mal103

Bad lessons - as trainer and whilst training - every now and again. Just shake it off and look forwards to the next one. I think the worst I have given was after a medical where the doctor told me I had a heart murmur, I explained and apologised the following week and due to having good students they all said it was fine. The heart murmur turned out to be noise from a busy heart possibly due to training.... Bad students, I hate it when they are not hungry for advancement and to be better, sloppy training and yawning at you.... most end up on Brown belt row and wonder why they never get another grading. I would speak with you Sensei and share your concerns. I said to my last class that I can open the door and show them the way but if they won't step through and give 100 percent effort they are wasting all of our time.

Money and Karate..... Luckily we do it for Karate and the embaressing money part is kept to a minimum to cover costs. I would in future keep all conversations about money confidential or via email, I have let people off fees before due to problems but it's between me and them only. I've also had people claim poverty to try and get a small reduction... I got a bit confused with the story but I would talk to them all individually and explain your reasons, if you set up a payment plan with someone as a short term solution to continue their training then this is up to you. If someone wants to sponsor students then they are very lucky - nobody should be losing friends of this!

I've tried it but it didn't really work, they either used it as a "look at me" type thing and laugh about it or they felt singled out and embaressed which can be a form of bullying. I go with exclusion now and make the offender sit out for a minute or two. It's normally when the lesson isn't flowing well so keep them moving and they won't get a chance to play up, tonight during a brief pause in my lesson most of them fell back to get a drink and catch their breath! I emphasise that every second spent telling someone to be quiet or get back in line is time the rest of the class are losing, if they waste other peoples time then they can sit out. If this doesn't work then do something fun while they sit out...

Great advice above, just wanted to add that my son is 14 and an assistant instructor with our association, he will either take a handful of junior grades or work under direct supervision from me or other Instructors. We have to be careful with insurance, we are generally over-viewing but never ask him to do more than basics. He can expand on his teaching when under direct supervision though. It can be a good lesson in humility for adults to get instruction from juniors, they should be happy to receive instruction from any senior grade. (so long as the instruction is good)

I've tried it but gave up, realising it would take a very long time to get any good at it and years to master. It is very much turning the force against them, over balancing and taking advantage of the attack. Karate is more about direct striking so they kind of go against each other. Some of the moves we practised were okay and could be effective if done at speed but with the Karate hat on you may be tempted to take a more direct route. There were also a couple of occasions that the techniques were vulnerable to someone with quick reactions. Not knocking it as I have barely scratched the surface, I think there is more than a life-times worth of study within Karate so personally I will keep on this path. Interestingly the more you learn Karate the more you are learning things that are more at home with other styles of MA. Especially when you study advanced Kata.

Well done for making the decision, it can be very daunting walking into a Dojo where there may be very fit/thin people training hard, a good MA-ist will accept you and help you so if you get anything else then maybe keep looking. I think choosing a good club should be more important to the style, I would pick Karate but then I may be bias... Training when big may take a while, you will need to do cardio workouts to lose weight but this can impact your joints and can also make you hungry (could just be me...). A good Sensei will start you off slow and gradually build you up, hopefully the interest will spur you on to train regularly and maybe more often. They should also advise to train at your own speed and only stretch to your own limits - all of this will gradually improve. They will also push you to push yourself. Make a list and go and see, it would be polite to contact the instructor/clubs and ask if you can meet them and view a lesson, as said be careful to not sign up and pay a fortune as unfortunately these clubs exist. When you get there talk to the students, you will hopefully "know" when you get the right one.

How old are you? My boy is 15 and still growing fast, his bones have out done his muscles/tendons etc so at the moment he struggles to do the kneeling bow as he just can't bend that way until his body adjusts. On the other hand I am mid 40's and started late, it took me at least 4 to 5 years before getting a kick anywhere near head height, I still have to lean back a bit to get height. It will improve with time and regular training, I would just do a bit of a warm up and stretches as often as you can but be careful to not over stretch and cause pain.

There are plenty of students who moan about aches and pains because they want to rest. Sometimes we tell them to carry on but have to make a judgement call, most of the time we get it right but if they visibly are in pain or ask again then we tell them to rest. It's annoying when someone rests and then runs around after the lesson. There is only one person to decide if you should rest or not and that is you. Your Sensei is not a doctor.

Some Brown belts take longer as they find it difficult to just train and train hard with 100% effort, even when doing basics, if they can't get over this mental hurdle then they should not grade. Andrew - i'm not trying to be nasty but I read from your last post that you either didn't feel ready to grade or you enjoyed winning as your skills had moved above your belt level. If you were not ready to grade then why do you think you are suddenly ready to grade up 4 levels? Are all of your fellow students happy to see you get a leg up the ladder? Will they show you any respect? I know of a 1st Kyu who kept turning down his Shodan grading because he liked winning competitions against other Brown belts, eventually nobody would fight him. Very poor attitude. Here's the final thing I was looking for "my Sensei wants another judge" Regardless of the reason, this is not the way... You shouldn't be given a Black belt, or be awarded one - you become one. As for the church, good luck if it's the right location, I enquired about hiring a church hall and was told yes until I told them it was MA. Apparently the far eastern philosophy goes against christian values...

Same question.... There are no short cuts in Karate, maybe a couple of double grades if they have done it before or are really keen. A few clubs orgs promote people too early so they can fill a teaching slot and they can be fine teachers but shouldn't miss on their Brown belts training period as that is when the most improvements are made. The 6 months as a 1st Kyu is there for a reason, they should be doing their syllabus/Kata without thinking and fine tuning their stances, positioning etc. This is a vital part of being a Black belt. No good trying to teach if you are not near perfect yourself. I started teaching very early as a Shodan and assumed it would be mostly beginners but suddenly had a load of senior grades show up, are you happy to stand infront of a Black belt and teach them? What will you teach? How will you reply when someone asks "what's this move is for"? If your Sensei is willing to break the general rules and grade you straight to Shodan because you think you know the kata needed then I suggest you go to another club. Also compare yourself with their equivalent students, see if you're better than their Brown belts? Maybe try a few clubs as the difference can be extreme. You may think I am being harsh - well I am. It annoys me that most clubs/orgs/associations do a good job, we follow the guidelines, we turn out good Karate-ka, we set our standards high so you know they have earnt it when they pass it. Then you hear of people getting given a grade so they can fill a teachers post, or grade themselves to make them sound more impressive, or someone comes and trains with you and they are rubbish. If my Sensei came up to me one day and said he was going to grade me to Sandan early so we had more senior ranks I would tell him to shove it (respectfully) - not that he ever would suggest it in the first place. He tells a story of when one of the big names offered him a Black belt for £100, he obviously said no thanks as he didn't think he was ready. The big name replied with "just as well because if you had said yes I would never have graded you Shodan, ever". 6 months later he passed no problems.

Do nothing, every few hours tap the bruise. This will remind you to evade and block better so you don't get hit so often....

Only read this far - good advice. Get to Shodan, get another years experience at least before x training. More importantly, your advanced Karate training and Kata bunkai will teach you plenty of grappling, throws, arm locks etc. If your club doesn't explore this side of things then find a club that uses the FULL range of Karate techniques as it's all in Karate - you just have to see it. Watch 30 Black belts see a BJJ demo and match the techniques to our Kata for example...

Teaching MA is one thing but having to teach disruptive kids who haven't been taught any discipline is very tough and sometimes very frustrating, as a teacher I sometimes get students where the parents have failed so want a Sensei to try and sort them out. Goofing about and fighting without guidance is very dangerous for everyone and hugely disrespectful towards fellow students and especially the Sensei who has to keep everyone in check and safe. You would not have gotten away with messing about in real Dojo's of the past or a typical Dojo in the 60's/70's. If people needed to be brought down to earth with humiliation or a knock then this would be a method to sort them out, warn them or get rid of them, they are training a Martial Art not at a kids party. Saying that I would never strike a student with any force, ESPECIALLY a child!!! There are a thousand methods to deal with this rubbish behaviour, all without getting physical, most without humiliation which is a form of bullying/abuse. The instructor failed by kicking them. Normally working them harder sorts out the wannabe's from those that want to earn something.

A good Dan grade should moderate their punch/kicks so that you know you have been hit at full speed/power but it should also not cause damage. Obviously the downside is the odd mistake than can be harmful, also Brown or new Black belts sometimes try to hit you as hard as possible without pulling it. I like the idea of full contact but I have learnt a lot of better applications so striking groin/neck etc would need to be against the rules - tricky to learn to fight but to also remember what you can't do.

Shotokan will give you what you need eventually, you will need to find a good club/instructor though.... There are plenty to choose from and not all will provide what you want - or some not straight away - so it may take a while. Shotokan itself takes a long time to learn and it's only really past Shodan that you really start learning - in my humble opinion of course. Good hunting.

As its 8 years since this was posted then hopefully they have overcome their nerves by now, as advice for everyone else in addition to the above then I would say speak with your instructor/Sensei. Let them know how you feel, if they suggest you try to overcome your fears then try your best but they may realise how much this freaks you out and get you up as a croud. Doing solo kata as a mid to high belt should feel better as you will be more confident with Kata by then. I would never waste so much time bringing people up one by one, others will get bored and cold, when they get up they may injure themselves. I remember as a white belt we were told to just move the length of the dojo doing any technique - of course the higher grades had plenty to draw from but the beginners felt and looked stupid just doing the same punch or kick. It was one of those times I considered giving up.

Very good - I like your distance during Bunkai - it's CLOSE! Very similar to Shotokan which uses a lower and wider stance with a few of the moves flowing, one of the biggest problems in training it is to get the snappy moves where needed, some just blur the lot together and rush it. Don't worry about not looking perfect, i've just had a load of pics taken of my Kata and I could spend all evening picking out bad points. It's only when it's seen and felt that you can witness it properly.

I teach twice a week, Shotokan Karate, I train with my Sensei twice a week, I try to do a few hours a week on keeping up my Kata and trying out new combinations/bunkai to add to my teaching plans. I spend another 2 hours per week in total speaking to students, instructors and my Sensei after lessons. I spend another few hours thinking about everything, normally when i'm driving or waiting for something or supposed to be doing work... If I get time I will also research videos, books etc to expand my own knowledge and keep a check of what's going on, oh - and at least an hour a week on a forum... Nope - not addicted at all.

Good job, they have a very good aptitude and have given some great advice.

Resolution - everyone happy! Carry on training.

I thought similar until it got quicker, with speed the kick can come out of nowhere! With a bit more flexibility it can be aimed at head height. I have a set of DVDs from Frank Brennan and his backkick is lightning fast, the opponent/attacker would not have time to blink! Think of someone coming at you with fists flying (or about to fly), turning your head away from the blows while delivering a killer kick to their midsection or even head is a very good position to be. I've used it in Kumite several times and nearly always hit the opponent, although have to be careful as it can be very damaging, especially if slightly lower than normal...

Tricky kick, I have been taught that its better to look over your shoulder to see where the kick is aiming, then I have been taught that looking takes too long and just kick! My best method is to get the hips quickly into position FIRST before kicking, start with a narrow stance so you can quickly twist the hips into line. This in time will come one movement.

Speed of executing the technique should be quick unless a slow move of couse. Speed of each move should be normal rythm. Each Shotokan kata has a time guide. It would be fair to give older students a bit more time but i dare say when you have progressed to Shodan that you will be faster... Watch Kanazawa Sensei for a good tempo, he's still going strong and must be near 80

Welcome to being a Karate nut! Enjoy it! Practice will make perfect, then practice some more.

Just another point I missed earlier and has been touched on, spiritual training of the mind is best bought out with Kata. I find when I perform Kata with full power and in my zone then I get a great feeling during and after the Kata. When I was performing the end of Jion recently (which has a long Kiai on the last move) a pair of students behind apparently commented that someone had just been killed. Something you miss when people are performing Kata with flowery movements in competitions. Kata should be drilled and drilled until "good" and then taken apart, each section and overlapping sections drilled with a partner to perfect the technique, then drilled more with power/speed. Then drilled with different variations until you realise that a single Kata can hold several hours of training material and plenty of techniques. If you have something in your training that can do all of that then don't bother doing Kata.