Gyaku Zuki Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "Gyaku Zuki: The Punch Everything Else Sets Up." Print it. The article explains why the reverse punch is the art's finishing punch and where it fails. This book builds it: rotation standard…
| Art | Shotokan Karate |
|---|---|
| Family | Karate |
| Level | beginner |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | strikes, fundamentals, training-plans |
Mat Manual companion guide to "Gyaku Zuki: The Punch Everything Else Sets Up." Print it. The article explains why the reverse punch is the art's finishing punch and where it fails. This book builds it: rotation standards you can freeze and check, pad work at the punch's three distances, the step-in progression that makes it travel, and a four-week block that fits inside normal classes.
Name: ______________________________ Dojo: ______________________________ Current grade: ______________ Front stance (left / right: train both): ______________
BEFORE ANYTHING: SCOPE AND SAFETY ☐ Pad work in this book runs at agreed contact. The holder sets the level, the puncher stays inside it, and either partner stops any rep with one word. ☐ Wrist alignment is a pass/fail standard, not a detail. A bent wrist on a hard pad is how wrists get sprained. If the wrist cannot stay straight at a given power, the power comes down until it can. ☐ Shoulder pain that is sharp, pinching, or in the joint itself ends punching work for the day. Muscle effort is training; joint pain is information. Report it to your instructor. ☐ The mechanics standard here is the common Shotokan teaching. Your instructor's version governs in your dojo; note variations on your punch card in Part 1 and train the version you will be graded on.
Part 1: The Punch Card
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Gyaku zuki (reverse punch): the punch with the hand opposite the front foot |
| Home stance | Zenkutsu dachi (front stance) in kihon; the fighting stance of your school in kumite work |
| Engine | Rear hip rotation, driven against the rear foot's pressure on the floor |
| Balance mechanism | Hikite (pulling hand) snapping to the hip as the punch lands |
| Levels | Chudan (middle level) is the teaching standard in this book; jodan (upper level) follows the same mechanics |
| Distances trained | Laboratory (settled stance), kata distance (off movement), kumite distance (travelling behind the jab) |
| Scoring reputation | The most common scoring punch in Shotokan kumite, and the counter-punch of the kata |
| Your school's variations | Hip turn size: ______________ Hikite finish position: ______________ Guard hand in kumite: ______________ |
Gyaku Zuki Playbook
Mat Manual companion guide to "Gyaku Zuki: The Punch Everything Else Sets Up." Print it. The article explains why the reverse punch is the art's finishing punch and where it fails. This book builds it: rotation standards you can freeze and check, pad work at the punch's three distances, the step-in progression that makes it travel, and a four-week block that fits inside normal classes.
What's Inside
- Part 1: The Punch Card
- Part 2: The Rotation Standard
- Part 3: Stance Pressure Standards
- Part 4: Hikite Mechanics
- Part 5: The Line: Elbow Path Standards
- Part 6: Solo Line Drills
- …and 22 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: Gyaku Zuki: The Punch Everything Else Sets Up — the full article, free in full.
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