Kuma

Google the frog stretch. That one really helped me, but it can be a bit too much somedays. Another good one that helped me a lot was to get my legs like I was going to do a butterfly stretch, but then just lay on my back and read a book. Eventually gravity takes its course and it just settles down and you can sometimes feel your hip almost popping into place. Weird, but it works out well.

Wa-No-Michi: Why couldn't they be interpreted as strikes though? I learned from both of the karate styles I've been involved with (Goju and Kyokushin) that in many cases the preparatory movements of the block can be considered the actual block itself, and the "block" is actually a strike. There's a great book out called "75 Down Blocks", all concentrating on gedan barai but applicable to every karate technique. A good read.

Just take it easy and start stretching daily. Nothing too intense, just light relaxed stretching and you'll see improvement. Once you feel pretty good about where you're at, you can look into the more advanced stuff. I highly recommend Bob Anderson's Stretching book.

The Tick

All this started because the suspect's mother was upset that his dog had urinated on the floor......

Just one word covers it all (gotta love the Japanese for that): shibumi.

That is really cool. Congratulations to him.

So Nei Chu was the name of the senior student of Miyagi's, correct.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/04/pittsburgh.officers.shot/ Please send your thoughts and prayers out to the families, friends, and loved ones of these (EDIT: Changed link) I'm a Pittsburgh officer myself so this has hit us all pretty hard...

The founder of Kyokushin Karate, Sosai Mas Oyama, learned Shotokan under Gichin Funakoshi and later on Goju Ryu under a senior student of Chojun Miyagi (he was eventually awarded an 8th dan by Gogen Yamaguchi). Oyama essentially combined Goju and Shotokan with jissen kumite to make Kyokushin.

Tani otoshi would be a good option. I can see that as being a good combination.

It sure is. He actually fought in the 1979 World Tournament.

I would never call any technique irreversible. From what it looks like on JudoInfo.com, it seems like a belly to back suplex. I'm not too familiar with all the different Judo throws, but since those suplexes are commonly found in Greco Roman wrestling, there's definitely going to be some kind of counter for it. Even if they just drop their weight before the throw and get one leg behind yours that could probably counter it right then and there.

You're training in Uechi Ryu right now, aren't you? Your sensei should be pretty well conditioned.

Rubber mallet? Ouch. Definitely wouldn't recommend that. You'd be much much better off doing kote kitae with a partner. Pounding on your bones with something like a mallet is a bad idea.

Breaking a bat with your forearm is going to take some extreme conditioning. How exactly are you training for it? You'll want a good instructor teaching you, doing tameshiwari and body conditioning without proper instruction is just asking for big time trouble. Not to mention it's usually counterproductive.

In kumite I've noticed I tend to use an open hand moreso than anything, just because in my kumite stance my hands are already open. I think it doesn't make too much of a difference whether open or closed so long as you still get that snapping forearm action into it.

The officer I was talking about managed to stab his assailant with a boot knife to prevent him from disarming the officer, so I don't see that as overkill at all. I'm in the same boat though, firearms and knives are my thing. Traditional-wise though, I really like the tonfa and the bo.

Stretch it a few times a day, ice it, and maybe try some tiger balm or Ben Gay. Sounds like you took a good solid shot.

I used to get them very often when I first began taking hard leg kicks. They took 1-2 weeks usually. Just gross to look at, nothing really bad with it otherwise. As long as you don't poke it to make it change colors (guilty!) it should go away in a short time.

There is a kata found in White Crane Kung Fu called Sam Chien which looks somewhat similar to Sanchin, so it could be even older.

As a side note, shadowboxing is also an excellent way to develop your footwork. Rather than stay static, actually move around and visually fight an opponent. Evade attacks, execute counters, and really get into it.

There's a few universities around here that would probably be able to give us some gym time. If everyone brought their own sparring equipment, the most we would have to worry about would be scoring some mats maybe. And possibly some munchies for afterwards.

I don't feint too much personally. However, one of my sempai is very good at it and his philosophy was "feint with full power", meaning if your opponent doesn't react to it, it should actually hit them and not just be a feint. You also need to throw them from the right range, otherwise a good fighter will know to ignore them. I don't feint much because I want every strike to hit, that's just my approach.

Skipping rope is definitely the way to go. Just keep at it. As part of your warm-up, do a round or two of rope skipping each time you workout and try 2-3 longer sessions per week as you slowly get better at it. No hopping like a schoolgirl though, alternate hopping on one foot each time like a boxer.