Ueshirokarate

One of my sensei has a system I like a lot. Anyone coming into his dojo new to our style starts at white belt, regardless of any rank thy may hold in other styles. Then, after an appropriate amount of time, they will grade to whatever level in our style the sensei feels is appropriate. As an example, we had a gentleman come into our dojo who held a dan grade in shotokan (we train goju ryu). This gentleman trained consistently 3 classes per week, worked hard, but as those familiar with the styles knows it takes some time to make the shift to the "goju" way of doing things from shotokan. The next dojo grading was about 6 months afer this gentleman started. At that gradng he was graded from white to green belt, which was where my sensei felt he was performing in our style. I like this method because it respected his past training while ensuring the quality in our dojo remained high. Incidentally he is now a brown belt a year and a half in. Sounds like the best way to go. I cringe at the thought of studying another style of karate. The style I have trained is so deep in my dna now. I trained judo, but feel that it is more complementary to karate than antagonistic (like another style can be to you). I feel for the OP. That stinks that you can't find a Shotokan school close by. It is such a ubiquitous style too. I have trained with many others who have taken other styles. Their other style always sneaks out at some point.

These are the words of the founder of Matsubayashi Ryu. I can think of no other post ever posted where these words would be a better response to than your last.: Precepts For Mastering Karate-Do by Shoshin Nagamine He is human and so am I. I cannot develop my own potentialities when in the trap of self-limitations. I must discard this self-limitation. If he practices 3 times, I must practice 6 times. "Do not depend upon others for your improvement." Musashi Miyamoto, Japan’s greatest swordsman, once said, "Pay your respects to the Gods and Buddha’s, but never rely on them." Earnestly cultivate your mind as well as your body and believe in yourself. Karate-do may be referred to as the conflict within yourself, or a life-long marathon which can be won only through self-discipline, hard training and your own creative efforts.

Rank is an artificial concept that may or may not say where you stand Let the Makiwara tell you what rank you are and just be the best karateka you can possibly be.

We typically don't kick that high in my style, but you have to greatly respect those that can. True skill in the video.

General rule of thumb for injuries is ice for the first 24 hours then heat. There are those who feel that you should only use heat on muscles, I generally will use heat right after ice (20minutes for each). This contracts then opens the blood vessels and helps circulate all the fluids in the area. There are many things you can try. You can take an NSAID like motrin, gently stretch it and also try to rub it out. It may be a trigger point. Put hard pressure on it with a finger tip for around 16-19 seconds. This cuts off the blood supply and forces the fibers to relax. You can use a foam roller on it if you have one also. Rest and proper nutrition to feed the repair are the most important things.

If you are using a weighted vest, you are not getting away with no weights. Heck, if you are just doing pull-ups with nothing but your bodyweight, you still are using weight. Your body doesn't care if it is your bodyweight, a barbell, a sandbag or your bodyweight with a weighted vest, it doesn't know the difference. All that matters is the FITT principle, which is frequency, intensity, type and time. http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/fitt-principle.html Certain types of weight do apply the load in a different way, which will recruit muscle fibers in a varying ways. Things like sandbag and barbell snatches will recruit more muscle fibers in your body including stabilizers. These exercises contrast to say a barbell preacher curl that will limit recruitment of muscle fibers beyond those that just contract the biceps.

I don't think I would call Funakoshi the father of modern karate. While his style is certainly the most ubiquitous, there are so many other vital Okinawan karate masters who were as important if not more so, such as Itosu, Myagi, Nagamine, etc. Further, if it wasn't for Motubu no one would probably have any idea who Funakoshi was. Karate is much bigger than just one person. Each time you do a kata, the influence of hundreds of people is being brought to life.

I train with freeweights at a gym. It is something I enjoy. At home, I have a jump rope, collection of sandbags, a TRX, a few chishis and most importantly the ability to do many katas that are now engrained in my DNA.

The reality is that gymnasts are using weights, the weight of their bodies. A gymnast's muscle system is trained differently than that of a bodybuilder and a boxer's muscle system is trained differently as well. Muscle size is not indicative of the type of work it can perform. A powerlifter can lift more than a bodybuilder on certain lifts, a bodybuilder will be able to lift a heavy weight longer than a powerlifter and a gymnast will be able to lift a more moderate weight longer than a bodybuilder. The reason is that you are not only training the muscle when you work them, you are training their energy systems. A bodybuilder or powerlifter will gas out in a grappling contest long before a gymnast or a wrestler. However a bodybuilder or powerlifter could overtake someone with their greater strength, if they are fast and good enough to do so. When designing any strength training program, it is vital to balance hypertrophy, strength and energy systems. You must first start with where you are and where you want to be. A person who weighs 120lbs will need to train a whole lot differently than a person who weighs 250lbs and has a lifting background.

I am totally neutral on supplements. They are far over-hyped and generally speaking are of marginal value. There is nothing wrong with using a supplement if you don't get what you need from your diet, but there are no supplements that will do miracles. For the most part all you need is a sound diet and good routine. If you eat right and do the work results come. Animal Pak vitamins are about all I take.

You need to watch your training volume. However, we can all probably do much more than we think we can. Two days a week of strength training is more than enough to make significant gains in strength. Keep in mind that diet is more than half the equation here. You need to eat adequate calories to gain muscle tissue (for most people around 500 more a day than maintenance works).

By the way, what are you looking for from all this training? Do you have a particular goal your are looking to reach or weakness you are looking to fix?

I agree. Sandbags are the way to go. I have played around with kettlebells quite a bit, but much prefer sandbags and traditional barbell/dumbbells. What are you looking for on your routine? One thing I see is that you are locked into one weigh for your one leg squat. How are you going to progressively overload with just one kettlebell? I assume you are adding weight to your sandbags.

These are the lifts I do right now. Squats, bench press, barbell rows, overhead press, and dead lift, with power clean thrown in, and dips and assisted pull-ups as well. Those are the ones you should be doing. If you want to take it to the next level, learn the snatch, clean and press, they are a step from the power clean as you probably already know. If you put a solid lifting program with these lifts, you really don't need to do squats, bench press, etc. Olympic lifting can replace them quite well. If you have a chance try these Olympic moves with a sand bag. They simulate the awkwardness of manipulating a body, as opposed to a nice neat barbell. They are also killer for grip training when you don't use straps. I prefer rubber mulch for my fill, as it is much bulkier than sand and a whole lot cleaner. Rubber mulch filled bag also makes for a good throwing dummy and inexpensive striking bag. Here are some great instructions on making one: http://www.rosstraining.com/sandbagconstructionkit.pdf

That is the same vid I linked. Outside of the phonetical resemblence to the names, you need to slow down the guys hands and look at the movements. There are a ton of like movements to the naihachis (not just naihanchi shodan) including the linear movement of the form. Heck, even the downward movement of the opening resembles Naihanchi Sho's opening. You must realize that there are difference in Naihanchis from school to school even amongst styles that claim a common lineage. You can't expect a modern performace of Dai Fan Che to look identical to a modern performace of Naihanchi. Don't forget the Naihanchis were also infused with Okinawan te. I looked at that performance and was actually amazed at the similarites, the widshield washer like forearm sweeps, the elbow techniques, the linear movement of the form, the upward leg sweeps, etc.

It's probably also worth mentioning "six pack" abs. These are purely a function of body composition. You can be thin and weak with a six pack. Bodyfat is a function of one's metabolism, their caloric intake and caloric expenditure. Generally speaking it is impossible to become cut on a caloric surplus and conversely impossible to build strength and muscle on a caloric deficit. The exception to the latter is when a person is still in the early stages of training and the body's nueromuscluar system is adapting to lifting.

What do you mean by lift for "power"? My goal is to build power and overall strength when I lift weights. I do 5 sets of 5 reps of for the core exercises in my routine. Its the Stronglifts system. I don't care about being able to see a six pack or looking like a model. I want to be strong.I only ask as people generally have their own perceptions of what these words mean. If you are looking to improve martial arts ability through weight training, you must train differently than a body builder, a powerlifter or a strong man competitor, all of whom train differently than each other. Above all you need to be aware of the different energy systems of your muscles and how training can effect them. Training high reps can take away absolute strength and training low reps can take away endurance. Generally speaking martial artists should be focused on the big compound movements such as squats, dips, bench press, deadlifts, etc. Once a base of strength is developed in these lifts, they should start working Olympic style lifts to develop explosiveness. There is no weight training in the world that will make a martial artist improve more than Olympic style lifting. I prefer to do this with sand bags.

Some believe that praying mantis' form Dai Fan Che is the mother "kata" of the Naihanchi forms. It has a turn in it: rtsp://v3.cache2.c.youtube.com/CjYLENy73wIaLQmFaET1tkqVlBMYJCAkFEIJbXYtZ29vZ2xlSARSBXdhdGNoYIfL1eLG-OOOTgw=/0/0/0/video.3gp

It was explained to me that it was all about feeling how your body reacts when hitting an unyielding surface and compensating as soon as you begin to feel that the power of the strike is being reflected. By becoming sensitive to the feedback from the striking limb it is supposedly possible to punch or kick with a maximum efficiency and minimum risk. A poor technique against a hard surface deflects the force away from the direction of the strike and results in the wrist or ankle bending. I'm not sure I ever did enough of it to feel the benefits and I haven't trained anywhere that has done this since so I can't really comment about it's efficacy. Interesting, thanks.

I did some of this when I did a bit of karate at university in the 80s. It was explained to us that it was a continuation of the progression from sandbag to gravel bag to rock bag. The intention was not to condition the knuckles or to develop power but to encourage good technique and power transference. Maintaining some sensitivity in the arm is key to being able to strike an unyielding surface, just driving through like you would with a heavy bag is a recipe for fractures and pain. We also kicked at an iron pillar to develop a similar sensitivity in the leg. Probably why my knees are held together by string and brown paper these days. I don't see how hitting a stone would "encourage good technique (other than letting you know if you didn't hit on the front two knuckles) or power transference. I certainly think this is the role of makiwara, but for stone striking and other hard objects I only see the purpose as body conditioning through increasing bone density. Would you mind explaining your post further? I am curious about what you say, especially the sensitivity aspect.

This brings up an interesting thing. What exactly makes a black belt? Is it someone who has proved a level of technical competence in the art of karate? What level is that line at? Surely the parameters are different from system to system and school to school, so really what is a black belt or any belt for that matter? Karate is an art and as such, it is a different and unique path for each of us. A pursuit that can never be truly mastered. There is no destination, only a a lifelong journey and the farther I travel down the road the less and less I care about my "rank". I also find myself more and more focused on just mastering the basic moves. Heck, I am even reluctant to learn the next kata, as I feel my work is just beginning with the others I have already "learned".

Lulz

If I were you I wouldn't be punching them at all. Notice Higaonna Sensei never actually punches the wall, it's more forearm strikes and back knuckle strikes and knife hand blows. When you hit something properly, your force goes into the target but the secondary force comes back into you. If you are more solid than your target (i.e. a heavy bag or a student with weaker balance) it goes right back into your target. If your target is more solid than you though (i.e. a wall) it just returns right into you. Ishi mochi (stone pounding) never really uses full force if you watch it. It's more a slow steady pace. I agree, I would never punch a stone or wall full force: That is a recipe for disaster.

Here's a couple to get you started. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmtnAWg0xo&feature=related (at 2:00 in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmtnAWg0xo&feature=related Domo.

I have hit bare handed walls, makiwara, heavy bags, etc. I don't get aches all them time. If I strike something exceptionally hard, my hand will hurt for a few days but nothing after it heals. Makiwara andheavy bags have "give"..they move when you hit them. A stone does not. HUGE difference there. Not to mention the actual substance difference between a makiwara/heavy bag and a stone. Most walls do not.