May 10th, 2015

From Sensei Emmenuel
Shorin Ryu Karate USA

Creating Maximum Speed and Power

In karate we practice emphasizing power or speed or both in our medium to fast paced katas. The force from our techniques come from the mass of our bodies times the amount of acceleration produced. If either mass or acceleration is high then it leads to a larger force and if both are very high then it leads to an even greater amount of force produced. To increase the force of our techniques body shifting is very important because rather than just a leg or arm or fist throwing the technique, if we use our entire body weight and shift, that would lead to a higher mass projecting the technique. If we utilize our hip more and torque the fist in the pocket that would lead to an even greater acceleration. Let the hip open up and as soon as it squares off with the rest of the body the energy from the coiling of the hip will channel to the technique making it faster. The combination of both acceleration and mass yields a very high and deadly force however, none of this is possible without rooting down. Balance is key to martial arts therefore the body should always be centered. Any weakness in balance and the technique loses its force. The person will be too off balance to use their weight against the person and produce enough acceleration to deliver a good technique.

Arigato Gozaimasu,
Sensei Emanuel