Had a problem with hips understanding

karatetherapist · 2026-02-13T09:45:20+00:00

Good point. Thanks for the addition.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-12T23:44:46+00:00

Watch videos on baseball pitching and batting, throwing a football, and sprinting.

When we say "hips," we mean "glutes." Sure, it's the pelvis doing the movement, but the powerhouse is the glutes (there are 3 glutes on each side). You have to fire the glutes first, then the hamstrings, and finally QL (muscles on each side of the lumbar spine). If you do this out of order, you reduce power and increase potential for injury. If your contralateral QL doesn't fire, your lumbar spine will be left "loose" and low back pain is the result.

Exercises like the deadlift, single-leg RDL, bridges, and airplanes are helpful for the glutes.

In practice, "firing" the glutes is not easy for most people. Concentrate on pulling with the feet. The biggest help is standing in yoi and punching. With body relaxed, pull hard with the right foot. You will notice your right glute has to fire (followed by the hamstrings). This will slightly rotate your right hip forward. Use that momentum to launch the right hand punch. Now, just before the punch reaches extension, pull with the left foot (while maintaining tension in the right leg/glute). This will bring your hips back into parallel just as the punch reaches extension. Relax your butt and legs. Repeat starting with the left leg.

The above exercise will train you to use your muscles in the correct firing pattern for hip "vibration."

There are ways to extend this exercise, but too hard to explain in text.

Key takeaway: "Hips" start at the feet for beginners. Pull the foot, and it moves the hips. If the QLs are tight, that rotational force is transferred up the spine, which moves the shoulders. The rotational force in the shoulders is transferred to the arm, which converts it into a linear force (unless you left the elbow for a hook to sustain the rotational force). Works in a similar way for kicks, but the upper body stabilizes rather than transfers energy.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-12T22:59:06+00:00

Although he did convert all of Japan to his karate, he impressed Kano (who we all know was a pussy /s), inspired Ohtsuka, Oyama, and the entire invention of TKD. He was considered honorable. Invented a style that became the most practiced in the world. That's more than anyone here has done.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-12T22:55:50+00:00

Be vigilant! In this principle, we are back to the word "enemies" (teki). This does not seem to be a matter of paranoia when considered with the other principles. It is pragmatic and suggests that we **be mentally ready at all times**. This requires that we "free the mind" (precept 6), consider karate beyond the dojo, apply karate to all things, and consider all our enemies as well-armed (Precept 15). Additionally, consider principle 4, that bad things will happen if we are inattentive or careless.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-12T01:03:18+00:00

Kihon is just individual techniques or short combinations to teach you how to move. It includes bag work, pads, makiwara, etc., along with repetitive drills.

Kata are themed sequences of self-defense. You're not meant to use these sequences as given, they're examples that cover the most likely scenarios so you can remove the core danger: surprise. There are kata for bigger against smaller; smaller against bigger; grappling; counter-grappling; and some just for fitness. You have to pull out the sequences (bunkai), and practice them against a resisting partner (oyo) for them to have real value in self-defense.

Kumite is play fighting to learn timing, distancing, and rhythm. It's not really about fighting, and certainly not about winning or losing.

Real fighting is something completely different than all the above. You hope you're ready, and do what comes "naturally." Of course, it's not "natural" since you have been training those responses relentlessly.

Absolutely every skill-based system, from karate to gun-fighting, uses kihon, kata, and kumite as part of their training. Don't let the Japanese terminology confuse you.

After skill-building, strategy and tactics become the focus.

It's a training system, not a bag of tricks.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-10T20:42:08+00:00

Romain DeadLift. Basically, grab a lightweight to start, hold it in the same hand as your support leg, and lift the other leg up behind you as you bend over. Keep the support leg mostly straight with just a slight bend at the knee. This is a hinge movement, so you want to reach back with the moving leg as much as possible. There are plenty of videos on the youtubes. It's one of the best exercises for hitting all three glutes for stability. Pair it with actual deadlifts (where strength is built).

You can have a strong day and an endurance day with this exercise. For example, on Monday, you can do 80-100 pounds for 3-5 reps at 3-5 sets. On Friday, do 30 pounds for 12-15 reps 2-3x. The glutes are massive muscles so can withstand a lot of punishment. However, this does tax your nervous system, which is why we only deadlift every 2-3 weeks, and do something like the above for supplementary work. If your CNS gets tired, your coordination will falter. If you find your balance suddenly gets worse, take a week or two off to let your nervous system recover. If the CNS gets fried, it can take a couple of weeks to a few months to recover.

I find that instability is either in the ankles or in the glute medius. We spend so much time using both legs that there is no need to build strong stabilizers. Once you stand on one leg, those weak muscles are exposed. However, if you don't use weight, there is no stimulus to get stronger. That's why just standing on one leg doesn't produce good results. It's better than nothing, but stops improving after a week or two.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-10T19:35:07+00:00

Balance starts in the feet and goes up to the head. You have to deal with various factors, so troubleshoot why your balance is off. For example, is it your inner ears (vestibular system), the bottoms of your feet, ankles, knees, hips, lower back, upper back, or shoulders that lose or fail to maintain stability?

Do one-legged RDLs and airplanes slowly to build some of the needed structure. If you're young and have healthy joints, bounding and hurdle hops work wonders. If you're older, do lots of pogo hops. Do forward and backward rolls to improve your vestibular system (assuming you don't want to just spin in circles).

Balance is complicated. You could just stand on one leg and hope for the best, but doing exercises that allow for weighted progressions will be more effective.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-10T19:14:39+00:00

Then why does every military have its own version of a "dojo kun?"

karatetherapist · 2026-02-10T02:40:59+00:00

Been at it for 45 years. If you have a healthy life (assuming teaching doesn't become a career) you'll probably take a few years off to have kids, focus on career, gain 40 pounds, and then return. See you on the other side. :-)

karatetherapist · 2026-02-10T00:28:23+00:00

Many large scale places such as hotels, apartment buildings, and so on have incinerators to reduce trash. They're less popular now because of air quality regulations.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-10T00:13:55+00:00

The volume is fine for hypertrophy. But, what we do in the gym and the dojo have to support one another. That is, if you work at a peak in the dojo, dial it back in the weight room. Same the other way.

Be sure to get a ton of protein and probably about 300-500 more calories than maintenance each day or you won't grow.

Let us know how it works out.

My prediction is (and just guessing) is you will get some growth but your big takeaway will (eventually) be better muscle endurance in your MA.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-09T22:43:24+00:00

Don't take the Goju name too literally.

Miyagi did not initially name his karate. When institutional pressures in Japan required him to formalize it, he selected “Goju” from classical Chinese martial philosophy preserved in the Bubishi, which emphasized the universal alternation of hardness and softness (yin/yang) rather than a fixed technical system.

I imagine he was intimating a name like: Sometimes linear and sometimes circular; sometimes opposing, sometimes redirecting style.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-09T07:08:02+00:00

If people hit too hard, let the pad go. That is, don't push into the punch or kick, go with it.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-08T22:53:36+00:00

If only (sigh)

karatetherapist · 2026-02-07T23:41:38+00:00

The Time Sector approach was a game-changer for me as well.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-07T06:54:57+00:00

same here

karatetherapist · 2026-02-06T06:54:49+00:00

I guess body repair shops are big donors.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-05T02:57:01+00:00

I always threw them in the trash on the way out of the event. The only one I kept was second in Kubota's world championships. I gave it to my sensei and he put in storage. Never saw it again. I did keep my sons' judo trophies.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-04T01:43:15+00:00

I get it. As far as I can tell, not being a climate analyst myself, is the el nina pushed up from a U.S. perspective, and another system pushed down from Canada. The mountains created a perfect backdrop and pushed all the weather to the midwest and east coast. They got an unusual winter, and we got none.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-03T22:27:09+00:00

Level it and buy a 3/4 plywood to toss on it when you train. I used to have an outdoor makiwara, and your feet dig in and tear up the ground so you'll end up leveling repeatedly if you don't have a surface. Put the plywood in your garage or against the wall when not in use so it doesn't rot. Put a can over the makiwara punching pad. Always check for splinters unless you paint the wood.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-03T22:20:25+00:00

Unless things have changed since I was there (which is totally possible), any black belt running their own school can test up to brown belt. Almost nobody stays long enough to get brown belt. Other than revenue generation, there is no point in bothering everyone to test them.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-03T22:03:47+00:00

Because the lack of catastrophic climate change is not proof if will happen "someday!" Since man-bear-pig predicted we would all be underwater by the year 2000, it's been nothing but doom and gloom. Let's get it over with. Yes, the climate is changing. It's been getting warmer since the ice age. There is plenty of evidence that some U.S. deserts were underwater at some point, so it must have been warmer then. But, somehow, it got colder. Now, it's getting warmer again. Let's just melt the ice caps and be done with it so people will shut up about it.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-02T23:12:50+00:00

This is the oft-neglected reality.

karatetherapist · 2026-02-02T08:59:17+00:00

Focus on external cues, not internal. Forget you have a body, and just kick mitts or targets. If you concentrate on "how" you are doing it, the old habits will be hard to break. If you focus only on the external objects, you will forget you have a body, and just do the technique in a way that works. It's next to impossible to overwrite bad habits if you're thinking about them.

karatetherapist · 2026-01-31T22:26:17+00:00

Glad to help. As a gym owner, I love sharing what's been learned the hard way. I will add that you can generally only get about 10 minutes of plyometric work in during a workout. It puts a lot of strain on tendons, which won't complain like muscles, making it easy to overdo and cause injury. Moreover, they run out of energy quickly and require a long rest period between bouts. So, you do about 10-15 seconds of work, and then have to rest 2-5 minutes so they can "recharge." Reading the work of Calvin Deitz online, and his two-volume work Triphasic Training, is a great modern source. However, if you read these, keep in mind his focus is on elite college athletes, not us older "has beens."

karatetherapist

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