backward. Look at your opponent; then bend the upper part of your body 45° forward, bringing your hands down in front of your knees. Hold this position for two to three seconds, then straighten your body and stand up on your right foot first in a musubi dachi stance. In the fighting form, kenko zarei, you sit down on the tip of your toes and bend your body 10° to 15° forward keeping eye contact with your opponent.
c. Hygiene, Diet, and Training Schedule
A proper diet, good hygiene, and careful planning of practice are essential in supporting efficient training regimen for karatedo. They help prevent sickness, abnormal tiredness, and injury.
The practice of karatedo should take place in a clean dojo to avoid breathing dust and dirt. For the same reasons, karatedogi must be kept unspoiled and protective equipment kept in good order to avoid any risk of injury. Before practice it is advisable to eat lightly, preferably high energy foods rich in glucose, which provide the muscles with adequate nutrition during practice. The bladder should be empty to avoid risk of rupture. Always practice with full dedication, putting all of your body and mind into it while exercising enough control and care to avoid accidents. Because the digestion process slows down after practice due to physical exhaustion, slowly ingest high calory foods containing vitamin B and glucose to help speed up the recovery process.
The lactic acid remaining in the muscular tissues must be evacuated by doing some light exercises accompanied by deep breathing, meditation, relaxation, massages, and rest. A good sleep is the best way to recover from practice as it relaxes all the body, facilitates blood circulation, and regenerates the nervous and cerebral activities.
A training schedule should be established by any student who wishes to attain proficiency in karatedo. Such a plan should reflect the student's goals in karatedo, his life habits (such as the time he can devote to karatedo both in and outside the dojo), and his physical condition. The student should consult his instructor in setting up his own schedule. As karatedo is practiced all year round, it may become monotonous and tedious without a schedule which defines the activities and goals to be realized on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. The annual plan should reflect all of the major activities the student wants to undertake such as competitions and tournaments, training camps, and grading examinations, etc. Accordingly, a monthly plan can be derived and broken down into weekly and daily schedules. It has already been indicated that a schedule must be specifically designed for each and every student, however, examples of daily and weekly schedules are as follows:
Daily schedule
— In the morning: half an hour of running and makiwara practice or alternatively preparatory and complementary exercises and kata practice. Regular class which consists of:
— Salutation and mokuso (meditation): 5 to 10 minutes.
— Preparatory exercises: 5 to 10 minutes.
— Basic techniques and body movements: 5 to 15 minutes for advanced students and 15 to 30 minutes for beginners who have to devote more time to basic techniques.
— Makiwara, sandbag, and speed ball practice: 5 minutes for advanced students and 15 to 30 minutes for beginners (advanced students should practice more outside of regular classes).
— Basic kumites:single and multiple kumite techniques according to the technical level of the student: 15 to 30 minutes for advanced students and 30 to 60 minutes for beginners.
— Yakusoku randori kumite (prearranged sparring kumite): 15 to 60 minutes for advanced students and 30 to 60 minutes for beginners.
— Jiyu randori kumite (free sparring kumite): 30 to 60 minutes for advanced students and 15 to 30 minutes for beginners.
— Kata: 15 to 30 minutes for advanced students and 30 to 60 minutes for beginners.
— Renshu shiai (competition training): once a week or every two weeks or more often according to the circumstances (for advanced students only).
— Complementary exercises: as needed.
— Supplementary exercises: 3 to 10 minutes.
— Salutation and meditation: 5 to 10 minutes.
A regular class lasts between one hour and a half and two hours and a half. Some of the activities described have to be alternated from one class to the other; this schedule should not be repeated every day of the week. Kata, kumite and shiai should be practiced at each class but their relative emphasis should be varied. For example, if one attends three classes a week, his weekly schedule could be as follows:
| Tuesday: | — Morning: running and preparatory exercises |
| — Regular class: emphasis on kata* normal practice of kumite* some shiai* practice | |
| Thursday: | — Morning: running and complementary exercises |
| — Regular class: emphasis on kumite normal practice of shiai some kata practice | |
| Saturday: | — Morning: running and makiwara practice |
| — Regular class: emphasis on shiai normal practice of kata some kumite practice |
Objectives of a monthly schedule could be to learn a kata or a kumite, devoting a full week for each of the following: form, technique, speed, power, and finally, perfection of execution. For the basic techniques it could be to increase their practice progressively.
After every schedule, a critical review of the student's training should be made together with his instructor. In each practice one should prepare for the worst possible cases so that he will be able to handle any real-life situation.
Footnote
* The first public demonstration of katate was given in Okinawa in 1906.
chapter 3 Theory of Karatedo
Throughout the centuries karatedo has been developed empirically as an art. However, in recent years the basic underlying principles of karatedo have been systematically and scientifically analyzed. This has led to the improvement of some techniques, particularly in Kenkokan Karatedo which has been responsible for a number of technical innovations now adopted by many other schools of karate.
A thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of karatedo should help the student progress faster in the practice of this art, leading to a better understanding and improving control of himself, thus making it possible to fully achieve the goals of karatedo and ultimately, self-realization.
1. Essential Principles
The amazing power of a karatedo technique is the result of a rational application of physical, physiological, and psychological principles that everyone, even a weak or aged person, can learn to utilize through assiduous practice. The principles have to be combined all at once in the execution of a technique and as such are somewhat difficult to dissociate. However,
