Learn Karate – Chokuzuki Or The Straight Punch
When attending a karate for beginners class, one of the first karate techniques taught is chokuzuki or straight punch.chokuzuki or straight punch, is normally the first karate move practiced, when someone attends a karate for beginners class.
The punch is practiced from heiko-dachi (natural stance), feet roughly shoulder width apart, toes pointing directly forward, shoulders relaxed, top of the head pushing upwards, stomach pushing down and chin pulled in. The body weight should be evenly spread over both legs. Try not to put the weight on the heels, try and get the weight must try and be on the balls of the feet and big toes.
One arm is placed straight out in front with a karate fist formed, make sure you keep the shoulder of the punching arm relaxed and down, the back of the fist pointing up.
The other arm is placed in the hikite position. Hikite is created when you make a fist and place it on the ribs on the side of your body, the hikite fist should be palm up, with the elbow pulled in and down. If you look from the front, you should be able to see the fist at the side of the body, but not the elbow sticking out. If the elbow is higher than the fist, the shoulder will be up and weak.
Punching choku zuki With The Right Arm
1. When you start the punch, the right fist will be in the hikite position at the side of the body. Your right arm starts to punch by moving straight forward, but nothing else moves, be sure to keep the palm facing up, do not allow the elbow to wander away from the body, as this will cause the chokuzuki punch to become a flick, keep the elbow directly behind the fist throughout this karate move. When your elbow comes level with the front of your stomach, you begin to rotate the forearm counter-clockwise, your forearm and fist should move through 180 degrees and finish the twisting movement at the end of the punch, do not do this 180 degree traveling movement right at the end of the punch, this is a mis conception, the movement begins as the elbow leaves the body and finishes at the end of the punch.
2. Be sure and keep the wrist straight and the two large prominent knuckles straight forward.
3. At precisely the same time as this is happening, the left hikite arm or pulling arm, that is out in front, begins to pull back to the hikite position at the side of the body. As soon as the pull back starts, twist the left arm 90 degrees anti-clockwise, so the bottom of the hikite fist is facing down, then start to pull the arm back in a straight line. Once again keep the elbow in a straight line, the moment the elbow stops at the side of the body, the last 90 degree rotation can be completed and the left hikite arm will be palm up.
4. Both arms should be travelling at exactly the same time and both arms should stop at the same time. Breathing should be silent, breathing out on the execution of this basic karate technique.
5. Technical Details
If you are punching with the right fist, the power is generated not just from the upper body and arms but from the legs and in particular, the left hip which at the start rotates back to pull back the left pulling hikite arm and then straight away pushing forward at the end of the punch, so the hips once again return to their starting position, this movement generates tremendous power in the punch. The muscles in the back of the left thigh plays a major part in the punch and this muscle tenses at the end of the karate technique, along with the stomach muscles and the muscles beneath the right punching arm.
When trying to learn karate online, the techniques are extremely technical, so it is a really good idea to take things slowly and comprehend the karate moves fully, before moving on to the advanced training.
