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If you don't "rely" on them to work why use them at all?
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Something may help some of the time. I wouldn't rely on it, but I may still use it for the sake of the times it does help. I think of stepping through on tenshinage in this way: rarely necessary, occasionally counterproductive, but most often helpful and hence a good habit.
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And if they don't disrupt the flow of a technique then how would they disrupt the flow of an attack.
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Atemi is often delivered in a way that stops uke's movement. I find that this just makes techniques more difficult as I then have to get uke moving again. Really skillful atemi, I think, manages to disrupt uke's balance without disrupting uke's flow. The movement continues in more or less the direction it was going, but control and initiative have shifted subtly to nage. A small movement of the hand can sometimes create this effect without really registering in uke's mind as an atemi. Like Ian said, I wouldn't rely on it, but on the other hand you can't really rely on anything.