Deshikyle

My anatomy and physiology teacher was a massage therapist for a couple years, and she said one day if you had sciatic nerve pain, you could get a 'sciatic massage' where they basically elbow massage the nerve down in your uh...butt cheek. apparently if you have recurring problems, it helps a ton. TL;DR get your butt massaged

when im sparring, i like to backfist-->reverse punch, step forward, quickly repeat it on the other side and end with a side kick.

awww yeahhh i got to see powerglove live a few years ago! They threw tons of blowup swords into the audience and encouraged battling the entire set.

nice thanks!

I find when i'm working out or training it helps to drown out outside noise with some tunes. I'm looking for some good instrumental music in the vein of something you would hear in a 1980's kung fu/karate film. Just something to get me motivated, any suggestions?

oh yeah, theres no bad blood between them as fellow karateka im sure, just different people with different ideals. Hell, in my kobayashi shorin ryu class, we still even have a one step called the 'yamashita scissors' and nobody seems to bat an eye at it. Ive seen videos of yamashita sensei online and he seems like a wonderful sensei, and the tiny bit i know about the disagreements of the styles theyve had is honestly all i want to know. we're all MA's at heart in the end

we train 2 days a week, for about 2 hours per class and i only pay 10$ a month. Our head sensei says we pay enough in gi's/patches/weapons that the instruction shouldnt be an arm and a leg.

My head sensei (who is training for her 5th dan promotion in the fall) has a bad hip and has survived some pretty bad cancer. i think you'll do fine

i wear mine when i do any kind of workout at home. Feels like i can channel my inner warrior better in my gi. and nothing beats the gi 'snap'.

My sensei of kobayashi wont talk about it, but apparently sensei yamashita and some other sensei had differing opinions about how the teaching of the style was to go about or something along those lines. apparently the style split into kobayashi and yamashita branches, and maybe even others. She feels pretty strongly about the switch though, you can see fire in her eyes when sensei yamashita is mentioned and most people just avoid the subject altogether. and as a practitioner of kobayashi shorin ryu, you wouldnt happen to be attending the 'warrior gashuku' in wisconsin this weekend would you?

i just take simple notes. My sensei dont mind and it helps greatly when im learning a new kata or weapon form. Then when im practicing at home i can at least reference a move here and there if i forget if the next move was a chundan uke or soto uke. also can add sensei specific things. if i get corrected on a particular spot or i get some real good insight on how to improve a section i can pop that in quotes next to said move. aka "more hip snap on second turn", "stop looking down on third punch stupid!"

MY sensei has a real penchant for a very specific imported japanese beer. whenever i need a gift or a 'sorry i screwed up' gift, a few of those babies fix everything right up!

http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh592/kkerns1/2012-05-11_14-31-39_743.jpg This is the first makiwara i built myself from some old wood poles we had lying around. since its rounded, i dont use it for punching, but its great for heel palms, shutos, and even a little 'okinawa sunburn' if im feeling up to it. its buried about 3 feet down into the dirt and has enough shift when i hit it to not transfer all the pressure back into me. I'm now getting around to wrapping the bottom portion for some kicking too. The 'arms' of this one are at shoulder height. i can rest my chin where the head would be for reference. http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh592/kkerns1/2012-05-11_14-32-57_49.jpg This is the second one i made. This one specifically was made for punches and heel palms, and works double duty as a stance trainer. A friend who also trains with me gets into horse stance and holds the tire while i punch. After a while, we switch and its a lot more of a workout than you'd think! Took me about 30 minutes to make and only cost me about 5 dollars(i had the tire and bolts/wood laying around.). Hope this helps and gives you some ok examples of cheap alternatives to the traditional makiwara.[/img]

ah good call, i didn't think of that. Just thought someone might have some general knowledge or have a friend that has a friend that knows a guy who uses jow that could point me to a reliable supplier

I've started slowly conditioning the strike zone on my hands for karate with my homemade makiwara(i can post some pictures if there is interest), and started doing research on Dit da jow. There are lots of places online to buy from, but there is a TON to choose from. I'm aware that it can be useless/even poisonous if made or bottled wrong so i'd like a reputable source if anyone knows of one. I'm mainly looking for a basic hand conditioning/hardening formula. Doesn't need to be anything super fancy, just a safe, reliable supplier. Thanks!