For most of my martial arts career I have known (and practised, on and off) the orthodox kote kitae or "ude tanren" -
forearm conditioning. An example can be found here and below:
Master Higaonna Morio and Sensei Falcone practising orthodox kote kitae
A variant on the theme can be found here.
Without wishing to go into the merits or necessity of
forearm conditioning to any great extent in this article, I would like to point out that I feel some conditioning is essential...
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I have often been asked: "What is the correct alignment of your
forearm to your fist in a standard punch?" Given that in karate and most Eastern martial arts (excluding arts such as Wing Chun) the standard punch strikes with the 2 big knuckles, you could be forgiven for thinking that the top of the
forearm should align (be flush) with those 2 knuckles. Makes sense doesn't it? But actually this is not the case.
Indeed, if you make a fist and then hold your
forearm vertically, side on (s...
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