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Robert Miller has been training and teaching karate for more than 30 years. His explorations into effective training and technique have led him to pursue training in Aikido and Judo, studies in anatomy, kinesiology, and education, as well as cross-training with a diverse range of classical and modern martial artists. To further his understanding of effective training practices and dispel the myths about training that exist within many “traditional” karate circles, Miller recently completed Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist certifications with the NASM. This is part 1 in a series of interviews with him about the role of sports science in designing training programs for the fighting arts that are as safe as they are effective.
Bob, you recently attained Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist certifications through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). What can you tell us about how both of these fields overlap with karate training, and what can they offer to someone who trains, or teaches karate?
Personal training is a pretty broad field, it is sort of what you make of it. The organizations that certify personal trainers vary widely in both their content, and the depth of knowledge they expect of trainers. I chose the National Academy of Sports Medicine for its rigor, its emphasis on “evidence based” training, and because they spend a lot of time dealing the “why” of various training programs. It is a very empowering program. I recommend NASM to anyone considering a career in health and fitness who wants to do more than just lead an occasional aerobics class. That stuff just leaves me cold I’m afraid. I tend to be pretty uninterested in marketing the most current, shiny, new fads in fitness. That’s probably why I resisted becoming a “ninja” in the nineties, why I don’t turn out ten year old black belts, and why I am not marketing what I do as some sort of MMA now. Same thing with fitness; I want sober stuff that works, and does not bankrupt my students/clients.
Take a look at the GripFAQ site for some good information on hand anatomy and health as related to grip strength training, as well as some tutorials on safely developing a powerful grip.
Mario McKenna has announced the completion of one of his long-time projects, a translation of Nakasone Genwa’s 1938 “Karate-do Taikan” (An Overview of Karate-do). This is an encyclopedic book featuring kata and commentary by a who’s who of early 20th century karate adepts: Shinpan Shiroma, Chomo Hanashiro, Mabuni Kenwa, Ohtsuka Hironori and Taira Shinken. Getting to actually read the book and see the content in context is very exciting news; if you’ve read some of Patrick McCarthy or Nagamine Shoshin’s books, diagrams and pictures from “Taikan” are sprinkled liberally throughout. Most non-Japanese speakers have never seen a large amount of the diverse and fascinating material that Nakasone and his contemporaries published. The gap that this has left in the informational record is truly saddening, since myth, hearsay and plain omission have filled the large holes. The literary realm of karate extends far beyond Funakoshi’s books, or the wave of propaganda and marketing that engulfed Japanese karate.
My hat is off to Mr. McKenna for investing the time and effort to translate these books and place them within the reach of the modern student. And to clairify, access to such works is important in that it allows us to look into the past and see what karate was not, as opposed to providing more fuel for the frivolent claims about the “traditionality” of a group or practice that seem to be preoccupying much of the karate world right now.
I recently purchased Mr. McKenna’s translation of Mabuni Kenwa’s “Kobo Jizai Goshin Jutsu Karate Kenpo” as an e-book (a review will be posted here soon) and I am very impressed with his work. The translation of one of Mabuni’s books is in itself a valuable service, and the cost is extremely reasonable- a combination that is, unfortunately, often hard to find.
We at TKRI place a high priority on fitness, proper conditioning and diet as a crucial part of safe training. Our blog often features links to karate-related exercises, conditioning safety tips and up-to-date information from athletic training fields. Just today, I was reminded of some of the soundest advice out there, a simple and holistic 7-day approach that addresses all aspects of building a healthy, strong body. In fact, it carries the Charles Atlas seal of approval:
-Eat nutritious, high protein, and swallow raw eggs.
-Try to build up your shoulders, chest, arms and legs: do pressups, chinups, the snatch, clean n’ jerk, and some dynamic tension, although it’s hard work.
Well, maybe it’s best if I just let the expert himself explain it to you (if you don’t like men with too many muscles, you may want to avoid it):
Take a look at Dr. Furter’s 7 -day program here
(Happy Hallowe’en)
Our own Robert Miller has passed the test for the Corrective Exercise specialist program. 
Congratulations, Bob!
If you haven’t noticed already, we at TKRI love making gear out of an assortment of cheap or found items and copious amounts of Duct Tape. I’ve been perusing How-to-box . com lately and finding some interesting ideas on a variety of topics related to training, and it seems like they share in our love of MacGyvering gear instead of paying absurd prices for it. Today I ran across their feature on how to make your own double end bag out of common items, such as Nerf Balls and ice cream buckets. Having never worked in the Nerf Ball medium, I wonder if it would be possible to add a little weight to their design by slicing the ball open, inserting a balloon or two full of sand, then duct-taping the whole thing together again. Stay tuned…
Read it here
Matt over at the Ikagi blog has posted an interesting interview with Forrest Morgan, author of the book “Living the Martial Way.”
Among the topics that Mr. Morgan addresses, this particular statement caught my attention:
“Would you want the U.S. Army trying to defend the nation with swords and spears? What would you think if the U.S. Navy refused to equip itself with state-of-the-art warships because wooden sailing vessels are more “traditional”? Even the less archaic, non-classical, traditionally-oriented martial arts, such as karate-do, aikido, jujutsu, etc., systems that strive to maintain their customs, training methods, and techniques unchanged from the late 19th or early 20th century, are usually not directly applicable to most 21st century threats without some amount of modification… “
Read the entire interview here.
“I can’t sing and I can’t dance, but I can lick any SOB in the house.”
-Jack Dempsey
Note: this essay grew out of notes for an as yet unfinished review of Jack Dempsey’s 1950 book “Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense” and personal notes that developed over the course of a year of intensive work on punching
What does a black belt know about punching?
I first read about Jack Dempsey in an article written by Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo for Classical Fighting Arts in 2006. The article, entitled “Jack Dempsey, Master of Xingyiquan” focused on a boxing manual written by the 1919 heavy weight world boxing champion. As I began reading the article, I wondered what an old-school Western boxer had to do with an Asian martial art, or karate training in general. I was still in the “karate is superior to boxing because it uses the whole body” phase of thinking that some people go through early on in their training (and some never leave, to their detriment). The book in question, “Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense” (1950) seemed quaint and outdated, right down to the rolled up sleeves and pompadours in the accompanying illustrations. By the end of the article however, my interest was piqued, and suddenly my dichotomous conceptions of boxing and karate began to mutate some. The utter clarity of Dempsey’s cited examples set off a new train of thinking: regardless of styles or arts, punching is punching. Using the fists to damage or knock another person out is a skill that is governed by the same principles, regardless of the art that develops it. To borrow a phrase from Harry Cook, we all practice the “two hands, two feet, one head” style of fighting.
We all practice this style, but the training methods that one chooses to pursue can either develop or detract from making it practical and usable. After reading this article, I began to look objectively at the differences between the way that a boxer trains a punch and the way that karate people- both in general and at my particular dojo- trained punching. Before long, I reflected that boxers, on average, spend far more time than karate people hitting things: stationary targets, heavy bags, focus mitts, reflex bags/balls, and of course, other people (yes, there are exceptions, but I am addressing generalities here). Their learning environment is incredibly rich with varied stimulus (static targets, moving targets, responsive targets, non-responsive targets) and opportunities to apply their skills under varying levels of pressure. Simply put, the best way to get good at hitting things is to hit things. I had earned shodan a year earlier, but I did not feel like I was hitting any harder, faster or better. Despite the fact that the dojo I trained in spent a considerable amount of time on pad work, and a makiwara and heavy bags were present and well-used, it was clear to me that despite hard, frequent training, my own punching ability was not what it needed to be (and this is in no way a disparaging reflection on my teacher- it was a critical look at my own pursuit of the skill).
Below is the bouldering wall that’s within sight of my office at work, and just a few yards away from the campus gym facilities. A couple of circuits on the wall is a nice full-body warm up before moving on to other training, and an excellent way to turn the forearms into “toast.”
Robert Miller CPT CES
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