Training & Techniques

Breakfall Programme — Twelve Weeks, Derived From Measurements

The difference between beginner and expert sits not in the neck but in hip, knee and trunk. A programme that trains exactly that.

Breakfalls in Seven Systems — the Ground Decides, Not the Style

Why judoka slap the mat and traceurs never do. Breakfall training does not answer how to fall — it answers what the ground is.

Breathing Methods Compared — One Word for Two Jobs That Exclude Each Other

Breathing technique is meant to stiffen the trunk and calm you at once. It cannot do both — and that is where most explanations fall apart.

Breathing Programme — Two Tracks That Must Not Be Mixed

Six breaths a minute is a population midpoint, not your value. A programme with calibration — and two tracks that stay apart.

Conditioning — a Programme That Stops Before the Iron

Adaptation and damage look the same in the short term. A programme that therefore measures sensitivity rather than hardness — and stops before the iron.

Footwork — a programme that first asks which programme applies

Footwork is held to be the unmeasurable part of martial arts. It only is as long as nobody looks — a programme that starts at your own foot.

Footwork in Eight Systems — the Question Is Whether the Feet May Cross

Eight systems, the same two legs. The question that separates them is inconspicuous and consequential — whether one foot may cross the other.

Grading Systems Compared — No Rank Is Older Than Its Federation

The black belt is younger than the light bulb and comes from a board game. Nine systems show what a grading system actually depends on.

Grip Strength with Hojo Undo — a Programme That Does Not Fight the Barbell

The barbell is better for building strength. This programme takes that sentence as its foundation rather than an objection — and claims to be no strength programme.

Hand Position — a Programme That Asks the Hand What Its Job Is

The hikite dispute dissolves at a question that comes first — what is the hand holding? A programme that decides without dismissing the other side.

Okinawa ·From Chinese models in the 18th/19th centuries; as a canon in the early 20th

Hojo Undo — Strength Training Organised by Technique, Not by Muscle

Okinawa's strength training organises its tools by technique rather than by muscle group. And the kongoken proves the tradition was never closed.

Kata and Bunkai — a Programme With a Logbook

An interpretation that only works with a compliant partner is not tested but performed. A procedure that makes failures visible.

Okinawa / Japan ·Kata for centuries; free kumite from 1933–1935

Kata and Kumite — Why One Is Not the Application of the Other

Kumite is said to be the application of kata. Historically it is the other way round: free kumite was added in the 1930s, from kendō.

Kicking Programme — Style Does Not Decide Force

The only controlled measurement found no significant force difference between systems. A programme that draws the consequence.

Okinawa ·Documented in its present form since the 19th century

Makiwara — Not a Conditioning Device but a Measuring Device

A heavy bag absorbs a bad punch too. A makiwara does not — and that, rather than the callus, is what it is for.

Punching Structure at the Makiwara — a Programme Without Week Counts

The makiwara answers every punch. A programme that makes exactly that its test of progress — and invents no week counts.

Shaolin Conditioning — Iron Palm, Iron Shirt, Golden Bell

The Shaolin hardening arts stand in a book from 1934. What in it is documented and what remains tradition can be told apart cleanly.

Stick Fighting Fundamentals — a Programme That Trains Only the Common Denominator

No comparative study of stick fighting exists. This programme therefore trains only what looks the same across all eight systems compared.

Stick Fighting in Eight Systems — The Weapon Every Culture Had

Eight cultures, one weapon, no common root. The decisive question: is the stick a stick — or does it stand in for a blade?

Taekwondo Kicking Techniques — Biomechanics, Classification and Training

Taekwondo possesses the most complex leg-fighting system of any martial art — grounded in Choi Hong Hi's encyclopedia and modern biomechanical research.

The Fist — Hikite Versus the Boxing Guard

The oldest argument in martial arts, taken apart properly. The answer is in Funakoshi's first book from 1922.

The Roundhouse Kick in Six Systems — Why the Same Kick Looks Six Different Ways

Six systems, one kick: what biomechanical measurement actually shows about Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Kyokushin, Savate, Sanda and Capoeira.

Throwing — One Principle, Seven Rule Sets

Every throw in the world follows one of two physical principles. What decides which one is the grip the rule set allows.

Throwing Principles — a Programme That Trains Only the Grip-Independent Part

Kuzushi transfers across styles, nothing else does. A programme that trains exactly that part — and makes it testable through a geometric condition.