RW

Interesting. I came across this: http://aroundtherings.com/site/A__55878/Title__Karatekas-to-find-open-pathways-to-the-Olympic-qualification-process/292/Articles "The WKF's initiative will allow Karate athletes who are currently not integrated into the WKF to participate in the way to the Olympics through the system of Olympic qualification to be set for this purpose by the WKF. " Given the variety of karate styles, I wonder how this will work? I mean this tells me that non-WKF practitioners can qualify, which is great. What about styles? A kyokushin practitioner may be too different from a shotokan practitioner, who may be too different from a Shito Ryu one. Then we delve into other odd situations, such as the case of Kudo (http://www.ku-do.com/eng/kudo/ ), which apparently began its life as "Kakuto Karate" and later changed its name. What about styles such as Kenpo that refer themselves as "kenpo karate" or things like that?

My 5 year old daughter doesn't fight like that. then again, neither my 5 year old nor 3 year old daughter fight. My 3 year old will throw a hammer fist or an instep kick every now and again, but there's not much intent behind it. Gee I wonder where could they have picked that up? hahaha

I fully agree with what you guys say. I'd not use it to strike, IMO. I am still a bit intrigued about the "raking the face" technique though. Part of me tells me it could do some damage, part if me tells me that's how 5 year old girls fight LOL. Thoughts?

NOW you tell me? Too late lol hahaa

How effective do you think this technique is? Would you ever use it instead of a punch? More than the palm strike aspect to it I mean the finger "rake" part, sort of like this (not very good) example:

Ah yes, I love arnis/kali sticks

This, exactly

Thanks

Hi guys, So I've been learning Chinese broadsword forms at my dojo. I love them, and I will certainly continue to learn them since I enjoy it so much. Having said that, I am a bit curious, what is the benefit or learning broadsword? I mean, we obviously train with an un-sharpened sword. Chances are I will never even see a sharpened onem and if I did, I'd keep it as an exhibit piece at my home and out of reach of people. So what's the benefit? Do you think an un-sharpened sword can be a better weapon than say, a single kali stick or a bo staff? I mean what's worse, hitting someone with the unsharpened sword or with the sticks? I mean, sword don' even word that way, we train slicing and stabbing motions, not hits.

My point of view may be a bit controversial, but I feel forms in general (not just karate kata) are a result of the times they were created in. You have a martial art and somehow you need to pass the knowledge, but because of different reasons (e.g. practicing fighting methods gets banned in your country, or not everybody knows how to read and write, maybe you want to keep it secret, etc) you can't just put everything down on a book or a youtube video, what do you do? enter forms! They can be seen as a living encyclopedia, you have to somehow efficiently shoehorn strikes, blocks, stances and footwork into a pattern that still needs to make sense. So you create a bunch of forms/katas, you make them flow well, you make them graceful, and you give them a meaning sometimes (e.g. the number of steps in some kata has a symbolism to it). Then there are more nuanced reasons, for example, legend has it that bodhidharma say that the praying monks were very unfit and they meditated all day so he trained their bodies for fitness using forms, which makes a lot of sense. Anyone who has practiced an advanced form at full power for several repetitions can attest they have a HIIT-like impact on one's cardio. Nowadays you can go to youtube and look up "spinning back kick tutorial" and make a post in karateforums.com looking for advice and maybe see DVD on drills before heading to the dojo. Back in those days, you only had kata.

The way I see it, if a real fight is a heated argument, sparring/kumite is a debate, kata is singing and individual techniques are like learning words. Kata has pre-arranged "words" (techniques), but in a song no one is talking back to you and you are in control of the variables.

Korean Karate: The Art of Tae Kwon Do (takewondo) Karate the Art of Empty-Hand Fighting (karate) Any kempo books you guys recommend?

I enjoy a certain aspect of martial arts that is NOT religious, merely different, perhaps cultural, or traditional. Before each class, students bow and then "meditate". I am not sure all students know what's up, but in theory you're supposed to clear your mind and focus on your breathing. You bow to the teacher and to your fellow students. It's nothing religious, it's simply keeping it as it's always been practiced. There's supposed to be a certain code of conduct, you know, not being a bully, etc. Then there's some rituals like bowing before putting on your belt, or making sure your belt never touches the ground. hey're just traditional/flashy things, but there's nothing religious about them. Maybe there was at some point, but not anymore

Yup! For the (soft) targets I've thought it could be used, I've always thought I could always use a leopard hand strike instead, it's narrow enough to hit say, the neck/throat, but less vulnerable. I'll do a bit of conditioning, I've found if I overdo it my second joint in each finger gets a bit stiff

Spear hands are generally better used for other things than fingertip strikes, but there are certainly ways to condition them. You can fill a bag with mung beans and hang it up for striking, or make a taketaba (bamboo bundle) for striking into with your fingertips and thumb. Those are my two preferences. Thanks

Same here

I just realized I see a fair bit of spear hand in my art's drills/forms, but I don't think many of the students could use a spear hand-style strike in real life (other than brown and black belts). Is it the same in your dojos? Anyway, I think I want to start conditioning my fingers so I can use spear hand strikes. I don't really believe that much in them, but if it's something I am training anyway, better make sure I am training something I can use right?

is it still popular?

Just how commercial can the "Do" part of karate Do be? To be honest if I wanted to get into a fight I'd take Muay thai or boxing before karate (not blasting karate, I did shotokan for several years and got a brown belt, and I do Kempo Karate now). I mean, how is a horse stance going to help me in a fight? Do you think a karate style block (think an ude uke) would really be applicable to a fight? Would you ever use a nukite "on the street"? etc etc. What drew me to this type of martial art was the "Do" aspect, or at least its well rounded nature. I get a hell of a workout, I exercise my body from head to toe, I relieve stress, practice self control, etc, and yes, self defense also follows, but it's a longer path in the traditional arts. Now if someone could get into karate practitioner's mind and make selling points out of that holistic "do" experience, maybe that one dojo would be very successful

great advice as usual guys thanks

Interesting question. Would they have the same concern about you spending as much time as you do in martial arts doing something else, such as playing basketball or any other sport (running, etc), or watching TV? If yes, maybe they have a point, but if no... I'd just not pay attention. I mean, I've seen people who watch TV 3 hours a day, maybe 4. Or people who are preparing to run a marathon and it takes hours of their day daily, and nobody bats an eye on that. However, if you're starting to neglect work, your family or friends, etc (which would only happen if you're doing this for many hours a day, I feel), then maybe they're on to something. It's like any other activity really

Wow, thanks a lot guys, great advice

My school trains sparring in class, but it's continuous (in other words, we're not interrupted after a "point" is scored, we keep going at it for a set time). I like this, since I feel it is a little bit more realistic (in a real fight, no one will break you up after the first strike). However, when in competition, it's the usual point sparring rules (one scores, the participants reset, and then sparring begins again). I've done well so far, but I don't think I'm getting better. What do you guys recommend? BTW, my art is kempo, so I guess any karate/kempo/kung fu point sparring tips would apply, and ITF taekwondo too.

Yeah, that kick to the sumo's head was brutal. He lost a tooth I think

The rule changes were needed for legitimizing the sport and for keeping it alive. Having said that, while they may not have caused a change in how fighters train, it does indeed limit a striker's chances: fewer fighters would be so willing to attempt so many takedowns if they knew they could get kicked in the face if the takedown fails, for example. I've seen fights where a guy didn't want to trade blows with Anderson Silva, so he resorted to.... Dropping to the floor , spreading his legs and saying "get on my guard" every time silva got close (this guy was Tales Leites). Then I saw a strikeforce (I think, definitely not UFC) where shinya aoki didn't want to trade blow either so he decided to scoot on his butt across the ring (lol!! I kid you not). These are the sort of things that would end in a nasty KO under a different rule set, for example