username13768

At this point I have to say to each his own. I teach the way I was taught in order to show respect to my teachers. The styles that I've trained in are off the beaten path for the typical martial artist today. I train in a koryu jujutsu style, a traditional Okinawan karate style is my base and an Indonesian fighting style for the knife work. I have gone out of my way to find teachers that teach a certain way. Granted most people do not like to train the way that I teach and train and certainly my teaching style and the arts I train in don't lend themselves to commercial martial arts schools. There is very strict etiquette in each and they all require adherence to the rules of their respective organizations in order to keep the lineage in tact. I prefer this and have to realize from time to time that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Umm .... If you're learning the form that means that you are learning the absolute beginner interpretation of that form. Which also means that the turn left and downward block that you are doing now might be a take-down later or an arm-bar. A beginner has no business asking about advanced information when they are initially learning the form. They should be focused on first learning the form. The same goes for any other technique. If you are just learning the technique you should be focused on that instead of on ways to possibly tweak the technique. I'm not saying that students shouldn't ask questions. I'm saying that students should ask appropriate questions so as not to waste precious class time on answers that may or may not have to do with that specific lesson in general. I didn't say in my last question that the instructor couldn't answer the question. I simply asked what you would do if he chose not to because he didn't think you needed to know the answer at that point. See my above explanation for the why's of this. I definitely think any question asked should be directly related to exactly what was just covered. Not ...Couldn't that technique also do this or that. Or, if I moved my hand a little here couldn't I make this happen? If you don't have the patience to learn the technique or form properly before questioning it then you are probably wasting your time anyway. It's my belief that this questioning mentality that I'm speaking of is a chief reason for the many mcdojos teaching their new mcstyles to the masses. Anyway ... I'll stop now before I go off on a mcrant.

Congratulations MartialArt! After reading your post about your mcdojo, it really looks as though you've found the perfect school for you and your wife.

Too much television and too many movies. I know what you are saying and I've seen it too. I probably used to think like that myself when I first started training but that's been a few years ago. As an aside to your story, I was eating dinner with Demura Fumio Sensei after a seminar some years ago and he said that the best karate is being taught outside Japan these days. To sum things up again I say too many movies and not enough knowledge about martial arts reality. Heck I still want to know when I get to learn how to fly from tree to tree and melt people with my super kiai stare.

My point is ... how are you supposed to question a technique from an art that you are still not familiar with? Will you know enough to know whether the response you receive is correct or is someone just trying to blow smoke up your tail pipe? Just as an aside, what would you (any of you) do if you asked your instructor a question about a technique or form and he told you that you weren't ready for the answer yet?

You have to also be careful of answering some of the technical questions. If you are a competent instructor you should realize that even good questions aren't necessarily meant to be answered, at least not at the time asked. It depends on the skill level of the student asking and the skill level of the question. If the student doesn't even have the basics of the technique down there is no place for advanced questions at that time. This tends happen a lot when a student is cross training in another art. I must confess that I have been guilty of this and it's usually because I think I understand what the point of a movement is. In these cases it's better to try and mimic the instructor and listen for an explanation. If the instruction is sound you shouldn't need to ask any major questions.

bushido_man96 what cons do forms have other than not having proper training in their use?

Again, let your instructor know your discomforts. Tell him/ her that you don't feel safe going down backwards and not knowing how to do a proper break fall. The bottom line is you need to be trained properly so that the chance for injury is minimized.

I disagree with david123. You should not go on youtube and look up break-falls. You should learn them from a qualified instructor. As the folks said above, Judo is a very good style for learning breakfalls. Your own style should do breakfalls if they do take-downs. Ask your instructor about them and let him or her know that you are uncomfortable. The only way that you get help is to let someone know. Save yourself some pain and possible injury and get comfortable falling first.

Your son is VERY good at sparring, and that is for any age. However, no disrespect to you or your son but, sparring is not karate to me. It is a game of tag where there is no real Shotokan technique involved. I would like to see his forms and perhaps some one, two or three step sparring. As I said, he's very good at sparring at 8 years old. Just make sure that he's as good at the actual Shotokan techniques. He may already be but you haven't really shown any of that. Cheers

I can't believe that guy was using language like that in a payed seminar. That to me shows his true colors. A con artist ... not even first class. Maybe second or third. Where was the technique? Loads of counters to whatever that was pop to mind. This is the stuff that gives martial arts and martial artists a bad name.

I agree with sensei8 here. In a well understood and executed kata there isn't a single wasted movement. The older, historical katas or forms (and I'm talking about Okinawan Karate from my personal experience) are the synthesis of a masters personal style. In the kata you would find the entire system of combat. However, you need first to be taught the techniques within the forms various meanings. Or, you should at least be taught to "unlock" the movements within a form. For example: turning left in to a left front stance and executing a left downward block is only that at the most elementary level. There are a multitude of other techniques that use this same movement. Each meaning makes the katas appearance change slightly to the trained observer. So an experienced teacher should be able to tell your intentions from the minute details of a form. I'll stop ranting now. lol I also wanted to add that these details don't need to be performed "pretty", but they do need to be precise. If you look at old video of the old masters performing kata some of them by today's standards look like crap ...... or do they? Try looking up videos or photos of Soken Hohan or even Funakoshi Gichin. You might be able to see what I mean.