sensei8

Don't Forget that BMI is not that good at telling us our fat %. As it is rather Inaccurate. Often athletes will receive a high BMI due to the muscle that they have built up. Even though they look healthy, but according to the BMI they are overweight. With Weight Classes don't be pedantic about going down or up more than 1 division. Your reach does NOT affect your weight at all. For me I am 110 kg and 5'8" and my ideal weight is approx 80 kg but I may not get there completely due to what my genetics decide. Solid post!! I think I was trying to say that the Rock, by his high BMI, is considered Obese, and the Rock, is far from that! Still, I do thank you for your post...solid, indeed!!

I agree that promotion through rank should in general be based on progression through a syllabus, but... The point of a karate syllabus is not to teach you moves or dances. The point of a karate syllabus is to teach you how to fight. To promote someone who can do the moves but cannot fight to an appropriate level is demeaning to the school and the art. To withhold rank from a person who can fight above the level of his rank but whose techniques against air is not right because you are effectively holding them back instead of pushing them forward. Now what should happen is that a point of equilibrium is reached where sloppy technique starts to become a hindrance in his fighting and at that point the students rank should be frozen until he makes progress. At that point making the student focus on and develop his basics should lead to clear improvements in the areas in his fighting that are lacking. When that happens he can progress. This will only work if the teacher understands combat and the relationship between fighting and form. So ultimately rank in my view is about grading against yourself but going towards a well defined and understood objective goal of applying martial arts to violent conflict (or sport combat if that's what you want). After that is achieved (post Dan/senior Dan) it's about politics and thus is relative to others, but that side of things is far outside my interest. One final note on syllabus. If the aim of karate is learning to fight (and it really is), then holding someone back from ranking because they can't do certain things is the same as the teacher saying "I can only teach you one way and if it doesn't fit you I can't teach you." Nidan above mentioned not being able to head kick. We'll to me the solution would be to identify what part head kicks play in fighting and provide an alternative that fits the same niche. The same goes for disability (obviously this has limits). There is more than one way to fight and it is the student who gets hurt if the teacher can't or won't adapt to them rather than the other way around. That's a solid post!! You know, I often wish that I was NEVER a Senior Dan...EVER because it's very lonely, even within the Shindokan circle...especially!! It's hard to explain, in words, what I'm feeling right now, one would have to experience it firsthand for themselves.

Running the risk of sounding hypocritical and losing the respect from fellow KF members... YES!! Why? If the MA can teach the practitioner ONE thing that will be effective in saving him/her, then by all means, that MA is worthwhile. Let's not worry about the business models and the like that might or might not surround said MA, that's worry about if a student can get even just ONE effective thing from that MA...I believe that that MA is worthwhile to give it a chance. We've our own personal and professional feelings about GKR, and they're no secrets, but if just ONE slice of whatever can provide nutrition substance to that person, then whom am I to deny them of that?!

Excellent article, Brian!! It's nice to know about ones MA journey, and that your MA journey, while it has its potholes, it's still continuing. Every paragraph reached into my heart and soul in ways that I admire, and in ways that I need. I've had the extreme pleasure of sharing the floor with you, even though it's only been once. That one time, showed me a MA that was solid across the board and was starving for knowledge that could help improve his MA betterment; you were a sponge and you were quite affable and humble, a trait that can be hard to find...HONESTY beyond all measures!! I was very happy to have meet your wife, Vicky, and your three beautiful children, Kayla, Kendall, and Kenneth; you're very blessed!! I'm the lucky one to have meet and trained with you: An excellent MA through and through!! Your techniques are extraordinarily solid through and through, and I was pleased to see that your techniques were honest in their executions. I wish that we had much more floor time together; we could learn so much from one another!! In our friendship, I'M the fortunate one, and I wish you the best in your continued MA journey, and I thank you for allowing me to walk, if for only that one brief time, side by side on your MA journey. Thank you, Brian, for everything...past, present, and future!! Your friend, now and forever, in and out of the MA!!

Congrats...well deserved!!

Dwayne "Rock" Johnson's BMI, at his WWE prime was 30. However, that was because of the amount of muscle he had, and it wouldn't surprise me if his BMI is more now...he's ripped even more so than he was before!!

SOLID ! DITTO!!

Travel wherever you NEED to because your MA betterment is yours, and if you feel that you need to travel farther than your use to, then satisfy your need!!

Yes, by all means...Happy Birthday Mr. Arneil..and many more!!

For me, the meaning of rank is quite a simple thing. It's meaningless if it's not kept in its proper context/content!! I don't concentrate on the color, I concentrate on the student. Yes, they're wearing a colored belt, but that to me is just an OUTWARD identifier that serves only one purpose...lining-up protocol. It's part of the uniform!! If a student of mine is more concerned with rank than knowledge, I'd prefer that they'd just go somewhere else because I've not the time or the inclination to care about any rank. "Well, that's easy for someone like you to say that because you're a Senior Dan!" Yes, it is easy for me to say, but my rank doesn't mean a hill of beans in any shape, way, and/or form. Why? Rank is subjective, at best, imho! Knowledge over rank! Experience over rank! Practice over rank! EVERYTHING over rank!!

Practice more. You don't pull the tricep, you hold and allow your body to scoop it out. This is extremely easy after a few years of practice. If your opponent has the tricep against the ground, where you can't pull, you should switch tactic and kneel on the arm. I agree, after some time with much practice, this is extremely easy. I only made that comment for conversation/discussion.

I wholeheartedly agree!! And, no, it's never happened to me, although it's happened a few times with my students. Some were embarrassed, yet all kept on sparring. I've seen it many times, with different divisions at open tournaments; some kept sparring, but some ran off the floor!!

Congrats!!

Thanks Wastelander and tallgeese!! Still, great tutorial video, nonetheless!!

Contemplation is a good thing; discoveries are born!

Excellent tutorial video!! Said tricep pull isn't that easy against a resistive opponent. Your thoughts, please.

As I've said before, all answers to my opening post are correct because they're what one believes!! Imho... Practice can't exist without confidence!! Through confidence, one can practice what they've been taught, and in that, these two actions are in concert with one another. Without confidence, practice will suffer in its quality.

Some solid posts, all!! The only true way to answer my question was to be perfectly honest with oneself; therefore, the answer will be a personal choice. Your thoughts are correct because they're your belief; warranted through and through!! I will not try to dissuade or persuade one way or another because I believe that that might muddle self-expression. No! I will, however, briefly defend, thereby, explain my reasons why I opted with "Confidence", and not "Practice". First off, without practice your ship will already be tattered and battered; it will sink at the sign of the first storm. A MAist that doesn't practice is against him/herself before the journey ever begins; a stalled car is of not much use. Without practice, the dullness of ones techniques will not reach its luster. Albeit, not one technique will be as effective, if at all, as a polished technique can provide. Practicing, for a MAist, is as crucial as air is to sustain life; without practice, the MAist technique would die, as assuredly as you and I would if we had no air to breath. No. To a MAist, practice is vitally important in the scope of effectiveness! Not all of the trees bend with the most gusty wind; its roots won't permit or allow it!! Why? You're afraid of your enemies!! Not difficult to imagine, or to realize because confidence comforts the practitioner who has practiced diligently day in and day out. To take a journey, I must first decide to take that first step, and in taking that first step, I must decide to walk that mile, and in that, I must make a conscientious effort to put one foot in front of another, so on and so forth. That, to me, speaks about confidence in an overall viewpoint. We will fail, we will fault, we will stumble, we will fall!! But, what we do directly after that, speaks about courage and integrity. Will we get up, dust ourselves off, raise our heads, and strive forward in our moment of despair? If not, then, by all of the forces of nature, don't ever try in anything. However, if your make-up is to bolt rightward immediately after one has stubbed their toe without a pause, that too, speaks about the confidence that one's needed as a MAist. If you've practiced day in and day out with the fever that's needed to excel in any given MA, but you've not the confidence to apply what you've learned and practiced on the floor, then by all the rain that has fallen and will fall, take up some other endeavor that's more befitting to ones stature. One learns and practices for the purpose of one to defend, yet, when the chips fall, one doesn't have the confidence to execute; possibly because that unknown fear is too much to shy away from. Draw the shoulder back and strive forward effectively with what ones learnt and practiced as though their live depended on it...it just might. It just might!! Having all of the confidence in the world must be guarded so that one can, and will, avoid the negativity of all of the traps that will try to rob the MAist at the moment of truth. Cockiness and arrogance, to name just a few, should never accompany one on their journey because they rob one of what's pure and true. Confidence is just that, and it should be just that. Anything else negates everything learnt and practiced on the floor!! Mizu No Kokoro, and Tsuki No Kokoro are maxims found in many MA's. They speak about fruitful results, and not about things that are unfruitful. Mizu No Kokoro, Mind Like the Water, speaks about one keeping their minds settled, albeit, calm so much so that water, when look upon, is as though the water was like glass. The mind, like the water, is calm and undisturbed, unbendable to the forces that surround them. Tsuki No Kokoro, Mind Like the Moon, speaks about one keeping their minds clear, albeit, uncluttered so much so that the moon can be perfectly reflected off the calm water. But, like a cloudy night, a clear reflection is disturbed and prevented from perceiving clearly as it should be. Lacking either creates that pause, as a pause, defeat is birthed!! These concepts are where, for that very moment, is where effective applied knowledge is born and experienced, yet, it was birthed on the floor during practice, and given that exclamation point of confidence to study your opponent, study yourself, make a plan, and carry that plan out...no matter the outcome might or might not be. Experience, imho, only provides support to confidence; they're in concert of one another!! Experience and knowledge are things that are acquired in good time, and they're not to be rushed or mocked. Nonetheless, not placed upon a mantle as though they're more important that anything else learnt and practiced through confidence. But, imho, having the confidence to fit every single piece into their MA puzzle is needed before anything else can be. Pieces laid out meticulously and neatly before one in an orderly fashion will now need the practice in putting these pieces in their respective places, but in order to do that, having the confidence in picking up the first piece in tantamount, if not paramount to the MAist. "You will not survive the night, if you don't first have the confidence to face the darkness" ~ Dai-Soke Yoshinobu Takahashi

Great article, Danielle!! Being part of a MA that utilizes 85% of its techniques with the hands, I found that this article spoke to my heart. This article delves just enough to educate as well as peak the curiosity of the many TKD hand techniques. Excellently thought out and presented for the reader to not be so overwhelmed with all of the strict technicalities of each hand technique described therein. While TKD introduces its hand techniques in a stretched out and patiently mannerism to their student body, there's the perfect balances of the who, what, where, when, why, and how that provides a non-rushed methodology that allows absorption of said hand techniques as to not muddle the exacting details so that their student body CAN see the forest, despite the trees. Thank you for it, Danielle!!

To me, that's the Million Dollar question. That answer will desperately vary from practitioner to another. And of course, I believe that any weight loss program should be supervised by a doctor so that it's done properly and won't cause any harm to oneself. Train hard, but be careful as to not harm yourself!!

In your opinion... What's more important? Practice or Confidence? I'd say...Confidence! Even if you practice a lot, if you lack confidence, all of that practice is pointless. Don't misunderstand me, practice is extremely important to any MAist who's serious about their MA training. I believe that one's confidence must be able to drive the practice effectively. Your thoughts!!??

Yes...Congrats; way to go!!

Imho, the bold type above is essential for the well being of the practitioner. Just letting someone hit you without taking the health properties into consideration is dangerous, to say the least.

A solid post!! Tegumi can be found in Shindokan, so much so, that this type of wrestling is essential to a Shindokanist because..."When the ground reaches up and drags you down, you'll wish that you learnt how to grapple", Soke Saitou was quite fond of saying to those who were hesitant with their ground training. Sad thing I've found is that when people learn that Tegumi is a form of Okinawan Sumo, is that they picture within their mind where two large men try to knock the other out of the ring. To me, Tegumi is a form of wrestling, and not the WWE type either, and that's vital to anyone's ground game. Should both end up on the ground, they had better know something once the ground drags you down, and if you've no ground work skills, then you best stay on your feet. However, some karate forefathers, like Itosu, figured that other karate aspects were much more important, and steered more towards the kihon part of karate. In that, Tegumi can be found in kata; shouldn't be overlooked. Tegumi...Karate...two aspects that compliment one another. As far as it comparing to Judo, imho, it's a minimal similarities between the two.

Hopefully, you'll enjoy these, and some, you might nod in appreciation... http://murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-martial-arts.html