KarateGeorge

Welcome Elizabeth!

Ha! Runner's high has been my bane on a few occasions. I've learned to not go running right before I plan on going to bed or I'll never get to sleep!

Best of luck!

I'm a bit sore, but otherwise feeling great. Yesterday I could barely walk though! I'm going to have to lay off the physical activities for a few days to heal. Yet strangely I'm already looking forward to doing another one, and am actually contemplating signing up for a full marathon next fall. There must be something wrong with me.

Welcome to Karate Forums!

Welcome to the forums and back to martial arts! I'm sorry to hear about your employment situation. Hopefully things turn around in that regard for you soon.

Well, I went to my half marathon this morning, and I have to report that: I FINISHED IT!!!! I ran 13.1 miles at an average pace of 8:25 minutes/mile, completing it solidly under 2 hours.

I think it's good for children to work with adults. If a child has to defend themselves against an adult who's trying to cause them harm, it can help them feel more confident that even though their options may be more limited due to their size, there are still things they can do to protect themselves. The intimidation factor mentioned that children have is exactly why they should have opportunities to train with adults. However, I wouldn't pair an adult with a child, if the adult is either a) not comfortable working with a child or b) someone who I'm not confident could exhibit sufficient control to not send the child flying across the room. I think adults should generally be paired with other adults for their own training, but just because they may partner up with a younger person during a class session doesn't mean they have to forfeit gaining any benefit.

When working with younger students, I use it as an opportunity to really focus on control and technique. Even if they're holding a kicking shield, I can't just whale on it like I could if an adult were holding it, as I'd send them flying across the room. Same principles apply when sparring with them. What would be considered medium-contact sparring with another adult would likely crumple an 8 year old. Remember, you're both there to train. So even though you may bave to go "light" with a younger person because of their age and stature, you can still push them to grow in their skill, while at the same time focusing on an aspect of your own training. Edit: Also, welcome to the forums!

Very cool! As you said, 20,000 posts is a testament to this great community. Thanks for all you do here, and thanks to everybody that's been a part of KF to make it the place it is. Congrats!

Thanks! I'll let you all know how it goes.

Congrats! That first board break is always exciting.

Resurrecting an old thread! My half marathon is now less than a week away. Wish me luck!

I grew up, fascinated by martial arts, but I lived in a small town where there wasn't any schools at which I was able to train. When I was in high school, someone actually opened a dojo there in town, but it was more than my parents could afford, so I wasn't able to enroll. It wasn't until my mid-20's that I finally had the opportunity to begin taking classes. I enrolled in a karate school not far from the home of a friend of mine. A few years later I received my black belt in Shuri-te Karate. Due to the varying backgrounds of some of the other black belts at the school, I also had the opportunity for some grappling training, though we didn't rank in that class, and I also had the opportunity to train in Wing Chun for a while under one of the other black belts at the school, which I ranked up to a purple belt. I then returned to grad school and had to quit martial arts because of the time constraints of work and grad school. I trained some on my own during that time, but it just wasn't the same as going to the dojo. During my time at grad school, the karate school had to close its doors due to the poor economy. However, I later learned that my sensei had converted part of his basement into a new school and was teaching a small "adult" class as well as a kid's class. I still wasn't able to attend the "adult" class because it conflicted with class times, but I got back into things by starting to come in to help out with teaching the kid's class as it didn't conflict with work or grad school. The school had to take a few month hiatus earlier this year due to personal matters that the sensei had to handle, during which I used the opportunity to visit an Aikido school for a few lessons, but once things were back up and running at the karate school, I was right back in there again.

Congrats!

Welcome!

Well said.

Generally, where I train we do lighter contact when sparring, but a lot of us black belts will often step things up to more of a medium-contact sparring with each other. I say medium contact, because even though we're going at a higher intensity level, we're we're not going for full-blown KOs and such, but we want to train in such a way that we also know we can both dish it out and take it too.

I think control is of great importance in training, at least for me. I work in a professional setting and I don't need to be coming into work covered in cuts and bruises. With another black belt, I'm certainly willing to step things up a notch and indeed enjoy pushing the intensity up a little bit, but even still I want controlled contact. There are some who want/desire that full-contact level of sparring and there are places you can go to for that, but its not for me, at least at this point in my life. As for how I spar when working with someone newer, I let them set the pace and will also often intentionally give them openings. If they don't take it after a moment, I'll say something like "Hey, my rib's open" or "My head's open". As they get better, I'll stop pointing the openings out, and eventually stop intentionally giving them openings so that they have to find openings on their own and earn them. When working with a beginning student I view it not as much as my sparring time, but my teaching time and their sparring time.

I like that.

You know....come to think of it, why wasn't "Flight of the Navigator" on there? That was one of my childhood favorites. Oh well, "Back to the Future" was there at least. I'd have had to call the article's credibility into question if that one hadn't made it on the list.

That's really funny!

There were a couple on there that I wasn't terribly familiar with, but all in all, I'd have to agree.

That's great! I wouldn't actually want it myself, but its still pretty cool

Shihan is a title often given to more seasoned instructors, so you may come across that somewhat frequently.