tallgeese

Thanks, Shori! I agree. Overall, the internet has been a good thing. It's allowed us to research, see what we don't have near us, and verify lineages. Despite the fact that there is a ton of garbage being peddled about, it's way easier to fact check claims by martial artist everywhere. Quite frankly, most sub-par things out there are easy to spot. If someone made a claim about who they trained with or what they had done 20 years ago it could be tough to verify. Now, it's a relatively easy process to find someone that know someone, even for events that happened years ago. These are all positive things. Overall, we're in a good spot. On the down side, it's become far easier to attack people of other arts or other lineages in the same art. This has taken these rivalries from local levels to national levels. It's on all of us to control that. But I think that the benefits out weight the negatives.

Welcome aboard KF!!

I love this show as well. And the second season hasn't disappointed!

Congrats! You will love it. Despite the massive amounts of work you just signed up for. We run Zen Planner. I agree, it predetermines the information you have at your disposal and this can be limiting; but it tracks attendance, is integrated with our auto pay options (which is a life saver), and allows us to build events and registrations that we can link to social media and our website which makes it easier to collet money for, and determine attendance at, these events. It will cost you more than Excel, and there's some fiddle factor involved with running it. But to my mind it's worth it for ease of management.

I'll second what everyone has said. Probably not the best choice. Instructional capability comes with experience. At 18, that is limited to be teaching. Particularly to and adult who has a different learning type than the 18 year old is used to dealing with.

My opinion only, and there have been some other really good ones put out on this thread, when we look at elite we're looking at the pinnacle of the sport/ art. Even if competition isn't what we're considering, martial arts are by virtue of their physicality, an athletic endeavor. Different arenas and goals, to be certain, but still athletic. So, what makes an elite athlete, even a non-traditional combat athlete? First, we can't overlook the company of genetics. We can each strive to make ourselves as strong, fast, agile, and durable - hard to kill- as possible. With great effect and merit, but this doesn't change the fact that certain individuals win the lottery. This will make the rest of the list way more successful. Next, you have to find exactly the art you want, exactly at the right time so you can start building skills early. It takes time to be good. This is based on luck, economy, location, and a host of things. I'd love, right now, to be looking at a World Championship in BJJ. Here's the thing, I grew up in an area where it was unheard of, in a time that it had yet to come to prominence in the States. I did Kempo based arts early in my martial arts career (which don't take me wrong, has served me well and I'm grateful for) and didn't tough BJJ sustainably until I was in my 30s. I was in a senior bracket before I even competed. I was in my 40s when I earned my BB. Now could I dedicate myself to competition and do well. Yes. To an extent. In a senior division. Against guys who've been black belts in the art since they were 30- see where this gets difficult. Now, this doesn't mean that cfompetinging now is a bad idea (I'm back in super fight mode in May) but it takes me out of the running for "elite." So we've laid out some pre-requisites. There's still the details to attend to. So if I have the physical traits, and the opportunity, I still need the drive. Plenty of gifted athletes fall by the way side for other reasons- noble and complete waste of talent both. The desire and drive to get up everyday and train, push, work on ancillary skills, train some more, eat right.....it's brutal. Few people will do this work. Let's say you get past all three of these hurdles, and the head is already getting thin. Now add in the need to be able to fund all of this. Training is expensive. Classes for your art, for years before you're good enough to warrant a pass on tuition, strength training, agility training, medical care (preventative and rehabilitative- training at this level is brutal on the body) all of this adds up. Early on you're not being paid to compete and if you're training to be elite and self defense you'll likely (and hopefully) NEVER use this skill set. Think about that for a second. So, while you're piling into a beat up Jeep to drive 16 hours to an amateur fight someones got to pay for gas, meals, motels, etc. to make those journeyman hours happen. Many people who would love to do all these things and have the drive simply don't have the money. So you get a job to pay for it, then you find you have less time to train, this slows your progress.... See how this all can spiral? Elite is hard term to define, but it's certainly harder to attain if we're truly honest about it. I'd certainly never claim it. That said, it shouldn't keep the rest of us from trying, learning, doing the arts we love for the reasons we love them. That's far more important than defining ourselves or others by a definition that becomes meaningless with age and time.

As others have said, I think both are important. Cooperation is key while you are learning and refining a skill. Once you've established competence you need to test that with competitive learning. This is where individuals really learn to make technique their own and apply it outside the bounds of the best case scenario. This is why I'm a big fan of sparring for standup arts and probably why I was drawn to BJJ, at least half of the training is live. I think this is a good split. Both are critical.

Thank you, everyone! Sorry I took a bit but the thoughts are very much appreciated.

I didn't get why it bashed so hard by critics. That said, it's not perfect. The fight scenes could be better, but they were up against some stiff bars set by the other Netflix marvel shows. There were some pacing issues, but overall it was a solid addition. On the up side, there was no trying to get around the mystical nature of the character. He's straight up coming from an extra-planer monastery where he beat a dragon hand to hand for a magical fist. I. Love. It. Good villain twists and interesting arcs for both them and the supporting players. Lots of good stuff in there. I'm assuming that the lead actor's technical ability will get better moving forward to the Defenders. Which I'll be binging as well.

It really depends on what you want to use them for. I agree with DWx, if one is practicing kata regularly I'd stick with a sprung wood. If you're looking at them for takedowns I'd advise against it. They separate too easy, have minimal padding for takedowns of any kind, and are straight out no good for throws. Matting can be found pretty affordable if you keep and eye out. I'd wait, you'll just end up wanting to upgrade later.

We've been pretty busy here lately but we're still at it. In our latest video, we break down controlling mechanisms for movement to open guard: What other methods do people use for control during guard work?

You should be just fine for where you're at. If you're happy with your current instructor and the organization then it's an easy transition to the new club. Good luck and keep us posted on the transition!

As others have said, there's not risk of watering down your karate if the classes are separate. I think this is a pretty normal thing at schools. Minimizing the amount of time that you're paying for unused space is key. We ourselves run BJJ, Kali, Muay Thai, and cardio classes under the same roof. Instructors are qualified in their areas.

Some of this anxiety will go away with more and more time being back. Glad to see that you're really going for it. No one likes all of training, but putting yourself out there and participating deposit qualms is one of the great things about the arts. Keep it up!

It's invaluable, and you're going to need to get active on multiple social media platforms as well. Luckily, it's relatively easy today to set up a professional website and pretty affordable as well. Several sites exist to help you do just that. Get it all rolling together with your social media. It will pay dividends.

We used a variety of gloves. MMA style gloves for have bag work or prolonged mitts. 16 oz. boxing gloves for pure hands work. Kempo gloves for SD stuff. Hockey/ Lacross gloves for weapons work (I still use these in PTK training). It really just varies by school and application. Each specific goal focused night demands a specific set of safety gear.

I didn't see a lot of private lesson stuff while I was in stand up arts. That said, it's a huge thing in BJJ. Having done several myself, you can really get some good detail and fine tuning as Wastelander said. If you're having continued problems in a specific area, it can be a great idea to get past that barrier.

Here's the full details of one of the movements we worked last week. The Omo Plata from spider guard. One of my favorites that I probably have no business hitting as often as I do. Here it is: We when break it down, despite looking complex, the Omo is really nothing more than a Kimura done with one's legs. As such, many of the finishing mechanics are the same. Take a look at the set up, and the anatomical detail of the finish. Are there ways you can integrate this into your game? Do the fundamentals of shoulder locking look similar from one art to another?

Congrats!

Congrats!

Eh. 50/50. Like TJ said, he shows an open mindedness on some levels that I can appreciate. I think a lot of his stuff is pretty theoretical but again, I don't spend a ton of time watching him. Quite frankly, more than his technique, this demeanor drives me crazy. Even when I find myself agreeing with him I can barely finish one of his videos. This does not make his WC bad, ore make him a poor instructor. It just means I don't personally care fore the over the top presentation.

When I do something like this, I usually look at what the school having me in is known for and go from there. I like to add something to their tool box that they can use. Something that is more my specialty than theirs. That said, it has to be useful to them in some way. For instance, I did a couple of seminars at a JKD school for ground fighting. So step one was easy. I'm a grappler and they aren't so clearly we're going to the ground. Knowing that they are a self defense type of school I knew that some of the more artistic or sporty movements wouldn't appeal to them. But countering strikes when stuck on bottom and reversing position would. So that process guided my choices. Personally, for me, I always like some application under stress but a open mat at the ned just wouldn't have fit, so I had them switching partners and applying the whole sequence live. It worked great. It can be harder to choose when your base arts are similar and I've had harder to decisions to make on stand up stuff, but the process is always the same. In your situation, I'd look at what your Goju does that is unique to that form of karate compared to Wado. If memory serves, you guys have many more circular, softer type movements in your system. I think that where the maewashi-uke (sp?) kata comes out of, correct? The circular blocking kata. I'm less familiar with Wado, but it's entirely possible that they don't utilize that kata or movements contained therein. Maybe start with the kata, or portion of it (if it is indeed unique) and then move directly to bunkai for a handful of these movements, say 3. This will give them an appreciation of the form and introduce the "why." Then finish by putting the bunker into a string that moves from defense to control. If everyone is getting it, let them to some spontaneous attack and defend using the 3 related series that you just worked through. This kind of thing really leverages adult learning and aids in retention. They'll take something away thats useful and repeatable AND they will get a taste of a unique facet of your art. Just some thoughts. It's a pattern that's worked frequently for me. Good luck and keep us posted.

Welcome to KF!

Welcome aboard!