Shoto4Life

Who did you train under in Mn? Master Fusaro? I think its mostly sensei related.

In addition, in arts like judo, they strictly avoid long belts as they can be used against you in tournaments. How would you like to be strangled out with your own belt?

Long belts are completely a fashion statement. It’s like sagging your pants and in my opinion its lame. If you were in battle would want a ridiculously long belt slapping around? Not cool!

IMO - you shouldnt be allowed to test for black until 16 let alone be allowed to teach a class.

Welcome to the rest of the world’s traditional karate’s political problems! Maybe Kempo is not so different after all?

Front leg Roundhouse with right leg and reverse punch with left hand while sparring. Nails them everytime by the ear, neck, or back of head. During training I like to step in front kick, step in roundhouse and then finally back thrust. If you do this right it works in sort of a flurry carrying momentum and feels really good.

If you guys get a good tournament cut gi like juka offers there is no need to tailor the uni. Also its tournament cut pant is extremely loose so much so I nearly get my leg stuck in it. If you guys havent tried juka try the 10oz. dragon brand tournament cut. Its only like $75 bones and its really like a 12oz. Very good quality for the money. Side note too they have told me that they actually manufcater the tokon gis.

RIP - :'[ - I missed his last local seminar. I was gonna get a pic and have him sign my book as well.

Yes I tend to carry my shoulders high and I am stiff. Lots of focus in my training has been to drop shoulders and loosen up. The breathing though I think I have always had trouble with. Like jogging its always hard for me to find a nice steady slow rythym. I seem to find it hard to avoid breathing hard. My sensei told me to breathe from the gut which I think might help. Seems wrong for me to loosen up and go willy nilly. I think fighting in the real world is like arm wrestling - the closer your arm is to your shoulder and the stronger the bond the more power you have. I think by not tensing and flexing the shoulders you will have no power. Well not the kinna power that hurls people through the air anyway which I have done before. I think that running up the stairs will really work my respitory system and even out my breathing. That and sprints. Jogging helps but its not enough. I just have the feeling that I cannot get out of this contiunal feeling of being out of shape. Maybe if a lose some weight?

Whats your favorite gi? Please no comments about how other gis are not listed.

Very simple. Happened to me in high school and after bobbing and weaving several large blows one hard shot to the throat was enough to watch a certain state champion body builder drop to his knees and cry like a baby. Otherwise target the knees. No teeth or nose for liability and ethical reasons.

When I train I train hard like I’m actually fighting someone. I think this leads me to be tense. Also it’s like I expended myself right away and find that I’m the first to tire and the most worn out and sweaty. This sucks. What can I do to increase my cardio so that I’m not so beat down all the time? The worst part is that when I get so exhausted my form goes right out the window. I also really don’t want to be all loosely loose like I’m flicking my arm out as if it’s a string either. I have tried jogging which helps but I’m thinking I need to do something more like sprints or up stairs or something.

Yea you guys are right. I need to just clear my head, refocus and push forward. Thanks for the support!

Updates After a couple days off I returned. The sensei that likes me was teaching. It was nice to see some of the lower level students and they were happy to see me. Tails were wagging. It still felt awkward though. Afterwards the sensei thanked me for returning. I think it was obvious how much I put into it and how I felt about the outcome. After a little conversation he confirmed enough of what I felt and described in this post to validate what happened. He also basically told me it’s really good that I came back and that’s how I will show them. This felt good but it almost creates more dilemmas. Now I know what I perceived to be more or less accurate and because of this it just doesn’t feel right. That coupled with the fact that I have trained judo and wanted to have started back into judo but figured that for the long run karate would be better for my body. I do however prefer to strike and it comes a little less naturally so it makes me try harder. I probably had the most fun training on my own prior to rejoining a dojo in preparation before all the politics and pressure started in. The issue though is that I feel my body type is better suited for judo. So I wonder, do I continue to train in something that might not be my ideal sport and on top of that have to deal with people that don’t want to see me succeed? Or do I shift focus towards something that lends itself more naturally to my body type? Its like if I can’t get a purple belt how will I ever become a black belt? Most people do not fail at such an early level. I also do not take failure easy as it doesn’t happen to me often and this was very hard on me. I do believe most sensei’s spare students this negative experience and tell them not to test if such thing might happen. Thanks for the input keep it coming.