brickshooter

I find the lack of sparring in my shotokan dojo disturbing. I don't feel like doing 1 step kumite drills for 1 more year while paying for belts and exams. According to our curriculum we do Jiyu kumite only after 2nd Kyu and even then its light point sparring.

Really if I spend all this time training I would like to practice them in a mean other than thin air. Don't get me wrong I respect the art but I would like more aliveness in the dojo.

There are few decent looking kyokushin dojos in Athens so I'll be looking to do some tryouts starting from the closest one.

As I currently have 6th Kyu in shotokan do you think it will take me lots of time to reach the equivalent grade?

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."

*NO IDEA WHY THIS TRIPLE POSTED, UNFORTUNATELY, i DIDN'T SEE AN OPTION TO DELETE THE LAST TWO, OR i WOULD HAVE, I DID TRY*

The original Ashihara style has unfortunately been dying over the last couple of decades, if not longer.

Hideyuki Ashihara, the founder, was a very well respected Kyokushin instructor, that many went to, to learn advanced footwork, and such from.

One of the issues was, after he passed, he left the style to his son, who I believe was only a green belt at the time, and his son wanted to make some big administrative and costly changes for people that have been under his father, and were far more superior in karate experience and skill.

Ninomiya Kancho, has had much more luck after breaking off, and forming "Enshin," but I will say that the not original Ashihara fractions have been gaining steam, the ones under Jonkers/Schilt, Cook (Tsu Shin Gen) and Narker's.

I have been in contact with Narker's Shihan(?) or Kancho for some years, now, he's a very nice man, and very easy to talk to, I know Dobbersky has, too. As of recently I have been in contact with Cook Soke who was a Kyokushin practitioner, grading to, I believe yondan or godan directly under Oyama Sosai.

Anyhow, if you're familiar with Enshin, Ashihara is very, very similar.

Osu!

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."

I've been studying Isshinryu for about two months now, and have noticed that most of the techniques from Chart 1 seem like One strike, One Kill types of movements. I'm aware that if any one of these techniques connects you'll be in a world of hurt, but if you don't take out the bad guy after the first few seconds, how effective will these techniques/Isshinryu be in a continuous fighting situation? What happens after the element of surprise is lost and the bad guys still there? I don't doubt Isshinryu in any way. I'm just trying to get a glimpse of the big picture.

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.

Hello everyone,

This is my first post in this forum so here is a little bit of background. I used to practice Karate as a child for a few years and I have started practising again a couple of months ago.

I am struggling with my mawashi geri jodan. I have been stretching everyday to try to improve my flexibility but I still cannot execute the kick properly. I have no problems with mae geri jodan. I cant execute the yoko geri jodan either. This is really starting to bother me and I could not find a clear answer on the internet as to how I should train to reach my goal.

Thank you

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.

Shotokan,Kyokushin are the well known styles and have a rich history when it comes to there establishment.

But what about the more obsecure styles...

Which got me wondering about Koei-Kan Karate as well as Enshin and ashihara style karate...How did they get a life of there own?

How does one simply start there own style? Do they need a blessing from the former karate instructor/style?

Best Regards

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.

I find the Pinan Kata to be the spirit of the Karate style, whatever school teaches it.

Definitely agree.

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

anyone seen this? dunno if its posted by someone before but it sure makes me wanna go out and buy a cup right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3-RfOTlaQw&feature=related

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.

Hi everyone, just a quick few questions to help me make my mind up on what to do.

I studied Shotokan and got to 1st Kyu and gave up due to knee trouble, and moving to another county. (Bad excuses I know but I was young and stupid)

I am Female in my early 40's and not very fit and about 2-3 stone overweight, which is why I'm hitting the gym again!

Now I'm wanting to start all over again and have found 2 Dojo's near me.

One is ITF style TKD which I have been to a few times and really enjoyed, even the jogging / exercises which I haven't done in years, but had to stop due to damaging Ligaments at work. And after several Physio sessions I am now able to return to jogging / gym work.

The second one is Koku-Ryu and is near the gym I've started going to to strength my knee back up.

Looking at Koku-Ryu it seems a lot like Shotokan and am not sure if I want to go back to that same style, but TKD is also very similar. I am so stuck as to which one to choose so any input would help me greatly!

Thank you in advance.

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.

I'm quite disappointed on the very little TV coverage of TKD in the 2012 Olympics. Just the other day...After 7 hours of viewing...I only saw TWO matches, and that's it, and it was towards the end of the 7th hour.

Did anyone see more TKD coverage than that? I just don't understand...I suppose that the more mainstream the sport, the more TV coverage.

Ouch!!

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.

Even If I'm Sparring A Child My Teacher Say's Nah If It's A Child You

Guy's Don't Need To Wear Cup's.

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

Mooresville, Indiana. The school is associated with George Dillman. I haven't seen anything odd yet.

You will.

I have a question about Karate in general that I washoping someone with some experience could answer for me.

When I was a teenager, I took Shotokan Karate for a short time. I didn't understand how the moves used in kata could be used in a real fight. Even when we sparred, all of the moves we learned were not fast enough if executed the same way as they are in kata. We never brought a hand back to our waist when punching or blocking when we sparred. Even the black belts wouldn't do that simply because it would leave them open to another punch or kick. And stances weren't used either. Both fighters would stand straight up and stay that way.Why train that way in kata when it's not used in sparring or fighting?

I understand that more power is generated by pulling one hand back when hitting or blocking, but if it was meant to use in an actual fighting situation I've never seen it. It just does not seem to be practical. I understand that stances give better stability, but it just doesn't seem that in a sparring match or an actual fighting situation, any of it is used. It becomes kick boxing to the point where you can't tell one style of Karate from another. The only time I've seen an obvious difference between styles is when kata are performed.

These questions have bothered me for awhile. I appreciate the time anyone takes to answer and explain because I know that I may be missing a point here since I'm not very well versed in all martial arts.

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.

brickshooter, off topic a bit, do you happen to have a link to that study? I'm not doubting the number a bit, but I'd like the citation for work reasons. If you're aware of where I can get it, it would save me a bunch of time hunting for it.

Thanks.

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.