Wastelander

While I agree that one shouldn't rush through their kata, I feel that there is also value in doing so from time to time. If the movements must be applied quickly, and blended together, then it only makes sense that we should practice them that way, at least occasionally. Consider Tetsuhiro Hokama Sensei: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv7GBs-LE1A He runs a karate history museum out of his dojo on Okinawa, and is considered a master of Goju-Ryu karate, which is a fact that I don't think many would debate. From what I understand, though, he regularly runs his kata the way you see in the video, above. It has sections that are controlled and precise, but it also has sections that are seemingly-sloppy flurries of movement. He says that he does this because of the applications of the kata, and that makes perfect sense to me. Now, all that said, I feel that this is really only beneficial if you've learned how to do all the movements properly and precisely, first. That requires you to slow way down, and practice at a regular tempo.

Hello, everyone! My Sensei and I just made this video showing a simple armlock flow drill, using tuidi-waza from our kata. It doesn't teach how to do each individual lock, but rather how to transition from one technique to another in response to your opponent's resistance. I thought some folks here might find it useful!

I wear UnderArmour for the moisture wicking and cooling benefit, rather than the skin protection. Phoenix is hot, and overheating is bad

We have some who do, but most do not. I always wear UnderArmour, which works quite well for me. Honestly, I'm not sure why everyone doesn't wear a rashguard or UnderArmour under their gi.

Everyone has different criteria when they go looking for a martial arts school, so it's almost impossible to say that there is just one thing that brings people in. I would say that our three biggest draws are location (our students generally live somewhat nearby), youth programs (after-school and day camps), and curriculum (we offer a fairly wide variety of material).

Welcome back! Do you train with Ray Owles Sensei, by any chance? I know he's in that area.

I fairly regularly tell students to look things up on YouTube--I certainly have! In fact, I have actually learned the pattern of a kata entirely from video, before, so that I could get proper corrections on it when the instructor visited for a few weeks, rather than have him spend a week teaching me the pattern before getting to the good stuff. The trouble is, as you've discovered, that not all styles want to publicly post videos of their kata. I think this is silly, especially considering the technology age we are living in. My organization doesn't tend to like it, but we post stuff, anyway. Luckily, there are some videos of Chibana Chosin (the founder of our style) that are publicly available, so I can refer people to those, if nothing else. My recommendation would be to ask your instructor if you can record him/her running the kata you need. You can agree to keep it private, if that's what they want, but you would still have a video to use for reference, and you would know it is exactly what you are supposed to do. Since every dojo and every branch of a style has subtle differences--even if you did find a Kenshin-kan video, somewhere, it might not be exactly the way you're supposed to do it.

Welcome to the forum!

1. Speed - You are actually talking about two different things, here--physical speed, and mental speed. Physical speed can be increased in a number of ways. Plyometric and explosive weight training (Olympic lifts) will do that. Proper body mechanics will also do that, if you drill your basics with that in mind. Mental speed will develop naturally over the course of your training, I believe. The more you spar and drill, the faster your reaction time will be, and the less you will have to think about what to do. 2. Strength - This one is pretty straight-forward; start a strength training regimen of some kind. Check out Michael Clarke's book on Hojo Undo, and/or look into modern programs like Stronglifts, Wendler, or Starting Strength. Get the right nutrition, lift heavy things, and get some sleep, and you will get stronger. 3. Breakfalls - It seems like your main concern is with front falls, which isn't surprising, since they are the scariest breakfall to learn, and quite jarring. Have you tried practicing them from a kneeling position on the floor, so you don't have to fall as far?

I use a 150lb 6ft Muay Thai bag from Outslayer, and it is fantastic. I would never buy anything else, now that I've used it. It's heavy enough to give good feedback and resistance, dense enough to have a conditioning effect, soft enough to prevent injury, smooth enough to not tear your hands up, and tall enough to work strikes from ankles to head. I think I have used gloves or wraps just a handful of times, but usually only if I have some kind of injury with my hands. I really don't like using them--they mess up my alignment and change the feel of the strikes, plus the slapping sound of gloves tends to make you think you're hitting harder than you are. If you get a bag heavier than about 50lbs, you probably shouldn't start hitting it as hard as you can bareknuckle, because you'll hurt your hands, but you can build up to it. I've gotten to the point where I can do about 20 minutes of bagwork with no ill effects. Much longer than that, and my knuckles will tend to bruise, but it's not the end of the world.

What kind of rope/striking surface did you use for the Makiwara? At the dojo, we use Shureido leather makiwara pads. I have made leather pads for my old dojo. My personal makiwara, I made a pad the traditional way because I'm a nerd like that, although I had to use manila rope instead of rice rope. I feel its important to point out that wrapping the board in rope is NOT how to make a makiwara pad. They were made out of a bundle of rope or straw, which was then wrapped in rope, and the whole assembly was tied to the board. It is a much different surface to strike than just wrapping the board in rope. Here is mine: http://s13.postimg.org/isarr68x3/Homemade_Makiwara_Pad.jpg

I can't really comment from firsthand experience, because I've never used sine wave theory power generation. That said, it seems to me that the sine wave theory is an over-emphasis of one aspect of power generation. Basically, dropping your bodyweight into a strike can add power, and so can driving your weight upward, depending on how you are striking. That said, this rising and falling is only one aspect of power generation, and it seems the sine wave theory uses it to the exclusion of everything else. Now, there are also people who do the same thing with hip twisting, and with driving forward. They will neglect all aspects of power generation aside from the one they want to specialize in. In reality, to get the most power out of your techniques, you must be able to rise/fall, twist, and drive/pull, all together, depending on the technique you are using.

I've made a makiwara, a kakiya/kakete-biki, several chi-ishi, some nigiri-ishi, a couple tetsutaba, and some padded weapons for sparring. Although it isn't technically necessary, I feel like at least making your own chi-ishi is almost a rite of passage for karateka, nowadays

I imagine you have probably damaged your rotator cuff, but that's only because some of what you describe is like what I have experienced with that injury. You should really get it checked out by a doctor--they may give you anti-inflammatories and a physical therapy regimen that can help.

Well, in an interview in 2012, he said he started training with the Machados "28 years ago," which would be 31 years ago, now. That means that, at the very least, he's been training since 1984, and he would have been 44 at the time.

I haven't, but my instructor has. He was given a Godan certificate several years ago by a man he highly respected, and did train with periodically, so he accepted the certificate and keeps it at home. He does not claim that rank, though, because he wasn't tested for it, and because it is for another style--albeit, one that he earned Shodan in before he switched to Shorin-Ryu. He just keeps it as a kind of momento from a mentor.

Congratulations!

Congratulations on your promotion! Unfortunately, none of us can really tell you why you didn't double grade, because we weren't there. Perhaps you did very well for a 9th kyu, but not quite well enough for 8th? Perhaps you simply haven't been training long enough to meet the requirement for 8th? Maybe you don't know the new material needed to test for 8th? Maybe the panel was tired and wanted to go home early? Who knows! In the end, it's not that important, so I wouldn't worry about it

Welcome to the forum, and welcome back to karate!

I'm in agreement with Wado Heretic--the first two seasons were great, but it seems to have gone a bit downhill. That said, my Sensei's girlfriend managed Master Ken's tours for a while, and we like him anyway

As with a lot of the terminology of karate, different people prefer different names for the same thing (uchi-uke vs. soto-uke, anyone?). It is, admittedly, a bit harder in this case, because I have no idea what the word "tou" translates to! As far as I can tell, it's an Uchinaguchi word, not a Japanese one. It seems, to me, that "tou" is a catch-all category for impact training tools that are post-like and attached to the ground. I have seen the word "tou" used to describe bamboo bundles, solid wooden posts, split wooden posts, and wooden posts with arms. The word "taketaba" literally means "bamboo bundle," and is technically the most appropriate term for that tool. "Ude-kitae" seems to almost exclusively be used to describe a solid wooden post with no arms, but I have also seen it used to describe the bamboo bundles. "Ude-makiwara" is generally used to describe wooden posts that have been split several times down the middle to add flex, and these also do not have any arms. It is fairly rare that I hear someone call a solid wooden post with arms anything other than a "tou," although it does occasionally happen.

I'm not that big into podcasts, honestly, but I do follow Iain Abernethy's podcast, which I highly recommend. A couple of my karate friends also have podcasts--KversusJ and Chop Talk.

I've used a mook jong (Wing Chun dummy) in the past, but I didn't like it very much. I haven't used a sagi-makiwara, except for when I use a smaller heavy bag as one, and that's not exactly the same. I would like one, but just haven't gotten around to making one. I will say that karate does have two types of traditional training dummies, that I'm aware of, but they've largely fallen out of use. The first is the tou, which is a solid round post that usually has one arm, but sometimes more (like a mook jong), and often they have various types of padding added to strike. These are two examples of tou from Garry Lever Sensei's dojo. The first is a very simple one--just a rope-wrapped post with one arm and a tire for kicking/sweeping. The second is fancier, and features moveable arms made of spa tubing so they can be bent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTw_qfIMJbY The other type of traditional karate training dummy is the kakiya, or kakete-biki. It is also a round post with some type of padding (usually), but it features an arm on a hinge that can be moved up and down, and sometimes slightly side-to-side. That arm was traditionally weighted down with stones, to give it resistance, but these days people tend to use springs or bungee cords. This article from Chris Denwood Sensei discusses this type of training dummy: https://www.chrisdenwood.com/blog/kakiya-the-okinawan-wooden-man

I don't disagree that karate, as a whole, could stand to have more contact. We have run into an awful lot of people at karate tournaments who simply can't handle being hit, at all--even at intermediate and advanced levels. This gets interesting, because we train with a medium level of contact, and people at tournaments notice the difference. My Sensei has been asked, on numerous occasions, if we train full-contact. We don't, but we certainly train with harder contact than the average school at these competitions. Some people want to learn martial arts for the art of it, and for the health benefits, but not the martial part. I would like to think that everyone can benefit from martial arts, even if they don't want to fight. If they insist on no contact, or only very light contact, then they will be limited in what they can learn, but that doesn't mean that they can't benefit from it at all.

I don't use a speedbag, but I certainly use heavy bags--I'm partial to the 6ft 150lb Muay Thai bags, myself. That allows me to work strikes all along the height of a human body, and the weight gives good feedback, although I wouldn't mind it being a bit heavier. As far as workouts go, I mix it up. Sometimes, I just work stationary kihon-waza on the bag. Sometimes, I work techniques from kata on the bag. Sometimes I work sparring combinations on the bag. Sometimes, I tie a belt to the bag and work in joint locks. Sometimes I take the bag down and work sweeps, throws, and ground-and-pound with it. Just depends what I feel like working on at the time!