sensei8

You're human, and in that, the MA is hard, no matter whom we are!! No matter the time spent on the floor, there will be times when you're all thumbs and three left feet. EVERYONE, at one time or another, have felt exactly what you're feeling right now!! I've not meet a MAist that hasn't felt what you're feeling right now, and if there's a MAist that hasn't, well, I've not meet him/her yet. I've been doing this for 50 years this October, and I still have moments/feelings just like you're feeling right now, and I'm a Kudan. I feel this way even more so since our Dai-Soke passed away in 2010. I believe that what you're feeling is normal. Why? We can be our worse critic and we don't forgive ourselves that easily, as others do, including ones instructor. Work through what you're feeling, and in time you'll be right as rain. If not, take a break away from the floor as long as you need so that you can have Mizu No Kokoro and Tsuki No Kokoro, and these maxims are critical to MAists, no matter the situation and no matter the rank. You'll be fine, but only when you are ready!! For the items you've listed below, one of the crucial things is TIME! Time on the floor!! Let me address them separately... 1- loose or non-solid/firm stances. 2- when doing rotation/turning in kata it ends with my 2 feet on the same line instead of being spaced with nearly shoulder distance. 3- fine adjustments needed for the basic blocks (I feel like BB guys in my class are doing it in different ways and each one wants me to do it his way) KATA! Work your kata's! Concentrate on your stances. Making sure that your stances aren't too narrow or too wide or too short or too long. Have someone while you're in said stance, try to knock you over in any direction. Do walking drills where you go from one side of the room to the other in one particular stance, and then do same thing while switching from one stance to another, going forward and backward. Swimming pool drills in the shallow end up to your waist, and go from one side to the other is said stance. Have someone tie your belt around your waist, stand behind you while holding either end of your belt, and while you're advancing forward, have that person resist you, but not so much as you can't move forward at all, as you try to walk forward from in one particular stance. This is for a start. You're ending the turn to soon. Each turn, 90, 180, and 270, take more time to complete, and in that, if you're sitting your leading foot down too soon, then you're ending both feet on the same embusen line. So, for example, from a right forward-leg stance, put your hands on your hips. This gets the hands out of the equation. You already know where your leading/turning/landing foot is suppose to be at the conclusion of said turn, so, don't put that foot down until it's there. Back to your hands on your hips, lift your turning foot as you've been taught, just enough to turn, let the momentum of your turn carry you to that final point. Then do it again until you've done a complete circle. Then switch your lead foot! Do it again! Eventually, it will become automatic in TIME!! Don't rush the turn!! Don't hesitate the turn. Turning is like learning how to crawl, then to walk when you were a baby. In time, you mastered both! Same thing here, in TIME, you'll master all your turns! Give them time!! You're feeling it just right; the BB's ARE doing the blocks differently than you because they've been on the floor much longer than you have. In time, you're blocks will change for the good. Make the blocks/deflections YOURS, even though you're taught one way, you must make every technique YOURS while keeping the core of said block/deflection pure!! Listen to your CI!! Respect the other BB's, but the CI is the one and only one you should be listening to on the floor. The BB's wanting you to do it THIER way is meaning well, but it's in conflict with your CI and with your MA betterment. Fine line? NO!! Listen to your CI!! Listen to not how they block/deflect, but listen to the intrinsic elements of said block/deflection to the effectiveness at its core!! I hope this helps. I'm just a question away to help you. Good luck, hang in there, and train hard!!

How limited was his mobility during any practice and drill? I'd be afraid to do anything until full clear by the doctor because with my dumb luck, I'd end up doing something to ruin what the doctor fixed. He had full mobility by this point. His doctor cleared him for different phases and types of training. So he was able to drill for several months before he was ever able to roll (randori). That's smart of him to adhere to his doctors instructions; patience paid off for him, imho.

I agree with this. ... I think that the perception is that MMA means UFC now and while that isn't wrong, it's just one side of the coin.I wholeheartedly disagree... ps1, You disagreeing with Zaine and/or myself? yes I'm not a MMA practitioner, therefore, the name MMA means just that to ME; Mixed Martial Arts. It's a name, like any other style of the MA has as its label. I don't put MMA and UFC in the same light, never have and I never will. Why? Because they're NOT the same. MMA is the name of a style, and UFC is just a name of a business; two separate things in MY eyes.

Willie Nelson, Country legend, one day before his 81st birthday, was promoted to 5th Dan in Gongkwon Yusul, a Korean style; this is NOT an honorary BB. Willie's been involved in the MA ever since 1960. Congrats Willie!!

I believe that this video link would appeal to, and be enjoyed by all MAists, not just Karateka's, and not just Goju-ryu Karateka's...

How limited was his mobility during any practice and drill? I'd be afraid to do anything until full clear by the doctor because with my dumb luck, I'd end up doing something to ruin what the doctor fixed.

I agree with this. ... I think that the perception is that MMA means UFC now and while that isn't wrong, it's just one side of the coin.I wholeheartedly disagree... ps1, You disagreeing with Zaine and/or myself? As a TMA, I never shunned MMA as barbaric! No! I love the UFC format, past and present. To test ones mettle in that type of venue, well, it's appealing to the senses, well, it appeals to me.

Congrats!!

As opposed to not generating power in ones punches by any other means away from hip rotation. The arm alone is just that, alone.

When I was 7 years old, I use to get bullied, and have my lunch money taken from me everyday at school. Well, long story short, when my mom found out, she enrolled me in one of the local dojo's. Besides, my mom figured that it was cheaper to enroll me in karate classes before I hate her out of house and home. Fate brought me to Shindokan Saitou-ryu!!

Solid post!! I'm the same way, and so is our Hombu. What you speak about is almost word by word what our Hombu and I have been doing forever and a day. Students ALREADY have an instructor, and while some parents mean well, parents AREN'T the instructor. Testing cycles are for students and not for the parents!! Parents tend to voice their unwanted opinions whenever I've failed said student. "WHY?" None of your business; that's between student and instructor. Want to talk to me about it, then make an appointment so that we can discuss said concerns behind closed doors. However, my mind won't be changed, and I will control the conversation, and I will point out area's that the parents can help them with, but only if the parent will not undermine what it is that I'm teaching them; and that is Shindokan!! Our Hombu has a room that parents and the like can watch said testing cycle on closed circuit television, as well as an elevated viewing room, and that room has a very thick piece of glass in order to muffle any conversations emanating from that room. Parents want to watch, that's fine, but some parents can't help themselves, they try, but you can see it on their face before they speak. So, go to the other room until we're done. We'll let the parents be in the room for the salutations and the closing comments, other than that, watch from a safe and comfortable distance. During normal classes, we welcome them, until their conversations warrants them to leave!! Even if the parents a MAist, they're not an authority on Shindokan. Thanks, but no thanks!! Your instructor's settling the nerves of said student was excellent across the board!!

I believe that the pros and cons are not with the style or the methodology or ideology, but more with the practitioner, imho.

If he's the one you want to learn the MA from, then do what's necessary to learn from him. If he's not consistently on the floor to teach you, practice what he's taught you until he's more able to be on the floor. Is that frustrating? Sure, but it's minor to be taught by him!! Sure, you both should meet in the middle, but then again, you should meet him all the way. Now, if he finally walks away due to personal issue's, then seeking out another instructor might be a last resort. Good luck, train hard, hang in there, and if there's an ear to hear, we're hear for you.

Respectfully, I don't think it is the punching higher that would be the issues but learning to take the punch itself. I think you're right in that to deliver it you simply aim higher but defending it if you're not used to doing so might be another story. For fast hard legs and hands to both body and head look at pro kickboxing and to a lesser extent international ITF Taekwondo. Some wicked fast legs and punches. Avoiding and taking the face punches takes some specific and different movements than taking a punch to the body. Bobbing, weaving, even the parrying is different to how you'd defend against body punches and kicks to the head. Solid post!!

Imho, sexism can be found in pretty much any sport in any capacity where men dominate said sport; UFC and the like is no exception.

Chuck, Joe, and Bill are solid MAists, imho, in that, they'd do just fine in the UFC. As a matter of fact, and imho, any MAist that's solid on the floor would do just fine in the UFC.

To me, MMA means just what the title implies...Mixed Martial Arts.

Thanks for the video; very informative!! I think that what's happened is that the training methodologies/ideologies have become so much improved across the board. Approaches on how to train and get much more from ones training; more refined. The machines that one can be attached to is Frankenstein-like while ones training so that they can better understand the possibilities. We train, but if we're not training to improve, than there's no use to train at all, imho. Yes! We have to be! Change; the mother of evolution has to be embraced for it to begin. All instructors of the MA want to have their students and the like to improve, and become better MAists across the board. I do! I want my students, as well as the entire student body of Shindokan to improve and be much better than those of use who are reaching the end of their MA journey. To teach them to take what they've been given to higher platitudes. If the answer to the quote above is no!! Then we shame their legacies, imho!!

Torque!! Rotation of hips, relaxation of elbow joints to accentuate the technique, transforming rotational momentum into linear momentum...this amplifies impact!!

Both physical and mental can only take one so far!! Being honest with oneself is so very important; students deserve that!!

Rotational dynamics speak a lot to most karateka's. However, it's an often misunderstood principle while on the floor. I've seen karateka's overdo/over reaching, the dynamics thinking that is how said dynamic should be trained; and it's not. Frustration tends to push karateka's down the path of not making rotational dynamics all that important; the apex of the power curve is treated more as a numbing thing than as a helpful thing. Bad muscle memory takes over and it's a hard thing to erase, but not impossible. Does your style of karate teach rotational dynamics? OR... Have they turned their back from rotational dynamics? Your thoughts, please.

What would the seminar subject(s) be?

Welcome to KF!!!!!!!!!

Why Sandan? Generally speaking, Sandan can promote students to Shodan without the governing bodiy being directly involved. As the CI/Owner, it's a feeling of independence that has to be experienced to be understood. Promoting students to Shodan on ones own; nothing compares, imho!!

Those here who've created a style of the MA, congrats, it's a bold step to take, but a important step, so... Is you're style under the umbrella of any governing body? If not... Did you also find your own governing body? Having your own style, what challenges, if any, have you faced in general as well as with obtaining students? I ask because a lot of customers/students tend to migrate to more "solid" styles of the MA. A hurdle, no matter how small or large, is still a hurdle, nonetheless.