Wastelander

We can argue semantics all we want but, honestly, the general martial arts public uses "traditional" as a classification without much in the way of actual criteria. Some arts that are labelled "traditional" are karate, judo, taekwondo, kung fu, and silat, and they are generally classified as such regardless of style or personal methods. The only thing I can see for saying that these are traditional arts is that they all wear non-Western clothing and use terminology that isn't necessarily native to where they are being practiced. For example, in karate and judo you wear a gi and use Japanese terminology, even though you may not be Japanese or live in Japan. On the flipside, martial arts like Muay Thai, boxing and wrestling are generally considered "modern", and they all tend to use Western clothing and mostly native language terminology. BJJ is a different one because it is considered a modern art, but it uses a gi and uses a mixture of non-native terminology (Japanese and Portuguese), although there is also a lot of no-gi BJJ that uses native terminology as well. I have heard of it being called "traditional BJJ" (with a gi and Japanese/Portuguese) and "modern BJJ" (without a gi and using native terminology). My own personal definition of a traditional martial art is fairly simple: a martial art that has has its methods and practices passed from one generation to another, which then passes it on without much change, if any. For karate, that started happening in the 1930's when styles started to really solidify and cross-training started to become less common. For boxing, that happened a very, very, very long time ago and really only changed when boxing gloves and Queensbury Rules were introduced, and now it is traditional again, by my definition. BJJ is a traditional art when done in the manner of the Gracies, but only starting to become a traditional art in the realm of no-gi BJJ. MMA isn't a traditional art by my definition, and really can't be simply because there are so many methods and practices involved that it can't form one cohesive tradition.

A karate instructor should promote a healthy lifestyle and, ideally, live a healthy lifestyle. That said, even those with healthy lifestyles don't always look healthy, and those with unhealthy lifestyles don't always look unhealthy. Take a look at this list: Motobu Choki, Higaonna Morio, Masutatsu Oyama, Kinjo Masakazu, Patrick McCarthy, Iain Abernethy, Wullie Roger, Jeff Speakman. All of these men are well-known in their respective realms of martial arts, and they are all considered to be skilled, knowledgeable martial artists and, by all accounts, great instructors. They are (or were, in the case of those that have passed away) also all overweight, to varying degrees. Does being overweight negate everything else about them? Going along with that, I have personally known some great instructors who are overweight, and I know people who are overweight despite living a healthy lifestyle because of medical conditions. Calling such medical conditions "excuses" is the same as saying that a person with a compromised immune system due to chemotherapy or HIV is making "excuses" for why they get sick so easily. Are there martial artists out there who preach a healthy lifestyle, but don't live it, and are therefor overweight even though they could be trim and fit? Of course there are. But regardless of that fact, I don't see the need to demonize overweight instructors, or to question the quality of their teaching. My instructor happens to be thin and in great shape, and he promotes and lives a healthy lifestyle. He is also very skilled, very knowledgeable, and a great teacher. A Godan that trains with us is a big, barrel-chested, overweight man who promotes and lives a healthy lifestyle, but is overweight anyway. He is also very skilled, very knowledgeable, and a great teacher. I, personally, am thin and in good shape, and promote a healthy lifestyle, but I also eat an awful lot of fast food and way too many desserts. Appearances can be deceiving, but regardless of that fact, they do not impact an instructor's ability to be a good instructor.

Very interesting, albeit morbid, topic! As it turns out, I am currently reading a book that I got for Christmas called The Katas: The Meaning Behind the Movements, that goes over this very thing. I may be way off base with my assessment, or the author may be way off base with his descriptions, but I'll give it a shot. As I understand it, the act (and art) of seppuku has value in Japan because of their reliance on ritual and form as a way of life. This is largely because of the period of isolationism that Japan locked itself into, which forced it to develop culturally within its own borders without input from other cultures. This development saw the rise of strict codes of conduct in order to make everything run smoothly, and everyone was encouraged to follow their respective codes of conduct or face consequences. Everything in Japan has a kata, from getting dressed, to making tea, to speaking with others, to ending your life. Part of the kata of life for a samurai was the kata of seppuku, which was used as a motivator in the quest for perfection as well as a desensitization technique to the concept of dying. To the samurai, to fail at something in your life essentially meant that you had no more reason to live, because you would not be able to achieve perfection in life, but the act of taking your own life in such a painful way without fear or acknowledgment of that pain was a way to cleanse yourself of your failure and dishonor. To the warrior class, this idea was instilled in them from birth, so they would not be shocked or horrified by death, whether it be the death of those they kill in battle, the death of their friends and loved ones, or the death of themselves. The rest of the world, having developed largely through open trade and travel between regions, rarely formulated such stringent codes of conduct because people from different cultures were constantly mingling. Since we had much looser ideas of how people should behave and act, we never developed such extreme acts as seppuku in order to repent for misdeeds, although we still developed apologies, procedures and punishments that our cultures felt fit those misdeeds. If someone were to suggest seppuku as a viable method of repentance in most civilized nations, it would be reacted to with horror, fear and disgust because it is not a concept that fits with our societal norms. Personally (and I know this is a bit harsh for some people) I see no honor in killing yourself unless you have done something completely unforgivable and, even then, you won't be forgiven, but at least it can be said that you saw the evil of what you had done and saved the world the trouble of your existence.

My instructor is my friend, but he has "modes" that make it fairly obvious what role he is taking--sometimes he is a teacher, sometimes he is a big brother figure, and sometimes he is a friend. It depends on the situation and what he has to do, and I feel that it works out quite well.

As I mentioned, I am not an evolutionary biologist. That said, the martial artist/university scientist I mentioned DOES happen to be an evolutionary biologist. He also happens to believe that most scientists, let along the general public, do not understand how evolution works. I'm not really qualified to argue for him, but this whole mess caused him to write up his own response. For those who would like to read the counter-argument, here is the link: http://www.genomicron.evolverzone.com/2012/12/another-just-so-story-this-time-about-fists/

Assuming that blocking/deflecting/trapping aren't included, I would definitely pick elbows!

There are some things that we do that don't work for me--my instructor can make them work, but he has been training for as long as I have been alive and has a lot of natural skill. I do work on the more complex techniques, even though I have a hard time getting them to work, in the hopes that one day I can add them to my arsenal. As it stands, though, I tend to drill my more basic, known-effective techniques when put under pressure.

I am not an evolutionary biologist, but I do not agree with the idea that fist-fighting was so prevalent in our ancestral history that we had to evolve hands specifically for that purpose. In my mind, it is more likely that our ancestors fought more like chimps do, as the video linked in that article shows, which would lead to palms suited for impact rather than fists, which are complex and built of small bones and a linkage of joints that makes it a naturally poor tool for striking unless properly conditioned. I think that the hand is much more suited to fine motor skills that allow us to use more complex tools than other primates are able to use. I suppose that fighting could, perhaps, have played some part in making the fist a slightly stronger tool for fighting, but I doubt that was the primary influence on its development. I brought it up to my brother, who is going to school to be a biology teacher, as well as to a martial artist I know who is a university scientist, and neither of them give this "study" any credibility. My brother thinks it is an interesting "what if?" story, but has no real evidence to support it, and the scientist just thinks it is a load of manure, basically

We have gotten some new students thanks to the MMA craze. People who want to do MMA do not typically seek out traditional martial arts, regardless of how those arts are trained--instead, they look for MMA gyms, BJJ schools or Muay Thai schools. People who just want to train in martial arts, and MMA just gave them the idea or inspired them, are not usually as picky and will look into everything, and some of them end up with us. We can provide all of the skills necessary for MMA at my dojo, but we don't market that too much at the moment.

Shoulder and knee injuries are simply the reality in judo unless you only train kata-style throws onto crash mats. By its nature, judo is intended to be trained live against a resisting opponent, and that means you are going to have a lot of torque being generated, bodies colliding together and into mats at odd angles, and an unpredictability that all come together to make it dangerous. You could only work throws on stationary, non-resisting opponents in the same way they are performed in judo kata, and you could only throw those people onto crash mats, and you would dramatically reduce the number of injuries, but you would also dramatically reduce the art's effectiveness.

Does "Naihanchi application" count as one thing? I would love to spend 3 months just breaking down Naihanchi, and drilling its applications until they become engrained in my muscle memory.

Don't worry too much about organization affiliations with the Goju-Ryu dojo. As with almost all martial arts organizations, politics eventually cause fractures that result in some people starting their own organizations, and some people just choose to stop being involved entirely. That said, he has a Meibukan patch on his gi in his photo, so I would assume that he has remained affiliated with them. ETA: Just checked on the Meibukan's website and confirmed that his instructor's dojo is listed as a Member Dojo, and he is listed as a Blackbelt under his instructor. That, to me, does indicate that he is in good standing with the organization, particularly since his dojo uses the same name (CMMA) and logo as his instructor's dojo.

Good on you for doing your research! Definitely be sure to watch a regular class (one that you would be attending if you joined) at both schools, that way you can get a better feel for it. The Goju-Ryu instructor's bio says he has been under his current instructor for 8 years, but it's entirely possible that he was training under a different instructor prior to that. Regardless of rank or experience level, though, both instructors will have sufficient knowledge to teach you, and if they are continuing their education they should be able to continue teaching you for a long time. Also, don't forget that experience and rank don't necessarily make someone a good teacher. As far as contact goes, you will most likely prefer the Goju-Ryu training if you want hard contact and sparring. Their iri kumi go is rough, realistic and intense!

The level of contact in the dojo should be appropriate to the individual, but gender and age are two factors that people constantly try to use to gauge what is appropriate instead of asking and testing. We have a 14 year old girl at my dojo that can take a hit just as well as any boy her age, if not better. We have some people of both genders and different ages that are new to sparring and contact and need to be eased into it. We have some people with injuries or medical/psychological conditions to address. I have trained with girls from other schools who are tough as nails and girls from other schools who will forever give me the evil eye because I actually applied a joint lock to them. I have trained with guys who want to hit as hard as possible all the time and I have trained with guys who complain about a broken blood vessel in their finger from parrying a punch and want to stop. Unless otherwise specified by the instructor (no contact, light contact only, etc.) the level of intensity and contact should suit the individual. Ask first, and then test by working your way up from no contact to the highest level their are comfortable with. Communication with your partners is key to fostering a safe and effective training environment!

There have been studies done on the "bystander effect" where the more people there are around a situation, the less likely someone is to help because they feel someone else will help. I actually saw a story earlier this year where an investigative news show had a little girl walk down a street with hidden cameras over and over again and they had an actor "kidnap" her. Despite her struggling and screaming, even trying saying different things, it took them something like 6 attempts before anyone helped. Once two men dropped what they were doing and ran to help, all of a sudden several other people started making calls to the police or moving to help as well.

My personal martial arts goals for the coming year are: 1. Compete in my first amateur MMA bout 2. Test for Ikkyu (and pass, ideally! ) 3. Make it to more seminars

I'll be one of those that promotes kata practice, but I say that kumite should be part of your kata practice. Kumite, as we know it today, is not the way it was originally done and while it can be fun and an effective way of learning how to fight competitively, I don't think it is the most effective way to train for self defense. Ideally, I think that kumite should be role playing--one person is the defender and one person is the attacker--where the attacker does any real-world attack, typically based on habitual acts of violence, and the defender does whatever they need to--ideally utilizing techniques and concepts from kata--in order to end the threat. During this, the attacker does not throw one attack and freeze, but rather should react as they think an attacker really would and continue trying to accomplish their goal until they have been "defeated". As has been said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, and this provides you with the opportunity to experience getting hit and reacting to it, but in a self-defense specific context. That's just my own view on it, though, and keep in mind that I still do MMA-style sparring on a fairly regular basis

What, why? Also, where did you read this?Jesse Enkamp, who writes the Karate by Jesse blog, posted about it and since he's been working with the WKF to spread information about this "The K is on the Way" program, I believe him. I, personally, believe that putting karate into the Olympics will further promote the watering down of karate--why spend all that time learning how to apply the kata when you could just get really good at point sparring and make your kata look really nice and make it to the biggest sporting event in the world? I think that it might become much more popular, but if that popularity only serves to spread pretty kata and point sparring then it isn't doing karate any favors. Judo was watered down in order to get it into the Olympics in the first place, and now Olympic rules for Judo govern how Judo is practiced worldwide, which has caused a severe decline in the practice of newaza and has elminated atemi-waza from almost every Judo dojo.

I'm on the side of people against karate in the Olympics, but that's just me. I think they are going to mess up their chances because of the new rules they just put out that ban people from sharing video or photos of any WKF events, though.

When it comes to home study materials, it's best to ask your instructor. They may have some for you, or know where to get them, whether that is online, from a book or from another instructor who has already made those materials.

This has not been my experience. Is that a McDojo price? I haven't come across a single karate dojo anywhere I have lived (except garage dojos) that charges less than $100 a month, McDojo or not, and other martial arts change that average. If I account for judo schools then the average drops because you can find that for $30-$60 a month (when it isn't a free program), and if I account for BJJ or MMA gyms then the average rises because I have seen that anywhere from $100 to $250 a month.

From the information you've given now, I would say it is definitely not a McDojo. You are paying about $24 USD per month for your training, while the average in the US is $120 USD--I don't know what the rates are, typically, in the Netherlands, but you are getting very affordable training. Paying a testing fee is not unusual, since the tests are typically not normal class times and the instructors do need to be paid for participating, but the fees should not cost more than your monthly tuition. As far as gloves go, you really should embrace the idea of sparring with them, because they are a good idea. If you insist that you only want to spar without gloves then you should try Kyokushin instead.

The use of gloves doesn't make it a McDojo--my dojo uses gloves, and so do Muay Thai, MMA and boxing gyms. Gloves are a safety precaution to help reduce injuries from sparring, and there is no shame in trying to prevent injuries during training. If you are concerned about being in a McDojo, you should know that they are martial arts schools that are trying to make a profit, first and foremost, and if the students get good training out of it then that's just a bonus. Some of the features of a McDojo are very high fees, fees for just about everything you can think of (belts, tests, uniform patches, etc.), contracts that lock you into continuing to pay them that are difficult to get out of, and many times these schools teach everyone the exact same curriculum without caring about the students becoming proficient and will often let them pass rank tests as long as they pay for them. Be aware that some places can be a McDojo and still teach good, effective martial arts, though.

I definitely prefer a heavyweight gi, and have worn one since I got one for Christmas in 2006 at the rank of blue belt (Rokkyu). I like the way it feels and because of my build I look sickly wearing lighter weight uniforms because of how they hang off me, so I also like the way the heavyweight ones look. The weight of the fabric your uniform is made of is entirely personal preference, tempered with some practicality (if you don't know how much longer you're going to be training, it doesn't make sense to drop $140 on a heavyweight gi) so don't worry about the "proper rank" to wear one. Also, don't get too wrapped up in the "traditional" factor of the gi--the karate gi as we know it isn't very old, and for most of Okinawan martial arts history training was done shirtless wearing underwear or shorts.

I don't know much about their curriculum, but I was under the impression that Tracy Kenpo IS American Kenpo that has just been personalized by the Tracys over time. In order to find out if it's the right martial art for you, you will really need to try some classes at that school, as well as at other schools.