Killer Miller

You're welcome. Merry X-mas... - Killer -

No, ISKF has been founded with that name for well over 25 years... All though I never belonged to the ISKF, they are a great organization and have some great karate-kas to train with. I wouldn't hesitate a moment to train with this organization. The current Shotokan rank you are at woudln't make a bit of difference training with the ISKF. Many, Many moons ago, the ISKF, AAKF, and JKA use to be the same group of people. I trained with many of them in the past and they are a great bunch of guys/gals... - Killer -

Kicking with the ball of the foot just takes time to learn - flat foot is not a factor. It will come in time... - Killer -

The JKA time scale is technically possible - if never missing training or scheduled tests (assuming he passed them all). From a realistic point of view, it would be very rare to see a 30 yr old Go Dan. Give us the link to his website and I'll be glad to do some research. - Killer -

You're welcome... - Killer -

Bassai Sho Examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLjbEyvvufg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GQu9N0e8SQ - Killer -

I find it interesting that the Shotokan people have learned Katas beyond Tekki Shodan, but have not learned Nidan and Sandan. The Tekki trio is so important to learn for your development... For myself, it would be more of how many I "knew" versus know. I knew 26 out of 26. - Killer -

It's a common JKA kata - but many orther organizations only do bassai-dai instead... It's a fun kata. - Killer -

Thnx BM. - Killer -

I'm afraid I disagree with stating that you can be faster than you can breathe ObiWan. I know this not to be true as a fact of my training and experience. This is a concept that is not widly taught in the general populas of MA. However, it is one of the most important concepts to be taught for just about "all" aspects of Karate - including speed... I wouldn't have put it out there for discussion unless I thought it was a key factor. Once learning this concept, you will find that all things just seem to naturally come together faster, stronger, and with far more stability and control. If this is one of the primary concepts of training for world champions, then why not for the rest... - Killer -

Bushido man, I never said to lift an heavy object fast. I said that "breating matches your contraction." If you are lifting something heavy, you, of course, are going to breath and lift slower. Now, doing a "clean jerk" with weights, then the fast breathing does apply. Now running, this falls into the category of doing combinations in kumite. You match your breathing to match a series of movements. Are you trying to tell me that if you run and don't breath you won't pass out before long??? I'm sure that's not what you are saying. And when running you want to pick up the pace for the finish line that you won't breath faster??? I'm also sure that's not what you are saying. It's the same thing in kumite. You can breath fast for one technique, or you can time your breathing (fast or slow) for a series of techniques. But you still use the breathing timing concept from the time you step into the ring until you leave the ring... - Killer -

You guys/gals are confusing breathing, breathing timing, exhaling with "kiai." Question: What is Kiai? Answer: Kiai (the sound or yell) is the By-Product of the "Stopping" of rapid exhalation of air from your lower diagphram when the mouth closes. Question: What is Breathing? Answer: Normal inhalation and exhalation. Question: What's the difference between inhaling and exhaling? Answer: Inhaling relaxes the contracting type of muscles and also allows oxigen into your lungs and blood stream - and in return allows good blood flow throughout your body. Exhaling contracts the lower diagphragm as well all large contracting type of muscles desired to contract - and in return contraction expends oxigen and can lead to passing out if maintained. Question: What is Breathing Timing? Answer: Breathing timing is the syncronization of inhaling and exhaling to match muscle relaxation and muscle contraction for a given body movement(s) or technique(s). Now, I think you all are confusing Breathing Timing with "Kiai." No, you are not expected to kiai on every move. But Kiai is just the speeding up of normal breathing. When you pick up a big rock, what do you do? You get centered over the rock. You relax and take a big inhale. You then pick up the rock with all your muscles centered and used at the same time by a big exhale or grunt noise. Well that grunt noise is actually a "Kiai" with your mouth closed - and if the rock is big enough, the grunt turns into a loud kiai... The faster you exhale or grunt, the faster you pick up the rock. The slower you exhale or grunt, the slower you pick up the rock. When you get the rock up and then put it on another rock, or drop the rock, you then take a big inhale and relax all muscles. This is Breathing Timing in it's simplist form. Finally, you can use muscle contraction for "1" technique. But you can also use muscle contraction for a combination of techniques as well. But regardless if using one or multiple techniques, all actions are timed with your breathing from start to finish. This is where years of practise comes in to play to where this concept is second nature. Your body "CAN NOT" relax without Inhaling. Your Body "CAN NOT" contract large muscles without Exhaling. Yet, people do it all the time in various sports and can't figure out why they are out of breath, get tired, have weak technique, unclear thoughts, etc... Where does speed come into play with breathing. When moving point A to point B, whether you are doing one technique or a combination, the movement is timed with your breathing - which could be a Kiai if necessary. The faster your breath, the faster all these actions occur, the slower you breath, the slower all these actions occur. Thus, Breathing Timing... Who were the biggest contributors that have taught this concept to me? Nishiyama, Matsura, Oishi, Shirai. This concept is one of their biggest focus in not only Kata, but also in Kumite. It definately works, but if you are not familiar with the concept, it will be difficult to understand. However, it is a very basic, simple, and natural concept to develop - but it takes time. - Killer -

Both of you are missing the entire point. Fast twitch muscle use is a "minor" issue in the big picture. Breathing timing is a much larger issue of development. Unless someone has mental retardation or a physical disability, their fast twitch muscles are more that sufficient for 95% of situations. Also, you are never to be so close to an oponent as to where use or reliance of fast twitch is necessary. Everything of karate is based on development of your technique timing and understanding your oponent's timing to execute a technique. "Breathing Timing" is the development of this concept to understand syncing your muscle movement with your breathing. This concepts starts when your first approach your oponent until you leave the situation. Muscle movement without synced breathing is like having two rubber-bands as muscles pulling different directions - thus, no movement except for the rubber-band that has the greater force. If you relax one of the rubber-bands, the force or movement will move that direction without oposing force. The same thing happens with prober breathing timing - your punching action is started/executed with the exhalation of the lower diagphram contracting the muscles naturally and stop when you stop your exhale - the Kiai! The faster you exhale, the faster the muscle contraction for the punch. So when you pick up your oponent's breathing timing of technique, which can happen in a nano second with practice, your learned responses naturally react and executes a punch (or any other technique). You exhale from the lower diagphram and execute the technique. It happens very quickly... It is not an issue of of an "unlearned" use of a fast twitch muscle response. And trust me, there is a lot more time to make that decision than what is preceived as the process being. Finally, executing muscles for a punch without proper breathing timing will cause the upper body muscles to contract prior to breathing and actually restricts blood flow to your brain and entire body - thus, unclear thoughts to react to a situation and can also make you light-headed or dizzy in the process. - Killer -

You are serously confusing "reaction time" with a "fast punch..." Reaction timing is the fast twitch muscles you refer to. A fast punch can occur at any time - which is soly dependant on breathing timing in sync with muscle contraction timing. Develop breathing timing of your lower diagphram in conjunction with your muscle contractions to execute a punch from point A (start) and point B (Kime) in unison is the key here. If the two actions are not in sync, then you will not develop speed or control in your punches - or any other technique for that matter. In terms of reaction timing (your fast twitch muscles you refer to), this is not realistic as to what truly occurs... Reaction timing is pre-learned or pre-determined responses of your body to a given situation. So before the fast twitch muscles are really needed for a quick response, the technique, scenario, or situation has already been learned into muscle memmory. The sub-conscious learned responses is already telling the body what to do as a whole. Fast twitch is usually required for "un-learned" resonses that is determined and processed through the "conscious" mind, communitated through the sub-conscious mind of learned responses, and then to the motor reflex/muscle responses. - Killer - Although I agree that breathing is an important component when performing any technique, stating that it is the only factor that develops speed in punching does not seem accurate. A muscles' ablilty to be fast is based off of the amount of fast twitch I and fast twitch II, or the presense of more slow twitch muscle fibers in the body. Working and developing these muscle fibers plays a major role in devolping speed.

Punch Speed has NOTHING to do with using weights or improving reflexes... Punch speed is developed with "Breathing Timing" where the timing of the punch matches your breathing. The faster you breathe, the faster the punch. The slower you breathe, the slower you punch. If the punch is out or sync with your breathing, it's like putting on the "brakes" when punching... - Killer -

It depends on your purpose... In JKA styles, you always keep your back straight when doing side kicks for fast recovery and quick change in technique. For this, your supporting foot is at 90 degrees. Other styles prefer more height. For this type of kick is commonly executed by leaning back and turning the foot 180 - or a variation between 90 - 180. This execution does not allow quick return of the kick in order to move to another position. Also, it is a weaker kick than a straight body 90 degree foot kick. With the 180 degree kick, the most effective return of kick to be effective is to rotate the body when returning the kick - however, you are very volunerable when executing. - Killer -

It would still be the same quote for both. If you did not train enough, then you obviously lost. Also, it was a mistake and the meaning behind the saying is basically is to learn from your mistakes, don't get upset by it, and correct your mistakes until you are a winner... - Killer - i think you got me wrong , i wasn't embaressed of my self for loosing , i was embaressed of my self for not training enough.

I use to tell all my students, and now I'm going to tell you the same thing. "If you can not lose, then you can not win!" Learn from your mistakes and let that become your driving force to make you even better next time. Also, the more experience you have in that venue, the better you will become. You are only 15 and you still have your entire life to become great... You certainly have the proper training for it. Learn from it and learn with it as well. - Killer -

Brandon: His kata just seems to lag on some techniques and he doesn't have the snap during his kata that I've seen from the other greats. Also, when he transitions into kime, he moves a little instead of the sharp ending of technique. Juey: I'm not denying his greatness and my respect for him, because I do respect him a great deal. It's just that a person of his stature, you would think he would demonstrate the best example. When I see Kanazawa perform kata, he almost seems bored when doing kata. And I know he is well capable of demonstrating much better technique than he did. - Killer -

Kanazawa was a great Karate-ka and Sensei. However, I really never cared for his Kata though... - Killer -

Bushido_Man96, you make it sound like we only do one block and puch in the basic sense only. This is most certainly not the case. He's refering to the most basic sense of the topic. But there are many variations and repetitions of that basic block and punch that is still very effective. - Killer -

What the heck was that all about Menjo? Very Hollywood McDojoish... - Killer -

His interpretation is not how I would have interpretated it, and the slow tension was a little over-exaggerated, but I still really enjoyed watching his interpretation of the kata just the same... He was actually doing a "tournament kata" interpretation - which was a common trick to ensure the judges see emphasis of technique. I'm sure on his own, he practices a different interpretation for practical application of the kata as well as the tournament application. - Killer -

Typically, if a brown belt gave me a cheap shot, which was an frequent occurance due to their inexperience, I would wait to hear an "osu" from them. This was a known aknowledgement that it wasn't on purpose and everything was cool. I would then show them what they are doing wrong. But if it continued and I didn't hear an "osu" from them, they would get blasted pretty hard. It's just the way it is... In a beginner or intermediate class, it would be out of line. But in an advanced class or team training, it's ok to retaliate a little to make a point. - Killer -

Like Rob said, I use to see this all the time in team training as well. It's usually the new guy, or brown belt because they think they are better than they are, and they will try to take your head off. Everyone just ignores it for the most part - as long as it doesn't get too out of hand. Having them spar in a match is a great idea. But we use to make the "bad guy" stay up and spar with all the other black belts too and let them get worn out and degraded a bit to mellow them out for the future. If both were out of line, you could probably have two sparring matches going on and both would spar with all the black belts. With a team training session of about 30+ black belts, that's one heck of a workout. - Killer -