bassaiguy

I began in Moo Duk Kwan (a TSD lineage) and after about four years moved on to other arts. I've been doing Shotokan for the past 15 years or so. I have a 1st dan in MDK and a 2nd dan in Shotokan. I was originally very biased against Shotokan and felt, that compared to TSD, it was too linear and regimented. Obviously, over time I have changed my point-of-view and have found that Shotokan is a style I really enjoy, but like all styles the TSD methodology has some benefits and some costs. I think you'll notice that TSD has more circular movements and shorter and wider stances than Shotokan. I noticed this first when I compared Heian Shodan to Pyong Chodan. They are essentially the same kata with some minor variations. For example,in TSD I learned the third move as pull back the right fist to chest level while drawing my front foot back to a T-stance and then striking at shoulder/chest level with a back fist. In my Shotokan lineage we do this move by pulling the fist back in whipping motion (blocking the head) and striking downward with a hammer-fist while sinking into a cat-stance. I noticed some distinct differences with the knife hand blocks at the end of the form, too. My TSD lineage did them with a twisting hip/shoulder motion while in Shotokan I practice these in the modern Japanese style with an adverse pulling motion. I think you'll find that differences like this persist throughout all the kata even though the TSD forms are essentially Koreanized Shotokan. In my TSD school I felt our major strength was that we sparred more often and at earlier belt-levels than in Shotokan. Our sparring included more kicking techniques, too. On the flip side, I don't think I really knew how to hit anything hard until I had done some serious traditional-style Japanese training and had begun to hit the makiwara a lot. I did not find the TSD one-step drills particularly useful, but that's just me. I did find that at bigger events the MDK/TSD world was less closed (some might say less snobbish) than the Shotokan world. Enjoy your time in TSD - like Shotokan it's a great art.

I'm not in the USSD/Zultimate system, however, I am a high school teacher and college instructor and have been practicing MA since my early teens. So, I see a lot of students and I've been in your son's shoes to some extent. My take on any instructor-grooming model is that they exist to benefit the business, not necessarily the trainee. Your son can ALWAYS join the business, but a college education will give him other opportunities and skills, as well. Furthermore, many young people are taken in by the idea of an uchi-deshi (live in training/apprenticeship) experience in the martial arts. These, in any practical sense, do not exist for most Westerners. There are some reputable residential programs in Japan and Korea that accept foreigners, but they are very expensive and do not garauntee employment upon matriculation. Being able to speak Korean or Japanese helps. If your son wants to immerse himself in martial arts study while in college there are a number of accredited universities that offer formal programs in martial arts that can be combined with other majors. He may want to check out Naropa University, Univ California - San Diego or Indiana University. There are also very good club programs at colleges across the country. Finally, if he wants to train at the highest competitive level in America I have heard that the AAU sponsors summer programs in Tae Kwon Do and Judo to prepare competitors for the Olympic experience. My opinion, your son should be prepared to focus on his education (which can include martial arts) rather than focus on becoming someone else's employee.

Sparring with my instructor, he spinning back kicked me in the chest so hard I flew into the wall and managed to hit the dry wall perfectly between two studs. There was literally a torso shaped dent in the drywall. I'm sure the landlord appreciated it (not).

I knew Cook slightly - trained with him a few times, exchanged some email and historical resources when I was doing my Masters degree and purchased some of his books and one video. Now, however, I can't watch the DVD - what if the student he is working with on the video is the girl he abused? That is Cook's legacy, his work is forever tainted in my eyes.

I wasn't saying that there are no sweeps in Kyokushin; just like it would be ignorant to say there is no contact sparring in Shotokan. What I believe, however, is that each style emphasizes some things more than others. One of the things that high-level Shotokan fighters seem to do very well is to integrate ashi barai with very clean and hard hitting techniques. Pointing to one technician to make the case that all knockdown karate fighters have good sweeps is like pointing to Kanazawa's and Enoeda's (Shotokan) very hard kumite in the 70s and 80s to try to demonstrate that all Shotokan fighters are as physical. Neither exception proves the rule.

Damn, I can be thick sometimes. Yes on punches to the head; no on attacking the kid raising his hand to ask a question. Good thing evergrey has a sense of humor and ps1 is able to translate idiot to English.

Yeah, hand attacks. I've seen Kyokushin head kicks - dangerous!

I practice Shotokan and before that Moo Duk Kwan, it's Korean nephew. And, while I have great respect for other styles, there are reasons why I prefer the Shotokan way. That said, my sparring with other karateka has led me to incorporate some drills into my training. Specifically, I start every class with conditioning drills to forearms (inside and outside), abdomen/chest, punches to the upper arms (shoulders and elbows) and thigh kicking. These drills are traditional in Goju and Kyokushin dojo. After that, my classes are 100% Shotokan. I think if a Kyokushin dude was open minded he or she would incorporate Shotokan's jodan attacks and ashi barai to be a more complete fighter. I was very gratified once to have sparred with an Isshin ryu karateka (full contact Okinawan style) who complemented me on my ability to stop his close range attacks and throws. It was no credit to me. I was just doing Shotokan.

I think you can certainly learn to fight without kata - look at UFC, boxing or any half-way decent street fighter. However, you cannot learn karate without kata, IMO. If you look at karate as a system of body development and self-defense, a way to enhance your own life, not just disrupt someone else's life (even if they deserve it), then learning kihon and kumite without kata just doesn't cut it. It comes down to the purpose of kata. If it's just for aerobic conditioning and as a memorization tool then there are better ways of achieving those goals. If, however, kata teaches a way of interpreting body movement and of integrating attack and defense - if it provides a platform of analysis rather than a mere catalog of techniques - then it is a unique and worthwhile practice that is integral to karate. In my own field, as a history teacher, I can make the comparison between history and historiography. History is a collection of facts, dates and biographical details. Historiography, on the other hand, is the systematic analysis of those facts in a particular conceptual framework. In this analogy kihon are like historical facts, you can know a lot of them and use those facts to win arguments, trivia contests or whatever, but you cannot understand their real significance until you can put them in a historiographical framework (like kata).

My club is hosting a community seminar day with several local instructors. One of the teachers we'd like to invite is a Baiji teacher. I'm a Japanese MA person and don't know much about CMA. What should one expect of a typical baiji class?

The eBay makiwara looks nice and it would be nice to have an indoor makiwara, but it's too pricey for me. I used these instructions: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/29/all-about-makiwara/ and have built my own. I'm on my third or fourth post, but that's over about 11 years in Maine weather. I used to have a maki pad like the one mentioned in the first reply. It shook whole house when I hit it and after just a little while the foam was too compressed to provide any cushion. I've seen makiwara like these, http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM3486928302P?sid=IDx20101019x00001a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM3486928302 , which may be an ok choice for an indoor striking pad.

Couldn't do it, but here's a site with a decent pic of the technique: http://www.karatekas.com/tecnicas/tsuki/tsukiJ.htm

Sorry, two arms. In Shotokan we have a technique called hasami tsuki that might fit. I'm trying to figure out how to insert an image.[/img]

Maybe you're thinking of mawashi tsuki? Here's a brief clip, although it's not the best presentation of the technique I've ever seen.

That drill is pretty standard in Shotokan. It is a type of kihon kumite practiced either as a 5-step, 3-step or one-step drill. As you advance you'll engage in more free (jiyu) sparring. It's been explained to me like this, knowing the attack and defense in advance is intentionally unrealistic. It allows you the freedom to work only on those techniques, maai and kime until you are proficient. Another aspect of pre-arranged kumite is that of perfection of technique over one's partner. That is, if your opponent knows what attack is coming and you can still hit him with it clearly your technique is superlative. Some thing blocking, if your opponent knows that you will block his attack and so speeds it up or changes the distance or timing and you still effectively block you know you're doing something right. The important thing to remember is that they are preliminary forms of sparring. Funakoshi was a schoolteacher, so think of it as a lesson plan. First you learn to count then add, then multiply, etc. Eventually you get to calculus. Good luck

Tell your instructor if you are in a scrap, ASAP. I tell my students to call me at home if they need to. I also tell them not to fight if at all possible. As for your problem with bullies - this is my advice as a cop for six years and a high school teacher for twelve - try your damndest to avoid the fight, but if push comes to shove don't make jokes, laugh or look around, it makes you look weak and nervous (it's OK to be weak and nervous, but why show it). Then fight like there's no tomorrow. If it 2 or 3 guys bugging you they won't hold back or fight fair so you shouldn't either. I've seen more fights won because someone was just a little crazier than the other guy and wouldn't give up. You want to be the crazier (mentally tougher) guy. And hit hard.

I've been involved in martial arts for awhile - since the mid-nineties in Shotokan. I second what the poster said about checking the organization and school. You'll find a variety of "flavors" of Shotokan from ultra-soft Shotokai to very sport oriented schools to some hard-core sparring schools. For me, when I look at good Shotokan schools, I know I'm going to see a LOT of physically demanding kihon, a fair amount of kata and sparring which should include some degree of contact, but not under knockdown rules. In my class we make a distinction between Dojo Kumite and competition sparring. If one of those elements is missing I'd hesitate to call it Shotokan. One of my teachers once described Shotokan as "the freight train of karate", we're going forward, through you or past you, our force is going to push you out of the way. This was his mindset anyway - Shotokan is a hard style that demands physical commitment.

Anybody here a member of the Amateur Athletic Union or compete in AAU events? I'm in the northern part of the Northeast and there doesn't seem to be any AAU action in my area, but I'm looking for opportunities to have my club participate in something a bit more organized than the local Open Tournament scene and I don't belong to a major organization.

I've been involved in two of these situations - once on each side of the fence. As a senior student I was matched against a guy about my size who walked in off the street for a sparring match claiming to be a boxer. My sensei watched him warm-up for a bit and then had me spar him. I was an advanced green belt at the time. I worked his body a bit, he bloodied my nose and I dropped him with a spin hook kick - straight up Shotokan. He never came back. A few years later I had moved to a new town and was looking for a place to train. I found a school and went in for a few classes. About my third class we sparred for the first time. I was wearing a white belt, but had told the teacher I had previous training. I sparred about eight matches starting with the lowest ranked person in the class up through the ranks. The last match was against the sensei. His level of contact as quite hard and it seemed obvious he was trying to "teach me a lesson" in front of his class. After he hit me in the head and knocked me down I'd had enough and really thought he was going to hurt me. I defended myself with a fairly strong kick to his ribs. He called the match at that point. I thought I was trying to train - he thought I was dojo storming. It was clear that his attitude was that he had to be the toughest dude in the room and he thought I was trying to show him up. That was not my intention. Honestly, I don't mind a bit of dojo arashi. I think it kept the TKD daycares at bay in the 80s and 90s. However, in the age of liability today I'd be very nervous about this happening in my class.

You might not have seen the book, "Bunkai - Secrets of Karate Kata" by Elmar Schmeisser. It is all baout Tekki/Naihanchi bunkai. It's a bit hard to find sometimes, though.

I have my students break boards on their first few belt tests. It builds some confidence and demonstrates that the strikes do work. Every once in a while I'll demo a new technique by breaking a few boards or a patio block. That said, I really don't see the point of the NASKA breaking events I sometimes catch late at night on ESPN2. It seems like you could train for a lot more useful things, but who am I to judge? I certainly can't break 10 concrete blocks with my head...

I always bring a white belt and put it on with no questions asked whenever I train at another dojo. If the instructor wants me to wear my original rank he can tell me - if not, the problem has solved itself. I do this even when I'm visiting clubs in my style outside of my organization. If someone isn't willing to put on a white belt and train hard it probably says something more about their attitude as a student than their rank does.

A very good read, IMO. However, take the nutritional information with a grain of salt (not literally). That chapter is about 20 years out of date.

Paleo is THE way to go, IMO. I can't say that 100% paleo, but I try to eat as much as possible the paleo way. I find that my energy level is higher and I'm more alert when I eat this way. Even if you're strapped for cash I recommend eating paleo-style as much as possible.

Very smooth performance, although quite different from the Shotokan version. It's an interesting family tree.