I was putting some finishing touches on Kenpo Karate 501 when I realized I had not finished the general rules I had started in the back. There is a rule relating to stomping that I learned many years ago, but I've never seen it written anywhere and really hadn't heard anyone say it except Huk.
The rule is that you need three times the depth of the target as the travel for the stomp (or stomp kick). If the average torso is 10 inches thick you need to cock your foot up 30 inches. That's a lot of upward draw, but it will surely give you what you need to get the job done. Like they say, "Better to have too much than not enough".
Now if you're going to stomp his instep you don't have to pick your foot up much higher than his shin or knee to get the travel you need. Scraping Hoof points that out.
I have seen this rule to be valid and not just from hanging around karate schools. It's from hanging around bars, too. Uh, for research. Yeah, that's it, research.
I was in a drinking establishment in Chicago many years ago. As I walked in I happened to notice two guys sitting at a "two-top" along the wall, sharing a pitcher of beer. I don;t know why I noticed them, I just did. My friend and I were sitting at the bar. I heard a commotion and looked over just in time to see one of the guys reach over and grab the other guy by the hair.
As he stood up and out of his chair he took the other guy down and out of his seat to the floor.
He then started stomping furiously - two, three, four or more times. By then the bouncers (CETs they're called, I'm told. Citizen Ejection Specialists.) were on them and separated them. The grabbee simply got up, unhurt.
I've seen lots of street fights, bar fights, verbal altercations and so on, and I've learned a lot by that. So I watched this carefully and this is what I saw. When the grabber pulled the other guy out and down, he didn't cock his leg very high in the rush to stomp. So he got a series of ineffectual strikes in. It was fast, but didn't work. As we say, speed kills. It kills travel and kills efficiency, doesn't use economy of motion. Those two guys sat down together again, so it didn't even scare the other guy. Or maybe he didn't have the sense to be scared. They were drinking, after all. Maybe they were drinking Shirley Temples but I'm pretty sure it was beer.
I'm convinced from that event that the 3X rule is valid. Add to that the people I've seen do Dance of Death too fast and I'm positive it's valid. Watch the speed demons do the "dance" and you'll see they actually run across the body instead of drop down on it. They're losing power and travel because they're just going too fast.
Take into consideration that you've done some other nasty stuff prior to that stomping and you have bought a little time to cock your leg and settle into the stomp.
Now that I'm thinking about it, Ed Parker liked to watch people fight, too. I saw this first-hand when a riot broke out in Australia at a tournament we were at. I physically hooked him by his belt and pulled him back (there weapons involved) and he said "I'll stand right here." Hey, who guards the guardians? He was a "protective companion" to Elvis. I like to think I was his in that situation. Mr. Parker had many stories of things he had seen and what the "moral of the story" was, the take-home lesson.
Tom Baeli, my tai chi teacher, says "Tai chi is an art for the do-er, not the viewer." Kenpo, too.
But you really can "learn a lot by watching."
The rule is that you need three times the depth of the target as the travel for the stomp (or stomp kick). If the average torso is 10 inches thick you need to cock your foot up 30 inches. That's a lot of upward draw, but it will surely give you what you need to get the job done. Like they say, "Better to have too much than not enough".
Now if you're going to stomp his instep you don't have to pick your foot up much higher than his shin or knee to get the travel you need. Scraping Hoof points that out.
I have seen this rule to be valid and not just from hanging around karate schools. It's from hanging around bars, too. Uh, for research. Yeah, that's it, research.
I was in a drinking establishment in Chicago many years ago. As I walked in I happened to notice two guys sitting at a "two-top" along the wall, sharing a pitcher of beer. I don;t know why I noticed them, I just did. My friend and I were sitting at the bar. I heard a commotion and looked over just in time to see one of the guys reach over and grab the other guy by the hair.
As he stood up and out of his chair he took the other guy down and out of his seat to the floor.
He then started stomping furiously - two, three, four or more times. By then the bouncers (CETs they're called, I'm told. Citizen Ejection Specialists.) were on them and separated them. The grabbee simply got up, unhurt.
I've seen lots of street fights, bar fights, verbal altercations and so on, and I've learned a lot by that. So I watched this carefully and this is what I saw. When the grabber pulled the other guy out and down, he didn't cock his leg very high in the rush to stomp. So he got a series of ineffectual strikes in. It was fast, but didn't work. As we say, speed kills. It kills travel and kills efficiency, doesn't use economy of motion. Those two guys sat down together again, so it didn't even scare the other guy. Or maybe he didn't have the sense to be scared. They were drinking, after all. Maybe they were drinking Shirley Temples but I'm pretty sure it was beer.
I'm convinced from that event that the 3X rule is valid. Add to that the people I've seen do Dance of Death too fast and I'm positive it's valid. Watch the speed demons do the "dance" and you'll see they actually run across the body instead of drop down on it. They're losing power and travel because they're just going too fast.
Take into consideration that you've done some other nasty stuff prior to that stomping and you have bought a little time to cock your leg and settle into the stomp.
Now that I'm thinking about it, Ed Parker liked to watch people fight, too. I saw this first-hand when a riot broke out in Australia at a tournament we were at. I physically hooked him by his belt and pulled him back (there weapons involved) and he said "I'll stand right here." Hey, who guards the guardians? He was a "protective companion" to Elvis. I like to think I was his in that situation. Mr. Parker had many stories of things he had seen and what the "moral of the story" was, the take-home lesson.
Tom Baeli, my tai chi teacher, says "Tai chi is an art for the do-er, not the viewer." Kenpo, too.
But you really can "learn a lot by watching."
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