Kuma

Since we all spar knockdown, knockdown karate would probably be the best.

The power snatch to OH squat will give you the same benefit really. The power movements are fine for most people. I trained in Olympic lifting for a fair amount of time and though I enjoyed the full movements I typically stick with the power movements nowadays.

It depends on whatever we're talking about. I honestly don't see this as an issue, as the knockdown community is quite small so we all have to band together as much as we can.

Garyu was actually created by Sosai Oyama. I don't think in any of the traditional kata was mawashi geri ever there. A lot of people give Gigo Funakoshi props for adding it to the Shotokan repertoire, but it's also present in Okinawan styles where he didn't have anything to do with it.

The only kata I've ever seen that could be called "literal" kata in this sense was kata in Enshin and Ashihara. Enshin green belt kata: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9112972018247431046 Application of Enshin green belt kata: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9112972018247431046#docid=-783968795000940108 Enshin and Ashihara actually has gotten rid of the traditional kata entirely.

Try the power snatch to overhead squat combo. You'll be cursing my name at first but it's a powerful combo.

This article should help: http://www.correctionsone.com/corrections-training/articles/1842892-The-OODA-Loop/

Get an old tire and a few other cheap easy materials and you'll have a far more effective makiwara than that.

From what his previous posts have said, only 2 months.

Doesn't appear to be. You have your pick of any other martial art you could think of though.

Because inside the kata is the really mean stuff you don't teach beginners.

Back in the earlier days, both were allowed during jissen kumite. However, their main problem was keeping students after those kind of sessions. According to Shihan Hiroshige you'd have a school of 100 drop to less than 10 students after one such session, and Shihan Okazaki used to say his job during jissen kumite matches was to collect teeth during matches so they would not be lost. You still saw plenty of high kicks during that time. Just like a Thai boxing match, they allow head punches yet have plenty of high kicks as well. Kancho Royama has brought back both into certain types of kumite. However, any kind of groin kicking in my opinion should be avoided. You'll either have guys wearing cups to protect themselves, thus minimizing the impact and causing them to ignore it, or you'll lose a lot of students quickly and the few you keep will be facing serious injury. That's like saying they need to incorporate eye gouges too. No matter what you do, there always has to be some kind of rules to protect students from serious bodily injury.

No head punching is just for knockdown rules. There are now many different styles of sparring that incorporate gloves, such as shin karate (gloved karate). Kyokushin constantly evolves.

All good points. Don't forget also: strong hands, fingers, and wrists mean your strikes will also be strong because then your weapons (fist, knife hand, spear hand, etc.) will all be strong.

I'm not sure I understand. You took your T-shirt off to stop a bully? Then again, I haven't seen the newest one.

For the average person I would say yes. Higaonna Sensei has been training in karate since 1952 and has put in a lot to his foundation through Sanchin kata, hojo undo, and impact conditioning. It was probably many many years before he even attempted anything on that pillar. It obviously hasn't slowed him down much, as the man is 72 years old and still trains several hours a day, including hojo undo and sparring. Then again, he has also been doing this kind of thing for almost 60 years. Conditioning is a marathon, not a sprint, and many practitioners try to rush right through it. That's what brings about injuries, not sensible progression.

If I were you I wouldn't be punching them at all. Notice Higaonna Sensei never actually punches the wall, it's more forearm strikes and back knuckle strikes and knife hand blows. When you hit something properly, your force goes into the target but the secondary force comes back into you. If you are more solid than your target (i.e. a heavy bag or a student with weaker balance) it goes right back into your target. If your target is more solid than you though (i.e. a wall) it just returns right into you. Ishi mochi (stone pounding) never really uses full force if you watch it. It's more a slow steady pace.

Ah, I see now. This is a Shorin Ryu organization. Looks like they write it Shido-kan to differentiate themselves. Shorin Ryu is one of the main Okinawan karate styles and is very interesting and can be quite effective.

Here's a couple to get you started. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmtnAWg0xo&feature=related (at 2:00 in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmtnAWg0xo&feature=related

Shidokan is a very competition-oriented system that is a mix of a few different styles, from Kyokushin to boxing to Shotokan. The tournaments include knockdown fighting, Muay Thai, and grappling often all in the same fight just in different rounds. Boxing-only rounds are pretty common too. It's a great contemporary art that will certainly get you in great shape and open up the door for competitions. Here's a little highlight video that might show you a bit more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_R6loHvzdg

Like many have said, it all depends on the system. I've been training in Kyokushin for over six years now and am still in the kyu grades, with the average expectation being about 10 years for shodan.

Higaonna Sensei is one of my favorite karateka. I've seen this video before, but it's always fun to watch. Not only is his conditioning and knowledge incredible, but he also always seems to be one of the kindest most humble guys you'll ever meet.

A basic overview of Goju Ryu strategy is to close with the opponent, fighting up close and personal, disrupting their balance, and get them to a vulnerable position where you can finish them off. Kyokushin shares this same philosophy as well as emphasizing the point and circle (hence our symbol) and a lot of circular motion in its system (i.e. mawashi uke). Many students took that idea and ran with it, hence the creation of both Ashihara and Enshin, but both are also more geared towards knockdown fighting. Tensho kata is also considered the most important kata for a Kyokushin student. Kyokushin still remains a traditional system just with the added knockdown fighting. As for the TKD part, since TKD came from karate that's no surprise. The spinning kicks and flashier kicks came from a variety of different sources. Kyokushin never had low kicks until they faced the Thai fighters and discovered how powerful they were, hence why they became a big part of their fight game. They may have existed earlier as Goju Ryu does include gedan mawashi geri in its curriculum from my experience, but there's not a lot of evidence supporting it in any of Oyama's books. It could have been a "secret technique" of his that he didn't want to become well known though, so it's tough to say. Kyokushin knockdown fighting is very different from Tae Kwon Do sparring. Unlike TKD, there is no protective gear whatsoever allowed in open knockdown fighting. You can probably get away with a mouthpiece and a cup, and that's about it. While TKD only allows punches to the chest protector, in Kyokushin the only place you are not allowed to punch or strike (e.g. elbows, ridge hands, and palm strikes) is the head itself. You will have guys punching shoulders to weaken arms, the obliques to wear their opponents down, and in some cases a good fighter can pull off upper body strikes to their opponent's legs. As for kicking, Kyokushin also incorporates knee strikes which can be anywhere on the body, and allows foot sweeps to knock your opponent down. The scoring system is also different. While TKD fights for as many points as they can get, knockdown fighting is for ippon, or a full point win. You can only achieve this by knocking your opponent down for more than 3 seconds or by them verbally quitting. If you knock them down but they get up within the three seconds or if you sweep them, you only get waza-ari, a half point. You obviously need a full point to win, so you need to do that twice in one round to win. If it comes down to a decision, there is no points system so it goes to the fighter with superior skill and spirit. If that's still undecided, then it goes to the lighter of the two. Tae Kwon Do is a good foundation for knockdown fighting but just TKD alone will not help you win a knockdown tournament. Even Thai boxers have had lots of trouble competing in knockdown fighting, as it is a very different ruleset.

I've been fortunate enough to have been training Kyokushin weekly with Kancho John Farrell, an original student of both Shigeru Oyama and Sosai Oyama himself, for about eight months now. Training with a high ranking instructor can be very eye opening, especially one like Kancho who can not only look right at you and see exactly what you are doing incorrectly but also fix you and have you doing it right in just a few minutes. I would venture to say I've seen my skills improve by at least 50% since January, and that is no overestimation.

It's difficult to verify but there are some sources claiming he learned Southern Chinese Kempo off of one of his father's employees at a young age. It was for less than six years and spanned from when was 9 to 15 before he left for Japan. Goju Ryu is perhaps the most influential part of Kyokushin, you can see a heavy influence in all aspects of it, not surprising since Oyama was awarded his hachidan in Goju Ryu by Gogen Yamaguchi. Choi was actually trying to recruit Oyama and his whole organization into the ITF, but he underestimated how much Oyama loved Japan and how he had basically given up his Korean roots to become Japanese. Oyama obviously wasn't going to give up his established organization to a brand new one, much less play second fiddle to someone else, so he declined.