Sokusen

I bought mine off eBay. A little stiff, but good quality. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Makiwara-Develop-Explosive-Penetrating-Punch-/190619090127?pt=Martial_Arts_Equipment&hash=item2c61c87ccf#ht_834wt_689

Here is me breaking a bat with my fore arm. This was not a demo bat, to be honest I didn't know such a thing existed. I bought this bat at the local sporting goods store but you'll have to take my word for it. This was a very clean break so I don't know if you can tell from a video wether or not the bats used in the other videos are demo bat just on the break alone.

If you want to become good at sparring, then stop trying to win when you are training. You and your partners are so concerned with scoring the point you forget why you are in the dojo. You are there to learn. This is a common problem when students first begin to spar. They think “I need to score a point, but I can’t let them score a point!” This way of thinking couldn’t be more inhibiting for the learning process. I don’t care if how you train whether it’s light contact, or harder contact. Forget about “winning” and focus on your technique and what you are trying to accomplish when you spar, whether it be distance, timing or control. Leave the “winning mindset” for the competitions, keep the “training mindset” for the dojo.

Uechi ryu has 3 original kata with 5 bridging kata worked in between for a total of 8. If all you studied were the 3 original kata and left out the other 5 you would still have a strong understand of Uechi ryu.

Maybe literal isn't the right word? Do you mean "plainly obvious what each movement is meant to do"? If so have you ever seen a Uechi kata? Short and sweet. As for a surface evaluation there isn't much artistic interpretation needed.

Most two handed chokes are due to a crime of passion and people usually aren't thinking about what they are doing except trying to squeeze the life out of someone. Which is why I think most people have a hard time putting them selves in the position of the aggressor. I think the form of question has merit but the attack in the scenario leads people into thinking themselves as the victim. If you were to change the attack to a punch or a kick or even a simple push it would be less leading.

Sit in on a class, the proof is on the floor.

I think that’s the key. It took you 30yrs to really understand what your trying to teach. Even if that’s an exaggeration it still probably took you a long time. When we truly begin to understand something I think we all forget how long it took to get to that point. So when we explain whatever we are trying to teach to someone we get a little irritated when they can’t do it right away. And once they do get it, there is always the individuals interpretation of whatever is being taught. Some of the time people need to experience what is being told to them to really understand it. For me I have been doing Sanchin Kata for over 16 yrs. In that 16 yrs people have told me what Sanchin means and how to do it. But it wasn’t until recently did it finally make sense to me. And I stress “ how it made sense to me”. Sanchin means three conflicts but that’s not what the kata is about. When two things have a conflicting philosophy for example hard and soft, they both are lacking what the other has. Therefore when they work together there is harmony. When hard and soft work together you get power. Power in your strike, power in your blocks or power in your stance. Now I can explain this to students but unless they can “feel” it when they perform the kata it’s just words.

I thought we were talking about MMA? Or Sparring? In a Self defense senerio if you can get away, get away. I dissagree. Infact its good way to get knocked out by someone who can close the distance quickly. Especially if they are baiting you to drop your hands so that they can explode in on you when you least expect it. Now I'm dissagreeing with Gracie, I am saying he may not be taking into account the distance that must be made up before landing the strike.

I think you need to define what the meaning of a range is before you can say they don't really exist. One way to define it is that you are able to hit your opponent without having to close the distance. If that is the definition then there are specific ranges for kicks, punches, knees and grappling. A flying knee starts far away but it doesn’t work unless you close the distance with the flying part. The actual strike is a knee which is very up close. This definition becomes very apparent when someone is horrible at closing the distance quickly. If they can't get in fast then none of the techniques that seem to defy the rule are going to work. Now this person has to methodically find his range where a kick will land, a punch will land, and where he can grapple.

It's actually not that bad. It’s all about forming the weapon correctly. Once you do, the toes are compacted and have nowhere to go so the energy goes into the target. It's a lot like punching with a fist. You hit someone with a loose fist, on contact the energy created from the strike goes into your hand which could break your hand. If the fist is a nice tight fist the energy goes into the target. Same with the toe kick. I have broken up to 5 boards with a toe kick, buts what’s funny is I have never tried to break anything with the ball of my foot. It's something I should learn how to do it if for nothing else but to expand my horizons.

There are 2 Uechi Ryu schools in Mo. Though I have no idea how close they are to Columbia. They are in Barnhart, Missouri and St. Peters, Missouri. I like Uechi for it's simplicity and you could go either way with the sparring, knock down or point.

I am a huge fan of kicking with my toe, almost to a fault. I have a hard time pulling my toes back to kick with the ball of my foot so as not to hurt people in my class. My toes just automaticly form the sokusen when I kick. Here is a youtube link of some of my toe conditioning. This way you can see a different weapon using a kick that isn't the top of the foot or the ball of the foot.

The Blauer gear seems to be a good compromise between protection and mobility. I have never used it but saw some video where two people were geared up and were able to go at it with decent contact, but still have enough mobility to pull off submissions as well. Anyone ever use it?

Just so we know I didn't write the above statement even though I am quoted. MMA-Jim I think one of the misconceptions you have with "karate" and not being able to punch properly maybe that some students you come across don't move beyond the basics. I am lucky to have a teacher who started out as a boxer and then moved onto Uechi ryu, so I get a nice mix of both. Even though he has the boxing background he starts beginners with the typical chamber and punch, this is a training tool much like a swimmer will drag the backs of there hands through the water to force them to keep there elbows high during the crawl storoke. No one expects them to swim a race like that and my teacher would never tell a student to fight with a chambered punch. When the student learns to use there hips and legs for the strike then the student moves beyond the chambered punch. You may not agree with the teaching methods but but try not to assume you and your chool are the only ones who know how to throw a good punch.