mal103

I can hear alarm bells, you need time and training at each and every level as the journey should be gradual and not rushed. if you are being graded higher then there needs to be a very good reason, hopefully not because you paid extra money... there are plenty of McDojo's and belt factories out there who will happily accellerate anyone who shows some enthusiasm, skill and extra money. You do not have to accept it. if i were you then i would go and speak to other clubs and people who have trained for lots of years, you may be in a bad dojo but won't notice it yet. If someone came to me from one of the clubs near me then i would be honest with them. One is rubbish and another more interested in money or getting certain students to black belt quickly so they can add to the number of instructors - IF this is the case then your MA will suffer. Be cautious...

Well thank you very much Unfortunately the contract for Karate is alive still and there is one near me, another just charges a lot. The most damaging thing is to the students who won't go near another Dojo because they think it's the norm. I get the odd few who come to me and ask about money first as they nearly got conned into signing an expensive contract.

..... And you will hopefully be at an angle to the attacker/opponent so they have less chance of striking you but you have plenty of chances.

Karate is about a quick end to a confrontation, it can be a smaller/weaker person deflecting an attack and striking back before fleeing the scene. Boxers stand in front of each other guarding and striking, trying to out smart each other with speed, strength, endurance, tactics. Sports Karate is similar but with more limbs involved. Kihon training is the equivalent of soldiers marching, not something you would do in the field of battle. Eventually Kihon training will evolve into free sparring where you would do your best to block, guard, strike, evade or it starts to hurt... Keep training, walk, then run.

I think you are over thinking it for your level, learn to walk first, learn the basics and gradually move on. Don't try to make the basics fit into a street fight. You could chamber you fist before punching someone, normally after doing something else where the attacker has been manipulated into a certain vulnerable position, this is when you send in your most powerful punch from the hip to end the confrontation, this is the idea behind a lot of just applying basics as most of the time this is all you will remember in the heat of the moment. There is no time to think, you have to rely on what you have trained thousands of times...

Only what I've seen and a friend that thinks it's great, fine if he's happy. A lot of the principles I like to learn and to teach involve a shift in angles and 2 hands working against one, a lot of what I've seen on KM involve "simply" grabbing theirs arms... Absolutely no good if they are larger or stronger. Just my opinion. I do have a thing about people saying to me "oh that looks like Judo/Aikido/TKD" etc, if most systems are trained to their fullest then most include grappling, ground fighting, throwing etc. most of the advanced Karate Kata are like looking at the tips of icebergs...

Sorry to be picky but if I had someone behind me then I would be moving away fast and placing myself where I could see both attackers - or running like hell, unless I was completely surrounded or was grabbed from behind with someone in front, I would then be more inclined to be using feet or back of head to attack behind. A great point about the route of the fist to the target, while the average punch is on a long arc, big hooking punch, a good MA punch will be coming fast and direct in a straight line.

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas, I am looking into a newspaper advert and have ordered 2500 leaflets to kick start things. I am hoping to find a local company to deliver them or may have to press some students to help deliver them, or maybe hand them out. I am also looking at putting some well placed boards around town but have to be careful as we will be training at the local Council hall so don't want to upset them before we start. Am always looking for some oddball marketing thing to do though... Eventually it is hoped that word of mouth will get around but still need to pay the rent from day 1.

Typically with Kihon then it's exact and full movements during the low to mid grades - think of it as soldiers learning how to march - when more experienced you wouldn't expect a soldier to march into battle. Same for mid to high grades where they will do Kihon more from a free style sparring stance. This will vary depending on style and club. Karate is very effective and can give you everything if you are lucky enough to have a good club and train long enough - good luck!

If you practice this a thousand times while doing Kihon then it will hopefully become an instinctive movement if you are up close and at grappling range. If free sparring then you want your hands out the front and up, they can be open to start with to try to calm the situation or fists if it's come to that , or if it's a competition. If you are closer then pulling a limb back with your Hikite hand is a potentially good thing, changing angles on them can help you get them into an arm lock so you can force them down or hit hard and run. Pulling one arm back to help project the other forwards is another potential as you want your arms working together, 2 arms against one is a key principle. At an early stage in training you sometimes have to just do it, later on you will see a lot of reasons why things are done, give it time.

I've got a few kids training in my Dojo's, I am leaning more towards making them wait longer between grades and making them skip gradings if they aren't really impressive, I also think that there should be a minimum age limit of gaining a Junior BB and Adult BB 12/16 maybe. I think 2nd Dan is more about increased skills but think it should may be over 2 years - more 3. Think a Junior should grade again to Shodan at 16, this then doesn't allow for a 2nd Dan below 18. 3rd Dan is more about skills plus maturity so really can't see anyone under 25 being allowed to grade to 3rd. Just my opinion... My boy graded to Shodan at 13 and I didn't see the point of him re-doing at 16 but now I can. Back to this kid in the original video, she must have spent hours in the Dojo or training, I have seen lots of kids have their childhood stolen from them because they showed some skills at a sport and were then pushed and pushed, some willingly being pushed because they though it made their parents happy. A few later realise they missed on hours of fun, play, rest, TV, etc and are not thankful. There is no way a child should know - or be taught the full applications to the Kata, it's even dodgy teaching this to teenagers and some adults...

No problem Patrick - it would have been much easier and more sensible for me to say something like annoyed... sometimes a nerve is touched so the fingers type quicker than the brain can think. To answer Guird, this is only my opinion and based on my experience of Karate and what I've seen of Krav Magna, I have recognised several applications from Karate Kata used in their system but some I have seen is where they have marketed it as "theirs" when it is clearly taken from other systems. There are only a certain amount of ways you can block/strike/arm lock someone so there will always be a crossover between styles. I have a few issues with their system where you would have to be fairly strong or of a similar height/strength to defeat the attacker - a lot of Martial Arts are based on a weaker or smaller person inflicting pain on an attacker. When you hear/see things like grab their arm and twist like this - even I've got larger students that I would struggle to do this against. Only my experience, but limited experience. If it works then use it.

What's the best method of marketing a new Dojo in a new area? Based on your experiences do leaflets work the best, do you get much interest from newspaper adverts or advert boards/posters put up in the area? I already run 2 club nights in Westbury, Wiltshire and near Frome in Somerset, the new one is in Warminster in Wiltshire (UK) practicing Shotokan Karate. There are 2 other clubs nearby but not of a very good standard and far enough away, the new Dojo is in recently renovated halls near a supermarket in the middle of town so a good location. There are plenty of other MA around but the town is big enough I think. I can subsidise the new club from funds for a while but would prefer that it's well attended from day one, I have about 2 weeks before opening night. I was planning on having leaflets delivered locally but curious to find out if any other marketing works. A lot of schools already run MA clubs but I'd prefer to not have a Dojo full of kids, I have lots of families so have a good mix of students, too many kids can get disruptive...

When you see rubbish "above" you then you have a few options, stay and train, get on with it, live with it. Or move to another association or start up on your own. I trained under someone for a few years and slowly realised that rank and money were more important than standards. Someone who has only been in a Dojo for a couple of hours should not be grading, same should not be shown their requirements on the grading day, similar should not be shown what is needed to pass the next grade on the grading day, Bitter experience.... I now have a mix of students, some I am getting ready to grade under a more senior Sensei, some who I am going to grade, some whom I am not going to grade until they get a move on, some who I train who will get graded (given rank) by someone else. At the end of the day we have to shut up and train as proof is really on the floor, to prance around with belts and badges to show where we think we are is stupid, some Black belts can't fight their way out of a wet paper bag but some Brown belts can... The real ones will realise where everyone is on their journey, if you are having trouble with rank envy then it is your problem, if people are not where they should be then this reflects on the graders but may be realised by the graded eventually. In short - shut up and train - in the nicest possible way...

Tricky situation, their Karate may be good but no good if they have other problems and issues that they can't share it. Be careful not to put another person on a pedestal and think they can do no wrong as they are only human and could be going through their own battle. Confront them and challenge then to get on with it, but they must drive it, don't shower them with gifts and make excuses for them because they have potential, a good MAist should be headstrong enough to cope with most of life's challenges. After all your MA journey is yours and you need experienced people to pass on their knowledge, I would also favour a busy Dojo than just one on one, the atmosphere is great when several train together. Go out and seek similar training from someone who is able to give it, if this Sensei can bounce back then keep in touch.

The best thing to do is study several kicks and then kick a punchbag, but after study you may find that certain people can kick more powerfully with their best kicks so its impossible to say that some kicks are more powerful than others.

too late at 24? You've just started life, the bit before now was learning basics, this period is when you should be training the hardest to be the best at everything you can be - work, play, the lot! Later in life - like another 24 years you may start to slow down a bit but not by much. At 45 I can run rings around EVERYONE in my Dojo and most at the Dojo's where I do my training, age is just a number. One of the Sensei I train with is 61 and hard as nails, fit as a fiddle. Growing old is mostly in the mind but don't waste a minute getting there.

I think I spoke with them a while back while I was investigating teaching qualifications, I was curious so left my number. It sounded like one of those get rich quick schemes where you are given testimonials first and price last. If the instructors can live up to their reputations AND you have trained for a while then you may receive something worthwhile about teaching or running a club but I doubt it would be worth the money. You would be better linking up with a good established association, but check them out first as there are plenty of good sounding people who regurgitate the same old rubbish. I think we all owe the Martial Arts a promise to promote the highest standards that we can enforce and achieve. Good students will soon work out who trains properly and who is selling rubbish, unfortunately for some this will cost them...

I've got a small school in comparison but the responsibility is great and does keep me on my toes, it also provides several hours thinking/worrying sometimes. The worse time for this is when I wake up at night and then can't get back to sleep. Most of my worries though are for my students, especially near a grading, will I be forced to fail them, will they give up etc. All you can do is your best and set a good example.

Just to make clear when you say football you mean the USA version of putting on large shoulder armour and bending over to push/charge. Football in the UK is what you call soccer. To defend against aggressive behaviour and aggressive people are two different questions, the first you need to act passive, show open hands (this puts your hands where they will be ready but not end laming the situation), then you should look to make your exit as quick as possible. Aggressive behaviour is dealt with by a combination of block/evade, hard strike followed by your exit. For someone charge like a US football player then you would be looking to strike into the should or neck area or use your thumb or knuckles to push into the neck pressure points. You can also push down on the head, most people will bend when their head is pushed. Of course you could try a kick before they got too close... If someone is grappling and you haven't had a chance to strike them you also need to move your hips back and twist them to the side to protect your groin area. To compare two people in a ring then you will only be able to compare those people, you could have a good karateka who hasn't done much grappling defence so would be useless when grabbed, you could have a football player that has never been hit so would crumble on first impact to a sensitive area. If you are being constantly beaten up by the local football team then you may want to wear a box. The last thing you said was to defend yourself when they provoke you, a good Martial Artist won't be drawn into a fight and will do their best to avoid unless attacked. Being pushed about or teased is not an attack...

Forget double grading, you are on a journey not a race.... I've been a part of double grading students during a period with my old club and wish that I had not. Some of them are luckily still my students and I have held them back to even out their rank and they have been happy with the reasons. Some of the others are still with my old club and have shown they make bad students later on as they have skipped crucial parts of their training. They are also seen as belt chasers as some had worked out the earliest they could get their black belt based on when the gradings were and not where they were. They also have a black belt instructor who has raced to it after just 2 years, the last grading I sat on I witnessed a whole load of white belts all doing the same basic mistake! There is no short cuts in Karate or MA. Don't ever ask but if it happens bow deeply and show respect, unless you're in a McDojo, then give it back and go find a better club.

That made me smile... thanks! I often wonder about a lot of the "Western" Japanese that we use, I found out that KIAI is closer to the meaning "to shout", how stupid do we look when we start out shouting KIAI, it's the same as doing 3 stepping punches (for example) and shouting "SHOUT!" on the last one.... I'm sure that "block" has been over used as well.

Apologies, most of my reply was aimed at the original poster.... maybe I should have quoted them before I started rambling.

Absolutely. I ended up running my clubs alone as it makes it easier to choose who I train with and there is no politics, if someone states I have to join them to train with them then I go elsewhere. I am lucky I have some good Dojo's and some good Seniors nearby. Good luck with your search, for now just be the best you can be, just being in a position of teaching should motivate you enough to keep training.

But who corrects you? Unless you are soo good that you can self train or have been able to keep training everything properly, which I doubt. If you havn't got the enthusiasm to do some training yourself then you have no place in trying to pass it on to students. You need to urgently get back in the line in front of someone else, if there is nobody else then you need to find someone somewhere, even if its once a month for a day. I trained under someone who gradually got worse at their own technique and skills, they ended up teaching rubbish or missing parts of Kata. When I started teaching the students that went in front of both of us were getting taught different things in the same system! I used to cringe when I was in the line and they showed bad technique. In the end I had to split and now train with a much better Sensei who has had to do a lot of corrections on me but has sharpened my skills. This i am then able to pass onto my students who have also noticed the difference in me and my lessons. I complement this by working on Kata and line work myself during lunchtimes at work, this is fine to keep it fresh and work on lesson ideas but not a supplement for proper Dojo training. I would say you have to teach/train equally, I am looking to move one of my teaching sessions so I can attend more training. Even if you have been training for years I don't believe that you can just teach and not train (or just self train), you will eventually lose your technique, speed, skills and forget stuff that you will learn properly in a Dojo. Please don't pass on your bad mistakes to anybody, there are enough people in McDojo's doing exactly that!!! This is not meant as a personal attack but based on my experience of seeing fat, slow and useless instructors who have stopped training.