Kuma

Admittedly I've gotten out of practicing it but I'm working on trying to add it back into my routine. I used to try to do seated meditation in the morning, but after one instance I actually fell asleep while meditating and was almost late for work Since then I've been trying Ikken in the mornings after my Sanchin kata and it's been pretty invigorating.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention: Yes, if you did want to learn throws you could in fact just go train in Judo. A good Judoka is definitely a tough fighter. However, Judo also has their atemi-waza (striking techniques) so to really use those a Judoka would have to learn some form of striking in return; otherwise, he's not getting much out of those either. Since karate was the base of the Kodokan atemi-waza, in essence he would have to learn karate to truly make those effective. Of course, as an alternate route for both, you could find someone who is experienced enough to teach you those techniques and principles outside of a full class regimen and effectively cross-train without having to go through the whole shebang of training in an entirely new MA in the first place. In this way it can build off of what you already know, rather than something brand new.

Naturally you'd have to train it using an alive manner for it to be useful. Much like no boxer would simply do shadowboxing, you need to train what you do in a live manner to get good at it. That's why the renewed interest in karate bunkai using Straight Blast Gym training (progressive resistance and aliveness drills) is awesome to me. Iain Abernethy is probably the most well-known example, but there are others. I'm fortunate with my training though. Our organization for Kyokushin allows throws, sweeps, and limited groundfighting so we get to train in them. I'm also fortunate that not only is Sensei Manny of my dojo a sandan in Kyokushin but also a godan in Judo. Because of his judo background he gets to see a lot of things others wouldn't. To me that's why one needs to cross-train if they want to see more in their art. Of course. Won't argue with you on that. I just think that when a man like that gives advice, it's worthwhile to take note. I'm pretty sure Lyoto Machida does his kata as well, but as you said, it's one part of the whole package. A fighter who does only bagwork has just as much of a chance as winning as one who only does kata. It's only one part of the entire deal.

I'm sorry, Kuma, but I can't find Ikken as meditation on the Web. I keep coming up with it as "Ikken Hissatsu: To kill with one blow," which may mean it's part of an overall karate system. How did you perform this standing meditation? I remember being introduced to a form of standing meditation when doing Taiji in that I was to stand as though "embracing" a tree. (I'm not kidding; it's the way it was explained to me.) Here is a good link: http://www.budokaratehouse.com/honbu/fukushima06.htm I imagine the same posture you're thinking of is the one you see the instructor Sensei Sun Lee using. From what was explained to me, Ikkenand Taji share a lot of similarities.

Kyokushin karateka in the past used to train a lot of Ikken, a form of standing meditation. I got a bit of instruction from one of my senseis who has since left our dojo about Ikken and even joined him once at the local park for an hour of it. His reasons weren't for chi cultivation or developing psychokinesis or any of the other "chi abilities." He found it was very useful for posture, balance, breathing, and being centered on your hara (I think it's called dantien in the Chinese arts). More of a physical benefit than a mental, though it was relaxing. He practiced it 30 minutes a day, every day, and though it was not part of his entire regimen he was still incredibly powerful, fast, and relaxed in kumite.

One of the main reasons why some people are big into bunkai is due to history. When Anko Itosu brought karate to the Okinawan schools in the early 1900s, he changed a lot of the open hand techniques to a closed fist due to the supposed danger of some of those techniques. Not to mention since that time there might have been other things that have been overlooked. I honestly never used to care much, but now after training with an instructor who has some great bunkai ideas and reading the likes of Iain Abernethy and others, I've become a fan. It's interesting to see something that you would never expect turn up in a karate kata. Case in point: at 40 seconds of this video of Pinan Sono San is where you turn and deliver a horizontal elbow strike with a hikite on the other hand and dropping into a kiba dachi. Most would take it as turning to face an unseen enemy and delivering an elbow strike to their solar plexus. OK, I guess, not a bad one but it's not going to be too high percentage and it's probably not going to work as great as you think it might. Look at some Judo videos though, and you see ippon seoinage right there. http://www.judoinfo.com/images/animations/blue/ipponseoi.htm

My sensei is a big fan of limited technique sparring as it teaches you to utilize techniques you normally wouldn't inside your game plan. You can even break it down even more such as in one of the last sessions I did was sparring with only the lead punch and reverse punch available to you. Not only was this to work more on two important techniques for kumite, but also you could really focus on watching the movement of your opponent and seeing how they telegraph the movement to better enhance your defense. Another great drill that we picked up from Loren Christensen that can work well with kicks is called "Statue." When sparring, one individual will be designated A and the other will be designated B. A and B begin sparring, then a third individual will yell "A, freeze!" whereas A has to stop directly in their tracks right where they're at. B then has to the count of 5 to strike any opening that he sees with a kick. You can then alternate and as you get better they can reduce it to a 3 count or even a 1 count.

If you don't like kata then probably karate isn't for you. I can respect that, as there are many martial arts out there that I am not into. Hence why I train in what I train. I used to box and did a few kickboxing and NHB matches when I was stationed on Okinawa because at the time I thought it was awesome. I was training in a different style of karate at the time and though I did my kata it wasn't as fun to me as the other parts. Here, about 8 years later, kata is now a pretty important part of my training. It took me a while to realize that if I train in karate I have to do kata. If I'm devoting my life to karate-do I need to do it all. Naturally this took a while for me to accept. It wasn't until I read some good advice about how if you want to excel in what you do you need to look at those who excelled before you and mimic what they did. Take for example three of the individuals who I looked at. I looked at many but these three stick out in my mind: (1) Sosai Oyama naturally. He was a big believer in kata and trained many of the old champs in lots of kata. (2) Morio Higaonna. A powerful goju ryu karateka and brilliant teacher who trains up to 3 hours of kata day, half of his 6 hour daily training routine which doesn't include teaching. Not bad for a guy in his 70s. I still enjoy his definition that kata is like a letter in the alphabet, whereas kumite is your handwriting. (3) Bas Rutten. One of the most powerful strikers MMA has ever seen, he thinks kata is an excellent training tool (moreso for the breath control than anything but when a legend of the ring quotes that you need to stand up and take notice). So to me, if some of the individuals I look to for inspiration in karate see kata as important, then heck yeah I'm going to do it. I actually really enjoy it now. To me it's just as fun as working the heavy bag, sparring with a partner, or doing self defense drills. If kata isn't your thing but you love karate, you'll have to learn to at least tolerate it. If you're so-so on the subject, then it might be wiser to find something you'll enjoy more. EDIT: I actually just spent the majority of 2008 training with a huge emphasis on Sanchin kata, optimally training it 3x a day. The huge increase in my skill level outside of the kata was noticeable and some of it I attribute to my Sanchin kata studies.

Some great advice here. A lot of it also depends on what your strengths and weaknesses are. Some guys are like me: we have a great deal of strength and can take some punishment, but our endurance and flexibility can be a weak point if we're not careful. Another guy may have great endurance and flexibility, but his techniques might not be strong enough to be respected by his opponents. This is why it's hard to make a "one size fits all" approach for competition training.

*I tend to favor the shin for the legs and body, the instep for the head. *In Kyokushin our sparring rules allow knees and kicks to the head and those are often one of the biggest knockout scorers. The jodan mawashi geri (roundhouse kick to the head) being the biggest scorer. *My chudan mawashi geri (middle kicks) tend to be about parallel to the ground. *Heavy bag not so much, but with focus pad training it's very similar. It often involves lots of footwork, hand and foot combinations, timing, distance, and endurance. *We allow kicks to the legs, which is one of my main targets since currently my high kicks are a bit slow. *You can use both the lead and rear legs for kicking, and yes we learn how to shift before we kick as well. Best after a good hand combination, otherwise it's pretty telegraphed. My lead kicks tend to go no higher than the middle though, my lead high kick is far from my best kick at this current point of my training. The lead low kick to the inner thigh is one of my favorite kicks, however.

This is my belief as well. In my opinion it's not so much as "one punch will end the fight" but "throw every punch in the hopes that it can end the fight". Make your strikes count and execute each of them powerfully, in other words.

During my last belt test, the final requirement was sparring for 20 consecutive minutes with a fresh partner every few minutes. My sensei was the last to go naturally, so he could motivate me to finish. My proudest moment of that test was, despite being exhausted and feeling like roadkill, I managed to score an osoto gari on my sensei (far from picture perfect, but I got it). Naturally the rest of the fight was his, but afterwards not only did I feel excited about the test and getting that takedown but he too complimented me and had questions as to how I saw him open for it, what I did, etc. To me that's the sign of a true teacher: one who learns from you just as much as you learn from him.

http://uechiryu-karate.com/ Sensei Ihor Rymaruk has a DVD with some excellent views of the Uechi kata on it. Great stuff.

Been training in Kyokushin for almost 4 years now. Hoping to do my first knockdown tournament this summer. OSU! Neo - Kyokushin was founded in 1964 by Sosai Oyama and is a combination of Shotokan and Goju Ryu, so yes there are some similarities. I came to Kyokushin from a Goju background and my previous experience has helped a lot.

If you've ever done time in the military or know someone who has, you'd be in the same boat. I have almost 9 years in the U.S. military currently yet, being enlisted, I get to take orders from young lieutenants. I'm not mad about it: that's just how rank works.

This was a pretty tough year for me. I ended up going overseas for almost a year and aside from my solo workouts had no other MA training to speak of. Fortunately I managed to do something with my training at least, really focused on Sanchin kata this year and a lot on my kihon and body mechanics. Seems to have paid off well, so all in all not a total waste.

Judo sounds like a perfect fit for you. With your wrestling background you will already possess a lot of good attributes for it. I think you would love it.

Ouch! You never want to repeatedly strike a wall or other solid object like that. The makiwara gives when you hit it so it absorbs the force you put into it. Hitting a wall, however, just sends all that secondary reaction force right back into you. Not good at all. As said before, calluses are a side effect, not the main emphasis, for hitting a makiwara. Makiwara training primarily teaches you focus and power for your techniques.

*burns with jealousy*

Jack Dempsey.

Dynamic stretching helped me improve the height of my kicks dramatically. As for power, it's all technique and speed. We're all still working on maximizing the power in our techniques

I literally had his book "Karate: The Art of Empty Hand Fighting" sitting right next to me when I read this (moreso because the wife and I are still unpacking) but that is sad to hear. His book was one of the first influences on me to gain interest in karate. RIP to a truly great individual.

Sanchin is by far my favorite kata. It builds karate posture, teaches you how to be rooted yet mobile, is good physical training, and makes for stronger techniques in my opinion. I do it every day.