Paper #11:
Working with Steve Fraleigh on kime

Student: Steve Fraleigh
Age: 39
Rank: 8th kyu
Began training: January 2007


I have had the opportunity to train with Steve over the last 11 months, from his fresh start in Martial Arts to the present. Steve trains on a pretty regular basis, which is why I chose him as my focus for this paper, and is what I consider a typical student for his level, meaning he struggles with the common movements within shotokan karate which are not common in everyday life.

Observations: In order to pick an area to concentrate on I had Steve perform Heian Shodan so that I could watch various aspects of his karate. One of the most prominent things I saw was that there was no clear ending point to each of his techniques, in this case to his blocks and punches. Instead of a clear snap or explosion to his techniques there was a gradual finish that included extra small movements, somewhat like a jiggle. For the most part, his techniques as a whole are done appropriately for someone of his rank; however, the lack of a clear conclusion to the techniques makes them look somewhat sloppy and not as strong as they should be. Additionally, I noticed that he was not stable in his stance at the end of a step or a turn. Much like his punching and blocking, his movements did not end cleanly with him a stable, rooted stance. Instead he struggled to maintain his balance, especially on turns. In addition, I noticed that Steve tends to get winded easily during normal training (and even after doing just this one kata). Steve is very tense throughout each whole movement, whether it is a punch, block, strike or step. What I was seeing was that Steve lacked basic kime, and the relaxation that precedes and follows it. I have chosen to focus on improving Steve’s understanding and application of kime for this assignment.

Recommendations: I feel that Steve would benefit from increased focus in his techniques, especially at the ending point. He also needs to learn to relax through the movement and just “tense in the moment” at the end. By working on improving his kime on simple movements first (punch and block) in his torso and upper body Steve should be able to apply these techniques to other, more advanced movements. After Steve has started to make progress in these simple, stationary (meaning he is not trying to work the technique while stepping or turning) movements, he can work to incorporate the same concepts to his lower body during transitions. At this point Steve’s stances will need to be lowered with his tanden tucked to improve stability and to keep his hips under his shoulders during transitions. As part of all these lessons I will have Steve focus on relaxation, 1) to help keep him from getting winded easily, and 2) to more clearly define when the proper moment is to tense during a technique.

Practice: During the course of the month I had Steve practice several different drills. I focused on drills which I felt he could do on his own and be able measure his own improvement. I had Steve work on the following things:

• Week 1 – Starting off the assignment we discussed the areas I wanted to work on with Steve, namely kime. I covered with him what kime is, though both explanation and demonstration, and why I felt this was an area he needed improvement, and where he could/should expect to see changes in his karate. It seemed that Steve understood at an analytical level what kime was but really did not know the process to go through to achieve it. Therefore, the first week I had Steve focus on just two drills, with movements in their simplest forms, with the plan to build upon these drills.

• Rolling up the tanden – This is a drill where, while standing in shizen-tai and in a relaxed state, you tuck the tail bone causing the pelvis to roll forward and up, and the muscles of the abdomen to contract. This is done in a quick, explosive movement, and then just as quickly you relax again, letting the tanden return to its natural position. The purpose of this drill is to learn how to tense from the core.
• Punching in shizen-tai, 50 – 75% power and speed – The purpose of this drill is to focus on relaxing during the extension of the arm and tensing at the point of impact. By punching at a reduced effort level the student can concentrate on more of the basic details of the technique, allowing them to “burn in” the proper path, relaxation and tension points. For this week Steve was to first start by locking down the shoulder by tightening the muscles under his armpit (top of the lat). At a later point, after making progress on this particular drill, I would have Steve slowly start to incorporate the tanden and lower abs, and then the legs into a similar drill.

• Week 2 – We reviewed his progress on the drills of the previous week. Steve had made modest improvements rolling up his tanden to the point where I felt we could add another element to the drill. However, his punching was still lacking any type of locking or tensing, even though I could see him working on relaxation. His relaxation and tension were not coming at the correct moments, so we discussed again the feeling he should have during the punch. I had Steve to focus on two drills again for the next week, one which built on the tensing and relaxing of the tanden, and continuing with the punching drill.

• Thrusting the arms straight down (arms are straight, the very short movement comes from the shoulders) at the side while simultaneously rolling up the tanden and tensing the lower abdomen. This drill is building on the first week’s work of “rolling up the tanden” by incorporating the downward movement, or locking in, of the shoulders when the tanden is tensed. The purpose of this drill is to have the student understand how to begin to incorporate more aspects, or parts, of their physiology into the tensing process. Keeping the arms close to the core of the body simplifies the action, whereas trying the same drill with the arm above the head in a age uke position it much harder for a beginner to accomplish.
• Punching in shizen-tai, 50 – 75% power (continuation from last week) – In addition to the purpose of this drill covered for the previous week, I had Steve really concentrate on the proper times to be relaxed and when to tense. I covered with him why and when we twist our arms in our techniques and how he could use that information as a guide. For a punch, the twist comes at the end of the path, and up to that point the arm should be relaxed. I felt that at a novice level, beginning tensing at the twist would be an acceptable start to better kime. We also covered that when the arm is fully extended, with the shoulder locked down, he should then relax.

• Week 3 – Steve showed signs that he was still struggling with the drill of thrusting his arms down. We discussed the drill and technique more, and the feeling he should start to get as he made improvements. Steve did make better progress on his punching, especially on relaxing more during the start of the punch. However, at the end of the punch, while attempting to relax, he was allowing his arm to become loose to the point it was wobbly. I decided it was time to add another aspect to the punching drill to help Steve stabilize his punch at its ending point.

• Thrusting the arms straight down at the side while simultaneously rolling up the tanden and tensing the lower abdomen. This is a continuation of the 2nd week’s work. I had Steve concentrate more on smaller movements from the shoulder and stronger movements in the tanden. I explained that as he improved he should start to feel his legs start to participate in the tensing part of the drill.
• Focused punching toward a light switch, about 75% power/speed – after having made some improvement in the gross movements and starting to incorporate tensing at the end of the technique I wanted Steve to be able to judge for himself if he is improving the “end point” of his techniques. By punching at a light switch, which is generally at a good height for most people in a natural stance, one can see where the technique is ending and if there is any unnecessary/unexpected movements. It also helps ensure the punch is ending in the same spot each time or not.
• Gedan berai to the inside of a door frame (without hitting it, but stopping within an inch each time), about 75% power/speed. Basically the same idea as the focused punching at a light switch. I wanted to see if Steve could make the same changes to one of his blocks that he had made to his punch. We went over the basic mechanics of the block and how it was similar to a punch in that it had a clear starting point, a standard path, a twist and a strong finish, and when he should be relaxed and when he should tense.

• Week 4 – Before I reviewed any of the drills with Steve I asked him to perform Heian Shodan again, I was looking for changes from the first week. I was not surprised to see that he was still struggling with his stability; we had not worked on stances and movement yet. I did see improvement in relaxation on both his punches and blocks, but improvement on the end point of his punches only (his downward blocks were too circular in their path, swinging wide of his body, most likely due to way he was turning). I then had Steve demonstrate the drills he had been working on. In those, being in a natural stance, I saw the improvement I expected, especially with the downward block. Without a point to focus on Steve’s punches still had movement at the end; however, when I gave him a target, the punches ended much more cleanly. I explained that he needs to be able to visualize a target if a real one is not present and still be able to execute a focused technique.

• Punching and blocking (gedan berai) at a target – continuation from the previous week. This time in addition to doing practicing in a natural stance Steve is to practice part of the time in front stance, so that he begins to get the same sensations while in a fighting stance. This will also be the beginning of adding a step to the drill.
• Hikite – It was more noticeable as Steve went through his kata than during his demonstration of the drills that his hikite was suffering a lot of the same problems as his punching and blocking. I reiterated to Steve the purpose of hikite, and demonstrated how it should be performed. Steve’s hikite was overly loose, especially when at his side, having lots of extra movement. We discussed that when the hikite is pulled back to its final position that it should be firmly located at the side just at the top of the pelvic bone (by the oblique). As part of the other drill I asked Steve to also focus on his hikite, and explained that in order to truly achieve kime, all parts, including hikite, needed to be incorporated appropriately.

Steve has really started to make some improvement in his katate techniques and relaxation on his way to gaining a better level of kime. It is still early in the process, but he is showing signs that the different drills are helping. Wanting some feedback I asked Steve how he felt about his work and progression, and the explanation and drills I was giving him. He said that he felt it was helping and that he was encouraged by it. As for my expectations, some things worked better than others, and some things took a little longer than expected, but overall I am pleased that I saw improvement each week. I am looking forward to assisting Steve further with the incorporation of stepping and turning, with continued improvement of his punching, blocking and striking, culminating with him able to perform a powerful and explosive, yet relaxed, Heian Shodan.


Craig Lawton
Triangle’s Best Karate
December 6, 2007