Warrior Fitness » ninja

Preparing Ninja for a Mission

Jon — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:09:44 +0000

My name is Ichiro Watanabe. I am a chunin, a middle level ninja of the Togakure clan. Our small village is secluded deep in the mountains near Mt. Togakushi, otherwise known as Togakure Mountain. I could tell you exactly where, but I’d have to kill you. No joke, it’s a matter of survival for my family and clan. You see the year is 1601, one year after the famous Battle of Sekigahara which brought Ieyasu Tokugawa to power uniting Japan. There is still much to do, however, and the need for the services of our ninja clan is still very great.

In the past I was one of the top operatives for my clan successfully completing dozens of missions all over Japan. I went by many names, played many roles, and brought great favor to our clan. My exploits are “legen- wait for it -dary” among ninja warriors. Today have retired from active duty and assumed a position where I am in charge of the physical preparation training of our up and coming ninja recruits.

Based on my background and experience, one of my goals as an operative turned trainer is to completely revamp our ninja fitness training program. My main concern is – What Does a Ninja Need?. What I’ve done is put together a sample training program for you to get a glimpse into my world and see how I am training the new recruits. Remember, this is just a snippet of the complete training package, based on my decades of operation and training experience that I have put together for the ninja in training. There is much, much more….

So, how does one prepare ninja physically for a mission?

Pulling and grip strength are an absolute must for scaling castle fortifications,
Anaerobic and aerobic endurance,
Burst-recover-burst ability for escape and evasion,
Not to mention power- a unique blend of strength and speed to enhance technical ability and fighting prowess should a ninja come face to face with a samurai intent on doing him harm.
Jumping ability
Agility
Core strength/activation since power is generated from core out to the extremeties

If you decide to attempt this sample workout, make sure you begin with a good warm-up.

I’ll tell you about the super-secret dynamic warm-up that we do here in a future installment. Keep an eye out for it!

Ninja Warrior Physical Prep Workout

5 Towel pull-ups

10 Rock-up Deck Squat and Leap

10 Fingertip Pushups

10 Hanging Leg Raises

Repeat as many times as possible (AMTAP) in 20 minutes (rest as needed).

Finisher – Heavy DB farmer walk or heavy sandbag carry x 3

There you go, an officaly ninja warrior workout direct from the 16th century! How well do you stack up?

Ninja Stars and Strength Training

Jon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:16:11 +0000

Yesterday I decided to do something a little bit different in my workout. As an experiment, I wanted to look at the effect lactic acid build up in the muscles had on my ability to throw rubber shuriken (ninja stars) and hit a target. The theory being that as fatigue in the muscles increased, throwing accuracy would decrease. Seems like a solid hypothosis, right? Well, here’s what happened…

The Dynamic Warm-up

mobility work,
jogging forward and backward,
side shuffles,
high knees,
butt kickers,
bear crawls,
crab walks,
walking lunges,
bodyweight squats,
push-ups,
and leg raises

Strength in Motion Workout

The main body of the training was a fun study of strength throughout a 3 dimensional range of motion.

1) Suspension Trainer Push-ups: 5-7 reps

2) 15# Clubbell Mills: 10 reps each arm

3) 15# Clubbell Reverse Mills: 10 reps each arm

1-2 minutes active recovery between rounds:

Light jog / vibration drills
Throw rubber shuriken for target practice (hey, it’s a ninja thing!) – 9 throws each arm

Repeat 5 rounds

Both the Clubbell Mill and Reverse Mill work on rotational and angular strength at an extreme range of motion while the Suspension Training Push-ups work the hell out of the stabilizer muscles. The combined synergistic effect of these 2 exercises creates an awesome workout for strength in motion!

But what happened to the shuriken thows? As predicted, the lactic acid build up in my arms had an adverse effect on my ability to hit the target during my shuriken throws as the rounds increased.

However, the more I was able to shake out the residual tension and relax, the better my throw. But when I failed to do so my accuracy was horrible! This is a very important idea for all you shuriken throwing ninja out there!

The ability to control the balance of tension and relaxation in the body is essential for performance. Learn more about how to do it with these resources HERE!

With It or On It

Jon — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:32:24 +0000

The ancient Spartan maxim, “with it or on it” is a very stark reminder that we must be fully committed to whatever battle we are waging. The full meaning of this phrase that Spartan mothers used to say to their sons before heading off to war is, to either come back with your shield – as a returning hero – or come back upon it.

There is no middle ground.

No room for wavering or debating.

No having your cake and eating it too.

When moving towards a goal, there must be no hesitation in your actions.

In the Bujinkan martial arts that I study, there is a similar saying, “Hell gapes beneath the upraised sword, step in to heaven.” This may seem like crazy advice, after all who in their right mind would step forward when faced with an opponent armed with a 3 foot razor blade?! But in training, through experience, one comes to understand and realize that the safest place when facing an upraised sword, paradoxically, is to move forward and step closer, thus finding “heaven”.

Again and again throughout warrior cultures, from ancient Greeks to Japanese Ninja and Samurai, we see this idea of complete and utter commitment, 100% determination in moving forwards towards our goals, no matter what they are.

So how about you? How committed are you? How much do you talk about taking action rather than actually taking action? Do you step forward into heaven and achieve your goals when confronted with difficulty and adversity? Do you walk the razor’s edge in life, or just in your mind?

It’s time to step forward. Take action. With it or on it.

Click HERE to take action on your health and fitness goals today!

What Does a Ninja Need?

Jon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:10:29 +0000

Historically, ninja were the consummate combination of super spy / super soldier. They possessed outstanding levels of fitness due to their intensely physical training and highly demanding mission requirements. Their levels of fitness and training have been the subject of many stories and the genesis for many myths surrounding them. How did they do it? How did they train? What type of methodology did they employ since creating this kind of warrior certainly required a very diverse fitness profile?

Ninja fitness needs were much more multi-faceted than most physical pursuits. They had to be as they were at once a combination of Olympic decathlete, Navy Seal, and martial arts master rolled into one. Let’s examine this a little more closely though, what kind of qualities did they possess and what did they need to be able to do?

Ninja Must Possess …

Strength
Agility
Coordination
Excellent balance
Flexibility / Mobility
Whole body power
Endurance

Ninja Must Be Able to….

Move silently
Run fast
Walk far
Leap high
Climb trees, walls, castles fortifications, etc.
Wield weapons
Fight unarmed – striking, kicking, grappling, locking, choking, etc.
Roll / fall / dodge / avoid
Crawl
And more…

As you can see from the 2 lists above, the ninja had a wide range of skills and abilities that had to be supported by a comprehensive fitness program keeping him at the top of his game. Remember that for a ninja, fitness wasn’t just a nice to have; it was an absolute necessity to accomplishing his mission and getting him home safely. And the kicker is, they did it all with little to no fitness equipment. Certainly a 16^th century ninja did not possess a Gold’s Gym membership. Nor did he own an Olympic weight set or have a stair master at his disposal. And, while kettlebells and dumbbells would have been great, he most likely had never laid eyes on either one. So here we have one of the most highly trained and fit agents the world has ever seen created without the use of modern training equipment or modern training methods. What might some of this training looked like? I’m glad you asked. One of my favorite scenes in Hatsumi Sensei’s early Bujinkan training videos (DVDs now for you younger folks!) comes from Shinden Fudo Ryu. Here’s a short clip I found on Youtube. This stuff is seriously old school!

“One trains using the things of nature to make the body strong” – Hatsumi Sensei

What if we were to take the spirit of historical ninja fitness training and combine it with a little modern sports science and know how? Modern methods allow us to take advantage of periodization, or programing and organizing training, to create a comprehensive fitness plan which will apply logical sequences to get the most out of each session. Protocols like HIIT, high intensity interval training, will be utilized to maximize both aerobic and anaerobic endurance in the same short, high intensity session. Advances in recovery work from such sessions will allow us to recover faster thus making gains greater, and increasing our overall general physical preparation (GPP) will allow us to push higher into more sophisticated training. Effectiveness and efficiency will be combined in order to allow for shorter training sessions which maximize the use of one’s time. As the ancient ninja did, we will create a strong, supple, highly conditioned warrior and accomplish this with little to no fitness equipment. We will, as Hatsumi Sensei says in the video clip above, use the things of nature to make the body strong.

If I were able to point to just one resource for the warrior that combines old school training with modern sports science, I’d look here at the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts.

However, keep your eye on Warrior Fitness because what we have coming out in the next few months will blow your mind!

Walking with Mickey Mouse

Jon — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:06:23 +0000

Before leaving on our 11-day family vacation at Walt Disney World in Florida, I was a little concerned about the possibility of missing my regularly scheduled Warrior Fitness workouts. While I was looking forward to the family time and the amazing experiences that only Disney (and Universal Studios – Harry Potter was awesome!) can provide, I was also trying to figure out how I could escape from the parks and get in some Warrior Fitness style training every day. Well, it turns out I couldn’t break away. We were in the parks almost every day from opening to dinner time, and sometimes back after dinner for fire works too! But, since I’m a good ninja, I adapted! Here’s how…

It’s amazing how much walking you do on a daily basis at Disney. Whether it’s with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in the Magic Kingdom, or walking through 11 different countries in Epcot, exploring Hogsmeade and Hogwarts Castle at Universal Studios, or hanging with the mammals over at Animal Kingdom, you are walking or standing in line literally all day long. So, the question for the warrior is, how do you put all this walking and standing to good use? Train while you do it, of course! While the walking alone is good enough for most ordinary folks, warriors require a little more. So here’s a little sample of what I did to enhance it:

Push a child in a stroller as you walk. Add a backpack to increase the weight.
Carry that child intermittently while walking or standing in long lines. A child is an odd object – who needs kegs, kettlebells, or sandbags when you can carry a kid! They constantly move, squirm, change posture or position while being carried!!

Focus on moving and pushing the stroller from the core (hara) and not from the shoulders.
Balance – stand in line on one foot. Do it while holding your odd object (child).
Grip training – crush grip the stroller handle for 5 seconds. Rest and repeat. Do left, then right, then both hands. Contract the core, exhale hard and crush the handle. Also, isometrically try to “bend” the handle – first make sure it’s sturdy enough, your wife will kill you if you actually succeed!
Breathing – there are tons of opportunities to enhance walking and carrying through breath training. Match your breath to your steps. 1 step inhale, 1 step exhale. Try to make it up to 10 steps on an inhale followed by 10 steps on an exhale. Or, 5 steps inhale, 5 steps hold full, 5 steps exhale, 5 steps hold empty. Try to see how many steps you can take carrying your child on an empty breath hold. Do the same on a full breath hold. Don’t forget to ride a rollercoaster too – screaming and laughing are great breath training!
Bodyweight squats while holding your child in line.

These examples above will help keep you focused, training, entertained, challenged, and present while your kids have a magical time in the parks.

If you have any energy left when you get back to the hotel room, bang out a few sets of push-ups to round out your workout for the day. And, lastly, joint mobility and yoga asana are a great way to prepare your body for the rigours of Disney. Don’t neglect your 10 minute warm-up in the morning before heading out. It’s a life saver!!

Trust me, there are ample training opportunies outside of your regular workouts. You just have to be a little flexible and creative.

The Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power is Here!

Jon — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:15:26 +0000

by Jonathan Haas, founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems

Specific Physical Preparedness for ALL striking arts from old school Traditional Martial Arts to modern MMA!
Learn how to build a powerful structure to stabilize punches, kicks, and martial movement!
Discover how to use low-tech, high yield tools to strengthen strikes throughout a range of motion!
Sledge Hammer for force production, rotational strength, grip strength, and old school conditioning!
Medicine Ball for explosive strength and rotational strength!
Resistance Bands for force production, rotational strength, increased stabilization!
Bodyweight Exercise and Isometrics for structure and stabilization!
Discover how to use Intelligent Tension rather than general tension to power strikes!
Learn Breathing and vibration exercises for recovery and restoration!
Over 50 pages of pure, 100% actionable content – no fluff, no BS, no filler!
Sample Workouts!

Buy Now for only $15 USD!!

Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power is a downloadable e-book. No physical products will be shipped. After you order, you will get INSTANT ACCESS to download the e-book and all the bonus reports onto your computer. The e-book format is adobe acrobat PDF, which can be viewed on Mac or PC.

Ninja Endurance – Part II

Jon — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:20:42 +0000

In part one of Ninja Endurance called, How to Train for the Endurance of a Ninja, we discussed strength endurance and I provided a sample workout to help you build yours. Here in part 2, I ‘d like to delve a little deeper into the whys of endurance training and how specifically high intensity interval training is an excellent choice for it.

What is Endurance?

Endurance is defined as being able to keep going without fatigue setting in, or being able to push oneself through fatigue. Essentially, it is the ability to resist or bear fatigue. What is fatigue? Fatigue is weariness or exhaustion from exertion, or the temporary loss of power to respond. An equally critical corollary to the definition of endurance, especially for the warrior, is that your level of endurance also determines how quickly you are able to recover between bouts of activity. Combat, like life, does not happen at one constant rate of speed. It is multi-faceted in nature. There will be periods of brutally intense activity followed by lulls in the action, again followed by another flurry of activity. Being able to use those lulls in action to recover is a critical ability for the warrior.

Steady state cardio, Long Slow Distance (LSD) training simply will not cut it. Running on a treadmill may be appropriate for a hamster in a cage, but human beings require more. Long distance running can be beneficial for mental toughness and/or active recovery, but it should not be the primary focus of a warrior’s endurance training. So then how should we train to maximize our ability to endure?

Warriors Need to HIIT!

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is one of the best ways to train for endurance. It will enhance all 3 energy systems in the body (2 anaerobic and 1 aerobic – see here for an overview), as well as prime the nervous system to recover automatically during lulls in activity. Simply put, HIIT alternates periods of high intensity exercise with periods of rest and recovery. It can be performed with almost any exercise and can be utilized both with and without equipment. The variety and adaptability of this style of training is second to none in results.

How else does improving your endurance through this type of conditioning aid your martial arts training? I’m glad you asked! If the benefits discussed above weren’t enough, consider that having a high level of conditioning also aids in learning new skills. How’s that possible? To put it simply, when the central nervous system (CNS) is fatigued, the body cannot effectively process new skills, especially technically advanced skills. So, in essence your lack of a general level of fitness and conditioning will actually impede your learning process as you will tire more readily and not have the ability to recover quickly enough during training. Want to train more, at a higher level, for a longer period of time? Want to get more out of your training time both at home and in the dojo? Want to build new skills and enhance your technical arsenal? Get yourself in shape!

There are several sample conditioning workouts here on the Warrior Fitness site. Here are a few examples:

Workout of the Week #1

Workout of the Week #5

Stay tuned for more Warrior Fitness style conditioing workouts to help you get and stay in fighting shape!

Knowing is Not Enough!

Jon — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:20:46 +0000

With the proliferation of the Internet and the incredible wealth of resources available in book, DVD, and digital formats, many of us already know more than enough to be martial arts masters! Yep. You heard me right – you know more than enough right now to be a master martial artist. Cool, eh? Heck, some of us even have more disposable information on budo history, lineage, techniques, kata, and principles at our fingertips than all of the past generations of Bujinkan Soke combined! Think about that for a second. Now, at this time in history, the sheer amount of knowledge in the form of information available to us is greater than at any other time, and it’s only going to continue. Yet, with all of this knowledge, why aren’t we all amazingly skilled? Why do the legendary feats of past budoka seem so remote and unachievable to us today? Why are there so few with real skill among the millions of people practicing martial arts worldwide? Because knowing is not enough, that’s why! Hatsumi Sensei has emphatically stated on many occasions, that “budo is not an academic subject.” Why then do we continue to view it as such? There has only ever been one way to become as highly skilled at a craft as to be called a master. “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough we must do.”

Is Your Cup Already Full?

Another way we limit ourselves is by equating knowing with being able to do. For example, when your teacher demonstrates a fundamental principle of movement for the hundredth, or maybe hundred thousandth time, do you smile smugly to yourself and think, “I know that already”? Maybe you have. I know I have. I admit it. But this type of attitude makes us lazy. It lowers our skill level because it allows us to hold fast to the superficial without the hard work of plumbing the depths. It lets us check those basic movement(s) or principles of movement off our mental list and move on to something more advanced; more worthy of our time (we may think)… big mistake. If we were truly honest with ourselves, we’d be asking a different question. The better, more appropriate question to be asking ourselves is -”how well can I do that?” or “How well do I truly understand those movement(s) bodily, not intellectually?” This is hard though because most often the most authentic answer we can give ourselves is, not well enough. Watch your teacher closely. Look deeper. Pay attention because there’s always more. Be careful. Practice. Practice. Practice!

All Strength is Not the Same for the Warrior!

Jon — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:17:58 +0000

As martial artists most of us tend to cringe and shy away from words like “strength” and “power” in favor of seemingly more budo-friendly fitness words like “agility”, “coordination”, or “balance”. Yet, often we do not understand the actual definitions of the words and simply avoid them because of some misplaced fear that they will be detrimental to our taijutsu and make us “muscle” through our techniques. Nothing could be further from the truth! Let’s examine some of the components that make up strength in more detail to understand just how much they are applicable to creating a strong physical and mental base from which to launch the rest of our Budo Taijutsu skills.

General physical conditioning is essential for the warrior to develop a broad-based platform of strength, endurance, agility, coordination, and flexibility from which to launch and further refine skills. But, what exactly is strength? Strength is defined as “the ability of a given muscle or group of muscles to exert force against resistance.” It is a function of the appropriate muscles contracted by effective nervous stimulation. This alone, however, is insufficient. There are also at least five different sub-categories of strength which we will break down to give you a more complete understanding of the term.

The first sub-category is Maximal Strength. This is the maximum amount of force that a person can voluntarily produce. Example exercises to cultivate Maximal Strength are: one arm pushups, one arm chin-ups, one legged squats, and heavy weight lifting. But what on earth does Maximal Strength have to do with Budo Taijutsu? Aren’t we training to only use as much force as necessary and appropriate to a specific movement or technique? Why would we need our maximal voluntary strength output when training for taijutsu fitness? These are all good questions. On the surface, it would seem like this sub-category of strength is a big “N/A” for us. What possible benefit could this particular strength quality have for budoka? To begin to appreciate the benefits of training maximal strength, we must first understand the different types of muscle fibers. Generally, when people speak about fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, they tend to separate them out as two distinct types. This can be a little misleading due to the fact that muscle fibers are not either /or, but in actuality they appear to lie somewhere on a continuum between the two. Thus to emphatically state that one type or the other is predominate within certain groups of muscles can cause confusion. Because low intensity exercise, like jogging at a steady-state pace for example, does not activate the fast twitch (FT) muscle fibers, we must increase the intensity of the exercise to stimulate the motor units that contain the FT fibers. If the motor units are not stimulated, then no response occurs and no adaptation occurs. Fast twitch muscle fibers and slow twitch muscle fibers are both recruited in high percentages when performing maximal strength exercises. Maximal strength training creates potent neural adaptations which lead to increased intermuscular and intramuscular coordination. A side bonus for working on maximal strength with body weight exercises is that the majority of them that fall in this category also require balance, coordination, flexibility, and appropriate tension throughout the entire body. Examples include, but are by no means limited to, one arm push-ups, one-legged squats, one arm chin-ups/pull-ups, etc.

Does this mean that we should devote every training session to developing maximal strength? No – far from! As warriors, we must understand the different qualities that make up strength and learn how to apply them to optimize our fitness levels specific to our goals. Since our goals do not revolve around winning any Strongman competitions or Power lifting contests, we can relegate working on maximal strength to only once a week, at the most, or a every couple weeks at the very least, to reap the benefits. The rest of the time, consign maximal strength to its rightful place back in our strength and conditioning toolbox. Too much emphasis on maximal strength can lead to becoming muscle “bound”, as in bound, constrained, unable to move freely and without appropriate tension.

The second sub-category of Strength is Explosive Strength. This is the ability to produce maximal force (see above) in a minimal amount of time. Explosive strength? Jon, you’ve got to be kidding me! We don’t use explosive strength in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu! Really? Are you sure? Every time you leap, sprint, dive out of the way of an errant sword strike, or (and this is a big one!) use stored elastic energy to create power in your movement, you are using explosive strength. Sure, the terminology sounds like something that will adversely affect our taijutsu and that any serious budoka should avoid like the plague, but rest assured, that the much maligned concept of strength does play an important role in budo taijutsu and utilizing the strength exercises prescribed in this manual will provide a solid physical basis on which to build real skill. Plyometrics is a specific training means for developing explosive strength designed by Russian sports scientist, Yuri Verkhoshansky in the early 1960’s. Closely linked to Explosive Strength are Speed Strength and Reactive Strength.

The third sub-category of strength is probably one of the most familiar to us. It is Strength-Endurance. OK; much better… now we are in familiar territory. Endurance is a concept that a ninja can relate to! This strength quality involves the production of muscular tension without a noticeable decrease in efficiency over long periods of time. Development of strength-endurance is a fundamental necessity for warriors, whether on the battlefield, in training, or just everyday life. A helpful analogy to keep in mind when applying the different aspects of strength training to budo is that they are like a recipe for success. All of the ingredients in any recipe are not utilized in the same amounts. A little bit of salt may be all that’s required to enhance the flavor, while a lot of flour may be necessary to provide the base. The same idea applies to strength training. Warriors will normally require a lot of strength endurance and cardio-respitory endurance, but maybe only a little bit of maximal strength development is necessary to round out their overall skill. “When effective methodology is used, exercises with resistance promote not only an increase in movement speed but also perfection of coordination, motor reaction, quickness and frequency of movements, the ability to relax muscles, development of local muscular endurance and an increase in maximal anaerobic capacity.” (Verkhoshansky, Special Strength Training – A Practical Manual for Coaches) The key here is in how these various strength qualities are trained. For martial arts, specifically Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, we want to work exercises which emphasize intermuscular coordination of the whole body. Isolation exercises should be avoided as they are antithetical to what we are trying to accomplish in training. When performing all of the exercises listed here, try to use as little tension and muscular effort as possible; just enough to accomplish the task and no more. Try not to utilize general tension (tightening of the entire body) to carry you through the exercise. Since everything that we do acts as conditioning for our Central Nervous System (CNS), for good or for bad, we want to make sure our exercise philosophy is in harmony with our overall training strategy. Remember that in our day-to-day Bujinkan Budo training we are striving to perform techniques efficiently and effectively with minimal muscular recruitment, therefore our physical fitness training should not use a separate strategy.

Hopefully this short look at the various types of strength has been helpful!

Your Sanshin No Kata Under a Microscope

Jon — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:31:21 +0000

Sanshin no Kata (form of the three hearts) forms the basis for movement in the Bujinkan. These five foundational exercises cannot be overlooked, especially with regard to solo training. When I first began training in the Bujinkan over 20 years ago there were very few training resources. There was no Internet! In a way it was much easier for a beginner since there weren’t a lot of distractions. Today we are bombarded by information and perhaps sometimes even overwhelmed by it. Back in the day, practicing alone was easy. You had kamae. You had some basic strikes. You had ukemi. You had basic hanbo movements. And, you had Sanshin No Kata. In the early days of my training, Jack Hoban used to drill us in these basics virtually every class. I remember many a hot, sweaty night in the old gym dojo back in Asbury Park, NJ where the small class would work Sanshin No Kata in front of full length mirrors for the entire class, usually followed by basic kicking and punching an ancient heavy bag in the corner. This kind of practice may seem boring or at least unsexy these days, but I assure you it built a very strong foundation.

Today, one of the best ways to practice these kata is still in front of a full-length mirror. This way, you will be able to notice all the little “hitches” and inconsistencies in your movement. Use the mirror as a training device to evaluate your posture and movement. For each kamae, and especially including the transitory movements between kamae, make sure that:

back is straight (crown lifted up),
shoulders are down,
head is not transposed forward over the neck,
chest is relaxed,
butt not sticking out,
hips are open,
knees are over the toes,
weight evenly distributed (50/50)
no leaning forward or backward

These are the very obvious, glaring errors that will be easily noticed as you start this practice. Chronic tension and tightness when in transition between kamae will be abated with continued practice – the key to eliminating the excess tension in your movement is first being aware of it! With consistency and patience, you will gradually shape your body to conform to the characteristics of good taijutsu. This is not an easy process and can be painstakingly difficult due to the constant attention to detail working to chip away at all the unnecessary, inefficient movement built up over years of chronic tension and unnatural movement. You may also notice a particular lack of flow between movements because you are concentrating so much. Build efficiency in steps. First, work on the static kamae. Next begin to add the steps and strikes. Finally, work the entire kata in a flow with no pauses or breaks in the movement. This process will gradually streamline your movement and eliminate the unwanted tension and imbalances. It takes a lot of practice, dedication, and hard work to move with ease!

Chi No Kata as an Example

Let’s take a look at the first kata, Chi no Kata, as an example.

To begin, start in Boubi No Kamae, left hand straight out in front with a natural bend in the elbow, pointed at the opponent’s heart, right hand held in a fist in the crook of your right hip. Move with exaggerated slowness as if practicing a Tai Chi version of the kata.

Drop the weight from your hips, shift over the front knee, and let your rear elbow straighten, dropping the hand in front of the hip to create a slight tension in the spine. This point here about creating torque or stored elastic energy (SEE) in the spine is essential in being able to move powerfully without winding up or telegraphing the movement. If you are having trouble feeling it, try to exaggerate the movement. Make it much larger than necessary to study the feeling. It should feel like a tension in the lower back near the bottom of the spine.

When this tension (torque) is relaxed (released), the movement happens. See if you can figure out where the energy is stored and how it’s released in the rest of the San Shin no Kata!

Be very careful when transferring your weight that you do not bob up and down; move smoothly through the same plane by shifting your weight laterally. Another point to be mindful of during the weight transfer is that you should be in balance (kamae) at all times. If you were to stop the movement at any point in the transition, you should not lose your balance.

Try it. Practice it. Create a strong foundation upon which to build, expand, and grow so that all the infomation and knowledge being handed down to you today takes root.