brickshooter

The biggest challenge isn't techinque or muscle memory as you're not trained long enough in Shoto to permanently lock techniques into your muscle memory. IMO, the biggest challenge is whether you're physical enough for Kyokushin. You need to raise your aerobics conditioning. And you probably want to add some muscle mass. Or if you don't, they'll add those things for you. For all the talks of this school versus that school. In the overall scheme of things, there's not that much of a difference. Kyokushin just emphasize ALOT more kumite than the other schools... and the body conditioning that comes is needed to remain healthy. Just my 2 cents. Have fun.

I was under the impression that Ashihara tries to add a circular concept in its defense in order to build momentum in a counter-strike. Sort of like Aikido's circular theory.

I go slow about once every 5th time. Not in slow motion. But I stop in between techniques, just to make sure some of the fundamentals are correct particularly with stances, balancing and footing. And just to correct the basic stuff so that I don't accidentally add errors into my muscle memory.

I don't know about anyone else. But the Hein/Pinan is where one can tell the actual skill of a practioner. They're so simple that it's difficult to hide flaws as "personal interpretations."

I would say its rather the offshoots from NIKO are increasing. Predominantly due to politics. There's 3 Ashihara Dojos in the UK have managed to build bridges with the one in Edinburgh, hopefully looking at maybe doing a UK Sabaki Challenge Cup in a few years. The style itself is awesome, but its the people at the top causing issues. I'm independent so not tied into Honbu. I'd like to see Ashihara Karate as popular as Shotokan, but needs a few "converts" and a Kaicho who isn't political, that's one reason why I have so much respect for Narker Kaicho, he's far from political. Not sure whether it's possible to get Ashihara as popular as Shotokan. The reason is that Ashihara is already starting to fraction itself before getting notoriety.

Personally, I think that alot of Japanese tend to get mistranslated to English. Consequently you get alot of misinterpretations. So somehow we end up with "one strike kills" that was meant to be "hit your attacker as hard as you can." Or we end up with "no first strikes" that was meant to be "don't start fights."

In the bigger scheme of things. If your first couple of punches fail, then your off hand will be busy doing some dirty stuff. Thumb in his eye, pulling his collar over his head, pulling his jacket down to tie his arms, rocking him off balanced. In essense, you have a striking-hand. And you have a dirty-hand that keeps him busy so that he can't reach for the knife tucked in his back pocket or any improvised weapon lying around.

In addition to being unaffiliated, Freestyle Karate is tournament-focused whether it's kata or kumite. Their kata tend to be musical and creative rather than functional. Their kumite style is created to take advantage of the point-system.

IMHO. It's likely that your technique is incorrect. The kick doesn't require extreme flexibility. Once your body & hips roll over, your leg naturally follows. Don't focus on picking up the kicking leg. Focus on rotating your torso as fast as possible. Your leg will follow. I would focus on perfecting a thigh level mawashi geri until your instructor tells you it looks picture-perfect. Then you gradually add height.

Whay they all need is a loyal following of qualified instructors. That's pretty much it.

IMO, it's extremely useful. The reason I say this is that if you take a perfectly capbable practicioner who have never hit a solid object for the first time and have then hit a solid object, they will often behave contrary to their training. They stiffen up. Then tense up. And they'll try to muscle though a technique and "push" the target. I think it's a real psychological effect. Pads trains a person to realize that there's no real difference in punching air and punching a solid object, mechanicalliy speaking.

Definitely agree. Interesting enough, they're actually difficult to perform well.

The scarry thing is that these guys are wearing cups. Not just your ordinary cups, but often titanium ones that is expanded to protect the scrotum. Well... in theory it is supposed to protect the scrotum. Sometimes it works... and sometimes it doesn't.

Take any clean white Gi. Then starch it multiple times. Voila - a gi that talks as you walk. You may have to request that Judges put on their ear protectors before performing a Kata.

I prefer English. But I'll use Japanese when talking to non-English speakers. I often bump into international practicioners at seminars. But when I speak to Koreans stylists, I go back to English. And when all else fails, I just to the technique. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I'd pick the dojo with people most similar to me. Afterall, at 40 years old we're there to make friends as well as get in shape.

Well,thank goodness NBC gave the USA detailed coverage of rowing. Big boats. Medium boats. Small boats. Even when not a single American was competing. God save us, where would this country be without rowing? All I know is that the next Olympics, I'm turning off NBC and turning on the BBC even if it's online streaming.

Look at the bright side, Judo coverage got a couple of "photos." The USA got it's first gold ever. And all that NBC was able to give us is a couple of "photos." Would it kill the NBC budget to lend the USA team a iphone so that they can tape and relay a match? I'm not even suggesting that NBC were to DONATE an iphone to Team USA Judo. I'm talking about letting Team USA Judo BORROW an iphone.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?

You will.

IMO, things such as pulling the hands to the hips or deep stances are displayed in kumite. But only in a blink. It's so quick or subtle that most people don't see it. Also the language barrier sort of distorts how things work. If I tell someone to get into a front stance before punching, they look at me cross-eyed. If I tell them to step into their punches, they get it immediately. Or if I tell people to withdraw their hands to their hips before punching, the same cross-eyed. But if I tell them to cock and load up on their punches, they get it. With Kata, you're primarily learning to burn correct muscle memory into your brains. You're learning to not punch while leaning back. You're learning to not slap-punch. Instead you're learning to "step into" your punches, and "load up" on your punches. Get it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOTYvORlzKs Anyways, I've added a youtube video (above) from a Shotocup match. If you're able to slow the action down, you'll see the deep front stances + withdrawing the fist to the hips action. And in the last match, you'll see what happens when a fighter fail to pull his punches (he got a little frustrated at the non-calls, and decides to land one on a much bigger opponent.)

deleted.

I can't remember the exact source. I think it was a Jane's Defense Weekly. The time was during or after the Israeli incursion into Lebanon where Israeli reservists had a difficult time recalling their training. So the US military did a study on the issue.

Been to two different Krav schools and observed two intermediate classes. They both look like MMA training. Got a funny feeling that your local Krav center either teaches MMA. Or they teach a very watered down no legal liability version of Krav. BTW, the military did a test to see how long professional soldiers are out of the military before their skills become so useless that they need to go through boot camp again. The answer is 6 months. Therefore, Krav or no Krav, your training has a 6 month life before it becomes useless.

I suspect that it's due to 1. Difficult to find a training partner. 2. Not commonly taught outside the MT circles. 3. Does leave the kicker in a vunerable position if he misses. Even in MA where it's primarily used such as TKD, LOW sidekicks are frowned upon as it has the unnatural results of popping people's knees out of their sockets.