Lupin1

It won't get ripped? The heaviest I have is an 8.5oz and I just got it a few weeks ago, so I don't want it to get ruined just yet. I kinda wish I had had the foresight to order a gi a week ago so it'd be here for my first class, but the website did say you could buy one from the instructor, I'm just not sure if he'd have them there for the first class or even if he lets people buy them at the first class (my karate instructor doesn't sell gis until you've been there for a month to make sure parents aren't spending money on a gi only to have their kid quit after a week or adults aren't buying them and then realizing the class isn't for them).

Anyone have any suggestions on what I should wear to my first class? I don't know if I want to wear my karate gi because it's new and I don't want to risk it getting ripped, although from what I've read I'll most likely just be doing breakfalls my first day, anyway. Any advice?

So I finally decided to do what I've been wanting to do for awhile and try out the local Judo club. It's put on by the town recreation department, so it's pretty cheap at $40 a month for twice a week, although with the one year USJA membership ($50) and cost of a new gi (I have no idea what that'll be), it's a high initial investment, so I'm hoping I like it enough to stay for awhile. I'm not planning on putting too much focus on it as I'm nearing brown belt in Isshinryu and so now's not the time to cut back my effort with black belt candidacy coming up, but we don't do much ground work in class and I'm really interested in developing that aspect. I figure it's different enough that it shouldn't confuse me technique-wise the way TKD did. I could also use strengthening in my breakfalls. I used to be terrified of falling until my friend who's studied aikido for years worked with me on that for awhile and I'm much better than I was-- but I need to do it a lot more. I'm also hoping it'll help me not be so afraid to get right in there in wazza and sparring. Right now I have trouble getting right up close and personal with my partner and tend to stay back too far and am less aggressive about going in for those points (to be fair, I've mostly been sparring with 10-year-olds). Finally, I'm hoping learning the new techniques will help me learn to learn. I'm extremely strong in kata but with applications sometimes I have trouble picking out the finer points of where to put your feet and where to grab and all that. I'm hoping that learning more varied movements which I can practice on an actual person will help me learn to pick out details from a demonstration and apply them with a partner better. All things Judo is very strong in that I'm hoping will help make me more well-rounded as well as give me transferable skills for karate. So yeah-- I know right now my focus seems to be how Judo can help me with my karate more than just training it for it's own sake, and maybe that's the wrong mindset, but I still think I'll get a lot out of it and get a good workout, too. I'm excited.

My instructor totally had us try that open hand version of Naihanchi tonight. It was interesting. A different focus and different muscles. He's been having us change our kata up a lot lately-- different angles on the punches, adding on to sequences, playing with timing, etc. I recently tried (during my own at home practice) doing all my kata starting at a 45 degree angle. That REALLY makes you think. Especially the kata that already have many different angles in them. It's fun, though.

I'm thinking of trying out Judo for awhile. I want to strengthen my breakfalls and learn some ground stuff since we do very little of that. There's a judo class in my town that's put on by the rec department, so it isn't very expensive. The next session for it starts next week, so I'm contemplating trying it out for awhile and seeing how it goes.

That's funny. My instructor actually just posted this video on his Facebook. Here's three versions including an empty hand version all done as one continuous kata. Pretty cool--

So even though I'm still pretty far away from my black belt test (at least a year, probably closer to two), my instructor e-mailed me his "black belt guide" last week to start preparing for the test. This set me on a "time to get way more serious about my training" kick, part of which involved starting a training binder with a training log, section for research, etc. One of the sections I've started in my binder is for reflection papers (I'm the kind of person who overthinks EVERYTHING and I think written reflections help channel and organize my overthinking). So I was wondering if anyone has any good ideas for things to reflect on in my lead up to black belt. I already started by reflecting on my journey up to now and a little bit on "what black belt means to me" (a topic I think I'll revisit as it gets closer to see how my view has changed). I also have plans for spending at least a month reflecting on each of Tatsuo Shimabuku's 8 Codes of Karate, as part of the test is explaining one's interpretation of each. Any good ideas that might help me build up a good mindset and prepare myself mentally or even just look at things from an interesting new angle, etc? And yes-- I do know I'm overthinking it-- but again, that's what I do. I'm just trying to channel my overthinking to use it productively.

Going to the kids' class AND the adult class is starting to take it's toll. I'm exhausted and the adult class was only 1/2 an hour today because the instructor was sick. kids class-- -10 minutes stretching/calisthenics -10 min floor drills -10 min sparring partner drills -10 min old kata -10 min sparring -10 min new kata adults class-- -10 minutes floor drills -20 minutes running through every old kata once (not too many for me-- I'm up to nine) and doing new kata three times I haven't been this wiped in awhile. I like it.

I'm not a martial arts instructor (although they've been letting me help with the kids' class lately), but I was a 2nd grade teacher for two years and now I work in a middle school. When I first started teaching, I thought I'd never be able to give a 7-year-old an F. But I found I easily could and I did. In my two years I even held three kids back a grade and recommended one be sent back to first grade right at the beginning of the year (we ended up not doing that and he struggled all year long only to be retained in 2nd grade anyway). I don't believe people should move on until they're ready. I know you can be a bit more flexible in a martial arts class where you don't have a mandated state curriculum and standardized tests, but if someone doesn't have the basics, it's just going to set them up to struggle more and more as the class keeps moving along. In teaching reading we call this The Matthew Effect-- the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. If you push a kid along before they're ready, they end up getting further and further behind as the class tries to build upon skills they haven't yet mastered. Better to take a little longer and get it down pat first, imho. If you're worried about hurting a kid's self-esteem (and I have my own opinions about the lengths we go to to build self-esteem which usually ends up producing young adults unprepared to handle failure), create a new rank for the kid. Outline all the progress he HAS made so he knows he is making progress and put a stripe on his belt even if you don't normally use stripes. That way he knows that even if he isn't ready for the next belt, he's still making progress and getting better and is on his way to that belt. You can even make him "senior yellow belt" or whatever he is and let him be a leader among the new yellow belts and help them with the things he has mastered. And it's ok to tell kids that everyone learns differently and some people take a little longer, but if they keep working hard like they've been doing, they'll get it. It's a good lesson that kids are perfectly capable of understanding. Just my two cents.

The technique I've found most useful is probably just a step to the side into a cat stance with a good 'ol sideblock. It's become an automatic reflex for me. The other night after work my friend tried to poke me in the stomach (long story) and I reflexively stepped aside and did an open hand sideblock. He jumped back and started screaming "WOAH! WOAH!" and I didn't even realize why he thought it was weird for awhile. I've done something similar on several occasions, usually when people are trying to poke/tickle me (nobody's ever actually tried to hurt me). It's the technique I've used in real-world situations the most out of any I've learned. As for how I like to learn-- I learn best by seeing then doing. I prefer to have something explained to me only briefly and then watch a demonstration. Then I immediately want to try it myself and then get corrections with the opportunity to immediately try it again after each correction. Then I want to be able to do it several times to cement it. Long winded explanations throw me off and make me lose interest quickly. I feel bad saying this, but since my instructor suffered from an illness that's left him unable to speak without great difficulty, I've begun learning much faster and getting a lot more out of lessons. He used to be a very long-winded person and I would end up tuning him out after a minute or two and losing concentration. Now he just demonstrates then lets us try it immediately with very little explanation and I'm finding myself getting the hang of things much faster than I ever did. Some background information on a technique is necessary, but any longer than a quick interjection and I start to zone out and don't process as well. As for how one should get rank, I think it'd be good to have a definite syllabus for each rank and let people know what's expected right off the bat. Have more intermediate steps for kids than adults (such as belt stripes for kids-- adults shouldn't need that) and let people move at their own pace. If they're getting things quickly, let them move on. As someone who's generally a fast learner, nothing is more frustrating than having someone try to teach you something for twenty minutes when you got it in the first twenty seconds. Now expand that to twenty weeks. Don't put time limits on belts-- if someone is a kinestetic genius and can learn things with perfect form quickly, don't hold them back because you think they should progress on your time scale. Treat each person uniquely and let them progress at their own rate. Also with that-- don't promote someone just because they have been at one belt for a certain amount of time. Make sure they have the expected competency before moving them along even if it takes longer.

If it makes you feel any better, my instructor just gave me his 77 page black belt guide to start studying for my black belt test and I'm only a 4th kyu, so I'm probably still about two years away (I'm not sure if this is the norm or not since in his 40 something years of teaching he's given out fewer than 15 black belts, so I don't know if there even is a norm or if it varies person to person. I'm guessing the later). I'm going to have a LOT of preparation by the time I get there.

The rain started Sunday, so my last day of my "summer job" was spent running around madly in the rain carrying anything loose half way across the park to put it away before the wind hit. Then it was just lots of rain, wind and thunder and lightning Mon-last night. Didn't have school Monday, Tuesday, or today and they're still not sure about tomorrow since three of the schools still don't have power. We never lost power at my house, though, so it's just been an extended break, which is good since I haven't had a day off in a month teaching during the week and at my summer job on the weekends.... Not looking forward to having to make all these days up in June, though.

For an adult that's misbehaving, just tell them to go home. Punishing adults is just silly unless the punishment directly teaches a lesson (like the few times I've forgotten to take my watch off and my instructor used it for a demonstration of how it could be used as a "force multiplier" that generally left me on the ground with a clear understanding of why I should remember to take if off in the future). The head instructor ended up basically doing that the other night at our class. We had a very small adult class that night (usually do)-- just me and a nidan with the head instructor working with us. This particular nidan has a bad habit of just not knowing when to keep his mouth shut. He argues with the instructors, feels the need to try to clarify every little thing to me after the instructors say it even if I had no problem understanding it, and just generally not knowing how to "shut up and train". This has been made even worse recently by our head instructor having complications with his cancer treatments which have left it very difficult for him to speak, so when this guy starts arguing with him, it's really hard for him to even get a word in. There were times I've even told the guy "______, stop talking and just LISTEN to him". But anyway, the other day he was arguing with him for like five minutes straight while I was in the corner working on a new piece of my kata he gave me and finally the head instructor just told us both to pack up and go home, class was over. I wasn't too upset because I had gone to the kids' class earlier and so had already been training for an hour and a half and he had just invited me to come over his house any time I want and he'll work with me since he's currently home and bored constantly since he can't work due to his recent disability, but still-- why punish adults? If they're being difficult just tell them to go home and come back when they're ready to actually train.

I'm actually starting to really like the kids' class. The structure is completely different than the adult class. There's more variety and guidance and things like technique drilling and sparring that we never do in the adult class, which is very independent and kata-focused. And with going to the adult class right afterwards I'm feeling like I'm getting a very well-rounded workout. And I got to help a little girl with her kata last night. The senior instructor was working with the green belts and the other instructor was working with the yellow belts and this poor blue belt had no one to work with her, so the head instructor told me to do seisan with her and I was able to help her with a few general things in it (luckily she had big problems. I wouldn't be able to fix small problems). Helping out made me feel a lot better about being there. For a little I felt like I was imposing on their class and taking attention away from them.

We don't really do any form of physical anything in the adult class since most of the class are old black belts over 50. We mostly concentrate on technique. I started going to the kids' class last week (going in a few minutes, actually) and they do push up there. The instructor is ALWAYS threatening them with push ups. It's weird cuz I'm not at all use to it. As an adult, though, I think I would feel weird if he told me specifically to do push ups for something. I felt weird even doing them along with the kids because we as a class didn't kiai loud enough (we don't kiai at all in the adult class...). I don't really learn that way. If I'm doing something wrong, I fix it by mentally analyzing what I'm doing and then correcting it, not by pushing myself against the floor a few times. Seems silly to me.

I just got a new white gi in the mail yesterday (my old one was a casualty to the hard water I washed it in during my two years in the desert). I spent all evening washing and drying it to try to shrink it a bit before hemming it and then when I put it on to see how it was fitting I didn't realize I had a cut on my cheek. So now my brand-new, snow white gi already has a bloodstain right in the front middle. I posted on Facebook that I must be hardcore if my gi is bloodstained before I even work out in it once.

At my school kyu ranks have to wear a plain white gi while black belts pretty much have free rein (they all stick to white and black by choice, though). I kinda wish we were allowed to wear black, though. I tried out a TKD school once while I was serving with AmeriCorps and they gave me a black gi and I still prefer to wear it while training on my own. It's more practical. It doesn't show dirt and stains and still looks new even though I've had it almost two years whereas my white gis start looking worn and grungy after a year or so. I also REALLY wish I was at least allowed to wear the black pants during a certain time of the month when wearing white pants while moving around a lot makes me very, very nervous... I think things like red and purple and pepto-bismol pink may be going a little overboard, though...

No, no, no. Our INSTRUCTORS are awesome. But not all our black belts are instructors. I'm talking about several black belts who aren't instructors who were just trying help me randomly during class or while I was doing partner work with them. I have a feeling they understand what they're doing themselves, but just don't have the skills to pass that understanding to others. Which I see as fine, because not all black belts are instructors nor do they have to be. That was my original point.

Excellent response, and totally agree with your second point that's why within the NGB I'm a member of we have Instructor Qualificatons similar to an NVQ. Also, with respect having a teaching degree doesn't automatically make you able to teach Martial Arts, you're a 4th Kyu, so with respect you still have so much to learn about your own style, you have a minimum of 2 years before you are even close to being invited to grade for Shodan. Its similar to me, I also have a teaching qualification via the armed forces, teaching Doctors how to give first aid as I've had a bit if experience in first aid. Well I know I couldn't bring anyone up very high, but if I were to be given a group of brand new students (especially children) I bet I could bring them through the white belt curriculum faster, more easily, and with higher knowledge retention than most of the black belts in the school who have no idea how to explain and connect new concepts, pinpoint and correct errors, and in some cases even interact with students. I know some of the black belts who have tried teaching me things just seemed awkward and confused. They didn't know how to word things, didn't demonstrate, spent way too long on one thing to the detriment of other, more important things, talked to me like I was two or else like I was already a black belt myself and should understand all these terms and concepts I'd never heard before, etc. Teaching ability isn't something that just naturally comes with having done something for a long time. It's a skill and a talent unto itself.

Is all that a requirement for a black belt? I think this whole question depends on your understanding of what a black belt should be. A black belt is about one's own personal knowledge and ability in karate, not about one's teaching ability. I'm a 4th kyu and could probably teach a new student better than half the black belts in my school simply because I've got a teaching degree and teaching experience. A black belt doesn't have to be a good teacher. The way it was explained to me was that a black belt means you've mastered the basics and are ready for more advanced study. I think a kid could easily meet that requirement. It's when people start making the black belt mean more than it does-- that they're teachers or in charge or the strongest/fastest/best-- that people start fighting over this.

For those of you who don't know, I restarted karate AGAIN last week. Life keeps bringing me away. This is the fourth time I've restarted since I was eight and it's been two years since the last time I was at class. We have a very small, word of mouth adult program, and the lowest ranking person in it after me is a nidan. Everyone in the class has been doing it for 20 years or more. So it can be weird for them and me-- they're training at a much different level than I am-- working weapons and kata I've never done, really getting into the details and advanced bunkai and stuff, etc. It's awkward and I feel like they have to dumb down their training for me and I feel bad for whoever gets paired with me when we're working bunkai. So the head instructor suggested I go to the kids class (he actually phrased it so that it'll be mutually beneficial for me and the kids). So I went to the kids' class tonight. It was a little awkward at first, but I think it'll be good. I'm 25, so I'm not middle-aged or anything and if the parents see me in there, most people think I'm like 14 anyway, although the kids in the class are all middle school and below. So I don't LOOK all that out of place-- just a little. It's also weird because the adults have a different syllabus than the kids, so with my green belt I'm like four kata ahead of the kid green belts in addition to having more power and precision. And then on top of that we sparred tonight, which I've never done before since it's a new addition to the curriculum. And of course I accidentally punched a 12-year-old girl in the forehead... So yeah... So it's a bit of a weird arrangement, but I think it'll work out. I still plan on going to the adult class, so I'll just stay for the full two hours, which will allow me to get in more training time. The kids do things differently. It's more of a traditional martial arts class whereas the adult class is more of an informal practice time with the instructor stopping to show us stuff every so often (although from the stories our instructor tells, that's actually closer to the real "traditional" Isshinryu classes like Tatsuo Shimabuku did it). So I think the two classes will complement each other well. I do feel a little like I'm imposing in the kids class being an adult and all that, but the head instructor said it'll help for me to be able to show the kids things he can't (he's fighting cancer and has to sit in a chair most of the class), although I'm not sure how the instructor who's actually running the class feels about it, but he still thinks of me as the 8-year-old kid he knew when I started, and even still calls me "kid" and he thought I was still in high school for awhile after I graduated college, so I'm sure it won't be too weird for him. I guess we'll just see. What do you guys think about the arrangement?

Yeah. My supervisor told me he thinks they were all just frustrated about some mechanical problems we were having over the weekend that were causing major delays and so he probably took it out on me a little bit. Again, one of the things he yelled at me for was completely justified. It was just the other thing and the new rule that made no sense. I'm not too worried about it since there are only two weekends left until we're done for the winter, so I might just let it go and just stay away from that area for the next few weeks and hope I can get everything I'm responsible for done by delegation, which is how I got it done Sat and Sun. I just don't want conflict to be the last thing I give them at the end of the season because I don't want it forefront in their minds when they go to make the hiring decisions for next year. I really wanna be in management again. It's frustrating and demanding and high stress and the bosses do this kind of random stuff all the time (I think it's a product of the average age of our management team being about 22), but I still love it. It's challenging.

I hate that, too. Gyms do that, as well. It's frustrating because they don't tell you how much they cost until they get you in there and then they try to pressure you in person and it makes me want to not go at all because I don't feel like going in and having people pressure me to join. I want to make sure it fits into my budget before wasting my time and theirs only to find out I can't afford it and then try to awkwardly back out of of their sales pitch. I've been looking at maybe trying a grappling style to complement my Isshinryu and allow me to train more nights a week since my class only meets twice a week, but a lot of the schools look really expensive and I'm afraid to even go look at them without knowing what kind of financial commitment I'm looking at from them. I don't understand why places do that. It makes me not trust them right off the bat. I think I'll stick with my Boys and Girls Club karate class (which is free) and I may try out the town recreation department's Judo class, which is $40 per six week session. I'll stick to the po' folks' martial arts. Maybe try looking around for programs like that in your area.

I topped out at right around 260 about a year ago (down under 200 now, I think-- I haven't weighed myself in about five months...). I was probably close to that when I restarted karate three years ago. I was a little worried, but I got there and there were three or four other overweight people there in addition to the few fitness buffs. Nobody judged anyone and everyone took things at their own pace. I'm sure you won't be the only overweight person there and everyone will be very supportive. A lot of adults take up martial arts to help them get in shape. Keep in mind also that weight loss is like 90% diet and 10% exercise. Do some research on diet and start working on that at the same time you're getting into martial arts. You might lose a little weight with the increased exercise, but unless you cut the junk and give your body quality proteins and fats, you're going to be starving and zapped of energy. I know this isn't the fitness and health forum, but I've been primal for almost a year now and it's worked great for me. Watch Fat Head on Hulu. It's hilarious and informational once you get past the first 1/2 hour of Spurlock bashing.

Do you mean kinda like when me and my coworkers were in the Denny's parking lot at 2am and my friend who works for the police department, after he was done handcuffing one of our friends and we were joking he should run into Denny's like that and run around and ask for help getting out of the handcuffs to see what happened, started showing us some random moves he learned from the police and then I had my current supervisor (who wasn't my supervisor at the time) put his hands around my throat so I could show them a quick move for getting out of that safely?