Kirves

Yeah, I got it back - or to be more precice: I prevented him from getting it in the first place, then he got mad and attacked me. But I got help from a pizzaman who ran out from a nearby pizza place to help me out.

"Where's the Radio Shack?" "Taco Bell, Taco Bell, ...product placement" "Shirt ripper!" and the best: "They are French!"

You need WinZip to unpack the movie file "pereira.wmv" from the zip file. Then, if the actual file still doesn't work try these: 1. Update your Windows Media Player (see microsoft.com) 2. If that doesn't help, get a new divx codec (free downloads on the net)

Actually, I'm not sure. In my school, we train all the boxing techniques, but I am not quite sure if they are "required material" in Kyokushin or a choice made by the instructor. I do know that later (brown and black belts) Kyokushin focuses a lot on circular techniques insted of strickt linear ones we begin with. And part of the reason for this is the simple fact that trained fighters aren't going to attack you with any of the techniques we have counters in the kata for. You know... No thaiboxer or bjj:ka in a ring starts poking your chest, or grab your lapels and yell threats in your face, or push you around, or grab your wrist and start pulling you somewhere. These are all common barroom brawl/street figh attacks, but quite rare in any other ring but WWE. Exactly, if they are trained realistically (meaning: don't cling to tradition too tightly, old methods are useful, but adopt other methods too, evolution is the key). Also a good point. Some people just love to train karate of the old times. Other people love to train modernized stuff. Some love to train with K1 rules. As long as you enjoy it, no problem. Even great grapplers (like the Gracies) say over and over again, that they don't like going to ground in a street fight. One thing I must say: I think groundfighting skill is the best self defence method for women. Most attacks against women are rapes or similar situations where grappling skills are the best defence.

My very first street fight was against a robber who tried to take my sister's purse. He was very high on some drugs and I was drunk. What I learned was: a guy on drugs may not feel anything. Anything includes groin kicks, eye jabs and strikes to the side of the neck.

It also depends how well they can adapt to the circumstances. Both use certain rules when they spar in the dojo/dojang and their respective tournaments. How well they can work "outside the box" matters a lot. Also there's an issue of taking advantage of one's strengths. TKD guy's strengths are mobility and fast kicks. The Shotokan guy has stability and balance on his side and his rooting may give more power to his hand techniques.

I don't think injuries are that common if the quality of instruction and control is high. Sure, some bruising and an occational minor muscle injury is inevitable, but it is a martial art we are training, right? We are not dancing in a parade, we are training to fight. So I kind of feel that some danger of minor pain and injury is part of the game, when you pick up a hobby such as martial arts. There are risks involved in any extreme sport.

In your country. Don't forget that minor detail. Here only some grandmoms may resort to that kind of generalization (and if they do, then it's all judo, not karate - even the famous "karate chop" is a "judo chop" around the grannies here).

Grow big.

There's at least one "Shotokan vs. BJJ" clip on the Bullshido.com videoarchive. But as usual, it is one man against one man. There isn't really much to see there, the karateka goes down and gets his arm nearly or thoroughly broken.

As I said, times change. Back then they prepared for what they encountered. Nowadays the karateka do the same: prepare for what they encounter, and nowadays they encounter other martial artists, so they have modernized their methods. What's the problem with that? All arts better do that or they wither into meaningless collections of useless techniques. It is called evolving.

I don't have a library with me at the moment, but generally my info comes from books of such karate researchers as McCarthy, Bishop, Jalamo (who hasn't written in English), Nagamine and so on.

First of all, we were talking mostly in past tense. As I said, during the last century or so, many styles have adopted a more modern approach. Actually, I'd say most styles nowadays. Of course! I'm clearly not explaining myself well enough... It wasn't as if they ruled out fighting experts. It just happened to be that back then very few experts were around. You know, one of the guys got beaten up in the bar, the next day he was talking to the teacher and fellow students what he could've done and then they figured it out. Usually they were beaten up by a drunken bulley in the bar, not by a foreign thaiboxing champ. So the situations they tried to figure defence for naturally flowed towards the street tactics. There were no karate tournaments so there wasn't any interest in developing tournament techniques either. Sai was part of Ryukyu Kobujutsu way before Tou-di or Kara-te (The Chinese Hand -technique) ever reached the shores. For some quick history lesson go here: http://www.rkagb.com/ and click "History" from the menu. Also remember, that sai as a weapon came from China to Okinawa. In China there were lots of sword wielding attackers. I am the master of confusion, I can confuse anyone on this board anytime. I guess I have already proven that many, many times.

TJS, you bring up a good point. And it wasn't my intention to make any art or style sound bad, just told some history. Historically, a couple hundred years ago, karate training was focused on countering attacks from an untrained person - nothing more, nothing less. The reason for this probably was that the Okinawan karateka didn't have much fights with expert fighters from other areas (I would guess). While in other countries all the fighters challenged each others and there were even fights between martial art schools, on Okinawa karate was sometimes even trained in hiding, there were few open dojos where all the fighters from across the world came to challenge or train. The karateka just wanted to be able to defend against the attacks they met on the street, or bar, or docks. And they worked on that aspect alone. And there often is a slight difference between how one is attacked in... say a bar and what happens in a Muay Thai ring for example. In a bar, the situation often starts with someone either grabbing you or pushing you. These are the attacks karate was originally designed to counter. Muay Thai doesn't cover these aspects except indirectly (meaning: you can punch or kick him when he touches you ). Of course, we must remember that nothing is black and white. When I say something like "the karateka on Okinawa did/didn't do X" it certainly doesn't mean that noone ever did under any circumstances. It is just a generalization.

Theoretically, you don't have to tie training methods to a style (for example, you can practice kungfu like Muay Thai fighters train, or like Shotokan people train - as sparring, contact, equipment and other such issues are concerned). But in practice, this has pretty much happened. Many arts and styles cling to the training methods that the founding masters used, and some even frown on some other methods used by rival styles.

Regarding you peeking at what other arts are doing, yet going forward with the one main art: Nah, you're just one curious master!

You can buy a wrestler's dummy doll. Or throw friends. And you can always go through the steps and moves even you're not throwing anything. And you can sit back, relax and use visualization methods. Granted, none of these beat the real thing, but may help in getting the finer details of the technique better into the muscle memory.

When I started karate, I was always told by the instructor that I had great talent. He said he's seen nobody ever develop skill so fast as I. What I didn't tell him was that I practised at home every day. I kept a training log and made sure I practiced all the techniques taught so far 300 reps per day and all the kata for several reps too. My then-girlfriend practiced too and I did all the partner drills with her, but she didn't care to do the solo drills that I did. I don't know if that is of any help, but it's an anecdote about how the instructor may not know what's behind the story. I never thought of myself as talented, I have had terrible time just trying to figure out some basics that were a breeze to others - but I found my salvation: additional solo training to fine tune the mechanics and muscle memory so the next time in class, I was in par (or above) with the rest of the group.

No problem. Just remember, a belt rank is comparable only within the same organization. I might add that in some styles reaching 1. dan means you can open a dojo and teach. Some styles require 2. dan, or higher, I know of an art where you have to be 5. dan to open a school but then again, that art has 15 dan ranks total. Some styles have technical requirements for dan ranks, some just add dans after certain amount of years of active training. And so on. So it is better to forget about comparing belts between styles, arts or organizations.

I think students should spar with different kinds of rules. Sometimes spar bareknucled, with no head punches allowed. Sometimes put the gloves on and allow head punches. Why limit yourself to only one way?

I have been to many dojos and different styles. The amount of kyu ranks have ranged from 3 to 10. It is totally up to the style, a style/organization determines how it's students are ranked and that's it. There is no standard. Same with dan ranks. Some arts only have one black belt. Some have 15. Some have a maximum of five or eight or whatever dans. There are no standards.

In my school, it is embarrassing if there isn't a puddle of sweat underneath you whenever you remain in the same place for more than a second.

If your abs aren't visible, then you are carrying fat. Doing crunches builds stronger and bigger muscles. Losing fat brings the muscles visible. Of course it is easier to bring bigger muscles visible than small ones, but if you carry fat under your skin, the muscles will always look smooth and undefined

Welcome!

Yes, true ninjutsu is taught but only to few. The curricula like Bujinkan and Gengukan teach several old Japanese systems as a modern mixture, and some of these systems are ninjutsu. But in both curricula, the other systems (the "samurai" jujutsu) are taught first and you have to get up to the higher dan ranks until you start learning stuff from the ninjutsu systems in the curriculum.