An elbow strike in karate may sound easy, but you really have to aim for perfection to get this one right. Using your body, core, arm and mind, you can perform this strike efficiently using the steps below!
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 2:
Getting Your Stance Right
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Stand in a shortened Zenkutsu Dachi stance.
- Put either your right or left leg in front of the other.
- Bend your front leg.
- Straighten your back leg.
- Slightly shorten the distance between your legs.
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Make your stance usable. Stances are one of the most important factors of karate when doing the movements. No movement will ever work effectively without a good stance.
- Wiggle your toes. Now grip the floor with your feet as much as you can. Feel a "readiness" rise in your mind and body. Are your feet firm in the ground? Feel the roots growing from them into the ground. Can somebody push you over easily?
- Breathe in deeply, then breath out through your belly button. Don't actually, but as you breath out crunch your core (torso/lower stomach). Feel it harden as the muscles come together to protect you. This may take some practise.
- Do not hunch over your back. Have a slightly rounded back, not a circle.
- Hit your stomach. Does it feel in the slightest bit harder than before? If so, you are doing it right.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 2:
Performing the Strike
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Without losing your stance, position your arms:
- Take the hand that you are not using to strike. Place it in front of you, elbow bent so that it stands up relatively straight from the elbow down in front of the middle of your torso.
- Press all your fingers together. Separated fingers show weakness (most of the time) and can cause injury.
- Aim your fingertips toward the sky, so your arm is going down (slanted)-up (slanted)- fingertips to sky, hand straight.
- The arm you are using hand should curl into a fist. Always put your thumb on the outside, not the inside. Many people get this wrong. If your thumb is on the inside your fist, it could seriously hurt when you perform any strike. Put your thumb across that in-between section of the two finger joints of your other fingers- not on top or in the front. It should be at the bottom of your fist.
- Place your striking fist on the front of your body, so the arm sticks out to the side and back. Your hand should be on the side of your body where your striking hands arm is, on that side, and roughly where a woman's one breast would be- just about 10 cm below your collarbone.
- Hold your hand there- don't let it flop.
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Push the shoulder supporting your striking hand back, in preparation to block.
- Turn your hips slightly in the same direction as your shoulders.
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Strike.
- Quickly rotate your hips facing forward, using this slight momentum to swing your striking shoulder forward.
- As your shoulders align with your hips (facing forward), lift the elbow so it is the same height as your shoulder.
- Now hit whatever you are hitting with the side of your arm and fist where the pinky and elbow tip are.
- Use your shoulder rotation.
- All of the steps from twisting your hips should be done in a few seconds.
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Tips
- Use your hips, shoulders and torso and stance to get the best momentum which lends you power and speed.Thanks
- Try the movement out slowly at first. If it feels wrong even after a few tries, do some stretches. If it still feels sore, you are doing something wrong.Thanks
- Stretch before you try this out.Thanks
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