Importance of ki-ai!

After belt promotion, we would learn new kihon, new defenses, etc. But fundamentals never changes, and will continue to remain important even as we proceed on to higher belt levels, one of it being ki-ai.

Ki-ai might seem like just a shout to accompany the cuts, but it is more than that. Ki-ai helps to regulate breathing, so you don’t end up breathless after doing a series of cuts. Of course… I don’t think irregular breathing is good for the heart and lungs either.

In sparring, a loud and especially sudden ki-ai along with a strike can startle the opponent by having a killing intent, leaving an opening to strike. Much advantage, many wow.

So how did we go about training our ki-ai on the 5th of April? Sensei Val instructed us to do crunches during warm-ups. Other than to prevent yourself from having a “family pack” at your tummy, crunches can train up the core muscles. This can help us maintain our stance and allow us to have better stamina. Training the core muscles can also help in ki-ai.

After the warm-up, we had our first exercise. We were to pair up, and one of us will face our back towards the other. The one who is facing the opponent’s back would take a step forward and ki-ai. The opponent that is not doing the ki-ai have to try not to flinch. The next difficulty would be for the opponent whose back is facing the person doing the ki-ai to turn around once the ki-ai is heard, as fast as possible. This is to train alertness and area awareness, which should be useful in competition sparring as there would be a limited area for the sparring.

Nevertheless, ki-ai has an array of advantages and uses, although it might take some time to get used to it. Practice makes better.


Jiejing (JJ)

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