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View Full Version : What is chudan gamae good for?



ultrajohan
21st March 2001, 13:44
In chudan gamae the rear arm is close to the head and the front arm is lowered, parallell to the floor. People who practice karate does the exact opposite, placing the rear arm in front of chudan parallell to the floor and the front arm high with the fist pointing to the opponent's head.
This latter stance is great for delivering hard gyaku tsuki chudan and jun tsuki jodan is easy since it it a short distance but I don't see what makes the shorinij kempo way of doing chudan gamae any good (except for defensive movements).

So, does someone know why we do chudan gamae as we do and not the opposite way as seen in karate?

/Johan Svensson
Sweden

hsuntzu
21st March 2001, 21:41
With the Shorinji Kempo Chudan gamae, the front arm should not be parallel to the floor, rather the fist should be pointing toward the opponent's face/jodan. Thus a junzuki goes out in a straight and quick motion.

For the rear arm, it should be in a comfortable position to deliver a gyakuzuki anytime. If it's pointing too high (too close to the face) or too low for a gyaku zuki, the rear arm is not in the correct position.

This also means the arm positions do change depending on the distance with the opponent.

So... all in all, I think it's a very logical stance and useful.

Gassho

ultrajohan
22nd March 2001, 10:34
Well... Yes, you're right.

I guess I was stretching things to it's extremes.

/Johan

Onno
24th March 2001, 04:28
Hello all;
Just another quick note about Chudan Gamae.

With the lead hand down, the elbow is very close to the hip. I f the opponent moves in for a strike ( ie. both people are in Hidari Mae) like Jodan Jun Zuki and the defence side does Soto Uke with the back hand the front hand can deliver a very powerful counter strike at the same time. Because of the twisting action done during the block the front hand can counter without extending very much. This enables you to generate alot of thrust in the counter punch. Remember, you are not punching with your hand so much as you are with your hip. A good practice for this is to take off your belt and have someone tie your upper arms to your body(tied above the elbow). Then practice punching a Do. This may seem awkward at first, but you will start to understand the importance of the hip. Note: this practice with being tied-up is also good for practicing Shita Uke, as it forces you to use your hips instead of your arm to do most of the blocking.
These concepts are easier to show than to write down, but I hope it helps.

See you all in Paris.

Onno Kok
koko@mad.scientist.com