sensei8

Great posts, all!! Thank you, please keep them coming!! Btw, the ridge hand was just an example that I've seen happen over time, and I don't know why it is what it is nowadays. If the ridge hand is taught properly, angles mean nothing and can be thrown. I know, I STILL throw the ridge hand, and I throw it quite a lot, and at different angles. This topic isn't meant to concentrate on the ridge hand strike, but for any technique that YOU'VE not seen quite often in your MA school and/or in the tournament scenes. For example, I've NEVER seen a Shotokan Ox Jaw block executed EVER outside a Shotokan dojo. Even in the dojo, I've NEVER EVER seen this block executed during Kumite training. It seems to be reserved for Kihon drills, and Kihon drills only!!

I believe that the MA does help those who do suffer with ADHD/ADD!! I truly believe this, and I've seen it first hand for myself in my own students over the many years that I've been blessed to teach the MA. I might be clinically incorrect, but I believe that if the CI challenges the students across a wide plethora of subjects within the core style as well as in the MA in general, that student that suffers from ADHD/ADD becomes that receptacle through with one can use. The challenges must be possible; that's realistic! One more...five more...ten more of whatever technique...that's realistic. Teaching flying side kicks to beginners isn't practical nor is it realistic in the realm of challenges. Making the student accept that while it's difficult, no matter what the difficulty might be, it's doable across the board. Taking the drills and spicing them up where the learning curve is sparked and excited over the challenge that stands before them at that very moment. Age is no barrier! Not in the MA, imho!! Challenging the student to see the possibilities, no matter how doubtful one might be at the moment, part of the challenge itself. The student can't hide behind age...being bored out of your skull because the CI doesn't challenge the student in a positive way, is a ticket to never darkening the dojo's door ever again. Who wants to be bored? I don't! Who wants to be challenged? I do!!

Karate, and the MA in general, is more boring than watching paint dry. However, it's not supposed to be an E-Ride at Disneyland [my old age is showing, again]. It's tedious as all get out...one drill after another after another with no end in sight. The MA, while not terribly exciting, it is effective. As already suggested, speak with the CI about the boring factor, because if you're bored now, well, black belt is a door to more tedious training...it never ends. I'd have it no other way!! If you and your son aren't being challenged, then aside from being bored, then the CI is at fault. Students that are being challenged, find the tedious elements FUN, and they can't wait until next class!! Students MUST BE CHALLENGED, this peaks the learning curve!!

Minimums?!?! Godan, but nothing lower than Sandan!! One that's NOT a beginner of said MA!! Knowledge is everything, and a beginner lacks a lot of that knowledge; while a Sandan, and for surely a Godan, meets the minimums in spades!! But who sets these standards? Are they set in stone, or are they just the standards you grew up with, are familiar to you, and therefore, are the ones you stand by? To me, in many more "traditional" styles, this adherence to "this" way or "that" way is what shuts many people off to occurrences like this young man and his school. We are only open-minded to so many things. Who sets the standards? Well, we both know the answer to that question! Nothing is set in stone EXCEPT with the governing body, and therefore, they're followed by those that are affiliated with said governing body. In Houston case, he's within the governing body rules and regulations, and therefore...IT'S NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. This thread is a discussion of OUR opinions across the board, as implied by the OP, imho!! A healthy discussion, nonetheless. I've my opinions and it's stemmed from the SKKA, and my own personal ideologies. Am I dead wrong? I'm from the "traditional" ideologies, yet I've an open mind about a lot of things, yet in some things, I'm unyielding. Is my opinion wrong? If so, then we're all wrong, in our opinions, imho!! I'll admit, that the model that the Gracie's have introduced concerning their instructor program is a unique one, having never been tried before, but that's the Gracie's, and it's their given God right to do so. Having a CI so young and a beginner, for me, is a hard pill to swallow due to my upbringing in the MA. As you say, Brian, if Houston, for example, has something to offer that I do lack, then by God, I'd be a fool to let my narrow opinion on this matter decide wrongly. My MA journey would be tainted, and scarred. I don't know everything, and Houston and the Gracie's might be able to teach me something new, and if so, I'll be that sponge because my MA betterment deserves it!! Yes, I could separate my opinions and be taught by Houston because the floor deserves and warrants that of me!! Again, I wish Houston much success, and my opinion or the opinions of others shouldn't matter because he's his own man...that alone, I respect!! The laws of the land say that he can be the CI of his own school...therefore...that's exactly what he is no matter how much I jump up and down and kick my feet in a baby tantrum.

Sounds good! Please let us know what your Sensei says! Until then, train hard and train well!!

"But sensei, when do I get to..." When I say so, and not until then!! Student wants instant! Then buy some instant cereal! I've no tolerance for students that want to dictate the curriculum, and that's what the student's asking me to do when they ask this question. When the time is appropriate, that's when I'll introduce new Kihon, and not until then. The MA will weed out those who lack patience!! If a student wants to quit, then quit. I don't care one way or another...I'll even hold the door open for them, and wish them much success.

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!! I wholeheartedly concur!! I believe that you'll be slowing introduced into sparing, and that you'd not be going full throttle until the appropriate time, and not sooner. Please let us know how things are going! Ossu Will do, hopefully my sensei does ease me in gently as I don't particularly want to end up black and blue Fastest way to lose students is to make them black and blue; conditioning is important and a beginner isn't conditioned. Old school mindset was...condition WHILST being made black and blue. However, that mindset, has changed, not entirely, to protect the student and the student body. Not the physical body, but the number of students enrolled in a dojo. I can't emphasis enough, and I agree with JR 137...ask YOUR SENSEI!!

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!! I wholeheartedly concur!! I believe that you'll be slowing introduced into sparing, and that you'd not be going full throttle until the appropriate time, and not sooner. Please let us know how things are going!

To the bold type above... Shall I dare say... Proof is on the floor!!

...and important, has become a forgotten tool of the MA. In the PKA days, late 1970 and early 1980, the ridge hand strike, a formidable strike, was the choice for knocking out ones opponent. Having said that, I've noticed that the ridge hand strike is hardly ever used in any venue. What other techniques, are no longer the tool of the MA in any venue, and I'm including the MA school?? Your thoughts, please!

In JJJ I practice a few joint locks that may be considered small joint manipulation. The thing is simply that we don't use them during randori, and hence I am not sure I can apply them as I have not done so. If there were evidence that training them the way we do allows them to be consistently used it would help put my doubts to rest, and allow me to focus more of my training on this area. Anecdotes generally aren't considered stong evidence. You make a valid point. If ones not in the practice of using certain techniques often, then the application of it becomes mute, and forgotten, or better yet, rusty as all get out. I believe that many techniques suffer, i.e., the Ox Jaw block of Shotokan, I've never ever seen it being used in their dojo's except for drilling Kihon.

The only banned strikes in UFC1 were ones to the groin, a ban that was lifted in UFC2. Watching the fights, it seems very unlikely a rule change on groin strikes would have changed the outcome of UFC1 much. I agree that BJJ has some problems, especially at the moment, and it has been the subject of too much hype. It doesn't change the fact that the early UFCs however, had very minimal rules and so very little room for bias. Royce won because he was prepared for fights that involved both striking and grappling, and his opponents weren't. He had an approach that was developed for and tested in a no-holds-barred environment, and which directly attacked the gaps in the knowledge of his opponents. This didn't show that 'BJJ is the ultimate martial art' or anything, (though some people unfortunately did see it that way), it simply showed that one can't afford to neglect grappling if they want to shine in fights where it may be involved. Solid post!! I did notice that when the groin strike ban was lifted, it became a target, for obvious reasons. But, not an easy target at times.

LOL...one would think that I don't, but I really do!! Thank you for your kind words, Luther unleashed!!

Want to learn how to defend oneself? Then spar more than the next person, and against different styles; allow the time one spends sparring as a major proponent in ones training. Imho!!

The governing body; that's who!! Outside of that governing body; it's a matter of opinion!! Imho!!

Solid post!! Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!!

Thank you, stonecrusher69!!

Brown Belt...it's truly an epic milestone for any practitioner of any style of the MA! Time on the floor plus time on a journey equal that which can't be denied, and in time, one finds themselves much more closer to another epic milestone...Black Belt. Congrats to Josh and Clint; well deserved!!

I say, train in as many different gi/no gi options and the like, if at all possible to do so, because one never knows where one will be when a situation arises; better familiarize oneself in every possible way clothing option.

I believe it would behoove him if he appointed someone to be the CI, and he can just manage the dojo, seeing that he's hardly there. Possibly someone in the style nearby that qualifies to become the CI would be interested in that. Someone has to be there because he's not there. Again, I'd go somewhere else; this isn't an ideal situation, imho!!

Solid post!!

Train hard, and train well! Not for ranks, but for your MA betterment across the board. Brown belt's not going anywhere, and it'll still be there when the time is appropriate, and not anytime sooner!! Continue to be attacked, and IN TIME, that fear, that tendency to freeze will evaporate with the more you're facing that which is challenging you the most. I'll have been on the floor 51 years this October, and trust me, I've faced my brick walls more than I care to remember, and thought that I'd NEVER EVER overcome it...but in time, I did exactly that...I overcame it, but not without any trails and tribulations. Imho, the trials and tribulations are natural parts of training in the MA, sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose, but you ALWAYS find a way to overcome it. Hang in there; you'll be just fine!!

I look forward in reading about how class went on Sunday. Hang in there; things will go well too!!

Anyone happen to have a video link of it, with hopefully Kanazawa Sensei performing it?!? Kanazawa Sensei is THE authority on Shotokan kata. IMO there's Kanazawa, and then there's everyone else. Yes, that's a bold statement. They broke the mold when it came to Kanazawa Sensei!! And when the time finally arrives, he'll be sorely missed, and not just by those who train in Shotokan!!

Is that like in Heartbreak Ridge where either the entire platoon wore the same t-shirt as Clint Eastwood's character or they all went shirtless? Love the movie, Clint Eastwood, and the intent of the "same t-shirt" ideology. In time, the platoon finally arrived on the same page as their DI!!