Post your Sanchin Kata Video here

[Rick Wilson]

Dana PM for you.

[Stryke]

Great Kata , thank you Dana , great to see both versions great power , glad to see someone on my side and showing some good rotation

I know Rick , better with her harmonies

Actually enjoyed this kata the most so far , very interesting and usefull for where I`m trying to go with Uechi .

[benzocaine]

I'm right along side of Strike and also have enjoyed this kata the most.

Dana, Please critique my next kata I post.

[Dana Sheets]

Thanks to Rick and his daughter for figuring out how to post my kata. And goodness - thank you for the compliments.


It's important to know that this is not "my" approach. This is training learned from Master Ken Nakamatsu and through my teachers - in particular Bob Kaiser. It is still very much a work in progress.

Master Nakamatsu's training is extensive and took fully four years for me to begin to understand. It totally pulled apart my kata and my iron shirt abilities for the first two years because I had to let go of a lot of tension in alot of places in order to find out how my body could make power. I'm still in the consolidation process. Learning how to keep the explosion while adding back in the important iron shirt aspect of sanchin.

The exaggeration I did is an example of the kind of training done. It is not the entire regular training. The regular training is a series of little exercises that feed into one another and starts with you just swinging your arm like you were walking down the street and goes on from there.

And there's a reason Rick didn't get my seisan or sanseiryu. I'm still learning how to apply these principles in those kata so they're still pretty uneven.

[CANDANeh]

Dana: The exaggerated form you demonstrated I noted the slide of the rear foot caused by the uncoiling. This slide is can not be produced without good Kime in my opinion. Do you feel this action (slide) when doing the "non-exaggerated" form? The clip is excellent with a good angle to observe. However it encourages me to save my pennies in order to make another Summer Camp ( my last one was in Beverly Mass.) in order to get first hand info. especially from those who are "still in the consolidation process" as quite often that is where I learn the most. Thanks for submitting your form.

[jorvik]

Dana
Nice Kata....................you move with authority, and you look strong

[Dana Sheets]

Do you feel this action (slide) when doing the "non-exaggerated" form?

Yes. And if anything is sore that day then I tend to slide a little more to ease the stress of throwing technique into the air. Stopping explosive power is taxing to the joints. What's hard to see in newer students doing this training is whether or not the back foot is sliding while or just after the power is rippled through the waist ("waist" being everything above your knees and below your belly button.) You don't want to see any movement in that back leg while the power is still moving up the leg to the hip.

The real key for me is keeping the shoulder completely relaxed. The instant you tighten up anything in the shoulder you limit how much power you can release. In order for me to do this technique I cannot make my traps pop up in an exaggerated way. Instead I let the sinking of my shoulder lift them naturally. Really - natural movement is what this is about. Instead of trying to make more power with my arms I use the explosive power of my legs and let it wiggle it's way out my arm. And yes - I throw these strikes into a heavy bag. Not with a nukite or hiraken (yet) but I do throw full power bushiken & seiken strikes into the bag using this technique.

There are are similar trainings for the circle block, shuto, koi uchi, and kicking. And once you learn those trainings you can apply them to all the uechi technqiues. In some of them more rotation of the waist happens east to west and in others (like kicking) the focus is on pressing the hip down & forwards while letting the leg snap out a relaxed as a bullwhip. We've taken the last few months to jot down a few of the exercises for our teachers in order to remind ourselves of the process for this training. But it translates terribly in print. Some of the movements are intially counter-intuitive and you need a teacher or buddy watching you as often as possible to identify where you've tightened up.

And for the longest time when you do this stuff anyone can come along just after you've thrown a stike, give you a little push on the backside and send you flying forward. That's part of the consolidation bit I'm working on now - not pitching my center of balance to far forward at the end of the strike.

[AlanL]

Great mechanics Dana! Glad you posted your Sanchin. Now I've had the pleasure of aslo seeing your Seisan and Sanseiryu. Don't be shy post them for us. It will give everyone a better scpoe of what you are doing.

I used to perform my Uechi with my hips very uninvolved. My eyes were opened up with power kata (TC) training from Van Canna sensei at a Winter Fest in 2000. Since then exposure to Mike Murphy sensei, GEM sensei and Dana sensei, all promote the use of the lower body to produce a power stroke. I've been working on it and try to incorporate it into all my kata practice. The result for me is a feeling of faster and stronger strikes. The other influence for me to practice for power was the FAST Defense training (Bulletman scenerio training). In thsoe attack scenerios you need to strike hard and on traget.

So thanks to all for the influence! I like the evolution I've been making.

[Stryke]

Sensei Glasheen any news on seeing your kata , still looking forward to it

[Guest]

Dana, Alan I enjoyed both your kata....I'm fond of watching good mechanics..Dana, can you elaborate on the drills you use to build this base in your kata...I'm impressed with how it coils into the back foot and then releases. Very explosive.

I'm sure we all are interested in mechanics that add more bang for your buck.

please share

[Robb in Sacramento]

Dana:

Truly a wonderful San Chin. Your dedication and hard work show. If it is not the best, it is certainly in contention for the best San Chin presented in these clips. You do good work.

Peace
Robb in Sacramento

[Dana Sheets]

Thank you.

Robb! Good to hear from you and too long between visits for sure. I hope to find myself out in Cali someday and drop by for a workout. And with no Okinawa trip schedule for next year I should be able to make summer camp.

The drills are numerous so I'll start them under a separate thread. If I can get my act together perhaps I'll post some quicktimes so you can see.

I don't know how well they'll translate into text but I'll give it a shot.

[diegoz_ar]

Dana's Sanchin is very powerfull, nice moves; but I must admit that I never saw anyone performing this coiling moves previous to the thrust. May be what I do not understand is how subtle this coiling moves should be.

Dana, I have a couple of questions:
- when you are tested (sanchin kitae), do you perform the same coiling moves?
- This kind of "Sanchin" is just a form intended for developing torque and appliying iron shirt principles, or you allways do it like this?
- Isolating the thrust motion, but taking in count the hole body movement. You change the weight distribution, putting more weight in the rear leg, so why do not asume a forward position (zen-kutsu-dachi) when delivering the thrust? (and then return to sanchin-dachi, of course)


I do not mean any disrispect, just trying to figure out new ways/views of performing Sanchin.


Saludos,
Diego

[Dana Sheets]

Great questions!

The coiling should eventually get smaller and smaller until it is invisible. When I see Nakamatsu sensei perform his thrusts there is no extra movement of the body that you see. However his thrusts shoot out so quickly that I can't seem them from start to finish. It is truly amazing.

As I said - I'm still in the process - so you see more of my movement.

I don't know why we don't go all the way to a forward stance. However - since you want most of the force to go out the arm you stop the forward body movement (ideally) when you are over your legs.

- when you are tested (sanchin kitae), do you perform the same coiling moves?

Not the exaggerated move. But yes - I still do the same training when I'm being tested. For now I'm still a little weak when I'm pushed from behind after the strike. That's one of the key things I'm working on. Stopping the body and letting the force continue out the arm.

- This kind of "Sanchin" is just a form intended for developing torque and appliying iron shirt principles, or you allways do it like this?

The big movement is for learning. As I said above - eventually it is as small as you can make it.

Thank you for your questions. I hope my answers are helpful.
Dana

[Stryke]

I don't know why we don't go all the way to a forward stance. However - since you want most of the force to go out the arm you stop the forward body movement (ideally) when you are over your legs.

good question , I`d suspect it`s a factor of Range and balance , you sacrafice one for the other , both ways work but each have there benifits , I also think reaching as far as you often do in a forward stance would make it awkward to use Sanchin dynamics and keep the shoulders so low .

All just my opinion though . But these are the questions I`m pursuing in my cross training .