sensei8

Well, I'm one whose no desire to be as flexible as demonstrated in the OP's link. Flexible? Yes! Just not that much!! Yes!! Weight training and flexibility training are compatible. That with correctly performed resistance exercise does not negatively affect flexibility. It's possible to shorten muscle length, and therefore decrease flexibility by performing many contractions within a decreased range of motion; however, I believe it is safe to say that most resistance exercises performed with good technique through a full range of motion will not reduce flexibility. As a matter of fact, certain types of resistance training can actually increase flexibility. There has to be an understanding by the practitioner across the board as to the proper methods. Otherwise, injury will occur. Gradual...that's the name of the game. Nothing in training is automatic, nor is it guaranteed, and neither is it instantaneous; time must be respected. Cardio...free weights...stretching, and in equal proportions; one done more than the other(s) goes against the grain of sensibility of training.

To me, the "everyone moves on together", reminds me of the "No Child Left Behind". In that act, I always felt that children were passed from one grade to another no matter what. In the end, I felt that students were graduating unequipped without understanding fully the three R's [Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic] . As far as it working in the MA...well...sure it would work!! I'd have nothing to do with it, of course because I don't believe in passing every student at every Testing Cycle. Speaking quite frankly, to pass everyone on every Testing Cycle will be akin to having a score of students that couldn't defend themselves out of a wet paper sack, if their life depended on it. Building false securities within students is an injustice, as well as it being cruel, act. And for what?? Money?? Increasing ones Student Body?? There's no valid reason to pass every student UNLESS every student earns it. The odds of that occurring are uncalled for, and for it occurring as a norm are inappropriate. But since when does that ever matter to those who prey on the innocent!?! Imho.

Outcasts?! I've never meet one ever, both on and off the floor. How so? There are two types of MAists: One that is! One that isn't! There's no in between!! I determine this through my own acquired perceptions through my knowledge and experience, because my definition isn't based on the support and/or approval of others. Oftentimes, trepidation is the enemy of effectiveness!! Imho.

In a nut shell... It's a personal choice. Do it or don't do it; there's no universal answer...there's no universal protocol whatsoever.

As a CI, I've not the time or the inclination to be political correct with those of my Student Body in any concern whatsoever. At the same time, I'm understanding to how a student can become nervous and/or scared about a many of things when it comes to the MA. However, I'm not moved to be politically correct because I've a job to do, and that job is teaching. You want to be pampered, even the slightest, because you're nervous and/or scared, suck it up and concentrate on the training betterment. Once a student does concentrate accordingly, that student won't have time to be nervous and/or scared. The student came to me, and not vice versa. So why harbor any trepidation about anything MA related, whatsoever?? Perception is reality to THAT person, which I do understand, but don't sympathize a students plight. At first, I'll do all that I can to ease any fears and/or nervousness to help the student ease, and acclimate to the new surroundings, as well as to the overwhelming responsibilities and accountability's that are theirs, but my patience is very limited. If a student is nervous and/or scared, well, that student needs to get over themselves, quickly, and do what they came to me to do...LEARN and TRAIN. After that, nothing else will matter because efforts aimed towards improving one's MA betterment, is far better spent, than efforts being wasted over perceptional fears. I'm not making light of any students trepidation, however, my job isn't to coddle, but my job is to teach Shindokan...the MA. Visit professionals in those fields that care about a students trepidation's, because, to be honest, I could care less about a students trepidation...feel it...than forget it...than train, and that includes training to erase any trepidation away. That carried trepidation affects the training. That carried trepidation doesn't allow Mizu No Kokoro and Tsuki No Kokoro to flow outwardly, as it's designed to. Use any trepidation to benefit your effectiveness as a MA...as an individual!!

Again, I don't know why students are nervous/scared. They're there to learn, and if so, then get on the floor, and train, to the best of ones ability. The only opinion that matters is the CI's!!

Seeing that Bruce insisted that the individual should take what is useful, and discard the rest, exactly what does JKD look like?!? The core might be there, but JKD is different for each practitioner. Imho!!

What is there for a student to be nervous and/or afraid of?? The comings and the goings of the student is directed by the student. The CI is only a vessel, and nothing else. First day jitters are normal, yet not all experience the jitters. Future Events Appering Real Get on the floor, and train!!

Congrats, skullsplitter; well deserved!!

That was then, so short lived... ~Kaicho of the SKKA/Hombu ~Owner and CI of the Kyuodan Dojo This is some of the best news I've heard in a while. Congratulations for getting things back on track! I owe a lot of what transpired recently to get things back on track to every KF member, like yourself, JR, for providing some great suggestions; thanks you all. Also, Patrick, in a private conversation really supplied the nuts and bolts to repairing the SKKA engine, and a lot of the fault was mine...thanks for your truthful insights, Patrick; you opened my eyes to things I refused to consider. Things are fallen right into place at the SKKA, now that I've finally pulled my head out of my own rear-end. I'll leave it at that, and not go into any details, now or ever!!

I'm a very firm believer that the practitioner is at fault, and not the style!! The style that YOU, whomever YOU is, are in right now...it's solid, it's effective....but are you?? If not, then the blame might be as close as the nearest mirror.

10,000 punches, kicks, blocks, and strikes later; we're still forging forward to...1,000,000 punches, kicks, blocks, and strikes much later because that's become so engraved in me, what else do I know!!

I started at that age, age 4 full fledge black belt at 18. Shows the patient that a child can have if a donor makes them wait till adult age. Imagine how many adults would wait 14 years, I'd say a low number. To the bold type above... Yeah, not many at all. The battle of apoplectic from a parent(s)/guardians begins at the very first failed Testing Cycle, for an example.

Let us not forget to consider the maturity of the parent(s)/guardian as well. In short time, the CI will eventually have to calm down the parent(s)/guardian due to the fact that their kid(s) have just failed a Testing Cycle and/or the like. Oftentimes, I wonder, who drove whom to the dojo?!?!

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~ Unknown We MAists, from day one of our MA journey, learn our core style and the like, whatever that might be, without any ambiguity at all. We drill a quite vastly varied amount, as well as narrowly as necessary, of required floor work, that a MA practitioner might cautiously consider it to be an almost unmanageable, and oftentimes, redundant exercise of futility. And for what purpose?? To perfect that which we've been taught, and are being taught, ever since the very first day that we shadowed the door of some MA school, for whatever that reason(s) might or might not be. So are we crazy or what?? Over and over and over and over and over and over...[breathing in very deeply]...and over and over and over and over again...well...you get the point. That's what we MAist do, without expectations...without notification...without aspirations beyond the desire to improve across the horizon of knowledge and experience; to be complete in ones MA totality, no matter how long that takes, if it takes at all. Our insanity is not insane!? While we do the same thing over and over, with an unprecedented resolve of determination, expecting our repetitiveness to yield different results, if and when this/these/those results are possible. We oftentimes wonder if every morsel of training that we gladly do, is worth it all. To have a CI inform us, many years later, that we've still not greatly, if at all, improved in this and that. We believe that our whatever it is pretty darn great...feels great...looks great...to only have the CI dash our hopes and dreams of thinking that I'm showing a modicum of improvement. Still, I return, more determined than before to improve my MA betterment. This means...and you guessed it...doing even much more of the same things over and over and over and over again, and then some. Well, I suppose I'm certifiably insane because I've been doing the MA for over 5 decades. Yeah, I must be crazy!! BUT I WOULDN'T WANT IT ANY OTHER WAY!! How about you??

Frugality within the MA begets immeasurable limitations on that MAist!! Frugality and the MA; it's an oxymoron, to say the least!! One can't expenditure anything of important value in the MA, in which knowledge and experience must be attained at all costs. Imho!!

Every dojo within the SKKA network participates in the 100 Kata during the annual Karate Day in October. In order that every student can participate in the event, we often choose a Kata that all can perform, with it usually being Pinan Shodan. It's a great time for everyone, both the Student Body as well as the visitors; a well meaning opportunity to come together across the network as one, in one cause. We look forward to the event each and every year with bated breath!! I speak about the event, briefly... https://www.karateforums.com/did-you-celebrate-karate-day-vt50069.html?highlight=100+kata

Interesting suggestion.... Unfortunately for your argument I used to be a prison guard. I've got some insight for you- being a felon or a "bad dude" doesn't instill magical fighting prowess. In fact if you want to see some interesting examples you can even look up felony fights on YouTube. There was one where a modestly trained mma fighter in shad smith fought a guy who "just didn't care" because he was "crazy." As you would have guessed, shad toyed with the guy, because he's a pro fighter. You're failing to justify any arguments you make and are trying to appeal to fantasies "These guys MUST be crazy killers because they're in PRISON" I fail to see the correlation between being a criminal and being a skilled fighter. Watch those felony fights. Those guys are- you guessed it- former felons. You'll see just how "not professional" they are.... So you are saying that, the best fighters are cage fighters due to practicing resistance training with each other; whereas traditional martial artists are below them in every way, skill wise due to this reason?I know that this question isn't directed to me. I apologize for my perked up ears on the bold type above... I'm a traditional MAist, and I'm not below anyone; I can not, and I will not subscribe to that, nor will my resolve subscribe to that either. Shindokan is all about resistance training from day one. That's the point I'm trying to make... Which is what? So I can better understand your point. Shindokan's resistance training, as I've mentioned here at KF often times, is barbaric, at best. Our resistance training is not for everyone due to the way that we teach it to our students; raw as raw can be, without any ambiguity whatsoever. Everything is expected on both sides of the resistance. Both sides, as the command of the CI, resist each other from the onslaught of the starting point of the drill. I hold your right wrist, with my left hand...what happens after that is a barbaric form of tug-of-war, in which, the fights not over until a deciding winner has emerged. With Shindokan, it's not the fight, but the escape to freedom, that's most desired. In that, if you escape from me, and you do not flee when you had the chance, then the fight continues. The battle of resolve begins and ends with heart!! Toy with me during resistance training, I'll guarantee you that you'll not do that again. One step and so on are fine tools, but with the addition of effective as well as believable resistance training, discoveries are in the horizon. Just short of stomping a mud hole in you, our method is cruel and unapologetic, but for a reason, and not for a season. Shindokan is traditional, and we're below no style...no practitioner!!

"Better" is an illusion, at best; an opinion. For something to be "better", it can not have an equal. Bruce, himself, puts it better than me. with this... "I personally do not believe in the word style. Why? Because, unless there are human beings with three arms and four legs, unless we have another group of human beings that are structurally different from us, there can be no different style of fighting.” Imho!!

Then I suppose that every style of the MA has died with its founder as well?!?

Interesting suggestion.... Unfortunately for your argument I used to be a prison guard. I've got some insight for you- being a felon or a "bad dude" doesn't instill magical fighting prowess. In fact if you want to see some interesting examples you can even look up felony fights on YouTube. There was one where a modestly trained mma fighter in shad smith fought a guy who "just didn't care" because he was "crazy." As you would have guessed, shad toyed with the guy, because he's a pro fighter. You're failing to justify any arguments you make and are trying to appeal to fantasies "These guys MUST be crazy killers because they're in PRISON" I fail to see the correlation between being a criminal and being a skilled fighter. Watch those felony fights. Those guys are- you guessed it- former felons. You'll see just how "not professional" they are.... So you are saying that, the best fighters are cage fighters due to practicing resistance training with each other; whereas traditional martial artists are below them in every way, skill wise due to this reason?I know that this question isn't directed to me. I apologize for my perked up ears on the bold type above... I'm a traditional MAist, and I'm not below anyone; I can not, and I will not subscribe to that, nor will my resolve subscribe to that either. Shindokan is all about resistance training from day one.

That's one of the reasons why I keep my hair cut very short; can't pull what one can't latch upon.

To the bold type above... ...Or it could be viewed as a means of complimenting the original; depending on how ones viewpoints in this regards are taken. I'm not loyal to my core style, Shindokan, at all. Why?? Because while it's effective across the board, imho, that effectiveness, like in every MA style known to mankind, is limited. Hence, the creation of styles, and the desire to cross train in other styles of the MA.

Tradition is part of the human condition; people don't usually like change.There is a tug of war of sorts with tradition and change. Very good points to consider singularity6 Martial arts is no exception to the complexities of tradition and changing with the times. Tradition is usually trying to hold on to things that are good things or habits; passed on from one generation to the next. Change is inevitable but too quickly is just as bad as stuck too deeply in tradition. The Chinese deal with this in, how will the decisions today (change) effect the future generations. Change for today might be a temporary good but bad in the future; very difficult to reverse once set in motion. No matter how one slices it, change, as you've said, is inevitable; time is a beast that takes no prisoners. And whenever that inevitable change occurs, one had better decide which side of the equation that one want to end up on. And once that change occurs, go with it or run the high risk of being left behind.

I most assuredly concur with Brian's assessment through and through.