Technique of the Week (February 5th, 2007)

From Sensei Tom DuJardin, San-dan

Cocoa Beach Karate Dojo

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Seiken and Shuto Hand

Tight fist (seiken) or hand (shuto) are necessary for proper delivery of a punch or strike. All techniques should be practiced as though you were breaking a board or block. Sometimes we mistakenly try to increase the speed of a technique by loosening the hand until actually striking; any perceived gain in speed is more than offset by the loss of effectiveness and greater chance of injury to the practitioner. Again, we would never try to break a board with a loose hand and should never attempt to increase speed by loosening the fist at any point during a strike when practicing kata or kumite.

Arigato

Tom DuJardin

San dan