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All the recent videos

I thought I’d embed all the recent video additions to this webpage so they can be found via a single link for newsletter subscribers.

Enjoy!

All the best,

Iain

Bunkai based partner and pad punching drill

This drill was filmed when I was teaching in my home dojo in December 2013. It’s a basic partner and pad drill that utilises a cover found in Chinto / Gankaku and an arm-pass found in Kushanku / Kanku-Dai. The drill also makes use of other kata principles such as continuous advantage, the tactical use of angles and attack lines, etc. One of the purposes of the drill is to give other ways in which kata principles can be enacted; whilst giving the illusion to the students that they are practicing something different (i.e. “repetition by stealth”).

Once the drill has been practised with a partner, pads are introduced so the punches can be delivered with impact. It is important to note that the pad element should essentially be the same as the partner element. Whist it is no longer possible to control your partner’s arms – because they are using them to hold the pads in place for you – the arm motion for the puncher should essentially remain the same i.e. they should mimic the arm control and not be held in a high “guard” such that the limb control element is totally lost.

At the end of the footage, there is a short clip of two of my youngest, and hence smallest, students (15 years old) doing the drill on the pads. As you can see and hear, there is a lot of impact on their punches. This is due to relaxed transfer of bodyweight and whipping from the hip. Impact is what gives us the ability to neutralise. Without the ability to hit hard all other skills are largely moot. As these youngsters demonstrate, power and impact derive from technique; not body mass.

Naihanchi Salutation and Opening Head Turns

This video was filmed at a seminar I taught in Kansas, USA in September 2013. This particular section looks at the opening “salutation” and the following head turns that appear in some versions. The video also quickly discusses “salutations” generally.

The sound is not great on this clip, but I’m sure you’ll be able to follow it all OK. For professionally filmed, edited and produced footage of this sequence – and how that feeds into the entire kata – please see my “Beyond Bunkai” DVD.

This short clip is taken from a full weekend of training and viewers should be aware of that. The applications shown are part of a much larger methodology and the nature of this short clip obviously means the overall context cannot be communicated. Nevertheless, I hope you find this clip of some value.

Naihanchi / Tekki-Shodan Bunkai

This clip looks at the application of the “lower block, punch, step across, block” sequence.

This short clip is taken from a full weekend of training and viewers should be aware of that. The applications shown are part of a much larger methodology and the nature of this short clip obviously means the overall context cannot be communicated.

If you’d like to learn more, please attend a seminar or see my DVDs / Downloads which are available form the shopping side of iainabernethy.com. “Beyond Bunkai: A Holistic Naihanchi / Tekki Shodan Close-Range Flow Drill” would be the DVD / Download to view in this case.

 

Basic Ground Escapes Line Drill

This video was filmed at a weekend seminar I taught in Denmark in September 2013. In “Karate-Do: My Way of Life” Gichin Funakoshi (“The Father of Modern Karate”) talks about the Tegumi grappling drills of his youth. He discusses how this native Okinawan grappling art has influenced karate and how Tegumi drills are beneficial for the karateka.

One drill described by Funakoshi is being held down by one or more opponents while the person doing the drill tries to wrestle their way back to their feet. Escaping from holds / regaining the feet is obviously an important drill for self-protection and I agree with Funakoshi that such drills should be part of training: just as it was in Funakoshi’s youth.

This is a basic “line work” drill to practise escapes from underneath the enemy.