sensei8

If it's agreeable with both students, and with the CI, heavy-handed sparring can take place. The two key...BOTH STUDENTS...and the deciding key...the CI have to take place first. The CI, of course, can end the agreement at the CI's discretion. Learning can't take place when one's being place in a situation that's uncomfortable across the board. Stop...bow to your sparring partner...quietly request that your sparring partner to ease up on the contact...continue sparring UNTIL it appears that the heavy-handed contact will only continue. CONTROL isn't a request; it's the right of every student/practitioner!! As I've mentioned many times before, Greg, our Kancho, and I Kumite extremely hard and deliberate with each other. It's what we enjoy, and it helps us across the board. Other Shindokan Senior Ranks will not and do not Kumite in the manner that Greg and I do, nor do they join us on the floor during our sessions.

That's AWESOME; better late than never!! Teach her...be very patient!! Anything else will put you in the dog house, and I don't need to tell you that. She's your "first official student", and that's cool, but before that, she's your wife. I hope it works out better for you than it did with me!!

Ankle braces are a great tool for assistance in stabilization especially after an injury. But the concern is that it is masking the issue of ankle issues and these actually increase the risk of knee injuries. So you would need to work on ankle stability as a weaker ankle joint leads to an increased risk of injury especially with kicks. Point well made!! I use them for support so that I won't become injured! This was my idea, and not a doctors!! I understand that you use them for prevention, but the risk is that you will actually injure yourself somewhere up the kinetic chain (ankles - knees - hips - spine - neck) and most commonly in the knee. Do you train your ankles as well or not at all and go for the ankle brace instead? Was the idea of wearing them more prevention of injury or because you feel like you can't trust your ankles as you used to? The ankle takes a long of shock in when moving, jumping and landing then the knee also does the same. By you restricting that ability, that is why the shock travels to the next joint in the line. Like I said, it was MY idea, and not my doctor. My doctor's have said the same things that you have, but, none of my doctors have advised me to forgo them either. I suppose that I wear them more as a security blanket, and yes, that's a dumb reason to do so. Yet, I've not been injured because I've worn them. I do train my ankles, just as much as any part of my body. I do trust my ankles; wholeheartedly!! How's the saying go?...An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of a cure!! In my tiny mind, I believe that I'm protecting myself. Like wearing an elbow pad and a knee pad. I don't need them, but I'll wear them if I believe that they'll help/protect me one way or another. I was once told that wearing a back brace weakens the back. My doctor said that's true, but only if you're wearing it while walking. Wear the back brace when you're going to be lifting, but one has to lift properly first. A friend of mine, back in Owasso, OK works at Whirlpool, and he was told that he couldn't wear a back brace at Whirlpool per what I spoke about the brace making the back weak, but how can an OSHA approved back brace not be allowed, because his job entails lifting while at work. Anyway, I'm babbling, sorry!!

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

Great topic; thank you for starting it. Great OP!! Even nowadays, I struggle to get that get-up-and-go gumption, and that's usually when I get up too early after staying up too late or if I'm under-the-weather. But, that struggle within myself doesn't last that long because, and beyond the fact that I've responsibilities to my students to be in-house, the urge to learn and to teach, and my unending love for the MA!! Don't get me wrong, imho, the MA can be a love and hate relationship; I'm not perfect, but I will say this, over 50 years, I'm more on the floor than off the floor willingly. Your OP speaks in volumes, and therefore, mirrors what I've felt from time to time. We all have our reasons for going, and in that, no ones reason's are greater or lesser than others, imho!! It's not a contest!!

Ankle braces are a great tool for assistance in stabilization especially after an injury. But the concern is that it is masking the issue of ankle issues and these actually increase the risk of knee injuries. So you would need to work on ankle stability as a weaker ankle joint leads to an increased risk of injury especially with kicks. Point well made!! I use them for support so that I won't become injured! This was my idea, and not a doctors!!

For me, that is the bottom line: Ask that person to go lighter, and if that person won't, then go speak with your instructor ASAP. Your wellbeing is paramount, in that, don't whine about it.

Ankle braces/supports!! They help me. About $10 or so at Wal-Mart!!

Congrats; well done!! Feels good, huh?!

Yes...Happy Mother's Day!!

The balance must be found within oneself, imho. The MA can get in the way of ones own MA journey. How so? Misplaced emphasis as brought on my well meaning styles/instructors. The forest does get in the way of the trees, the individual trees, that is. Bunkai, competition, and the other things only become counterproductive if self ALLOWS it to be so. A proponent of one but not all is akin to only eating one slice of the pie, and not the whole pie. Training in a balanced nature of Karate, and I respect Egami's teachings, but I'm an individual who may respect his teachings, but, the summation of 'why' is to the summation of 'because' while I'm learning to understand my own karate-do. Imho, if one cannot do all 3 well, then that practitioner has lost their way, if they ever had it. My 50 years in Shindokan wasn't done in vain!! I did all 3 well; they were well balanced. Immaturity allows one to dominate aspects, and I was immature until I matured as both an individual and as a MAist. Shindokan ISN'T sport Karate; it's an oxymoron! Yes, I competed! Yes, I train in Kata/Bunkai! Yes, I fight! I'm complete as a MAist!! NO ONE can tell me that I can't do all 3 well when I've been doing just that. How so? I'm not a Karate robot programmed to do this and do that and only this and that. I'm an individual who searches the balance within my own Karate-do. To say that I can't do this and can't do that, and it's impossible is to say that Saitou Sensei and Takahashi Sensei didn't have a minimum of an idea of what they were doing. But ONLY Egami knew!! Either of these fine MAists had their ways in their own Karate-do, and while I'm a product of Takahashi Sensei, I'm my own Karateka!! I hope you continue here, Davis because I believe that you've a lot to contribute. Isn't the beauty of discussions to not always see eye to eye. I'm a proponent of Karate and all of its ideologies and methodologies, but I'm not the programmed dolt of a robot that blindly follows in the shadows of other MAist's. NO! I'm forging my own MA path...STILL!! Is my MA path perfect? That too, is an oxymoron, imho! No ones MA path is perfect!

Nice tutorial, Alex, as always; thanks for sharing it. How do I/We work the open guard? All of the above!! Things change! Why? Ones opponent isn't just going to "allow/let" me grab them at will without some sort of fight. The give and take can be just that; give and take. I move around the base, my opponent counters in some fashion. I pressure, my opponent counters that pressure in some fashion. In short, as in anything, nothing always happens as planned. For training purposes, everything works. But add a resistive Uke, the game of give and take takes on a different face; surprises can, especially with beginners, birth panic. I'm a fan of pressure!! The prominent pro I see IS the pressure that you're applying WHILE moving around the base!! I like it!! It took me awhile to use both pressure AND moving around the base TOGETHER, and not one or the other. The prominent con I see IS that grabbing the gi pants isn't always that easy, and even more difficult in maintaining because a resistive opponent will manipulate in such a way that grip is lost, if only for a moment. Not everyone has an iron clad grip, and one sharp flail, the grip can be lost. The possible scary scenario is that once a grasp is broken, and for that instant, that one arm can be trapped and vised in ones legs and such...submission possibility. The pros I see for pressuring is akin to pressuring the center of the board in a chess game. Pressuring can cause my opponent to make mistakes due to the level of the pressure I'm applying; not just pressure from me, but in a highly calculated pressure. Don't move a piece on a chess board and assume that pressure will work because the hidden traps are realized when it's too late. Don't pressure just to pressure!! That's the con of a pressure. Overly exhumed pressure backfires at it's most unpredicted moment; pressure is mistaken for dominance, and it's the farthest thing from it. The pros for moving around the base is that elements can be checked and re-checked whilst moving around the base. Move here...fix here...move this...fix this...move that...fix that; it's a constant adjustments while moving around the base. Therefore, moving around the base isn't all static!! The cons of moving around the base is that often students don't move enough or they move too much both intentionally and unintentionally. Fixing and adjusting this and that by a calculated and experienced practitioner is part of the game and thusly, the base is lost to an over zealous student moving around the base. Experience fixes mistakes OVER TIME!! BUT...no everything, including what I've posted here, works every time; experience is the deciding factor for success over failure. Back to my corner!!

You say receive, but I don't see you receiving, as we know it. What I'm seeing is deflections. When we receive a technique, it's akin to catching a ball. [Man...I need a recording camera] Your knee did you no favors because you stayed in one spot while in Kiba Dachi.

I hope everything works out for you!!

You can be a white belt, and still open a dojo.

Just train...rank will be earned when it's time and appropriate, not until then!!

Welcome to KF, haidarfarhan; glad that you're here!!

Aha...thanks, Shotokannon!!

I suppose that Soke and Dai-Soke saw something in me, that I didn't see, then or now; I'm nothing special. Besides, I was at the dojo 6 days a week, except during baseball season, then, I'd be at the dojo 3 days a week.

Welcome to KF; glad that you're here!! From what you posted, I'd say...RED OAK...all the way. Boils down to a personal choice!!

WOW...congrats...good luck!!

What's your gut feeling?? The pros seem great! The cons aren't so great! Go with your gut feeling, and don't second guess yourself!! This is my short answer.

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

This concept is seen in the MA...Karate, Judo, Aikido, etc...still, very nice tutorial, thanks for sharing. BTW, have your student, the one in this video, do some makiwara and the like training to condition his body, as a thought. That way when hard meets the soft, he'll absorb it properly. I did get a chuckle, mean of me, but I'm sick that way.

I like the fact that your students spend a month on one section before moving to another. To many things pass by unnoticed when things are rushed, and students can be quite impatient at times.