Lupin1

Well, the usefulness of kata is a bit off topic here, but I disagree with you. Maybe you should start another topic about that so we don't derail this one.

We really don't kiai all that much at my school. When I was younger we learned to kiai on maybe one or two punches per kata and we just learned to yell "iiii". I never hear anyone kiaing in the adult class, though I find myself reflexively grunting a lot in my kata. I think it's because I played tennis in college and we learned to grunt to relax our muscles and give an extra push of power right at the moment of contact with the ball. I think I'm sort of absent-mindedly doing that with my punches...

Isn't rotational energy a type of kinetic energy?

It has to do with how heavy the gi is. Generally the heavier the gi, the more durable it is (and the more expensive it is). Most instructors will suggest lightweight gis for people just beginning who aren't positive they're going to stick with it and because they're easier to move in when you're just learning the moves. But if you're sure you're going to stick with it, your best bet is probably a middleweight gi. They're not that much more expensive than lightweights and they're a good balance between being so light they fall apart and so heavy they're hot and hard to move in while learning the moves. I'm most likely going to get a middleweight gi for my next gi (8 oz). I've had lightweight gis before and all of them have rips after a year or two of use. But like I said, if you're not positive at this point that you're going to stick with it for more than that year or two and you're not going to do any grappling type stuff, you might be better off getting a lightweight. Most people tend to consider lightweight 5-7 oz, middleweight 7.5-10 oz, and heavy weight 12 oz+ although I have seen 12 oz gis classified as middleweight on some websites.

I've only watched people from my school spar in tournaments a few times, but from what I've seen, it tends to be more of an advantage. The corkscrew punch may be able to twist around blocks a bit better, but the Isshinryu punch is faster and so harder to block in the first place. You can get about three Isshinryu punches into the time space of one corckscrew punch, so if they block the first one, you just go in with a second one and if they block that, the first hand is already recoiled (since it's a snap punch) and you can go in with that again. Throwing mulitple techniques one after the other in quick sequence like that is another thing that characterizes Isshinryu, and the quick, recoiling snap punches help make that posible. Plus there's the fact that people from most other styles have never seen or fought against Isshinryu punches before, so it surprises them the first few times like "woah, where the heck did that come from". This is all good stuff. Thanks guys. I think I understand the turning punch a lot better now.

Well I can't see anything wrong with the program itself as a fitness program (I don't want to comment on its martial arts aspects because it really doesn't mention them much), but, um.... is that a get-rich-quick scheme endorsed by sensei at the bottom of the main page????

Well, from her previous posts, I know she's a white belt testing for yellow next month, otherwise I wouldn't have assumed that.

Everyone's saying that she's needs to go full speed but control it, but doesn't it take years to develop that control? Shouldn't we be encouraging white belts and really all the lower kyu ranks to not use so much power until they develop that control?

Ugg, yes. We were doing this Aikido take down thing last weekend and since it was just me, a black belt student and the sensei and he wanted to teach a move that was too advanced for me to perform, I got to start learning how to be uki even though I'm not quite up to that level yet. First the sensei demonstrated the take down and the bb got to practice it on me until he got it right. Then the sensei showed him (by doing it to him) a way to manipulate the person's fingers to cause a lot of pain all the way up their arm while you're holding them down. I don't think the sensei wanted him to try that with me, but he kept trying to do it to me, even though he was practically wimpering in pain when the sensei demonstrated it on him. All I can say is I'm very happy he wasn't able to figure it out...

I'm not entirely a beginner. I studied Isshinryu for 5 years when I was younger, but I haven't done it for 8 years and I'm just starting to get back into it, so I guess I'm an experienced beginner. It's already starting to feel a lot more natural after only a little over a month, so that's good.

When you're practicing with a partner, especially as a white belt, you should go easy on the strength behind your movements. I stick my movements out there solidly and with adequate speed, but I don't put all that much strength behind them unless I know there's no way I'm going to hit the person because I know I don't have the control and aim yet to be certain I don't hurt a person. Focus more on delivering a solid, well-performed technique. Give them something solid to defend against, but don't put the speed and strength into it like you'd put into your kata.

Well, I guess it depends on the instructor. People who run McDojos and are just in it for the money aren't usually people I look up to, although I'm sure children can and do grow and learn in those schools. Then there are those instructors who change lives. I learned a lot from my instructor and he influenced my life for the better. He loves his art so much he teaches it for free and he does a darn fine job of it. He's one of those teachers I had that encouraged me to become a teacher. Are they just as important as policemen and school teachers, well, that depends on your view of the world. Not to offend anyone, but I think the world would survive the catastrophe a lot better if all the martial arts instructors disappeared tommorow than if all the policemen disappeared. But then, the martial arts are one of those things that give life more flavor, so, while life would go on, it certainly would be horrible for those people who love the martial arts (although I'm sure they'd continue to train on their own and we'd still get some awesome martial artists creating thier own styles without an instructor). Interesting question.

Cool! I didn't know you could do that!

Our sensei says he doesn't start training people to be ukis until they hit green belt (4th kyu), but I'm only just about 6th kyu and he's starting to use me. Of course, last class there were only two people there, so we didn't have many options. I have a feeling I'm going to become one of the favorite ukis once I get more experienced. I'm young and so can take a bit more than those old guys without as much risk of getting hurt and I think it's fun to get thrown around...

You're learning kicks that high in Goju-ryu? I always thought most Okinawan styles concentrated the vast majority of their kicks to the stomach or lower and at very close range.

My school has actually very recently (as in the last few weeks) given into that pressure. Since I started (15 years ago-- am I that old already?) we've always had a reputation for having a very slow promotion rate for kids (7-9 years average to BB, so since most kids started around 8 years old, they'd usually get it between 15 and 17 [though from what I've seen it's usually closer to 17]). Then a few months ago the instructors decided to add three degrees of junior black belt to let the kids advance quicker. They told me it was because there are so many McDojos in town who are giving kids their black belts so young and all of our students' friends are getting their black belts while they're only like 5th or 6th kyu and our students are better. So a few weeks ago they did a "mass promotion" type thing the class before Christmas (they told the kids it was a Christmas present ). The class only had white belts (9th kyu) and yellow belts (6th kyu) for some odd reason, so they just moved all the white belts up to purple belt (8th kyu) and all the yellow belts up to green belt (4th kyu). And the adult program is staying exactly the same so an adult black belt really will be worth more than a junior black belt because the adults will know more by the time they test for adult black belt. So the junior black belts will be learning the same stuff adult brown belts are learning and by the time they get their full black belt, they'll be caught up to the adult black belt standards. I like that. It gives junior black belts something to do besides just waiting until they turn 16 to advance. But yeah, back to the original subject, I don't think not having tests stops students from bothering the teacher about when they're going to advance. It's just instead of asking "when can I test" they ask "how long 'til I get my orange belt". Of course, our teacher just says something along the lines of "if you think you're ready to move on, you're not. When you stop asking me, I'll start considering it".

My class just meets at the local Boys and Girls club, so we're only able to have class for an hour twice a week and so far I've got perfect attendance (granted, I've only been doing it for about a month).

I like having the indicators of rank up to the dan level, at least. It keeps everything organized and gives you something to work for in the beginning while you're still trying to get a grasp on the big picture. Would I still go and train if there were no belts at all? Of course. In fact, I'm no specific belt right now and I sort of like that. But then again, I'm fairly competitive and somewhat vain anyway (although I never show it) so even if there were no visable ranks I'd know where I stood in the class and get personal satisfaction in being ahead of someone else, even if I didn't show it (of course right now I'm the lowest person in the class and I'm perfectly happy with that-- I get all the attention and extra help and everything ). Even with the black belts, most of whom I have no idea what degree they are since we don't display it, I can tell who's higher and who's lower based on how good they are and which ones will automatically take a leadership position among the others and which ones will gratefully recieve the instructions given by the other and which ones feel they have the right to argue. There's a pecking order, even when no rank is displayed.

Isshinryu was created around the time of WWII (a time when many of the traditional arts were starting to seperate into formalized "styles"). The founder Tatsuo Shimabuku studied with both the founder of Goju-ryu and one of the main influences in the founding of Shorin-ryu and basically he took what he considered the "strongest" aspects of both of those systems along with kabudo and created his own system out of that. I googled shinshinkan because I'd never heard of it and it seems it was invented in 2000 by a guy who studied both Isshinryu and Aikijujitsu (which I'm guessing is a combination of Aikido and Jujitsu) and combined them into his own new style. So Shinshinkan has elements of Isshinryu in it, but it's isn't straight up Isshinryu.

We really don't do too much sparring at my school. When I was a kid we did sparring about once a month once we got to the "advanced" class (6th kyu and above) but that was about it. The adult class, as far as I can tell, doesn't do any sparring. My instructor was talking about when one of the first Isshinryu instructors went to a tournament and did sparring even though he'd never done it before. He said the guy just did the moves he knew from kata and no one could get near him because he was fighting with those strong moves and not like a sparrer. But judging by that story I'm going to say that sparring probably isn't traditional in my system, not that I've researched it personally.

I would say judo or jujitsu to have more options on the ground if a fight gets there (not that I expect to be in too many fights...). It just seems like it'd be a good compliment. Although it would be fun to study Kung Fu or Baguazhang or even Tai Chi at some point (with a defense focus and not just like a dance like most people treat it) just because it's just so different than Karate it'd be interesting to see the different techniques and be able to suppliment what I learn from Karate with such a different style.

A pogo game just told me this one-- "Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."-- George Bernard Shaw And one of my all time favorite little prayers for the religious type: "Thou who has prepared a place for my soul, prepare my soul for that place."-- Joseph Hall

My instructor incorporates aikido into our Isshinryu training all the time (he's studied a bunch of systems and works a lot of stuff from other systems into our Isshinryu classes). In fact, just yesterday we were working on a few aikido moves (actually, the black belts were working on the moves. I got to start learning how to be uki )

It looks ok to me. Except that one of the instructors is claiming that Karate leads to healthier teeth and gums. That's just a little weird, in my mind...

I've got another question for you guys. I've studied Isshinryu for years and so when I think of punching, I automatically think the Isshinryu vertical punch. But I've gone to a few "bring a friend day" things with friends from other schools and there I was taught the turning punch. Frankly, I don't see why practically every system but Isshinryu uses the turning punch. It seems slower and weaker (or maybe I'm just not doing it right). What are the benefits of the turning "corkscrew" punch?