UselessDave

I agree with JusticeZero' post very much. Women can be very good instructors, I wouldn't prefer a woman as an only teacher whatsoever. There is certain qualitys that they just don't have like men do.

Doesn't matter in the end, or is impossible to say exactly. But I find it funny for anyone to go ranking before even a year after the last ranking. We have there after second brown it's at least a year.. it's very little, but I suppose it's because it is a black belt so .. whenever you're ready? However It is not so good idea to stick too long in one belt if you shoud have moved on for a long time ago.

I think it is a horrible mistake for practitioners of styles which do not include high kicks, to ignore the relevance of high kicks even if the weight is on lower kicks.

Well does anyone know how was the sparring before year 1971? I mean, wasn't there punches to head and grappling etc.? So if the whole kumite was so different maybe they didn't have as much use for low kicks..

I can't say I'm okay with people using word karate to describe something else just for lack of imagination. It may just be a little part of the reason why people don't know what karate really is. If something gives meaning for everything, it gives meaning for nothing.

Which kata?

But the thing was that the techniques aren't presented anywhere in the previous writings. The techniques would have come from Goju ryu or shotokan long after kuokushin was created?

It has become well known from some brazilian fighters using it.

There has been much changing in Kyokushin kumite since it was made. The head punches is probably just the most noticeable thing. Hasn't it gotten something from Muay Thai? Surely that kind of blocks haven't been denyed..

Well, you can't just make it up. So practically it has to be coming from karate. As said, it is mostly empty handed. I think it is necessary it to include kihon and kata to be karate. The guy you said would have gotten a black belt from a fine Dojo, and if that wouldn't be shodan and also he'd be teaching the same things, then yes, of course.. If he is so new to it that he yet doesn't know or understand what real karate is (that might be the shodan) then it is not karate. Also if he takes of something very relevant it very well might not be karate anymore. Mcdojo is what it is because they don't even know what karate is all about. So they can't possibly teach karate that any good karateka would consider as karate. We can assume that the JKA guy knows karate. If he teaches something else then how would that be considered karate just because the teacher knows karate? Although I have to doubt his undearstanding of karate, if he does call his style karate.

For Jassling's post. I believe it on a way (not completely, but I get the point.), but I don't think it's practical enough to even aim at in real life (for most people.).

Rmurray, Fair enough.

That's not so true at all. Art effects to attitude. Which in time will have an impact throughout the whole life and the more to training. When you think that one guy who's very good at one style would have started a completely another style, he might not be even close to what he is now. Of course, no one knows what precisely lead to the result. But it could be anything.

VERY TRUE! Perhaps those that think that headgear does little good are using cheap or inadequate headgear. I am not saying that to be mean or tacky, but, let's face it there are a lot of different types and styles of headgear and one must select the right type for the individual situation (IE: MMA, Boxing, Karate, Sparring). There are differences. Some people just purchase headgear without talking to their instructor and don't have a glue that that Karate headgear might not be suitable for hard core MMA. If your life depends on a certain medication, you wouldn't go borrow the next best thing from Joe Blow down the street. So, headgear should be treated as such! Everybody's just risking their health... You shouldn't smoke eather, cause it might cost more than you thought. And it might not!

It is important mostly if it is for one a prove about your style's prestige. Perhaps one can be genuinely interested, but if the training works and a practitioner feels that he can trust to what he's been thaught, it doesn't make such a big deal, whatever it is.

You see propably one of those in every course for beginners. They can do a lot somehow, but nothing too good. They kick, punch and throw - somehow. They know something about many styles. They start a new style often but stop, maybe after the first belt, decide this wasn't their thing. You can tell for certain, they are not gonna continue in this style. Why do they continue the searching? Why does their interest towards a style go low so soon? On many people training martial arts, the problem is they can't train many styles enough. So what's making that big difference there?

All movements in every style are somehow made so that they are natural. With enough repetition, they become kind of like a reflex. I've heard falls to be really useful when falling from stairs or something.

I also would say, no training at all. It can be fatal. Most tend to think it's nothing and usually it is! But I wouldn't take the risk.. after all what do you get out of it? You're tired, you're propably not gonna enjoy it, later you feel even worse, and it takes longer to get better. And when training With other people.. As already said, the complications really are to be considered.

What do you think is the most useful thing one gets from martial arts that actually helps most in a real situation? Is it the good physical shape? The techniques? Knowing what to do, after all those books we've read and movies we've seen? Is it the attitude we have, to perhaps get out of the situation before is comes one? Or the attitude to do whatever needed to make one's escape? And as we all know one propably gets something out of everything etc. Let's focus on the most vital parts.

Balance is the enemy of success. Really, if you are doing "the best you can" you're just doing what you already can do. Everybody knows you can't get better on anything if you only do what you know you can do. When doing better than your best you're going over that and trying to do everything better than you've ever done before. And I tell you it shows through all your training, and success will follow.

The question would be: do you think muay thai is the best martial art? You can't say which is the best because, simply, opinion is not a fact. There is as many opinions as there are styles with all the spin-offs contained too. Yet, I prefer not to say there is no the best martial art. That would be, and is pointless, there'll always be people arguing about it. Because what in the end is meant by the best is what is best for one. Then there's those people who are arguing who's opinion is the best. Some err to believe that an opinion is a fact if many people enough think so.

To him in general. I think usually when it comes to MMA fighters, people do pay attention to styles they practise, but in the end it is secondary to the fighter himself. Since everybody knows, just because many MMA guys train Muay Thai, doesn't mean Muay Thai's the only way to go. If something, it might have an impact, what do they say about the styles they've practised - here: karate.