Wastelander

That's awesome! It's great when kids are involved and excited in their training! I started my training under Joey Johnston, back in Morton, actually

Well, which hammerlock are we looking at, specifically? There are several ways of applying locks which would be classified as such. Generally, though, you can roll out of it, limp-arm out of it, or grab your own arm and physically oppose the lock with strength.

Welcome to karate, and to the forum!

For those who don't know, the Shorin-Ryu that I practice comes from the Shorinkan--and organization that was founded by Nakazato Shugoro Sensei in 1975 to continue the development and transmission of the karate that he learned from his teacher, Chibana Chosin Sensei. Born in 1920, Nakazato Sensei has seen a great deal of change in the world, and has been a major contributor to the development of Shorin-Ryu karate. He began training in karate in 1935, under a Shito-Ryu instructor named Iju Seiichi Sensei. He enlisted in the Japanese military during World War 2, acting as a bayonet instructor and manned torpedo pilot, before retiring back to Okinawa and becoming a student of Chibana Sensei. As a senior student of Chibana, Nakazato Sensei passed on all of the material that he was taught by the legendary Shorin-Ryu master, but his curriculum also included his own material--namely Fukyu no Kata, Gorin no Kata, and a set of yakusoku kumite drills--and the Gojushiho kata that he was taught by Iju Sensei. Here is a short clip of Nakazato Sensei teaching ashi-waza (leg technique) and kuzushi (balance breaking) concepts on his last trip to the United States, at the age of 80: Nakazato Sensei at the age of 90, demonstrating his favorite kata, Kusanku Dai: Nakazato Sensei as a young Kyoshi, demonstrating Chinto: A few weeks ago, Nakazato Sensei celebrated his 96th birthday, which is quite a milestone, even for famously long-lived Okinawans. Unfortunately, he had been having some health problems lately and, three days ago, on August 25th (on Okinawa, which was the 24th for those of us on this side of the world), he passed on from this life as the result of complications from pneumonia. Nakazato Shugoro Sensei built the largest Shorin-Ryu organization in the world, and contributed to the development of many outstanding karateka. While I never had the pleasure of training with him, personally, he was a great master of karate, a great man, and an inspiration to everyone in the Shorinkan. He will truly be missed, and I wanted to spread the word of his passing to any who may be interested. For those who would like to send flowers or letters to his son, Nakazato Minoru Sensei, I can provide an address.

Congratulations, and welcome to the forum!

You might break fingers or toes with a shinai, but it has enough flex that you shouldn't break any other bones. It'll leave you with a heck of a welt and bruise, and the edges of the slats can cut you. Additionally, you can cause ligament and tendon damage that takes a long time to heal.

I don't regularly teach our fitness kickboxing class, but I do occasionally cover it. Basically, as long as the students have good enough form to be safe, we don't dwell on it. Because it's a fitness class, intensity is more important than the development of skill. Even so, with enough classes, you'll see people learning to hit harder just by virtue of hitting things on a regular basis with some simple instruction. I usually start the class with low intensity, mobility focused warm-ups, such as side bends, hip rotations, and arm circles. Then, we get into slightly more intense warm-ups like air squats, sit-ups, and push-ups. After that, I generally have them work some simple striking combinations in the air, with footwork, until they're sweating. At that point, I'll either bring out punching mitts or heavy bags, so they can work the combinations on actual targets. I'll usually alternate between working combinations in the air, and working them on targets, and I'll mix in exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, and sit-ups in the middle of combinations. Toward the end of the class, I'll usually teach a self defense technique that they can drill as a cool down, and then we spend about 5-8 minutes stretching out.

We have those titles, but we don't generally use them in speaking with each other--we just use "Sensei" or "Senpai," as is appropriate, most of the time. As far as titles go, Shihan requires a license from the organization on Okinawa, and you have to test in the Honbu dojo for that. Renshi, Kyoshi, and Hanshi, however, come automatically with rank for us; Renshi for 5th/6th, Kyoshi for 7th/8th, and Hanshi for 9th/10th. When you pass you tests for those ranks, people just start referring to you by those titles, although typically only in writing.

Congratulations to him!

Best of luck to you!

Hello, everyone! This week's Waza Wednesday is a special presentation of applications for the entirety of the kata, Kusanku Sho. These are not the only applications for the kata--or even the only applications that we teach and practice in our dojo--but they are some simple examples that you can use in your own training. The distance between the attacker and defender has been increased to allow for easier viewing on video, but should be closer in training. The attacks shown are also just examples, as the specific attack isn't as important as positioning, points of contact, and direction of movement. I figured that some folks here may find it interesting to compare with how they do the kata, and it may give some ideas to play with in the dojo.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome back!

That is very terrible news, Bob, and I'm very sorry for your loss! It's bad enough to lose one friend and colleague, but to lose 6 at once must be devastating, and I can imagine how much turmoil it causes in your organization, as well. I hope you are doing alright, and are able to pull things together.

Congratulations and many thanks, Brian!

We have found that the WKF shin/foot gear is actually very good. It protects well, holds up to abuse well, and stays in place pretty well. It's also pretty light, so it doesn't really impact your strikes too much. Personally, I don't like the gloves, but I also don't do point sparring, and tend to spar more like MMA. They keep your hands partially curled the whole time, which protects your partners from accidentally getting fingers in the eyes, and the padding is sufficient for keeping your hand protects, but the thumb is definitely completely exposed.

As martial artists, I would like to think that we have the control and composure to walk away from unnecessary confrontation. That said, sometimes you can find yourself drawn into an argument, and sometimes those can get very heated. In this week's Waza Wednesday video, we look at when one of these heated arguments becomes a physical confrontation, with the possibility of a weapon becoming involved. Bear in mind that, of course, leaving the situation is going to be the best course of action for self defense. This is primarily looking at what to do if you don't have that option, for whatever reason.

I'm certainly not offended, and everyone has their own views on their martial arts. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of techniques in the Bubishi are grappling techniques, or defenses against grappling--not just in appearance, but also in their actual description. This is something that my Sensei and I discussed quite a bit as we were putting this video together. Now, that isn't to suggest that karate is all grappling and no striking. It is definitely a percussive art. That said, developing the ability to strike someone hard enough to do damage doesn't really require kata or technique manuals. It also doesn't really require technique breakdown videos, so while we teach more striking than grappling in our dojo, it can sometimes appear to be the opposite if you just go by our videos. Dealing with grappling situations can be more complex, and require more complex responses, and that's where kata and manuals can be more helpful. We don't just see this in karate, either. Many Chinese martial arts are considered to be "striking arts" and yet are filled with grappling applications. Even Muay Thai, which is currently considered to be one of the best striking arts around, in the sport fighting world, contains a lot of grappling techniques in the clinch, and even more in its older (Muay Boran) iterations. I also practice KishimotoDi, which is very old-style Shuri-Te which has had its applications passed down without being lost over the generations, and it contains an awful lot of throwing for what most would consider to be a striking art. There are those who choose to place karate into a very defined box, which is fine for them, but I don't like such limitations on my study.

So, I tested for my Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt) on Wednesday, July 20th, along with another Nidan candidate, two Shodan candidates, and several brown belt candidates. The testing panel consisted of: John Dominguez, Shodan Jim Mitchell, Shodan Richard Poage, Godan Michael Newland, Rokudan Jeff Allred, Rokudan Eddie Bethea, Hachidan We started off with a calisthenic and aerobic circuit that completely wore out my arms and made my calves cramp, before getting into demonstrating curriculum material. The material covered included all 19 kata in the Shorinkan curriculum, 14 yakusoku kumite drills, somewhere between 30-40 self defense techniques, bunkai, and sparring. I'm still sore all over and exhausted, 4 days later, but I made it through and was awarded my Nidan. Everyone else who tested also passed, which was great for them! Here is the whole group after the test, minus Newland Sensei, who had to leave a bit early: And here is me with my Sensei, Richard Poage, and his Sensei, Eddie Bethea:

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum!

Congratulations!

Welcome to the forum!

I think that the tradition of practicing karate against straight punches comes from the idea that the attacker "gets to practice punching" when you do it that way. Personally, I think there are better and more consistent ways to practice punching, and defensive drills should be focused on developing defensive skills. In my dojo, we practice against, straight punches, haymakers, "hockey punches," etc. We also tend to mix them up somewhat randomly, as well as incorporating grabs into the punches, because real fights are chaotic like that.

The release date isn't actually until next Tuesday, the 21st, but I do have an advance copy to review for my site. I haven't read it all, just yet, but the new forewords are interesting.