brickshooter

Sweeps are often taught in many schools. But I rarely see throws taught. I suspect it's because instructors weren't taught such techniques. So they're not going to pass something that they're not an expert in. But throws are making a comeback. I know of karate instructors and judo instructors openning schools together, with each teaching their field of expertise. And the results have been amazing. I'm surprise that its not more common since lessons are usually given every other day in a pure style school.

I think that what Abernathy was referring to was interpreting Kata in the most practical way. For example the opening steps in Heian Shodan is often a low block and lunging punch, followed by a 180 degree turn into another low block for an attacker approaching from behind. Abernathy argues that the 180 degree turn is impractical when one can simply pivot in the other direction (counter clock) while remaining in the same place. This would be more practical since it keeps you out of range. Therefore the most practical application isn't a turn to face the attacker from behind, but a neck crank on your current attacker after you punch him. I think that we were to expand on this theory of practical application, a lot of dynamic techniques would have a more practical and more realistic application. "Leaping over a sword" would turn into executing a judo throw, etc.

I used to shorten the arms to hinder my opponents from grabbing it with one hand and pummeling me with his other hand. I do recall looking pretty ridiculous in my gi.

Squats are great. But you need to balance all the muscles evenly including your hamstring, and groin muscle. So do deadlifts as well. Also, use a balancing disk. You stand on it while trying to maintain your balance. Gradually add weights as you become more proficient. This will work all the muscle that you don't see. Basically you need to develop ALL the muscle near your knee, not just your quads.

I'd spend a couple of weeks on a crash course to get some of those skills back before putting on the same belt. Some instructors are too afraid to hurt your feelings and will allow you to automatically retain your belt. Next thing you know, it's open target season on you during Kumite by training partners who don't know you well enough to pull their strikes. Sure it's the instructor's fault, but does it matter when you're the one with the meat pack on your eye afterwards? So start with white. In a couple of weeks, when your skills improve and people get to know you better, ask your instructor to bump you up.

And that's a huge if because it appears to me that George have indeed lost his mind. I've seen similar occurrences with some Aikido instructors. Basically their students have been "conditioned" with pain. Consequently they over react to a technique. And the instructor suddenly develops these telepathic attacks. Or they believed they did. There is another guy who used to work with Dillman on pressure point striking. Can't remember his name. Has a beard and wears glasses. He seems to know a lot more about the subject than Dillman. But unfortunately for him, he was not as much a showman as Dillman who somehow is thought of by many to have invented Pressure point striking. Anyways the other guy (beard and glasses) seems to actually know what he's talking about. Someone look him up on Youtube and get a name.

To add, I think that Aikido focuses on attacking the wrist, elbow and shoulder. They use a lot of big circle movements. Odd but one should take a look at Aiki Jutsu to get a better understanding of Aikido and what intends to do.

Probably about as much as modern profesional fighting athletes training ouside of fighting - roadwork, weight lifting etc. it was likely more than 50% of their training. Probably a 70-30 conditioning to skill training ratio.

I think that overweight do start to become a problem when an instructor is unable to do a technique. And the student has to completely rely on verbal directions without visual cues. Probably less important the more a student advances, because advance students need more a good set of eyeballs to correct mistakes.

1. Sweep the stepping leg. Karate focus on timing, which is often visual. It is more risky because it is difficult to quickly recover if it fails. 2. In self defense, you create timing by pulling and pushing your attacker until you "feel" that he's about to step. It's effective because it is instinctive for him to catch himself with his hands, which opens up his head and allows you time to strike or better yet, grab your weapon. 3. Sweeps has a lot to do with the ground condition. Grass, sand, ice, slippery surface helps. Concrete, gravel, him wearing rubber shoes impedes. 4. Most people have no clue on defending sweeps because its not a common technique. 5. In the MMA world, Joe Grogan will likely call it "modified Thai ankle kick" prompting MMA enthusiast to drive their instructors crazy with inquiries.

I generally think of one complete sequence (with several blocks and countr-attacks) as a response to a single attack when I do Kata. So in a 30 step kata, l'll only have about 5 imaginary attackers. I believe this is pretty standard across all schools.

IMHO there are many levels of Bunkai. After all, it's just the teaching of applications. There is nothing grandios about it. The JKA etc did teach it. But from a Kumite point of view. They did not go into great details in non-competiton techniques. Why? Because all of the torch bearers were Ex Kumite champions. To say that Japanese Karate did not teach Bunkai is untrue. It's just not on the same level of sophistication as Okinawan Karate.

Btw, bringing your hand up to your ears before executing a hard block. That's actually a soft deflection. It a parry. Kind of like a boxers parry.

Yes you must specifically rehabilitate the ankle since it was significantly weakened from the injury. After several weeks and after you can stand on the injured ankle, start balancing drills on the injured ankle. Then progress to kicking drills while standing on the injured ankle. I would start training again until I can comfortably run on the ankle.

Why? It makes no sense to me to lie about what you're supposed to be doing. Instead of dumbing it down for a child, why not tell them the truth. "Those particular portions of the kata represent techniques I don't feel should be taught to children, or even people I don't trust. For that reason, I don't teach that until you reach age X and rank Y." Making something is disingenuous. How does that help anyone? I propose it doesn't. Killing techniques aren't for everyone.

Personally, I do think that the techniques are intentionally hidden by instructors. Just as in Judo or Aikido, the more that Karate is taught to the public, the more it is dumb down for the interest of safety. For example, one can't teach children how to break necks, so we teach them to do a spear hand instead; instead of a hammer fist to the back of the neck, it's an attack to the wrist to escape a hold; and so on and so on. When it comes to Kata, instructors often teach just enough to defend oneself. Not enough to kill.

IMHO, we should shy away from Absolutes such as "always." The reason is that it's often not up to us to decide whether its a block or strike or just getting out of the way. So the it's typical to receive "blocking" instructions when you're starting out. And it later becomes "striking" instructions when the movement have been added to muscle memory. So that a person understands all uses.

Even within organizations, long time practitioners will make slight changes to kata to personalize them. Often it's to fit a physical advantage or cure a physical disadvantage. Chief instructors generally recognize the intent and will rarely correct deviations unless you are way off.

Judo is ideal for Shotokan folks. There's no better way break balance than to incidentally run into them like a freight train. But take it easy during grip fighting. You need to constantly tell yourself that you're not attempting to pin his arms so that you can get a good punch in.

Any time you're striking bareknucke, you flirting with the use of lethal force. Blocking allows a person to stop a fight without raising the level of violence to striking with possible lethal result. For example I accidentally take a guys parking spot. He gets out and tries to punch me. I can pop him in the throat. Or I can apply a couple of hard blocks and bruise his arms up while apologizing to him.

And safer. Higher ranks generally don't try to take your head off.

No one daily trains in full contact. Full contact is reserved for competition. Here's how professionals do it: They load up the sparing partner with a ton of protective gear. Then the Champ gets to pound the sparing partner who is only allowed to hit back at 1/4 power. Nevertheless the Champ goes through 3-5 sparing partners per day because getting pounded is exhausting even if loaded with gear. In other words sparing partners are paid to be human punching bags. That is real life full contact training.

I dunno. I'm not going to finger any particular organizations, but some of the biggest and most reputable Shotokan organizations aren't really into Bunkai. When I walk off I get he impression that technical perfection and how it transferred into kumite was by far the most important thing. For reliable Bunkai, I think that one has to look to Goju or its equivalent.

I thought that what the OP did was terribly rude.

I generally want my weight to go into the direction of my strikes whether they're linear or circular. So I have to admit, I avoid punching while in a back stance or cat stance unless I am actually somehow stepping forward. I guess in theory I can, but its not easy to do.