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.

As a left handed myself i don't find it too much of a struggle. I would say equally a dominant leg can be just as awkward! A lot of karate is ambidextrous though. A lot of katas specially the Pinan/Heinan series moves are performed left and right which to many imply they can be equally used to either hand/side.

I'm not sure who first said it but there is an interesting stat: For every 10,000 people that join martial arts. Half will drop out in the first 6 months. Of those remaining about 1000 will complete a year then quit. 500 will make 2 years but only 100 will make their 3rd anniversary. On average less than 20 of the original 10,000 will get the 1st Dan and less than 5 will get 2nd dan! There are many reason why covered by everyone else here but it is the nature of what we do!!

After a weekend of brutal grading i have achieved my first dan black belt!!! I have a lot of aches and pains from a long skills session and a huge fitness test but gave it everything i had and come through the other side. Not sure its quite registered in my mind yet but very glad i have made it this far. Looking forward to continuing my karate journey from this point!

https://www.bytomic.com/bokken-s/2022.htm I got the Century Wood Wrap Sword with Scabbard found it to be very good.

Being asked at about 5th Kyu to demonstrate a spinning hook kick against a pad in front of the class.... In my enthusiasm i span too fast and too high pulled my own leg from under me and landed flat on my face. bad times.

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/10-differences-okinawan-karate-japanese-karate/ Also some names where changed too. This can been seen between styles. for example the Pinan katas in Wado Ryu become Hinan katas in Shotokan which is an Okinawan to Japanese translation.

Master is a terrible term, I agree. My sensei makes us stand in a circle at the end of class in belt order. He has his Dan instructors one side but the other side of him is where the white belts stand. He does this as a reminder that we constantly and always learn! As a Wado Ryu karateka based in the UK as far as I'm concerned there are 2 masters. Hironori Ohtsuka - The founder on Wado Ryu Tatsuo Suzuki - Founded first UK Wado school in 1965. I don't mean that as an insult to any other hi ranking Wado people but what these two contributed to Wado Ryu is what puts them on that level for me.

Very subjective topic. For 10 kyu to Shodan some people will say that you are at a McDojo if you get Shodan anything before 3 or 4 years...Others have genuinely made it in 2 years and been exceptional at what they do... My average guess would be about 3+ years of training twice a week... As for Nidan and Sandan I am surprised as at least my school and others i have asked the "Dan" ranks are normally associated with a fixed time and then with time and what you have given back. So in my school you have to have been Shodan for 2 years to be allowed to grade Nidan. Then Nidan for 3 years for Sandan.... I know for my Senseis 6th Dan he was interviewed by the governing organisation and several other 6th / 7th Dans about what he has contributed back to the karate community and the other blackbelts he has taught and what they have gone on to do! But with ALL things karate there is so many differences from style to style and school to school that its hard to say there is a set of rules that apply in all cases!

Thanks for the feedback! Well i had a great chat to my Sensei last night. He had a lot to say. He talked about trying to make the school better year on year. He has friends that run other schools who have fallen into a McDojo model but he wants to keep the school still quite traditional but wants things like the BJJ to become there own entity eventually that can then allow for other things like weapon training classes. Shockingly he told me of a chap who runs a school who said to him "do you want to be right or do you want to be rich".... what a terrible attitude. Glad my Sensei doesn't agree with him. I am due to grade First Dan black next month and he talked a lot about the kind of black belt i want to be and that his door is always open. So basically things sound positive. Roll on the blackbelt grading and see what the next years hold!

As one of those bigger guys (98Kgs) i can tell you that the smaller guys can be a nightmare for me. Be quick and decisive on guard passing and use speed to out manoeuvre a larger guy who may react slower than you. I like to bully from the top but on my back i have to work very hard to keep my guard moving against a smaller faster opponent who may be able to back off, stand quickly and pass at distance. Use that agility with good technique and you can be deadly which essentially is what the ground game is all about.