Wastelander

I wear UnderArmour under my dogi--it wicks away my sweat so I cool off better and it acts as a rash guard when we work grappling techniques.

Interestingly enough, my instructor was just talking about this on Wednesday, and he's not even 30 years old yet. He mentioned that a TKD blackbelt who trains with us commented on his hook kick, specifically, and said that my instructor doesn't do it the way that blackbelt does it. The main difference he pointed out was the he kicks the foot out to the side, then hooks it across to the head, which is the way pretty much everyone learns to throw a hook kick to the head, but my instructor brings the kick straight to where it needs to be with no "cocking" motion, so to speak. He elaborated by explaining that the ideal thing is to fine tune your techniques over time so that they become as efficient as possible, which will end up making the motions smaller, faster and more direct as well as being easier on your body as you age. He demonstrated the differences between the way chudan-uke is taught and how he does it, as an example, and explained that he is still working on it and will be for as long as he can still train.

Try washing the area with vinegar before you shower.

I guess I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around what you are having an issue with--so the problem is that you are afraid you will break your hand when you counter your opponent coming in? I have yet to do that, and I just spar with gloves and no wraps, but I also routinely practice striking without wraps and I am used to tensing my hands on impact. If you want to work on countering your opponents using straight techniques but are that worried about hurting yourself then you can throw them a bit lighter, or stop them short, because your opponent is coming toward you. Just work on controlling where your punches stop--for example, you can practice pushing the heavy bag away from you and then counter punching it when it comes back at you, which will give you some feedback on how hard you have to hit to make it stop.

All that he did in that video is control his kick so it slapped a little into the surface of the bag without following through. It certainly looks cool for movies and it works fine for controlling your techniques when you're worried about your sparring partner, but kicking someone like that in a kickboxing match will probably just annoy them. The same "slapping a little into the surface" idea can be applied to punches, too--turn your body and whip the punch out, then stop it when it hits and pull it back--but I really don't know why this is the thing you WANT to do when you are doing kickboxing. Light- to no-contact point-sparring karate will tend to make you good at that, though, if that's all you're wanting. A quick YouTube search and I found this guy--the way he explains it will give you a quick, whipping punch without putting much weight behind it (he does put weight behind it, just not nearly as much as Peter Consterdine) if that is closer to what you want:

I do not claim to be a boxer or kickboxer, but I would like to think that I at least know a little bit about punching, so hopefully I can help you a little. In order to have powerful punches, you need to put your body weight behind them--without it you are simply punching with the muscles in your arms. That said, you do not have to throw hooks to use rotation and put your weight into your punches, and if you look at clean boxing technique you will see straight punches where the body is used to power the strike. I think the most formalized example you will probably find is in karate, as we are taught to torque our hips and throw our body weight into our strikes, but throw them very straight and keep the arm relaxed until the point of impact which causes a fast, whipping effect. This concept exists, in some form or another, in just about all striking arts, but the way that it tends to be demonstrated in karate makes it a little easier to see, in my opinion. When I am off work I will try to remember to edit this post with some examples if I can find them for you. Edited to add link to a video of Peter Consterdine demonstrating the use of hip torque with straight punches: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRqfYwhsQdQ

They are probably either wearing the wrong size cup or the wrong style cup, or they are not using compression shorts to hold it in place, so they are uncomfortable. For example, I find that the cups intended for use in baseball are useless in martial arts, and yet MANY people get them because they are the most readily available ones.

When I started training I was told to wear a cup to every single class, whether we were sparring or not, because you never know what drills you may end up doing in class and if you end up working on drills that include lots of groin strikes, you will probably get hit eventually. Let me pose a question to you, in answer to your question: why SHOULDN'T you wear a cup? What do you gain by not wearing one and what do you lose by wearing one? Many people say that cups are uncomfortable, but I find that after I start moving around I forget that I have one on--I think that as long as you get a cup that fits properly, has soft edges and is held tight where it is supposed to be then it isn't that bad.

Getting hit in the face isn't all that bad, really--the first few times it tends to make you mad or panic (depending on how you naturally respond to things like that) but after a while it's just like getting hit anywhere else. Honestly, I find that when I wear headgear I tend to get hit in the head/face MORE OFTEN than when I don't, and I think it is partially because my peripheral vision is impaired and partially because my subconscious is telling me I have padding all over my head so I don't need to worry about getting hit (which isn't true because headgear doesn't actually decrease your risk of concussion). I would say that if they allow elbows or knees to the head then headgear would be good, since those striking surfaces don't have padding on them, but if it's just punches and kicks and you have to wear pads on your hands and feet already then I wouldn't bother. As previously mentioned, beginner divisions don't usually allow much face contact, if any. And PLEASE get a cup!

As I understand it, Silat is a combination of martial arts from China, Indo-China, India, the Middle East and the indigenous martial arts of Malaysia and its surrounding islands. From when I have looked into it before, I think that many people disagree on the history of Silat, so I could very well be wrong. As for the dances, I do not know for certain but I suspect they are likely a combination of Malaysian tribal dance styles and forms that they would have learned from China and Indo-China. I think Silat is a very interesting martial art--some of it looks very "karate" while some of it looks very "kung fu" and other parts look alien to both, but they certainly make it work! I also suspect it may have been involved in the development of toudi, way back when Okinawa was trading a lot with Indo-China (that's just my own theory, though) so I find it to be an interesting little piece of the puzzle, so to speak. I would love the chance to learn some of it!

My current system goes white-yellow-orange-blue-purple-green-brown-black, while my previous system went white-orange-gold-yellow-blue-green-purple-brown-black. I think that most systems now have developed their own color orders to suit whoever is in charge of choosing such things. Personally, I believe that the order of the colors is largely irrelevant outside of the white belt being first and black belt coming last (excluding kohaku belts, of course), so people can put them in whatever order they want. That said, if you want your students to dye their belts like they used to in Hawaii (and possibly elsewhere) then I agree with you that it makes much more sense to follow an order that is conducive to altering the color over time.

Thank you very much! I have done that lock hundreds of times and never saw it in that movement until you demonstrated it--probably because of the exaggerated outward, horizontal arm motion in the kata. Thank you very much for that! I also see what you mean with framing the arm higher (when I initially did it my arm was higher, but when I applied the lock I let it slide down) and shooting the hips forward. I will definitely add these concepts to my practice! This is one of the great things about forums like this--people who are just beginning to explore their arts beyond the basics have people who have been doing it for years/decades available to discuss ideas with, and they will likely all have different perspectives.

Kusanku Sho and Kusanku Dai tend to get me mixing up bits and pieces because they have so many similar movements.

Thanks for the feedback! I agree that it is definitely difficult to get an idea of what people are thinking for bunkai or drills without video to accompany the descriptions. I will definitely try out your suggestions the next time I'm at the dojo and someone is willing to work with me on them!

I know you did not mean to insult me in any way--I didn't take offense, I simply wanted to address the concerns you expressed from my perspective. I know that I am certainly no martial arts expert--6 years in and I'm still very much a novice by comparison to many on the forums!--but I felt it was important to give context to my decision making process in regards to the applications I came up with, that way you all can see what I was thinking and may be able to help me with where I am going wrong (or right). I'm ashamed to have worded it the way in which I did. Possibly I should've said..."Might or might not work on me." I'm assuming a position that I do not possess...unbeatable. Please forgive me for my poor choice of phrases/wordings. Please give me no thoughts at all!! I know that no one is unbeatable, but I rather suspect you would be close to unbeatable for me, haha

I help teach the Youth and Family classes and keep the kids in line as much as possible and I help with miscellaneous other stuff like planning events, updating the Facebook page, taking pictures and recording video.

Well, I did say I wanted people's opinions! I understand that you are addressing the application from your own perspective and that it differs from mine, but I'll do what I can to explain my thought process I understand your concern with techniques being reliant upon the previous techniques, but I also feel like there is some aspect of that present in just about anything you could possibly do to a person. To me, the possibilities found in kata are not certainties, but simply scenarios and techniques that may be applied in those scenarios. A kata (and therefore an application for techniques in it) can't predict exactly what will happen, only what may happen and so you could provide much the same argument for any application to anything--"that would work if they did this, but not if they did this." The only way to avoid this in bunkai, that I can think of, is to successfully apply the "one hit kill" concept by rendering the attacker incapable of attacking from the very first movement, and even then that very concept is just as unlikely to be successful. I, personally, feel that the grab is actually fairly easy to attain--I have never really had a problem getting grips on people, in general--but even if you can't grab onto anything, the contact still provides a reference point for your striking. Generally, if you are striking an untrained person in the face they either cover their face or strike you back, but either way should not interfere much with clinching and kneeing if you practice those things. The shove down does only work if you have doubled them over with the knees, I will grant that, but I also have plenty of techniques from Naihanchi to work from in a clinch if they protect themselves against the knees and that is where things stay. I agree that once they are forced to the ground there are better things to do than hook their arm and bring them up to punch them--in the video I did say that the kata assumes you can figure out what to do (kicking someone in the face when they are right in front of your shin isn't terribly complicated) but I suppose I could have gone into it more in depth. The reason I mentioned the arm hook (although it could also hook the head or opposite arm) and punches to the spleen was to scoop their arm up to defend against them trying to tackle you or grab your leg if you don't manage to kick them in time or they absorb the kick well enough to continue. Again, this was just a possible scenario that could be planned for, but certainly not the only one by any means, and if you successfully drop them with a kick while they are down then there is no reason to do it. I will mention that I was actually never taught ANY application for this kata outside of block-kick-punch omote application, so exploring this kata for bunkai is entirely new to me and I am still playing with it I have used that same drop into the low stance to defend against throws in judo randori, including against suplex attempts, and it has worked quite well for me (although every now and then I have had to hook a leg). From that stance I can stomp on feet and when I bring the hands back I can elbow the bicep or the ribs (depending on how they stand) either of which could help loosen the grip. If I can't break the grip of your two hands with the use of my two arms then you are pretty darn strong and there would be no point in me even attempting to break the grip or lock your arm, but most people's instinctive reaction to being grabbed is to grab the arms and so that is the position I started my application from. If I stopped the initial throw but couldn't break your grip it would be time for me to do a lot of backward elbows along with leg hooks and clinching to try and turn myself in your grip so I could apply more direct techniques. As far as the reverse elbow goes, I wasn't saying that it was a sure thing--I think in the video I said something like "if it hits his head, that's great" (I can't watch it again at work, but I remember saying something like that) but mostly the "elbow back" is to get your arm between you and the attacker in order to wrap him up and perform the subsequent throw, which is very similar to throws I have done in judo and so it feels natural to me. Thanks for all the input, sensei8--I really do appreciate getting feedback from those more experienced than I am! These are applications I only recently developed and haven't had much chance to work, in their entirety, against fully resisting opponents, so I will readily admit that I may very well not be able to get them to work in those situations, but I have been able to make parts of them work (the crash, the clinch/knees, and the throw, for example) against resisting opponents. As with anything, I will be continuing to practice them and develop them, and I may even change them entirely if they don't work for me. I would also like to, at some point, record video of me practicing them against a resisting opponent so I can share my failure or success and make tweaks and changes based on my experiences and the feedback I receive. P.S. I would like to add, since you said things like "wouldn't work on me", that I would never presume to be able to make anything work on you! You've been training longer than I've been alive, haven't you?

Thanks to both of you! The Chinto application is one that I'm pretty proud of because it seems so simple and natural to me. Lately I have been thinking about ude gatame, which I had learned in judo but had been finding applications for in karate. In the process of doing some research on the Indo-Chinese influence on Okinawan te I came across this carving. I instantly recognized the lock, although applied from a different position, and I recognized the hand position from Chinto. That started me thinking about why that lock might be used at the beginning of that kata, and I realized that it is the only kata I know that steps backwards, and it does so into a low horse stance which indicates (to me) a grappling scenario. Being pulled backward and dropping your weight to make it harder to be thrown, then drawing the hands back to one side and breaking their grip seemed a natural start. It also occurred to me that, according to legend, Bushi Matsumura developed this kata after attempting to arrest a shipwrecked Chinese man who had been stealing from Okinawan people and being defeated (or possibly fought to a draw) by the man. I decided that, as a law enforcement officer of sorts, it would make sense for Matsumura to try and put Chinto on the ground and a suplex would have been a technique he knew to do so. Furthermore, if that had been what occurred then the defense against such a takedown would have been the first thing he learned from his encounter and it would make sense for it to be the first thing in the kata. This is, of course, all merely speculation and theory, but that was my thought process in any case.

Hello everyone, I thought I would share two short videos of two examples of my own personal bunkai--one from the kata Anaku, and one from the kata Chinto. No one taught me these applications, so if they are terrible the only person to blame is me, but I feel that they are relatively straight-forward, they work off of harnessed natural reactions and they work for me. Of course, these are simply examples of possibilities since bunkai is not set in stone and people will find different ways to apply kata based on their training backgrounds, their methodologies and their personal preferences. My training partner in these videos had never seen the applications before, and doesn't know either kata, so I was teaching him at the same time I was recording which makes it a bit clunky, and for that I apologize. Usually when I am explaining things to a group I have planned out everything I am going to say and the explanation is clear, but when working one-on-one I tend to get a little informal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA3ojBE7DVw&feature=youtu.be Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Hello, and welcome to the forum! First of all, you should not be trying to "win" in sparring--sparring is a live practice drill for you and your partner to both improve, not a competition. As for getting discouraged, don't be! I have been training for 6 years, so far, and I still feel terrible at sparring! Without seeing video of you sparring, it is very difficult for us to provide any feedback that might help you improve. Your sensei would be a much better person to ask. That said, if I had to guess, you are probably hesitating and that is why your sparring partners are scoring their points before you. This is common in people who are relatively new to point sparring (well, sparring in general, really), and especially when they are sparring against more experienced students. For now, don't worry so much about whether you will get hit or not, and just focus on trying to hit your partner--as I said, it's not a competition so you don't need to worry about "losing", just improving--by bursting forward (forward and at an angle is preferable to straight forward) with your attack, and try using combinations that will tend to draw their hands away from an area that you can strike to later in the combination.

On occasion I make student run kata in reverse, or spin around every time they step over in Naihanchi. I also like marking off a small space (usually about 3ft square) and make them run an entire kata without leaving that space. My sensei also likes having people do a kick every time they are in a cat stance in kata, or have them drop and do a pushup every two, three or four movements. In my old dojo we had many types of sparring that you could do, such as mawate (you have to spin before every strike in order for it to count), seiza (sparring from the knees), hands-only vs. feet-only, etc.

I don't know any, personally--I know a guy in Texas who does Aikido and BJJ, but he's in Houston. Here is a list I found of Japanese Jujutsu places in Texas: http://www.usjjf.org/clubs/texas.htm

I actually have a hard time sleeping every single night--it doesn't matter whether I train or not, I just get to lay there for at least an hour (usually more) before I finally fall asleep.

Honestly, I'm just a karateka, because that's what I decided to call myself. I currently train in Shorin-Ryu, and have been training in it nearly as long as I trained in Shuri-Ryu, so aspects of both are present in my karate. In addition, I actively trained in judo for 4 years and now incorporate that into my karate. Every now and then I have also done seminars for things like escrima, Krav Maga, and Muay Thai and I have taken aspects of those that I have learned and incorporated them into my karate. Periodically I train with people from other arts, and the things I learn from them I also incorporate into my karate. Because of these things, I can't call my self a "Shorin-Ryu stylist" because if I demonstrated my karate next to someone who had only done Shorin-Ryu, I would look quite different. I can't call my self a "Shuri-Ryu stylist" or even a "judoka" for the same reason. In all actuality, unless you are training specifically for style purity, you will most likely develop your own style of whatever martial art you practice. If I were to pass along my personal method of practicing karate, I could call it Shorin-Ryu since that it what I hold the highest rank in, but it isn't REALLY Shorin-Ryu, in the strictest sense.

We have two patches--a dojo patch and a style patch. Some people just do one or the other, but if you want to have both then you are supposed to put the style patch on the left breast and the dojo patch on the left upper sleeve. In Shuri-Ryu, however, the dojo patch went on the left breast and the style patch went on the left lower sleeve, and in that dojo we also got patches for passing tests in weapons and the instructors and assistant instructors had patches designating them as such, and those patches went on the right upper sleeve. Oh, and if you passed the tests for all 6 weapons in the system you earned the "Tasshi" title in kobudo, which got you an additional patch for the right lower sleeve. Everybody has different ways of doing things with their uniforms. Personally, I have been going toward the "less is more" side of things lately, but I don't fault people who use a lot of patches as long as they actually designate something. I don't like the BJJ uniforms covered in all kinds of patches that serve no purpose, for example.