Defending Combinations Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "The Second Attack Is the One That Lands." Print it. The article teaches why the second attack lands and how a first attack predicts it. This book trains the defense as a chain: block, bloc…
| Art | Shotokan Karate |
|---|---|
| Family | Karate |
| Level | intermediate |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | sparring, fundamentals, training-plans, safety |
Mat Manual companion guide to "The Second Attack Is the One That Lands." Print it. The article teaches why the second attack lands and how a first attack predicts it. This book trains the defense as a chain: block, block on the move, then sweep, exit, or counter, fed one attack at a time until partners run the school's standard chains at honest speed.
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 with one word, and the drill obeys instantly. ☐ Attacks in every progression are real techniques on real lines at controlled contact. A feeder who pulls an attack short to be kind is training the defender to block air, and a feeder who adds power mid-set is breaking the agreement. Both end the set. ☐ 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 defend jodan (high level) attacks against a held guard or pad target, never against a partner's unprotected head. ☐ Sweeps in this book are timed to a moving, supported foot in drill conditions only. No sweep is thrown against a planted, weight-bearing leg at speed, and no partner falls without a checked breakfall area and mats clear around the pair. ☐ This is an intermediate book. Train it with a foundation in ippon kumite (one-step sparring), your school's basic blocks already reliable one at a time, and your instructor's knowledge.
Part 1: The Defensive Chain on One Page
This is the book's home chain. Every drill below builds one link of it or tests the whole against a harder feed.
| Link | Attack it answers | Defense | The finish that makes the next link possible |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oi zuki (lunge punch), jodan | Age uke (rising block) that stays loaded | Forearm does not collapse after contact. Hikite (pulling hand) full, hips can turn, weight not parked on the back leg |
| 2 | Gyaku zuki (reverse punch), chudan (middle level) | Uchi uke (inside block) taken on the move | Step and block travel together. Defender ends off the center line, counter hip already turned partway |
| 3a | Mae geri (front kick), chudan | Gedan barai (downward block) taken while still moving | Sweep clears the kick across a line the defender has already left. Feet set, guard up, exit or counter available |
| 3b | Mae geri, chudan, or a third punch if the attacker keeps advancing | No third block: angled exit, guard up, or a counter thrown on the way out | The exchange ends on the defender's beat, at a range the defender picked |
Chain law: a link passes only if the next link can start from where it finished. A first block that ends in a pose has failed this book's test even if it stopped the punch cold. What it stopped was one technique. What it cost was the exchange.
School variation note: some schools answer the middle punch with soto uke (outside block), and some teach the low sweep with the other arm. Mark your school's versions in pencil here and drill those. The linking rule does not change with the version.
Defending Combinations Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "The Second Attack Is the One That Lands." Print it. The article teaches why the second attack lands and how a first attack predicts it. This book trains the defense as a chain: block, block on the move, then sweep, exit, or counter, fed one attack at a time until partners run the school's standard chains at honest speed.
What's Inside
- Part 1: The Defensive Chain on One Page
- Part 2: How a Rep Counts
- Part 3: The Five Stages
- Part 4: Feeding Rules — the Attacker's Half of the Book
- Part 5: Stage 1 Drill Cards — One Attack, Loaded Finishes
- Part 6: Block-Linking Drills
- …and 20 more sections
The full guide is a paid Mat Manual product. Checkout is not connected yet — no payment is taken on this page.
Free companion article: The Second Attack Is the One That Lands — the full article, free in full.
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