Nidan Melbourne

Can't say that I have met anyone like that in my 20 odd years of training. But it does make me think about my early days.

So this is my Template I use to help plan out my training, then just print it off for me to go. I have a secondary sheet on the same document; which helps me keep track of how often I do each of the exercises/skills. Now on both Sheets I have - Exercise Now this is the most obvious thing for the Warm Up and Main Training. You just have to identify what your doing - Sets How many Groups of Repetitions you have to do. - Reps How many times you do it - Load This might sound strange, but if I am adding any form of weight for a Set I add it here. If unloaded; I either leave it blank or write 0. - Skill Type Whatever form of training area that item is. Kihon, Kata, Pre-Arranged Sparring, Breakfalls etc. I'm looking at making another sheet that gives me a tally of how many of everything that I have done. So at the end of a training phase, or when I review my training I can clearly see how often I do everything.

I should probably add, when it came to Throws and Breakfalls Training we had to be careful and limit to more advanced students when it came to training on Wooden Floors. Like I learnt how to fall on Wooden Floors; did it suck? yes it did. But definitely made me appreciate that having those "golden' rules when it came to learning how to do them and also teaching others. Throws are the same, as each throw has different mechanics to them; we had to have solid awareness of what is on the ground and what the surface is like.

You're doing great! Take it one day at a time. I have a little training diary that I make sure I do something everyday and fill it out.

Depends on what i'm wanting to focus on in any one day. Having been in the game for a long time now, and I'm training on my own; I like to go by feel and listening to my senses outside of sight. Why? because if your in a situation where you lose access to your vision; then you need to rely on everything else at your disposal. Kata - I go through the "Standard" way, then change it up. I did some on the beach recently, including in the water. Pre-Arranged Sparring - "Solo" Edition. Makes you look like a complete Psycho, but this allows you to work on that internal intensity outside of class.

This is more directed towards those who have multiple locations. So for context; the club I first trained at had 4 locations (2 of which I never visited). So our Hombu Dojo used Mats for both floors, and the Dojo I was based at didn't use any mats as we trained on hard floors. So the only time I visited our Hombu was for Grading Purposes. Now out of curiosity; for those who have multiple locations or teach for several clubs. What surfaces do you teach on and how differently do you teach when on different surfaces?

that is so true when it comes to a temporary space. Both clubs I've trained at have used a rented space, both at recreation centres (one now at a school). We can have signs up (Banner ones) and mats out for training.

Thats great that the owner happened to be watching and spotted the issue.

We use the Shodan-Ho designation betwen 1st Kyu and Shodan. But we have the same issues as those who promote students straight to Shodan from 1st Kyu. Over the years, I have noticed that more kids quit once they get to Black Belt than the Adults do. I remember going through the Kyu Grades; and was told NOTHING about the Dan Grades and what training is like after attaining the rank of Shodan-Ho. Although to be fair, at my dojo at the time there were no students ranked above Shodan. We had several Shodan-Ho Students, even when I transitioned to the Seniors Class there were only a handful. But when I graded to Shodan-Ho, I had 1 classmate going for Shodan who was the most senior student there. However club-wide, my instructors (1x 3rd Dan, 3x 1st or 2nd Dan) were some of the most senior. But from what I know all up I think we had 3x Sandans (including my Club Owner), 3 or 4 2nd Dans and a handful of 1st Dans. My current club, we have 1x Godan, 1x Yondan, 4x Sandan, 5x Nidan, 8x Shodan, and several Shodan-Ho. But the reason we have so many higher grades, is because of my CI (Godan), our Yondan came from another club, and the remainder have come to the club as Black Belts and were consequently promoted. But it is possible for a student to have started in 2008 and be promoted to around 4th Dan (if awarded BB in 2012).

A dojo at most imho should have a Shrine with the founder of your style and your Chief Instructor. So at the Dojo I taught us, had 3 photos; Chojun Miyagi Sensei (Founder of Goju-Ryu), Gogen Yamaguchi Sensei (Founder of Goju-Kai) and my Shihan (Headmaster of our School). I think there was a plan to add photos of Goshi Yamaguchi (Son of Gogen Yamaguchi) and Tino Ceberano Hanshi (Brought Goju-Kai to Australia) to the lineup.

The dumbest thing I managed to do was dislocate my small toe on my right foot, courtesy of the person to my right and their pant leg. I can't remember if I was getting up or down, but my toe for whatever reason snagged their pants and dislocated my toe. Otherwise I've had no other injuries because of my training.

My condolences to the family.

I enjoy doing it with my Adults Classes; so they can be comfortable doing it early on. Whilst I tend to introduce it in my Junior Advanced Class, as it takes a lot more control in my opinion than your normal sparring. For me, I am definitely a close range fighter so this is my preferred way of teaching how to fight. A lot of students I've fought over the years struggle with this range of fighting, because they've only ever been taught the more "tag' version of sparring. Sparring for me is more about communication at a distance, and ending it close in. Thats where I believe BJJ works great for pressure testing, because you have no chance of escape it is deal with your threat then get away.

I trained with a collector who had around 100 different uniforms that he has collected over the years. although the older ones that no longer fit, he had admittedly framed and had a little thing of time frame that he used and any milestones or accomplishments that he achieved whilst wearing it. I collect Karate Gis for a little time, but had maybe 12 different ones that I used concurrently.

I agree with you on that fact! We can have disagreements, but when we can have a friendly discussion around something when it comes to opposing points of view. Yet when it goes past civil, we can longer have civil discussions. I love discussing differing styles, because I love to learn about how we differ and why they do things the way they do. But then it also challenges my perspective of why my style does what it does it does. So true, to me they are meant to help form a key part of our core values. Especially if we start training from a young age, as the virtues that we learn in our training for some are the first ones they are introduced to. My Core Values; in a large part was formed from the IGK Virtues and evolved as I got older. The other Core Values for me; formed outside of class and what I held as important to me. Its interesting with how different generations were raised; like I am a Millenial and you are part of an older Generation. When I first started learning my clubs virtues, I didn't really understand what they meant to my daily life and how important they would become to me. Now as an Adult, they are incredibly important to me. The current generation that is starting out, I don't know how much they understand. But definitely is a little project I will be working on over the next few years. I love the virtues that the SKKA have, and when I look at them they just slot in nicely for me and don't cause any ruffles with my core values. I'm updating a Dan Grade Exam atm, these make me think it is worth adding ours in to our exam to see if they know them and their understanding of each.