Customer Reviews

75 Down Blocks: Refining Karate Technique

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In recent years we have learnt that to understand our style thoroughly we have to go beyond our style; but in so doing we can find the effective self defence principles that were there all along. So practitioners of karate, tae kwon do, kung fu and so on are realizing that their kata and even basic kihon can make sense as self defence -in a way they never did as "traditionally" taught - if we have the eyes to see what they could be. Because at this stage in the evolution of our arts this is largely a process of reverse engineering, the sticking point is having the range of conceptual tools to see what the moves could be. Having trained with Rick Clark regularly on his seminars in the UK, I was always struck by how someone could show him some piece of kata from their style, and Rick could see immediately a number of interesting and worthwhile applications. He has taken that vision of his and inspected one of the most basic movements in many styles - the down block. What comes out is a wealth of ideas - just the inspiration the modern practitioner needs to understand his art. Any one person should reject many of the ideas and accept only a few for regular training, so that what they take fits in most coherently with what else they use for other movements in their kata etc. But each student will select something different, and so seeing a wide range of possiblities is invaluable for guiding one to create one's own personal self defence system. Presented here are many principles of jujutsu, arnis and kyusho jutsu applied to a simple move of karate, illustrating the fundamental unity of all styles. It's a book I will return to many times.

Prof. Rick Clark isn't your usual martial arts writer. For one thing, in this book he writes about the ideas of Wilfredo Pareto, the 19th century economist who invented the 80/20 rule, and how that idea applies to martial arts; crime statistics for violent attacks against police officers and their implication for martial arts training; and in the second appendix to the book, there is a brief history of the reintroduction of Japanese martial arts into their univerisity system and the contribution of a German doctor who became physician to the Meiji emperor's son in that regard by the name of Erwin Baelz.

The title of the book derives from the fact that the author uses the concept of the down block as a metaphor to examine similar motions and to compare different techniques across the martial arts. For example, he mentions how the nikyu technique in aikido resembles the down block in many respects. Also, the book contains 75 different self-defense techniques against various kinds of attacks.

The techniques also follow the rationale of being designed around the kinds of attacks one can expect based on the aforementioned crime statistics. According to the statistics, most percussive attacks involve either a simple front kick or punch, kicks being about 10% more likely than punches. Grabs at one's wrist or lapel are also very common, along with the attempt to twist the arm, but rarely does anyone try a specific choke or arm hold or technique.

So as I said, although the technques run the full gamut in terms of responses, from holds and locks to takedowns and the usual karate techniques, they are organized around and seleted according to the critieria of probability of occurrence. I liked this aspect of the book and thought it made a lot of sense. The author's crime statistics are based on FBI crime figures from past decades.

Another strong point of the book is that the percussion techniques are directed at the Chinese dim mak or vulnerable points, so you learn some of that too. I'm not going to debate the validity or efficacy of those theories of Chinese medicine here, I just mention it for accuracy's sake. The self-defense techniques in this book are more hold and lock oriented than karate oriented, so they take more skill to execute. Some of these techniques would qualify as very advanced and probably the average martial artist wouldn't be able to perform it in a real street situation. In that sense many of the techniques are more suitable for the advanced practitioner.

One of the more advanced aspects of the techniques is that reversals against a wrist lock and arm bar are shown. These technqiues won't work, however, if you wait until the last minute to execute them, and the best reversal techiques aren't the ones actually illustrated, but they are the simplest. However, the author mentions the first point in the text.

That having been said, most self-defense is pretty much the same whether one is talking about judo, BJJ, karate, or kung fu. They all invaribly involve how to escape from such things as wrist graps, chokes, and how to respond to kicks and punches. So the techniques illustrated here run the full gamut from basic to very advanced. Another reviewer here said some of the techniques are unrealistic in that they require grabbing a punch out of mid-air, but then that's no different from what many martial arts and artists teach. One has to take the good and useful along with less than useful and filter the techniques accordingly, although that takes some experience and skill.

Some of the photo sequences are a bit unclear and required more photos to show the complete transition in the technique, but then, that's also a common problem in martial arts books on the grappling arts. The only real cure here is to use a book like this in conjunction with a video illustrating the holds and locks if one doesn't have access to a real teacher.

So despite the above flaws, overall, an excellent book with a self-defense oriented theme from Prof. Clark.

This book has been around since 2003 but for some reason, possibly the title, I ignored it until recently. Now that I finally read it, I realize what a treasure it is and wish I would have researched this book earlier. The fascinating thing about this book is how it shows the relationship between karate and jujitsu combat arts. The down, or commonly also known as the low block, is more versatile than I imagined. With my jujitsu and karate back ground, I immediately saw the numerous applications of this simple technique.

The fifteen chapters cover an enormous amount of information and practical techniques using the down block. There are chapters on defending against a kick, defending against a same-side wrist grab, defending against a cross-hand wrist grab, double wrist-grab, upper arm grabs, defense against the push, lapel grabs, defense against rear grabs, defense against a punch, defense against a stick and numerous other techniques.

In conclusion, this is a book that will open your imagination when it comes to karate techniques found in kata and in its basic techniques. All martial art students will find the techniques in this book simple and easy to follow in combination with training under a competent karate and jujitsu instructor.

Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Shotokan Karate Self-Defense Techniques: Combat Karate for the street ISBN: 978-0-9793293-0-2)

This is a great book for those seeking the meaning behind the typical karate block movements.
(Hint) there are no blocks.

I bought a copy of this a few years ago and still look at it from time to time. The book contains 75 uses for gedan barai, the classic downblock in karate. I had realised that there were many uses of this block before I had even heard of this book, but it is nice that other people think in similar ways to me. What I find interesting is that I myself have about 35 common uses for this block. Of these 35, about 15 are in this book. My friend has another 6 that I don't use and which aren't in this book either. And then an 8th Dan I know has another few that are common to none of us. Do not limit yourself to only 75 applications.

The Pros : good production values, some good research at the beginning, some very good techniques, and it expands ones mind on the use of techniques individually and in kata.

The Cons. Some of the applications feel a little forced and seem there only to make up the numbers.

I would recommend this book to the serious student.

It's becoming a trend in martial arts nonfiction writing to do a lot of overly-analytic psuedo-scholarship. This is not a fault in and of itself, and when well-written, is no worse than other such nonfiction. However, this is not well-written. Yes, Mr. Clark does quote Pareto (in the same way that many psuedo-scholars do), and uses the 80/20 rule used in economics incorrectly to support his theory that 80% of what you train in in traditional martial arts isn't useful. He goes on to say that this can be changed if moves are critically analyzed in light of your purpose for training. He also does a lot of analysis about HAOV (Habitual acts of violence) to show that often the moves traditional martial arts train to counter aren't often seen in modern confrontations. This book could have skipped about a hundred pages if he had begun with an introduction that said this much more clearly. Bill Burgar does a much better analysis of HAOV and the so-called Pareto rule in "Five Years, One Kata."

Pros: Conceptually, an interesting approach. Rather than waste time trying to determine exactly what the original application of a down block is (almost impossible to do in even one art, let alone when addressing the down block among many arts), Clark has expanded the idea of determining sensible applications that work for the individual. A martial artist can determine what application the down block seems to resonate with, without worrying about the "proper" down block application.

Cons: The applications themselves seem very unrealistic. About four-fifths of the techniques he uses seem to be useless, many of them beginning with the defender rather impossibly catching the punch in mid-air. Many of the others involve small-joint manipulation that seems very unrealistic; for example, in one sequence the attacker has grabbed Clark's hand, and in the next photo, Clark suddenly has a wrist lock on the attacker, with no transition or explanation. Most of the 75 down block applications Clark does are simply unworkable.

Cons also include the fact that he uses the confusing terminology of pressure points like "spleen 32" that is not at all helpful.

Cons additionally include Clark's appearance. In the photos he seems to be terribly flabby and out of shape. A small thing, perhaps, but it gives him less credibility.

Cons also include the photography, which is dark and often difficult to see.

Overall, just a starting point to see how one can find out applications for oneself. Clark himself admits that it would be more helpful to think of the book's applications as a starting point for one's own research, and I concur, since most of the applications he suggests are unworkable. Between 12 and 15 of the 75 applications Clark gives might actually be workable, with some modification, so the ratio may not be high enough for some readers who might expect the number to be closer to the 75 in the title. Conceptually, though, his approach does give food for thought, although the book is a little pricey for what you get. An expansion of some of his theories on kata applications, and a much more realistic set of them, is included in Bill Burgar's "Five Years, One Kata," which I would recommend greatly over this book. In summary, rent this book from the library, don't buy it.