jaypo

We've done both. We were using Martialartsadmin.com and switched to Perfectmind, but we weren't getting any return on our investment. I now use Excel. It allows me to set everything up the way I want to, and it's a lot easier to use.

I'd say that your knowledge will dictate your strategy. As Bruce Lee said, "fear not the man that does 1000 kicks. Fear the man that does 1 kick 1000 times." You have to know what you CAN do and what is effective. That's the first step. I'd also say that strategy could be 1 of 2 things- defensive or offensive. Are you the kind of fighter that is good at countering? If your strength is in finding openings after an opponent attacks, then you employ a counter striker/defensive strategy. Or does your speed allow you to be the kind of person that will score on a technique without having to counter? If you are the one that can use feints, fakes, etc. to dictate where the openings will be, you employ an offensive strategy. You rely on your ability to score without having to rely on the opponent to "give" you the openings when they attack. You CREATE the openings.

I rock a lot of Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Slayer. Newer stuff I like includes Shadows Fall, Bullet for My Valentine, Five Finger Death Punch. Anything that makes me want to punch thru a wall! Unfortunately, at 42 years old, working out to that kind of music has cost me a couple of rotator cuffs!!!

I had surgery on my nose, so I binge watched it on my week off. It was pretty good. I liked it overall, but as a martial artist, it left a lot to be desired.

Being from South Louisiana, I've fished my whole life. Although, now, I rarely have the time to do so. I started "perch jerking" in the bayou in front of my house, and most recently, we would ride out to the oil rigs and fish in the deep water for everything including specs, reds, amberjack, cobia, red snapper, or whatever else may bite! I've had a blast fishing over the years, but now, my focus is Karate, hunting, and learning to play the guitar.

I had my reservations about my club when I joined. I thought the tests were held too frequently. But as I got more involved with the inner workings, I started to understand why. My old school (very traditional) would hold tests on certain set dates, and you either tested or not. My current club tests when needed. My old school would allow everyone the chance to test and they knew the date. My current school selects who will test and when. The reasoning in my current club is that we have such an inflow of new students (and sometimes, departures) every day, that not everyone is in the same time frame for advancement. So we may hold a test for 10 people this month and hold another test next month, but 10 others may test there. We test people according to their progress, and if they're not ready to test, they're not invited. Now, the ranking system is another thing I had an issue with. But I understand it now. We offer traditional color belts for kyudan ranks- white, yellow, orange, etc. We also offer stripe ranks for students. We call it "advanced yellow, etc", but in reality, it's giving the students motivation to progress and not get impatient. I didn't understand at first because I love MA and would stay training without any formal advancement. But I've seen far too many kids AND parents leave the school if they did not test frequently. So now, they're given the opportunity to advance based on their knowledge. Giving them the opportunity to test keeps them motivated and allows them to show what they have learned even if it isn't enough to get them to the next kyu rank. (This is mainly for the younger students- 10 years of age and less). There have only been 2 students under 13 years of age that have earned black belts in our system, and I can tell you that they both deserved it! They trained 3 times as many hours as they would at any other school, and even though they lacked the physical prowess of the older students, there weren't many that had the knowledge that these 2 possessed. As far as the money factor, we charge a fee for every test, but the fee covers a trophy, a new belt, and about an hour worth of pay for the instructor. And being the "CFO" of the club, I can tell you that this barely covers the bills! He doesn't do it for the money at all. I know this because he charges less than half than the next cheapest school in our area, and about 25% of the normal rate of other schools around here.

Since we're based mainly in Shorin Ryu, my Sensei teaches most of it. I have another instructor that I train Kyusho with specifically, and it ties in perfectly. Since my knees and back are beginning to show their age, I'm not focusing on perfecting the "look" of my katas. I'm focusing on the absolutely devistating techniques in them! I love incorporating the joint locks, throws, and kyusho into the simplest of katas to show the younger students that no matter how basic a technique or kata looks, "it's all in there!"

I think a lot depends on the kid. For example, my son is 7, and he loves Karate. But he hates going to class! He'll kick butt at home, but when he's in class, he mopes and goofs off. And our CI is a magician with kids! I don't necessarily think the age is the factor. It's the kid and his ambition. Too many people are putting their kids in MA as "child care" and/or to discipline a kid that has problems being disciplined. It's hard to turn some of these into MAists, regardless of age. However, as a benchmark, 4 is the absolute minimum that we've accepted, but that's for kids that enjoy being there. We usually let people take a couple of classes for free before inviting them to join.

So my C.I. approached me yesterday and informed me about a serious situation with a student. We have a student that is 12 years old and very big for his age. He has been abused physically and mentally since he was young. His grandmother takes care of him because his mother is a meth head. The mother steals from the grandmother, is abused by her boyfriend, and abuses her children. She's a very big woman, probably about 350lbs. So she comes home yesterday without notice (she has warrants out for her, so she moves around constantly), and when our student asked her why she didn't love her kids, the woman begins beating the student. He took a few hits to his face, but then he used a face block and reverse punch and hit her. She then picked up a TV tray and threw it at him and also hit him with a boat paddle. After meeting with his social worker, the social worker suggested that he be removed from martial arts because he hit his mother! My initial response was to tell the social worker to jump in any time to stop the abuse himself rather than removing my student from the only family he has. But I wonder what everyone thinks about this. Was he wrong for hitting her, or was he justified from protecting himself from a violent person abusing him while dangerously high on Meth??

I trained Shotokan for a couple of years, and we focused on speed AND power. Actually, my Sensei incorporated a lot of Makiwara training and focused more on power than speed. My current Sensei (Shorin Ryu and Shotokan) maintains that Shorin Ryu is more swift than Shotokan meaning it focuses more on speed. I agree about the Judo training. It's absolutely imperative to have a good partner.

That's the first thing I teach- awareness. It doesn't pay to know a thousand techniques if you get blindsided.

I caught it on Netflix the other night. Loved the Mike Tyson fight scene!

I'm a fan of Northcutt, and I don't find him very cocky. He's actually quite humble, which is what I like about him. I also want DC to win- he's from about 1.5 hours away from where I live.

We have a Chief Instructor that handles about 75% of the classes (he has another full time job), and 1 4th Dan that teaches some of the classes. I do the administrative work and train, and I help with classes whenever needed.

I've been studying Kyusho Jitsu for about a year now. My instructor is a Chiropractor that does Acupuncture. He is teaching me with a mindset of where to hit a human body to create the most effect. Not to produce a 1 touch knockout. But to produce the most pain/discomfort efficiently taking human physiology into account. It's basically showing me the science of why it works. Why your arm tingles when someone knifehand blocks. My favorite kyusho technique that I refer to when someone is skeptical is the mental nerve. I always ask if they watched Chris Weidman knock out Anderson Silva in their 1st UFC bout. Or if they watched Bisping knock out Luke Rockhold in their 2nd UFC bout. Both were hit on the mental nerves (off center of their chin), and both dropped like stones. That's Kyusho Jitsu. I had a long argument with a Muay Thai/MMA practitioner about Kyusho. He dismissed the practice and science of it. He kept on and on about "if it's so effective, why don't people use it in the Octagon"? My reply- of course they do. Every time they do an outside leg kick. Or inside leg kick. Or punch to the chin. But they don't realize they're using Kyusho. They just do it because they realize they will get a better response from their opponent if they hit those spots. To which, I reply-"That's exactly what I've been telling you!" I agree, it doesn't work on some. I had a Marine that let me leg kick him until my leg hurt, and it didn't affect him at all. But like my instructor says, don't stop at 1 point. Keep hitting until the opponent drops.

We used to us Martialartsadmin.com for $25.00 per month, and switched to perfectmind.com for $200.00 per month which did everything including taking debit card and auto draft payments. However, we only had 1 customer that used that feature, and we were basically giving away $200.00 per month. I've found that nothing can have the cost benefit analysis of Microsoft Excel! I have a spreadsheet with students, their payments, and accounting. Simple and easy. And free!

UFC puts on a PPV once a month, and they have free fight nights televised every few months. Bellator is another organization that broadcasts on Spike TV. They have some pretty good talent as well. The matches are year round.

I would suggest UFC, particularly the welterweight division. The champ is Robbie Lawler, a long time MMA veteran that seems to be having a career resurgence. There are a lot of tough fighters in that division leading to some awesome matchups.

You can pick up dewormer medication at places other than vets' offices, I believe.

The only time I've personally had to use my skills in self defense was over 25 years ago. I was probably 15 or 16. A guy that I had recently fought in my neighborhood to make him stop beating up the kids in the area had come back looking for me. So I went to the field behind the houses, and there he was, waiting for me. He charged at me, tackled me, and had full mount on me. However, he was not able to land a single punch! I was able to get up and pop him a few times, and he gassed. He tried to get his friends to jump in, but they didn't. It was over within a few minutes. The only thing I was able to use was blocks. I only knew strict JKA Shotokan at that time, and I didn't have the time to do anything. He came charging in from a short distance, and I didn't have time to kick or punch. If this occurred now, I would be a lot more prepared. I am a lot more self aware of my surroundings now. Distance and movement are my strong points (thanks to my new system). And I'm "slightly" stronger than I was as a 125 pound 15 year old!!! I see that scenario playing out now with a clinch ending with a bout 6 knees or a head and arm choke.

Montana- I feel the same way. I'm 42 now, and I have 2 bad knees. So running would probably be as bad for me as confronting the issue!! I'm a firm believer in de-escalating the confrontation, but if it is evident that it can't be fixed by talking or avoiding, I'm not going to let someone get close enough to me to knock me out. I'm going to do what I need to do to get home to my family. The old saying that there is no first attack in Karate has a gray area- does an "attack" have to be a strike? Or does 3 men approaching me in an aggressive manner count as an attack? I believe any confrontation that makes me believe that it can't be avoided is an attack. And I will react accordingly.

I just found out that a woman that used to train with us periodically had hired a man she knew from work (with a known mental illness) to work on her upstairs bathroom in her house. She hired him because she (thought) she knew him. However, as he was working in the room, she had to get something out of her bedroom, which was adjacent to the bathroom, and as she walked across the room, the man threw her on the bed and exposed himself to her, trying to force himself on her. She screamed, and he ran out of the house. She did nothing to report the incident. Then, last week, she looked outside her window before work, and the man was standing in the yard. When she told him to leave, he said he gave her a couple of weeks to think about what happened and that he was "obsessed" with her. She then called the cops. The lesson here is more about situational awareness. She should not have been in the house alone with a man known to have certain issues, and she should have been fully aware of every move he made. AND, she should have reported the incident immediately to hopefully avoid the man being at her doorstep a few weeks later. To break it down a little further, she should know a few techniques to get herself out of the physical situation she was in the first time.

We have around 30 core students with children cycling thru constantly. And we do enough profit to keep the dojo open, maintain it, and put a few dollars into our C.I.'s pocket as a supplemental income. It's not his main source of income, so he doesn't need it to bring in huge amounts.

Being a Karateka AND a huge Bruce Lee fan, I'd like to chime in. Lee would say that JKD is not a "style", but more of a philosophy. He didn't think that the best way to practice was by doing Kata (robotic movements). He believed that sparring was better than kata. I believe that training in both is optimum. But a lot of people don't factor one thing into these discussions- how incredibly physically gifted Bruce was. He was as strong as a heavyweight and faster than most humans on the planet! And his true JKD was basically created around HIS physical abilities. the JKD philosophy was basically to take what worked from a certain style, strip away what doesn't, and create a "style with no style". While I believe JKD has some advantages over Karate, I believe Karate has some over JKD. A lot of things that regular people don't see is actually in Karate. A huge amount of the BJJ and Judo that people practice is in Karate (that's where it came from!) Kyusho. Grappling. Etc. All of it can be found in Karate if one knows where to look. While I hold a certain rank in Karate, I also practice Kyusho and Hapkido. And I find ways to mesh those things into my regular Karate techniques. So, in essence, I am following Bruce's philosophy. I am taking from other arts and incorporating what I think works into what I already practice. When I break techniques down, I strip away what I think doesn't work and use what DOES work. I think that's what Bruce envisioned. Not a room full of people doing the exact same thing. A group of people truly expressing themselves by doing more or less what I described- creating their own "style" while being true to themselves.

i used to love walleyball! I played volleyball (beach and indoor) for years before blowing my knee out in a game. I miss it greatly!