Wastelander

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.

Ah, I see now. This is a Shorin Ryu organization. Looks like they write it Shido-kan to differentiate themselves. Shorin Ryu is one of the main Okinawan karate styles and is very interesting and can be quite effective. okay awesome! That is exactly what I was hoping for any pointers for a first timer? Relax, pay close attention to how you move and how the sensei moves, feel free to take notes if that helps you and be aware that you are going to probably be pretty worn out afterward. Shorin-ryu tends to have more natural stances than, for example, Shotokan, but even so you will probably end up with wobbly legs eventually (especially because they seem to be very kick-oriented from the link you provided).

But there could be--when you run it try pivoting around 180 degrees on every step where you cross your feet and it makes things interesting

For a long time I threw on one of these (http://www.amazon.com/XO-Supporter-Pro-Flex-Cup/dp/B001WTVYEO) over my underwear and threw on compression shorts over it all. That kept me comfortable and safe for 4 years until I wore out the supporter, so now I do the same thing without the supporter--underwear, cup, compression shorts. As long as the underwear has long enough legs I don't have a problem with chafing.

With a lot of the comparatively younger Shihan, I would agree with this. A lot of the senior instructors who have been with Kyokushin since day one are quite different though. Our organization's top instructor trained first under Shigeru Oyama and later Sosai Oyama and we train lots of different applications, especially those from Tensho kata. Good to hear! My only experience with Kyokushin has been a mudansha student who had been out of it a while and came into our dojo to train, and then training with a Nidan.

It produces very tough, fit fighters and is a strong style, overall. There isn't enough emphasis on bunkai a lot of the time for my personal tastes but there's nothing wrong with that, really.

I have also been taught the sliding version and a shuffling version, and I do tend to use both of those a lot more often in sparring than the stepping side kick unless I really need to plow through somebody with the kick and want the extra wind up and distance.

Kataaro will make custom belts, although they are in the US

The same amount I would be paying for training, so technically I don't get paid but I don't have to pay, either. I also get $10 or $20 when I teach a private lesson to one of the beginner kids but that doesn't happen very often (obviously, since I can't remember if it was $10 or $20 )

A couple months ago I was sparring my sensei and apparently I hold my guard too high when I switch to southpaw because he snuck in a punch to my liver while stepping past me. That hurt but would have been fine if he hadn't done it two more times and the third one drilled me so hard I dropped and rolled around for a while in pain. Good times

There are going to be differences in every dojo because different instructors are going to emphasize different concepts. Some instructors are very open to other styles and ideas and others aren't. In general I can say that, yes, Shorin-Ryu emphasizes evasion, speed, natural stances and punching with a twist to the 45* angle. The structure is difficult to say because some instructors are more concerned about what you're doing than how you do it. I can say that many styles of karate will do kakie (the thing similar to chi sau) and some will even include lop sau, but it's all up to the instructor and what they have experience with and what concepts they like.

I would recommend checking out any of the schools you are interested in and watching classes there, because our experiences may not be the same as what you will experience. I can say that Shuri-Ryu gave me solid basics (hand strikes, kicks, stances, etc.) and very good control over my techniques. Shorin-Ryu has been more focused on the applications of the kata we practice and more advanced concepts, but I had already been training in martial arts for a while when I started Shorin-Ryu and my strong basics from Shuri-Ryu carried over.

We do some forearm and shin conditioning in class, but not a whole lot--most of us who want to get that conditioning do it outside of class or between classes either with the makiwara, wooden dowels or hitting each other . As for treating the area, Thai Oil is almost nothing but Wintergreen Oil, which is already in Icy Hot and not all that good for you in large quantities. I use Fighter Fix.

I know a really good instructor in Gurnee if you're not terribly far. He teaches out of the basement of a church at the moment and while he is very good with kids he is also a really nice guy in general and knows his stuff so adults can definitely benefit from his teaching. His name is Kevin Skoien and he is a Nidan (2nd Degree Blackbelt) in Shuri-Ryu and he runs Katai Martial Arts, and he still goes back down to Peoria to train with his instructor every now and then. Unfortunately I don't know too much else about the martial arts scene up there, but I know that the tournament I went to in Hoffman Estates displayed a lot of schools in the area that did not impress me at all so you might want to steer away from the sportier schools in the area when it comes to karate.

If it can't be found with Google then it might as well not exist. If you're teaching martial arts for the fun of it and don't care about making money then that's great, but in this day and age you'll still be lucky to have any students to teach if they can't find you on the internet first, at least through a forum (the new "word-of-mouth"). I've been to a few places that don't have a website, but only because I've been invited or someone told me to go there because otherwise I had no idea they existed.

I haven't witnessed this although apparently a few years ago (about 6 years, if I remember the story correctly) a Judoka came in and challenged my instructor for some reason. I guess my instructor started out with a lighter-than-normal sparring session until the guy slammed him down on his head so hard that his neck did a lot of painful crackling that it wasn't meant to do. This then resulted in my instructor delivering a lot of knees and punches to the face after resuming the "sparring match" that left the Judoka exhausted and bloody. From the sounds of it I guess the guy was impressed but never did come back. In any case, I don't know for sure if it's true or not but it's an interesting story, anyway. Kohai is a "junior student" (in the same way that a Sempai is a "senior student" although those translations are not exact), as I understand it, so technically it could have been blackbelts depending on the perspective of the person telling the story

I have trained two different styles of karate--Shuri-Ryu and Shorin-Ryu--and in both I have been taught to do a stepping side kick by stepping behind my kicking leg. This method is going to be both faster and more powerful then stepping in front because it allows for smoother chambering of the knee to launch the kick. I will say that stepping in front can make it FEEL more powerful because you have to draw the leg back further, but that is just a sensory illusion because you will be bringing the knee back just as far either way but when you step in front you will have lost some of your momentum by the time you can launch the kick.

Would you mind describing these different stepping methods? As it stands I do not have much exposure to TKD but I have been taught a few different ways to step for my side kicks and there are only so many ways that the body can move effectively. If you could give descriptions, videos or step-by-step photos to go off of it would be helpful. Thanks!

Since I am just an assistant instructor the only ranks I have ever tested people for were 9th-kyu and 8th-kyu in Shuri-Ryu, and that was still under the guidance of my Sensei at the time. That said, I did fail (or rather I recommended that they fail to my instructor) a couple kids in that process. I can also say that I have failed tests in the past and, while frustrating, it caused me to work even harder at what I failed on.

All of the female instructors I've had have all been very strict about how techniques should be performed and they weren't in the least bit afraid of hitting me and being intimidating . In other words, they were good instructors but it didn't have anything to do with their genders--it was just their personalities.

This has been discussed, at length, on multiple forums and the answer is almost always the same--no, you can't gain a skill level to match someone who trained under a good instructor. That isn't to say that it is necessarily worthless, however, because if you have a training partner to work it all out with you will most certainly gain some level of proficiency over time, but the progress will not be as fast as if you had an instructor and your technique will not be as clean and efficient as if you had an instructor.