Wastelander

I can't see the videos because I'm at work, but I assume you're referring to the "fist chambered at the hip" position when punching? Personally, I think there is an awful lot of emphasis being put on that without it ever being explained to people, so they do it and think that they are just supposed to punch that way. I know that the chambered hand is only there because it is pulling your opponent toward you while you strike outward, but many people do not teach that or make it widely known, so there becomes some misconception as to what it is for.

Honestly, I probably would have started finding students to train at my home or in a park before I invested in a venue. Word-of-mouth is going to be the best advertisement but if we use your scenario I would say that I would get a big banner printed up with my dojo name and website on it, and I would make the website as clean and professional as possible, and I would also set up a Facebook account for the dojo. There are many sites for reviewing businesses out there, so I would probably set up a page for my dojo on as many of those site as possible and whenever I get people in for free introductory lessons I would probably refer them to my website or Facebook page where there would be links to review me. I would probably also hand out flyers at cultural events and martial arts movies, if there were any at the time. Isn't marketing grand?

Board breaking has always been optional in both of the dojos I have called home. It's a decent way to measure how hard you can hit something (takes about 115lbs of force to break one board and get's exponentially more difficult when you stack them without spacers) but it's mostly for novelty/fun or for demonstrations. I haven't broken boards in about a year, but I can assure you that if you don't drive through and align everything properly the boards will injure you, as DWx says.

In ours we start by bringing our left hand up to head level, open, and then striking it with our right fist, then opening the fist and bringing the hands down to groin level, then we step over before and then step out for the haito-uke/empi-uchi and te-uke. If you are just referring to the beginning up to the step over, we use that as a block/head-grab/backfist counter, then forcing the head down to strike with hiza-geri to the face, then fumi-komi to their knee. If you are referring to the haito-uke/empi-uchi and te-uke, we use that as blocking a punch on the outside and striking the ribs beneath it or the head above it, followed by grabbing the head and applying either a choke or a neck crank.

I have had a broken toe for a couple months now because I keep working out with it and any time I land a kick with my right foot it gets re-injured, so just be careful with anything that will cause your foot to make contact with anyone or anything.

Your instructor being able to see your attacks coming a mile away is fairly irrelevant, really, since you will probably be competing with people around your skill level. To answer your question, though, you really just have to practice launching your attacks without any extra movements.

The word you are looking for is "ukemi waza" which should make it much easier to find information about in Google

Congratulations!

I'm actually having an immensely difficult time understanding these posts--the grammar is atrocious and the spelling is really throwing me off. Who is the "judo kid" and who is the other guy, and who did what, exactly? It certainly does sound as MasterPain described, but I'm still not sure on the details. As for them being 14, I can't say I am surprised, as that is fairly standard behavior for young teens with poor social skills and a lot of testosterone. That said, judobrah, I think it is worth noting that 14 year olds most certainly CAN go to jail, despite how funny you seem to think it is.

The Shorinkan branch of Shorin-Ryu (Kobayashi) has it, although we call it Passai Sho, and we also have Passai Dai. Shuri-Ryu just has Bassai Dai, not Sho. It is definitely an interesting kata with different ways of running it and applying it, but I'm still a beginner in that respect.

I learned it in Shuri-Ryu and still use it now in Shorin-Ryu--the same goes for my instructor, actually. My Sensei typically only uses it when he's punching something hard (makiwara), whereas I use it for all my punches except for my jab, hammerfists and backfists (I use tate-ken with the thumb on top for those).

The same name in multiple places builds name recognition in the area, which could be beneficial.

For Shorin-Ryu (nicely documented): Tode Sakagawa-->Bushi Matsumura-->Anko Itosu-->Chosin Chibana-->Shuguro Nakazato-->Eddie Bethea-->Richard Poage-->Me For Shuri-Ryu (tends to be contested): Tode Sakagawa-->Bushi Matsumura-->Anko Itosu (and others)-->Choki Motobu-->T'ung Gee Hsing-->Robert Trias-->Joseph Walker-->Me My Judo lineage is a little confusing because I learned from two different people, and I don't remember who taught it to their instructors in the first place

Wing Chun, as I understand it, tends to be very focused on fast, close-up striking and joint locks. That said, they also don't seem to hit very hard--it seems to be more focused on blasting an opponent with so many strikes, so fast, that you stun them. WC tends to be labelled as a McDojo art, but I still hold out hope that there are places out there that teach it well.

Mine is built like a tank, but WAY oversized--I actually can't even use it because it's so big, so it just sits in my closet. Still, the fabric is very sturdy and the stitching is clean, which is impressive for such an affordable brand. I find Ronin gi's to cost less and be better quality than several other brands.

Do you know uchi mata or tai otoshi? Tai otoshi will let you slip the throw in regardless of them leaning over, and you can do a modified uchi mata by stepping off to the side and dragging them over your leg horizontally instead of flipping them vertically. It's hard to explain, I'm afraid, but something to consider.

It sounds as if you quit karate because you are upset that you can't perform like you used to. That sounds like a very youthful thing, and I honestly think that you will regret the decision later in life if you do decide to stay out of martial arts. If the problem is wearing shoes with inserts, stop wearing them. Get rid of your shoes and start wearing Vibram Five Fingers shoes on a regular basis, instead. Those have been proven to help build up the muscles in the bottoms of the feet, just like walking barefoot, but still provide protection from whatever you may be walking on. I don't have any, myself, but one of our black belts does and I've had them recommended by a constantly growing number of hikers who have similar problems to you.

Thank you for this. I am very interested in competing, but more so looking for progression to being a well-rounded fighter. I do find myself lacking skill when it comes to combat on the ground, so BJJ makes a lot of sense. I'll do a little more research on BJJ. Thanks. Is BJJ the best option to hone my grappling/ground skills? If so, what are other styles that come in a close second or third? BJJ/judo/wrestling would serve you the best for that purpose.

In less than a year you have gotten back to the point you were at 10 years ago, without any training in between, and you're already going to be allowed to test for blackbelt? That's an impressive statement, to say the least! To answer your question, I would really prefer you answer mine; what is your martial arts goal? If you want to compete in MMA then the answer of "what meshes well with Shotokan" is going to be totally different than if you want to preserve Japanese martial arts culture. In general, Shotokan's deep stances should make combining it with wrestling fairly easy, and the quick, in-and-out point sparring that is often found in Shotokan translates well to most competitive striking sports (Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA, etc.). Just know that if you start cross-training you are going to have some things that aren't going to mesh well, and you're going to have to find a middle ground or change how you do something, no matter what art you choose.

Congratulations! Tournaments are a great way to meet people, see how well you are progressing and see some neat stuff! That said, there are definitely some issues with tournaments, these days. The "XTREME" presentations are definitely getting out of hand, both with the yelling, the overly aggressive posturing and the flashy forms. The tendency to play to that "XTREME" is probably why you are seeing less variety in weapons, too--I think bo, nunchaku, kama and sword are the most popular in tournaments because they are very flashy. It's hard to be flashy with sai or nunti. It's good to hear that your tournament actually had some contact, though!

That looks like a combination of Taikyouku Ichi, Nii and San, but with the spinning turns from the Pinan kata.

I go through them a couple times a week helping the lower ranks, and every now and then the higher ranks will run through all the kata from kihon kata up. That said, which kihon kata? Different styles have different kihon kata and some even consider kihon kata something completely different from what other styles consider it.

Natural fabrics (cotton, hemp, wool, etc.) do not melt, artificial fabrics do. Contact the manufacturer.

Personally, I feel that techniques done with stick weapons (bo, jo, escrima, tekko, eiku, etc.) are still pretty applicable as they can be used with just about anything of a similar shape/size--sticks, shovels, mop handles, flashlights, etc. There are some weapons like kama that, while more obscure, can still be useful. What if you have to defend yourself with a weapon and the nearest thing at hand is a hammer? Well, those kama techniques still work with a hammer to some degree. Really, you can find some value in every weapon, but some are much more valuable than others and your personal philosophy is going to have more impact on what weapons you train than anything.

Well, the founder of Wado-Ryu trained with Gichin Funakoshi at some point, if I remember correctly, and I don't think they put a whole lot of emphasis on the study of bunkai but I could be wrong--there are some Wado-Ryu stylists that will likely come around and be able to give you more detail on the stylistic differences between Wado-Ryu and Shotokan. As far as the belt goes you should ask the instructor. Most people on here will tell you to wear a white belt, which makes sense because you do not have any rank in Wado-Ryu, but I think it is best to ask the instructor. The instructor may want you to wear a white belt, or your black belt, or maybe something in between because you aren't a black belt in Wado-Ryu but you also aren't a white belt level practitioner of karate, in general. Have a white belt on hand and ask the instructor what they would prefer.