jaypo

If you have an "Academy" sporting goods store nearby, they usually have youth arrows for a couple of bucks each.

I had to buy youth arrows. I have a 45lb English Longbow (73 inches!). I have no arrow shelf, so I shoot off of my knuckle. The bowyer said that for it to shoot correctly, I needed arrows with a spine set for a bow 10 lbs less than my draw weight because of the flexion of the arrow off of the bow. The only ones I could find without having them made were youth arrows. They shoot fine! Now, my bowyer hand crafts arrows for any bow. He does beautiful work. I think they're around $8.00 each. I can give you the website if you like.

We had 2 senior students testing for their Shodan rank this weekend. He didn't have breaking as a requirement, but he did incorporate it into the test for the technique. One of the black belts was asked to do a jumping front kick to break, and he couldn't. His technique was awful. I was asked to do it, and I broke it with no problem. But my technique was what made it happen. I'm a little more coordinated than he is, which is why my technique was better. However, he did break thru a cinder block slate with a left hand palm heel! I was also asked to break one in the middle of performing Naihanchi Shodan. After the left downward block where the short punch is, I had a board placed on my side. I had to break it with the short punch, and I was able to go right thru it. I actually enjoy breaking, unless it involves a spinning backfist with my 2 mashed up knuckles!!

Greetings, Jon. Welcome. And good luck with your training!

Last night, I attended a "tune up" class for 2 of my peers that will be grading for their Shodan this weekend. Man- my body is killing me! The cool thing is that I knew everything, and I actually outperformed the 2 going up for their Shodans! I was working with the one with the most training, and he wasn't in the game mentally. I think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself. So I tried to help him out because I wasn't emotionally invested in the training. I think it helped. We went thru all Heians, Pinans, and Naihanchis. This was after all of the blocking, punching, and kicking drills, so my legs were already like rubber bands! Anyhow, it made me confident in my abilities! I'm 38, and before I started training at the beginning of this year, I was out of MA for 22 years. So 29 is NOT too late to start. 79 is not too late. You're never too old!

I'd argue that MMA hasn't been around as it is today for 2 decades. The first UFC event was in 1993, and it was basically "Bloodsport" for real. I remember watching it and hating Royce Gracie because he was boring to me. I wanted to see knockouts! The sport evolved to "MMA" when fighters realized that their Wing Chun, Karate, or Wrestling wasn't enough. They needed to be well rounded in striking, grappling, and submissions. I'm not sure of the exact time frame, but it evolved slowly, and I consider people like Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz as early type "MMA" guys. I don't think it's a fad, because the "sport" has taken the world by storm. But if you ask me about a true Mixed Martial ART, I'm going to point to JKD. Bruce took concepts from 26 different styles and meshed them together into what he though was the perfect street fighting form. As for "MMA" vs. "TMA", I'd pick TMA every time. TMA will allow eye gouges, groin strikes, throat strikes, bone breaks. I feel more confident that learning those techniques will be more practical to me than learning the perfect way to do a double leg takedown and transitioning into full mount!

I would be cool with the longer wait. In fact, before my exam, he talked to me about plans for my testings. And I told him that the color of the belt around my waist is not what I'm concerned with. It's the level of my karate that should determine that color, and he agreed. I told him that I wanted to be the best 1st kyu that I could possibly be if that's the level I was at. And if that meant remaining a 1st kyu for a year, so be it. I think he respected that. The 1st class after I passed that exam was only he and I and his daughter. We went over applications from the kata that I performed poorly. I think that in class, he realized that I had the knowledge, but just brain farted mentally! That's when he made the comment about me testing soon for black. I did, at one point feel that I was moving up rather quickly, but when I stepped back and realized that I train in 3 classes minimum weekly, and on some occasions, 6, and many of them are 1 on 1 with either Sensei or the Sr. black belt, I realized that if you compare apples to apples, 1 month of my current training is equivalent to 2 or 3 months of most studios around here (they usually train 2 times a week), and I do a lot of kata and bag work on my own. I have found that although I have far less time in this system than any of the other advanced students, I've improved at a faster clip than the others. Much of that can be attributed to the previous training that I did, but I think most of it is that I have trained like a beast for majority of the year to get to that level. I took a 20 plus year timeout (unwillingly) from MA, and now that I'm back in it, I'm all in! And I don't think everybody has that same level of dedication. Now that I'm approaching the higher levels, I'm going to get even crazier!

We're in the same boat, DoctorQui. I just passed my 1st kyu test 2 weeks ago, and Sensei told me to be ready within 3 months for my black belt test. Congrats! I messed up on my kata also, but there is a long story to that. I was taught it by the Sr. black belt, and he even screwed it up during the test! However, what agrivates me is that I knew it, and I got unfocused which lead to me messing up. I beat myself up for days because of that, but I still passed. Congrats again!

I can't wait. I'm having Walking Dead withdrawels!!!

Here is the update from my exam Friday. I went in early to practice, and my Sensei had a discussion with me. It seems that when his assistant redid the syllabus, she made a huge mistake and gave it out to us. This one had us testing with katas that we hadn't worked on much at all. In the original system, we would be testing based on the Naihanchi's and all the heians and pinans. Bassai Dai was the next step. I've worked on those katas tirelessly. When I got the syllabus, they weren't even on there. The way the syllabus was drawn up was based on his beginner classes which consists of students that come from no training background. He grades them based on 2 different katas that we hadn't worked on in class. So I had to learn 1 of those 2 last week. My Sensei explained that in the original plan, I would be testing for brown level 1, 2, or 3, but in the new belt structure, there is no level 3. When I started, I was working on the old system. He said that technically, there is less work required on the new system, and that the old system is "harder" to obtain a black belt. He said that if we were going by the new syllabus, I'd be testing for black belt, but not in the way that I had originally started. So of course, I chose the harder path! I told him that I wanted to work my way up based on the old system because it is more traditional. He felt that I had the knowledge to pass either way. Fast forward to the test. Going through everything, I only had a miscue once when I used an elbow strike instead of a spearhand! I was the only one that broke the boards put in front of me during Katas. I performed all of the heians and pinans perfectly. Then, he put me, a girl that was testing for the same rank as me, and his senior black belt (who I've been working with on the 2 "new" katas for this test) up for the final kata. We all laid a big fat egg! The problem is that he had changed 2 movements because everyone was having trouble with a certain transition, but I wasn't aware of the changes. Plus, we were all 3 on the same floor at the same time, so that messed up the rhythm- I was performing it the way I was taught, and Jamie was doing it the way she was taught. It threw everything out of whack! Then came sparring- my first opponent was the Sr. black belt who is about 6'1, 260. I'm 6'0, 190. His first front kick- I blocked it and dislocated my finger AGAIN! I pulled it back into place and continued. I went against 4 opponents, and I did not perform how I wanted to. I was too passive, and my concentration was off because of my performance during my kata. However, I did well. Just not as well as I wanted to. Grading. Jamie and I were informed that we were kind of put up against a wall because of the confusion. He said that he knows how much we've improved and what we're capable of, and he understands that the changes in the system and the 2 changes in the kata caused us to perform it poorly. But he also acknowledged that the Sr. black belt that taught it to us also performed it poorly, so he could't fault us too much! So we were both promoted to 1st kyu! (2nd level brown in this system). He looked me in the eye after I received my belt and said "you'll be testing for your black belt in December. Or before that if I decide!" So although I wasn't happy with my performance in kata and sparring, I pretty much aced everything else. And I got to 1st kyu with the understanding that I can possibly obtain my black belt by year end! I have some work to do, but I feel confident that I'll do it based on the old system. However, I want to surprise him and ace the kata I messed up on as well! Thanks for all the well wishes!

Well, my exam is tonight. Sensei was telling us that are "going up for brown belt" what to know. So I don't know what the deal is! He previously told us that there was a chance we'd be able to achieve Shodan ho. So I think he's doing what he did last time before our exam-see what we can handle mentally! His system now has 1 levels of brown. He said that technically, we're both going up for brown, but it's up to our performance as to which level we get. I think that if one of us or both perform nearly perfect, he may meritoriously promote to Shodan ho. I'll check back in tonight after the exam! I'll try to contain my excitement for the rest of the day!

I'm not that big of a fan of it either. I think one issue is that this club is fairly new and not fully established. He has a bunch of newer kids in his beginner class. And I've spoken to their mothers a few times. I think Sensei is being questioned a lot as to why his classes aren't like the McDojo's that people are used to seeing around here which includes people decked out from top to bottom with foam pads free sparring and board breaking. So I think he's trying to introduce the right way to do those things to retain students by appeasing their parents, but he insists on doing those things the right way. Instead of just breaking boards to appease parents, he explained the history of tameshigiri and why it was practiced as it pertained to the application of striking and the parallels to bone breaking! Same with sparring. He doesn't particularly like having the kids free spar because of insurance purposes and because of their lack of control. But he has been putting more emphasis on application of the things he teaches them and how they can be applied to sparring. And in the private and advanced classes, we're sparring a little more. So I think he is introducing some of the things they asked him to, but he is taking it slowly and trying to educate us first. As for my daughter, he actually excluded her from the board breaking, but she asked do to it. When he agreed, she got nervous!

Congrats, Fang! We just broke boards for the first time last week. I happen to be the strongest (physically) in my class, so naturally, he wanted to use me as an example! I hadn't broken a board in 20 plus years! So the first one was on an elbow strike,which was really easy. Then, he made me do a front kick from my left foot (without hitting the board), retract, then reverse punch with my left (weakest) hand. Straight thru! Next, a side kick, no problem. Then, knife hand strike with left! I never did it before, but went straight thru! Next class, he wanted me to do a spinning back fist hitting with the knuckles. Now, over the years, I've broken the knuckles repeatedly. So I was nervous. And it showed. The spinning backfist just smacked the board with the knuckles and hurt like a beast! So I asked if I could retry with a spinning hammerfist. Straight thru! My daughter who is 9, is an orange belt. She is about as thin as my wrist. Sensei asked her to try and she was way nervous. However, she tried, but she had tears in her eyes. She had to do a hammer strike on the board set on cinder blocks. She failed. She cried for most of the night. So he gave her a board to take home. I'll start makiwara type focus training with her to give her the ability to break it. About my backfist- I'm stronger than most people that I know, so lack of physical strength isn't the reason I failed. However, in the back of my mind, I was worried about my kuckles, and I think mentally, I failed. On the hammerfist, I went thru it like hot butter. Technique and mental focus is more important that pure strength!

To clarify one of my earlier posts, I am technically testing for brown belt this Friday. However, my Sensei said that if I display what he believes I can do, there is a chance I may be promoted to Shodan-ho which is junior instructor level. It's not a dan level promotion, but it would still be a black belt rank. I actually feel good about this. I've been studying MA total for a little over 2 years, and my physical abilities are not as good as they were when I trained as a teenager. However, my power and focus is a lot better, and my kumite is a lot more polished (and surprisingly, I am quicker now). I've only been training in my current club for about 7 months, so when he originally mentioned possibly becoming a black belt this month, I was excited and confused at the same time. I am confident in my abilities, but I didn't want people to start all the chatter of "he became a black belt too quick". (I recently had a friend that's on the American Jiu Jitsu team question how quickly I've moved up to my current rank, but I don't think he realized that I held a higher rank years ago and just worked back up to that rank quickly) However, sitting back and realizing that I have as much time into it as most people ranked above me (I train at least 3 times a week in class and 3 or 4 more times outside of class), I feel that I have the knowledge for that rank. So if you would, pray for me! And if you have a similar rank, please tell me what you had to do to achieve it. Thanks!

The goal of any martial art is to be able to defend yourself in the most efficient way possible. It seems that the discussion here is whether or not Kyukoshin sparring is better than Shotokan sparring. I actually had a similar discussion the other day after a long sparring session. I train in a Shorin Ryu/Shotokan based system that also incorporates some akido, tai chi, and muay thai. But our sparring (for safety and insurance purposes) is light contact. We don't stand there and kick the crap out of each other until we bleed, but we do spend time working on good technique, powerful strikes, and good sound karate. Even though we don't focus on physically destroying our fellow students, I'm pretty sure any of my classmates would be able to effectively destroy an attacker on the street. And I firmly believe that the skill and talent of the student makes a huge difference. There are black belts in my system that are bigger, tougher, and have trained longer than me. However, I have more speed, better technique, and a lot more strength. Just because I don't kick them with enough force to break their ribs doesn't mean that I couldn't! I feel confident if I'm fighting someone with the same skill level as me in another system, I could adapt to the rules we are fighting within. I don't currently go full contact. But I'm pretty confident that I could! I had this conversation the other day with a black belt I had just sparred with for 10 minutes. I told him that sparring is fun, but on the street, I'd use a lot of leg kicks, traps, and a lot more devistating techniques. He had popped me in the face right from the beginning because I got lazy and he knew what I was going to do. He apologized after, and I told him not to. I actually enjoy being popped every once in a while! It trains me to keep my guard up, and I doubt anyone would take it easy on me in the street. There is no perfect system, and while some styles may have superior components to other styles, all styles have their weaknesses. That's why they're always evolving. Hell, Gracie JJ set out to prove thru the 90's that it was the best style in the world. So fighters were forced to evolve. They realized that to compete, you had to have a strong base in grappling as well as striking. Look at UFC 1 vs. UFC 150. I know that cage fighting isn't the same as what most of us study, but it is a martial art. And it has evolved drastically as all arts should.

There wouldn't happen to be a bunch of deer and hogs that you need "eradicated" from those 40 acres, would there? If so, give me a holler!! Seriously, though, that seems to be the perfect environment to perfect your art both physically and spiritually. I love the outdoors, and being in the woods is about the best time for me to focus on my spirituality without any distractions. (Sitting in a deer stand for hours with no activity gives you a lot of time to think!!) About the handguns, I'm a big fan of the .357 mag., but I could never afford a $700.00 gun. I have a Taurus Millenium PT145 .45 cal. It's subcompact enough to carry, but not the most accurate at longer distances. My cousin is a Secret Service agent, and his issue is a .357 Sig. I think it's a .357 cartridge goosenecked to fit a 9mm projectile (or something like that). I'd love to have one of those!

That makes me feel a little better! Thanks for the example, Darksoul.

About this same topic, my sensei told me Monday that I would be testing soon, and he wanted to make sure I was ready mentally for what was about to happen. Last night, we went over katas, and when class ended, he told me again that I needed to be ready. So he asked me to pick a kata- I picked Godan. I went thru it, and he we went thru applications from it. After that, he said that for what's coming up, I need to know what every move in every Kata I know is used for. And then he said "a black belt or brown belt needs to know that." Now, I expect to test for brown. I was hoping to skip 2nd kyu and achieve 1st kyu. However, it sounds like he's giving me the criteria for the black belt test. I have 2 trains of thought on this. 1. I have over 2 years combined of training in Shotokan and in this system. And compared to the black belts in my class, I feel that I have knowledge and skill equal to, and in some cases, better than those guys. So compared to the people I train with, I feel like if I would be awarded my black belt, it would put me where I would need to be in this system compared to my peers. 2. For me, I'd prefer to be a great brown belt rather than a subpar black belt. And comparing my skills and knowledge to my sensei (which is foolish, but, hey, I'm very competitive!), it's obvious that I have so much left to learn to truly be a "master" of the system. So on one hand, I think that compared to the people I train with, I have what it takes to be equal to them (and better) right now. On the other hand, I not only want to achieve a black belt (as it has been a personal goal for 25 years). I want to be a great black belt and become a master of the art. He gave a speech at the beginning of class that stuck with me. In the class were me and his assistant (we share the same rank currently), a green belt, and my daughter, who is an orange belt. He was talking about testing the green belt and the responsibilities he has to become a blue belt. Then he said that we were the nucleus of his system. He then said he was thinking of some "meritorius" promotions. That's what made me think. I've been out of the "ISKA JKA" loop for a while. I know that it was pretty difficult (when I was there) to get a meritorius promotion. I did skip a rank back then, but I had missed my orange belt exam and tested the next time with my class. He has said that he doesn't put a whole lot of emphasis on the amount of time you spend in the class. He puts his emphasis on the knowledge you gain in the time you DO spend in class and the skills you display. He has told me what he has seen from me. So I guess he is more qualified to make the distinction than I am. Sorry to rant. Just thinking out loud. Have any of you been in that situation?

9/5/12 evening class: Worked katas thru sandan (all Heians and Pinans). Did some bunkai from them.

They also mentioned that. I think the difference is that in CPR, it's done more as a "massage" and not a "blunt force trauma". Something like that, anyway.

Crossfit.com

Youtube them! It helped me. Once you get your muscle memory back (which won't take long at all), your mind will put it all together. You will start getting the "feeling" of where to move. Hang in there. I went thru the same thing a few months ago after a 22 year layoff!

Same here. I started MA when I was a teenager because I wanted to be a "karate guy". I was also bullied a lot, and I wanted to be able to put an end to that. What I realized is that MA gave me a physical outlet, greater appreciation for people, and more respect from my peers because of my increased confidence. While I was training, my self confidence soared (I was really self conscious and shy). I didn't feel the need to react every time someone looked at me wrong. I had to quit because of work and school. Fast forward 22 years. I took a kickboxing class as a trial because I had the time one evening, and the spark ignited. 2 months later, I took a self defense class as part of a fitness challenge at my job. The spark turned into a fire. I started fooling with my schedule and finances to find a way. Sadly, there was no way. Then, after returning from a vacation, I went to the gym to workout and ran into a man teaching "self defense". I watched a few minutes of his class, and it looked very familiar. After class, I met with him and he invited me to take a class. I did, and the rest is history! Turns out he doesn't charge members of my gym because they give him a place to train. I do pay him for additional classes at his normal dojo, though. And the class schedule works with mine! Now, I train for fitness, discipline, and inner peace!

9/5/12- AM- chest, triceps, abs, stretching, worked on Bassai Dai and Sen Sha Do Shodan. Class this evening.

I recently watched a "sports science" type program that tested the "dim mak". There was a ninjutsu expert that demonstrated the tecnhique. He used a crash test dummy, and they measure impace from 0 to 1 with 1 being 100% fatal. The strike he used was nothing fancy. Just a hammer fist to the sternum. He wasn't a big guy at all. I'm guessing about 155lbs. The hit measured at .8 of 1 which was deemed to be almost certainly fatal. Chest compression was 2 inches. This lead me to the conclusion that any strike with that force should give the same result whether it is a punch or kick. It wasn't the "technique". It was the force and placement. I'm pretty sure I could hammer fist with more power than that guy. The strike didn't look very special at all.