Greg R. McLatchie

Skilful Karate gives a full account of basic karate techniques that are encountered by all-students, form beginner to shodan. Starting with a brief explanation of personal equipment and dojo etiquette, Greg McLatchie outlines a number of exercises which help to assess fitness and increase flexibility, stamina and strength. He discusses which parts of the body may be used as natural weapons and describes stances, blocks, punches, kicks and sweeps, paying particular attention to safety and injury prevention. Other sections include a wealth of advice on sparring, kata, competition techniques and tactics, breaking techniques, and methods of self defence.

The author, former Consultant adviser to the Martial Arts Commission, is a 1st Dan in karate and a Consultant Genreal and Vascular Surgeon. He also runs a sprots clinic in Hartlepool.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Karate
History and development
Forces in karate
Competition karate
Kata
2 Karate for sport and self-defence
Who can practise?
Getting started
Protective equipment
Dojo etiquette
Tkhe grading system
3 Preparation and training
Flexibility
Stamina
Power
Practice and positive mental attitude
How to assess your fitness
Pertinent factors about warm-up
The training diet
4 The natural weapons of karate
Hand and arm
Foot and leg
Karate stances
5 Defence techniques (uke)
Upper blocks
Middle blocks
Lower block
Practical demonstrations of the use of blocks
6 Basic techniques
Commitment and concentration
Co-ordination and balance
Speed of execution
Control
Punches
Kicking techniques
Sweeps
7 Basic combinations
8 Sparring and training
Sanbon-kumite (three-step sparring)
Ippon-kumite (one-step sparring)
Jiyu-kumite (free fighting)
9 Competition techniques and strategy
Assessment of youropponents abilities
Staying on the move
Effective use of the fighting area
Holding on to a lead
All-out attack
Attacks with punches
Defence against punches
Kicking attacks
Attacks with sweeps
10 Breaking techniques (tameshiwari)
Materials used
Methods used
How to practise
11 Self-defense techniques
Use of skills outside the dojo
Weapons used in self-defence
Examples of attack situations
12 Vulnerable areas of the human body
13 Prevention and management of injuries
Injury situations
Prevention of injury
Minor illness
Common injuries
Principles of immediate management
Special groups
Special precautions
Personal hygiene
Miscellaneous
Major emergencies
Immediate emergency action
Further reading (bibliography)
Appendix
Index… (altro)