Shotokan karate syllabi make use of various types of step sparring. You’re probably familiar with it: the attacker steps back in a low block and announces the attack. Meanwhile, the defender waits in a ready position known as shizentai; hands held low with feet shoulder width apart (hardly a sensible posture when you know there is danger). The attacker launches a stepping punch or kick from a ridiculously far distance. They may just step once or multiple times. We call this ippon, sanbon or gohon kumite depending on the number of steps taken by the attacker. This form of kihon kumite has been around for decades but it’s probably time for us to move on. I realize this is heresy for the ‘traditionalists’ out there but I believe that it only serves to develop bad habits.

I am a firm believer that functionality must be paramount in the martial arts. Choki Motobu once said, “Nothing is more harmful to the world than a martial art that is not effective in actual self-defense.” That may be a stretch. It certainly takes a back seat to racial profiling, gender inequality, and poverty but in my mind but it certainly holds true in the martial arts world.

At the center of my research, teaching and practice, practicality is the primary focus. For the purpose of becoming competent in the area of self-defense we practice defending against habitual acts of physical violence (HAPV theory is the work of practical karate pioneer Patrick McCarthy). This includes haymaker punches, pushes and shoves, and various types of grabs. We utilize numerous techniques many of which come from kata that include throws, chokes, joint locks, ground fighting, and of course percussive impact. If training methodologies do not develop transferable skills for self protection then I don’t see it as having a lot of value.