THE BOX OF THE BODY
By Sensei Justin Butler

Karate becomes a series of moves using physics to facilitate power. There have been many ways to train an individual's body to maximize the power of a punch or a kick. The main difficulty has been how to explain to the student why they are supposed to do moves a certain way and a certain way only. I have stumbled onto such a way. I have called it The Box of the body.

Physiology dictates that the body moves in a certain way in order to get the maximum effect from the movements it does. By imagining a rectangular box surrounding the body, it becomes easier to show the students where to keep their arms and legs in order to maximize the effects of any technique used.

Referring to a punch, we can break the motions down to the basic movements involved in order to explain maximum effect. By keeping your elbow close to your body you maximize the strength and power results. Keeping your fist palm upward until it reaches about ten to twelve inches from your body, depending on the length of your arms, and before you begin turning your fist, you reach a point that is at the edge of the box. At this point, to make the power in the punch explode, you begin turning your hand to the palm downward position making sure to keep the elbow pointing down and close to the body. This will extend the box of the body to the ultimate concentration of power at the point of final extension of the arm. This point, in order to be most effective, should be three to six inches past the front of your opponent's body.

The main points in teaching an effective punch is to concentrate on the proper technique, not the power behind the punch. There are a few examples to show the student that there is a difference between keeping their arm next to the body when punching and letting the arm move away from the body before the punch. By having the student hold their arms next to their body, palm up in an "L" position, and by trying to push your hand upward. The student is usually quite surprised to feel the drastic difference in strength they have over when they have their elbows out from their body. By then having the student hold their arm away from their body in the same "L" shape, again have them try to push your hand upward. The student usually is quite surprised again to feel the drastic difference in strength, or in this case the lack of strength. This technique can be used for all blocks, punches, kicks and other techniques used in the martial arts. As the student progresses the addition of how the muscles of the body coordinate together to accomplish the same results with a focused power.

Note how the lines of the box to from shoulder to the side of the feet in a basic stance.

By using the box of the body to teach the student stances and proper foot placement, it helps them visualize and feel the proper placement of the body in correlation to whatever technique they will be required to do. When teaching stances you can picture the box more as a triangle with the point at the top of the head. For my style of SHOTOKAN the stances are very deep and wide when they are taught in practice, whereas for most of the soft or Chinese styles, the base of the stance is close in. You can use the box of the body in both cases as a triangle showing the way that balance can be achieved with either type of base, short or long. Using a triangle as a focus point from the third eye area, hara area, and the shoulders also helps to explain how to keep the body upright.


To focus to a point from 4 points of focus
The center is shown by the dot on the base of the pyramid.


By showing how the box of the body will expand and contract with the movement of the size of the stance used the student is able to visualize their personal balance area. This also shows how a kick is required to be initiated with proper balance, and how the box of the body works with placement of the student’s body to facilitate a balanced technique. If the balance of the body is off, the pyramid focus will no longer be centered, thus showing how the student will be off balance.

Note how the focus point is in front of the body.

These applications can be used in many different sports. Due to the unique way that martial arts are used and taught, the application of the box of the body is most obvious. This enables women to excel in a sport that, in appearance, needs allot of strength to make it work. This is why karate is so unique and effective when proper technique is used. With the female’s unique physiology taken into consideration, the box of the body can be used to show women how to exemplify their technique to show more strength and power than their appearance dictates they have. Since a woman’s hips are positioned differently than men’s hips, it gives her more torque for kicks, punches and blocks than a man. Also with the additional structure of their arms having an angle to them, this can more than make up for the muscular strength of a man. By using the box of the body a woman can be shown how to find her maximum efficiency with all of her techniques.

By using a combination of two pyramids, one for the base of the body and one from the waistline up to the head, it is possible to show how to keep the upper body in an upright position in order to keep the balance of the body correct. Showing how the upper pyramid is balanced on the top focal point of the lower pyramid enables an instructor to show how the body keeps its balance. If the top of the body is moved out of balance the pyramid will topple from its perfectly balanced position. This view will also show how the lower body and the upper body can work independently in order to keep the correct balance.

In regard to people with physical disabilities, the instructor is able to adjust the box of the body to fit the specific needs of the individual. The use of the box of the body to show a person with disabilities how to move their body more efficiently can be helpful with certain physical therapies. I have used this technique with M.S. students to help them learn how to move in stances to accommodate their body’s lack of balance. Used with stretching techniques this has been very rewarding with these students.

With the discovery of the box of the body, it has given me the ability to teach my students easier. The realization of this technique has been brought to my attention by the instructions of many karate teachers. By watching the different styles of teaching of all of my Instructors, they have given me insight as to different explanations of how to develop correct stances and techniques.

Shows how the upper body needs to be straight to balance.

By using the box of the body technique, it has helped me to enhance my own stances, punches and blocks. It has helped me to better understand where my balance was needed to help find the proper stance or punch. It also has helped me to develop the power of my punches and kicks. The insight of how to place my feet and knees in relationship to my body has also helped to increase the effectiveness of each technique.

At this point in my martial arts career I know there is a fortune of knowledge yet to be acquired. Any tools that are developed in the learning process can only help an instructor progress within themselves. Each epiphany a teacher realizes enables that teacher to do a better job with new students and the ones they have already taught.