Wastelander

A 100% cotton gi can usually be shrunk some by washing it in hot water, or even soaking it in boiling water. If it's really too big, though, there's only so much you can do. You may have to have it altered by a tailor, or return it.

I would agree with you, mal103, that all styles should have those qualities. The difference is in the emphasis and approach to using them. We certainly get up-close-and-personal and in-your-face, and we use limb control quite a bit, but we go about it a bit differently than Goju-Ryu. Still, there was a great deal of cross-over, and the seminar actually helped me understand my own style better, not just the kata we were covering. Cross-training is good stuff!

Over the weekend, I attended a Seiyunchin bunkai seminar via Skype with one of Taira Masaji Sensei's senior students, Paul Enfield. Although I am a Shorin-Ryu practitioner, I have picked up some other kata throughout my karate journey, and Seiyunchin is one of them. I've been working on correcting it to be more like the Goju-Ryu version, since it was changed to be more like the style I used to practice (which was not Goju-Ryu). The seminar was actually very helpful for my understanding of how to practice the kata, since knowing the applications of the movements is key to understanding how you are supposed to move. The applications, themselves, were great! Goju-Ryu is a very up-close-and-personal, in-your-face system, and Taira Sensei's approach is heavily reliant on limb control and breaking the structure of your opponent. So much so, in fact, that videos of it always end up recieving "looks like Wing Chun" comments . I know that Taira Sensei's approach is not necessarily the same as all Goju-Ryu instructors, even amongst other current and former Jundokan members. Does anyone here on KF have experience with Taira Sensei's methods? If not, I would also be interested in hearing about other branches of Goju-Ryu, and how they approach the application of Seiyunchin.

This kind of thing happens to me all the time. I have dislocated a rib twice--once by setting down our rabbits' water dish, and once by reaching to the top shelf for a box of cereal. I regularly put a kink in my back by getting up out of bed, or leaning over to pick up something light.

The advice you've gotten about hydration and electrolytes, so far, is solid--that will solve most cramping issues. A trick I learned from my sister-in-law, who is a competitive runner, is to actually eat a banana before a workout. It has all the electrolytes you need, along with some sugar to keep your blood glucose levels from dropping too far, and the Potassium also helps prevent muscle cramps. Also, you might just be squeezing your hands too hard

We don't have a slogan, but there are some phrases that float around the dojo an awful lot. "Every movement has a purpose." "You have to hit things to be good at hitting things." "Pain does not exist in this dojo!" Etc.

Welcome to the forum!

Congratulations, Brian! This is a huge accomplishment--thank you for all you have done!

My question, with this, is "why are you not happy about this?" Is it because you can't train properly with those partners, or is it because you don't like being partnered with a child when you are an adult? This is an important distinction, in my opinion. If you legitimately can't train properly because your partner is too small, too weak, or not serious enough, then that is certainly a problem that your Sensei should address. If it is just that you do not like working with someone so young (and I can understand why you would feel that way), I would urge you to try to overcome that feeling.

Congratulations!

Welcome back!

A study was recently published in The Journal of Neurophysiology by a group of researchers at Ohio University regarding the effect of mental training on physical strength. Their study used wrist strength as their metric, and had three groups of people participating--one group that simply had their wrist strength tested with no interference (control group), one group that had their wrist strength tested before and after wearing a brace that immobilized their wrist for several weeks, and one group that did the same thing but also went through mental visualization exercises. The study found that the group who used the mental visualization exercises lost about half as much strength as the other group that had their wrists immobilized. Here is the article: http://jn.physiology.org/content/112/12/3219 I found this to be very interesting, for a couple of reasons. First of all, this is great news for anyone who is injured or sick! I've suspected this for quite a long time, actually, so it's nice to see a scientific study back it up. In addition, I know that mental visualization is commonly practiced by high-level athletes (including martial artists) to improve their performance. I recall a quote from Motobu Choki, where he said that he would break a sweat just thinking about practicing kata, and I feel that this trick has been known for a very long time.

Welcome to the forum!

I'm a very poor runner--my lungs are permanently damaged from childhood asthma, my feet are pronated, and my knees are bad. I can't run very fast for very long, even under the influence of adrenaline. For self defense purposes, for me, it's important to be able to deliver maximum damage in a very short time so I can escape at a sustainable pace. Strength/explosiveness (and technique, of course) are very important for that, in my opinion.

I'm sorry to read all of this--I hope you recover quickly, and can get back on the floor!

Congratulations!

Yes, there are kiai points, but I often don't audibly kiai when I practice by myself. In the first kata, Wansu, the kiai points are on the pull/uppercut after the front kick, and on the downward palm heel strike after the spin. In Gojushiho/Useishi, the kiai points are at the first standing swim-block/spear hand facing the front, and at the double spear hand facing the rear in cat stance. Of course, those are just for the styles I learned these kata in. Other styles and organizations have kiai points in different places.

A few years ago, a friend of mine started a tradition of welcoming the New Year with kata out in the yard. This year, we decided to run the first kata we ever learned (Wansu), and the last kata we learned (for me, that's Gojushiho/Useishi). I've kind of Shorin-Ryu-ized Wansu, so I apologize to my Shuri-Ryu friends for that . It's colder for my friend, back in Illinois, than it is for me here in Arizona, but tonight was still pretty chilly (less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit) and rainy. Normally, we do this without shoes of any kind, but I forgot to clean the yard up, today, so I had to wear sandals. That actually turned out to be worse, because the wet grass not only made my feet numb, but also made the sandals stick to the ground, and made my feet slide around on the sandals!

Happy New Year, and welcome back to karate!

When I got my black belt, it was pretty stiff and didn't want to stay tied. Every time I wore it, I would loosen the knot and then yank it tight, again, which helped it break in.

I don't personally have PTSD, but I know martial artists who do, and we have one student at our dojo who does. Triggers and reactions are different for every person, so it's hard to make generalizations. Whenever someone starts having those feelings, I have found that it's usually best to stop whatever is going on, immediately. After that, though, it depends on the person. Some people want to be left alone to deal with it. Others want to be comforted by people they trust. Some may need medication. Etc.

I could be wrong, since I don't do it, but I believe it functions basically the same way as regular point fighting, but full contact is allowed and a KO is an automatic victory.

I don't know any serious judoka that don't have at least one bad knee. It's very hard on the body if you practice it with intensity. Since most clubs train for competition, that's most of what you will find. You can do it much more gently, and safely, but you won't have nearly as much success in randori or shiai.

Welcome to the forum!

Unfortunately, there is no evidence that I've seen--except one Westerner's unattributed claim in his book, and other books quoting it--to support the idea that the three modern Naihanchi kata were ever part of a single, longer kata. Many people do run all three together, though, to save time with the yoi positions and bowing. If I could count all three as one for this thread, I totally would! As it stands, though, what we know of as Naihanchi Shodan seems to be the direct descendent of an older Naihanchi kata, while Nidan was probably created by Matsumura, and Sandan was created by Itosu, although it's possible that Itosu created both sequels.