Lupin1

I'm only afraid of my instructor because the dude has a biting sense of humor and if you get on the wrong side of it, it stinks. I'm more afraid of his mouth than his martial arts skills. We also don't say "yes, sir" really and I'm the only one in the adult class who calls seniors Mr. ______ and only because I've known them since I was 8 and it's expected from kids. Everyone else just calls them by their first names. I think I was afraid of them when I was 8. Now... not so much...

I knew that was true when I was suspended in middle school because some kid punched me in the face. I didn't even hit back, but if i had... I would love to encourage my students to fight back when someone's picking on them, but I would be so fired.

That sounds familiar... I'm sure we've all long since learned how to make a fist, and how to hit with the first two knuckles. Well, last week I was driving my gf to work and we got into a fight. Rather than take my anger out on her, I did basically the same thing. Hit the two weak knuckles on the horn button on my steering wheel. I have the dubious benefit of prior stupidity, so it didn't do any real damage to me or the truck. She on the other hand, did the same thing several months prior, and her hand was sore for weeks. Haha. Yeah. Mine does't hurt at all anymore, but it is freaking me out a bit. If I push on the knuckle, something moves four or five times in little "clicks". It doesn't hurt at all, and I think if it were broken it would hurt, but it's still a little freaky to feel it move like that.

This wasn't a training injury, but I've got a "boy that was dumb". Last week I punched my kitchen table with more of a hammerfist style blow (more of a "slam your fist on the table", but with the strength of a punch) and nearly broke my hand. I still think I may have a boxers fracture, but there's no swelling and it only hurts right below the knuckle of my pinky finger if I touch it or hit something. Dumb.

Well according to my instructor, who studied under two instructors who both studied directly with Tatsou Shimabuku, he taught the kata slightly differently to different people. When the Marines got together to work on what he had taught them, they found out he had taught them each a little differently.

Haha. My instructor changed parts of the kata, as well. They aren't very big changes, but they're there. Mostly his changes come from trying to teach them to people and having them flap their arms around randomly, so he refined the movements to make them more purposeful and clean. When I taught myself Chinto from videos online I really only had to change one or two things in it to make it into my instructor's version. I'm sure we'd recognize the kata easily, though.

I'm trying to really start training hard by myself again now that I don't have the awesome TKD workout three times a week. This is what I did today. It doesn't sound like much, but it took me about an hour-- warm up-- 50 4-count jumping jacks, 50 situps, 20 girl pushups (can't do regular ones yet) 20 each leg-- front kicks, round house kicks, side kicks, squat then front kicks twenty each side-- high block punch, middle block punch, low block punch kata Kyozai 10 times, kata Chinto 5 times last time I did the workout I added going from one side of my house to the other with each of the kicks and the upperbody combinations, but I was doing laundry at the same time, so I had piles of laundry blocking part of the way.

My index finger started twitching uncontrolably yesterday. I would have gotten worried, but I was too busy laughing about having a "twitchy trigger finger". I have little muscle spasms a lot-- usually just above my knee or just under my eye. I don't know what it is, but it never bothered me besides being slightly annoying while it's happening.

Since I last posted about a year ago, I've added three more kata (not counting the two I learned during my two week stint in the Taekwondo class. I think they were just short, numbered, repeating forms made up by the instructor). So now I know our versions of: Fukugata Sho Kyozai Annaku Seisan Saifa Seiunchin Naihanchi Wansu Chinto

Not all karate dojos use that. I've never heard it at mine. In fact, we don't use much Japanese at all. The whole concept seems a little awkward and a bit silly to me. You don't walk around greeting each other in ancient Greek during track and field practice, why do people greet each other in Japanese for martial arts training? To each his own, I guess...

Exactly. In a real fight, the last place I'd put my hands is down at my side where they can't protect me unless I was going to try some aikido type move or something (which would probably be my last thought in a real fight), but I'm talking chambering for kata and kihon and stuff.

Yeah, we do it that high for Sanchin, too, but that's the only time we do.

You know what I've never seen? A policeman buckle up the person they stick in the back of their patrol car. I mean, I wouldn't want to-- they'd probably try to bite, but still.... Makes you think.

Well as most of you know, I've recently gotten a taste of a style different from my own. It didn't turn out all that well, but I still learned a good deal from it. One of the things I'm very glad I learned is the different ways to do things. It's made me question and consider why my class does things the way we do (I still love my class and think what we do is great, but asking why you do what you do is very important for growth). One of the things that I've never thought of before is where to chamber your hands. Now since I started karate way back when I was 8 with the same Isshinryu instructor I have today, I've been taught to chamber my hands alongside my belt or, if I'm not wearing one, where my belt would be. Doesn't matter whether I was chambering for the vertical Isshinryu punch or the corkscrew punch we used occasionally while working certain techniques-- it was always along the belt. Then when I tried out TKD for a few weeks, I kept getting yelled at for having my hands so far down (15-year-old habits break hard-- I was trying, but when you're concentrating on other things, your hands tend to go where they've gone for the last decade and a half). Apparently they chamber their hands up a lot higher alongside the ribs (I don't know any other way to explain this, so I'll say it the way the girl working with me explained it-- for us women, it falls right beside the breasts). I found this incredibly awkward and hard to maintain for any length of time, probably because I'm so used to my way, but it got me wondering if maybe this isn't the norm. So where do you chamber your hands?

I was practicing my mawashi uke the other day and thought I was doing ok with it so I tried doing it hard and fast just for fun and misjudged where I was putting my hand and drove my (slightly too long to be safe) finger nails right into the soft part of my arm above my elbow. For a few seconds I thought I somehow got some large pieces of soggy paper caught under my fingernails. Until I realized my botched block had taken a good amount of skin with it. I've had to wear long sleeves the past few days to hid the deep red gashes on my upper arm... :-/

Don't push yourself too hard. I just restarted karate a little over a year ago after a 10 year break, so I know how it feels in the beginning-- every class feels precious and having to miss one seems like the end of the world (for the first few months I did it it seemed like class was snowed out every other week. It was killing me). But you have years ahead of you to train. Better to take one measley class off to heal than push an injury too far and end up having to miss a lot more than that.

I've got kind of a weird question. How exactly do you pronounce Eosin? It's it like "e-o-sin" or do the first two letter blend together somehow?

Yeah. I didn't go to class last night and I'm pretty sure I'm just not going back. I knew I'd feel a little awkward with them asking me to wear my green belt the first night because I know they emphasize different things that my Isshinryu school didn't, so I knew I wasn't going to be very good at those things. But I wore it anyway and I tried my best to live up to it how I could, which was mainly putting focus and power into everything, even though the techniques were very different. I did try my best to do things their way and wanted to learn things their way. The instructor was correcting my turning punch and sort of as an aside/explaination for why my turning punch wasn't very good and why I was making my fist the way I was I told her about the Isshinryu fist and the Isshinryu punch and stuff and then she got into all those questions and by the end of that conversation I felt like I was going to cry, I felt so disrespected. I wanted to walk out of there right then, but I stayed until the end of class until I got my gi which I already paid for. My friend who's a fellow martial artist pretty much forbid me from going back there after I told her what happened when I got home and I agree with her. So it's back to self-training for me.

Awesome! I'm sure you'll love it! And I'm sure you'll be even more dedicated and proud of every accomplishment knowing that your own hard work not only gets you through the training, but paid for it.

So you'll be wrestling a scarecrow? Sounds great! I found this website where a guy talks about how he made one using wire as a base to make the dummy able to hold a position-- http://dollforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26730&view=print

This, only instead of the simultaneous strike, we'd just do two of the blocks at the same time (the other hand wouldn't be hitting anything, but would be there to provide the balance to strengthen your body and make your block stronger and more immovable). And if you do it so that your block hits into the soft part of their upper arm right above the inside of the elbow, it can be really painful for them. And the fun part is, you don't have to even do it that hard. If you make your arms strong, the harder they try to hit you with that roundhouse punch, the more it'll hurt them with no extra effort on your part-- they're driving their own arm into your block.

So I'm not sure if I'm going to go back there or not. I told myself I'd try it for a month and the month isn't quite up yet, but frankly I'm getting a bit sick of it. Today the teacher totally dissed my Isshinryu school and I bit my tounge, but I really don't want to go back there. First she tried to change my fist to some weak excuse for a fist and told me if I punched anyone with an Isshinryu fist, especially vertically, I'd break my hand. I wanted to tell her Isshinryu practitioners have been beating on Makiwara and other people with that fist for decades without breaking anything, but I didn't say anything. And then she started dissing on my school because we don't spar (insurance won't let us-- plus many traditional Okinawan schools don't) and pretty much implied I shouldn't be a green belt because I've only sparred once or twice. She asked how we could know that what we learned worked if we didn't spar and I wanted to make some jab about point sparring not exactly being the most realistic fighting in the world and then make a point about how when they do partner work they stop their punches six inches from their partner whereas we actually try to hit each other, but again I didn't say anything. So yeah. I'm not all that sure I'm going to go back there. It might look a little weird because I just got my uniform today (they wear black and all I had was a white, but my Isshinryu school will let me wear the black one there, so I can still use it), but I'm still not sure.

That's pretty cool. I was the head admin for a forum on Facebook once. Largest Catholic group on Facebook-- over 100,000 members. It was certainly a full time job-- especially being a religion group, and you know how the conversations can turn out in those kinds of groups (probably why that kind of conversation isn't allowed here). Wish I coulda heard the presentation. That's awesome that you guys got to meet!

Awesome! I'm sure he has confidence in your forms or he wouldn't ask you to test so soon. You'll do awesome, I'm sure.

I don't believe a good sensei has to be known all around the world. In fact, when I see a school that advertises their "world famous" sensei all over their ads and stuff, that's one of the things that raises McDojo suspicions in my mind. I think a good sensei is simply someone who is both a knowledgable martial artist and a good teacher. They have to know at least more martial arts than their student-- they don't have to be a 10th dan or anything-- but they need to know enough that they have their technique down pat. You can't teach others good technique unless you have it yourself and know what it is. They also need to keep studying and learning not only to stay ahead of their students, but to gain more insight into the art to share with their students. And then they need to be a good teacher. That means they need to know how to structure the class for the most amount of learning, how to motivate students, how to translate their knowledge of the art into effective lessons and break down techniques so that beginners can understand them, how to identify and correct what their students are doing wrong, how to move the students along at just the right pace so they're challenged without being overwhelmed, etc. There's a lot that goes into being an effective teacher, but I'm not sure being in Black Belt Magazine is one of the attributes.