Making your karate like a kid is something to pursue. Not every attributive of being a kid but a specific item.

While working with a student the other night the topic of rigidity raised its head once again. I inherited a brown belt from another school. She trains in the same style but a different expression, a different organization. We stopped in the middle of the flow drill and proclaimed, “I’m pretty stiff, ridged.” It wasn’t an observation of the moment but a declaration of herself who she is. I rejected that proclamation. Not in a harsh manner, but in an observational way. “No, you learned to be ridged, you weren’t born ridged.” Let’s try making your karate like a kid.

Kids Move Smoothly

Ridged Karate has a place — Ridged Has its Place

The drill is a flow drill. There are many versions of a flow drill, but the two categories are free to flow and prescribed flow. We were working a free flow. Free flow is extemporaneous and creative. The prescribed flow is a structured pattern of flow.

Smooth and Flow

Flowing with smoothness has an advantage. Smooth and flow is a combination of these two items. This combination makes it harder for a person to see what you are doing it. Flow helps avoid giving your opponent data points. Think of it as looking at a graph in a presentation. We are always looking for the high, the low, the significant. The data point is usually the highest item on the graph or the lowest. Trends of course are observed. But trends are secondary we want to see the unusual, the peaks and valleys.

Karate like a kid is something to pursue in your karate — Smooth Can Increase Results

Kids Move Smoothly

Smooth and Flow

The Smoot...

Making Your Karate Like a Kid