FISHER SHOTOKAN KARATE

FISHER METHOD

By Charles Rhodes, P. Eng., Ph.D.

FISHER SHOTOKAN KARATE:
Fisher Shotokan Karate is an enhanced form of Shotokan Karate in which technique detail is uniquely determined by maximization of energy delivery within an elapsed time of 0.5 seconds. The main principles of Fisher Shotokan Karate are summarized in the section titled: Fisher One Page.

FISHER ONE PAGE:
1. The object of Fisher Shotokan is controlled delivery of the maximum amount of energy obtainable with the available body mass within an elapsed time of less than 0.5 seconds.

2. The two matters that over ride all other considerations are: Distance to your opponent and your foot position. Distance to your opponent determines what you should do and your foot position determines what you can do.

3. Another matter of great importance is rapid transition through the Midpoint Fully Loaded Position (MFLP). The MFLP is the position during a full step when the body weight vertical force vector points directly through one loaded foot and the other foot bears no weight.

4. A rapid energy accumulating turn requires an initial high torque hip spin with body erect and both feet spread on the ground instantly followed by a vigorous reduction in body moment of inertia as pivoting commences about one leg.

5. There are five Cardinal Rules:
1st Cardinal rule: Every technique must be explosive, even during the slow parts of kata, so that your opponent cannot respond to you either offensively or defensively. He cannot catch you on the way in, nor can he escape your technique.

2nd Cardinal Rule:  On any movement the first action one takes is to drop straight down because this action loads (accumulates potential energy in) the leg muscles. The greater the leg muscle loading, the greater the available potential energy.

3rd Cardinal Rule: During any linear attack, at the MFLP the knee and foot of the loaded leg must both be pointed at the target. Otherwise the loaded leg can not be fully loaded.

4th Cardinal Rule: When moving forward at the MFLP the body Center of Mass (CM) should be over the toes of the loaded leg to maximize the average forward horizontal force vector from the legs.

5th Cardinal Rule: From the beginning of the release of stored energy in a loaded leg to the instant of energy delivery to an opponent the heel(s) of the loaded leg(s) should remain in firm contact with the ground. Otherwise maximum energy cannot be developed or delivered.

SUPERIORITY OF FISHER SHOTOKAN:
1. Karate is like an onion. It has many layers. Many people know what the outside is like. Some people know what the next layer is like. Fewer people understand the deeper layers.

2. One of these deeper layers is an area of physics known as mechanics. Newtonian mechanics governs the motion of masses and other matters relating to kinetic and potential energy at speeds that are small compared to the speed of light. Charles Rhodes has the benefit of advanced understanding of this area of physics.

3. Over a period of about five years (1995 to 1999) Charles Rhodes, in his role as a Karate Ontario official, observed the success of Malcolm Fisher in numerous karate tournaments. Charles Rhodes concluded that much of Sensei Fisher's tournament success was due to superior technique rather than just natural ability.

4. As a result of detailed demonstrations by Sensei Fisher at Brad Jones Karate-Do during 2008, it became apparent to Charles Rhodes that Sensei Fisher had, without formal training in mathematics or physics, intuitively discovered several fundamental physical principles relating to body motion and had successfully applied these principles to systematically enhancing various aspects of Shotokan karate.

5. In early January 2009 Charles Rhodes mathematically compared the Fisher Method of executing the first 90 degree turn of the kata Heian Shodan to the corresponding JKA Method and concluded that over a reasonable range of opponent distances the Fisher Method is 34% faster than the JKA Method.

6. Charles Rhodes recognized that both he and others could benefit by integrating Fisher Methods into their own karate.

ENERGY DELIVERY:
Sensei Fisher realized that most of the deliverable energy of a karate technique originates in the legs, but that linear motion and turns are both constrained by the requirement that the legs must have vertical force vector components that summed together equal the body weight. Hence there are only limited ranges of leg angles and body positions that allow maximum energy accumulation, maximum turn rate and maximum energy delivery to an opponent.

Sensei Fisher further realized that kinetic energy delivery could be increased by acquiring angular momentum at a large body moment of inertia and then converting muscle chemical energy into kinetic energy by reducing the body moment of inertia during free rotation. This kinetic energy accumulation technique is integral to Fisher Shotokan.

Sensei Fisher found that the optimum motion path for maximizing energy delivery is usually not a straight line. The optimum motion path usually involves a combination of a Center-of-Mass (CM) drop, a low moment of inertia turn and then a linear attack.

The CM drop typically takes about 0.2 seconds, which provides the karateka a small time window to appropriately react to an opponent's attack. This CM drop stores elastic energy in the legs which makes the following karate technique very fast.

DEFENSE:
Sensei Fisher observed that normal bipedal motion involves a significant lateral movement of the body Center of Mass (CM). A block of a high energy attack that at the attacker's Midpoint Fully Loaded Position (MFLP) is aimed at the defender's Center of Mass (CM) should deflect the attack in the direction of the normal lateral movement of the attacker's CM. Simply put, the best way to block a high energy attack is to get out of the way. The act of attack avoidance should place the defender in a favorable position to deliver a maximum energy counter attack. This issue redefines details of both kumite and the design and execution of kata.

LEARNING PROCESS:
Sensei Fisher has attempted to teach Fisher Shotokan to others with limited success. Part of the difficulty in teaching Fisher Shotokan is that the advantages of Fisher Shotokan over JKA Shotokan are generally only fully appreciated by advanced karate-ka. By the time a person has gained sufficient knowledge of karate to fully appreciate the advantages of Fisher Shotokan and has acquired sufficient self confidence to depart from accepted JKA Methods, he/she has already practised basic movements in accordance with JKA gospel many thousands of times. Unlearning these basic habitual movements in order to learn Fisher Shotokan is a major challenge. To overcome this challenge he/she must be open minded enough to seriously try Fisher Shotokan techniques. This learning problem is multiplied if his/her dojo head has a different philosophy.

Acceptance of Fisher Shotokan is easier if a student has sufficient understanding of physics to have mental certainty regarding the applicability of physical laws to karate techniques.

Teaching Fisher Shotokan might be easier if one started with novices, rather than black belts. However, that would be a long process and would require modifications to numerous JKA kata manuals.

Learning Fisher Shotokan involves physical training to develop more deliverable energy in a shorter time through appropriate use of the hips and ankles and through more complex turns than are currently taught by the JKA.

CONCEPT GENERALIZATION:
The goal of maximization of energy delivery within 0.5 seconds, which is central to Fisher Shotokan, extends beyond the particular techniques that Sensei Fisher has optimized. However, in respect of Sensei Fisher's recognition that the primary goal of Shotokan karate is maximization of energy delivery to a chosen target within 0.5 seconds, and in recognition of Sensei Fisher's long term demonstration in tournaments of the utility of Fisher Shotokan technique, for the purpose of this web site all karate techniques optimized for maximum energy delivery within an elapsed time of less than 0.5 seconds are herein referred to as “Fisher Shotokan”.

OTHER STYLES:
Sensei Fisher has observed that optimization of energy delivery within an elapsed time of 0.5 seconds uniquely defines the best way to execute any particular karate technique. Hence all karate styles share the same optimized kumite techniques and the various karate styles differ only in the kata that they choose to practise.

DEFENSE AGAINST KYUSHO:
There are some martial arts techniques that rely primarily on sequential precise attacks to nerve centers or pressure points. These techniques are known as Kyusho or Dim-Mak. The superiority of Fisher Shotokan lies in a first strike energy delivery which is so large and which occurs so quickly that the opponent is incapable of responding with any precise counter attacks. In this respect Fisher Shotokan lends itself to use in highly adrenalized combat situations.

This web page last updated December 28, 2010.