sensei8

Anonymity can be a good thing, and when visiting other schools of the MA, wearing a white belt provides that, but only for the brief moment before said instructor acknowledges you. Even then, white belt on!!

Congrats and very well deserved!!

I've got to try the new Pretzel Hot Dog at Sonic...look and sounds quite YUMMYVILLE!! = drooling

Aggression without the proper content doesn't belong in the dojo. On the streets, well, context aggression is a good thing. Mizu No Kokoro and Tsuki No Kokoro ring loudly!!

Solid post!!

Yes...yes...yes...again...and again...Very solid post!! Domo arigato gozaimasu sensei8-san Great topic thread, and props to your 5000+ posts! (I'm still a newbie around here...) So far, the few dozen of yours that I've read have been quite good / solid, as well. And props to your many years of experience... From what I've garnered by all the posts I've read, you have about twice as many years in your Karate / MA journey as I have... (no allusion to age, of course ) Thank you for your very kind words; they haven't fallen upon a deaf ear.

Imho... White belt is the most important belt a MAist can ever hope or desire to attain; without it [white belt], rank is nothing more than an illusion, at best!! Strap it on and rock n' roll!!

I wholeheartedly agree that we all should strive for perfection, even the intent of perfection. Our intent is fallible as well, imho. If our MA IS effective, more so than our attacker, than perhaps we're much closer to perfection than we could ever imagine or desire.

Congrats and well deserved!!

And from: In my earlier days of my journey, I was an aggressive blockhead, especially when I competed. I got my rear end handed to me nearly every time. Once I gained some humbleness, I started to become more passive and eventually became a passive blockhead. As a passive blockhead, whether in street defense kumite / partner drills or in competition kumite, I got my rear end handed to me nearly every time. (Blockhead = me not learning to change my ways and getting my rear end handed to me.) Since then, I've learned that in a street defense situation, a normal, humble joe shmoe MA like most folks and myself need to maintain a certain amount of passivity and mental calmness to a certain point. Once a situation on the street changes from verbal to physical, at that precise moment, a mental switch must flip and "HIYAAAAH!" You must be aggressive enough from that point forward to defend yourself and / or your loved ones, regardless of number of attackers. Multiple opponents means you must change your tactics from how you would take on one opponent (and must include trying to be a track star...run away!). tallgeese, remember that joe shmoe MAs don't have the benefit of military or LOE training. Military and LOE's like you are trained to be soldiers, and that you're trained from the start to be aggressive because of the situations that you will most likely be in (which I think is some of the wisdom you're trying to share). Because we don't deal with intense situations like military or LOEs on a normal basis, and because we don't have the badge of law supporting us, joe shmoes like us will have a different encounter experience and must contend with an attacker on the street a little differently. I understand that LOEs would say, that besides basic routine traffic stops, every serious encounter is unique (I have 4 students that are LOEs), but, if you would, humor me for a few For instance, if some street thug decided to get brody with me at a parking lot or whatever somewhere and threatened to close in on my or my loved one's personal space (but has not yet crossed it), I have two basic options. 1) I can remain calm and passive and move my loved one and I out of danger while informing said brody street thug that "we don't want trouble / leave us alone." Or, 2) I can flip my "HIYAAAAH" switch and go aggressive in an attempt to preempt this theoretical brody street thug. As a joe shmoe, if I choose option 2, brody street thug is not going to react the same way if you, as an LOE, would choose option 2. It's psychological: people react differently to uniformed and badged law officers than to joe shmoes (else, why would there be undercover officers?). If you choose option 2, said brody street thug knows you're armed, have access to backup, etc... He knows his options are to run (and get splatter-tackled and arrested), to attack you with fists (and get splatter-tackled and arrested), or attack you with weapon (and get maced, tasered, or shot; in case of mace or taser, followed by splatter-tackled and arrested). Because brody street thug already has a plan of aggression in mind (even if only random / spontaneous), if I choose option 2, I will most likely get my rear end handed to me or killed. However, if I choose option 1, and thus prepare for impending danger by putting myself and loved one in better position, when brody street thug crosses that line of personal space, SURPRISE! "HIYAAAH!" switch flipped, counter-aggression on, supported by my MA training. If weapons are involved, brody's wrists, elbows, and knees are subject to breakage, and his throat and groin are subject to smashing... Takedowns work in any case, but if brody has buddies with him, there's no time to turn a takedown into a tap-out. A takedown must take brody out in order to move on to his buddies. Preemptive, on-all-the-time aggression works in sport competition / MMA because contenders are in a controlled environment with rules and no fear or expectation of death (reasonably, that is; i.e, when was the last time someone was killed in an MMA bout?). In sport competition / MMA, people do train to win, and superior aggression almost ensures victory. However, in street defense, there is no winning, only survival. To quote: Self-preservation = survival... Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to disparage you and your training methods, or the wisdom you are trying to impart. From your posts I've read around here, sounds like you're intensely well trained and experienced. I plan on researching the court case you mentioned in a previous post on this thread. While I've never won championships at competitions / tournaments, I've successfully defended myself and loved ones in street situations. And, I'm definitely no master, either. One of my personal improvement projects in my MA training is I think I've gone too far back towards being a passive blockhead. So, I'm training to be more aggressive in my defense responses... Oops... Sorry my 2 cents ballooned into a novel again... I get long-winded sometimes Solid post!! Btw, you're not long-winded imho. No, on the contrary because your posts are quite enjoyable and full of meat. Keep your posts coming!!

Thanks for the article Danielle...interesting. I believe that this article spoke about money and the new way to increase the WTF's bottom line! Commending because business MUST do that continuous or die. Managing own's brand is crucial across the bottom line of any business. The WTF sees the unending success of the UFC and wants to get their own piece of the pie. However, imitating isn't always flattering!! The WTF will, imho, have to quite a lot of soul searching to even get the crumbs of that business module. The WTF will have to offer something so different in order to attract the box-office type of revenue. Holding a WTF event in a octagon, imho, won't be enough because there as to be complete newness to the conceptual embrace beyond the octagon. Offering more points for punches, imho, adds nothing of substance to the whole. Changing the uniform, imho, is cool, but offers little to the core of the WTF. Again, IMHO!! Points and uniforms are an internal strife from the surface, but the underlying is still from a managing owns brand. It's the "Who Stole My Cheese" type of things that every business needs to embrace. Does the world truly need another UFC type?

I'd imagine that any LEO administration would be quite selective across the board when searching for qualified instructors, and in that, not every qualified MAist will even pass the most basic mustard. Prove yourself credible beyond any doubt, and you'll have a chance. Lineage is important, but not to any LEO administration because most LEO administrations don't understand or know about lineage. Recommendations from other LEO administrations, and/or from other LEO's themselves, that one has already trained with will surely go along way in getting the approval nod. Not 100% sure, but I'd also imagine that one had better pass some type of a background check, especially criminal and the like. Being well known already in the LEO world through instructions, books, videos and the like surely will give one the edge. Networking will, and does go a long way in getting a foot in the door. Bushido_man96 and tallgeese, as well as other KF members who are LEO's as well, will give you much better pointers than I just did because they ARE LEO's. I've been teaching LEO's for quite along time at the Hombu and at my dojo but I've never gone to instruct at an LEO academy or station. No, the LEO's I've taught have come to me seeking MA training, and I never have charged them one penny because they "protect and serve". Good luck!!

Is the style you train in perfect? Is the syllabus perfect? When you're on the floor, are you perfect? Nothing's perfect! Imperfect beings can't produce anything perfect, and in that, if our heart and passion is into that which we love, just as near perfection isn't really such a bad thing. Your chosen style of the MA doesn't have to be perfect, just effective!! Your thoughts please!

Even those evolve in some way or another because of the search for ones betterment...still!! Whenever one gets better, no matter how slight; that's evolving.

Not as often as I'd like to because of my current administration schedule. Before, we'd train in a pool once a month. We're quite lucky when it comes to pool access; someone seems to always have a pool that we can invade, and if need be, there's always the YMCA pool, which is an inside pool, and quite big.

Primarily I swim quite a lot. Swimming is much easier for my aging body; less impact upon my joints.

For us, chambering also becomes hiji ate (elbow smash)... Yes...yes...yes...again...and again...Very solid post!!

Yes!! Nothing is enough, and I'll never learn enough before I die. There's always something new/different/effective to learn. Yes!! Yes!! - Yes...and then some!! Yes!! We cover quite a large gambit to address many, many types of attacks...to large to post here. Just suffice it to say...we address quite a lot!! Yes!! We teach that a technique, as seen in kata, isn't always what it appears to be. A chamber is a lock/throw/etc when applied during Bunkai/Oyo. The gap MUST, imho, be gapped, otherwise, ineffectiveness absorbs the practitioner. Yes!!

Nice...very nice!!

I know this to be true because I've been her sparring partner before in Bakersfield, CA, when she was traiing with Eric Nolan. She has no fear, and she's a sweetheart!!

sensei8, we absolutely do practice shuto uke with the bottom outside edge of our hands; that part of our hands has tougher bones. We train shuto uke against bags, makiwara, and partner drills to develop use of this part of our hands. This issue comes up frequently with our novice adult students because, as you pointed out, it seems illogical... We demonstrate a shuto uke inside against a full power haymaker to show them how it's possible (but not necessarily ideal). We also demonstrate a shuto uke to the outside of a haymaker by combining it with a barai and a side-step (thus making the shuto uke more of a strike). Shuto uke is not executed with just wrist "whip"/"snap"/"flick" alone... Gamaku must be factored in! When facing an opponent that's considerably bigger and more muscle-y than me, it becomes an issue of drawing upon different bunkai/oyo and changing my tactics, rather than just attempting to force-stop his punch; if he's that big and strong, it may or may not do damage when force-stopped. On the other hand, I agree with your explanation of using the forearm as another way of using a shuto uke as a strike. I can see how it would be effective... We do have a bunkai/oyo that shows the use our forearm with shuto uke when used as part of moving into and through Iri kumi (in-fighting) to exert control, manipulation, force, etc to produce locks, bars, takedowns, etc... all still with Gamaku, of course And from: ps1, good find, good share! Great demonstration of bunkai/oyo of shuto uke... I totally agree with you and mal103; absolutely, blocks are also used as strikes (I'm new to the community here, but from all that I've read, it seems a lot of folks here think that way, which is good!). We do several partner drills showing this and how it would be used to make fighting sense in a real situation. mal103, yeah, executing shuto uke with our fingers hurts I did it many times in the past, but not so much now, thankfully. That's one of the reasons, the main reason really, that we stress target practicing our shuto uke against makiwara, bags, and partners. We have the students start off easy until they get the technique / flow / mechanics of it down well enough to practice harder. Once they have it well and good, we have them target practice against makiwara and bags / target mitts full power, and against partners with controlled power (of course). That's just my little two cents... A very solid post!!

A nice hot day deserves a nice cool class in a swimming pool. Swimming pool classes server a lot of needs for both the students as well as the instructor.

There are a many great MAists, and in that, it's quite hard, imho, to pick just one.

Who's to say there shouldn't be a tick sheet for a dojo? If I run a dojo, with my rules set up, then you have to follow them. That's whats great about it being mine. If eveyone in the dojo bows, why should I let one person out of it? Regardless of how I feel about bowing itself, if its part of the dojo etiquette, then it is what it is. The great thing about this is that if you don't like it, they you don't have to attend. Why does an individual have a right to come in and attempt to make changes? Agreed. I don't think bowing is religious. Its cultural. Two different things. Whether it has a place in the dojo or not anymore is a different thread discussion altogether. Solid post!!

Again, Shindokan has nothing as demanding as the 100 man kumite!! We do Tamashiwara "tests" that are quite draining. This consists of continuous breaking until one can't break anymore. Usually this will last for several hours. This is done each year to honor our Dai-Soke on the anniversary of the Tamashiwara mettle test he endured one day under our Soke while they were still living in Okinawa. I write about this in great detail in the memoirs that I'm still penning. No rests, except for the following set-up AND no spacers whatsoever, as was the requirement for our Dai-Soke. We do Kumite "tests", but they're not against 100 fresh karateka's. They're against those in attendance during special BB classes on kumite; one might face 20-25 students twice at a time. No rests...no protective equipment except for a mouthpiece. We do "Rounds Out" of Tuite. This is when one student will face the entire class. One by one the student is 'attacked', however, the student must ONLY use Tuite to defend themselves and the 'attackers' can attack anywhere and with any technique. The student that can't defend themselves is eventually determined to be OUT; hence, Rounds Out. Some complete, and most don't because one student can last the entire session, but not many do. No rests...no protective equipment except for a mouthpiece. The scary thing for those new to this test is that to perform Tuite, one's required to be up close and personal at each and every 'attack'. Not always an easy thing to defend against. It's one of my favorite because I'm freaky that way. That's a small sample of some of the "tests".