evergrey

Interesting! In my dojo, we use our hips like... cracking a whip. Snapping the hip on the side of the thrown strike forward, so the force continues up the body to the arm, and then pulling it back. It's very fast.

Yeah, I remember gymnastics, going down on the balance beam. That was NOT a good time, heh! My Shihan's kicked me in the groin, with his shin and his foot, a number of times. So far I've made it through that okay, haha.

OSU! And also, don't judge by aesthetics alone. There are some super heavyweight fighters who can seriously throw down!

Is it because they have simply let themselves go, or is it because they have suffered an injury that makes them unable to exercise? Metabolic failure? If they cannot properly demonstrate because of an injury (and not ineptness) or the like, do they have an assistant who can? If a person has a great deal of experience in the martial arts, and is in fact a great teacher, but something happened to them in their older years, I wouldn't immediately discount them! If they aren't really good at martial arts and never were, then they might be living in a fantasy land of inflated rank. You would have to watch them and know them and know the story to really know. At a certain point, we all get older and our bodies change. At the end of his life, Sosai Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin, was quite chubby and in pictures usually sat in a chair instead of kneeling in seiza. Does that mean he had no merit as an instructor or martial artist? I don't think anyone who knows who he is would dare say so! There comes a time when a new generation is meant to be fighters. At that point, it might be wiser to judge an instructor by how his students to, rather than how they, in their 60s with arthritis and a ruined knee, look.

Haven't been dropped yet but I haven't got it full force either. It's not fun, heh!

Wow, what a rough thing to have to deal with. He must have done something really terrible.

OSU! I drive 45 minutes to get to the dojo. Finding a dojo that feels right to YOU is the important thing. Sometimes it does involve sacrifices, and sometimes money is too tight, when there are more practical needs in your life. So the question is how bad do you want it, will you find a dojo out there that you really fit with (in whatever style) and can you afford the trip after all your basic needs have been taken care of? Many people do change from one style to another at some point, because they find something that suits them personally better. Sometimes a Kyokushin person will switch to Kung Fu, or even Aikido. It's no good taking it personally. Everyone has free will, and each person's path is entirely their own. Their choices are entirely their own. You can't walk their path for them, or take their path on. As an aside, my instructors have all cross trained in a number of other styles over the years... including some Aikido for our 5th dan. Just for fun every once in a while, if I charge like a reckless bull too much, he'll grab me as I charge him, and say "HAVE SOME AIKIDO!" as he sends me flying to the mat. Hah! I wish I'd gotten that on video. ;} There's something worth learning from any style. Granted, there are a couple I've seen on the internet that I'm mostly learned what not to do from, but those usually tend to be created by some young guy who watched too much anime. ;} Early on as a white belt, I made fun of a certain style in front of my Sensei. He then used a famous technique from said style to drive me all the way across the yard we were in until he got me up against the fence, haha. He laughed when I yielded and then reminded me that a martial artist must have humility, and behave with honor and respect, as we represent not only ourselves, but our teachers and our lineage as well. OSU!

Haha maybe I'm the one who fails at thinking like a woman? I don't think about holding my back and shoulders a certain way all the time to look sexy, heh!

OSU! Welcome! Kyokushin karateka here, from California. :}

Welcome to the forum! :}

Heh, in my dojo we learn footwork, evasion, blocking, movement, angles, circle and point theory, and we punch to the face. We just don't punch to the face in tournaments. One punch, one kill was something that Mas Oyama did strive for, and was better at than most. That is why he got the nickname "godhand." Let's not get into a "this style is superior to that style" argument please. :}

LOL, you're male too right? If I think about my posture, it's all about "what will make my back hurt the least" and "how will I remain balanced." PS, I never wear heels. I am a terrible woman.

Well, if he wants budo and tradition as well as alive sparring, Kyokushin is a fine choice. Kickboxing is more a sport, yes. Kyokushin is a traditional martial art, which focuses on all three Ks. Kihon, Kata, and Kumite. It's more about the kihon and kumite than it is about the kata, but the kata is still a very important element. It doesn't have to be one extreme (no real contact or free flowing kumite) or the other (a fighting gym.)

OSU, You will have some advantages, and might progress more quickly at first. On the other hand, if anything has been trained into you that doesn't work with Kyokushin, it will be harder to "fix" it than someone with a blank slate who hasn't learned it some other way first. It also really does depend on the Shotokan org and indivitual dojos. There are some Shotokan orgs that go pretty hard, and others who only ever do feather-light point sparring. I ended up sparring a Shotokan nidan from the latter category who had made a big stink about her rank. I made her cry. I was trying to go light with her. I felt like a jerk, heh! But yes, it really depends. It does sound like Kyokushin would work better for you. It shouldn't be that hard of a stretch, as Funakoshi trained Oyama for years. OSU!

OSU, I hadn't heard that quote, but what I do know is that Sosai had a deep respect for dancers, and said that they made the best fighters, because of their sense of rhythm and grace. ;} OSU!

It's probably pretty unlikely that it's for aesthetic purposes. It's much more likely to be the body trying to adjust for the extra top-heavy weight in the front, because otherwise? Back pain. Not everything us women do is to benefit male gaze, heh! Whether or not the posture of the lady in question is actually improper, I couldn't tell you without seeing it. The back gets pulled into a rounded position, curving forward and bowing the spine and shoulders. To compensate for the extra weight of the breasts (it's anatomy, we can handle discussing anatomy, yes?) sometimes women have to force their spine to tilt differently, and their shoulders back... buuuut going too far with that also isn't good. What does help is working those muscles!

haha, you should have seen the time my horse decided to "help" me with Pinan 1...

OSU! Solid post, muttley! I know of some dojos around the world that are non-profits, working with at-risk inner city kids. It's awesome! OSU!

Here's an exercise for you, Judobrah, once you start training in kicks. I am pretty sure Shotokan also has kicks in 4 parts- chamber, extend, re-chamber, place. Up, out, back, and down. Try doing it slowly. Very slowly. While retaining your balance. How high can you kick when you do it so slowly that it lasts at least 10 seconds? That's how high you can kick with complete control and access to all the force multipliers you need. Flexibility and speed are two components to a kick, but there is also the force of your body behind it, your strength, your control, and your focus. If you do not have access to the last four things, you are simply throwing your leg out there. It's likely not going to be powerful enough to knock someone out. But of course we only kick to the head in tournaments, lol. Not out in the street. Having law enforcement officers as instructors means we get some good perspective about what actually does and does not work when fighting to defend one's self. OSU!

OSU! There you go! My suggestions- make absolutely certain you have your wrist straight while punching, and that your elbows aren't winging out, when you're hitting the bag. I use MMA gloves when I hit the bag a lot, because otherwise I start to lose the skin from my punching knuckles... or I used to. I think they are probably fine now, hah! Start light, and over the weeks gradually go harder. The reason for this is simple- you are not just learning to hit well, you are also conditioning and strengthening your wrists and arms. To not injure yourself, you want to take your time conditioning them to get them used to the impact. It's a different kind of strengthening. Do push-ups. Lots of push-ups. Not normal military style, but knuckle push-ups. Have your hands shoulder-width apart, not really any wider. When you go down, keep your ELBOWS IN so they brush across your ribs. If you can, touch your nose to the floor and come back up. Make sure your back and legs are straight the entire time, with your head looking down. No bowing or arching your back, no sticking your behind up in the air! Instead of having your palms flat, make fists, and rest them on the ground on the points of your two punching knuckles, as seen on this picture of my Sensei's hand next to my hand. http://www.niceboots.org/~evergrey/Kyokushin/knuckles.jpg (It's the red knuckles, lol) This will not only help with your punching muscles, but it will ALSO strengthen your wrists.

About as important as it is to use a flight simulator, and eventually practice flying in a real plane, to learn how to be good at flying. You can read books to help you learn about it, and you NEED to in order to learn what has to be done... but nothing replaces using the instruments and getting a feel for flight itself. In karate, you NEED to practice basics. Kata? Well, that's debatable (Kyokushin does have kata though!) But basics, yes. Only kihon and kata will not make you a great fighter though. You have to do kumite for that to happen. Pad and bag work are very useful too, and a great step... but there's a certain timing and feel you can only learn from actually sparring.

In competition, yes. In class? Heh. Lots of grabbing here anyway.

Narker Kaicho is good people, for sure. OSU!

Well I have known some old school Aikidoka who were quite tough. It has a VERY steep learning curve, however, and is not a striking art. Kickboxing is fine, though it sounds like the local place is kind of scammy and traps people in contracts? that's no good. There's still basics, which are valuable to learn, if this Sensei is a good teacher. :} I do appreciate the sentiment! But I should mention- pain isn't irrelevant when it involves actual injury! We're uh... most of us at my dojo are guilty of working and training when we shouldn't, but long term it is NOT worth it to have an injury become chronic! So listen to your body. If it is simply pain, then yes, focus through it. If it is DAMAGE, stop, and rehabilitate. I do hope that some day you can find the Kyokushin (or related style) family that is great for you. Always remember what my Shihan once told me, "respect is a two way street. In order for you to respect me, I must also respect you." Be sure that whomever you end up with respects you, and that you can trust one another. Mine yells and me and chews me out a lot, but he also does respect me. OSU!

Yeah... no contact, no pad work or bag work? Well, here's how I'd look at it. Decide if it is worth the money. Kihon is an important foundation for kumite. If the form of the other students looks good, you would at least learn to flow with the movements of basic punches and kicks. You could think of it as pre-training practice I suppose. Kyokushin also involves a lot of drills and practicing basics, as there's no shortcut or way around learning the basics. The thought of no contact (does he really think "contact" in a stand-up style just means touching?) is pretty alien to me as a Kyokushin karateka, but at the same time I do plenty of practicing by myself, punching and kicking the air, heh. So it could give you a little bit of a leg up until you can get to a Kyokushin dojo, and it would be good exercise, working the muscles that you would use in kumite, in the way that you would use them, if that makes sense. Also I suggest looking into a bit of weight training. :} OSU!