sensei8

Great to hear that your son's doing much better; you were absolutely correct in having him miss those two days of training for the rest. I'd get with the CI before class and ask that your sons activities be light until he's back to 100%; a great CI can adjust a students participation while providing that student with challenges still. Give your son a high-five for me for displaying that Karate Spirit; that's the exclamation of his MA betterment!!

Solid post!! Nowadays, there are way to many MA schools that are pumping out students that are good with memorization but not effective MAists whatsoever; the streets aren't the tournament circuit, nor is it a belt factory. Imho!!

As in any answer stemming from the MA, they're varied from practitioner to practitioner, and so forth and so on. Here's my personal experience with Makiwara training over my many decades of doing so. You being a Yudansha already, your Kihon should already be way more than just a passing notion, but of a serious understanding of your three K's...Kihon, Kata, and Kumite. However, the makiwara will be that silent judge from your very first, and on going, waza, each and every time. The makiwara will test you across the board, and in an honest as well as unforgivable manner. A) Above all, the purpose of makiwara training is to develop Kime (focus).This requires coordination of mind, body and breathing techniques, and this is achieved by correct repetitive practice, but as I first mentioned to you once already, but under the watchful eye of your Sensei, through serious dedication. B) The makiwara will provide feedback in your waza's immediately, in short, you'll feel if your waza is correct and solid or not. That's why proper posture and balance must be an ever constant. YOU'LL FEEL BOTH THE GOOD AS WELL AS THE BAD FEEDBACK; pain is a useful tool. C) Empty your mind of any preconceived notions about makiwara training, if not, you'll be afraid of the training, and training isn't something that should be feared, but energetically welcomed. Is training in the makiwara going to hurt? Maybe, that might depend on your personal as well as your MA maturity, and in conjunction with your pain threshold. DON'T EVER OVER TRAIN with the makiwara; to do so, some serious injuries and/or diseases may concur...LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!! D) Strengthens your wrists and joints; improper alignments won't be tolerated, but what a vital tool to alert one's body that that waza wasn't executed whatsoever. I addition, body mechanics as well as muscles, ligaments, as well as ones mind are too strengthened through makiwara training. E) Builds powerful techniques, power and speed. Repetitive contact to the makiwara has its own rewards. In time, the urgencies of your waza's will be honed, as will its potentiality across the board through effective training. F) Proper distancing and hip position to maximize power and force is also taught through makiwara training. Stand to close to the makiwara pad, you'll feel the uncomfortable and immediate feedback, but your opponents supposed to be the one that feels uncomfortable. Stand to far away from the makiwara pad, you'll feel that too, but your target won't feel anything to be alarmed much about. G) Develops ones Karate spirit. There's no middle ground; either one has it or one doesn't. Makiwara training will challenge ones spirit in ways that not many other methods can achieve decidedly so. Makiwara training will task you in ways that you can only imagine, but the actuality of its training comes alive and in a realization that's undeniable; a truth that builds ones Karate spirit. Having no Karate spirit is akin to not being alive; dead from ones ears down. H) Ikken Hissattsu (To kill with one blow). Aside from definition, its core is what every MAist strives for in their waza's without any ambiguity whatsoever. To have ones attacker stopped dead in their tracks with one blow...no 2 or 3 or 253 later, but with that one focused attack. If a MAist is of the mindset that this old maxim has no relevancy today, then I propose that that MAist is of no relevancy in their spirit nor in their waza's. In closing, there are many MAists that will say that makiwara training is bad; increasing the chance of arthritis in the hands to crippling them all together. And while that possibiliy does exist, I ask this...Just who's journey is this!?! Train hard and train well!!

As a beginner, imho, one should NOT train the makiwara without the direct supervision of ones instructor. As a matter of fact, a beginner should concentrate far much more on anything else besides the makiwara; that's for a time much later. There are far much better tools to strike than a makiwara for beginners; perhaps a hanging bag or BOB. Makiwara requires a undeniable understanding about posture, balance, and proper execution of said technique, just for starting; otherwise, a many things will suffer beside your wreck body, hands particularly. The makiwara needs to be approached with total respect, first and foremost!!

I wish MA schools, outside of educational institutions, fell under the FERPA parameters of its law. FERPA is a necessary, and great, law. I taught several years at the Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) in Valley Glen, CA before I opened my dojo as a Sandan, 1975-1977. I could speak with the parents, but I could not, and would not anyway, discuss anything that was protected, and held in any students PII, and wasn't relevant to my teaching of Shindokan. I'd simply refer whomever might want that type of information to the LAVC Administration office. When I did open my dojo in 1977, I wasn't under the FERPA law, however, seeing that any student information that I would have at the Hombu and/or at my dojo is proprietary, aka confidential, aka no ones business, aka SKKA/Hombu/Dojo and students confidentiality. At LAVC, I could speak to anyone, and I did, about any of my students about anything that's relevent to the teaching of Shindokan, just as long as I never violated the FERPA law, in which that law protected a students PII. I do miss the structured environment that LAVC life brought to that culture; it wasn't a wasted experience.

Solid post!!

And so is the Instructor who will remind!!

Day by day!! That's how I've always approached my MA journey. However, as I was much younger, I didn't give much credibility to my up and coming years; I just trained and learnt and taught...day by day. Having reached the twilight of my journey, I'm much more attentive with the side affect of growing older. That is what it is, in which there's nothing I can do about it, but to accept it, and not be surprised when I'm not that whippersnapper anymore, even though I forget myself until my aged body reminds me unceremoniously that I've limits. Seeing that there's more than one way to skin a cat, I have to reinvent myself both on and off the floor. I can still kick high, but I don't have to because Shindokan doesn't kick above the waist...anyway...kicking high for me has been added to my arsenal through the untold years I've been cross training. Day by day...one step at a time!! I adapt, and I carry on...as well as I can. But I do listen to my body, even though I hate what it's always telling me. Btw, I just turned 61. And I am old, and will be gone!!

I'm excited for when the season does begin; Kendall and Kenneth are my HEROS!!!!!!!

Welcome back, aurik; both to KF and the MA!!

Exactly, Noah!! Plus, in your provided video link, thank you for that, Noah, the harsh reality of her opening technique is that her head's wide open to a subjective counter and/or sweep...or maybe that's just the way she does it, and therefore isn't an admirable representation of other WKf competitors.

Excellent OP, JR!! Most particularly was this... This speaks in volumes to me, as did your entire OP, but how often does the practitioner understand their Art, and the concepts of it?! Without me going into a drawn out thesis about Kata and/or Art, I like what Bruce Lee said... “Don't think. Feel. It is like a finger pointing out to the Moon, don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.” Are your, whomever this might be, trees getting in the way of your forest, and vice versa?!

What's the benefit of NOT training traditional karate? The benefit of whatever it might be is what the practitioner puts into it. I can see advantages of either methodology/ideology, and I'm a staunch proponent of traditional training. I'm not completely oblivious to my surroundings because there are more than one way to skin a cat or milk the cow or flip a coin or to charm the skin off a snake or...well...you get my euphemism.

One's not ever forced to train traditionally and/or non-traditionally within any MA style; it's a personal choice. In that, there's a plethora of MA schools that steer away from the traditional methodology/ideology, and stress more on what they might believe to be the meat-and-potatoes of what they teach. On the other hand, traditional schools are there as well. Albeit, there's a smorgasbord of traditionally geared MA schools, if that's what's ones desire. However, there's 2 old adages that says... "When in Rome, do as the Roman's do." And/or... "If you want tomatoes, you have to go to the tomato vendor." If someone wants to learn Shindokan from me, that prospective student will be succumbed to traditional training; I believe in the value of it wholeheartedly. Whether it be traditional or non-traditional, the meat-and-potatoes of it all well be greatly dependent upon the quality teaching of the CI.

I believe that what you're teaching your son with the regards to rank does justice across the board. With students, and very much so with children, the ranking structure can not only be overwhelming to understand, but the ranking structure, can frustrate to no end. Rank can be all over the spectrum from style to style, etc., for no reasons whatsoever, but what's a child to do?! Focusing on anything except rank for students under age can be far much easier said than done...adults are not much better in this regards.

Isn't it all about movement, and the understanding of it!?! In conjunction, the movements of Tai Sabaki along with Ashi Sabaki along with Te Sabaki, bring an understanding, slowy, one by one. Nothing found in any Kata and/or in any Bunkai is achieved without having the effective said understanding of movement. Why?? One can't effectively move in any shape, way, and/or form without understanding that one must move, and in that, how to move, and in that, in which way to move, and in that, why to move in any given direction. What good are any of the techniques found and/or discovered in and out of Kata and/or Bunkai, no matter which one, if one can't effective move. Posture and balance are everything to any technique if ones to be effective, and these are tangible proponents of movement. This, and all that surrounds movement, is where I start, and continue to teach Kata/Bunkai, because if I don't start there, then the student is only mimicking, in which, nothing of effective value is ever learnt by just mimicking; there must be solidity of the highest order. Imho!!

There's always a definitive between speaking with the CI and/or arguing with the CI; approach is very critical, even though the final decision are two fold: you decide to leave/stay or the CI enforces rules he/she has established. There's also another definitive between knowing how to teach and not knowing how to teach; not every black belt can teach, nor should they ever attempt to because the MA betterment of the student is lessened drastically. Even if the black belt does know how to teach, including how to manage to floor, but lacks the social aptitude in which to do so, that black belt shouldn't teach, nor attempt to. MA betterment is paramount for the student. Without having a clue pertaining to the floor, the students MA betterment is at risk. Imho!!

Black Belts that train on their own is a oxymoron to us because black belts are still learning and developing through many Shu Ha Ri stages; they need to be nurtured just as much as any other students, if at times, even more so. With that, where's the challenges that feed ones Shu Ha Ri of ones MA betterment?! In the dojo, and not engaging in the Student and CI relationship, while on the floor, and not assisting the CI from time to time, which is part of the teaching models of most MA schools around the world, limits the black belt student. Students are there to learn, and the CI is there to teach everyone who's part of the Student Body, without exceptions. Black belts aren't decorations for the MA school, and neither are the Kyu ranked!! Imho!!

Thank you, Danielle; I had a real fun and great birthday!!

Welcome to KF, OhioShodan85; glad that you're here!! Sounds to me that your MA betterment would do far much better if you separated yourself from that dojo for cause. After all, you've answered your own question(s) by saying this... Your MA betterment deserves to be treated with the utmost respect because this is your MA journey, and yours alone, and you must be accountable for your MA betterment across the board. The comings and the goings of the dojo, as you spelled them out quite distinctly in your OP, interfere with learning; the focus should be on training and not really anything else. If you're not being challenged whatsoever, then you're learning has been kicked to the curb. Yes, talk to the CI about your concerns respectfully, and if afterwards you still feel the same way, then it appears to me that your directions are quite clear. Loyalty is a two-way street, therefore, if the CI's loyalty as the CI, and as to what and why he's there for is wained, then your loyalty should be towards your MA betterment. If the fun is gone, then so should you!! You're not asking for anything unreasonable, after all, you're just wanting to be trained in a challenging and effective way, and not to participate in anything the interferes with your improving your MA betterment...in which, that is quite reasonable!!

Watch!!!! That's the optimum word...WATCH ONLY...without any ambiguity whatsoever. I didn't ask nor did I insist nor did I encourage nor did I employ any parent to do anything other than to watch nor did I do anything to give or hint or nudge or whisper or directly or indirectly allow them to do anything except to WATCH. A parents opinion(s) have no bearing nor am I ever interested in a parents interjection(s) about anything that might be pertaining to the on-goings of anything on the floor. Even more so, should a parent be a student as well...well...that said parent had better know their role nor should they ever assume a position that they've no right to ever assume in any shape, way, and/or form because they're part of the Student Body. I've instructors assisting me, and they are authorized to conduct many of things, and the safety of everyone in the dojo is paramount. Having said that, the floor is holy ground...the floor's sacred...the floor's my domain...and if truth be known, the entire dojo is MY domain...wall to wall...door to door...ceiling to floor...corner to corner...and ESPECIALLY...the floor is no parents land...UNLESS invited by me, myself, and I, and that's a rarity. Parents can ask all the questions they want just as long as they are respectful at all times, and there are no exceptions. I wholeheartedly encourage parents, guardians, and/or whomever else to WATCH, nothing else, the comings and goings. Nonetheless, I am the operator/owner/CI, and it's my way or the highway, and if they don't like it or anything else, they're more than welcome to seek a more friendly skies somewhere else. In closing, my mom came unto the floor without permission, at the Hombu once, while Dai-Soke was running the class, I was just a kid, and she was kindly put in her place with cause, and never ever did that again. After all, I do have an office, and I've an open door policy, in my office, and I can discuss anything they want to. However, the sanctity of the floor covers my office as well; be respectful, or find yourself having a very lonely discussion by yourself...outside!!

How'd YOUR team do last week?? The Cowboys hosted the 3-2 Jaguars; 40-7. If it hadn't been for the one and only TD by the Jaguars midway in the 3rd quarter, you'd not even know that they were in attendance at the AT&T Stadium. The Cowboys took the Jaguars to the task as though the Cowboys actually believed in the old adage that rings out loud and true - "It's not over until the fat lady sings" by scoring almost at will. 10-14-6-10...no, these aren't my gym locker combo, but how many points that the Cowboys scored each quarter against their bewildered opponent. Interceptions can turn a game from a hopeful possibility win to a down spiral loss. ALbeit, Jacksonville's QB, Blake Bortles, only threw 1 of those against triple coverage, and 1 turnover. However, the Jaguars couldn't find a positive foothold on the gridiron if their life depended on it that Sunday. Stats don't lie, even though they can sway opinions: Total yards Jaguars...204 Cowboys...378 Turnovers Jaguars...2 Cowboys...0 Possessions Jaguars...23:10 Cowboys...38:50 1st Downs Jaguars...10 Cowboys...23 Or...maybe stats DO tell the story much more than one might realize...as it might be in this case!! This win brings the Cowboys record to 3-3, and the Jaguars loss dropped them to 3-3. Next week, the Jaguars host the 3-3 Texans, and the Cowboys fly to the 3-2 Washington. GO COWBOYS!!

Thank you JR and singularity6 for your happy birthday wishes!!

That MA horse is something like many other things in ones life; once you get back on it, things come back to you in short time as the cobwebs fall away. Welcome back to your training, and to your journey.

Thank you all for your happy birthday wishes, and yes, I had a great birthday!! I'm now 61 years old, and 54 years in Shindokan; I started training in Shindokan on my 7th birthday, thanks to my mom.