Karate Fighter

By Jesse Enkamp
jesse-enkamp_mma
Testing my Karate in the cage. (Read: 4 Things I
Learned From Getting My A** Kicked in MMA)
Are you a good Karate fighter?
Many people think kumite is difficult
I agree.
Even though Ive trained with world class
coaches, athletes and fighters, I have tons to
improve.
Luckily, I know the secret to becoming a better
fighter.
Be like a ninja!
How?
Im glad you asked
Here are 3 ninja tactics you need to know:
#1. Go Where The Puck Will Be
When legendary ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky
was asked about his secret to success, he replied:
I dont go where the puck is. I go where the puck
will be.
The same holds true for kumite.
Instead of aiming where your opponent is, aim
where your opponent will be.
Thats why the first thing you should do in a fight
is OBSERVE.
Dont just mindlessly start fighting. Make an effort
to observe the rhythm, movements and habits of
your opponent.
Once youve identified a pattern, attack!
Not where your opponent is but where your
opponent will be.
Naturally, this also applies the other way
Dont allow your opponent to sense your
intentions.
Have an aura of unpredictability.
Like a ninja.
#2. Relative, Not Absolute Speed
jesse_enkamp_busa_lefevre
Getting kicked by Luigi Bus while Junior Lefevre
observes in the background.
A key to being a ninja is speed.
You cant defend against something you cant
see.
But
Theres something more important than speed.
Changing speed.
In other words, focus on relative speed not
absolute speed.
If you have a constant speed in kumite, your
opponent learns to read you (even if youre
quick). A steady pace makes you predictable and
easy to hit.
The key lies in shifting between fast & slow.
Learn to play with the rhythm, tempo and timing
of your techniques.
You dont always need to be faster than your
opponent. But you need to vary your speed
better.
Acceleration and deacceleration.

Yin and yang.

3. Position > Demolition
Finally, lets talk defense.
Your opponent can attack you in a thousand
different ways.
According to Hicks Law, the more defensive
moves (blocks, counter techniques etc.) you have
in your arsenal, the less chance you have of
actually being able to use any of them. Thats
how the brain works.
So, dont focus on memorizing specific ways to
defend against attacks.
Instead, focus on defending yourself against
positions.
Positional management.
By position yourself lika a ninja (through adjusting
your distance & angle), you will have an
advantage in both defense and offense. This
comes before all else.
Stop practicing tons of defensive techniques.
Start practicing how to position yourself better.
Like a game of chess.
The person who controls the positions controls
the fight. Thats why the greatest fighters obsess
over footwork.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
The 3 Habits of Highly Effective Karate
Fighters
By Jesse Enkamp
Hey,rafa Did I tell you the story of how I won
my first and only medal at the national
championship in kumite (fighting) back in the
days?
No?
Its so embarrassing
To make a long story short; with a hefty dose of
youthful enthusiasm and a soon-to-be black eye, I
somehow managed to bulldozer my way through
four opponents and, without scoring a single real
point, win each and every fight to finally get a
shiny medal at the end of the day.
Sounds unreal, right?
So, how the heck did I do it?
Well, lets just say I had a habit of walking into
punches and kicks!
A habit that quickly got my opponents enough
fouls to have them disqualified, making me the
winner of all fights up until the semi-finals
(where the medical doctor made me surrender),
leaving me with a coveted bronze medal at the
end of the day.
I still laugh hard when I think about that day!
Anyway, what Im trying to illustrate with this
story is that a) if winning is the only thing you
care about, you can always game the system in
some way, but more importantly that b) if you
have bad habits, they can sometimes work to
your advantage even if you dont have the
willpower or know-how to actually change them.
But dont follow my lead.

A black eye is cool in high-school not at the

office!
So lets talk about habits for a second.
Because, if you ask me, thats what it all boils
down if you want to achieve success whether
its Karate or life in general.
The #1 thing that sets apart high-achievers and
Type A personalities from the rest of us is not
some magical willpower gene, but simply the
fact that they have habitualized and automatized
more important skills/tasks than the rest of us.
Thats todays topic. Habits.
More correctly, the universally awesome habits
that great Karate fighters seem to have in
common, but rarely teach because its such a
natural and easy thing for them.
Now, based on my intro story, youve probably
figured out that Im not the greatest fighter on
earth.
But I am a pretty good observer.
And when it comes to habits of highly successful
Karate fighters, there are 3 particular ones Ive
observed in world-class fighters that Ive trained
with and interviewed, like Junior Lefevre and Luigi
Busa.
Check it out:
Success Habit #1: Keep Mobile
This habit is first for a good reason.
One thing that all great fighters figure out early is
that youve got to be able to move effortlessly in
any direction, at any given time, during a fight.
In other words, youve got to be mobile.
Oh, your arms are tired? So let your guard down
then.
And hey, sure, your mind might get tired too. So
stop thinking then.
But NEVER EVER let your legs get tired because
they are your ONLY ticket out of a slaughter.
Highly successful Karate fighters know that
footwork and body movement (ashi-sabaki and
tai-sabaki) are the foundation of not getting your
butt kicked, which is why they spend a lot of time
learning, repeating and perfecting legwork.
Your lower body is literally a powerhouse, and
should be used as such both for attacking and
evading.
Perhaps the importance of staying mobile is best
summed up by the grandmaster of Shotokan
Karate:
Do not think of winning; rather, think of not
losing
Funakoshi Gichin (1868-1975)
Your mobility dictates this.
Keep moving to keep the distance and keep safe.
The ability to move around freely in a fight is
second nature to great fighters, and you should
try to make it a habit yourself.
In the words of Muhammad Ali: Float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee.
Your hands cant hit what your eyes cant see.
Success Habit #2: Stay Playful

Next up
The day you stop exploring new opportunities for
setting up strikes, kicks, punches or takedowns is
the day you stop growing as a fighter.
A stale mind produces sad results.
In Karate and life.
So, what every great fighter has understood, is
that in order to truly evolve you need to
constantly keep a playful attitude towards
fighting.
Dont get me wrong; a fight should never turn
into a circus.
You should definitely keep in mind that your
opponent isnt there to sell you Girl Scout cookies
or give you jumping mid-air high-fives.
But that doesnt mean you should cement your
mindset!
Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will
get you everywhere.
Albert Einstein (1878-1955)
Keeping an open and playful attitude, both
technically (lets try this technique!),
strategically (what happens if he does like
that?) and physically (crap, that hurt!) is not
only one of the most effective ways of achieving
higher success in kumite, but also one of the
most enjoyable ways.
Imagine that you can actually enjoy fighting!
The hard part is to make playful and
unpredictable fighting a habit and not just
something you do when youre bored
Or drunk.
Success Habit #3: Be Committed
Lastly
The term to commit, has become something of
a buzzword, especially in MMA, for a very good
reason.
For every technique you throw in a fight, there
should only be one purpose.
Either:
1. To hit.
Or:
2. To set up a hit.
Yet people keep doing pointless stuff like sloppy
jabs or spinning hook kicks (!) in the air in front of
their unimpressed opponent, with poor timing
and questionable distance.
Old habits die hard.
What every great Karate fighter knows is that
energy is a precious thing and that the person
who can achieve maximum effect with minimum
effort quite often ends up on the winning side of a
fight.
Thus, a technique without purpose is a technique
wasted.
And it all boils down to physical & mental
committment.
The purpose of a technique should always be to
either hit your opponent, or to set up (feint, lure
etc.) the next technique; which, in turn, should

either hit the opponent or set up the next

technique.
And so forth.
In other words, committment to whatever you are
doing (attacking, moving, defending) is the
concept you need to habitualize in order to stop
wasting time, start feeling safe & finish the fight.
Reach for those last extra inches in each attack,
dude!
Either you do it, or you dont.
What do you think?
Again, Im not the new Chuck Norris but Ive seen
some really great fighters in my days and these
three habits (1. Mobile, 2. Playful, 3. Committed)
are just a few of the numerous habits Ive noticed

to be universal in the most successful Karate

kumite players out there.
Because, again, the thing with successful people
isnt that theyre necessarily better than you and
me.
Theyve just figured out that some stuff works
better when its automatized saving precious
brain space and willpower for more important
stuff.
Both in Karate and life.
Good luck!
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
therefore, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle