Wastelander

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.

This is a very interesting topic! I actually just posted about this on another forum, because my style is going through something like this at the moment. 1) If your style has recently lost its founder, what's the immediate plans for its continuation? --My style was founded by Chibana Chosin, who died in 1969, and there was a lot of splintering that occurred at that time. The organization I am currently a part of was made to be a continuation of Chibana's style, although it is sometimes referred to as a separate style, much to the disdain of the head of the organization. In that regard, the head of our "style" has been Nakazato Shugoro for a very, very long time (since 1971, I think?). He officially retired a few weeks ago, at the age of 93, and handed over the organization to his son, Nakazato Minoru. 2) In your honest opinion, will your style be fine when your founder passes away? --I believe it will be, and I suspect that Nakazato Shugoro's reasoning for handing it over to his son while he is still alive is because he wanted everyone to get used to the idea before he passes away. Too many styles have had founders or heads die without cementing the next leader in place. That's a major factor in splintering, I think. 3) Will your style, in your honest opinion, splinter slightly or splinter a lot? --So far, no one has broken away because of the leadership change, but I suspect there will be some splintering when Nakazato Shugoro does pass away. Nakazato Minoru looks like he is going to be moving the system in a good direction, but I could see some people who have been training longer than him, or who feel he isn't being true to his father's vision, breaking off on their own. Minoru Sensei is a little young for a Judan and head of a system, and seems to be more interested in sharing kata applications and drills than his father was, so those things might set some people off. 4) Will you want to continue in your style if the splintering isn't kept to its minimal OR will you seek training in another style that's more grounded across the board? --The organization of our style doesn't really concern me. I didn't start training with my sensei because he was part of a major branch of Shorin-Ryu headquartered in Okinawa with a "pure lineage" or any other such thing. I started training with him because he seemed very knowledgeable, and his mindset regarding karate was very much like my own. As long as I can keep learning from my instructor, I will be part of the style, at least in some fashion.

Well, I learned to spar in a dojo that was very structured, so the approach was a little different. We first learned how to do pushing-hands types of "sparring," and then moved on to stationary sparring that they called kime dachi kumite (focus stance sparring), which was standing in horse stance at arm's length from your opponent and doing hands-only sparring. After you were comfortable with that, you got to start doing normal sparring, but you were limited on what techniques you could use for a while. Eventually, you were allow to free-spar, but the dojo I was at only did light-contact point-stop sparring, so control was highly emphasized throughout the entire process. That approach really gets you adjusted to sparring without it being a jarring experience. Of course, that means that my first real sparring session doesn't stick out in my memory. I can't remember who I was sparring with, but I'm guessing it was a guy named Kenny, who would have been a sankyu at the time and was the primary assistant at the dojo. It was pretty uneventful, as far as I can recall. The first time I sparred in competition was a different story, though! I was fighting a guy who was bigger than me, and very aggressive (constantly pushing forward), and I ended up being disqualified for excessive contact when I punched him in the face and bloodied his nose. I don't do that kind of sparring anymore, so I'm comfortable hitting people hard now, but at the time I felt like a terrible person .

Good luck on your test!

I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience--be sure to write things down! I haven't been able to attend any camps, myself, only seminars with individual people, so I enjoy hearing about things like this.

Welcome to the forum! You have quite an interesting mixture of styles--I can't say that I've seen too many people that experience both major Naha-te styles AND Shotokan. I'm looking forward to getting your input here on the forum, and as a bunkai fan, myself, I hope we get to have some good discussions on kata application. Goju-Ryu and Uechi-Ryu applications always interest me, since they are often so different from the way we do things.

Does he give a reason for being against kids who are still growing doing any sparring? If he can explain his reasoning, then that might clear up his point of view for us, and it might also give you something to look up that either supports or rejects his opinion. I know I'm not terribly fond of kids hitting makiwara while their bones are still growing, but that's more for their comfort (just the act of GROWING made my joints hurt as a kid--I can only imagine what hitting a makiwara would have done) than for their safety, as I don't know of any studies showing that it is dangerous.

Thanks for that information! Being from a different branch of Shorin-Ryu, I don't really keep up to speed on the organizational goings-on of the other branches, although I generally know at least a bit about the major people involved. I didn't know that Takayoshi passed away--that is very unfortunate.

Did they really give you a yonkyu certificate "signed" by Nagamine Shoshin? He died in 1997, but I'm guessing that is who you mean? I would be contacting the WMKA Honbu dojo, run by Nagamine Takayoshi, to find out what is going on with that. No one should be getting certificates from someone who isn't alive to sign them. Showing respect for, and telling stories about, major figures in your lineage is not unusual at all. It does sound like your instructor has a case of hero worship, though, and an obsession with mysticism shows a distorted sense of reality and lack of practical experience. Many of the stories you hear or read regarding ancient masters of just about any martial art are going to be difficult to verify. Many times, there simply never were written records about them, and other times those records have been destroyed over the years. Stories that sound too amazing to be true have probably just been added to and exaggerated over time, but likely contain some grain of truth. I try to find multiple sources of the same story, each of which will be a bit different, and try to use the parts they have in common to get a sense of the truth. Personal development and strong adherence to tradition without concern for practicality are perfectly fine, if that's what you want out of your training. That may be what the instructor wants out of his training, so that's the way he teaches. It isn't my kind of karate, but it fits some people just fine, so I can't put it down too much. I'm not sure what you mean by "revealed or superior teachings" unless that refers to things that are kept secret from you--that you are not allowed to learn--until you have reached a certain level. Sometimes that is a skill level, sometimes it is a rank, and sometimes it is a loyalty/devotion level. The first one doesn't bother me much, the second one seriously irritates me, and the third one is definitely cult-like. I can't say for certain whether your school is a cult or not. From the sounds of it, your instructor certainly acts like a bit of a martial arts cultist, himself, but that doesn't necessarily mean he is trying to make all of his students into cultists. That's something you really have to judge in person. Still, what you have described definitely sets off warning bells for me, and I would not be training with them. In the end, though, it's your decision.

We let youth students in our dojo spar with light contact and supervision. Not all students enjoy it, of course, but it does give them a fully interactive martial arts experience. There is some risk of injury, but with light contact and plenty of supervision it is less common (and they tend to be much less serious) than injuries in football. We've had a couple poked eyes, some stubbed toes, and a few tears when somebody gets hit too hard or while breathing in, but that's about it. I don't see how it's harmful.

I know that a lot of people were pulling for Olympic karate, but I was not one of them. I'm quite happy that the IOC decided not to include it. Wrestling definitely needs to stay in the Olympics, though.