| When you attend your first karate class, you may | | | | talk about the muscles. Just before a strike lands, the |
| here the sensei say to the class 'Kime!' Kime | | | | muscles should be as relaxed as possible, then on |
| translates as focus and there are many interpretations | | | | impact, squeeze all the muscles for a split second. This |
| of kime. When someone starts learning karate, they | | | | tension should only be held for a split second, then the |
| will be told to squeeze their muscles for a split second, | | | | muscles immediately relax. |
| upon completion of a karate move, then completely | | | | The problem is, it is extremely difficult to do and |
| relax, whilst keeping their form. The trouble is, kime is | | | | someone new to the dojo, will invariably hold the |
| difficult for karate black belts, never mind someone | | | | tension way to long, sometimes holding a lot of tension, |
| attending karate classes for the first time. | | | | for the duration of the entire karate class. This is |
| My karate sensei simply explained kime as, 'relax, | | | | where the karate becomes very robotic and if they |
| tense, relax'. Now this is just referring to the muscles, | | | | continue to train this way, they will start to get good at |
| kime goes much deeper than this, but today, let us just | | | | their bad habit and find it very difficult to change. |