Hawkmoon

19/5 2hr fighting. mix in some pushups (x30) repetitions between bouts.

A heavy session the other day had a near perfect side kick reach its target (my ribs) with way more power than I expected, had me groan in pain stagger a little before I was able to gather my thoughts and get back into the fight (just as time was called) people come to the dojo, sit in the hall all focused and excited to see what they see....many vanish never to be seen again! Some clearly spend time in the gym, and only need green body paint to win the next fancy dress contest! never to be seen again! The few that return and even have a go, all feel great and are more excited to be in the lineup, then they get to spar, you can almost see the adrenaline in there veins flowing around at light speed! Then the graded guys fight and the look changes, the sound more than anything as each punch kick lands a groan or grunt escapes the guy being hit. The one new guy (maybe) who returns and works at it and gets graded to then fight along with everyone else! Question/maybe a poll. Do we consider ourselves to be a warrior or an artist? Is it that clean cut? ..

14/5 30 mins core work. Endurance - burpees > star jump repeat for 1 min - push up > lift partner > burpee for 1 min - push up > leg kicks > burpee for 1 min - push up > punches (chudan) > squat thrust for 1 min repeat x3 wheel barrow up and down dojo x3 gorilla crawl up and down dojo x3 drop do a push up, walk your legs up to your hands, repeat up and down dojo x3 15 mins sparring - selection of use called out to fight full power. 15//5 Rest day!

A scenic route, yes always a good thing, a distraction as you run. I run around a small lake (pond by US standards) near where I live, and alternative route has me run through some woods. The music point, I enjoy various things, classic, Linkon Park, '80s electro, Clanned type sound hell even Kate Bush. But importantly when I run, I tend to select emotion driven music, or at least stuff that drives an emotion in me. Then I try to pick stuff (in any order) that has the same tempo or beat. My last run was a mixture of Linkon Park tracks from various albums: Castle of Glass Crawling Bleed it out The Catalyst In the end ... .. ...as well as others. All bringing drive different emotions for different reasons, for example: Castle of Glass (coming from a military family) is to me an obvious emotion track. A surprise to me was the '80s Electro stuff!! The distance I could cover in less time had me look into why? The only difference I could find was the music.....the electro I have is a selection of mix albums, each track merges into the next, meaning the beat/tempo is much the same form one track to another!

This sounds mental, but.. What music were you playing?

like others have said its not so much the school/style that makes the art or artist, its the student and the teacher. I see no point at all in doing a thing that does not work, feel right or gives poor results if it gives any at all, just because... If it feels wrong its because it is wrong for you, try something else! To me you have to see, try experience a thing to decide on a thing. We don't buy a car because it was the first one we spotted with a 'For sale' sign in the windscreen. Same goes for our homes, even the food we eat. Try each or as many as you can from your list. Take some time to have high points as well as low points, say six weeks. (Yes 6 weeks!) At the end of that time one or two will stand out in your mind as the best one, the one that made you feel complete, satisfied, the one that had you feel you accomplished something good! Thats the one for you! Good luck, enjoy you are at most possibly the most exciting part of your MA career!

My advice...MP3 player! I dislike running for the same reasons so an MP3 player or someone to run with or both is really a good thing! Sadly, I do not run anywhere near enough, when I do run, I'll run for 2-4 miles (3'ish km to 8'ish km). Twice, maybe three times a week was what I was doing last year...not so much this year, I need to get that sorted out! ...not doing myself any favors letting this slide!!

Hi there auteur3! I took up Kyokushin a long time ago, reached 1st kyu back then! Now for various reasons I took a break, I effectively stopped training for about 15'ish years. Anyway, I've now started training again and returned to Kyokushin a little over two years ago now, I was allowed to wear my 'old' belt (1st kyu brown) and a few months ago regraded to 1st kyu brown! We have in the club a growing number of Tang Soo Do students, who are all allowed to wear the grade they have earned, some have applied to join, and as far as I am aware are still they wear the grade they have earned! All that changed was the Gi! We also have some kick boxers turning up on a regular basis, looking to join/grade with us! I cannot speak for other dojos or associations, but will add simply the dojo I train with is very open, friendly and promotes the idea of open exchange with anyone!

5/5 double session. Kihon 1 hr 100 sit ups 100 push ups split across both sessions! 1000 kicks & 1000 punches (I wish I was messing about ... we counted at the end of the night to be sure!) 30 min bag work (anything goes) 30 mins sparring 7/5 30 min bag arms 30 min bag legs 50 sit ups 50 push ups 30 mins core work 10 mins medium power sparring 9/5 informal session Circuits - 3x spar > weights > skipping> bag (legs) > Bag (arms) >skipping staying at each position round one 1 min round two 2 mins round three 1min (apparently I skip like a girl!) 12/5 Double session kihon 30 mins Clicker (light sparring) 30mins 100 push ups 100 sit ups 30 mins core work 10 mins heavy sparring 13/5 2 mile run!

Taking the support leg is a new skill to me (I have always been rubbish at getting the timing right) and as I learn to take the leg others are doing the same to me! The result is I have yellow and purple lumps (big yellow and purple lumps) on my legs as I type! As Mr. Miyagi said "if do right no can defense!" I'd agree and I'll add it hurts as well!

Cool! This may offer some insight to the mind set of division .... I have become aware that my old school has split again! Same name, as far as I can tell, and almost in each other packets (regarding proximity to each other). All as far as I can tell of the original BBs moved to the new club and dojo with my old instructor. One of the guys I used to spar with runs the old club form the old hall where my old sensai runs the other dojo form the new hall with all the other BBs! (I met with my old sensei (now Shihan) the other year and he added some detail to the fact that there was a difference of opinion with respect to another sensei and it was then that it broke apart.) Both clubs operate a very different clubs form when I was started in MA, nothing like what was done when I was training, bleeding and sweating! Its sad to me, one was a student with me under the same teacher, and now they will not speak. (But we do that in life with friends, parents, brothers sisters the pet dog....its life) I feel like that friend in a divorce! not wanting to, having no desire to pick sides but feeling as if that is the expectation if I was to be seen with one or the other. politics...really

When I started MA, I wanted to train, train hard and move up the ranks because it was what I thought was expected! So I graded at every interval I was allowed to and started what I later realized was a mad dash to Shodan! When I reached 3rd Kyu, I realized just how close I was to Shodan, and just how inexperienced I was to be so close to '1st grade' in such a short time, must be wrong! How could I stand in a dojo with a BB on when only a few years back I walked in and was essentially unable to breath correctly. I was in a bad place to be, I felt that I would disrespect or otherwise dishonor the club etc IF I carried on at this pace! so I decided then to stop at 1st kyu, learn the art and be the best I could be. I was at this time in my life starting a new family and new home. So I planned to slow right down, at 1st kyu, do 'life' and study MA, what actually happen felt like an over night thing, I wasn't training at all! Why did I stop, well the story (sorry for that) above suggests life was the culprit, well to a degree maybe, but looking back and well I was happy at Brown belt 'it was close enough'.

Yes!

Just started in Kyokushin a little over a month ago... I don't think you need to be fit to train but the training will definitely make you fit if you aren't already. what Hammer said!

Respectfully, I don't think it is the punching higher that would be the issues but learning to take the punch itself. I think you're right in that to deliver it you simply aim higher but defending it if you're not used to doing so might be another story. For fast hard legs and hands to both body and head look at pro kickboxing and to a lesser extent international ITF Taekwondo. Some wicked fast legs and punches. Avoiding and taking the face punches takes some specific and different movements than taking a punch to the body. Bobbing, weaving, even the parrying is different to how you'd defend against body punches and kicks to the head. That is the important bit, a high guard, no matter what the school, keeping the various styles (pro or amateur) in mind is only part of the process, they have a high guard like anyone else........how they react is different to the head strike is what makes the difference. To duck and weave to parry ride the strike is the other part of the equation, my teachers have all promoted the 'train with other schools' a philosophy Sosai Oyama taught, one that ...some dojos still teach today, I'm lucky in that the ones I have access to, teach it! Its an idea I do work on, the idea is simple and driven by the real world, like I mentioned before when such situations come into being, its normally mad rush at you and a well timed punch, kick, slap or push in response to take the edge or fight out of the other guy.

Kyokushin and face punches, is a thing many pick up on and talk ill of! I understand how people would see this in this way, why they see it, and why they feel its a bad idea! I don't see it as a limitation simply because if I wish to hit the face ... well to put it simply I aim higher! I'm not picking a fight or pointing the finger at anyone, knockdown is not easy because face punches are not allowed, its hard because they are not allowed. What the hand to face contact rule does, is its pushes a fighter to develop faster legs, as much as the defender the need to keep a high guard to defend the head if a leg does come close! It develops powerful strikes and body blows overall. The things about Kyokushin combat is everyone gets tough, everyone conditions the body, real hard! In time everyone no longer feels the a punch or kick unless it is delivered with power, or near perfect timing to catch you breathing etc, so it pushes everyone to work harder to get the edge. Consider Mawashi Kaiten Geri many contact fighters regardless of school use it, and why not. A Faster kick and one with a massive amount of power, if it lands it wins the fight! Nice to see, exciting to watch, painful to be on at the wrong end of, one that demands perfect execution and timing! Examples: Anyone when they fight learn and fill gaps in their fighting style the way the rules, the school etc allow, application outside in the real world, tends to be a mad rush at you from the other guy and well placed kick punch or push/shove form you!

Had a moment the other day and sat back thinking about this. What an adventure!! the take off all that rush all that panic, way way cool! But then to travel through space to look out across to far away stars, planets to see Earth vanish and in time MARs to appear! The rush of the landing the new world the view the ...just everything! Simply wow! but one fly in the morning cornflakes..... To land at a place to then explore that area and spot something.... whatever that something might be...something in the distance, something that demands investigation something that needs you to go and do some exploration and that something to be outside your travel range!!

One of the t-shirts I have simply has the 'kanku' symbol on it, (the target looking thing, under my forum name) the other is interesting as now that I consider it I 'realize' it has both the Kanji on it as well as 'Kyokushin' in English written across it. (kind'a like a cross effect) With regarding the kanji for this or that martial art, I believe that today as much as back in the 60's and 70's when MA first reached western shores people are still fascinated by they eastern culture. So seeing 'stuff' from the east peaks the persons interest, its fascinating even (no insult is meant by this) pretty/beautiful to see or look upon. I guess its the mystery that is the far east seen in the high street worn by a person who is clearly not from that culture, which simply adds to mystery. Me and my tattoos, well two of them is on a my chest, so unless I'm swimming, on the beach, they are not sen. Where as a third is on my lower arm so easy to see when I walk around in a tee or with my sleeves rolled up.

In 1994, Kyokushin splintered into lots of groups, 3 x IKO organizations the most notable. Two other examples... IFK came into being in 1992. Seido, came into being in 1976. (....there are others, lots of others!) There is a thread in here somewhere in the forum where a TKD student presents a kata final with two guys competing on the same mat and doing the same kata. (I've never seen a TKD kata so was interested in what one looked like) The differences between the two guys was a surprise, then as I read the thread it seems these guys are from different organizations! Some of the splits (above as well as the many others) are as much to do ego and so on as they are politics. I dislike politics in any sport, sadly it does creep into sport and it does try (I'm told) to do the right thing yet more often than not egos get involved and it goes to pot! One master unhappy with another masters view of the future that sort of thing. My first Kyokushin school was a splinter school (I later found out) from the BKK, it didn't bother me, I was ignorant of what and why, I was happy just to train, it was then as now all I want to do when I walk into a dojo. I train with the a BKK school now, the difference I see between the two is noticeable but not as much as I thought it would be for the most part. I worked as hard then as I do now, kihon & kata are all the same as is the focus on fitness, the push form the instructors as well as the other students is as focused. However, now I have access to a wealth of other fighters, instructors and dojos to learn from, and as a result my fighting has come on massively. (strength in numbers it would appear) The splinter club had very very limited access to other knockdown clubs, we tended to work with WUKO (point fighters) and kata tournaments it didn't bother me, I was happy just to train. Enjoy Kyokushin, it will be rewarding more than you realize! Osu.

hmm..interesting topic! My lineage would be... me! 1. Shihan and sensei. 2. Hanshi Steve Arneil. 3. Sosai Masutatsu Oyama. Never actually looked at the 'blood line' before! Up until the national tournament last year I'd only ever seen Hanshi from a distance, him on the tournament floor me in the spectators seats. Then last year I was in the tournament and had opportunity to shake his hand speak with him, opened doors and even get out if his way as he walked past! I'll add I have worked in other clubs different systems(arts/styles) and found some to claim direct connection with this or that master in some far away land. Some are (IMO) above board and have legitimate lineage, others its a little murky trying to pick out the thread back to the person named! Yet in other clubs the instructor refers to his teacher and their teacher and never once is a Eastern name mentioned! eg: "I worked with Sensei Ben Jones, who was trained by Sensei John Doe, who trained with a guy called James I think!". I will add, as I do think, feel it is important to point out I've never noted a pattern in the training to indicate quality is better with one or the other because of the 'lineage'. I found that after working with two or three I was starting to feel, detect the type of club I had walked into. A proud, humble, vicious, pedantic, McDojo, ..etc etc club. .....always a mixture of 'blood lines'.

As a rule no not really, I'm aware it makes some uncomfortable to see the word Karate or MMA so for there sake I don't do it on purpose, more because it was the top I picked up that morning! I'm happy to wear tees with the name or symbols on them, most who look at the tee do so because they see kanji characters, or a symbol that looks like a target, only people from that part of the world understand and smile the westerners have no idea what it is they are looking at. I've a 'hoody' I'd wear when going to the dojo on cold days. I don't go out in my Gi, and can't recall the last demo I attended, although I have stood outside in the sun with 10 or 15 others doing kata and tile breaks. Mind you I have tattoos of the Kanji and Kanku on my body so I guess the answer is truthfully yes! all the time!

Sorry, my views on such stuff are well known and not ...um..polite... so my view will come form one position, sorry. ...stuff like "no contact KO' karate and so forth Search YouTube...nice video of ..such an systems teacher...utterly decimated. More IMO mind set than magical powers or some mysitcal energy you feel flow through you . I do believe and do get the idea that there are things in this world we simply do not understand or even are aware of, but magic...nope not one of the things we will one day 'discover'! Mind set, the desire to do a thing, the singular drive to that end...call it determination , training, stamina, desire, focus, science, skill, education if you want but call it 'magic' no. That energy that feeling as it moves through you, can I suggest its more a case of the muscles, bones and the mind all working in perfect or near perfect sync and the 'power' the action creates in its execution is what you are feeling? Not some unexpected connection to a secret free energy stream in the air. (Thinking Star Wars and midi-chlorians....great in films or Hollywood, MA and the real world..just plain NO!)

One of my favorite katas is Tsuki no. (Tsuki no Kata) A kata from ‘southern Japan’ and it comes from Gojo karate, in Gojo-Ryu the kata is known as ‘Kihon Tsuki nokata’. The name, ‘Tsuki no’ translates to ‘fortune and good luck’, in certain circles/groups the kata is known as 'the punching kata'. The moves are powerful, and represent in a symbolic way the battle a person has to overcome personal limitations or barriers, each punch represents the destruction of that barrier. From that understanding the kata is also said to mean ‘to storm a castle’ the castle being symbolic of such a person’s inner self, there mind.

I was asked as part of my grading to research and submit a paper on three Katas offering a few facts on the kata and its meaning and something about its past its history. As a Kyokushin student I new I would find reference some more clear than others to other fighting systems, Shotokan I had expected to feature heavily more than most. I discovered I was not entirely correct on that point, other systems feature in Kyokushin more than I released. Gojo Ryu appeared more than I expected! (No idea where the 't' comes form, still working ion that, I'm starting to suspect a typo that was never corrected!) So the idea is, pick a kata, any kata you are taught or teach today and have a look into its past, find its origins or some facts that maybe interest you. Add a post here, a few lines or a paragraph with what it is called now and what it was called and where is come from that sort of thing. have fun with the task, its not a exam or full on history test paper submission just a few facts about a kata.

9/4 2hr fighting heavy contact ending with a couple of full knockdown bouts .