Wastelander

Is it uncommon to wear gi pants under the hakama? It appears most students at the dojo I've looked at train without the hakama. It appears that the more senior students and instructor only wear the hakama, and they appear to be wearing gi pants beneath. And thank you for your input. I don't know that it's uncommon, but I did forget that some people do that--I think it's just a personal preference, like wearing an undershirt with your gi.

I believe most Aikidoka wear the same white keikogi used in some styles of jujutsu, kenjutsu, iaijutsu, etc. A judo gi or karate gi won't work, because the skirts of the jackets are slit up the sides, and so is the hakama that Aikidoka wear, so you'll be showing everyone your upper thighs if you wore them together. That said, if you're wearing gi pants instead of a hakama, I've seen lots of Aikidoka just wear single weave judo gi.

Welcome to the forum!

I think that concepts can be taught through the practice of techniques, as long as they are explained along the way. Sometimes, we will explain a concept before teaching techniques that utilize it. Other times, we teach a few related techniques and then point out the concepts being employed. Every now and then, we won't explain the concepts, but ask the students to figure them out, instead. I have found that a lot of instructors who don't teach/explain concepts, at all, often don't have many practical techniques to teach. To be able to explore the kata with any real depth, you have to have an understanding of the underlying concepts and methods, after all. You can memorize techniques, but if you never develop an understanding of how they work and fit together, you'll never be able to do more than parrot them.

Some 16 year olds can teach, and teach well--we have a (now 17) young man at our dojo who is an excellent instructor, and especially good with the younger kids. That said, he's been training since he was little, and tested for black belt along with me last year. This 16 year old blue belt doesn't have enough experience to teach much. He could certainly help out in a class led by a more experienced instructor, and teach basics to new students, but that's about it. Running a school is beyond his level of martial arts experience AND life experience.

Congratulations!

Not surprising because Phoenix, AZ isn't a small town, and it's been known to be one of the bedrocks of the MA. Indeed! There are certainly over 100 martial arts schools in the metro area, and with Trias starting his dojo here, the history is definitely longer than most in the US, outside of Hawaii. My Sensei actually has the kamiza from the Trias dojo, and we display it in our dojo.

Well, on my way from my house to the dojo, I pass by about 15 other martial arts schools, if you're only counting the ones closest to the roads I take. There are probably double that if you extend the radius another mile or so.

What are the chances? Is it like that to keep it out of the way when not in use, or do you hit it like that sometimes? Primarily to keep it out of the way, but I do occasionally hit it that way

Haha, that's actually my photo

Anything can be "too telegraphed," unless it's set up properly and performed efficiently. I have found that there are a great many situations in which a knife hand or forearm to the neck is an excellent choice of strike. There are also many situations in which a leopard fist to the throat is an excellent choice. There are also many in which an elbow is an excellent choice. Everything has a context in which it can be useful and effective.

Callouses can be removed, and I know several martial artists who do remove them because they are concerned about what people will think of them. I haven't personally had any comments about the bruises and callouses on my hands, but I also keep the callousing to a minimum--I don't need to have hands like Higaonna Sensei, or anything!

I have a 150lb 6ft Muay Thai bag from Outslayer, and it's magnificent. I had two, but sold one to a friend, and he loves it as well. The construction is solid, the striking surface is comfortable to hit, the fill is great, and it's hard to beat a 10 year warranty. I can't recommend them highly enough! I have never used one of those contoured bags, but I don't really miss it too much. When I want to work more upward strikes, I can hook up a Wrecking Ball bag. That said, I'm going to try putting a car tire inner tube around the bag to act as a striking surface for upward strikes. Not sure if it'll work or not, but there are companies selling "donut bags" for that purpose, so it seemed like a reasonable thing to try.

I wouldn't be hurt or offended if my Sensei told me, today, that we were doing away with the dogi and obi entirely, and to never wear my black belt again. It wouldn't erase what I've learned. That said, I love teaching, and people generally only want to learn karate from black belts, so that would be a bit of a problem. I know what you mean! On a few occasions, I have had 5th and 6th dan instructors with 40+ years of experience attend classes I am teaching. That's pretty awkward for me, to say the least! Thankfully, they have always been great

I've received lots of certificates for completing courses and seminars in my professional life, but never for martial arts courses or seminars. The ideas and relationships I get through those events are much more important than a piece of paper that tells people I was there.

Welcome to the forum, and welcome back to martial arts!

Our system has a lot of standing joint locks, chokes, sweeps, and throws. We also teach breakfalls and various methods of escaping from ground situations and standing back up. Outside of that, we have a grappling class for a more in-depth exploration of grappling, but it's usually pretty small. I do a lot of kata-based randori, though, so I get to work in a lot of our locks, chokes, sweeps, and throws against a resisting opponent, although we're careful about it.

Yes, I also heard it in Iain's podcast, and I had read it on a forum somewhere before that--it's not a huge secret, although it isn't exactly common knowledge among karateka. Still, Jesse always does a good job of spicing things up for wider consumption. Personally, I don't get too wrapped up in the names of kata. It's important to remember that Uchinaguchi (the native Okinawan language) is written with kana, and not kanji. That is to say that it is written phonetically, rather than with symbols that carry specific meanings. The Pinan kata are an exception, because Itosu wanted to get the Japanese on board with his plans. Naha-te systems that got their kata directly from China are also exceptions, because those names were generally written in hanzi (the Chinese equivalent of kanji). Of course, most people still translate those symbols the way the Japanese would, which isn't necessarily how the Chinese would use them, as we have seen with the Pinan example. Outside of those kata, though, the names of most Shuri-te/Tomari-te kata are written phonetically, so we have no way of knowing their originally intended meanings. People like to say that Naihanchi means "inner conflict," or that Passai means "breaching the enemy fortress," but these are meanings that were tacked on in the 20th century. The names are so old that, unless someone discovers some old written documentation, we will probably never know what the names originally meant.

Congratulations!

Yes, I noticed that, as well, when I was editing the video--it's one of those things you can't see when you're doing it, but the video doesn't lie. It may have been a subconscious adjustment due to my height, or to avoid bending my bad knee, but I'll be looking out for it now!

Hello everyone, This is the latest video my Sensei and I made for the dojo, and it looks at a flow drill for escaping kote-gaeshi (wrist reversal), and countering with waki-gatame (armpit hold), before transitioning to kote-gaeshi to continue the drill. As with most flow drills, this drill can be used as a platform drill, from which to launch into other techniques.

I was never interested in sumo until I watched a match early last year, and I've been hooked ever since. I only watch the six major basho in Japan, though. Hakuho and Terunofuji just had a great match, today!

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for sharing!

My first dojo encouraged everyone to set a goal for when they wanted to earn their black belt, as a motivational tool, so when I started training, that's what I did. The belts, themselves, were never really my motivation, though--I wanted to learn the stuff you weren't allowed to learn until that next belt rank, so it was really about the knowledge. When I moved out of state, as a brown belt, I had to train and research karate on my own for about 2 years, so that really emphasized how unimportant rank was. That said, finally testing for my black belt, 8 years after I started training, was still a big deal. Even though I know that rank is subjective, and doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, it was still a major milestone. Now that I've reached it, I'm back to my brown belt mentality, I think. I'm not really stressed out about the possibility of testing for Nidan next year, like I was stressed out about testing for Shodan. I love teaching, and I would love to do it for a living, but I don't feel like I need to chase higher levels of black belt to do that. What I need for that is more knowledge, more experience, and the resources to get things started, not a higher number after my name.

My Sensei ran into Ed Sumner Sensei (who organized the event) at a tournament a while back, and after some talking, my Sensei was invited to attend. Unfortunately for him, we have a summer camp program at the dojo that he has to supervise all day, so he couldn't go. He passed along the information to me, and Sumner Sensei said I was welcome to join them. I was the youngest person in attendance, and the only one without some kind of military or law enforcement background, though