Counterattacking Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "You Blocked It. Then Nothing Happened." Print it. The article explains the three timings and why the pause got trained in. This book removes the pause stage by stage: the counter menu, the…
| Art | Shotokan Karate |
|---|---|
| Family | Karate |
| Level | intermediate |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | sparring, fundamentals, training-plans |
Mat Manual companion guide to "You Blocked It. Then Nothing Happened." Print it. The article explains the three timings and why the pause got trained in. This book removes the pause stage by stage: the counter menu, the drills with pass standards, the distance work, and the scoring sheets that prove the rate is climbing.
Name: ______________________________ Dojo: ______________________________ Grade: ______________ Start date: ______________ Current stage (Part 3): ______________
BEFORE ANYTHING: SCOPE AND SAFETY ☐ All partner work in this book runs at agreed speed and agreed contact, stated out loud before each drill. Either partner can lower the speed or the contact at any time with one word, and the drill obeys instantly. ☐ Counters are thrown at real targets at controlled contact. Control is the skill being graded in every drill here; a counter that cannot be controlled does not count as a rep, however fast it was. ☐ Head contact follows your dojo's rules for your grade, with headgear where your school requires it. Students whose schools do not allow head contact train jodan (high level) counters to touch a held guard or pad, never a partner's head. ☐ This is an intermediate book. Students train it with a foundation in ippon kumite (one-step sparring) and their instructor's knowledge. Sen sen no sen (striking the preparation) is named in the article and deliberately not drilled here.
Part 1: The Counter Menu
One block, one counter, no daylight between them. Targets are what the block opens. Mark your school's standard pairs in pencil where they differ.
| Attack | Block (go no sen entry) | Counter | Target the block opens | Footwork note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oi zuki jodan (lunge punch, high) | Age uke (rising block) | Gyaku zuki (reverse punch), chudan | The ribs and solar plexus under the extended arm | Block stepping in at an angle or straight in; never back out of counter range |
| Oi zuki chudan (middle) | Uchi uke (inside block) or soto uke (outside block) per school | Gyaku zuki, chudan | The center the attacking arm vacated | Hip rotation starts from the block's finish position |
| Maegeri chudan (front kick) | Gedan barai (downward block) | Step in, gyaku zuki, chudan | The whole front as the kicking leg sets down | The step in lands as the kick lands; late steps meet a reset guard |
| Oi zuki jodan | Age uke | Same-side uraken uchi (back-fist) where school teaches it, or kizami zuki (front-hand jab) off the block | The head line the rising block cleared | Advanced variant; only after the gyaku zuki version passes Stage 2 |
| Mawashi geri chudan (roundhouse kick) | Soto uke or haiwan uke (forearm block) per school | Step in on the kick's landing, gyaku zuki | The side the kick came from, opened as the leg rechambers | Entry timed to the rechamber, not the extension |
| Oi zuki chudan | Shuto uke (knife-hand block) in kokutsu dachi (back stance) | Spring forward, nukite (spear hand) or gyaku zuki per school | The midline the shuto cleared | The back stance is the spring; weight held back is range stored, then spent |
| Gyaku zuki chudan (as the fed attack in later stages) | Uchi uke with a half-step out | Gyaku zuki or mae geri off the block | The attacker's extended side | Introduced at Stage 3; attacks stop being only oi zuki from here |
| Any committed punch, Stage 5 only | No block: sen no sen entry | Kizami zuki or gyaku zuki meeting the launch | The target as the attack travels | Part 8 rules govern; pass standard applies before any free use |
Menu law: a counter is only on your menu when you have passed its stage standard with it (Part 3). Free rounds are fought with the menu you own, not the menu you have read about.
Counterattacking Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "You Blocked It. Then Nothing Happened." Print it. The article explains the three timings and why the pause got trained in. This book removes the pause stage by stage: the counter menu, the drills with pass standards, the distance work, and the scoring sheets that prove the rate is climbing.
What's Inside
- Part 1: The Counter Menu
- Part 2: How a Rep Counts
- Part 3: The Six Stages
- Part 4: Stage 1 Drill Cards
- Part 5: Stage 2 and 3 Drill Cards
- Part 6: Distance — Blocking Where the Counter Reaches
- …and 23 more sections
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Free companion article: You Blocked It. Then Nothing Happened. — the full article, free in full.
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