Martial Arts Professional Magazine

Part 4 of a Six-Part Series on Using Kata (or Form) For Martial Arts Development.

Any instructor of my age grew up watching numerous dynamic and powerful boxers (read striking artists) from the 1950’s to the middle of the 1980’s. These men were in the heyday of their sport and, until self-serving and greedy promoters ruined the sport, it provided quite an education of combat concepts.

Concepts, I said, not techniques. No matter how you fight, i.e., with weapons, grappling, hitting, kicking, etc., there are certain concepts, which are universal.

The best fighters are always:

1. Focused with purpose.

2. Calm of mind.

3. Calculating in strategy.

4. Efficient of movement and energy.

5. Incredibly powerful.

These are core skills of any great warrior and, yet, to watch much of what is promoted as fighting today, one would think that fighting is only about testosterone. Much of what I see being passed off as a fighter does not pass the test. They are not focused or calm, don’t seem to have any strategy, waste energy and are not powerful enough to hit with authority.

This list of skills includes three of the five core abilities that exist primarily in the mental arena, not the physical. Most modern martial artists, at least those who truly want to learn to fight, only concentrate on the physical. Proper kata, or form training, will help develop all of these areas, and that is why this training is as valuable to the modern world as it was to the ancient.

1. Focused with purpose: Ask a normal person to be wildly physical for several minutes. Encourage them to stay visually and mentally focused. Most can’t do it. Kata practice can help them.

2. Calm of mind: Watch the film of any great fighter. He always has a calm purpose. He doesn’t grimace and make wild facial expressions. He just hit with no hesitation and with complete purpose. Kata practice should do the same. This doesn’t mean that you never grimace; it only means that you don’t always grimace.

3. Calculating in strategy: You must develop the skill to stop thinking about form or function…and, yet, have full control of both. Proper form, or kata, practice should reach the level where you no longer think about form or processes. This allows the mind to move ahead in time and create strategies.

4. Efficient of movement and energy: You can always tell the beginning fighters from the advanced ones by how tense and uptight the beginners are. They are burning energy recklessly and it affects their performance greatly. Classical training should address this in the forms practice because every muscle that is not needed to execute the movement should be relaxed and prepared for the next one. The instructor can help the student discover this if he is diligent in his use of form practice.

5. Incredibly powerful: When I watch many people perform kata, I wonder what they are thinking about when they execute some of their movements. What was the purpose of that punch, or chop, they just used? Was it to hit something hard enough to break it or was it just a dance move? Certainly, there is a place for slow and deliberate movement, such as is done in a Tai Chi type of training, but that training is done to develop control of the movement through its entire range.

When Bill Wallace (Superfoot) was my instructor more than 30 years ago, I used to watch him do a kick in the air with a slow and deliberate pace. This gave him control of the movement through its entire range. Then, he would “crack” one at full speed. That was application. Both are important in form or kata practice.

With a good instructor to guide you, kata or form practice should help you work in all of these areas, without the distraction of another fighter. That’s why it’s called active meditation.