Ernest Cadorin

The Pulling Hand

Your Belt’s Best Friend

The pulling hand, or hikite in Japanese, is the hand that pulls back to the hip during a strike or a block. The pullback is a simple enough movement, yet what it does for your technique cannot be overstated. Do it well, and your execution will be strong and coordinated. Do it poorly, and several aspects of your technique will suffer.

When a student isn’t pulling properly, it’s easy to simply tell them that their pullback is sloppy and that they need to pay more attention to it. I believe we can do better than that. If we help the person understand what the pullback does for their technique, and if we help them identify specifically what they need to fix, they will be better able to make the necessary corrections. Let’s take a closer look…

How Pulling Improves Your Technique

• It adds power to your strikes and blocks. The pullback contributes to the angular momentum generated by your core, which in turn adds power to your technique. Try pitching a baseball with one arm dangling passively by your side. You’ll be lucky to reach the batter!

• It prepares you for a follow-up technique. We generally train on the assumption that we will have to follow up our initial block or strike with more techniques. When you draw your hand back to your hip during one technique, you are getting that hand ready for the next one.

• It helps keep your upper body relaxed. A proper pullback will do more than just bring your hand back to your hip. It will bring your shoulder back as well. Keeping your shoulders back and down during a sequence of hand techniques is essential for warding off unwanted tension that can otherwise creep into your shoulders and neck.

• It helps you control and disable your attacker. In a typical block-and-counter maneuver, we often grab our attacker’s arm and hold on to it during the pullback. Pulling your attacker towards you and into your strike will make the technique that much more devastating. It will also leave the attacker in an awkward position, with their arm fully extended and in your control.*

Common Problems

• The pulling hand is not coming all the way back to the hip. This could be a sign of upper body tension. Try to relax your shoulder when you pull.

• The pullback is weak. The means you are not trying to use the pullback to add power to your technique. When you do basic drills, focus more of your attention on pulling back sharply, and feel for yourself how much extra power the strong pullback is giving you.

• The pulling hand is not finishing palm up. This is just one of those things – like keeping your thumb in – that you need to engrain in your muscle memory. Spend some time on basic punching drills, making sure both hands are twisting equally and simultaneously.

* As a general rule, you will have more control over something if you hold it close to your centre.