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I consider ukemi to be one of the absolutely most important lessons I ever learned in martial arts. It literally saved my life once. About 15 years ago, I was visiting family near Aspen, CO. I was carrying a large box in both hands on an icy patch of ground. My feet slipped out from underneath me, and I went from vertical to horizontal in an instant. If I had not known instinctively to land flat on my back with my chin tucked firmly to my chest, I would likely not be here today.

Although I'm not looking to set concrete goals like above, my hope is to put more time into Aikido and BJJ. This will get easier when wrestling season is done. I do hope to test again in Aikido this year.

This came up once and our instructor said that he teaches his students everything he knows, rank appropriate of course. He said "any instructor that does not teach their students everything they know is cheating both the students, and the art." Not saying I agree or disagree, but that was his take on it.

It's that wonderful time of year when we all set resolutions for the upcoming year. What are you martial arts (or non-martial arts) related resolutions this year? Before you choose, let's talk about making resolutions. I'm sure we've all made goals that we have failed to stick to. 12 months is a long time and bad habits die hard. The best way to create new habits (e.g. exercise more) is to create short term goals as "mile markers" to the longer term results you want? Do you want to lose 50 pounds? Break that up into 5 pound increments. That way, you have a better idea of where you are in the process, and you have a lot of different victories planned on the way. Want to just exercise more? Instead of committing to going to the gym 5 days a week from the jump, commit to 2 days a week and re-evaluate once a month if you're wanting to do more. Furthermore, find an exercise (or program) that you have fun doing! Exercise doesn't have to be a chore! I like riding bikes, so when I want to exercise, I ride a bike or stationary bike because I like doing it. When you like doing something, you're more likely to do it without having to convince yourself to do so. Finally, don't feel the need to set long-term resolutions. A few years ago, I made a resolution to do 1000 kata in January. I accomplished it! It was a lot of work, and some days were easier than others, but it was a lot of fun and it felt good to finish. That good feeling helped me set other goals throughout the year. Now, without further ado. Martial arts resolutions: Grand champion in a tournament This is ultimately a goal that will be realized in January 2027. The circuit I compete in holds their grand championships in January after all the regular tournaments of the year have finished. Still, this goal will help me remember to train consistently so that I am placing well in the regular tournaments so that I qualify. Even if I don't achieve this, it will still result in me becoming a better martial artist. Learn Nipaipo I just like this kata and have had my eye on it for a while. Continue Kobudo I love kobudo Publish something related to Martial Arts I am thinking about potentially pivoting this into just making more karate content for tiktok/social medial. I could do both, but I don't want to overload myself. My passion is writing, so I usually default to that. Non-martial arts resolutions: Fully heal from tendonitis In September, I developed tendonitis in my right foot. It has been rough to deal with and I have let it tank my mental health. It has also kept me from training martial arts since September. Be more proactive with my mental health 2025 was a rough year for me. With medical issues, and a hospitalization for mental health, it wasn't my best year. I want to be more present in 2026 and more active in my management of my mental state.

Key factors about Shindokan: 1) We never block an attack 2) We want to get behind our attackers 3) We want to be very close to our attacker 4) We don’t back up Here’s a basic brief of what I’m talking about. So far, I’ve briefly discussed key factor #1; We never block an attack. We deflect said attack. Moreover, we receive said attack!! Today, I’d like to briefly discuss Shindokan key factor #2; bold typed above: We want to get behind our attacker. Why?? As a human being, our natural instinct is to address any threat head on because forward movement offers many opportunities. So, when attacked heads on, said attack can be avoided much easier, akin to having eyes on the target. Both tools are online and I don’t want that. By getting behind my attacker, I blind him as to my intentions because my attacker no longer has clear eyes on me. Once behind my attacker, even if just for a split second, it gives me clear opportunities to create havoc. There’s numerous targets to strike once I find myself behind my attacker. Once behind, I must strike with a vicious intent. Sounds goods?!? Not so fast!! Getting behind an attacker isn’t as simple as it sounds. Offense/Defense is a chess game; both battling to outdo one another. The goal is for me to get the checkmate on my attacker before he does…not a stalemate or a draw, but checkmate. How do I get behind my attacker?!? By getting up close to your attacker, aka, close range attack/defense. Not many people are comfortable getting nose to nose with their attacker. The unnerving positions aren’t always easy to engage but it has to be done whether it’s liked or not…I love it. For us in Shindokan, the key to getting behind our attacker lies in close range fighting. Yes. However, you just don’t waltz into close range without a little help. The little help comes via the setup(s)!! We use our longest weapons…our kicks, but not just our kicking arsenal. Hands and feet in combinations. When my opponent moves, so do I. My goal is to exchange positions so that I’m standing behind my attacker. One of the drills we teach in getting behind our attacker involves “Slipping”. This technique is when we create an irresistible opening for our attacker to target. Once that target reaches a point that’s too hard to resist for the attacker, arresting said attack can’t be effectively prevented, the attacker becomes way far too committed to their target. Once the point of no return is reached by the attacker, we simply slip behind our attacker through our setup, whichever that might be. Primary drilling tool we use in teaching how to slip in phase 1 is a body shield. When I travel to Hayes, KS years ago to train a few days with Brian, aka bushido_man96, we drilled this phase 1 drill; it’s a two-person drill: In phase 1, the Attacker holds the body shield in front of them against their body. Should is to protect both because things happen. Defender assumes a fighting stance. Attacker doesn’t announce their attack; attacker attacks at their own discretion. Defender waits for attacker to get very close, at that point, defenders slips the attackers attack making sure to stay very close to the attacker, ending up behind. Once the CI feels that the defender is ready, the shield is removed from the attacker; that’s phase 2. Phase 3; the defender incorporates set ups. Phase 4; the defender selects attackers off-line targets. Advanced drills incorporate a Bo-Staff being thrusted forwards to the defender’s front online targets. Again, if one can’t function effectively with close range, there’s no way to get behind said attacker. Main reason for this difficulty is that the student is afraid. Maturity in their technique takes a long time to develop. The most fearsome animals moves to the back, and attacks its prey from the back. Why? When my attacker is behind me, all of my tools are isolated. That’s not good!! All of fighting is getting your tools online. Once I’m behind my attacker, my tools are online but my attackers tools are isolated. Being isolated is not where anyone wants to be. So, if possible, learn to get behind your attacker(s) so that your attacker(s) tools are isolated and your tools are online.

Yeah. He learned it from Tetshuhiko Asai. You can see it in the first few seconds… Asai JKA

I've been very remiss in updating this thread. Kenneth is in his sophomore high school season. He started the season at heavyweight, and wrestled one tournament at that weight, taking first. Then he dropped to the 215 lb weight class, and has been experiencing success there. His first few meets were rough, but he's placed 3rd in 4 tournaments so far at 215. We just had a really tough tournament here in town this weekend where Kenneth went 5-4 over the two-day meet. He's edging closer to 30 wins on the season.

I have to agree with some of the other posters here. Mugen is a good deal only if you don't need anything altered. Depending on the size of the gi and how much alteration you need, you could end up spending roughly $200 before that Mugen is ready to be worn on the floor. Even with international shipping, you'll end up spending a similar amount or less on a Shureido or Tokyodo (both companies hem pants and sleeves for free). The cut of both Shureido and Tokyodo are known to be big-boy friendly. The lack of in-house alterations doesn't make Mugen the worst deal, though. The title of "worst deal" goes to Arawaza. That Black Diamond is nice, but by the time I'd get one altered at the local shop, the overall cost would be ridiculous.

I am a fourth dan in Shorin-ryu Shorinkan and a fourth dan in Goju-ryu under Hokama Sensei. Sensei Hokama says, "Goju-ryu is a bottle of water. Sanchin is the bottle, Tensho is the cap, and the water represents all Goju-ryu methods, all mixed." I like this analogy. My Sanchin dachi and Naihanchi dachi are essentially the same ,both shoulder-width, with heels slightly out. In both of them, I am sitting heavy and compressed. I am absolutely comfortable staying or stepping. My weight is right in the middle. If I am pulled, I am not going to use my toes to stop it; I try to go lower. The length of my Sanchin stance is toe to heel plus 2-3 inches.my back hip is pushed forward and engaged . in my opinion, Sanchin is a fundamental kata as it is all about structure. Tensho and Naihanchi are not fundamental kata unless you do them and treat them as such; otherwise, both are fighting kata. For me, Sanchin is about muscles and bones, and Tensho is about tendons. Naihanchi is my self defense kata along side Seisan.

What the instructor said makes sense if omitting things is for a purpose other than reducing or eliminating redundancy. And I’m all for that, though not to the same extent as Wastelander. I’m a bit of a traditionalist, so I’d limit the elimination of kata to only the ones developed after karate was introduced to mainland Japan. In my opinion, the Pinans are defining katas of Shorin-ryu. Tatsuo Shimabuku didn’t teach the Pinans, so it would make sense that he would differentiate his style by calling it Isshin-ryu.

At the risk of making a fool of myself, I am going to post some predictions for this weekend. I predict that the Rams will beat the Bears. I hope the Bears win, but the Rams have been my pick to win it all since August, so I am sticking with them as long as they are still in it. I do like Matt Stafford though and would be fine with him winning another ring, so either way it's OK. Then I am going to predict that the Bills go into Denver and beat the Broncos. Denver has won a lot of close games this year, and I question just how good the team really is. One of the things that makes the NFL so tough to predict is the lack of games. In a 17-game season, teams that are pretenders can look a lot better than they are. Is Denver that team? Also, don't get too focused on them having a bye week. There are many examples of teams over the years who get that first round bye then come out flat and lose on their home field, such as the Lions last season. This will be the Broncos toughest test yet. I know the Broncos have been great on defense. I know the Bills are banged up. I am going with the Bills. Then I am picking the 49ers to win in Seattle. This is the pick I have the least amount of confidence in, but I am just going with my gut. I am picking both #1 seeds to lose. The 49ers are banged up, and probably should not win this game in Seattle, but again, I am going with my gut. The only home team I am picking this week is the Patriots over the Texans. The Patriots defense last week was impressive, and so was Drake Maye. Good news for the Patriots is the Diggs hearing has been pushed back to after the Super Bowl. It's divisional round weekend, one of the best sports weekends of the year. Hope you enjoy it.

USPS is releasing a forever stamp to honor Bruce Lee on February 18, 2026. Stamp shows Bruce Lee in a flying side kick with a background of yellow brush stroke that gives respect to the color of the jumpsuit that Bruce Lee wore in “Game of Death”. The flying side kick makes it appear the he is breaking in half the words “Bruce Lee USA Forever”. I’m guessing that a book of this forever stamp might cost $18, which is a normal price for USPS Forever Stamps. I’ll be getting at least 2 books for myself.

Thanks for this information, I will probably get some as well.

Mike Tomlin stepping down was interesting to me. I didn't see that one coming. I think this is the most coaching vacancies I can remember seeing in a year for a long time. I was kind of surprised by the John Harbaugh firing, to be honest. That's two of the longest tenured coaches in the NFL no longer coaching. Crazy. I wonder if Tomlin is interested in coaching again. He put a lot of time in, and has accomplished quite a bit. I've not seen the level of interest in him yet. Harbaugh received 7 phone calls within 45 minutes of being fired...and at the time, there were 7 other coaching vacancies. I think he'll get to pick the job he wants, and every other team is likely going be waiting for that shoe to drop. On a side note, both of KC's coordinators have been given permission to speak with other teams about head coaching jobs. I don't think Spags leaves; he tried the HC gig and didn't do well. Nags tried it, too, with limited success, but being an offensive coordinator, may get another shot. Honestly, as Chiefs fan, I'd like to see Eric Bienemy back as the Chief's OC.

That's pretty cool.

My Aikido instructor mentioned use of Te Sabaki as well. Lot's of good stuff.

1/5/2026 Afternoon shifts have ended, so now I can get back to classes! Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class. Jo warmups, 4-hi, 4-low, 8-hi. Then we did kumi jo and kumi tachi, which are pre-formated paired work with the jo and bokken, respectively. Class was given a choice in each exchange in numerical order, or "dramatic" order, i.e, the ones that tend to look more flashy. To my chagrin, the majority chose flashy, so I'm a little lost on the numbers we were doing. I think for jo #6. Maybe #4 on bokken. Either way, they are fun exchanges, and I always prefer my weapons work to be partner-based anyway.

Happy New Year to everyone here at KF! I hope this new year brings forth challenges and opportunities!

Another place to closely watch your surroundings is gas stations. If you are filling up the car, be sure to know who is near you, as gas stations are a common place of scammers and hustlers to confront you and try to ask for money. Often times they will approach you in large vehicle, kind of trying to box you in while you're filling up and will have multiple people with them. Try to fill up before you get down to empty so you have options, don't let yourself be stuck having to fill up at the next gas station just in case it is sketchy. As a rule, I fill up when I get to 1/4 of a tank, sometimes I do it at 1/2 a tank. Like a supermarket, everyone goes to a gas station which means it can lead to encounters with gang members, hustlers, crazies, and weirdos. We actually had a karate student who told a story about getting into a fight outside a gas station. Something to think about.

The Bujinkan increased the number of yudansha grades from 10 to 15, I think sometime in the 80s, so 12th Dan is a real rank in that organization, even though basically every other traditional art and organization only uses 10 yudansha grades. As for the system, itself, it is largely cosplay. They present ninjutsu as if it is a specific martial art, but it isn't a martial art, at all. Ninjutsu is, essentially, spycraft--camouflage, disguise, poisons, assassination methods, etc. Real ninja/shinobi were just samurai who also learned spycraft, so the martial arts aspect of ninja/shinobi is literally just Japanese jujutsu, and every clan had their own system of jujutsu, some of which are still around, today. A lot of the material in the Bujinkan is pretty typical of most jujutsu styles, but a lot of it is definitely material that hasn't been pressure tested, and can get pretty esoteric. Masaaki Hatsumi supposedly learned several jujutsu systems and blended them together to create the Bujinkan's martial arts material, and I honestly don't know where he got the spycraft aspects, which they don't seem to actually do much of, but I suspect it is almost entirely taken from theater and film. The fact that they dress in stereotypical ninja garb reinforces that theory, because real ninja/shinobi did not dress that way, they dressed to blend in with the people they were going to be around while they were spying. The outfits they are wearing in the Bujinkan are Noh theater stagehand costumes, designed to make the stagehands disappear against a black backdrop. This became associated with ninja/shinobi because the way that Noh theater presented mysterious assassinations was by having a stagehand use a weapon to kill a character, so you were supposed to be seeing a weapon floating in the dark, and have no idea who was wielding it. That made people essentially assume that assassins would wear the same outfit so they could hide in the dark.

It’s all good my friend!!

12/19/2025 Heavy Bag Workout: 1:00/30 sec. 4 rounds, orthodox/southpaw alternating. Went to spot Kendall in the gym. 4 rounds, orthodox/southpaw alternating. Went to spot Kendall in the gym. 4 rounds, orthodox/southpaw alternating.

NFL Black Monday is in full swing. As @sensei8 posted the Raiders have fired Pete Carroll after a disaster of a season. Also, the Falcons, Cardinals, and Browns fired their head coach. The Bengals have said they are bringing back Zack Taylor for next year, who will be on the hot seat. No word yet on if Tampa is going to keep Todd Bowles for another season or move on. The Bucs imploded in the second half of the season losing seven of their final nine games and missing the playoffs. The coach's abrasive press conference after the Thursday night meltdown loss to the Falcons failed the inspire the team much.

At my age, my only resolution is to awake each morning to a new day.

Good topic and i totally agree, resolutions need to be trackable, actionable and realistic. I also find that applying some kind of penalty for not achieving them is also helpful (eg in prior years i would set goals and if not met by time X i owed someone else £50/£100)! My Martial Arts resolutions / goals are: Sit Shotokan Shodan with very strong attempt For this the goal is to sit it once in March and if needed resit in August. Not making the goal passing it (even though that is obviously the intention) since passing is out of my control to an extent but i want to do so. If i don't manage to pass it in March (which i hope i will since i have spent 1.5yrs at 1st Kyu making sure i am ready for it) then i want to make sure i smash it later this year Get to Judo 4th Kyu This one i am putting the grade as the more continuous assessment of the lower judo grades means i have a little more control over it and it isn't an assessment that i need to wait 3/6 mths to resit if needed Get a stripe on my bjj belt! Again this is being put as the continuous assessment makes it more achievable. I also want this as a target so i will have something to aim for / work on to demonstrate i am becoming less bad! Improve my kicking height, ideally to shoulder height for yoko geri and mawashi geri. Will do this by working flexibility plus strengthening hips, glutes etc which is the issue i think (ties into fitness section too) Fitness related goals Lifting manage to bench 105kg x 2 reps, current 1rm is 100kg and it is very much a real maximum manage to squat 140kg x 1. Think this is doable as when i recently testing i did 110kg and it flew up out of the hold and hit a sticking point 3/4 up which showed up glute/hamstring weakness so is fixable. Legs themselves could likely manage more weight set of 5 pull ups - currently can't do 1 but working on it and have been doing assisted reps and the level of assistance has been coming down a lot so i think it is doable general fitness run for 5k relatively easily have started a little running (which i hate but i think is worth doing), managed up to 3k so far though HR is on border or Zone 2 and 3. Want it to be a consistent low Zone 2 for full 5k.

I give thought to this topic each year. I think self-awareness and self-improvement are key aspects of martial arts practice. You're spot on that goals need to be tangible and realistic to be achieved, otherwise they are always "out there" and unfulfilled. I keep a training log sheet, and a journal, to document my martial arts activities throughout the year, so it's a great reference to track what my goals were and what I actually did. Of course, there's what we plan for, and what actually happens. I can easily rattle off: Train 3x/week, stretch every day, cut the snacks, lose 4 pounds, go to a seminar, finish learning a form.....it's easy because it's the same as last year! What's harder to look at is, what are the priorities and other interests that eclipse those goals? Family responsibilities, illness, vacations, will always be competing, and that's ok. My personal demon is competing hobbies like music, and where to put my energy.

I've got the same book, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

This would be tai sabaki, correct? When I teach DT, I focus on this a lot. I don't want to be in a "fair fight," where two people are squared off and it becomes a match of skill on skill. I want my deputies and detention officers to get to the flank or behind and then overwhelm then and get them to the ground and get them secured.

So far I’m enjoying it quite immensely. At times it’s hard to put it down.

Indeed, but it can also be seen in the older sparring footage from the earlier Japanese karate tournaments. Several well known karateka from that era were especially adept at this…Yahara Mikio of Shotokan comes to mind.

If I understand what you're saying, we call that body shifting, or "change of body". EXAMPLE: Instead of stepping back away from the attack, there are several ways, but you can step forward at an angle, shifting your body away from the attack and placing yourself closer and simultanously attacking them. Easier to demonstrate than to write it out. Old style Okinawan karate does a lot of this. Kinda hard to get the timing down, takes a lot of practice to do it automatically and correctly, but once you get it it's like a lightbulb going on and it's very effective. More for self-defense, but I have used it successfully in sparring.

There is another concept in Okinawan karate and related martial arts which agrees with getting behind the attacker. The idea is that the most advantageous position for counterattacking and defending is always at an angle or offside instead of moving straight backwards or meeting the attacking force straight on. This is especially important if the attacker is much bigger and stronger. This means moving out of the attacker’s direct line of sight and into the “blind spot” so that the counter will be much more difficult to see coming. Moving behind or as close as possible to the attacker’s back is the ideal application of that strategy.

Congrats to all the winners!

Happy Festivus on December 23. Only Seinfeld fans will get that one.

Thanks for the run-down. It's great to read. I do have a few things to offer. For one, you really aren't saying anything new here. There are people training out there that feel the same way. As you mentioned, you do have a small group of like-minded individuals training with you, and you find great enjoyment in that. I'd cling to that, and keep training otherwise just to keep training and learning. Keep an open mind; you might not like everything an instructor teaches, but he may teach something that you do like, and that can make the whole experience worthwhile. I've done Krav Maga training in the police combatives setting a few times. I found the training quite valuable, however, I'm not sure I'd want to train that way all the time. It's quite taxing on the body, but it is very beneficial training. However, we did not do any sparring in those settings, which I'm sure would be very different, and very beneficial. Have you had the opportunity to attend any of Iain Abernethey's seminars? It sounds to me like that kind of training approach would be right up your alley. If he ever comes close to my area, I'd like to attend one, even though I'm not even a Karate practitioner. You should look into Blauer Tactical Systems. Tony Blauer has spent years looking into the psychology of fear and fear management, and the physiology of self-defense. He's mainly in the Law Enforcement/Military circles, teaching defensive tactics, but his organization does have some general public offerings, like his "Be Your Own Bodyguard" seminars. You could move, that's an option. However, I don't think you'll necessarily find more interest by moving. What I would recommend is to keep training in the style you mentioned you chose, gain more rank, and then strike out on your own. Having some certified rank behind you will go a long way in lending you some credibility in establishing your own dojo. In the meantime, build your curriculum, write up handbook on it, and make a plan for delivering your system. Now, I would also mention this: you've mentioned that you have a small group of like-minded individuals you train with, and I'm just guessing that is a pretty small group. It's highly likely that you'll be appealing to a very limited group of people, so it could be likely that you never have more than a handful of students at any time. And that's ok. But if you find that you lose students due to your approach, you may consider some training options for those seeking a different experience. If you don't care about that, and you only wish to train others the way you want to train, just realize it may limit the students that come to you for training. This sounds a bit extreme. If you truly enjoy training, keep it going. If it bothers you so much that others don't want to do it your way, then I guess you'd have no choice but to quit to save yourself the mental anguish. I could have quit training at my TKD school some time ago because of several things I don't like about the training approaches, teaching to the tests, curriculum additions, and because we don't always approach things from my point of view. But if I do that, then I wouldn't get the opportunity to present things my way when I have the opportunity to teach. I'd rather bide my time and work my things in when I can. And by continuing to train, I stay in the loop and find new and different opportunities to improve myself or learn something new. I also realize that not everyone wants to train the way I train, and not everyone seeks out the same goals in training that I do. And I'm ok with that. I'm not going to pound the table to those who don't believe or want to do things my way. Instead of pounding the table, I'll sit at the table, take notes, write up articles, concepts, and syllabi, and move myself forward on my journey in the Martial Arts. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope this helps you out.