Kuma

From my own experiences, we would learn one or two new things that day and constantly drill on those and the ones we knew before. However, these were usually compliant and when resistance was involved it was very minimal. Overall we only received 44 hours of defensive tactics over a 23 week period, or less than 2 hours a week. Of that a large part was dedicated to handcuffing and baton work, with control holds, takedowns, strikes, and pressure points making up the rest. Too many departments nowadays, like everyone it seems, are concerned of liability thus it doesn't get much more extreme than that in many places in my experience.

I second this. Due to work, family, and military commitments, I went over five years before I finally achieved a belt promotion. Karate can many times be more of a solo endeavor than anything else. Sure you can get promoted and achieve recognition from your friends, but it's really how you feel about your training. If you see yourself constantly improving and seeing the benefits it has on the other areas of your life, that's progress to me.

Just because someone has one does not necessarily mean they have all three. You can have the rank without the knowledge or experience. You can have the knowledge without the rank or experience. You can have the experience without the rank or knowledge. However, we should all strive to experience as much as we can, so we can improve our knowledge. With that comes rank if you want it, but the real rank should be how you see yourself.

If the same was happening to you or a member of your family, wouldn't you want someone else to make it their business?

I think that was perfectly reasonable, KCS. I wouldn't expect to wear my belt to a TKD class and expect the same treatment, nor should I since it's a different system. Since we are more of a training group than an actual class, my instructor lets whoever wants to train with us wear their own gi and belt. However, if they want to grade with us, they start as a white belt and are treated as such.

Better for your instructor to hear it from you than have to hear it from others.

My head instructor was a student of Shigeru Oyama and later Mas Oyama, so you really can't get any closer to the source of Kyokushin than that.

I would second both of KCS' recommendations.

I think the Brazilian kick, much like the axe kick and some of the spinning kicks, came from a TKD influence somewhere along the line.

Did you at least check out one of the classes at the MMA place? I'd say it's worth a shot if you really want to stick in MA. Would you be willing to try a boxing gym?

If the training was helping you and the main cause of your problems were the shoe inserts, why not just ditch the shoe inserts and keep training? It's better for your body to condition itself to the point where it is minimalized rather than compensate for something with an artificial means for the rest of your life.

If you give us your location, we can try digging around for you too. If any of your friends are interested, that'd be perfect for you. Then you can get a pair of pads and train partner drills together.

Agility is more changing your body's position and balance. If you mean hand eye coordination, there's lots of interesting things you can do. Hit a speed bag or double end bag, juggle, play handball, etc.

Modern pankration rules seem to look like a combination of knockdown fighting and Judo (from my extremely limited experience), with no striking on the ground.

What are you aiming to compete in? That also will influence what else you study. Kickboxing, knockdown fighting, MMA, point...?

Oddly enough this is a popular discussion with my friends and I. I've already decided on my gear, packing list, and clothing choices. From my local area I know who the gun nuts are and where to get more firepower. For fun one night we joked around and came up with our fortification plans for our homes, which I would still do. I'm actually a fan of the crossbow with an automatic pistol as a sidearm, as the crossbow is quiet and has reusable ammunition. My close combat weapon would be a Cold Steel warhammer.

Interesting, thanks.

Maybe someday I'll have the time. What makes Isshin Ryu unique from other karate styles in your opinion? I consider myself first and foremost a student of karate more than a Kyokushin student, so I'm interested in finding out more about other karate styles.

Why did you pick up your own systems of choice rather than others? Not everyone has the same views, goals, ideas, or desires.

You could try looking into places like Craigslist, Myspace, and Facebook. A Youtube channel of some demo videos could be good too. Also - try offering some deals on membership rates to attract some interest.

I never knew Isshin Ryu was uncommon. Interesting. Hanshi Duessell's school is actually about 10 minutes from me. I've always been interested but never had the time.

I'd be interested to see this if you can find any videos for us. Most of the videos you see on Youtube of their sparring tend to be of the more semi-contact variety, like most karate styles. Knockdown kumite is a different animal than most types of karate kumite.

No need to wait, the sooner the better. They won't kill you right off the bat, you'll build up in a progressive manner.

Daido Juku is actually celebrating its 30th year this year, it just was never too popular until more recently. Takashi Azuma Sensei was influenced by Jon Bluming and actually has his 8th dan in Kyokushin Budokai. He just took it a step further with Kudo.

Here's Garyu for you Evergrey: