Toptomcat

If you've boxed, enjoyed it, and been at all good at it, in my opinion you're unlikely to enjoy training at a dojo focusing mostly on stop-and-start point karate. On the other hand, your boxing experience will give you more context to evaluate their stuff than most new students, and you do seem to know what you're getting into: I say give it a try, but don't give up on all karate if this particular dojo rubs you the wrong way, as I suspect it might.

Brilliant comedy bit, up there with Jim Carrey's In Living Color sketch. Difficult for me to take seriously- the instant and 100% debilitating pain that paralyzes his assailant for no less than three follow-up strikes from a hit to the inner arm in the first demo is a particular problem. Not to attack the idea itself that a rolled-up magazine is a workable improvised weapon, but this demo didn't impress me.

Heh. Sounds like you and I would be good sparring partners.

The only legitimate purposes MA organizations serve are to provide a competitive forum for their practitioners, if applicable, and to ensure the competence of any teaching black belts in the field. There ARE some that manage to do that: the trinity of American judo, the USJI, USJA, and USJF, seem to do okay, and despite all the factional nonsense going on the major Kyokushin orgs IKO 1 and 2 seem to have their heads together in a very big-picture sense, though I don't know about the fine details. Agreed that for the most part that organizational politics are just one big, long ego trip with little productive ever coming out of it.

I'm all right. On the bright side, I jab quite well, my cross follows naturally from it, my hooks are intermittently useful, I have an okay sense of distance and rhythm when on the outside, and I have a neat couple of tricks revolving around the spinning backfist. On the not-so-bright side, my uppercuts are so rough as to be nearly useless, I have a distressing tendency to get tagged in the face with crosses, I don't tend to put together more than two punches at a time, and I'm fairly helpless on the inside if I'm not allowed to clinch and I'm against someone who knows what they're doing. In short, my punching has noticeable and problematic holes, but it's still good enough to be broadly functional against those who haven't specifically put serious time and energy into their hands.

Jiyu-kumite training(including fullcontact without protection) as normally done in karate classes is ok, but being able to take 'empty hand' punishment in the dojo is no 100% guarantee of street survival. It would be nice to get up and walk after being struck ready for more attacks, but crawling and/or staggering(if you're still breathing) after a multiple armed(heavy blunt, and/or sharp weapons) attack are not uncommon out in the streets. If you want something purely for the street, head off towards Krav Maga or its distant cousin, Systema My experience was with Systema(and some unfortunate and shameful bar-room incidents), and there's a lot of fullcontact there. At the same time, there's a pervading philosophy to this day from it's head instructor all the way from Canada that says, one does not destroy(accidentally, or intentionally) one's fellow students. In the Systema class I was in, this point was emphasized many times by the instructor(trained in Canada) whether training 'empty hand', or with weapons. The fullcontact as such was important because the one receiving the blow had to have something to work with, and I'd often be told to make more contact It all depends on the individual on how effective he's going to be out in the streets. During Systema training, there were more than a few times when I was able to attack even the more experienced from various angles they couldn't see or anticipate during multiple-attack training(all the class members against one person). Survival is not a matter of pride, but luck. One cannot always avoid 100% a blind-side I didn't stay with Systema, and I went back to Shotokan. Shotokan may be considered by many as far from practical street-wise, but such views are irrelevant to those like myself who have a passion for Japanese culture, and Shotokan as the world knows it today can hardly be called Okinawan(let alone Chinese, albeit a corrupted version). But...I enjoy Shotokan. Is it effective? Who cares! It connects me with a history, and culture. I learnt a long time ago that constantly worrying about what may happen in a dark alley or deserted street/road just takes too much of my pleasure time The problem with systema and Krav Maga from the perspective of a student looking for training is that there's no quality control: while good training in either system is some of the best you can get, you can get instructor certification in both systems by mail order, and a great many people have done just that. Kyokushin is policed spectacularly well by comparison: in any of the main knockdown orgs, you can't get rank sufficiently high to credibly instruct without being someone who knows your stuff. And without having trained before, you won't know the difference between a good school and a bad one- so I'd be leery of pointing someone looking for a style to learn towards Krav or systema unless I had a specific school in mind.

Zen is not monolithic: its practices can be primarily religious or primarily philosophical. Zen's more religious branches would likely be incompatible with Taoism, while its more philosophical branches would have less of an issue. Regardless, only the most dogmatic follower of religious Zen would have too much of an issue with studying a martial art with Taoist roots, unless the person teaching it is also a hard-line Taoist who plays up the style's religious aspects. Whichever is the case, both Taijiquan and Baguazhang have traditionally been associated with Chinese martial monasteries, but not those of Shaolin: located in the Wudang mountains of Hubei province, they were quite a distance from Shaolin in Henan province. Whoever says that those arts were taught at Shaolin is likely conflating separate legends of Chinese martial monks- either deliberately, to capitalize on the Shaolin 'brand', or accidentally.

Newish? It's been canceled for more than a year. New in HD, maybe.

Even the latter half of the story suggests that not all is as it initially seems here, though it's somewhat unclearly written as to exactly where the 23 ms/200 ms figures are coming from- an instance of science-writing-via-journalism-major syndrome, I suspect.

Have you tried anything other than balls-to-the-wall bareknuckle and point karate? There are other options out there, options that can add a great deal to the technical repertoire of a karateka without posing an undue injury risk.

What kind of gloves do you use in-house?

Generally, we try to avoid trying to get people who are both inexperienced and small to throw someone who's significantly bigger than them, because it can turn a mistake from something that makes the throw a nonstarter or makes the throw a botch into something that makes the throw actively dangerous to the newbie. Beyond that, we mix it up as we please.

McDojoism is really more about exploitative business practices than poor instruction- stunts like years-long inescapable contracts, forcing the students to buy overpriced paraphernalia to advance, nickel-and-diming their students with charges at every juncture they can get away with, and the like. 'McDojo' is thus not totally antonymous with 'serious fighting style', though it is almost always the case in practice. That said, Coung Nhu is not what I would recommend as a serious fighting style. What video I can find on them leans heavily on choreographed demos, with techniques ranging from questionable unarmed gun defenses to pole-vault kicks during staff work to one memorable maneuver in which someone ran up their opponent's outstretched legs, sat on their shoulders, and repeatedly slapped the crown of their head.

Ha, yes, that makes sense. I thought you were dragging out the old 'true karate doesn't have to be technically sound or physically rigorous as long as it's spiritual' chestnut. Glad to see that wasn't the case

In the broad-brush historical sense, yes, there has been a major transition away from the master-apprentice model of teaching and towards the group-class model. (See also: menkyo kaiden.) I'm not as sure about whether there's been a shorter-term move along the same lines, though.

One caters to the tangible while the other caters to the untangible. Can you elaborate? Because that strikes me as an oversimplification at best.

The thing about private lessons is that a great majority of martial artists are used to teaching only in groups, not to individuals. Private lessons with them will be less than helpful. There's a notable exception in many professional sport arts, which tend to have a strong tradition of one-on-one learning- boxing's fighter-trainer relationship is a good example here.

If kids really bother you, then go elsewhere. Places that have separate adult and kids' classes aren't uncommon at all.

Something very similar to that 'exotic' pak sao is a fairly standard boxing parry to the jab off of an orthodox stance. At least the initial parrying motion, agreed that the rest of the motion looks odd.

You seriously think the movie will be better-received- as in commercially, by audiences, it will sell more tickets- if it doesn't get tenuously tied in to a beloved American classic that was nominated to an Academy Award? You think they'll line up to see a Jaden Smith vehicle produced by Will Smith on its own merits? It may be the more honest thing to do, but it's pretty far from the most marketing-savvy.

It seems to me like you need to evaluate what you want from martial arts training. If you want tradition, if you want technical correctness according to a certain defined style, if you want advancement in rank as recognized by an outside authority- then this teacher is not for you. Does he provide other things you want- a good workout, a practical fighting method, a good friend or father figure, a place to meet people and make friends? If so, then you may want to stay even if things aren't perfect. Sit down, do some thinking, and make as honest and complete a list as possible of what you want to get from the teacher, then do the same for a list of what you're getting. Compare the two and your decision will be as good as made.

Interesting. At a closer look it seems more like Third World MMA or combat sambo than any 'pure' regional wrestling style.

Would you object to head contact made as light as possible- even just an open-handed slap to the forehead or a pitty-patty tap with 16oz gloves on? Because I think you're doing a beginner a disservice if you aren't teaching him one of the most basic and essential lessons of any striking martial art- keep your hands up- from day 1.

Why do you think none of the cuts are likely to be fatal? It doesn't require an expert at all to make a very dangerous cut with a sharp knife.

I'd say that the '6 month contract' part is a bit iffy, but not the actual monthly charge- provided the gym has a record of producing successful competitors in grappling, standup, and mixed martial arts.