Shotokan - Lower Bucks Karate Club - Food For Thought 1 – Dr. Elmar Schmeisser

Front 1

Schmeisser's Rule 1

Back 1

Don't be bound by Label Disease. Just because the technique is officially called a down block, doesn't mean you can't use it as a parry or punch combination followed by a grab and a groin strike.

Front 2

Schmeisser's Rule 2

Back 2

Everything you do causes some damage or severe pain to your opponent.

Front 3

Schmeisser's Rule 3

Back 3

Slow movements mean “This is difficult.” Pay attention to this technique because it will be very difficult to pull off in the real world.

Front 4

Schmeisser's Rule 4

Back 4

When a technique or a series of techniques are repeated it means "This is important." Note: performing the same set of techniques twice or three times may also not be a true repetition but a true sequence that looks like it but which is better explained as a connected series of different moves.

Front 5

Schmeisser's Rule 5

Back 5

5. Any jumping techniques really mean that your opponent flies through the air after being thrown. You are not jumping over a stick. No one will ever, nor have they ever, attacked anyone's ankles with a 6 foot long stick you can jump over.

Front 6

Schmeisser's Rule 6

Back 6

Crossing the feet generally shows pivoting in place rather than the horizontal action that it appears as in the kata. Add a corner there, and change the
performance line.

Front 7

Schmeisser's Rule 7

Back 7

Always, always, always consider the move(s) before and after what you're looking at. Do not think in blocks of techniques that are obvious. Step backward one technique or forward one technique to understand the current one.

Front 8

Schmeisser's Rule 8

Back 8

Never, ever let go of the opponent unless it's definitely "over". He might kill you if you let go of him after hurting him badly.

Front 9

Schmeisser's Rule 9

Back 9

There are no blocks in kata. There are no defensive movements, only counteroffensive ones, and the follow ups are in the kata sequence in the appropriate order.

Front 10

Schmeisser's Rule 10

Back 10

Damage escalates in each sequence of techniques. Usually the last technique is the nastiest.

Front 11

Schmeisser's Rule 11

Back 11

There is no single, original intent behind any technique. Think freely. Brainstorm.

Front 12

Using this methodology, Elmar Schmeisser has pioneered some interesting kata applications.

Back 12

For example, the first down block followed by a stepping punch in Heian Shodan can be reverse engineered into a dangerous and violent sequence.

Front 13

Using this methodology, Elmar Schmeisser has pioneered some interesting kata applications - Details

Back 13

The first action, folding the arms before you step outward to block, is actually the blocking action:
a nagashi-uke using your fist with the top hand, a punch to your chosen target on the opponent with the other hand. The top hand is a fist, so while you are blocking, you also punch into a sensitive spot surgically creating pain in the forearm and stunning your opponent for the next move. All of this happens before you even throw the downward block action.

Next, grab the opponent under the elbow of the arm that you struck with your parrying action with your right hand. Step into him, and strike as with a downward block into his testicles. Reach behind your opponent as you step in, grab his belt at the small of his back, and punch into his throat hard, crushing the trachea and toppling him over the
grabbing hand in the back. All of this is the first two techniques in Heian 1.

Front 14

Forget what you've learned about applications

Back 14

You should especially forget the horrible applications demonstrations that are photographed in most kata texts. The sequences showing some famous guy turning in different directions blocking this punch and blocking that kick and then turning again are products of applications incompetence.
Rather than thinking of a kata as a large fight scene with a bunch of opponents, try to think of your kata as a flow chart.

Front 15

For example, the first five techniques of Heian Shodan are alternatives to each other, not
linear steps within a fight.

Back 15

The first two techniques are one possibility; the next three techniques are another possibility. The turning action adds yet another possibility for ending the first alternative or beginning the second alternative.

Front 16

Scripted fights vs combinations

Back 16

Rather than being scripted fights with four opponents, kata are sets of combinations and
alternative combinations to each other that are arranged together, but are not necessarily usable as a whole kata. The reason that they are all in a whole kata is because they are all squished together so that you can practice them more easily. They're compressed. And, because the kata applications are explained in other kata and in other sections of the
same kata, they are encrypted.

Front 17

Final Thought

Back 17

Don't stand in the middle of four guys and block their punches and then punch them back, turn and repeat. That's insane. Instead, using Schmeisser's Rules and the concept of Flow Charting, you should be able to find tons of valuable combinations and defenses against almost any sort of attack.