Wastelander

A wise man once said, "there are no advanced techniques; only basics done in an advanced way." I honestly can't remember who that was, but he taught a seminar that my Sensei went to, years ago, and his advice stuck. Drill your basics until they are automatic. Only then will the more advanced techniques even make sense. Don't worry about how long it takes, either--you have the rest of your life to learn karate

Welcome to the forum!

It occurred to me that I recommend "kettlebell clinch pull-ups" to people a lot, so I recorded a quick video demonstrating them over the weekend.

Hello everyone, I recorded this video really quickly between classes yesterday to explain a throwing application for the morote-tsuki in Naihanchi for a friend of mine who asked about it. The audio is messed up because there was a CD player near the camera when I was recording, but hopefully what I'm trying to explain still comes across well enough--I didn't have time to redo it, at the time, but I'm hoping to make a better video on it later. It's nothing special, or groundbreaking, but I thought some people here might enjoy it, even if you can't hear the majority of what I'm saying . I added annotations for clarity.

You don't need to be in shape to start training in karate--it will get you into shape if it is trained with intensity and focus. When I started training in karate, I lost nearly 30lbs in a year. That said, you can certainly improve your karate by getting into even better shape than karate alone can get you.

I also like Safroot's post. A McDojo is any martial arts school that does anything it can to make money, and doesn't care about the quality of what is being taught. That said, there are also commercial schools--martial arts schools used to make a living for the instructors--that are NOT McDojos, because they keep quality up. Pretty much nothing is ever totally black and white

I practice kata, kihon, and goshin-waza in my living room, and do heavy bag work, makiwara work, and maize bag work in my garage. I've also trained in the woods, on beaches, and in a variety of other places, but not regularly.

After the UFC event on Saturday, I came across this article: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1994748-johny-hendricks-vs-robbie-lawler-how-safe-sparring-may-change-contact-sports I have always thought that keeping contact (to the head, especially) on the lighter side is much safer and more beneficial than going all-out. It's interesting to see that idea gaining some traction.

I'm all for it--my dojo hosts open sparring events 3-4 times a year, and I periodically visit other schools to spar with them. Aside from the occasional person with something to prove, it always goes quite well. MasterPain has a very good point about the standing locks, though. Setting up rules and expectations in advance is definitely a must!

Welcome to the forum, Luther unleashed--it's always nice to see another martial artist from Phoenix here! I would wholeheartedly agree with your recommendation on how to approach finding a school, but there is a bit of a caveat; you have to know what "good" looks like . When I found my current instructor, I had already been training in another style of karate, as well as judo, for several years, so I knew what to look for. I didn't even know what rank my instructor held for months after I started . Your instructor isn't one that I've heard of, but it looks like you guys are out in the West Valley, so that isn't surprising. We're having some seminars and an open sparring event at my dojo over the next month, so if you guys are interested, we'd be happy to have you over!

This is, quite honestly, a very complicated and touchy subject. Since I am a man, I can only make educated guesses and pass along what I've been told by female martial artists. There seem to be two primary reasons that more women aren't involved in martial arts: 1. They have been conditioned all their lives to believe that hitting/wrestling/fighting/sweating/etc. isn't feminine, and therefore isn't something they should be doing. 2. When they do decide to try doing those things, they are made to feel uncomfortable about it by men and women, alike--even those that they train with. Both of these are societal issues, really, but I feel it's vitally important that every individual that is aware of it should be working to change their behavior. One person at a time, this is something that can be changed.

Well, by definition, "endurance" and "stamina" are synonyms and mean the same thing. Some people in the exercise industry will say that one is cardiovascular and one is muscular, but none of them seem to agree on which is which. The term "body conditioning" usually refers to the process of conditioning the body to take impact (punches to the abdomen, kicks to the legs, forearm smashing, etc.). If you're referring to the term "conditioning" in terms of fitness, though, then I would say that is the process of becoming accustomed to a particular activity at a particular level of intensity. In that case, you're looking at specialized exercises and routines that are meant to specifically improve your performance at a given task.

My old dojo strongly recommended/quietly required students to purchase all martial arts uniforms and equipment through them. To be fair, though, they had a wholesale discount and ended up charging the same price as what you would pay online. My current dojo will gladly order equipment/uniforms (same deal with the pricing) but doesn't require it.

Pull-ups are an excellent exercise for building strength in the arms and back which, in addition to being important for muscular balance and posture, are vital for clinchwork and grappling situations. I try to do some variation of pull-ups every time I work out--and there are many different variations to try that will focus on different movements and muscle groups. My current favorite is the kettlebell clinch pull-up.

In our case, they wear an Oreo belt (black with a white stripe down the middle).

We use a jun-shodan rank for students under the age of 18 (must be at least 14) if they can pass a proficiency test proving that they know the material necessary for shodan. This is partially because many teen students that young can't pass the adult test, and partially because they aren't typically mature enough as people or as martial artists. When they reach 16 years of age, my Sensei will consider testing them for shodan, but they will have to pass the same test as an adult student. ETA: Oh, I almost forgot--there is a 1 year minimum time between ikkyu and jun-shodan, and from jun-shodan to shodan. For adults, who don't get jun-shodan ranks, the wait time is 1 year minimum between ikkyu and shodan. During all of that time, students are certainly expected to be helping around the dojo in a number of ways.

Traditionally, they were made with rice straw rope. There are a couple places that seem to sell pre-wrapped rice straw rope makiwara pads in the UK, but that's it. I did find a supplier in China willing to ship rope anywhere, but it's very expensive. I made mine out of manilla rope, although hemp would have been softer.

Your kiai is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is giving you a boost in power--a university studied tennis players, weight lifters, and martial artists, and discovered that vocalizations (grunting, kiai, etc.) increased power by about 7%. That 7% could be huge, if you needed it! On top of that, it helps ensure that you are breathing properly, helps you focus your intensity, and can actually unsettle an opponent. When it comes to not wanting to kiai in front of people, it can definitely be helpful to remember that everyone else is doing it, as JawD mentions. In addition, everyone else is paying attention to what they are doing, not what your kiai sounds like! Stop thinking of your kiai as something you "have to do in kata," and instead think of it as "a useful tool." Practice your kiai every time you want to get extra power in a strike or block.

I regret not starting training earlier in life, of course, since I didn't start training until I was 18! I also regret not finding my current instructor sooner after moving to Arizona--for two years, I continued practicing and studying karate at home, while training in judo at a local club, before I found him. If it weren't for those two things, I feel like I would be so much further along. Then again, we can never know for certain what would have happened if things had been different. Perhaps, if I had started sooner, I would have become indoctrinated in a style of karate that doesn't fit me now? Perhaps, if I had found my instructor sooner, I would have stopped training in judo sooner and not gotten as much out of it.

It is certainly a tragedy, but to say that MMA fighters aren't athletes is a bit silly--they're in better shape than people who make a living doing nothing but being athletic! The comparison to gladiators isn't fair, either, although they were also great athletes and about 90% of them lived to retirement, which isn't as bad as history class made it out to be. In any case, more people die playing football and competing in boxing. I will say that, in almost every instance of a death in MMA, there has been some sort of underlying cause. I noticed in the article that he lost his previous fight. Did he sustain a brain injury in that fight, and was it recent? If so, then that could explain how this happened. We may never know, of course, but I do hope his family gets answers.

Congratulations, and thanks for your contributions to the forum!

Having seen some videos of PTK (and related arts) forms, as well as their applications, I actually see a lot of parallels with karate. I, personally, suspect that karate kata originally looked a lot more like the forms of Indonesian martial arts, and have been made more formalized and rigid over time. I could be wrong, of course

That's great to hear, Joppe! Thanks for the update!

My Sensei has higher standards than most in our organization seem to, so as long as I tried my best, I think I would be just fine. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? Nakazato Sensei isn't going to kick me out of the organization and ban me from training if I fail the test, after all. If I failed, I would just keep on training and test some other time.

When I practiced Shuri-Ryu, kobudo was taught as sort of a sister-system in the curriculum, in a rotating style. Instead of belt ranks, they tested you on each weapon, individually, and gave you a patch for each test you passed to certify that you were ranked with that weapon. Passing all six would earn you the rank of Tasshi in the Shuri-Ryu kobudo system, and the right to wear a black gi. I passed the test for bo, and I passed everything but one requirement in the test for sai (impractical weapon manipulation--which is the most ridiculous requirement, in my opinion). At the time, I had learned three bo kata and two sai kata: Shushi no Kon Sho Shushi no Kon Dai Donyu no Kon Nicho Sai Sancho Sai I also learned the basics for kama, tonfa, nunchaku, and jo. At one point, I took a jo seminar, and learned 5 jodo kata (they are short) but absolutely hated the material, so I didn't keep up with it. During my time in Shuri-Ryu, I also practiced a branch of Shinkage-Ryu iaijutsu that my teacher learned during his visits to Japan over the years. I learned all four of the tachigata (standing forms) for that system, and one of the kneeling kata, but there are two other three other kneeling kata, and some wakizashi and partner kata that I never got to learn. When I transitioned to Shorin-Ryu, I got to learn a little more about trapping/locking/sweeping with weapons, which was interesting, but I have been completely focused on my karate. I did learn on kama kata, Nakaima no Kama, and started to learn a nunti kata that comes from a family system, but it's long and complex, so I've forgotten it, now.