sensei8

Board breaking CAN be pure showmanship, because non-martial artists are toppling mountains of ice and brick. What's not pure showmanship is those who practice tameshiwara not for show, but to only test their mettle because tameshiwara materials are more denser than the human body, and while I might not break bone, I'll surely put a hurt on the human body effortlessly.

Tameshiwara [Art of Breaking], imho, is essential training to Shindokan, in that, we believe in its training across the board. Try doing a speed break; it's not that easy, but becomes easier when one's trained to do it correctly and effectively. Wood, stone, brick, ice, and/or tiles are the materials that we train on and our fist, foot, elbow, palm, shin, back-fist, hammer-fist, ridge-hand, bent-wrist, knee, fingers, and forearm are the weapons that we utilize in a wide array of combinations. And Danielle's quite right when she said..."Boards do hit back!" Execute poorly and the body suffers. Every practitioner of tameshiwara has injured themselves one way or another. But, it is he/she that gets back onto the horse, so to speak, after a mishap, it's that practitioner whose mettle is improved across the board. DON'T TRAIN IN TAMESHIWARA WITHOUT A QUALIFIED INSTRUCTOR!! That would be my only warning for anyone wanting to try tameshiwara.

I would also respectfully disagree with RW. I've not wasted my entire life in a pursuit of emptiness and ineffectiveness. I've trained hard and I continue to train even harder because my imperfectness demands it of me daily. I seek to perfect every technique, including kiba-dachi, not because I want them to look pretty, but to be as effective as I can make them, and in that, I'm very complete in my totality as a MAist. It's not the Martial Arts that's ineffective, but it's that some Martial Artists are ineffective for one reason or another.

Doctors/Hospitals give their patients by the truckloads...7-Up soda...why? I'm not a hundred percent sure of why but it soothes the tummy or whatever else. Just my two cents.

Eye contact with the judges...all of the judges...not just the center judge. Walk smartly in and towards the judges and speak in clear phonetics and be heard, but not shouting. These are first impressions and first impressions have a lingering effect on your final scores. If you don't look at me AND all of the other judges, I'll deduct .5 off your score. If you walk disrespectfully in and towards the judges, I'll deduct .5 from your scores. If I don't understand what you've just said, I'll deduct .5 from your scores. If I can't hear you or if you're shouting way to loud for me, I'll deduct .5 from your scores. That's a 2 point deduction from me before you've even started. You've received a lot of helpful info here. Good luck, train hard, and PRACTICE. As an instructor, I can tell if the Kata competitor has or hasn't been practicing. "How would you know? You're not that competitors instructor" and you'd be right, but I can discern sloppy from solid just as any of the other judges. Believe in yourself, visualize your Kata, and visualize your new trophy. And if its a weapons Kata, please don't drop the weapon unless it's part of the Kata and you've informed the judges that you'll be dropping said weapon and at what point. Good luck and have fun!

Keito [chicken-head] Seiryuto [ox-jaw] Kakuto [crane-head] Kumade [bear-hand] Washide [eagle-hand] These extremely advanced strikes are often very neglected. These techniques more than likely stemmed from the influences of Kung-Fu during the early years of karate's development. They occur only in very high-level kata. Two of the strikes, kumade and kakuto, do not appear in any Shotokan kata at all, that I'm aware of. These attacks, or if used as blocks, are useful to strike an opponent's vital areas. What value would you place on these uncommon strikes? Uncommon because there must be other ways to strike areas on the body with more common strikes, such as shuto [knife hand], empi-uchi [elbow strike], uraken [back fist], and/or tetsui [hammer fist].

Judo has strikes; Atemi-waza. Even though Atemi-waza is only practiced in Kata, that doesn't mean that Atemi-waza's can't be transitioned outside of Kata to defend oneself if need be.

I want to wish everyone here at KF a belated happy Thanksgiving!! Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe day while eating some turkey and pies and so many other goodies for the tummy's.

The only way I know the tactics of anyone from my style is that I know them personally. Dang hybrid arts that encourage cross-training. ROFL!!

Thank you Patrick, Danielle, Alex, Jeffery, and Blade96 for the b-day wishes.

Congrats!! Feels good huh?

I retired from active competitions in 1994, and open tournaments is all I did for 29 years. After that, I would judge or be an arbitrator. For me, I didn't like the idea of going up against those from my style because I knew them and their tactic ways, and going up against those not from my style was a total rush for me, no matter the divisions.

Does anyone know what made Nolan Ryan such a force to be reckoned with during his 27 year long MLB career and he easily threw over 100 mph and even in his 40's he was able to throw pitches well over 95 mph at will? The SAME Basic Mechanical Fundamentals over and over and over!! Nolan Ryan paid close attention to his repetitive basic pitching mechanical fundamentals and he practiced and practiced and practiced.

A gut feeling is difficult to ignore; in that, "Go with your gut feeling". Good luck and let us know how things work out.

While I'm quite sure that the practice of attending two totally different styles/dojos at the same time was and is probably taboo across the board, not only yesteryear, but even today. At first my Dai-Soke went through the roof, so to speak, and Mr. Suh wasn't excited about it at all at first, but, time allows many things and time heals wounds! I was very lucky to have trained in Shindokan and TKD at the same time during my high-school days, I was given a thumbs up from both schools, however, what ever school I was at for that moment, I was forbidden in forgetting where I was at that moment; practice one style and only one style whenever I was at either a Shindokan dojo or at a TKD dojang. The only time I was allowed to mix the two styles together, no matter which school I was with, was during free-style sparring. This allowed both styles a chance to see what the other style might or might not have to offer. I will say this, both schools had equal respect for the others styles across the board. Taste the other style and see that it is good. Good luck and keep us informed.

More specifically I'm referring to only the right HAND at 00:16 of this link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBKAZ3WxX78&feature=related

Alex, I enjoyed the video quite a lot. Thank you for sharing it.

Expertise, through knowledge and experience, doesn't happen easily. It takes many years of living and working within the martial arts, or any tradition for that fact, to absorb the sets of skills and values on which expertise is built. It takes exposure to the best minds in the martial arts, to observe and reflect on their practices, and to absorb the subtle unconscious behavior patterns and attitudes that characterize an expert in any discipline, including the martial arts. Knowledge and experience within a practitioner won't always be equal. Knowledge in Tuite can be greater/lessor than that of the experience in Kyusho-jitsu due to the fact that a practitioner might've devoted much more 'time' in everything that is Tuite and not so much 'time' in Kyusho-jitsu. For those sport-minded practitioners, one could have knowledge and experience in open-hand kata, but very little knowledge and experience in weapons kata. Both, in this example, are knowledgeable and experienced in one but not vice versa.

I disagree with this statement. How do you have knowlege if you lack experience. Knowlege without experience is more of an idea or theory, rather than something practical like knowlege. I think knowlege is what happens when you combine information with experience. To answer your question, above in bold type, it's easy to have knowledge without experience. How? A white belt of 3 months training/learning has knowledge of kihon, but doesn't have the experience to effectively apply it in any given situation that a black belt has. In that, a shodan has applicable knowledge and/or experience of kihon, but doesn't have the same knowledge and/or experience as a Hachidan has; both, knowledge and experience, are still separate within its totality.

Sing it with me... Time is on my side...yes it is...whoa whoa time is on my side. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE... As a beginner, it'll take a lot of time, and thus, training to nearly eliminate any telegraphing. At first you'll be an open book for all to see, especially to those intermediate/advance kyu levels, and even more to those dan levels.!! Even after that and all the way to Judan...PRACTICE over and over until it's rarely detected. That means, spar over and over until the wheels fall off and then some more. Good luck and let us know how the trainings coming through.

“Training should be like death; not being afraid of both, yet welcoming both.”~Dai-Soke Yoshinobu Takahashi For the most part, Dai-Soke would constantly quote this little gem after we'd utter complaining words outwardly. Your thoughts, please, and thank you.

For those karateka that are KF members, I'd like to propose a question: Iyho, what is the application of the opening movements to your immediate right? More particular, I'm asking more about the HANDS. I'm more than aware that the interpretations will fall across a plethora of opportunities, but I'm willing to chance that, especially when we're speaking about Bunkai. Thank you in advance for your responses

Shindokan teaches that the "time on target" should be an minimal as possible. By that, the longer my 'weapon' remains/stays on any given target, then the more susceptible my 'weapon' is going to be trapped/grasped by my opponent. Not an ideal situation. In Shindokan, the "time on target" , punching in this case, is ideal for us because if one stays just to long on any of my given possible targets, that given extra one extra millisecond by my opponent is all that I need to trap/grasp/etc as I initiate Tuite. Punch the target, but don't stay there to smell the flowers; get in and then get right out!! This is a very basic explanation, but hopefully it'll give you some clear understanding.

A very nice and indepth article. Thank you ps1 for sharing it with us.

I'm one who hasn't lost value in TKD. I've observed, trained, and learned from some the greatest, imho, TKD practitioners. GM Young Ik Suh was the most amazing TKD instructor/practitioner that I've ever seen, and I was also taught by him as well. Most styles of the MA uses some value when one would be observing a TKD tournament. However, I sure wouldn't want to drop my guard around a TKD practitioner. Not from what I've seen first hand. Brain has one of the most powerful and gracious high roundhouse kicks that I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty...Brian's TKD. Excellent hip actions; Brian known exactly when to activate the hips, no sooner and no later; right on time, everytime!! I've nothing but respect for any and every TKD practitioner.