Black Belt Karate

Description

Since the 1950s, karate has exploded in popularity the world over. Initially developed for self-defence, karate is now practised for many other reasons - fitness, discipline and general wellbeing amongst them. This book is for people who have mastered the basics, but want to develop and improve their skills and techniques so that they can progress to a higher level. There is a generally accepted progression of learning - stance, balance, co-ordination, form, speed, power and reflex. This book looks at these aspects and shows the practitioner how to hone their skills and make their training and sparring more effective. There is also a section on competition karate. Contents   Part One     Introduction to karate   1    WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CLUB   2    A SHORT HISTORY OF KARATE   The origins, growth and enormous popularity of the sport today   3    STYLES OF KARATE   Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu and Kyokushinkai karate   4    THE KARATE BASICS   kata and ji-yu kumite   5    WHAT IS A BLACK BELT?   Criteria for getting a black belt and what it means   6    COMPETITION KARATE   Shobu Ippon, the World Karate Federation and the importance of a gasshuku   Part Two     Karate fundamentals     The etiquette of the dojo   UNDO   Limbering up and stretches   WAZA   Basic techniques – punches, strikes, kicks, stances and blocks   TRAINING   Impact training for the body, and a demonstration of the power of the technique   11  BASIC DRILLS   Punches and blocks, striking techniques, escaping techniques, blocking and countering   GUMITE   Examples of prearranged pairwork   TRAINING   An explanation of kata and a demonstration of jion kata   WAZA   Throwing techniques   YU KUMITE   Freestyle sparring   16  KARATE WAZA USED IN SELF-DEFENCE   Part Three     Competition karate   ATTIRE   18  COMPETITION KUMITE   Categories, WKF competition rules, prohibited behaviour, tournaments, jissen training and referees’ commands and signals   19  COMPETITION KATA   WKF rules, judges, how a match works and the criteria used for a decision   20  KARATE TITLES   Japanese ranking terms and belt colours   APPENDICES   Correct tying of the obi   Glossary of terms   Glossary of Japanese terminology   WKF major kata allowed in competition Fighting flag signals   INDEX   CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS