shotokan karate techniques

So if you are practicing in a karate Dojo, or practicing karate at home, you need to not only make sure you have good technique and accuracy, but you MUST strike with power and venom. To start with use a bit of imagination, when you are hitting a punch bag, focus pads, or kick shields. Try different imagination techniques, imagine the object you strike is your worst enemy, imagine your family is in danger, whatever you do, when hitting a punch bag, focus pads, or kick shield, you must not only destroy the pad or bags, you must also try and destroy whatever is holding them!

Kizami-zuki and gyaku-zuki from front stance. Shomen and hanmi are an essential part of shotokan karate, but sometimes it takes a little while to understand. There are different explanations of shomen and hanmi. My karate instructor always referred to hanmi and shomen as, Hanmi = side facing and Shomen = Square facing. Shotokan karate dojo should place tremendous importance on this area of practice. When executing Kizami-zuki (lead arm punch), the body and hip are in the Hanmi (side facing) position, then when gyaku-zuki is executed, the body is in the Shomen (square facing) position.