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There was one Okinawan teacher who got rid of yakuza types who attempted to intimidate him thinking he was an easily scared old man. They would not so subtly remind everyone that the building where the dojo was and many other parts of the neighborhood was their turf, and therefore owed them something. They often showed up acting arrogant, threatening and belligerent demanding recognition and « respect ». Instead of cowering in fear, the 9th dan 70 something sensei invited the yakuza in and showed them his personal makiwara, which was basically a piece of iron/steel sheet. After striking it a few dozen times with his hands and then with his toes(similar to sokusen kick in uechiryu), he asked if any of the yakuza characters wanted to have a go. One tried to look tough not to loose face, but visibly winced and very obviously could not continue beyond a couple of halfhearted punches. The sensei asked if anyone else wanted to try, but they all looked at each other, gave a sheepish bow and left. They never bothered him afterwards, even ignoring him if they saw him.

I am nowhere even close to a black belt, ...if I do get to that point I'd like to stick around and help other students, but we'll see.

There is something to be said about finding the right community. Great people with great attitudes in a great atmosphere goes a long way in keeping people around.

I have to avoid caffeine due to Meniere's disease. However, years ago I started struggling with fried or greasier foods and found out that I had Chron's disease. You might get with a gastroenterologist to see if you have developed Chron's or colitis.

dont worry or over think it. just go..... meet people, make friends. the rest will come naturally. try for at least three times per week. and practice what you can at home. even if its just slow forms practice to get the movement, kick, punch etc perfect... places teach differently so cant comment much on the training. some are better than others for beginners and have a better schedule and layout of classes, adult beginner classes, some even have an intermediate class once a week and then advanced classes. while some places just have an adult class with everyone lumped in together. while these can be confusing for some at first they can still be good dojos to learn from. you just have to go... you will learn it and get better as time progresses. dont be so hard on yourself or lose interest before you really give yourself a chance.

I didn't know that! I might look into it then, I like holding the magazine when I read articles.

Absolutely. Culture of the school is just as important, if not more, than what you're learning. I would much rather go to a place that was welcoming and friendly than somewhere that had a reputation for good martial arts but bad attitudes.

100% agree on all of that. There are always a few players who midway / nearer the end of their career everyone talks about as "surefire first ballot HoFer", even cases like (ignoring the steroids issue) ones like Barry Bonds where the comments were "clear first ballor HoFer, definite inner circle player up there with Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth etc." Players like that, where it is so so so obvious that they should be in should basically always be unanimous in my opinion. When it comes to the voters i can see the argument for it not being the writers but then unfortunately you run the risk of personal bias amongst players creeping in even more. Using another sport, football, as an example: the Spanish football team used to have an issue in the past where the Barcelona players and Real Madrid players would flatly refuse to pass to each other during games due to rivalries; i live in Glasgow and the rivalry between Rangers and Celtic is rather well known and would lead to similar issues. Journalists seem like the least bad option to me tbh unless it becomes a set of statistical criteria which them removes some of the mystique (eg if it became need to average 2 standard deviations more home runs over a ten year span that players from comparative sample A, plus have metric B plus metric C).

I actually really like the fact that they are still kicking and punching, gives you more things to worry about as well as the bo...

It has come to my attention that I am becoming more sensitive to caffeine and am feeling it sick for a bit after I drink it. I mostly drink caffeine after lunch because I feel a drop in energy and usually start to feel sick about 30-60 minutes after I start the caffeine. So I am getting off the caffeine, but would be curious to know what you drink for a pick me up during the day if you are feeling sluggish that is not caffeinated? I have the same problem now with fried chicken, it makes me feel sick to my stomach. I did not have these problems a few years ago, just a sign of getting older I guess.

I've recently been watching a lot of kata video from various competitions. Something that I have noticed is the difference of length of the kiai in Okinawan/Japanese martial arts (Shotokan, Goju Ryu, etc.) and Korean martial arts (TKD, Tang Soo Do, etc.). Okinawan/Japanese styles tend to draw out their kiai, whereas Korean styles keep it short. For the Okinawan/Japanese styles, I can attest to being taught to draw it out a little. My sensei preferred deep, guttural kiai that came from the diaphragm. The Korean poomsae I have seen seem to prefer short kiai from the throat. Can anyone help fill in my lack of knowledge?

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for November is... @crash for the second time! Happy to see you pop back up again recently after a few years away, crash, and thank you for all of the contributions that you have made over the last 22 years! Thanks, Patrick

Nah, no red flags. That's how wrestling works. Plenty of great athletes have flamed out of the NFL and gone on to be successful in other careers: Brock Lesnar had a decent MMA career, but got cut in Vikings camp I believe. Dwayne Johnson also didn't make the cut for the NFL. Kimbo Slice played football collegiately for Florida State University and enjoyed his own run of fame. Carl Weathers was cut from the Raiders roster and enjoyed a movie career. Steveson is going to be just fine. The opponent he lost to, Wyatt Hendrickson, is no slouch of a wrestler, and he is also going to the Olympic trials. So no red flags; this is the competitive nature of wrestling.

Yes. My late Sensei made use of heavy bags, sometimes double-end bags, and plenty of strength and conditioning equipment. I don't currently have the ability to put up a hanging bag of any kind, but I do still make use of a lot of strength and conditioning equipment. I incorporate some degree of strength and conditioning at the beginning of my classes, just as my late Sensei did, but class time is mainly for actual martial arts training, so real dedicated S&C workouts are probably only once or twice a month. Students are expected to work on that on their own.

I am seeing more of those old school arcade games being sold to people. You can buy the full arcade version and put it in your home. It would be cool to do if I had the space and extra cash for it.

Thanks for being for a good sport, @KarateKen! You're right, this was our April Fools' Day joke for 2025! I hope that everyone had a fun day.

Oss is certainly my preference. Maybe I will but this on my emails, or when I sign checks out at restaurants. Just make sure the o does not look like an a. That would change everything! Oss!

That's good. I was about to recommend you go to the doctor! I always keep some Pepto in the house, and when I travel. I had bad stomach problems once at a hotel in Dallas that kept me up half the night. I've carried it with me when I travel ever since! Plus it was Dec 31, so not a great way to start the new year!

The steroid era is a tough one tbh as it is almost impossible to know how many people were on them. It isn't guaranteed that you become massive when you are on steroids (ala the change in Bonds over time) with different substances having different results - just need to look at Tour De France cyclists using steroids / performance enhancing drugs to improve other aspects of fitness. Just because someone was not massive doesn't mean they didn't take something to avoid injury / increase stamina etc. My personal solution would be to have a "steroid era wing" (not labelled as this but with the years instead) and have the players in that and some exhibits for context. I just keep coming back to the fact that all the players had to compete in the same environment: yes they may have been stronger and able to hit further but defenders may have been faster and able to chase down more hits / jump higher for an above the wall catch; pitchers may have been throwing harder or had more break due to ability to grip harder and impart more spin. In my head it is kinda like baseball having to lower the mound after the absolute domination from Bob Gibson - the mound obviously benefitted him but does it invalidate his numbers ? For me it doesn't. I do take the argument though that it was self inflicted! Plus it is nice to have halls of fame: it isn't something that we really have over here - plenty of footballers who are club legends and legends of the game but there isn't a museum dedicated to them etc.

Congrats @crash; well deserved!!

Congrats!

Hi guys, been a while....... i think for most getting their blackbelt is a sign of completion in this type of activity. it dousnt become a lifestyle so much for most, especially if the dojo is focused on mainly self defense or competition. for fitness purposes a gym is in most ways better and less expensive. it also depends on the style and the atmosphere of the dojo in question. is it run as a business (do students feel only like a number on the floor?) or does it have that "family" feel to it?. retention of students can be hard after B.B, people go on to other things or ways of staying in shape. teaching or bringing up 2nd or 3rd or higher levels is OK but in all honesty its just a way for the dojo to make money on testing. once someone reaches blackbelt they should know how to create their own forms, have the basics perfected and be able to perform more advanced techniques or movements on their own with a little thought...(if they cant then perhaps they were given the BB too soon. sometimes a diagrammed "plan" or curriculum isnt the best way to go... or at least it needs to be fluid) after blackbelt one thing that may retain students is pricing, be competitive with the local gyms, even it if means 25 dollars a month (if the biggest competition is workout anytime, planet fitness or such), for those who've earned their B.B... but building a comradery and friendships is key to retention, go out to dinner, (pizza huts used to be perfect for this...lol), the movies, have a bar b q once a month in the warm months, whatever it takes to build a "family" unit of friendships......

The Wild hung around for most of the game but it got ugly in the last five minutes or so. Knights win it 5-1.

Went to a small town in southern Nevada over the weekend called Laughlin, right along the Colorado River which divides the border between Nevada and Arizona. There was an arcade in the Tropicana Hotel where they had a big screen space invaders game, Halo, Jurassic Park, Fast and Furious, and an air hockey table, plus a lot more. Not a bad arcade for a small-town hotel. It was already getting too hot for me outside, only mid March and pushing 90. It was nice to be on the river though.

Also, i am very much looking forward to the season starting in anger soon! Go Mariners!! Though i will be visiting Toronto this summer and fingers crossed i manage to catch Scherzer pitching whilst there!

I agree on the unanimous thing. It's just sort of a hang-up that carried over from a different era. Ichiro, Jeter, Rivera, Griffey, Randy Johnson, Glavine, Maddux, etc. all should have been unanimous, and Pujols totally should be, too. I can understand the point on the writers voting, but I do see the merit in having people voting who were strict observers and don't have as many personal relationships. No one is going to be objective and everyone has their favorites, of course, but I think having only players voting probably wouldn't lead to a more satisfying result. That doesn't mean players can't lobby, of course, and use their influence to make the case for folks they think should be in the hall.

“Sports writers play a significant role in determining who gets inducted into the Major League Baseball (MLB) Hall of Fame because they are part of the voting body for the Hall of Fame’s election process.” WHY?? Seems that the MLB and NBA gave a power to their respective sports writers but the NFL and the NHL didn’t. I understand that sports writers play a significant role in any sport, both amateur and professional, but they’ve not ever played professionally and have no idea what it takes to be in thick of the game as armchair players who’ve not shed their blood, sweat, and tears on the gridiron, diamond, court, or ice but behind a typewriter. Does Rose deserve to be in the MLB HOF?? I don’t know!! Seems to me that that decision needs to be rightfully up to those who’ve played the respective sport as well as those who’ve earned their places in their respective HOF, and not to the sports writers. Imho!!

Thats a fair point. They have some very odd stances - such as Ichiro not being unanimous to the Hall. Granted i have some slight bias as a Mariners fan, but i can't see how he is anything but a top tier hall of famer. I understand the historical precedents for this in prior years but once Mariano went in unanimous then i thought that should set the precedent going forwards for guys like Ichiro, Pujols (when it's his turn), Verlander etc. The stigma of being the first player to be unanimous and making sure they were deserving has been dealt with and there are multiple guys now who should get it.

It's no big deal. It was fun to participate in, and I liked the movie.

The only thing I wish we had gotten was a fight between Terry Silver and Mike Barnes, it would be awesome to see Barnes fight his former boss who also burned down his store.

Trained on many different surfaces, mostly wood floor now, but did go through a period of a couple of years only training in a dojo with a matt floor, then going back to a wood floor, I found for the next 8ish months I was getting blisters, so either my feet went soft training on the matts, and jumping back on a harder floor was a surprise to them... Or I just got better at moving around on a floor to avoid blisters... Side note... when I first saw this topic I thought it was going to be about outside surfaces, uneven ground, slopes etc... Obviously most of our training carried out in the dojo is on nice level floors... from a self defence point of view we aren't always going to be attacked in our dojos... I used to do some training in the woods where the ground was particular uneven, practising the ability to adapt to the uneven surface and not too be caught too off-guard when moving around an uneven surface that can knock us off-balance.

I like what I've seen from RIck Hotton and Steven Ubl. I wish shotokan would have had more folks like them when I was younger.

If it were easy, everyone would do it!

Chiefs traded Joe Thuney, likely in a move to clear up space to sign Trey Smith long term. It sucks to see him go, but I trust the powers that be know what they are doing. They currently have to LT's on the roster that aren't so good at playing LT, so it's likely one of them will bump in to guard. Or, they feel that Caliendo filled in well enough when they kicked Thuney out to LT that they feel comfortable going with him at LG moving forward. I'm sorry to see him go; he's been a great mainstay for an awesome interior line. But, that's the business of football. On another note, the Seahawks released Tyler Lockett, and shortly thereafter DK Metcalf requested a trade. Those are some good receivers hitting the market.

Great information from the standpoint of a LEO; thanks, Brian!!

I actually made my own bo a few months ago out of a chunk of purpleheart. I had purchased a 6.5' x 8" x 2" slab of purpleheart a number of years ago. I ran it through my table saw to make a 1 3/8" square, then went to octagonal (by turning the saw to 45 degrees and adjusting the fence. I then knocked down the corners with a hand plane and sanded the entire thing down to 400 grit. Next I used a buffing wheel with several different compounds, and finished it with gun stock oil (birchwood-casey Tru Oil) It's an absolute beast to wield, but it's fantastic exercise. I only use it for regular training classes; I would never test with it. But it looks and feels awesome; just the right amount of grip

Scorpion is my favorite! GET OVER HERE!!!!!

This was part of my morning training from yesterday, I did add that note section just in case I forgot what shorthand I used also I knew that if I shared I could make it easy to show you guys.

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 actually think it's pretty widespread because enforcement is rare, I suspect that is within the martial arts world, too. You really have to be very blatant to get caught, so I suspect most don't expect there will ever be any repercussions.

I look it at more as being a 'master instructor,' like how one might earn a master's degree in a field at college. I don't truly feel that I'm a "master" of the martial arts, but I do feel that I can competently teach another person at a high level.

I would echo the other posters comments but also mention that trying to self teach, without significant prior experience, is likely to result in learning faulty movement patterns and having a lot of hassle down the line trying to fix the faulty muscle memory. Once someone has a lot of experience and has developed a lot of awareness of exactly what their body is doing when they perform a technique then yes you can probably self teach to an extent e.g. bushido_man has his 5th dan in TKD : he can probably relatively easily pick up variants of techniques from karate etc. and seek to add it to his technique repository by making some adjustments. Personally, i would suggest googling all the clubs in the styles you like the look of that are near you and just popping along for a trial lesson and see what you actually like when you try it for real. Plenty of times things are different in practice to what they seem like when viewing from a distance

"Old man tricks" - I like the sound of that -- that's a lot of what I do when I spar. For example, if someone does a roundhouse kick to my midsection, I'll eat it, grab it, and then step in, give them (what would be) a good solid punch to the midsection, grab them by the gi, step in again and take them down to the mat (again, with good control). I also keep an eye on my opponent's feet - when they step in to deliver a jab, I'll do a quick sweep of their front foot -- like a kouchi gari in Judo. The idea is to land this right BEFORE their foot hits the ground, but they've already committed to the step. If done right, it won't necessarily take them down, but it'll off-balance them enough that you can step in and land a few strikes on them. Also, in our sparring legs are a valid target, so I like going after the front thigh with a low roundhouse kick. The usual defense to that is to lift up the leg in a crane block. Do that once or twice, then step in a bit deeper, and when they raise up for the crane block, follow that roundhouse kick through to take out the back of their opposing thigh. Again, it may or may not take them down, but it'll distract/unbalance them long enough to let you land a few strikes. Do I do these in such a way to hurt my partner, absolutely not. I make sure to never strike at a joint, or put my partner in a position to get injured (bad fall, etc), and I don't strike hard enough to injure. But you know what they say, "old age and treachery wins everytime"

I think it's very important to spar with different body types, ranks, and experience levels. It's good to see something you haven't seen before, and it makes you better. Sparring tall opponents has always been a problem for me, so I like to spar taller people when I get the chance. I tend to spar the others in our dojang using what I call "old man tricks." I get in close and punch a lot. When kicks come in, sometimes I'll pin my elbow into my ribs and end up blocking with my elbow. I'll take a shot to deliver a shot of my own. I don't bounce around a lot when I spar anymore, and I'll sit down and kind of "tank up," letting them come to me and then retaliate with some quick bursts. Reaching out and hooking their hand is fun, too. They think about that and try to avoid it, opening up something else.

Me, well, I'm very aggressive while I press my opponent as I attack the legs, which is what is expected in Shindokan. Don't forget, our main goal at any given time is to get behind our opponent. "Dirty" fighting to me is an excuse because one hasn't matured in techniques, yet, which means that one's afraid. To me, there's no "Dirty" anything, Kumite or not, because in the game of surviving, anything is fair game. Adapt or fail, and I've never any desire to fail on or off any floor whatsoever. Refusal to fight dirty, whenever necessary, is a limitation that I can't abide to.‎ My focus both on and off the floor is to succeed at any cost because my survival depends on it. "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."~ Bruce Lee

I'm a very defensive/counter fighter. I love an aggressive opponent! Everybody has their preferences. I'm 6'6" tall with long legs and the groin is a favorite front leg roundhouse target for me. Ore a front snap kick to the stomach as they come in. We also use a lot of body shifting and misdirecting. That takes a lot of practice, but when you get it where you don't have to think about it, it works really, REALLY GREAT!

There isn’t anything complicated about the concept of kiai in Japanese/Okinawan martial arts. This is one of those things where knowing/understanding the Japanese terminology. Ki=breath, ai=to gather or to bring together. So a kiai is not ever one of those ridiculous over drawn out screams. It’s a short sound that comes from the diaphragm. It isn’t even a thing specific to martial arts. In Japanese people refer to it all the time when describing the sound one makes when exerting a burst of physical effort such as when pushing or lifting a heavy object. Try and observe people doing this kind of action and it is everywhere. Batters in baseball do it, tennis players or any job where one needs to put maximum effort and power. Imagine lifting a heavy box off the floor or better still hammering in a large fencepost with a sledgehammer. All those often are done with some sort of sound with the effort. That is kiai and people do this without even thinking about it. The Japanese just have a name for it, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist across all human cultures. One of the primary functions seldom mentioned is that it trains the body to breathe through properly while exerting effort. It teaches the karate adept to synchronize their breathing with their movements and avoiding gassing out. Compare as an experiment doing a series of movements without breathing out as you move to the same with maximum effort, coordinated breathing AND kiai. There is a clear difference as to which is more energy efficient and naturally comfortable.

I agree with Montana. I try to bring my kihaps from the gut, and tend to keep them short. Watching Olympic TKD sparring is a burden for me. Too much yelling, and none of it is from the gut. It's just a kihap per technique, which is not the point. In our classes, we kihap often in basics. I find that the more frequent we kihap, the less likely I am to find it from the gut each time. For our black belt three-steps, the GM wanted us to kihap on each frickin' technique, including the blocks. And I hate it. It's just too much.

These are some thoughts I jotted down one day while I was reading a book on Aikido. The passages just caught me and caused me to think about things more, and it helps to write it down. It also makes it easy to share here with everyone and see the thoughts of others with more experience than me. Notes on reading Aikido and the Harmony of Nature, by Mitsugi Saotome: 3/29/2024, reading pg. 191 about Shomenuchi Ikkyo: I guess I never thought of defending a kick or a punch this way. But in sparring, techniques come at you so fast, one can get overwhelmed. I will try to focus more on this concept, and not just think about blocking a strike. The strike coming at you is a concrete thing; the idea of the direction of the force seems more an abstract way of thinking about it. In the end, perhaps it simplifies things? Instead of thinking about how to defend a side kick or a front kick or a straight punch, think about the direction of the force, which these three different strikes produce a similar direction of force. Defend that direction of force. Also important here is to pay attention to their center, and how you can affect it through defense. If I only deal with the striking tool, I leave myself to the mercy of the other striking tools, whereas if I deal with the center, I can perhaps better control the other striking tools. The passage then goes on to talk about subtly changing that direction. Sensei Brandon has referred to this as “blending.” I will try to see it more when I train. Saotome wrote about some class teaching experiences in which he’d focus on a particular movement or feeling (like a particular technique). He said the beginners will be the ones really conscious of the point he made, but the more advanced students, who have done it more, are often filled with preconceptions of what the technique should be. He stated, “that they have forgotten how to see.” This makes me think of complacency. I’m sure I do this in my Taekwondo training, but I do it less in Aikido right now, as it is still fresh and new, and I can view things through “the eyes of a beginner.” 3/30/2024, reading pg. 197 about de-ai, “the meeting”: Sensei Brandon talks often about using our center when doing techniques, keeping weight under center and the like. As a new student trying to get techniques down, I find myself thinking of what I’m doing or what I’m doing wrong all the time. I try to keep track of where my center is, but thinking about the center of the two of us is going to be difficult. But I’m going to try to make the effort to be cognizant of it. I think once I get the hang of keeping my center where I want it, being aware of the center of both of us will come more easily (yet still be difficult!).[/i]

I wouldn't necessarily call kakedameshi a drill, since it is supposed to be free-form, like sparring, but for a specific context. We could certainly just be using different terms for the same thing, though We promote and teach the close range techniques, the closer the better, and our goal is to get behind our opponent, as often as possible. If it's not feasible enough to get behind our opponent, then remaining up close and personal is quite acceptable. Cut the distance by remaining in the close range proximity with our opponent that is where most MAist shy away from due to the uncomfortable feeling that that type of combat. We describe this our brand of close range techniques as it being akin to being claustrophobic. It's just not for everyone, and most assuredly, what Noah is offering here is quite worth to explore....taste as see if it's good for your MA betterment. Surely, it can't hurt to try, you just might like it. Thank you! I know that training at close range like that does make some people uncomfortable, but I definitely find it very valuable! The wrist-to-wrist scene you're talking about can definitely be one of the positions in kakedameshi. I typically try to stay connected to both arms, unless I'm actively executing a technique, though, so I'm not usually in that particular position quite so long. I have recorded some light kakedameshi, focused on flow and not really worrying about resistance or strength, although I haven't recorded harder kakedameshi. I mostly did that with my Sensei, before he passed, and I wish I had video of it. Now there are only two people in the dojo I can do that with, on occasion, and it's usually rather spontaneous, so I don't set up a camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85TyUOWckR8