jaddensinn

My old bag was an old century that was maybe 3 or 4 ft at the most? it was about 55lbs and I opened it up once to see what was in there and it looked like the type of padding that you usually find under carpets in homes. It was all shredded up and packed very tightly into the bag.

I disagree that the school is suspect or a mcdojo just because it doesn't state what type of karate they teach. Karate in the 90's became a blanket term for martial arts and in many cases was just the best thing to put on a martial arts schools' sign. Now, you kinda start to see that many schools just say they offer "Martial Arts", because that's the more acceptable blanket term now. Anyway, the head instructor of the school probably just has a diverse MA background and probably doesn't teach a one of the "pure" or traditional forms of karate.

Congrats James! This is only the beginning!

My dad was a cop so he definitely knew how to fight... he never really taught me too much but my mom prompted him to teach me some basics after I got into a fight when I was younger, of course I forgot most of what he taught me, I do remember some of the joint locks and pressure points though... ...the joke in the family now (after I got my black belt) is that Dad can't do anything to me anymore if he wanted to

I've found that to be true in my experiences as well. Last time I nearly got into an altercation a guy at a bar shoved me and did the whole "you wanna go?" dance. Him shoving me caught me a bit off guard but right after he did I got this calm focus and didn't bother responding to him verbally. I just kept my hands loose at my sides and waited to see what he would do, he backed down and took off when he saw I wasn't going to be provoked by him... I think most self defense comes down to the bully rule, most guys that try to start fights are cowards themselves and just looking for something to prove... Of course there are the times when someone actually intends to hurt you out of malice but I believe that is a far smaller percentage of situations people are likely to run in to.

I simply have my name on one side and my first degree stripe on the other... some of the black belts in our school will get the school's name on their belts as well but our sensei isn't actually a fan of it for some reason... It's down the road but when I eventually go for 2nd degree, (if I get a new belt at the time) I probably won't have my name put on it as I've become a fan of more plain belts over time.

I began instructing at brown belt and that was usually under the supervision of a second degree or our school's master, but now that I'm a black belt and have been instructing for a year I'm expected to be able to teach just about any class from start to finish if need be.

Our school seems to follow what seems to be the standard formula: 3 months on average between lower ranked belts, 6 months to a year between brown and black, 2 years from 1st degree to 2nd, 3 years between 2nd and 3rd and so on... And of course all of those times are averages, exceptions have been made depending on students' abilities...

In my opinion its really not a student's place to confront their sensei in how they decide to run class or treat students... at best you could maybe ask your sensei if everything is all right with them and perhaps express concerns that they've seemed off lately... but that will really depend on your relationship with your sensei. When it comes down to it though if your sensei's behavior is not to your liking and doesn't change you can always move on and find a new school to train at.

That's a very interesting tradition that I'm honestly not familiar with myself. Do you know where that originated from?

I'm personally not a fan of wall forms myself, I just don't find them that challenging to learn or perform, but that's just me.

that was kinda odd... maybe its a cultural thing that kinda got lost in translation? I dunno... doing a kata that slow with no power kinda defeats the purpose no?

The belt debate is always kind of amusing because there are so many points of view on it. My black belt is special for me because its a physical representation of 3 1/2 years of hard work, other than college that's the longest I've ever stuck with something so the physical belt does mean a lot to me, but our head instructor will always be the first one to say that if a class is ever run and no one wore their belts it should be obvious who the black belts are. As for worn and frayed belts, as far as I can tell i mostly depends on the type of belt. I have a tokaido satin belt and its already begun to wear in nicely after about 6 months. On the other hand one of our 4th degrees has had a shureido satin belt for something like 15 years and it hasn't remotely frayed one bit, in his words "he just can't kill it".

Our school is an open style primarily based in Karate and TKD, our belt progression is: White Yellow Gold Orange Green Blue Purple Red Brown Black

I'm afraid my experience with different brands of gi's has been limited to a lightweight macho and a middleweight century (If I'm not mistaken I believe macho and century are the same company now anyway?). Either way I do like the middleweight century, its pretty comfortable and has been pretty durable thus far. Once I save up some money I might get a heavyweight shureido though as I hear they are quite good.

glad you were able to come to a decision that works for you, sounds like you made the right one.

Well there you go, that's a genuine problem then. You could maybe try talking to him and working something out where you can get some advanced training from him... but if you are his senior student and he's not showing you anything new right now without you asking then I suppose your prospects aren't that good. It might be for the best that you move on.

Whether or not something is "proper" in the martial arts these days is a very difficult thing to nail down with any certainty, especially since the martial arts have changed so much all ready and will only continue to change and evolve in the future. What is ultimately important is whether or not you are satisfied with the training you are receiving. If you're no longer content with it then by all means move on, because when it boils down to it all that matters is that you are enjoying your training and taking something away from it.

Hey guys, I'm new to posting here but I've been lurking for a little bit now... waiting for the perfect chance to jump in on a topic. The Kaioken technique is an ancient ability that permits you to focus your chi and enhance your fighting ability. Of course this technique can only be learned from the mystical King Kai and to meet him you have to first die and then make your way down the winding "Snake Way". Seriously though, its a move from the japanese cartoon dragonball z and I don't think I could do a better job of establishing my nerdom on my first post here if I'd tried.