Wastelander

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.

I've torn a few modern 14oz karate gi's, but we include grappling techniques in our karate so that does somewhat change what we need in a uniform. The modern lightweights might last longer than old-school heavyweights, but modern heavyweights still outlast modern lightweights. Besides, lightweight ones always look like you're wearing a wet sheet over your shoulders--I, personally, look pretty sickly when I wear a lightweight one

No problem--I'm glad it worked well for you! Just keep an eye out for wearing holes in your boxer briefs

We have the following belts: White Yellow Orange Purple Blue Green Brown (Sankyu-Ikkyu) Black In between each belt there is a "training belt" that is the color of the next belt but with a white stripe down the middle--only children get those, though.

First of all, you most certainly are grappling with people quite often in karate--what else do you think you are pulling your hand back to your hip for, and what exactly do you think your other hand is doing when one of them is striking or blocking with your knife hand, for example? In addition, strong muscles, ligaments and tendons in the hands will help prevent injuries while striking because those are the things holding your bones in place when you punch.

Oh my--this could be one heck of a can of worms! I'm almost afraid to respond for fear I'll get in trouble, haha. I'm only a brown belt with 5 years of training, so I'm not exactly in any position to make decisions on what should be changed but RIGHT NOW I think I would probably change the curriculum to be more in-line with my current way of thinking and training. It could certainly change as I learn more and train more, though. If I had to make changes right now, I would probably cut down on the number of kata and change which kata were in the curriculum. I have been known to be a bit of a "kata collector" in the past, so I've experienced kata outside of my current system to pull from. The kata that I find the most value in (right now) are Empi Sho, the three Naihanchi kata, Seiunchin, Passai (probably a blend of Sho and Dai) and Kusanku (again, probably a blend of Sho and Dai). Other than that, I would just want to put more emphasis on open-handed techniques and incorporating grappling and striking together.