it from other fighting philosophies. Beginning students are taught to block and then counterstrike, but in real karate there are no pauses nor is there any hesitation. It was the pause or one-two blocking and then striking methodology that led the late Bruce Lee to note this as a weakness in Okinawan, Korean, and Japanese karate, but Sifu Lee never dug deep enough into the art to see that this was a simply a rudimentary training exercise taught to beginning students. He assumed it was karate’s fighting foundation because it was so prevalent among karate schools. Even when executing the block and then strike methodology, the cadence changes as the student gains confidence, speed, and skill. The counterstrike or punch is delivered as pressure is slightly reduced on the block. To the uneducated it would look like the block and strike happens at the same time. It is at this point that the student is striking and blocking as prescribed by the masters.

During ippon kumite (one step sparring) practice, it is good to have the defending student practice throwing the counterpunch as the block is moving forwards. Once the blow is deflected by the blocking arm the defending student must practice grasping the attacker’s sleeve as the punch continues to move towards its target. Practice this enough and it happens without thought. Karate masters built this philosophy into their kata. We see it in the forms as duel techniques. They appear as double punches, twin blocks, or a block and a kick. These are obvious simultaneous techniques. To better understand the dynamics, break these two techniques down into their individual components to get a basic understanding of their purpose, and then recombine them to be able to deliver them as one effective counterattack. An Okinawan karate master once explained to me that when you see two techniques thrown at the same time, in a kata, it means one should follow the other so closely that it looks they arrive together. This economy of motion does not happen by simply practicing kata. Kata was the only original text book of a karate system’s technique. Training to deliver these simultaneous movements must be practiced at full speed with a partner. During kata training recognizing what you’re doing each time the technique is performed, so it becomes burnt it into your response. Yes this is hard training and it is painful for you and your partner, but it is the only way to make these advanced karate techniques viable.

Twin blocks and strikes are not the only simultaneous techniques being practiced while performing kata or floor exercise. The sweeping half-moon steps that accompany the upper-body strikes and blocks also have many purposes and work in concert with the upper-body techniques. In fighting footwork can keep an attacker away from you as effectively as any block or parry, so why do we step forwards in kata? Stepping forwards in a fight can cause you to run into an attacker’s blow, so to do this seems counter intuitive. Remember kata is a living textbook of self-defense moves. It is the nonverbal communication with past masters. Most self-defense requires that you to get your hands on the bad guy first. Stepping forwards closes the circle of combat, so the games can begin. A boxer moves away from his/her opponent because they want to use their longer weapons, so moving backwards or sideways is their most common direction of motion. To eliminate these long distance weapons you need to get in tight. Moving forwards is the only way to enter their circle of combat, but this movement is only a component of simultaneous technique. The first piece of this movement involves the slight turning inward of the knee, during the half-moon step, to close the gap. This motion protects the groin as you move forwards. In kata it appears that you’ve simply moved forwards and delivered a middle block, yet there is a symphony of simultaneous technique in play as you move. There are other reasons for this sweeping action too. To throw or joint-lock an opponent you must be in close. In this half-moon motion, your lead foot can sweep behind the heel of the attacker’s lead foot thus limiting their mobility and keeping them in your circle of combat as you begin your counteroffensive. Another reason to move forwards is to jam an attacker’s lead led so they cannot kick you. Press your knee into your partner’s knee and they cannot kick you effectively. Kicks are your best weapon in a fight that is fought at long range, but in a very close range their ability to inflict damage is reduced once they’re jammed. Pressing your knee into their leg limits there ability to move in the direction they desire. You control the direction they retreat. Drive your knee into the attacker’s lead leg hard enough and you can break his/her balance. Once the balance is broken you have an opportunity to rain down blows before the opponent can recover. Simply stepping forwards is part of simultaneous technique. If you understand how to use your legs simultaneously with your hands your upper-body technique you’re beginning to understand how to control the adversary in your range of combat.

Legends tell of the superior techniques demonstrated by karate masters. Their speed was the one thing that made them legendary. When you can block and strike at the same time you appear to be super human. They were not faster than others they simply fought smarter. Simultaneous techniques were one of their secrets, and this secret has been passed down to anyone that has ever learned a single kata.

These simple exercises have many moving parts that must be timed and work together for this technique to be efficient. Beginners train in a Go-No-Sen methodology because they do not posses the coordination to apply simultaneous techniques. Go-No-Sen means that the response happens after the adversary has lunched his/her attack. In this mode the karateka blocks and then strikes. As the karateka progress in the martial arts their response will be in the Sen-No-Sen realm. In this mode your response comes at the first indication that an attack is about to be launched, and the response is made using simultaneous blocking and striking. In this mode you brutally end the aggression made against you. Sen-No-Sen is the second phase of the martial artists training, but you cannot enter into this mode until the delivery of simultaneous techniques is mastered.

Every system has simultaneous techniques. Have you mastered the ones in your system? The karate masters passed this information down to their students through kata. It is up to the serious student to explore and learn them. Are you a serious student?