JasonW

I do know he is very picky about how a kata is performed. He nit picks everything down to where my eyes are looking. It's good cause I know my katas are sharp, but sometimes it is irritating.

Thanks everyone. Very solid advice. I am doing point stop. A point is a point kick or punch. I plan on being offensive. I especially liked the idea of YouTube. I learned alot from that. I am only a blue belt as of now although I do have quite a bit of past experience. I hope they have some better fighters than what I saw at my level. Maybe my sensei is just anal about bunkai and sparring because if I did anything as sloppy as what I saw, he would kick my behind Lol

Shouldn't your sensei be training you to spar aggressively to some extent?

If you want to learn joint locks and such and they won't teach it to you, maybe it's time to find a new dojo? I study Isshin Ryu and though grappling is not a major part of it, there is some hidden in the katas which all stemmed from shorin ryu and Goju ryu.

I will be attending my first tournament like the subject says... of course my sensei had to go out of town for the past week and had me go to his sensei to train while he was gone. I have received conflicting opinions of how I should fight. My sensei has placed alot of focus on training my kicks and tells me to use them. His sensei says not to use kicks and worked on my blocks and counters. This is an open tournament. Now a little background. I was originally an Aikido guy. Now I'm studying Isshin Ryu. I am very good at defensive fighting, which is why I chose an Offensive style to cross train in. I guess I'm not sure why one person would train my kicks and the other tell me not to use them. Personally I think I should do what I think I need to do to try to score a point. If I see an opportunity to land a kick why would I not take it? So all that being said, any advice, opinions, or whatever else you want to throw my way that may help would be appreciated.

All styles have their advantages and disadvantages. The vertical punch is very fast and while it may lack power at full extension, it's powerful in close quarters where the corkscrew type punch lacks power. Personally, I think everyone should find the style that best suits them. Some people don't have the flexibility and might want to avoid styles with high kicks. Etc. I like Isshin ryu. Cross training is also beneficial no matter what styles you choose. Most importantly, make sure you enjoy it, and don't end up in a mc dojo

When I get promoted to a new rank, even if its just a stripe we have a formal recognition of it.

Can't say I have heard of that before. But it may be part of your test, or like many have said, it may be he is just waiting to do a larger group if he has more he is going to promote. Either way, if he said you did well, take the compliment and keep trying to learn and do your best. It will do no good to get a resentment.

I practice daily. I stretch every morning. I go through katas before I leave for work, when I get to work before I punch in, on my lunch break, when I get home from work, and various times throughout the evening. If I'm watching TV commercials are a great time to run through katas, when I'm cooking, if I'm waiting I'm either stretching or going through kata. Sometimes if I find myself in a bathroom in a store or restaurant and I have enough room and nobody is around. For me the only questions are 1, do I have room. 2, do I have time?

Well I know this. Although I have never been formally trained, I have always held my own in street fights growing up. I haven't had to fight in years and he has seen me fight. When we started training he offered to spar with me and said if I could score a point he would give me $500. After seeing the power and speed he has, I know I'm not ready to spar him. I'm 31 and he is 25 years older than me. I'm no genius, but I know when someone can fight better than me.

So mostly it really depends on the style, number of katas to learn, time restrictions and the amount of times they test per year. I take private lessons in Isshin Ryu. It allows personal one on one training which allows me to learn on an accelerated rate. I have been around MA my whole life. However this is the first time I have actually seriously trained. Seems like once you get to BB there is a lot of politics involved.

Seems like there are subtle differences with almost everyone. I've noticed it too with people trained by different people in the same style. Perception is reality. Learn what is useful to you and learn all you can

I find that true because on my third session training with him I was able to test for gold belt and passed.

He does not want me sparring till I hit green belt. He says by then I should have the control and skill so nobody gets injured due to improper training. He says I am welcome to attend group class but that I will get more out of private lessons.

I know he knows his stuff because he has plenty of trophies and medals from competitions. I kinda feel bad and have offered money cause I know this knowledge is valuable. He won't take it so when I notice he needs something I tend to just bring it to him and tell him I had it laying around and don't need it. For example we have been getting a lot of snow this winter so I brought him a 50 lb bag of salt to put on the walkways so people don't slip. And now I want to find other styles to learn but wonder if he would get upset if I was paying to learn something else too or if he would like if I could return the favor and teach him another style