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The film was very good!!! Not for everyone but enjoyed the long battle. Exhaustion is felt properly. If one keeps focus as they would be figthing themselves, it becomes a better experience. Not much of a film for story or effects. Its just combat. Beautiful

Been a long time Sub Zero card carrying member myself. Well since 94 tbh. They were good from then until now.

They all use different type of woods. I would posit that Century is also mass produced BUT I never tried theirs. I have all handmade ones. Broke a few... Broke a pr24... Even the best can be broken... So you are probably right lol

I got a custom made pair of 2lbs per tonfa for training by Okuden dojo. Great for practice. Hickory wood selection and allows pretty much any customisation. Mine are octogonal and a bit tapered. Love them a lot. Found the person on instagram

I use these preferably. With cloth shim guard. Opponent wears mma gloves with supersafe headgear and a bogu. Shinpads as well. Protect the attackers targer and let the defender be as free as possible. I like to do mostly hard drills or bully sparring using Kata movements.

I’m starting to watch a 6-episode miniseries on Netflix, starring Robert De Niro, titled Zero Day. It’s about an American political thriller centering on a devastating global cyberattack that implicating the highest levels of the US Federal Government. One of the characters is a NSA Operative named…Patrick O’Keefe. Kind of tickled me a bit when I heard the name, Patrick O’Keefe, which as all of you know, is the very same name of our beloved KF Administrator…Patrick O’Keefe. It always tickled me whenever I hear the name…Robert Mitchum…in old movies. I spell my last name differently than the actor…my name is Robert Mitcham. Maybe our Patrick is moonlighting as a NSA Operative…which would be so cool.

I use the Arawaza and Jukado myself. The Shureido is always a winner.

I do the very first 5-block kata I learned every morning and night every day I also have a short sequence that I make sure to do once a day - even at work - that takes a minimum space. It is sometimes changed slightly as I learn new techniques, currently it consists of: - low block one side, middle block other, high block first (both sides) - same but all three blocks on the same side (both sides) - "block-pull-hammer fist combination" (both sides) - high, middle, low, punch (both sides) - sanchin- like circular and push closed hands (both sides), focus on the exhale as in Sanchin/Tensho - same but with open hands (both sides) - block, nukite, block (both sides) - a nice combo kancho showed us consisting of: strike-uraken-elbow-strike-elbow-strike (both sides) A great little routine that takes a minute or two and puts me in the "karateka" mindset and puts focus on deep breathing. Perfect before facing challenging classes (I'm a teacher at a public school ) that will put your patience to the test.

Absolutely!! There’s so much to Kata than memorizing the embusen. Because of that, drilling said kata over and over on the intricacies that belongs to said kata is critical.

I think you'll find that a lot of us tend to do kata when we are training by ourselves. It's a convenient training method for improving your skills while you're alone. If I have equipment, though, I'll generally go for drills that use the equipment, so it depends on what you have available.

That’s what’s great about a door. It opens to let people in and let people out. Meaning?? When one student exits out the door, a prospective student comes in the door. Please don’t misunderstand my coldness, but I can’t be affected either war because if I’m affected by whether a student stays or quits, then I’m not giving my all to the students who’ve chosen to remain on the floor.

It is natural to feel great disappointment when one has spent the time, energy and dedication teaching someone a skill; seeing potential in them only for them to quit at the very time when their efforts begin to show results.

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.

That's a common trap. Don't focus on doing it perfectly. Focus on doing it better than you did it yesterday. Progress over perfection.

Thank you all I appreciate the feedback and support. I think I am getting overwhelmed trying to pick it all up perfect, and get lost

Hello, thanks I didn't think of that . that sounds like a good idea.

I'm not trying to force students to change their minds. But I think we do ourselves and our school a disservice by not prepping students early on for the idea of being a post-1st dan student. If a student tells me they want to quit, I'm not going to beg them not to. But I am willing to ask "why?" and have a discussion to figure out what I could have done differently to perhaps retain the student longer.

It seemed to me that what was found in the research is more tailored towards kids. That makes some sense, as they have shorter attention spans. Our Little Lions classes typically only last half an hour. But as an adult, I really prefer a longer class, if for more than anything to get lots of reps in. The only really good thing I've seen come out of it so far is that each of the half-hour sessions is really focused. That first being forms and one-steps is good for memory retention and warming up for the sparring drills that come in the next session. I still stay for the hour, so it really isn't changing how long I attend class.

Welcome to KF, @John Moscato. Here's what I found with a Google search: https://kenwoodkarate.com/ - says it's right there in Baltimore. https://www.karateshorinkan.com/dojos.php?state=Maryland&country=USA - this one says they have a school in Baltimore as well. https://www.threedragonskarate.com/ - this one's a Goju-Ryu school, if you're willing to go that route.

Have you ever met people in karate that were just something else... To give you a counterexample, Rick Hotton is a beacon of wisdom, maturity and quality in karate and a person who is sound of mind as well as being very artistic and very well read. Keep in mind, by something else, sometimes they can be really good or really bad. But mainly different like maybe they have good training but bizarre human beings or really nice people but not very good at being a sensei. Or folks with unconventional training that may either be bad or absolutely the most amazing thing ever.

I’ve racked myself more times that I care to remember. Each of those times I’d find myself curled up on the ground for about 30 minutes wishing I wasn’t so dumb. How many times have I smacked my funny bone while training with the Nunchakus or the back of my head or between my legs or the tip of my fingers/thumb?? So many times…it wasn’t that funny whenever it happened.

I just can’t reiterate it enough that we owe our students our complete respect, whatever their decision is, no matter how much we might be disappointed. You know, this might seem an unfavorable thing to say but you know what?? MA is just a thing…a want…not a need, like shelter or food. Our MA journey can’t be our students journey or even similar. Does a CI want what’s best for their students or what’s best for the CI??

I’ll pick Dr. Goodman’s brain a bit during our last follow-up for his recommendations. Such a bummer!!

Welcome to KF, John Moscato; glad that you’re here!! Sounds like you’ve an excellent background in the MA; can’t wait to read your contributions to our community here at KF. Even though I’ve an uncle that lives in Baltimore, MD, I’ve no familiarity with any Okinawan Dojos. However, Yelp has a list of 10 Best Karate Schools in and around Baltimore,MD that might be of some interest to you. Good luck on your search.