shadowspawn

Backfists have many different uses depending on what the situation calls for. One of my favorites is a recoil off the chest following a whiffed hook. It often catches people off guard as they try to close the distance after you miss your hook. Because your hand is by your chest, you won't be throwing a jab as quickly as you would a backfist. Another thing is the angle. Due to the nature of a backfist, it can come at one of three common angles. The most common is parallel to the floor which is probably the most practical one in the sense that there are lots of vital areas that you can hit in the same general area as your primary target. Another comes down at a 45 degree angle to the floor which is mostly used to catch an opponent off guard as it comes in at an angle that you don't see very often. Finally there's the one that comes straight up the middle which you will find in many kata. All three are comparably weak if used as a standing technique since most of your power is coming from your tricep alone. On the move, that's a different story though. Just as with most other techniques, stepping into your strike and committing your body weight to the strike can turn an otherwise benign technique into a potential knockout. When it comes down to it, your choice will ultimately depend on where your hand is in comparison to your target. Typically speaking, the jab will be the better choice as the distance is shorter, the return is faster (assuming same level of commitment is put into both strikes), and the technique's execution leaves you less open to counter. As per traditional blocking, again it's situational. Most traditional blocks are taught as deflections and strikes rather than actual blocks. The problem is that most of them leave a huge opening that an opponent can easily exploit. The most practicable will likely be the outside-inside block that just has you pivot your torso to use your arm to deflect an incoming strike (which could lead to a potential backfist from the angle your arm is at). Most others should be utilized as a strike. The gedan barai for example is one I use to pop a strike out to cause the opponent to overcommit a strike. Most times though, I find it is impractical. You just usually don't have time to sidestep and block. It's usually one of the other.

So as of lately, my head sensei has been out of class for a decent amount of time leaving me in charge of drilling his students as well as my own. Last class, he sat in on one of the classes I was heading and criticized me for drilling the basics for roughly 75% of the class. Admittedly about half the class are white belts and the others only a kyu or 2 above, but how much drilling is too much drilling? We always start our basics from naihanchi and with every technique, I emphasize maintaining a strong stance and getting the hip action into the motion until they get it right. Same thing with progressives. I always emphasize planting your feet and getting a strong foundation before striking etc. But with all this fine tuning, over an hour has already passed and we haven't even begun kata. I'd like to pick up the pace of the class, but it just doesn't seem possible with all of the (relatively large) issues I see such as weak stance, no hip action, no focus, etc.

Never heard of that before. I personally have never had issues going to sleep after watching TV/getting on a com. In fact, I know some people (actually a lot of people) who can't get to bed without the TV on. I actually find it a lot harder to get to sleep while I'm in the middle of reprofiling a knife than I do between rounds while playing, say, Soul Calibur.

This could be said about any degree of pain. Anything that doesn't incapacitate them can't be said to be safe to use in a true self defense situation. This includes thigh kicks, hair pulling, biting, etc. The safest thing to do is to strike them in such a way that they will be physically incapable of attacking you. For example, snap his knee and run. He can try to chase after you with a broken leg, despite the pain, but he won't get very far. Break his hand and what? He'll just hit you with his other hand LOL

LOL well as to the questions: Do you ask this person to leave? Only if they're being exceedingly disruptive. Do you escort this person out the front door? Not me personally. Do you decide to teach this person a lesson that that will never be forgotten? I probably wouldn't but I think I know a few people in my dojo that would take up that challenge if they were being utterly disrespectful LOL

No such trouble here personally. Maybe try playing some fast paced video games? I know playing some fast paced fighting, shooting, and strategy games help get my blood flowing. I can't remember where I heard it, but I think I heard somewhere that you'll feel sleepier if your brain is working hard than if your body is. Strategy games are good for this. I personally would recommend Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 2. It's fast paced and doesn't require as much macro decisions as Company of Heroes does (which would probably be my third choice to the Total War series of strategy/tactics games).

Yes it is a lethal technique. But then again, I would say that in a true self-defense situation, that isn't exactly something you should be most concerned about. Strike to the eyes, throat, groin, knee, etc. what ever it takes to get out of there in one piece. Once you neutralize the threat, get the hell out of there. Whenever there is no danger, that is the time to run. Whether that comes before or after the kick to the cookies will determine whether or not you had to fight in the first place.Still as you said, they do have their place. Like if two of your good friends are gonna beef or if your brother in law wants to beat down your best friend for sleeping with his wife or something, a thigh kick can be a good way to diffuse the situation. Still that's not really a self-defense situation and it would require you to stick your neck out and put yourself in harm's way which is actually the complete opposite of self-defense. But the question of whether I personally would use an inside leg kick, no. I'd probably go for the groin as my primary target when using a low circular kick.

There was this story that one of my old senseis told me once. Whether it is a true story or even a traditional story, I have no idea. The story was that this person heard that so and so was the greatest karate sensei in the entire region. He went to go train with said sensei. This sensei gave him a white belt and would teach him the basics/kata to practice on his own. He required that this student wear that belt at all times while he trained and that he train outside. The student trained every day in front of the master's house for years. He never spoke of promoting this student and at times, the student wondered if the master even cared or whether he was truly the master that everyone claimed he was. Yet he continued to go to the master's place and train every day wearing the same belt in the same spot drilling the basics and the kata he was taught every day. Finally the student approaches the master and asks "Sensei, I've been training the same things every day as you asked for years now. When am I going to get my black belt?" The master replies, "What are you talking about? You're wearing it!" He looks down and sure enough, over the years, as the student had trained and trained outside, the accumulation of dust, sweat, and dirt had turned his white belt black. The point of this story is that, to anyone aside from that student, the belt would likely have simply looked like a filthy tattered white obi, but to the student, it was a manifestation of all the time and effort he had put into his training. That is what I personally believe all belts to be. Merely a reflection of your dedication to a specific martial art. To anyone else, it means nothing, but to the individual who worked for it, it's proof to themselves (if no one else) that they went through what was required to be called a master in their art.

You shouldn't have to spar if you don't want to. If your sensei insists on forcing you to spar, I think you should consider finding a new dojo. As per staying motivated, you don't have to just attend classes to practice karate. My sensei always says that as long as you can stand in the center of a room and take two steps in every direction, you can train karate. Practicing basics and double stepping through kata will help you build technique and practice on your own without having to attend as many classes. Of course you should always attend classes to get the critique of your sensei to make sure you're not practicing incorrectly. Bad habits are things that that are really irritating to get rid of.

Not entirely sure what you mean by "three feet". Are you referring to using your hands as bases while you kick with one leg?@tallgeese: Just realized your sig. That wouldn't happen to be the same Ohana Martial Arts stationed in Hawaii would it? If so, I've attended a couple OMA tournaments in the past.

First I'll have to confirm that it's alright for them to do this with our head sensei. If it is, they're allowed to train with us and share some of their insights as well. In my experience with my dojo, we've had this happen quite a number of times from shotokan to wado ryu to kyokushin to even judo. It can be a good learning experience for both parties.

Eh it doesn't bother me as much as I think it bothers you. Some people say they have experience as an excuse to bypass all the basics and get straight to the "butt whoopin". If you simply drill the basics with them (and be extra hard nosed about proper technique etc. when dealing with these people) they usually leave on their own accord out of what I perceive as boredom/frustration.

Our style follows the same principals. Part of the process is to weed out the "bad eggs" that come along. If everything is done by word of mouth, you can be more confident that the people coming in are going to be part of the better bunch (assuming you started with a good bunch to begin with). I don't see anything wrong with the model personally. I mean sure, not too many other martial artists will have heard of you, but is that really too important? IMO, the only people's opinions that should matter to you as a sensei are your students'. Who cares if some Vietnamese Kung Fu practitioner living in Russia hasn't heard of you? LOL

I'm not sure if you could call it a power punch if he was kneeling. When you're on your knees, you don't have an extremely solid base as if you were standing. Perhaps it looked like a power punch due to the upper body motion, but I'm sure that the actual force of the impact wasn't as strong as it looked. As per the incident, I'm not entirely sure what to think on this one. On the one hand, I can understand he wanted to make a point. Our shihan does the same thing (one time even sending a poor guy flying out the window) but on the other hand, it is just a children's class. I doubt he's teaching them how to crush someone's larynx or break collarbones.

I noticed that about the way a lot of other schools do their knife hand block. Our style practices this same block with the hips moving in the opposite direction of the hands, but I personally teach a second version of the block where both hands come backwards and come down moving in the same direction of the hips. The same thing with the downward block. Two versions. One with a pulling hand covering the gap created when executing the block (which is a block in itself) and one where the hand comes up above the head, the hips turn out, the arm sweeps, and the hips follow through ending up facing the opposite side and recoil back to center. Inside out block (from center to outside) is the same. Twist the hips (and raise the elbow to practice an elbow block as well) and then snap back with the block itself. You could potentially break someone's arm with this if their arm happens to catch on your torso.