Training with injuries....

Do you train when you are injured? Should you train when you are injured? Of course it depends to some extent on the nature of the injury and whether surgery or other medical intervention is required to correct it.

I had an e-mail from someone who had fairly recently taken up martial arts but had sustained a shoulder injury requiring surgery and her doctor had advised her to stop doing martial arts. She was asking me what I thought about this advice and whether I had sustained injuries doing martial arts.

Well, who hasn’t sustained some kind of injury doing martial arts? Anything from bumps, bruises, sprains or pulls to ACL tears, rotator cuff injuries, fractured ribs or noses – you name it, it will have happened to someone.  It is almost inconceivable that you will never sustain some kind of injury when you train in martial arts – it’s an occupational hazard!

Surely if we gave up a physical activity every time we were injured we would soon become a world of couch potatoes. Being prepared to risk physical injury and endure the pain of it whilst training on is part of the mental and spiritual development that martial arts are known for.

I had a chronic ‘quad’ injury last year when preparing for my black belt training. I could barely lift my knee up let alone kick with that leg. It didn’t occur to me to stop training until it healed! However I was highly motivated to speed up the healing process (6 weeks from grading) and eventually got relief from a deep tissue massage. Now I have a chronic shoulder injury. I have had a course of physiotherapy which has brought about some minor improvement and I’m planning to try another deep tissue massage to my shoulder, neck and back. However, I have continued to train throughout, putting up with the discomfort and pain afterwards.

My husband continues to train with a chronic hip problem – he literally hobbles home sometimes. My husband is a doctor; if he were his own patient he would probably advise himself to stop doing martial arts. However, this advice would only help his hip (or maybe not – it might get worse with no exercise!) but it wouldn’t help him – he is a whole person, not just a hip. He would be miserable if he couldn’t carry on with training – he’d rather put up with the pain!

How far should we be prepared to go training with a chronic injury? I am always impressed with the courage and fortitude of people who fight back to fitness after a serious injury so they can continue enjoying the activity they love. Michele fought back from her ACL tear a few years ago and has now just been awarded her 6^th dan. Likewise, Middle-AgedMartial Artist tore his ACL during his black belt test but fought back to re-take the test a couple of years later. Tiger Lady is fighting back following a brain injury caused by boxing. I’m sure you can all name someone who didn’t give up their martial art because of an injury and fought back to fitness, probably in spite of their doctor’s advice.

Of course there are things we can do to minimise our chance of injury. Injuries often happen because muscles are not strong enough to stabilise joints, or our posture is bad or our technique is incorrect. Keeping our bodies in tip-top condition is a necessary part of martial arts training. Good posture, muscle tone, flexibility, general body movement, as well as good technique – particularly for throwing where you need to bear the full weight of your partner- will help to reduce the chances of injury and help to speed up recovery if it happens.

In my opinion (and I’m not a doctor) unless it is actually fractured, dislocated, sprained to the point you can’t weight bear, bleeding heavily, just been operated on or has rendered you unconscious there is no need to stop training. Grin and bear the discomfort and train on. If it’s bad enough to put you out of action for a while then phase your return as you build up your fitness again – but don’t give up all together.

Remember!  You are more than the sum of your parts. You are certainly more than your injury so don’t be defined by it. What’s best advice for your injury isn’t necessarily best advice for your whole person – you just have to be more sensible about the way you train in future. There are people out there training from wheelchairs, now that’s to be admired!

If you are determined to succeed you will find a way …

Happy training!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor so don't take this post as advice on whether you can train with your injury. It's your injury so it's your call....

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I can't believe it!

I was reminded this week that I am merely human. Read that as tendency to weakness and poor discipline. Neither am I above the laws of cause and effect!

 

Let me explain....I have been on holiday for a week with my family to the south coast of England. We had a lovely time. We stayed in a converted barn on an ex-dairy farm and spent our days reading, walking, visiting various places of interest and errr.....eating!

 

I had made the conscious decision that I would give my body a rest from training whilst on holiday to let all those little tweaks, sprains and bruises heal. I had been suffering from some lower back pain for about 3 weeks before going away and my back is much better and most of my bruises have disappeared.

 

Unfortunately my lack of training was also accompanied by a relaxation in the control of eating department and I have discovered on my return, during a Sunday morning post holiday weigh-in, that I have gained 5 pounds. Let me repeat that..... 5 pounds. In one week!

 

I cannot believe it. When I was young I was the sort of person that could eat anything I liked and not put a pound on. Clearly that is not true now! Like I said earlier, I am not above the laws of cause and effect - eat a lot = get fat. FIVE POUNDS!!! I am sooo ashamed. Even when we went to Cyprus in April for 2 weeks on full-board with food laid out in an endless buffet I only gained half a pound. So how the hell did I gain 5 whole pounds in a week?

 

I have been walking around the house ever since muttering that the scales must be wrong but I know they are not. I have the kind of weighing scales that not only weigh you but tell you your body fat percentage, the weight of your body fat, your BMI and your body water percentage. My body fat percentage has gone up by 4.4%. My BMI is still in the normal range at 22.8 but I have an additional 5 pounds of lard invading my body, yuk! -  I hate it.

 

I have now been well and truly shocked out of my complacency and have already commenced dieting. In fact, I decided to get on the scales again this morning (just to check this wasn't all a bad dream, which it wasn't) and I have already lost 1 pound. I am hopeful that by the end of next week I will be back to normal!

 

Training has already re-commenced, I returned to kodudo last night, and I have a karate class in 1 hours time. My husband and I also did some two-man stuff this morning and then we spent about 2 hours digging in the garden. I intend to return to normal diet and exercise routines with immediate effect!

 

Five pounds! I still cannot believe it.......

 

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Hot weather and wicked humour!

Britain has been in the middle of a heat wave these last few weeks - well a heatwave by British standards anyway! It has been consistently around 25 degrees C (that's hot for us) and there has been very little rainfall for weeks (that's dry for us). We moan when it's cold and wet and now we are complaining that its too hot and dry - really, there's just no pleasing us!

Anyway, training has been a hot sticky affair recently. I have taken to wearing my old, thin, cheap gi that I started with and others are training in t-shirts instead of gi jackets. We have the fire doors open and are taking more frequent water breaks to prevent dehydration. Heat exhaustion is a potential problem and Chris Littlefair has addressed this issue in his most recent post.

Something about training in the heat seems to bring the class together a bit more - it must be the sense of suffering together. It also seems to bring out the slightly wicked side of us girls - well there's not many of us so we have to stick together! Sensei was demonstrating a 2-man locking drill ( he's pretty keen on drills since we attended the Patrick McCarthy course) and was demonstrating on one of our senior black belts, Bruce. The locks were going on pretty hard - wrist locks, arm locks, head locks, standing up and on the ground. Poor old Bruce was being twisted around, locked up and thrown to the ground like a rag doll!

For some reason this struck us girls as being quite amusing (I'm blaming it on the heat) and so we 'innocently' asked sensei to demonstrate it again...and again...and again....It was about the fourth time before Bruce cottoned on to what we were doing (we're so cruel!). He took it with good humour though .... so, if you're reading this Bruce, we're very sorry - hope you're not too sore today!

On a more serious note though, training in hot weather does have its inherent dangers. Dehydration and heat exhaustion do need to be watched out for. Do you have any tips for training safely in hot weather? Does the heat bring out your wicked side........?

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Why do we......need to breathe in martial arts?

How often has your sensei told you ‘to breathe’ whilst performing a kata, a combination or some other technique? My sensei is always shouting ‘remember to breathe’ as have other instructors who’ve taught me on various courses I have attended.

Breathing is not only fundamental to our existence; hence we normally do it without conscious thought, it is also fundamental to our martial arts training (and to any other physical training). You would expect breathing whilst exercising to come naturally to us but clearly, to many of us, it doesn’t!

Many people, particularly in the early kyu grades tend to hold their breath when performing kata or any other technique requiring physical exertion. Holding the breath whilst exerting oneself not only leads to a bad performance it can actually be physiologically dangerous.

A bad performance results from the fact that you don’t have enough oxygen in the blood to supply those hard working muscles. This means you tire easily and pant like mad once you do breathe. A failure to coordinate the breath patterns with physical movements also leads to techniques that are executed with a lack of rhythm or intent.

However, incorrect breathing techniques can cause more than merely a bad performance. Holding the breath whilst contracting the diaphragm and abdominal muscles or exhaling sharply whilst constricting the glottis can induce the Valsalva’s manoeuvre. The rise in intra-thoracic pressure that results from this manoeuvre causes a trapping of blood in the great veins, preventing it from entering the chest and right atrium. On release of the breath the intra-thoracic pressure drops and the trapped blood is propelled through the heart, producing an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. In susceptible people the damage done to the cardiovascular system by repeated induction of Valsalva’s manoeuvre can lead to heart disease, aneurisms, strokes, haemorrhoids and blackouts.

When we talk about breathing during martial arts training, we obviously mean intentional breathing – something we are consciously controlling and regulating. So why do we need to do this?

Martial arts are often underpinned with the belief that correct breathing helps us to unify the body and mind. Controlled breathing helps us to focus and control the mind, indeed it is an important part of meditation. By focussing on breathing during meditation the practitioner can often reach a state of mushin (empty mind). Once the mind is clear of extraneous thoughts and focussed to the point of ‘no thoughts’ the body is free to move fluidly and instinctively to execute techniques without the hindrance of conscious intervention. This is what we try to achieve in our martial arts. Kata is an excellent method for training to achieve mushin and is often referred to as ‘moving meditation’.

In addition to these meditational aspects of breathing the physiological consequences of breathing prepare us for action by stimulating the cardio vascular system, filling us with oxygen, removing carbon dioxide and pumping blood to the muscles and brain. By controlling the way we breathe we can coordinate loading up our systems with oxygen (inhalation) with ‘turbo charging’ our techniques as we perform them by exhalation – a strong and powerful exhalation can promote a strong and powerful technique.

Inhalation should be through the nose whilst exhalation should be via the mouth. Rapid exhalation, which involves contraction of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, is called ibuki breathing. Ibuki breathing often gets a bad press but this is usually only warranted if it is accompanied by a Valsalva’s manoeuvre. Sanchin kata is often criticised for encouraging breathing with a Valsalva’s manoeuvre but really this is the fault of the performer, not the kata. Sanchin requires good controlled breathing, not constant repetitions of the Valsalva’s manoeuvre! When performing ibuki breathing you should always make sure that your glottis is fully open when exhaling – do not breathe against resistance.

So next time your sensei tells you to breathe remember he/she is trying to teach you a very fundamental aspect of martial arts training. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Inhale in preparation and exhale on the execution of technique. Simple, eh? I wonder why we need reminding so much……

Sources:

http://www.wolf.ox.ac.uk/clubs/taido/files/breathing.pd
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Secrets-of-Karate-Breathing-Techniques&id=2360411
http://www.theshotokanway.com/simonoliverinterview.html
http://www.uechi-ryu.com/breathng.htm
http://www.ski-usf.com/files/Karate_and_Ibuki_Breathing.pdf
http://breathing.com/articles/valsalvas-maneuver.htm

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Is your house making you fat?

As I was getting ready this morning I was listening to the news on the radio. There was a report that said that scientists are now scaling down their predictions for the rise in obesity for children in Britain since the rate of rise was falling significantly. Scientists attribute this to people taking on board the healthy eating/regular exercise message and being more aware of the obesogenic environment in which they live.

Obesogenic environment. Wow! That's a new one on me. I love new words. Words are what we think with, the greater our vocabulary the clearer our thinking and the more articulate we are in expressing our thoughts. I also like the idea that when we invent new words we also invent new concepts or new ways of looking at something.

Obesogenic basically means 'fat-causing' or 'fat-creating'. I did a quick search on this word and it actually came into existence in 1996 though it has not found its way into mainstream vocabulary.

The concept of living in an environment that can contribute to obesity is an interesting one. We like to think of ourselves as being masters of our environment - shaping it to suit our needs. Over the centuries we have claimed the land as our own, cut down forests, established settlements, built roads and bridges, invented several convenient and fast transport methods, learnt to cultivate and manufacture our own food, developed industry.....the list is endless and it is all to make life better for us. We are indeed masters of our environment!

Except....maybe we are not. Our environment is controlling us - its making us fat and unhealthy. We have become the products of our environment not the controllers of it. It seems to have gotten too big and complicated and now it's taken on a life of its own. We have built 'dormitory' communities that are miles from schools or the workplace, we have out of town shopping malls that are only accessible by car - so we have to drive long distances every day. Our cities are big, crowded and dangerous so we don't walk or cycle too much through them. Our jobs have become sedentary and our leisure pursuits even more so - we sit a lot. We have invented every convenience we can think of to make our lives easier - gadgets to reduce the burden of household chores even machines to heat up pre-prepared food so that we don't have to cook!

Some of us rail against the toxic effects of our environment. We exercise regularly, we try and eat healthily and we try not to poison the environment further - we can't control it as individuals, at least not the wider environment but we can control our local environment, our homes.

I've been thinking about whether my house is an obesogenic environment. The first place to look is the kitchen - are there lots of obesogens lurking in the cupboards and fridge? My family are all cheese lovers so there is a big container with various cheeses in it in the fridge, and, okay, there is a box of small cakes in the cupboard and a few packets of crisps and two boxes of Pringles....but that's it! The rest of the fridge contains low fat yogurts, some ham, lots of fresh vegetables, fruit and salad. I cook a family meal each day and rarely use convenience foods - in fact my freezer doesn't contain a single one at the moment. The freezer is basically filled with bread, frozen veg, meat, fish and seafood. I think there might also be a cheesecake and some ice cream too - but you've got to live a bit!

So I don't think my kitchen is too much of an obesogenic environment. What about the rest of the house? Well, it's on two levels so we have to use stairs a lot! We have converted a garage into a gym so we can exercise at home - and do! We have our fair share of gadgets - televisions, DVD players etc. However, I absolutely refuse to have a TV in the bedrooms or kitchen - just a personal bugbear! I think our house is okay - it's not making us fat.

If I turn my attention to my local community, is that an obesogenic environment? I live in a suburban area a few miles from the city centre and only 1 mile from open countryside. It is an old, well established suburb so it has local facilities such as local shops, post-office, banks etc. I don't use the local shops nearly as much as I could as the nearest supermarket is only about 2.5 miles away. There are local bus routes into town and to my place of work - but I rarely use them, preferring the convenience of my car. I could improve my behaviour on these counts. I could walk to my karate club, it would take about 25 minutes but I don't. In fact the car is the biggest environmental factor controlling my behaviour - it is potentially an 'obesogen'.

Fortunately my love of the car is balanced by my love of physical activity and the countryside. I train in martial arts 3 times a week, do some additional training at home and most weekends we get a decent hike in the countryside. So I think on balance I live fairly symbiotically with my environment.

So, what about your home and local environment? Is your house making you fat? What's your biggest obesogen?

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Forrest Morgan Interview - women in martial arts.

Many of you will no doubt have already read the interview with Forrest Morgan over on Ikigai's blog. This was a real coup for Matt and he certainly didn't waste the opportunity to bring us an excellent interview that revealed the life and thoughts of Mr Morgan on a range of martial arts topics.

Matt was also gracious enough to offer to put some of his reader's questions to Mr Morgan and I was very delighted that he put the question that I submitted to him. Matt sensibly condensed my rather long-winded question to this:

Reader: Should female traditional artists be concerned about changing
techniques to fit their body and capabilities (it seems as if traditional arts
were developed and designed for men)?

Forrest Morgan's response:

FM: That is an excellent question, one that speaks to a warrior’s
tactical mindset. The answer is yes. Most traditional arts were indeed
developed by men, for men (and right-handed men, at that). That said, a few women warriors have developed their own martial arts. For instance, according to legend, Wing Chun Gung Fu was developed by a Buddhist nun with a woman’s body in mind.
Samurai women also developed certain arts to defend their households
(naginata-jutsu, for example). But the overwhelming majority of martial arts are designed for men fighting other men of approximately equal size. So yes, women need to assess the kinds of threats they are most likely to face, objectively appraise their own physical capabilities, and tailor their techniques and tactics accordingly. Instructors should help their female students do this. If they don’t, women should seek training elsewhere.
By the way, this answer also applies to men of small stature. But women face additional threats that most men do not.

As regular readers of this blog will know I have a bee in my bonnet about identifying and acknowledging the differences between men and women in martial arts training and so I was elated to get this very positive response from Forrest Morgan, it made me feel vindicated in what I have been trying to say. I have made references to male/female differences in several of my posts now, including: women's self-defence - is it just an illusion, Should women train differently to men in martial arts and Block or Flinch in Martial arts (the discussion takes place more in the comments section on this post)

The part of Mr Morgan's answer that particularly excites me is: "So yes, women need to assess the kinds of threats they are most likely to face, objectively appraise their own physical capabilities, and tailor their techniques and tactics accordingly. Instructors should help their female students do this."

Before I go any further I would just like to point out that I only think women should train differently to men in respect of the self-defence aspect of martial arts. If you train in a bugei art such as jujitsu then clearly the whole thing is about self-defence but if you train in a budo art such as karate-do then self-defence training is just one element of that art form. In which case, kihon, kata and kumite training does not need to differ between men and women.

In self-defence training, as Mr Morgan points out, instructors should help women to identify the ways in which they should train differently, help them to understand the strengths and weaknesses in their own bodies and to help them adapt techniques accordingly. This requires instructors to understand women - physically, mentally and emotionally. If a woman has a female instructor then she probably has an advantage. However most instructors are male and so they should make the effort to understand martial arts from a female perspective.

So what things should be taken into consideration?

Aggression. Women have less testosterone than men and so are not as naturally aggressive. When a man starts martial arts training he will bring his aggression with him and you may find you spend a lot of time training him to calm down and control it. When a woman starts training she may be timid, afraid of hurting and getting hurt. It will take time for her to gain confidence and build up her levels of aggression as she progresses. She may feel embarrassed or too self-conscious to show aggression but eventually embarrassment and fear will be overcome. Women need instructors to show a lot of patience with them during this phase. Do not expect women to cope well with reality based training until they have developed their confidence and 'toughened up' a little.

Physique. I am not talking about the obvious differences between men and women here but more skeletal and muscular differences. Men have thicker bones, including thicker ribs and a thicker layer of muscle covering them. This makes them more resistant to damage and pain when being struck or thrown. Men's generally thicker 'covering' enables them to absorb shock better than women's bodies and so they have a higher tolerance to striking. (I admit women have a higher percentage body fat but it is distributed in the wrong places to give any real protection). This means that men have a comparatively high tolerance to pain and shock right from the start of training. Women take time to gradually build up this tolerance through training. Instructors need to think about how they can help women to develop this tolerance.

Motivation. Men seem to be much more single-minded and clearer about the reasons why they want to learn a martial art. The main motivation for a man seems to be to learn to fight and to defend themselves, either for the purposes of sport or self-protection. This seems to be particularly true for younger men. Fitness and self-improvement may also be on the agenda but only seem to move up the list as he enters his maturer years. For most women learning martial arts is not about learning to fight. They will probably say that they are doing it for fitness and self-defence training but really fitness and social contact is probably nearer the mark for many women (even if they don't admit it). Women like the idea that they will be learning some self-defence - but often their actions speak louder than their words and their training does not progress in an effective or useful way.

How seriously a woman takes her self-defence training is probably proportional to how seriously she perceives the threat of violence against her to be. For the vast majority of women the risk of violence is very low, thus motivation to learn to defend ones-self in any meaningful way is also low. When this is coupled with low aggression levels, fear of getting hurt and feelings of self-consciousness it is not surprising that may women do not like the realities of effective self-defence training and often just go through the motions of practicing the techniques.

Motivation will be much higher in women who's perception of threat is higher. So women who have experienced violence first hand or know someone who has, live in an environment where violence is a regular occurrence or work in a job where there is a risk of confrontation with the public will be much more motivated to learn self-defence. This will show in the way they are prepared to train.

Everyone will know of an amazing female martial artist who is a high ranking dan grade, has won xyz competitions and can kick ass with the best of men. There are always exceptions to the rule. I am referring to the average woman in the average dojo. When it comes to learning a fighting art men have all the physical and mental advantages that allow them to hit the ground running when they first start training. Women generally have higher physical and mental barriers to overcome and may seem to be stuck in the starting blocks for quite a long time. They need patience, help, support, encouragement to gain confidence, endurance and tolerance - this takes time and only when this has been acquired can any meaningful, realistic self-defence training take place. This applies whether they are big, small, fat or thin - it is their femaleness that makes them different to men, not their size and strength.

Some women may never acquire the motivation to learn effective self-defence and may never get further than 'going through the motions'. However, this does not mean their martial arts training is a waste of time, it just means their focus is in a slightly different direction to the average mans. If you are involved in the budo arts then there is much to be gained apart from fighting skills. Health, fitness, flexibility, agility, confidence, tolerance, patience, respect, self-discipline.... the list is endless and all worthy objectives to achieve.

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Should women train differently to men in martial arts?

Over on Ikigai's blog a few day's ago I got into a dialogue with the commentator wenhsiu in response to a question I wanted Matt to put to the martial artist Forrest Morgan when he does his interview with him (see: Ask Forrest Morgan).

My question was this:

"I would want to ask him a question about women in martial arts. I base my question on the premise that traditional fighting arts were developed by men for men to fight other men and are thus best suited for the male physique. As a consequence of this I tend to think that women are slightly square pegs in round holes when it comes to learning a traditional martial art and we have to make it 'fit' to our physiques as best we can. With this in mind does Mr Morgan think
that traditional martial arts training techniques should be adapted to help women learn techniques that play to their physiological strengths i.e techniques that utilise their proportionately greater core strength, adapting kicks to take account of a women's different shaped pelvis (which affects the angle of articulation of the hip), learning techniques that compensate for a woman's lack of upper body strength etc. Or does he think women should just get on with it and train the same as men?"

In wenhsiu's replies to my question he mentioned that the Ancient Chinese did indeed recognise the differences between men and women and that in the Chinese arts of Qigong and Taiji men and women were trained in separate techniques. Wenhsiu also mentioned that Wing Chun was developed by a Shaolin Nun called Ng Mui. She noticed the plight of a young girl called Wing Chun (Her name means "Beautiful Spring") and taught her this new art to defend her self against an unscrupulous landlord (warlord in some texts) who wanted to force her into marriage. The art was subsequently named after her. This is the first example I've seen of a fighting art being developed by a woman for a woman (albeit to fight a man!).

This got my interest up and I attempted to find out what I could about these arts, or any others that seem tailored to a woman's physique.

Wing Chun (Wing Choon) kung fu continues to be a relevant martial art that is well suited to women. It is a Southern Shaolin style (external style) that is characterised by solid stances, powerful arms, fast movements and elaborate hand techniques. According to the website Uk Wing Chun :

"If we were to look at the percentages alone, we would have to say that women reach a far higher standard than the men. Women make particularly good progress in the early training as they tend to be less competitive in the way they use their strength"

According to this website women particularly excel in the following techniques:

• They are more able to 'feel' the intention in 'sticky hands' sessions and are still able to generate tremendous force behind their strikes.


• women are as dangerous as the men in applying a finger strike to the eyes.


• Women can make good use of the lift kick. In its simplest form this kick goes directly upward into the groin. The use of the lift kick and knees make for more respect from opponents when entering into the ladies 'personal space', the range where potential danger becomes imminent danger.


• The use of elbow techniques is of great use to women as it is hard to make the elbow soft, one has to hit softer to cause less damage. After getting over the habit of over rotating the palm when using the elbow, the women consistently strike hard and accurately with this weapon as most men will attempt to grab and hold or wrestle a woman down and not throw a clean punch.
  

They go on to say:

"We have found that women certainly do not lack strength but they do tend to use their strength differently. If a man were to 'arm wrestle' a lady he would find that she can be very strong at holding her ground, but not as likely to be able to exert more power to beat him. The 'frame can be very strong indeed, and as Wing Chun relies on a powerful framework, women do tend to do equally well. Therefore, when a woman is in chi sau (sticking hands) range she can prevent being easily overpowered and can feel the moment to change direction and release the power (fa ging). It does not require great strength to nullify an opponents power when in contact, and with consistent skill training drills she can also deal with breaks too."

A commentator on a martial arts forum said about Wing Chun: "...but in Wing Chun they knew that a woman could not compete with any man blow for blow. Hence the system continually puts pressure on its opponent once contact is made… in Wing Chun you continue to throw combinations of blows, relentlessly (many instances blocking and punching simultaneously). It makes up in quantity what women lack in strength. There is a saying in Wing Chun "As It Comes Retain It, As It Leaves Follow It (Pursue)"."

Both Qigong (Ch'i Kung) and Taiji (Taijiquan or Tai Chi Chuan) are internal styles (nèijiā). These internal arts are linked with Taoism, whereas the external styles (Shaolin styles) are linked with Buddhism. Internal styles focus on awareness of the spirit, mind, chi (breath) and the use of relaxed leverage rather than unrefined muscular tension. Pushing hands is a training method commonly used in neijia arts to develop sensitivity and softness.

There is room for confusion with this classification of internal and external styles. Most Chinese arts have elements of both internal and external techniques but external styles tend to teach the external elements first (the fighting techniques) and move onto the internal ones at an advanced stage. The internal styles on the other hand start with the internal techniques and move onto the external ones later.

Of the two internal styles that wenhsiu mentioned to me, Qigong is not technically a martial art. It is considered to be an internal Chinese meditative practice which often uses slow graceful movements and controlled breathing techniques to promote the circulation of qi within the human body, and enhance a practitioner's overall health. It is often confused with other martial arts because other internal styles, including Taiji often include qigong techniques within them.

Though I couldn't find any reference to women being taught differently to men in Taiji, most Taiji websites promote the considerable health benefits to women of practising internal styles. These health benefits range from improvements in the cardiovascular system, reduction in glycosolated haemoglobin in diabetes, boosting the immune system, maintaining bone density in post menopausal women, to reduction in stress, increased mobility and balance in people with Parkinson's disease and a reduction in cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease. The list seems endless. I may look at this in more detail in a future post.

But I do karate, not Wing Chun or an internal style such as Taiji, so can this knowledge on 'female friendly' techniques still help me? Well wenhsiu suggests that there are elements of qigong and taiji in karate. He described them as '...those bits in your katas that don't make any sense'. Mmmmm- I'll have to look out for those! We also do kicks, elbow strikes and finger strikes, so maybe we're not too different from those Wing Chun girls after all.

Here's some Wing Chun video:

So in conclusion, should women train differently to men? I suppose the choices are to learn a martial art that is particularly suitable for women, such as Wing Chun or to be aware of techniques that particularly play to a woman's strengths (kicks, elbows, finger strikes, utilisation of core strength) and focus on them in the style you already do. I think this is possible in karate - it's just a matter of thinking about what you are doing and being aware of what suits your physique

Thanks wenhsiu for your comments.

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Break falling - a key to overcoming fear

I was inspired to write this post by Felicia after reading her latest post Epiphany: distance karate . In this post she talks about a problem she has getting in close and throwing or locking her partner during ippon kumite practice. She states:

"I know it makes no sense, but I think the idea of stepping into a
technique to grab someone and take them down intimidates the snot out of me. Like every other little girl on the planet, I grew up on fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White where the heroine was kind, gentle, giving and nurturing. Sure their gentle nature almost did them in, but in the end, it all worked out, right? I think that's my hope as far as self-defense goes. Perhaps I may even be a little afraid of hurting my adversary, which absolutely makes no
sense at all"

Fear of getting hurt or of hurting someone else can be a big barrier to overcome when learning martial arts. I have experienced this barrier myself and it has impeded my progress in karate training for about two years! I now feel that I am finally able to break that barrier down (or rather I am in the process of breaking it down) and as a result my confidence is growing.

I think this fear is fairly common amongst women karateka. We want to learn self-defense but at the same time we are afraid to do it with any conviction. I know there are other women in my club who feel the same. We end up going through the motions of practising our self-defence moves but, like Felicia, we stop short of putting the lock fully on or doing the throw with conviction.

Perhaps it is our upbringing that makes it particularly difficult for us to display the necessary aggression or assertion. It's part of the same social code that tells us to 'always think the best of people' or to trust people until we are absolutely sure they are about to hurt us (in which case it might already be too late to execute an effective defense).

So why does it take female karateka so long to overcome their fears? I'm talking about senior brown belts still having this reticence -people who have been training for 3-4 years. I think some of the blame has to lie with karate training itself. In many styles of karate pretty well all throwing techniques have been removed from the syllabus, yet traditionally throwing was a core part of karate.

I mentioned earlier that I was now breaking down the barrier of fear that I once experienced. This has really started to happen in the last 3 months since I started to learn kobudo at a jujitsu club. Though I am not learning jujitsu I am expected to join in the break fall practice and hip throws or locking techniques at the beginning of the session with the jujitsukas. I now know how to fall safely and what it feels like to be thrown and guess what- it doesn't hurt!

Here's a video of an impressive break fall drill (this is advanced stuff, I can't do it like that!)

My confidence has grown enormously. Other martial artists I know have actually told me how much they enjoy being thrown! When they are throwing themselves into break falls they are clearly enjoying it, they are like kids throwing themselves around in a ball pool. I didn't used to understand this mentality but now I share it! There is a child like pleasure in throwing yourself around without getting hurt.

It doesn't stop there though. Being liberated from a fear of being hurt gives you greater confidence in executing other karate techniques. It makes you more assertive (rather than aggressive) in the way you practice all aspects of karate - whether with a partner or solo. However, I have developed a bit of a golden rule for myself: I won't do anything to my partner that I wouldn't tolerate having done to me. If I want to practice a technique assertively on someone then I encourage them to 'lock me tighter' or 'throw me harder', that way I know what it feels like and can better judge if I am doing a technique appropriately.

So for me the key to overcoming fear has been to learn how to fall properly and to learn how to throw and be thrown. I am pleased that in our new SSK syllabus break falling and throwing have been re-introduced to the syllabus so other members of my club will now have the opportunity to learn these skills and hopefully overcome their fears too.

How do you overcome your fear of hurting or being hurt?




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Why do we..........practice karate barefoot?

When I started reading and thinking about this question I expected to find a definitive answer: We practice karate barefoot because......... However, there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer. Different sources give different reasons and generally these are offered as suggestions rather than real reasons.

The reasons offered seem to fall into three categories:

1.Tradition. This refers to the Japanese tradition of separating 'indoors' from 'outdoors', which involves taking your shoes off when entering someone’s home. This evolved as a practical courtesy to prevent you from treading dirt into someone’s home or damaging the tatami mats, that covered the floors, with shoes. However, the custom didn’t necessarily stretch to taking off your shoes in public buildings. Shoes were allowed to be worn in museums or libraries or other buildings that acted as meeting places.

This traditional argument is quite quaint but it doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny very well. To start with isn’t a dojo a public place in the sense that it is not a residential place but a meeting place for people following a martial art? Also, originally karate was practised outside in courtyards or gardens in bare feet – so karate was already a barefoot martial art before it was practiced indoors.

Others suggest that karate is practised barefoot because it was developed by peasants who had no shoes but karate wasn’t developed by peasants it was developed by the Okinawan nobility – the Keimochi. These people would have worn geta, thonged wooden clogs when walking outdoors. So a lack of shoes does not explain why karate developed as a barefoot martial art.

2. Health and safety. This refers to health and safety in a dojo setting. It is suggested that shoes bring dirt into the dojo and may damage mats. This is true if you are talking about normal outdoor footwear but people practising kung fu, for example, always train in soft martial arts shoes, which presumably don’t damage mats or dirty the floor.

Most ‘health’ arguments I have read seem to refer to keeping the dojo floor clean rather than a concern for the practitioner’s feet. The downside of practising barefoot from a health point of view is the risk of spreading fungal infections, such as Athlete’s foot, or viral infections, such as verrucas. Obviously it is the student’s responsibility to treat such infections promptly and abstain from training barefoot until the situation is resolved – but the idea that barefoot is healthier than wearing shoes? I’m not convinced.

I’m not sure the safety argument holds up to well either. Okay, being kicked by a shoed foot will hurt more than a barefoot one – but only if you’re wearing outdoor or hard shoes. Perhaps it doesn’t if you wear soft martial arts shoes.

3.Bio-mechanics in karate. This relates to the delivery of power when punching and kicking and being able to grip the floor in order to make strong stances and maintain balance. Every karate student learns that power starts at the feet and is transmitted up through the body to its target. It’s what we all strive to achieve through our constant practice. If we don’t grip the floor well, maintain strong stances and introduce torque (twist) into our kicks and punches, they won’t be very powerful.

This argument for barefoot training appeals to me most and makes the most sense. It would explain why karate developed as a barefoot art in the first place – before it was ever practised indoors. The strong, muscular feet needed to practice karate well (I call them karate feet – see my earlier post) don’t develop if cushioned by shoes so for this reason I think karate is best practiced barefoot.

Though I favour the bio-mechanics reason for barefoot training it is not necessarily the definitive one. I don’t know what the definitive answer is – maybe we continue to train barefoot simply because ‘that’s the way we’ve always done it’. What do you think?




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Post holiday fatigue - getting back into martial arts shape!

Wow! Isn't it hard to get back into gear after having a holiday? I only had 5 out of a possible 12 martial arts classes in August and boy do I notice it. I also notice the extra few pounds I seem to have mysteriously gained over the summer! My brain always seems to turn to mush after a holiday and I've found it really hard to remember anything new in the karate classes.

(Photo: Carbis Bay, where I think I may have left my brain!)

I could really have done with hitting the ground running at karate since we got back but instead I've hit the ground and crawled! We've got a lot of new stuff to get to grips with now that we have a new syllabus with the SSK - and that's just for my grade. I also need to get to grips with the syllabus of the grades junior to me because my junior grades were done under the old SKU syllabus. So I have to admit I feel a bit overwhelmed with it all at the moment.

I decided the only way to get to grips with all the new stuff was to practice at home - a lot! So I have been very good this week, I have been in the gym by 7.00am four times this week. Don't be too impressed by this admission - we have a small gym at home so I only had to walk bleary eyed downstairs and wake myself up on the cross trainer!

Monday I just did a fitness workout. Tuesday I went through all my sword katas and tonfa techniques. Thursday I went through the 6 new punching combinations for karate. Thursday evening (I forgot about this one) I went in the gym again with my husband and we went through some defences against oi zuki and mawashi geri which we had learnt in Wednesday's class. These had completely bamboozled me in the class but I think I'm pretty clear on them now. And this morning I went through the 6 kicking combinations I need to know - still not sure on some of these but at least I've made some progress!

I feel a bit happier with myself again now that I've put some personal effort in this week - hopefully now, in next Monday's class I will be able to hit the ground running, or at least walking!




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Men with Big Muscles...

Good news for you men who like to weight train: apparently building up the muscles can decrease your chances of getting cancer by 40%!

From the Daily Telegraph:

...The findings, by an international team of researchers, suggest muscular strength is as important as staying slim and eating healthily when it comes to protecting the body against deadly tumours.

The scientists who came up with the findings are recommending men weight train at least twice a week, exercising muscle groups in both the upper and lower body....

For the full article click here .

So, now you have no excuse to keep working out!

(Photo by stockvault.net)

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