Questions and Answers

Q – In some disciplines of weight lifting there is this concept/principle that you need to balance out push movements with pull movements. For shoulder health.

My question is – from your experience, from a karate viewpoint – is that so?

I am asking this because I have some issues with my shoulders and one of theories is that this might be the case.

Osu! You’re spot on. All joints of the body require balance long term. Let’s take the push/pull concept one step further though. In the upper body we have push/pull in the horizontal plane (bench press and seated row as examples) and push/pull in the vertical plane (shoulder press and chin up as examples).

Push-up’s fall into the horizontal push category. The opposite of this is any horizontal rowing movement (seated row type movement). This would be a starting point exercise wise for you.

If you have no equipment, no worries, you can do prone flutters. Lay flat on your stomach on the ground. Arms out at 90 degree’s from the shoulder, palms flat on ground. Take a full 5 seconds to raise the arms up – straight up towards the sky – as high as you can, with your arms straight, squeezing your shoulder blades together. Then take 5 full seconds to lower. You can do these in sets of 5 to 20 as your work capacity increases. Do not let your hands rest between repetitions. Chin down and forehead resting on the ground too in terms of head position.

If the horizontal pushing exercises have dominated your training long term, you need to prioritise horizontal pulling movements in terms of sequence, loading and frequency. For example, do them first in your training session and week, do them more frequently, etc. Not saying this is the case for you, just providing examples of the concept. If you’re going to do 50 pushups, make sure you first do at least 50 flutters.

Ian King states our joint health is influenced by the connective tissue length (flexibility), tension (soft tissue status) and stability (strength) reinforced by posture. Without turning this into War and Peace focusing solely on the strength aspect is important but not at the expense of flexibility and tension around the shoulder too, that all training (karate and other) influences as does age.

Focusing on the push/pull is a step in a positive direction, so start here.

Your question about a karate view point on this? The strong retraction we have in Kyokushin kihon/kata is fantastic to help balance out the push/pull of the shoulder. What Sosai Oyama did in having the retracted fist sitting higher towards the shoulder as opposed to lower towards the hip, is brilliant mechanically, reinforcing the benefits of scapula retraction in horizontal pulling movements. Plus the general focus on flexibility training that Kyokushin and martial arts has traditionally had, helps too. Osu.

Q – Is this exercise sports specific or general strength?

(Video of the martial artist is doing squat + front kick for reps with a 60lb sand bag on his back).  

Great effort! Nothing like challenging honest training. 

If I had to pick, it’s a general strength training exercise.

On the topic of ‘sports specific’ exercise, everything is non-specific outside of the actual sport/activity itself. Sports specific is just doing the sport/activity. By definition it cannot be anything else.  

This is in the same vein Shihan Cameron Quinn teaches everything outside of actual fighting is kihon.

We want our nonspecific training (which is all training that isn’t an actual tournament, grading, fight or whatever you’re training for) to transfer to what we’re training for. As an example, a baseball batter swinging with a lighter bat will provide the stimuli of increased speed. Swinging with a heavier bat will provide the stimuli of increased resistance. Neither are specific though. Specific is batting with the regular baseball bat at the pitcher’s pitches. However, both provide a stimulus that may or may not transfer to the batters ability to hit home runs. This would depend on what the baseball batters greatest needs are. 

Hope this helps. 

Osu. 

Q – Knuckle push-ups for children

I was assisting teaching the kids class tonight and the person running the class got some of the kids to do push ups on their knuckles on the hard wood floor. 

Should they be doing push ups on their knuckles at certain ages due to bone development and such? This is just my instinct, and I often encourage the kids to practice push ups outside of training on their hands, and on their knees so they get used to the movement before increasing the intensity as they get older. 

How do you train your kids to do push ups? What age do you encourage them to do them on their knuckles?

A – Great question. Your instincts are spot on re: bone development as others have mentioned. I can’t add much to many of the responses but will share another point of view. 

In coaching there’s a concept called LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development) pioneered by Istvan Bayli. 

Originally there were 4 phases of LTAD (there are more now) and broadly all sports fall into one of two categorisations, ‘early specialisation’ or ‘late specialisation’ sports. 

The four phases are:

FUNdamental 

Training to Train

Training to Compete

Training to Win

Each phase is theoretically four years but can be shorter or longer depending on individual circumstances. 

While Karate is not a sport, it definitely falls into the late specialisation category. Which is great, meaning there’s no need to rush physical training. Much will happen as a by-product of the karate sessions.  

Notice the FUN in the FUNdamental phase. It’s not a mistake. Its the purpose and focus on early stage training for kids in all sports/activities. 

Therefore knuckle push-ups on wooden floods probably shouldn’t be more than 0.01% of their training exposure until the body has matured. This is different for everyone so post puberty as a general rule. 

Hey Mitch, at 53yo I’m 6 ft 3 and 240 lb, I’m looking to build a little bit of speed in some of my punches and kicks. Any insight on what I could do at my age to improve on my speed.

Absolutely. It’s fantastic you’re focused on improving and are clear on what you’re going to improve. 

Without knowing about your past/current training or seeing your body, here are a few things to consider:

1. Prioritise speed in your training. This means do it first in the week and first (after warming up) in your training sessions. Generally what gets done first gets done best. Do any endurance work towards the end of your sessions or the end of your week.  

2. Speed training is characterised by bursts of fast technique focused effort and long rest periods. Fatigue is not part of speed development. Watch a 100m sprinter train vs an ultra marathon runner train. The sprinter avoids fatigue/slowing down with long rest periods between efforts while the ultra marathon runner largely does the opposite. 

3. A large part of speed for striking are things like detection and reaction to stimuli (reading what your opponent is about to do) and using distance, angles and timing to your advantage. Shihan Cameron Quinn has great insights in these areas (footwork drills, dead zone, dominant head position, etc in the tactical way you can fight) in his Budo Blueprint program. 

4. Technique is key. All sports with high speed components place a premium on technique (weight lifters, sprinters, boxers, etc). Kyokushin is the same. Hone in on the techniques/combinations you want to to prioritise, make positive adjustments where possible and practice them within the above guidelines. Videoing and then reviewing is helpful with this too. 

5. Recovery/Injury status – Expressing speed happens best when the body feels good! Listen to your body. Be on top of your sleep, nutrition, hydration, flexibility, etc as best you can. These all contribute to your body functioning optimally. 

Shihan Cameron Quinn has a great philosophy you’ve probably heard him say ‘heavyweights train like lightweights and light weights train like heavyweights’. You’re a big strong guy, so focusing on movement, footwork, technique and speed (like lightweights typically) is likely a sound idea. 

Finally on age. The body tends to slow as we age, mainly because joints/things hurt, which is why point 5 above is important. Add to this the goal of being the fastest you can be at this point in your life and I’m confident there’s opportunity for improvement. 

Let me know how this goes for you. Osu!