RAM18

Great video. We are currently going over a lot of De La Riva concepts at the moment and it's nice to see a video that passes guard and not just focuses on sweeps!

Its been said in some ways but what you have here is the general issue with Karate these days. The Sport vs Traditional debate. In sport karate your goal is to score point and get more than the opponent. Therefore to leave doubt that you have scored can defeat your objective. When we spar we are told a loud confident Kiai will normally be enough but that is the goal to leave no doubt. In traditional karate i would agree waving arms and shouting is offensive. In fact from what i have heard in Japanese culture waving or arms and voice raising is generally considered aggressive and rude. It sounds like your guest Sensei is very much a sport karate competitor who forgoes the tradition of the art. ...

Our school provides a standard white Gi and belt for beginners for free but our main color is a black Gi. We let the lower belts wear black Gi trousers and a black branded t-shirt to start most student wear the black Gi with the logo embroidered back and front all of which the club provide at a small cost. I must admit i love our black Gi - it stands out from the norm.

Yeah i spotted the foot too mainly because we get drilled endlessly about it...

We don't wear them in sparring unless its at a competition. The problem is where do you draw the line with padding???? Mouth guard? Essential unless you want to spend a lot of money at the dentist. Not enforced everywhere. Gloves, foot pads, Sure. fairly normal. Head guards? Yes but not all styles enforce it? Concussion is very bad. Body armour? Cracked ribs, ruptured spleens are all serious do we all wear body armour? What about knee protection........ the list goes on. We do an activity which at its base level teaches you to strike another human being. There will ALWAYS be a inherent risk doing so. Be as safe as you feel you need to be!

Hey Big guy here, currently 104kgs (229 pounds). When i started a few years ago i was 110gks, My waist was 4 and a half inches bigger, had half the muscle mass i have now and i got out of breath after running for 2 minutes. I'm now a 1st Dan, can run 8 miles. do an hour cardio class easy. I'm not fast when sparring but i try to fight smart. As for adversity. Yeah Landing wrong and twisting ankles. Broken toes on the mats, sore knees.....plus the fact everyone hits you harder because "your a big guy and can take it".

In Wado Ryu we technically have two versions. We have what we call line work. This is our kihon. Which is basics blocks, kicks, punches for all grades. We also have 2 person drills called kihon kumite. Identified as number1 and number 2 etc. up to 10. These are are fixed set of drills where the defender wins.

I think its a good thing. If taken at its very base level, Karate and Japanese martial arts generally are a mix of Chinese Zen Buddhism and Bushido (later budo). Both heavily carry a responsibility of respect, honor, integrity, loyalty and wisdom which are all important to improve ones character. The problem is now that Karate has diversified so much that the message gets lost in the noise. Karate can be taught for competitive sport and fitness and many schools loose at lot of the traditional practices and meanings. Does that make them all McDojo's? I wouldn't think so, the western world doesn't hold these ideals in the same way. I think it's good to be aware of Karate origins and perhaps carry that responsibility but martial arts is a personal journey and as such is down to the individual.

I was going to mention books too. Between class, books and YouTube you should be able to learn what you need well enough. If you have questions ask in class!! also most schools have subtle differences in kata. The way your Sensei's wants it performed is Gospel not YouTube! If you struggling to find videos on YouTube maybe try Shorin Ryu katas as from the little knowledge i have of your style that's the base style is derived from?

Interesting video. Don't want to be down about it as i'm only a low belt in BJJ myself but i think for like White/blue belt level that could be risky as essentially your turning away from your opponent then giving your back up completely to escape a side control. Which so far I've been told is a bit of a no no. It would be easy for the attacker on top to shift position as you turn. Guy on the bottom on his side has legs together on the ground therefore has no guard if attacker stands or moves for a mount position. Any mistake there and your going to find yourself with your back taken and fighting out of a rear choke or mounted?? Feels like the guard takes too long to get back.

Hey, My school has always had 2 skills days both of which have accommodated 10 Kyu up to my Sensei at 5th Dan and everything in between. There is talk recently of splitting the class in to advanced class for 2nd / 1st kyu and Dan's and beginners 10 - 3 kyu. Even maybe on separate days. I'm not sure what to think about it in many respects. On one hand focused training is a great idea but i'm worried us Dan grades loose some identity with the other students? Does anyone else have this split? How do you find it? Are there training days where you all get together as a whole?

Interesting discussion. Quite a few people have said Kushanku / kanku Dai is representative of there style because its made up of the Pinan / Heinan series. These series of kata are shared between many styles or karate so how does one kata define style when shared between many styles? Is it not more accurate to say the performance of the kata in my style represents that style? As said already its all a bit misleading as there is discussion that the pinan/heinan were changed to be more simplistic to teach to school children so they have no style. Also as said already a kata can represent a whole style in itself. Take Chinto/Gankaku as an example. The story for this is about a pirate washed up on the shores of japan stealing food from local farms. The local lord sends his best fighter to dispatch the pirate from the lands. The Pirate fights the lords champion and wins easily. In defeat the champion asked the pirate how he won and in exchange for a bed and food he would like to be taught by the pirate in his ways of combat. The pirate agreed. His name was Chinto.....the kata represents how he fights. hence the introduction of things like craine stance not previously seen in the lead up katas. Therefore it is chinto's style....not Wado Ryu's or Shotokans...

Oh i suffered with this for sooo long. I used to open my eyes wide and open my mouth as i was about to attack in kumite. No idea why! I think for me it was a confidence thing. I was concerned about missing or getting hurt more than focusing on what i was doing. Once i became comfortable with distance, timing and plenty of practice it changed a lot.

Only things i would add is don't make drastic changes to your diet as they are hard to maintain. Small changes. The other is that protein is your friend. Anyone who does physical activity needs it and most people don't meet the daily requirement. There are a lot of protein calculators out there on the internet, worth a look!

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/kime-putting-the-nail-in-the-coffin/ found this a good read on kime.