Hitting Kotei-men

by Chris
(United Kingdom)

My sensei keeps telling 'Don't walk' when I do hit kote-men. I was told later on that I actually walk a step after hitting kote and before hitting men.

Somehow I am incapable of doing double fumikomi-ashi , not to mention that I tend to get too close to my partner when doing fumikomi-ashi.

I'm guessing that I'm really poor at judging distance...is there anything that I can try to improve on judging distance when doing fumikomi-ashi?

My foot also has a tendency to land heel first when doing fumikomi, which isn't very good for me, but somehow it kills the flow of everything when I put my mind to making myself land the foot not heel first.

Answer:  First of all, I have some articles dedicated to fumikomi, so I encourage reading them.
To adjust your distance:  

1. Get close to your opponent so you can comfortably reach your opponent with one step (fumikomi). This way you can keep your posture upright and perform fumkomi. You have to get the hang of it first.


2. Once you are confident, pay attention to your right foot. If the toe is pointing up when you lift it up, then relax the toe. The reason why you hit the heel on the floor is your toe is pointing up and you drop the right foot straight down instead of forwards.


3. Gradually move yourself further from your motodachi and perform fumikomi.


4. If you start reaching out your arms and your shoulders come forwards because you want to hit a target (men most of the time), then you are too far.


5. If you think you are too close especially after striking kote and strike men next, take a smaller step on kote strike and take a little bigger step on men strike. Most of people take a really big step forwards when striking kote and they cannot strike men comfortably at all.

Hope this helps.

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