Improvised Equipment

Sometimes you have a need for certain training equipment, but don't have the funds to acquire professionally made gear.  That was the case with these "blockers" that I made with some PVC pipe, foam pool noodle, contact cement, duct tape, and cloth tape.  It was a very simple process--cut the 1" PVC pipe to the desired length, put a small amount of contact cement on it, slide the foam pool noodle onto the pipe, leaving enough pipe left at one end for a handle, then cut the foam off about 2" or 3" past the end of the pipe and use contact cement to fill the hole in the end of the noodle with extra foam.  I could have left it that way, but discovered that the foam tended to tear when I grabbed and pulled on it, so I broke out the duct tape.  After I wrapped the foam, I decided that the PVC was too slippery and would generate too much static, so I wrapped it with some athletic tape.  I already had all of these things sitting around at home, with the exception of the pool noodle, which I purchased at a 99 cent store.  All told, each blocker probably cost me about $2 to make, and they work quite well for conditioning and blocking drills!

Making a Fist

A standard balled fist

The balled fist is a fairly standard tool in martial arts and it is a fairly natural method for forming your hand to strike someone.  That doesn't mean it is the only method, or even necessarily the best method.  I would like to introduce two other methods--Shuri-ken and tate-ken.  The word ken we know to be Japanese for "fist", while Shuri is the old capitol of the Ryukyu Kingdom and tate means "North-to-South" (this is how judoka would recognize it) or "vertical".

My poorly-drawn rendition of Shuri-ken

The Shuri fist (Shuri-ken) is an old Okinawan method for forming the fist to make it as tight as possible, and has the added benefit of pulling the second knuckle of the index finger closer to the palm so that it doesn't stick out as far and end up jammed or broken.  When I form this fist, I feel as though I am gripping significantly tighter than I do with a standard fist, and the tendon that runs over my first knuckle on my index finger lays flatter.  I also notice that it is much easier to align my fist properly, as the index finger lines up with the radius bone of my forearm.  I typically use this fist for most of my punches and it feels very strong.  That said, there are some situations where I do not use it.

Tate-ken

The vertical fist (tate-ken) is most popular in Chinese martial arts and the karate style of Isshin-ryu.  The thumb is stacked on top of the fingers and serves to pull them in tight.  This also helps keep the index finger's second knuckle from sticking out too far, but lines up the wrist differently in a way that is best served by keeping the fist vertical (hence the name) which means that it can also more easily slip between a person's arms if they are raised to protect their face.  I like to use this fist for backfists (uraken-uchi), hammerfists (tetsui-uchi) and my jab.  Since it fits nicely through people's guard it makes a great jab, and the alignment of the fingers makes for a very sturdy hammerfist.  As for the backfist, I find that doing a backfist strike with either of the other two methods (a standard balled fist or the Shuri fist) causes uncomfortable pressure on my index finger from my thumb, and the vertical fist eliminates that problem.

The Karate Tree - My Philosophy on Karate Training

In case anyone missed it, I published an article on the OKI website a few days ago about my personal philosophy on karate training.

Click the image below to see the article: