mal103

Trying to show how my back kick had improved and how I no longer needed to look over my shoulder and the speed of the kick.... .... Then flipped onto my backside...

Well done! Buy the longer belt and cut one end, then just sew it up. try to keep the ends above the knees but near the Gi jacket lower edge. Horrible when belts are too long and flick up into your face... Sounds like you will get another one soon.

The true test would be if you removed all money from the equation and see who would be willing to carry on teaching/training...

Warning bells when anyone asks for money up front or a contract, most good schools/Dojo's that I know run as a small profit making business, although if they charged for their time and managing time they would be well out of pocket, basically the books balance and the running of the club is done for the enjoyment of training and teaching. My old club was making money out of it and in the end (before I left) they were starting to put profits over standards. Another I know has watered down the standards completely to make it fun for kids. If you are interested then you need to train for more than 5 minutes to REALLY find out if you can stick with it long enough to get anything out of it. Karate to me is like a long term savings account, you enjoy putting money away but much later you start getting a return on your money. Maybe seek out an established Dojo and ask about a trial.

If he's a good instructor/Sensei then he will be gradually "fixing" everyone's training or bad habits. I think that the "Sensei knows best" approach is an old fashioned way that was correct for many Sensei but unfortunately a few of the others shouldn't have been followed like gods as they are still only human. At a certain level we should question everything, investigate it ourselves and try to train with different Sensei to broaden our knowledge. I am training someone now who has come back after 10 years away and she has just graded 1st Kyu, it took a while to bring the level back up but there was enough remembered to work with. It's a big step to go back so well done. Thinking about this i'm now more inclined to think that you should concentrate on your own journey, this can be tough sometimes as the modern approach seems to be to compare and look at who is better etc. Would be nice to just get on and train sometimes! Maybe as a suggestion you could mention this students lack of control as a slight concern and see what the Sensei thinks, this is not a direct complaint but you have a right to point this out before someone is hurt. He may tell you to mind your own business though.

By not putting as much effort into the other aspects of the art then he is not an all round MAist, it's no good just being able to box clever. My experience included people coming up to Brown belt a few years after I had been there and being graded a lot easier, I have put my students up for gradings and they all went through similar tests to myself, then along comes Sensei's mate and another instructors kids who got "given" rank. There were excuses of age but they were only 5 years older than myself, also excuses of students showing the right spirit - again trying to compensate for poor standards. I think you may have to talk privately with your Sensei but if they still think they are totally correct you will be then left with 2 choices.

Well done, hard work, practice and more practice will help you through these times and to become a good MAist.

Three k's KKK and not Kkk kKk or kkK. It is an all round standard imho... I left my old club for lots of reasons, one of which was the fast promotion of students who showed good spirit but were technically behind. Rank should be a marker system on where you are on the journey and not a set of goals to achieve to get a new colour or number. If someone is lacking in one area then they need to improve on it, my old club just gave a black belt to someone that was very fast with great spirit but their technique was getting bad and they had no control. i agree some leniency should be given for age, disabilities or non-flexible but everything the student does should be of a good standard. I feel you are in a similar place that i was whereyou dont fully agree with the standards and can no longer accept it just because Sensei says so...

Last week i was teaching and as i knelt down to bow my gi bottoms ripped at the back, luckily i had white underwear on so nobody noticed...

A friend of mine used to get constant grief from the medics because he was 17 stone, BUT most of it was muscle!!! It was because he didn't fit into one of the weight - height charts that they judge us by. Do the most simple test, reach down and grab your belly/gut - if you can grab more than an inch (2.4cm) then you have excess body fat, if there is nothing flabby to grab then you are in proportion or too skinny! Sometimes having a bit extra can help if you get really ill as your body can live off itself for longer, most of the time you don't need to drag around an extra tyre so can eat less and exercise more, mostly it's about how comfortable you feel with yourself.

1st kyu to Shodan in a few months? Sounds a bit rushed to me, well done but my old club was rushing students through to gain instructors and add to their numbers of senior grades. Be wary as they will do you no favours in rushing it. The best way of checking your standard is to line up with a few other clubs, you will either slot straight in or stick out like a sore thumb.

Not over but you will need to let it heal properly and not rush it. Talk with your Sensei and ask to return later but will need to train around it and ask their advice. Don't get pressured or tempted to train too early though...

In my old association it started becoming obvious that money and status were becoming more important than standards as people were getting graded early or with poor standards, the way that I now look at grading is more about me telling the students when they are ready - not the other way around. Unfortunately there is an attitude that exists in some people that they get an award for turning up, should automatically grade for training for 3 months and are better than others. Some even think they are brilliant so no longer need to train harder as they should easily pass any test. The best students are the ones who are self critical, never think they are ready and accept that they are on a journey that you have already trodden and will take your advice on when they can grade etc. So long as you are setting a high enough standard and a good example then you will produce good students, hopefully they will off balance the mcdojo results who think they are doing MA...

So far so good: http://www.independentmartialartsportsassociation.co.uk/

I did have knee pain for a bit but put this down to running on hard surfaces and not twisting properly whilst kicking, I now run less and twist properly so pain has gone away. I think if you train hard for several hours a week then your body will need to rest now and again, I keep a mixture of hard training, slow training for technique and regularly do nothing but my 2 hours teaching per week, although when I teach I also get a semi good workout.... As has been said though I work with people who groan if they bend down to pick up something off the floor, get out of breath going up 2 sets of stairs, look terrible for their age or are just totally unfit. I'm 45 but can run rings around my students and out pace most people I train with, at a recent medical I got referred to the heart specialists due to noise from my chest, after more tests they said it was because I had a very healthy heart and the noise was due to my fitness regime. Although it was a worrying time... So listen to your bodies, keep training but train smart! Don't ever give up, just adjust your training methods.

In the end we settled for the EKF but as predicted we had a few other cons... i have since split from the club and formed my own, i found a really good org called IMASA who are fantastic and provide insurance, guidance, certs, books etc all without the politics and at a great price.

Ask to speak with the instructor(s), say you are worried and would like to start gradually, any good club will bring you along at a nice speed and not push too much. Fitness, strength, agility, speed, power and feeling great will happen, give it time and train well. You have nothing to lose.

Split recently, all I can say is do it!!! It is your journey but the way we work we sometimes "obey" our seniors, if they are not steering things in the direction that you want to go then you must either try to reason with them or move. If you are lucky it will be because of differences in opinions and the devide will be amicable, my personal experience included a self grading, self teaching CI who was getting worse due to not training properly themselves. It was also more evident that making money was more important than standards and grading people early to try and give out a good image of lots of senior grades - it was turning into a joke. The last grading I sat on included a few people on their first grading who had only just got their Gi, a family member + friend who passed without question and someone with 18 months odd experience grading to 1st Kyu - even though they missed moves from Kata etc. I have stated that my door is open to all students regardless, a few train in both the old school and my new school, most of my students have been okay with the name change but a few have been told lies about me and my integrity. Funnily now though some more students are coming my way as they are seeing through the bad ethics of the old school...

Some clubs seem to feel the need to promote students so they can look better as they think it's all about image and ego. One thing to remember is that they are only showing it to themselves and their students - if they are stupid enough to think they are doing really great Martial Arts then they have the problem and will (hopefully) eventually realise it later on if they ever compare standards or train elsewhere. They are not proving themselves to anyone higher as their ego's put them at the top of their own tree, they will probably make all efforts to avoid other clubs or to criticise them to try and make themselves look better. I know of a 2nd kyu in another club who started teaching and was then promoted to Shodan after only 2 years training, they posted a pic of themselves in back stance, Shuto Uke with their hand in very much the wrong position... They will go on to teach their bad habits and sloppy Karate to others who think they are getting the real deal. All you can do is hold your head high and continue doing a good job, you can have a private smile to yourself if and when students from this mcdojo turn up at your club

If I was you then a final warning would be issued that any more abusive behaviour will result in an instant banning. There is no other way to deal with it. I had an autistic lad train with me and I bent over backwards to try and accomodate him and capture his attention. I put up with tantrums and all sorts but was willing to continue. The students around him didn't want to train with him or near him due to disruption, I normally got a senior to partner with him so really tried everything. One session he turned around and slapped a girl across the face for no apparent reason, I made him sit out and explained to Mum that it was unacceptable, I was still willing to keep training him but he chose that as a reason to give up. There is only so much you can take from any student, some behaviour is unacceptable, regardless of any problems or history they have. If any of my senior students acted like this then I would remove their belt and say they would have to earn it back, first by appologising.

Even if he is technically good then he seems to have failed on the rest of the concept, willing to pay money and not wanting to wait until someone says he is good enough... The concern here is that someone can turn up at a "lesser" Dojo and walk away with a Black belt. What happens several years from now when he turns up and says he's ready for 5th Dan grading, some systems don't do anything more technically, some say they should be able to teach, also being a good all round person etc etc etc. How can the grading club know them? They could be a thug, thief or generally nasty person, not someone that should be graded.

14 graded sucessfully including a really good 1st Kyu grade, we had some Brown belt friends from another club come along to help out and spar with them to make it a more realistic grade. I gave a little speech about putting in maximum effort and the students did me proud by doing an excellent grade, I now have a list of small items that were passable for their level but something I will need to work on, things like stances or hands on the wrong place etc. My son helped out who is also on the way to becoming a good instructor, my wife also graded to Red belt so it's a proper family run club. We finished the day by catching the end of another clubs Bunkai course and having tea/chat with them whilst planning an inter club competition soon. Totally drained mentally but all students did a good grade and are happy, also had some great feedback. http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa180/mal103/IMG_20140816_122319_zps65f630de.jpg

It's all there in the kata, you just need to learn how to read it or be shown....

I think there are thousands of different applications with a large number that will only work between two MAists and are not practical in a scrap. I have no experience but teach, but then i only teach things that are practical or material that i have been taught by seniors who know their stuff. For example my Sensei worked as a prison guard so when he shows a wrist lock and tells you he's used it in anger i believe its worth training. I have recently added something to my syllabus because an instructor with doorman experience said it was very effective. I don't think ring experience is essential, just be wary of people telling you that their way is the best way unless they can back it up. Especially if it involves dodgy basic blocks.

Also look at the costs, someone recently asked about joining my club and let slip that the local McDojo wanted nearly 3 times what we charge... Getting a good instructor and school might be more important over style but I am Shotokan so will let you know - as above - that it's a hard style with strikes and kicks, some high kicks are involved but when you get down to the applications most are aimed low, they are just trained high. I would also boast that Shotokan includes everything you will ever need, including grappling, floor work, joint locks, self defence etc. it just has to be taught properly!