Wastelander

Welcome to the forum!

Last week I was sent to the Los Angeles area for work, and since it was going to interrupt my training I knew I had to do something other than hotel room kata. I looked around at the martial arts schools in the area, and ended up contacting a Japanese Goju-Ryu (Seiwakai) dojo in Santa Monica. The person running the website was a student of the instructor there, but no longer lives in the area himself, so he sent me his sensei's contact information and I was able to arrange to train with them. http://s22.postimg.org/pcosxp1i9/Noah_at_World_Budo_Arts.jpg Myself (white belt) with Vassie Naidoo, Shihan, and his students. I enjoyed working with Vassie Naidoo, Shihan, and all of his students--they train hard, they are friendly, and they have strong karate. They also share their dojo with a Kyokushin group (several of the Goju-Ryu students cross-train with the Kyokushin group, as well) and I was able to meet some of them, too. I left with an open invitation to return, and I gave them an invitation to train with us if they are ever in the Phoenix area. If anyone is interested in more details about the training session itself, I'm putting it up on my blog. I just wanted to share a good experience here about karate bringing people together

I eat something small before I start my weight training and don't eat again until after karate is over. That said, I don't have the gaps in between that you have. Maybe you could throw a protein bar in your bag to snack on?

I know Iain Abernethy has some videos of applications for Enpi/Wanshu, so those should be easy enough to find on his Practical Kata Bunkai channel on YouTube. John Titchen has this one for the opening sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAhe_yfjYbk This guy made a whole series of videos on his applications for Enpi, and there are definitely some interesting ideas and concepts explored in them--here is the playlist:

Not sure if you were asking me or the OP. In my system we have a total of 19, which is way too many, in my opinion. This is the list of kata, in the order they are typically taught in my system: Kihon Ippon Kihon Nihon Kihon Sanbon Fukyuu no Kata Naihanchi Shodan Naihanchi Nidan Naihanchi Sandan Pinan Shodan Pinan Nidan Pinan Sandan Pinan Yondan Pinan Godan Passai Sho Passai Dai Kusanku Sho Chinto Kusanku Dai Gojushiho Gorin

My instructor requires his students to know every kata in our system before he will even test them for shodan. Our Gojushiho tends to be taught somewhere around 3rd or 2nd kyu, typically. It's a very awkward kata, for me, so i feel your pain.

I'm not terribly fond of nunchaku, but I learned to strike with them on a BOB dummy wearing kendo armor. The follow-through is really the key to not hitting yourself, I found.

The only time I've ever trained on a beach was on a trip to Hawaii, and I discovered that there are random chunks of coral and volcanic rock hidden in the sand that will attack you. Also, salt water has a unique stink to it when it soaks a sweaty gi!

Congratulations!

Well done--congratulations!

I really see plyometrics as supplementary exercise for when you don't have access to weights. If there are any days where you would normally be training but don't have weights available, I would do plyometrics then. The only plyo exercises I really do are burpees and plyo push-ups, and I only do them on the days I don't do bench press or days we do them in class.

This schedule definitely looks better. I lift before karate--just make sure you're staying hydrated! As far as speed goes, as long as you do your lifts quickly you will promote fast-twitch muscle development. Remember that the weight may not move quickly if it's heavy, but if you are trying to move it fast, that's what counts.

The length is really up to personal preferences, organization guidelines, and competition rules. I personally like my belt to go down to mid-thigh, or an inch or two shorter, but I've seen people with belts that only come down about three inches from the knot, and people with belts that touch their knees. In some organizations, there is a guideline in place, but not in ours. In some competition formats, like WKF or judo competitions, there are limits on how long or short they can be. With regard to the material, I would always go with cotton or hemp--the satin doesn't stay tied and flakes apart.

Welcome to the forum, Benjamin! We actually have several Goju-Ryu practitioners here, and I'm sure that they will be able to answer your questions much more thoroughly than I can. I will say that Goju-Ryu is a great art that stems from Naha-te (fighting arts from Naha, Okinawa), while Taekwondo is based on Shotokan, which stems from Shuri-te (fighting arts from Shuri, Okinawa). In addition to their regional differences, their Chinese influences were quite varied, so while there are many common traits between them, they are also very different. Enjoy your training!

I will readily admit that I am not an expert, but to me it looks like you have way too much biceps work, and not nearly enough leg or back work. You also have to balance your body's strength, or you can end up developing structural issues and posture problems, and from a karate (kicking/punching) power standpoint, I don't think you're going to get what you're after with this routine. I would honestly scrap the biceps work, completely, and do pull-ups instead (gets biceps AND lats). You're already doing shoulder presses, which will balance that out. The upright rows would also be replaced by bent-over rows, and alternating single-arm dumbbell presses or push-up progressions would be my balance exercise. I highly recommend deadlifting SOMETHING (tire and heavy bag flipping count, in my book), and if you are doing all of this without a barbell, you'll want to include ab work (I like weighted M-crunches) to balance your back work. With just dumbbells for weight, you're going to be limited on what you can do with your legs, so I would start seriously working bodyweight squat and lunge progressions until you can get a barbell to squat with.

A friend and former training partner of mine worked at a facility for dementia patients, and she had to use her training fairly regularly. We trained in a karate school that incorporated some judo into the curriculum, and it worked well enough for her. I think that just about any grappling art that focuses on control (wrestling, judo, sambo, Japanese jujutsu, etc.) would work fine as long as you trained them in a way that takes into account the way you need to use it. Find a grappling art that focuses on controlling your opponent, and then talk to the instructor to make sure you drill it appropriately.

With regard to Stronglifts, I have never been a strong person, but I have most definitely gotten stronger in the short time I have been doing it, despite not being as consistent as I should be. You need days of rest or your body will not recover from your workouts and you will not get stronger, though. I do my Stronglifts workouts on the same days I train at the dojo, but my dojo has a rack and Olympic set so that is easy to do. If you can do your lifting on the same day, I would, so that you can rest in between days. I would also cut out the running on Saturday, but that's just me.

Armbars are most definitely my favorite joint lock--standard juji-gatame from the ground, but also several variations from standing.

I saw the photo on his Facebook page--very cool!

She is currently seeing a therapist, if I remember correctly, for that very reason. My friend said she has had abusive relationships in the past, so he was worried about the same thing.

Well, I think it's silly for someone within your same style to ask you to wear a white belt (assuming they know you are an experienced Goju-Ryu karateka) unless the way they do things is so different from what you do that they might as well be different styles. That said, I wouldn't be offended or upset by it--you're just visiting, after all, so what does it matter what the color of your belt is while you're visiting? I haven't been training anywhere near as long as you, and I have not yet reached a black belt rank, but if I was traveling and a Shorin-Ryu dojo I wanted to visit asked me to wear a white belt instead of my brown belt, I would do it. I'm just there to train and exchange ideas, and I could be wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt for all I care, as long as I get to do those things.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine (we'll call him V) that I used to train with when he was a teenager, back when I lived in Illinois, and he informed me that just within the past year he had to use his karate training in self defense. He stopped training shortly after I moved away, so he knows his skills have degraded quite a bit, but he still occasionally practices on his own, and works out with weights to maintain his strength. Those couple years of training came back to him well enough to defend himself, and I imagine his occasional practice and weight lifting probably helped. V told me that his closest female friend (outside of his girlfriend) had been in an abusive relationship for quite some time, and he had been counseling her and being her shoulder to cry on. She was being beaten and emotionally abused regularly, and he had been trying to get her to leave her abuser but she was afraid of what he would do if she did. It sounded as though he had nearly beaten her to death in the past. Apparently, the abuser found out that his girlfriend had been talking to some guy who was trying to get her to leave him. I imagine you can see where this is going. The abuser tracked his girlfriend down, and she happened to be talking with my friend at the time. He walked up to V, yelling and cursing, and got up in his face. An instant later, he sucker punched V in the jaw. The punch apparently hurt quite a bit (not a surprise) but didn't daze V, who returned fire with a single punch to the jaw before trapping the abuser's punching arm and locking it with a standing armbar, holding him down until police arrived. The abuser went to the hospital with a broken jaw and dislocated elbow, and has since been put on trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison for a combination of his domestic abuse and his attack on V. My friend went home with ice on his jaw and hand, but otherwise unscathed, and his female friend is now free from her abuser. V credits his successful response to our old instructor, but the fact that he let the first punch land seems to have gotten to him, and he wants to start training again. All-in-all, his story ended up being a good one. He may not have reacted perfectly, but rarely does any self defense situation go perfectly. I just thought I would share this story with you all--I was quite proud of him for his ability to respond to a real threat, make a traditional technique work under pressure, and restrain himself from doing any more damage than necessary.

I train in traditional arts, but I am currently training for an MMA fight in August. My advice would be to not get wrapped up in MMA as an art unto itself--it's just a ruleset. MMA fighters train in multiple arts that cover all ranges of unarmed fighting, and then they take some time to combine them, so you could do that with what you're training in already, if you wanted. If, by MMA, you mean the most common/popular combination of Muay Thai, boxing, BJJ, and wrestling, then that's a bit different because you will have to find instructors in those arts. In the end, though, you really just need a place to bring all the arts together into drills and sparring under the watchful eye of someone who knows how they work together. If you find an MMA coach who has extensive training in at least one of those arts, and who has experience putting it together for MMA (either as a fighter, themselves, or as a coach) then you have a good start.

John is a knowledgeable karateka with a focus on highly effective, realistic self defense training, and he is also very open to sharing. You may see him on the internet with the username JWT, and he will sometimes jump into conversations on practical kata application and realistic training methods. He has some videos on YouTube, in addition to his book and his contributions to online discussions, so just that in itself provides a wealth of great information. From my interactions with him through the internet, I believe he would be a great person to train with. I'm across the pond, but if I ever do get a chance to train with him, I certainly will!

The vast majority of dedicated martial artists that I am aware of have outlived the average life expectancy, or are likely to do so. I would be curious as to the way he went about his research. I know a University did a study on the affects of Sanchin, and it seems to have the exact same effect on the organs as barbell squats, so that can't be it unless there is a study that shows barbell squats are equally as bad for your organs. Exercise is typically good for you, so the general practice of karate shouldn't be any worse for you than jogging. I could see contact sparring potentially being an issue, but no worse than the hits people take in American football or rugby. The head of my organization just retired at the age of 93 due to health issues that are unrelated to his training, and he still practices a bit even though he isn't teaching anymore. My great grandfather died of a stroke at 93, had several heart attacks and strokes throughout his life before that, and could barely get around his house or garden due to general weakness and Parkinson's disease. If I make it to 93, I'd like to do it in the condition of Nakazato Shugoro, rather than the condition of my great grandfather, if I can help it.