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Monday 20 July 2020

Swimming Drills and Kata


As both a swimming/triathlon coach AND a martial arts black belt I often see discussions around the value of kata from a self defence situation.  Kata movements are often quite expansive in terms of deep stances, large arms movements away from the body whereas a self defense / fight situation movements are often very compact.  Being compact means being able to strike/hold and opponent who is already close to you (which is typically the case) and also means that you are less open to being counter attacked to exposed parts of the body such as you would be with your arm fully extended in front of you

In order to explain my thoughts on why use expansive movements (kata) for a situation that is typically compressed let me use swimming as an analogy.

In swimming there are a number of drills and movements that, in reality, you would never actually replicate when swimming.  For example the Zipper Drill where the swimmer focuses on dragging their fingers along the side of the body like they were fastening a zipper.

So if swim drills aren't necessarily how swimmers swim and kata isn't how fighters fight then why do it ?

Here are three key benefits of drill and kata that may not necessarily be obvious :-


Posture and body position.

In all sports - martial arts, swimming, running, weight lifting - even golf and tennis power comes from the core.  All of the limbs used in sport anchor to the core.  If the core is weak or, more importantly, not engaged then the anchor for the limb is weak and it is almost impossible to generate power. Core engagement and power is a direct result of posture as this controls engagement of muscles and also kinetic energy through the stretch/fire reflex or muscle shortening reflex.

Kata, through stances, teaches posture and core engagement.  Deeper stances creates awareness of the stretch/fire reflex.  Moves that are completely impractical in a self defence situation such as pulling the elbow back for the opposite arm of a punch (although some would correctly this is actually a strike) creates a stretch across the anterior chain to develop power when kicking.


Increase range of motion = increased power

In addition to core engagement a major limiter to generating power is range of motion of the joint.  When range of motion is poor the antagonist muscle works again the muscle generating power so that a lot of the energy is absorbed by the 'braking' effect of that muscle.  Quite often the limiting muscles are the smaller muscle so movement specific stretching is required

Exaggerated movements in both kata and swimming are a form or stretching and help increase range of motion for the joint.  When range of motion is good at 100% extension then generating power at 50% extension is far easier as your body isnt working against itself.


Muscle memory of key pivot/power joints

Coming back to the zipper drill if you would never swim that way (or in kata never fight that way) then why do we do it.  The purpose of the Zipper Drill is not to teach the swimmer to drag their fingers on the side but rather this move isn't possible without having a high elbow.  When swimming it is almost impossible to be aware of where the elbow is in space so this drill programs the movement of having a high elbow by focusing on something that it is possible to be aware of - the contact of the fingers against the skin on the side of the body.

Likewise the purpose of some moves in katas is to program body positions of secondary levers such as the elbows, knees and hips.  By providing something that the body/brain can be aware of (ie see or feel) the movement pattern of the other part of the body is enforced and becomes a reflex.

Like most things in physiology not everything is what it seems.  Remember the Karate Kid - painting a fence to program upper/lower blocks and realise that there is often more to a drill or movement than what is first thought of.