Kuma

Your gi top can come open through hard training or whatnot. As long as you occasionally try to fix it it's not a big deal. Same with rolled sleeves - don't see a big problem with it. The other stuff is kids without proper supervision.

100% agree. It takes more than a yes or no on my part. I'd have to see the whole circumstances. Sexual preference or choices don't really bother me for the most part but substance abuse is a different story.

I think most will be some version of either the Taikyoku kata or the Pinan/Heian kata. For Goju Ryu I remember the Gekisai kata as being the first kata I was taught.

That's actually an immature attitude in regards to karate. Karate is supposed to improve your life not take it over. If you are training so much that it is negatively influencing everything else then you are an irresponsible karateka plain and simple. You fit your training in around your life - not your life around your training.

Good points. I also see it as a waste of energy to be honest even when you do it with rulesets where you can get away with it. I'd rather use my energy on offense or defense rather than just hopping in place.

I'd definitely wait until you hit at least 18+. You can get virtually the same effects hitting a heavy bag as a makiwara for the most part so work the bag until then.

I don't carry a Taser so I use OC spray from time to time. Most of my use of force encounters have been primarily empty handed but the few times I have had to use OC it went pretty well and none of my fellow officers got contaminated. That said I have been contaminated by others and it does suck. A lot. You have to quickly assess the kind of person you're dealing with and decide if it's worth trying the spray. I've been lucky; those I've sprayed have pretty much curled up and given up after that. Other guys are not so lucky and get a ticked off attacker instead.

I still enjoy a good He-Man show from time to time. My son found them on Netflix and is getting a kick out of them. Even though I am a fan of Dolph the live action movie was absolutely horrible though.

Mine is less about marathon sessions and more squeezing in what I can around my busy schedule. If it's just a spare 20 minutes to focus on a specific kata or to work some strikes on the bag I take it when I can get it.

They're legal, there's just not too many guys skilled with them. Cung Le used them well in his fight against Frank Shamrock.

Not to get too off topic but the Rodney King incident was a bit more involved than just that. King was acting in a bizarre fashion when he exited the car and one of the officers felt he was reaching for a gun so she got him to lie down on the ground. When officers went to handcuff him he began to resist and push officers away as he tried to stand up. A TASER was used to no effect and right where the tape starts you see King gets up off the ground and move towards one of the officers. It was a combination of improper training and lack of judgment that caused the beating more than a malicious attitude.

The main thing to keep in mind is once you have a chance to escape use it. Run away to a place of safety and notify the police immediately of the incident.

Admittedly not much of a fan of it myself either Ev. Even from a powerlifting standpoint it's far too much in bodybuilding mode for me.

I understand, As a LEO I operate under different rules of engagement so I need to run the whole gamut from passive control to deadly force. Legally I have to stop the fight as quickly as possible using the least amount of force necessary. In this lawsuit-happy world we all need to have appropriate responses or risk facing civil or even criminal charges.

I'd say more likely it's because most MMA fighters are mostly trained in Muay Thai which does have the side kick but does not place great emphasis on it like they do the round kick and front kick. Add in the fact that a good penetrating side kick is probably one of the hardest kicks to develop (my own opinion) and you don't see too many of them utilized. If you want to watch someone use side kicks effectively against his opponent's thighs Google Norichika Tsukamoto. He is a Shinkyokushin knockdown karate fighter whose style is virtually all kicks (very little punching which is unusual for a knockdown fighter) and in the 10th World Tournament he was using side kicks to the thighs very effectively.

The problem with a kick to the cookies is that most males automatically protect their groin to some degree and if it's not a life or death encounter you are striking a target which can in all likelihood cause serious injury and/or death if you hit with enough power to stop them. Seriously injuring or killing some drunken slob in a bar fight isn't a good self protection strategy. The nice thing about large nerves is they tend to be very effective no matter how large the person is and they don't cause any lasting injury. If you've ever been dead legged in school you'll know firsthand how effective something like that can be. If it's a fight for your life by all means do what you have to do but in most cases it won't be so it pays to have techniques that won't cause lasting injuries to your opponents in case it's someone you don't want to hurt seriously (e.g. drunken friend or angry co-worker).

If by full duration you mean the rest of your life then yes you will.

This is one of my favorite videos in regards to demonstrating why target selection is so important. As you can see the fellow in black is just throwing punches blindly. The karateka counters with one strong punch to the solar plexus which drops his opponent and ends the fight right then and there. Even though the karateka was hit maybe 20 times none of them were properly targeted thus did not do any damage. On the other hand his one punch did what 20 punches from his opponent's could not do.

Same thing basically. Most knockdown styles just refer to it as sune uke which translates to shin block. The concept is the same though which makes sense as Kyokushin fighters got the idea from fighting Thai boxers back in the day.

The groin is a viable target but the title of the thread is thigh kicks after all. A kick to the cookies isn't always the finisher people make it out to be a lot of times as well. Striking major nerves on the other hand is a very effective tactic. Attacking the outer thigh is one of the main targets police officers go for (whether by knee strike or baton strike typically). That's a favorite target because it's so effective. The last time I actually used a strike to the thigh with a low kick we ended up having to carry our prisoner both to the patrol wagon and then into the jail because he claimed I broke his leg. His leg was fine it was just the charley horse he got that made him think otherwise.

Mikazuki would probably be way too slow and probably wouldn't stop much of the power. If by fumikomi you mean to the thigh as a sort of stop kick it can work but you need excellent timing and speed to pull it off. Sune uke is more of your last line of defense if something like trying a stop kick fails. Footwork should be your first defense. Can't hit something if you're not there anymore.

By thigh kicks he's referring to gedan mawashi geri, kicking to either the outside of the thigh or the inside of the thigh. Striking surface is usually the shin or the instep/ankle area (right where the ankle bends). The shin block is misleading in its name as you really don't want to block with the shin if you can help it. It's mostly used as a defense against low kicks. You basically just raise your knee and try to catch your shin against the front of the thigh (best case scenario) or use it to block their lower leg before it builds up a lot of momentum. See 1:25 for quick examples of both.

As the renown Massad Ayoob once said - If you can't hit what you're aiming at then even if you're faster you will still most likely lose. Granted he''s talking about firearms but this still applies to self protection. Hitting the right target can often be more important than just hitting any target. You want that "kill shot" so to speak.

Excellent post.

It's been my experience that by the time you get to a grading they've already decided you earned the belt. So even if you choke or let the pressure get to you it still doesn't off-set all the hard work you've done up to that point. Perhaps since she's a child they have different standards which I personally don't understand but then again I don't have much experience with kids in MA classes.