September 6-8, 2019, IFK Canada Headquarters – Contact Kicks Dojo, hosted a seminar with Special Guest Shihan Alexey Gorokhov, 5th Dan Russia IFK.
Shihan Alexey Gorokhov is a member of the head referring comity of IFK Russia, Head of methodology comity of professional league of Kyokushin in Russia, with many students who are top 3 and champions of Russian, Euro and World tournaments. His own accomplishments are well known, and include:
– Champion of Russia (99, 03, 04, 13).
– Russian Cup Champion (01,06)
– European Cup Champion
– World Cup Champion no weight division in Japan
– North American Champion
After spending a day sightseeing in the Niagara area, including a boat trip to the Falls, the seminar kicked of Friday morning. Classes were held at Contact Kicks Martial Arts, the head dojo for IFK Canada, and Saturday morning’s class was held in a local park, with perfect weather for training.
We had over 60 participants from Toronto, Laval, Montreal and United States. Special thank you to Sensei Jonathan C. Hemond from Karate Laval and IFK Canada Vice-President, Sensei Mikhail Zimerman from Montreal, Sensei Pascal Hemond from Laval and not lastly Shihan Mike Monaco 7th Dan Country Representative IFK USA.
From the start the seminar was fantastic, and focused primarily on Shihan Alexei’s vast experience in Kyokushin, with special focus on hip mobility, body mechanics and movement, to generate power, speed and deception.
His seminar was methodically put together, with one class a prerequisite for the following class, and one building to the next, which ultimately culminated with the last day focusing how to put the principles together in Kumite.
There are four important aspects that Shihan Alexey emphasized in his training, all of which are crucial to for understanding body mechanics of any strike, redirect and counter.
1. First is the initial ignition or the generation of power that comes from feet and calves to generate forward momentum. (This technique is helpful to hide your intention or back-swing)
2. Second is the “Force” generated from your mass and the gravity generated towards the opponent, as he would breakdown using physics. For example, F=gm (or if you want to get more specific F=gm·cosθ, where g is the free fall acceleration, m is your mass and θ is the angle of your body towards the opponent. Generally the angle is below 15 degrees).
3. The third is the rotation of the body, twisting or winding of shoulders followed by hips in the direction of the target. The rotation is done on a newfound fulcrum or hinge (in the example of a low kick, the hinge and center of mass are located on the opposite leg). The transition to the pivot has to be done smoothly, again hiding the intention.
4. Lastly, is the contact point with the target: Done snappy and sharply, transitioning generated force to the target. Alexey would often refer to it as a cut. With all said, Shihan emphasized that it is very important to keep a consistent and stable posture (posterior position, tight core, relaxed shoulders balanced center of mass)
He also concentrated a lot of attention to stretching and unorthodox physical exercise for core muscle tension and flexibility, aka the vertical power generation. Much of the stretching and other exercise examples were taken from other sports and martial disciplines.
Shihan Alexey’s breakdown of all those parts was extremely detailed, isolating every component into movement exercises. Each mechanic was done with an example on how it relates to fighting.
When talking about power generation, volunteers mentioned that nothing in their past compared to Shihan Alexey’s low kick and punching power. With all that power, you would almost forget that he is a very tricky fighter as well.
Everyone was extremely impressed by this true master of Kyokushin, his abilities and knowledge, great teaching methods, and not to mention a true gentleman who is approachable and friendly, and performs all examples with a smile.
Saturday evening was the Sayonara dinner and gathering at a local Chinese buffet restaurant.
Sunday’s last class brought together all the teachings of the past few days, and as mentioned at the start, culminated with sparring, trying to put into practice what we had been taught. Sensei Steve mentioned that the seminar is a series of lectures that Shihan does, with this being the first and focusing on fundamental techniques. We are all quite interested to pursue his later teachings, and hopefully he can return someday to continue.
There were photos, hugs, and handshakes after, and all were deeply satisfied that they had attended.
IFK Canada would like to thank Shihan Alexey for taking the time to travel such a long distance to share his knowledge, and we hope to see him again soon!
Thank you to Sensei Steve Fogarasi, IFK Canada Country Representative and IFK Canada President for inviting Shihan Alexey and hosting this great event.
Osu!
