BDPulver

Well doc took some xrays to make sure I didnt damage them too bad. Basically I twisted them. She said I more or less sprained them which didnt make sense to me. Have to keep doing what I said I was doing but need to wear two braces to help keep them from rotating too much. Found one I really liked made by Ace. Has a gel cushion around the knee cap area. My doctor liked them as well. Have to cut out my jogs for now but I can keep doing my walks and normal work out routine at least. Dont feel bad bushido I need to lose some more weight myself. Been trying to get back down to where I use to weigh in at before I moved here. My doctor was afraid I might have developed someform of knee injury illness where the medical term excapes me for the moment. She did give me some 800mg Ibuprofen, said I was taking too much advil/aleve. Least I dont have to worry bout surgery like I did with my back.

A coworker of mine drinks buttermilk. He says its only thing he can find that coats his throat and relieves the pain. My wife pretty much drinks flavored sparklin' water and she insists that helps her. So I guess what I'm gonna say is it depends on the person and what will alleviate the discomfort. Good to hear its not cancer though.

Thanks I've been wearing a brace on my one knee, still need to get another one for other knee which has been helping on the support. I been trying to do easy stretches but it feels like its pulling on my knee cap just dont want to get all tight. Well appt is tomorrow, find out what I did to myself this time.

Like someone else said, it can vary from class to class. But we believe since all karate starts at the kihon level they are practiced as much as possible. We do them with weights, go up and down the floor, with partners. If its adult night, those of us practicing sai and tonfa will use them intergrated into the drills. With the kids we usually try to have fun and not make them think they are actually practicing there basics cause of the monotonous of them all.

Anyone have or know of temporary relief for knee injuries till I see my doctor later this week? What happened was, not sure if I aggravated while working, but like I always do got home from work. Put on my work out clothes and headed to the track. Ran bout a lap and my knee just gave out. Been feeling real good till then about being able to run again since my back surgery almost 4 yrs ago. I work for the cable company so I am on my knees alot, carrying ladders and spools of wire and what not. So pretty much I am always active and moving and lifting heavy things. Thanks for any advice Oh yeah, tried icing, taking hot bath in epsom salt. been taking aleve. Ran out of mineral ice though. been staying off both knees when I get home as much as possible.

Oh I understand some have different rulings. He was mad cause out of the 5 judges I gave him a score almost 3 pts lower then the other judges cause of the flippyness of his kata. Most events I have participated in throw out the low and high and take the 3 average scores. His thinking was if there all same or better and there was a tie he would have a better chance of winning.

I remember the last tournament I jugded, I think I was the strictest jugde there. The others where all asking me why I was giving such low scores to the flippy guys/gals and straight up points for the traditionalists. I told one if I wanted to watch flippy moves and stuff I'd go rent a kung fu flick from the movie rental. Only 2 of the other judges I was with aggreed with me. But where trying to be a bit leinent (sp?). From then on if I entered any NJ tournaments they knew if I was judgeing expect a long long day. But lately, I have started seeing more and more tournaments breaking up gymnastic katas to traditional kata. The only thing my sensei has ever said to help your kata is KI more and to show strength in a move that might seem weak. He was never one to try and be flashy. He always said, each has a meaning and the minute you lose that meaning does it still have a applicable use in a real setting? But like what fleasome said, I was confronted by a competitor once and he demanded I take my score back and give him a higher score. I asked politely with another black belt there one of the moves in the form he did and if he could demonstrate to me how I could use that in a real setting. He turned red, I mean RED. clenched his fist and to save face walked away. Me and the other black belt talked how tournaments seemed to be getting away from true competitence and gotten more of a soccer match with the parents screaming and demanding this and that. I still go to tournaments but not as much since moving to KY over 10 yrs ago but they are slowly changing back to what I remember them as in my opinion.

sept 10 I felt real good the next day till I watched the two towers come down on 9/11. brought back too many memories of the 1st gulf war to me ( US army vet )

Hi Tori, I saw you mention he has a brown belt in Isshinryu. From my experience of both being a student and a instructor of isshinryu my school refrains from teaching most brown belts weapons until they are close to being ready for there black belt. But that is my school, my sensei has made exceptions but there rare. But when we do start showing weapons the first one is bo then sai, followed by tonfa, nunchuka and now kama. Sai we dont teach till they attained shodan though. As far as teaching to someone who did not leave on good terms. I pretty much agree with everyone else here. He really does not deserve to know them. And where he cant remember them, to me he really doesnt deserve to learn them again unless he is willing to also make admends to what ever happened.

Hmmm.....alot of reasons for me. I've been into MA's since I saw my first ma flick on tv. Think at the time it was called black belt theatre and it ran ever saturday. Usually during the program or at the end they would teach techniques and what not and I'd stand there in front of the tv trying to do them also. I was bout 7 or 8. At 10 I tried TKD, didnt like it. Instructor wasnt very good in my opinion. He'd make you try, or more likely force you to do splits. A kid I knew had to go to the hospital for a torn groin muscle. So I quit but was still very much into it. Kept'd buying black belt mags with my allowance and trying to practice moves in the magazine. But, what really got me going was the summer before I turned 14, the town bully started picking on me. Now, I had a short temper as it was anyways and thought I could defend myself. I was like, Hey, I've been practicing the moves. Let's see him try something. I was wrong. After a few real punches to my stomach, I ran home pretty much crying. Dad really never taught me to fight so I asked my mom for my bday I really wanted to learn MA. So at 14 I enrolled in isshinryu. Later on, mom told me she trusted this teacher cause he was also a high school teacher, had kids of his own and his rep was high in my area. Also she was hoping he would straighten out my short temper and help me cope with the bully without fighting. John Hughes is still my teacher and without him and his wisdom and knowlegde I probably wouldnt be where I am today. But he did teach me to control my temper, I learned how to stand up to the town bully and never had to use my MA teachings in a fight. I've had a lot of confrontations but was always able to talk my way out of them, like I was trained to do.

Yeah, taking my daughter to see it. (Ok, I'm actually seeing it for myself ).

History channel, military channel, discovery, Sci Fi is mainly all I watch unless that channel like amc this week is showing all the guy flicks. If nothin on, I jump on comp and play some games.

Just like most, lose wieght and get in better shape. Hopefully get back into competing again. And to be the best father to my 7 yr old I can be.

As someone that went and had 2/3rds of there L4-L5 disc removed. The best thing I found and my doc thought it was great too was those excercise balls. I still get some minor discomfort when I do stuff (like high Kicks) but other then that no problems with kata and kumite. I have to jog at a moderate pace now though and wear good comfort sneakers but thats bout my only true restriction on running.

Well before I moved, my bag usually had the normal equipment gi, cup, tape, black belt, sparring gear, mouth piece. I would carry my weapons that fit in my bag also. weirdest thing I ever carried though, was my old white belt. Just remember what my sensei always told us in class that we are always learning and in reality will never achieve that final mark till we ourselves know we are ready.

Well since I work for Time Warner Cable....... meepmeep!!!!!!

Sprained wrist from sai training Broke both pinkies on hand (damn those open hand blocks ) Jammed almost every toe I have. Hyperextended my knee during kicking drills. Crushed my L4-L5 disc in my back, had to have it partially removed, was working on a kata in class and twisted and landed wrong. That one hurt the worst. Oh yeah, got a bloody lip from sparring one of the US Army karate team members when I was in high school, sensei invited them to our school.

Had to sit and think bout this with my instructor. I dont think we ever used a axe kick. Even for warm ups. We use a crescent kick which almost has same principle but generally its our warm up kick. My sensei studied two other styles before he choose the path of isshinryu. He always told us that in self defense, any kick going over the waist is dangerous and impractical. Kumite though, as long as keep our kicks over waist high we were good. I need to review the other kata advanced katas though, in one kata your imatating grabbing the attackers head and delivering a sweep type crescent to there head before going into a crouch position 180 degrees. And another kata we are using heal stomps imatating that we have oppenents arm and delivering the heal to there back forceing them down. Thats bout all I can think of at the moment.

Yeah, to eleborate on how we do ours. My teacher doesnt believe in promoting kids to black belt. A maturity thing. During the entire testing we have to ask permission to speak. If granted it has to be quick and to the point unless you have to use the bathroom which we just started pointing to the port a potty he would rent for the weekend. Depending on how many are being tested for black belt, one of the higher dan's would wear there belt during the whole testing. Sort of a ritual thing. Now during this time, each person being tested will be pulled to the side by there mentor. Tell them whats going on, what is expected and so forth. I was leaving for the army so this was special to me (boot camp was a joke compared to what my sensei put us through ). At the end, we would do a kata drill and a made up routine drill with 1 to 5 oppenents. Made it interesting since we still could not talk. Once that was done with we would then be ask to perform our favorite kata. We'd line up, go into kneeling position (or try too) in front of all the black belts. He'd go through each of our accomplishments, what we needed to work on, how long we been studying and so forth. Our mentor Dan's would then perform the tieing on the black belt ceremony while we sat there. We'd do our bow and my sensei's wife would then pass out the sake and we'd do a few toasts and then it was BBQ time since it was at his farm.

When I recieved my black belt it was a 72 hour test (or thats what my sensei called it at the time ). From friday at 6am till sunday 6pm. Pretty much we ran countless miles, sparred every black belt and brown belts. Did kata's in the river. Ran obstacle courses in the dark of night. Built the zen stairs (to this day are still not finished ). Took a written test on what we thought isshinryu meant to us. Couldnt speak during this entire time. Now this is just the run down on what me and 3 other individuals did. He always changes the test but it is still grueling and demanding on testing your spirit.

Nah, I use to know a bully just like that back home. Growing up he would find anything and I mean anything to start a fight. I was one of the few people who stood up to him every day without ever leaving a mark. Just like you did, he would come up try and start something and it'd be a stairing contest more times then not. What's sad bout that someone like that is they either change or they dont as they grow up. What I'm getting at is after I went into the army and came out, I saw him again some years later and he was still wanting to prove his mettle to me. I finally uncross'd my arms, looked him dead in the eye and told him to grow up and walked away. Last I heard he was doing time for trying that to someone else and got arrested for aggravated assualt. Everytime I look back at that day, I look at it as I gave him a chance to change and he didnt take it.

Money mainly, but where I am at in KY theres something like 4 schools I think in georgetown. In lexington I lost track and every time I try to bring up the good competition to borrow money am told by a few banks too many schools which still boggles me. Closest school that teaches Isshinryu under the IWKA from what my teacher has told me is Ohio. There is one in Lousiville and Tenn but not under IWKA recognition. So I have mainly stuck to word of mouth. I teach like my teacher did me, traditionally, so not uncommon to find me in some park working out in a sweat top and gi pants. My teacher does try to hold the IWKA tournaments open to all isshinryu practitioners but some still dont recognize Kichiro from what I hear/told/seen. But thats the politic side that sometimes I try to avoid but since I devote my learnings under IWKA I cant get away from it.

I'm new here but good read on how people were trained. I've been shown many different aspects of the kick but still go to my sensei teachings on using the ball of the foot. Between him and his teacher they always told us that was the more......trying to find the right word. Not so much traditional but in sd aspects it was more beneficial. I guess all in all its pretty much what is good for you might not be good for the next guy to use. I still train with the ball of the foot but we also keep our kicks waist high for more strength and stability. Have never hurt myself kicking this way but we also try to condition ourselves to only kick with the ball with certain kicks also.

Hello everyone. Ive been practicing Isshinryu Karate for the last 24 yrs. But in between that I have worked out and studied other styles with friends and aquaintances. Part of the IWKA under Master Shimabuku. Unfortunately my teacher resides in NJ since I moved to KY 10 yrs ago, been seeing him as much as I can while training when I can. I have had students under me but location has restricted me of opening my own dojo. But at least I do try to keep up on my own training.