Pajarito21

I carry a pocket knife. I am looking at buying a very good flash light to, since they are good for my job and also good for blinding an opponent for a brief moment.

It worked in that Bourne movie. lol

Fitness has nothing to do with the way you look. Everybody has a different body type and a different way to gain muscle. I am a shorter stout man and I gain muscle very easily but its hard for me to get a six pack. Fitness is all about how you feel. Do you feel great and happy? If so, then you are fit. If you get angry when you are sparring then you are looking at sparring in the wrong way. Sparring is not a fight, it is a learning experience. You must treat each match as a way to polish your technique and work on control. You must treat karate as a battle with ones self not with an opponent. Don't look to be better than one person or be bigger than some one else. Train, learn, gain confidence, and make yourself better. Discipline is your beginning objective in karate, after you gain this, then you can truly start your adventure.

This is a topic I feel I can relate with. I am pretty much the opposite of you GeoGiant, I am a 5'3" male that has horrible kicks above the waist. So, I fight more on the inside and try to work angles than I do try to create distance and fight from the outside. I started in a dojo in which we sparred like you do. Fight as hard as your opponent allows and go until your sensei says stop. Thus making me a competent fighter with my own "style." Not until I came to Wado Ryu have I actually doing different type of sparring. I found out that when fighting in the dojo for practice you should treat it like a learning experience at all times. Take the hits and let yourself open up. This allowed me to see better as well as react better. I guess to answer you're question I say this, you are a complete fighter no matter who you are it just takes time and effort to fight that person within yourself. Try all different ways and see what happens.

Well I'm testing for my next belt in Wado, my blue to be exact. I am super excited but I have some questions. 1st if you have any pointers to be successful on my test let me know. Also, it got me thinking about black belt testing. I was wondering; what kinda things did you do during your black belt testing that I should start getting ready mentally and physically for? Thanks for the comments everyone.

That is awesome to hear that your children are doing so well in the martial arts. It makes me very proud to be apart of something that all different types of people can excel if they really like it and dedicate themselves to it. You will really enjoy judo though. Thanks for the reply.

My name is Stephen and I am currently training in Wado Ryu. I have a background in Tang Soo Do, Jiu Jitsu, self defense, and wrestling. I love Jiu Jitsu and wrestling, I am 5' 3" and am very good at grappling styles. I am very poor at kicking but am decent at punching. This is why I do karate. I believe the only way to be a efficient fighter and to be comfortable with me is complete harmony in my body. That is why I enjoy Wado so much. I believe with determination and want I will become good at karate to. Love the sight and look forward to talking with everybody.

I definitely agree with the others on this topic. I am not to experienced in judo. But, I feel, that you should always try a new technique with someone your size, this will allow you to be able to use your body more comfortably then some one bigger. When sparring or training in real life situations you should pair with all different type of people so you start to learn how to adapt. I definitely love to fight people that are larger and stronger because they try to use that as a advantage and I get to show a little bit of what the short man can do. lol

Hey everybody... new to the site, just signed up. But, the full contact sparring topic with punches to the face in Wado Ryu doesn't sound like a very good school to be attending. In Wado you can only hit to the face if you are a black belt and it has to be controlled. I just got back from the 8th annual C. T. Patterson tourney which is a Wado only tourney and they disqualified if you strike to the face in that manner. It seems that you just have a Cobra Kai wanna be you likes to beat up on people who is under their rank. But, if that is not the case then you need to find a school in which they want to train you to be confident and well adjusted to sparring then just how to take a punch to the face. I have fought both hard with no pads anything goes, and tourney style. the tourney style is what is going to help you in the long run so you can figure out how to control your body and mind.