sensei8

Stances are everything, however, without posture, stances are invalid. The 4 postures of most karate [front facing, side facing, half-front facing, reverse half-front facing] not only speak about defense, but offense as well. I teach my students to not only ask what stances are the best for what attack/defense, but to also ask which posture should compliment the stance and vise versa. Beyond asking your instructor, self-discovering makes us accountable for our training as well. Hang in there!!

Very solid post!!

First of all, Welcome to KarateForums!! I'm unfamiliar with the gentleman you're speaking about...sorry. Good luck.

Are you in a cult? Not from what I've read and not from what you've posted. Train as though your life depended on it!!

Great post!! The bold type above, imho, speaks strongly just that...Kata is essential TO Karate, and I believe that that needs to be understood.

Solid post!!

Bruce Lee trained in Chi Sao extensively and it seemed to help him across the board, so, I'd say, yeah, Chi Sao can, imho, aide one in a real fight. Dabbling in it, well, that'll do no good; one will have to train with it quite a lot. Imho.

Great post Justice!! Possibly you could add Yoga and/or the like to combat the posture problem...possibly. No posture; nothings valuable!! I don't know if your posture problem is a girl only problem, however, I do know that only girl students of the MA complain about their hip-pointer when trying to do a side kick. Still sounds to me like you've got the pulse of your situation way under control and that in time, you'll find that final solution. Good luck Justice!!

I enjoy a good judo match!! There's nothing like seeing the chess game of judo unfold before ones eyes. I don't think IOC will throw judo out because it's a staple of the summer Olympics. Will TV ratings suffer if the Olympics aren't there?

Since the advent of the MA, no matter the genre, many of the founders, of either a style and/or its governing body, have passed away. Some, not all styles of the MA, have fared better than others, and in that, some styles have splintered, in some fashion or another, and some styles have faced their own mortality across the board. Question(s)... 1) If your style has recently lost its founder, what's the immediate plans for its continuation? 2) In your honest opinion, will your style be fine when your founder passes away? 3) Will your style, in your honest opinion, splinter slightly or splinter a lot? 4) Will you want to continue in your style if the splintering isn't kept to its minimal OR will you seek training in another style that's more grounded across the board? Depending on who one's asking, splintering and the like isn't a bad thing because more sound governing bodies emerge that provide greater betterment for its student body. Death is unavoidable, and in that, founders sometimes forget to put into the mechanics of the details that create the future of said style of the MA. Many, many noted founders of either the said style or the said governing body are no longer with us and those noted MAists are reaching the end of their journey. Has, for example, Kanazawa Sensei provided and established a more sound future for its student body? It's none of my business, but as a MAist, how we look at those around us, provides us a small picture of what not to do or what to do for when we're faced with it. Your thoughts!!

While I disagree with the possibility of wrestling being no longer an Olympic event for all to enjoy, even though, I do see the IOC trying to change the content of its brand which is what every business needs to do, and that is...change to stay with or ahead of its competition. I mean, the Olympics is big business in the tune of Millions, if not Billions!!

Home-made weapons can be a blast until part of it comes apart and smacks you unexpectedly...ouchy.

Solid post!!

Welcome to KarateForums!! Please visit the "Introductions" Forum in order to introduce yourself. Nice lineage!! I look forward to hearing your input on a many topics!!

Thank you!!

Solid post!!

You're more than welcome; glad to have been of some help. And yes...forget about the little things, and just TRAIN!!

Congrats, have fun, and train hard; you'll do fine!!

You're part of a very, very solid Goju governing body...congrats!!

Welcome to KarateFourms!! Well... Seeing that you're talking about equipment, I'd say that you could post the pics here. I'd like to see them because they sound interesting!! I once attached one end of a nunchaku onto one of the ends of a bo...yeah, it was weird looking yet I could smack my older brother with it at well....hehehehehe...I loved that part, the smacking my brother part.

I'm not a Goju practitioner/karateka, but imho, the IOGKF, headed by Morio Higaonna Sensei, is one of the most "legitimate" governing bodies in Goju. As far as which Goju governing body should one avoid, well, that's up to so many parameters as well as to what ones looking for within that persons interpretations across the board. Imho!! Which governing body is your teacher belong to?

I concur...Cung Le is an amazing fighter across the board!!

This is exactly why Muay Thia and MMA use the shin. It breaks your opponents body down quicker with little risk of injuring ones self as with the instep type kick. Look at the Cung Le vs Frank Shamrock fight for instance. Cung kicked Frank in the arms to slow down his hands and eventually broke his wrist. That's a great point because I'd rather break him/her down than the opposite; breaking me down...not a good thing!!

Opps...my bad...sorry!! I do love the Butterfly sweep because it provides me a omni-directional transitional possiblities; difficult sweep to learn at first, but, well, isn't mostly everything in the MA...at first!?!

I hope everyone's having a fun and safe Memorial Day. To all of those who've made the ultimate sacrifices in ensuring our way of life; THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!!