Hawkmoon

hmm.... We have a tournament coming up so we are ramp'ing up the combat just now. In a previous session (one of my better nights) I'd fought with everyone in the dojo (as we all had) at heavy contact (anything from 50-80%) and felt good with how I had accounted for myself accordingly. All well and good, then when the night was ended, once again a selection of us were called to one side and instructed to fight at full knockdown! I was called up and faced a guy who is very handy and can deal with much of that is directed at him. A person I enjoy fighting with as he makes me think and tests me. We fought, and I had for the first time a clear feeling I was hurting him (and then I realized I had been hurting him in the past) more than I realized. The fight went well and I felt good with the matter when it was concluded. Later I fought with another guy who (as a member of the UK squad) I trust and respect and have no illusions could end the contest in the blink of an eye if the mood took him. We fought and again I had the clear feeling I was hurting him, as he was hurting me (with interest I will add) and again when it was concluded I felt happy with how I had accounted for myself. Last night, we were fighting heavy contact as before, I felt I was not as fluid as I was the other night, I was stiff and maybe more static than normal so decided to change something.....and see what effect it had. I realized the change may open me up to stuff, but (odd or mad as this is) I felt it was worth the risk, the tournament is coming time is short and I can't help feel I am/will let the club down when we attend. So I selected in mu mind two guys i would test this idea with guys I felt comfortable to do so with and over the duration of the night, the change in my fighting style, the fluid movements and faster reactions ......I will say gained (its fits) were noticed immediately! Later when I fought these guys again I returned to my default fight mode, and well lets say normal service was resumed...the difference being my opponent was more alert and reacted to me according to our last fight...! It was like a eureka moment to me. Put simply I've developed (on purpose) a fight habit for all the wrong reasons something that does not work for me as I felt it was or should. As I fought the guys with my view fixed on there heads (not the chest) I could see limbs, and so on and as I had expected the look in the eyes and face before something they planned was launched at me. Like I say It was like a eureka moment to me. Thanks guys for offering your comments and views and experiences in this thread, very helpful, thank you!

The IFK, BKK is much the same: 10 kyu - Taikyoku-Sono-Ichi 9 kyu - Taikyoku-Sono-Ni. 8 kyu - Taikyoku-Sono-San. 7 kyu - Pinan-Sono-Ichi. 6 kyu - Pinan-Sono-Ni. 5 kyu - Pinan-Sono-San. 4 kyu - Sanchin kata 3 Kyu - Pinan-Sono-Yon, Sanchin no kata (Kiai) 2 kyu - Pinan-Sono-Go, Gakisai Dai 1 kyu - Yantsu, Tsuki-No-Kata 1st Dan - Tensho, Saiha, Taikyoku-Sono-Ichi, Taikyoku-Sono-Ni and Taikyoku-Sono-San are performed in Ura. 2nd Dan - Kanku-Dai, Gekisai-Sho, Seienchin, Pinan-Sono-Ichi in Ura. 3rd Dan - Garyu, Seipai, Sushiho. A person seeking 3rd Dan promotion must also 'create' a kata. Write it down and offer full descriptions as to what, why where and demonstrate as needed to the grading panel in advance of the grading itself. Outside the, these are a few others. Kihon kata ichi & ni, as you might expect, and some kicking katas! Sokugi Taikyoku sono Ichi,Ni & San Not many as far as I am aware do these 'kicking kata'. Sosai developed them to teach and so allow a student to practice the movement/transition between kicks.

Front room - kata! Daily, as a rule but of late been maybe 3 nights a week. Bed room - exercise (general stuff sit ups , push ups, leg lifts etc ** Twice a week, as a rule but so far this year only once a week. Garage - Makawari board. Soon to be upgraded with a bag (of sorts) to kick and punch. Chin up bar, and dips rig. TBA ! Running is done 'in addition to' the two nights doing general exercise.** With an added weekend run that moves for one day to the other depending on time of how I feel. At the moment I'm ... come to think of it ... being lazy, need to pick up the pace!

Speedy recovery my friend thank you ! I sooo hate rib injuries...they take an absolute age to heal and its pain all the way!! Such is life! but still it build spirit and character! ...and faster reflexes!

hehehe top comment!

..after reading that.... ...my personality demon towards bullies...is not going anywhere fast just now!

yeah! why not? Earth is only so big so we either spread out or thin out! NWO and war or pandemics (Zombie attack hehe!) not truly the best idea or way forward. Cheapest yes, best ..far from it! So all in all not really an option to my mind, better to use all the tech and science we have developed to go out in to the cosmos and settle new worlds...greater rewards, more resources new lands new opportunity!

Monday session this week was mostly spent fighting at medium power and was concluded with a group of us being pulled to one side to fight at full power! Full knockdown bouts. Since then my left side ribs and left leg are merely a meeting point for all the pain I have ever suffered in my life to date! LOL! Sneezing coughing.. ...............are my new worst enemy! ggrrr!

28/3 1st kyu grading! All kata all syllabus all exercise all kumite** from 10hyu to 1st kyu. 31/3 1 hr bag work 1 hr fights. from touch to full knockdown.**

Well done mazzybear! Its a good feeling after all the work and effort as well! Keep up the good work!

hehe! Welcome to the world of 'Kyokushin' Himokiri Karate! When I started in MA (long story short) I had no idea (in my ignorance) that there different 'types' of karate. I just walked into a dojo after watching a Bruce Lee film!(Go figure) watched some guys in a funny looking suits doing the sort of things I'd see in the film and had a go! I had no idea I had walked into a Kyokushin dojo, and now some 27 years later I'm glad I did! A truly rewarding system IMO! Osu!

I held my rank for years, then I took an over'ly long break and came back a couple of years ago. (The break was over 15 years...like I say over'ly long) I was accepted into this new club and asked to regrade with them as I had been away so long. I was very happy about this, it satisfied my sense of respect for others, seeing as I had been away so long I felt it important to prove myself to them and earn the rank. The other day I did regrade, and passed! New Kyokushin 1st kyu brown belt now wrapped around my middle!

hehehehe!! There will be more my friend! I'll add I took (retook/regraded) my 1st kyu the other day, and I passed! Yipee! (hence my absence from the forum as I worked on everything for the grading!) 'Before' we fought for our grades, my legs arms stomach etc already hurt! were already 'shot'. Then we fought... my ribs .. 'kind'a bruised! Thigh ... kind'a stiff! New 1st kyu belt around my waist ...yeah it was worth it! Osu!

19/3 Session split into two parts - Knockdown then kata.

hmm.. Thinking back over four main styles and so different clubs I have spent most time with in my life, most first and possibly second gradings are passed by the children every-time! A bit of a talking to about this or that and a feeling of well done but work harder impressed upon them for the next time. The idea generally stated by each 'club' is too build confidence, get them used to the environment and get them used to the demands of the grading. Adults tend to get an easy life for the first grade, and a larger step up to grading demands come the second grading. Same reasoning given, same mind games about more effort etc given! However, one of these clubs (was one I spent the least time with) was a shock as it became apparent to me that adults and children that graded were passed, when well ability was lacking, shall we say. It seemed to me there was some inter-club rivalry about BB count and this club seemed to want to win that contest. I see no fault in allowing most candidates pass the first or second grading so long as they is a clear attempt to do well. If the candidate thinks they can walk in, scratch there belly and walk about doing moves.... well they do the whole thing like everyone else and at the end are failed. The final test being there mental state, they come back and try harder next time they don't come back, they don't have the mental strength. Come third and fourth, now its game time now its step up or step away! The instructor should work with them, and then talk to them as they work towards the test date, keep it open and honest. If they are not up to it press them for more, if the response is not enough, keep the honesty and hold them back until the next time. If they leave then the club wins, the person clearly doesn't have the right mind set for MA or the club, if they return when they are senior grade they will be thankful to you for your attention and patients. In all that time the winners are them and the club. Gradings to me are truly a win win situation for all involved, they should be taken seriously by everyone! Gradings should be a training tool an aid to get the best form the student as well as yourslef, not a stick to bully or polish a seniors ego, if that is so then the issue is not the student!

17/3 Whole session dedicated to Knockdown combinations and fighting.

So far I'm kinda lucky I've a front room just large enough to complete kata...just about! Bag work is banned to the garage! A little freaky but an open space I came across on a run serves well for conditioning and exercise in general.

Yup! 100% do this. A great way to test yourself and learn. No matter who or what the style you are going to gain some serious experience and lean to detect tells in the person in front of you! a different system is not going to produce a different type of fighter they will do stuff in a way your not seen so you'll be more alert (hopefully) to spotting the tell of a punch or kick..you get the idea!

I love the agreement. ".. you asked me to join, I didn't ask you !" "Do you accept?"

An interview with Hanshi Arneil when he was in the US last year! Nice to hear him talking about the stuff I'd only read about or had second hand from others!

Were good!! The comment struck a nerve with me, like I say I have little tolerance and even less understand for such behavior. (A personality demon I've yet to master!) The 'bully' element here was not the driving force or point but rather supporting detail to the defiance, the lack of respect. As I said I'm not sure its the right place, and even now I'm not sure its a good example to use here. You explain... Is the reasoning for me offering the example at all, it was the way I looked at the situation and so decided to made it an example. No worries were good, no harm no foul! It is what happens, this guy opens up, and other break down (the beginner) the older slower members suffer. Hence wrong as I am to do take the actions I do, I 'spoil his session, and work with the others, taking away his attempt to gain the upper hand. The bullying aspect is possibly another discussion for another thread. The time I've spent in other clubs shows me its not a unique to one system or area but rather a human thing, a thing that many clubs suffer. This behavior be it done in the locker room, the dojo or both is school yard in nature but a human trait none the less! One of the guys here at work goes to a fencing club (foils & sabers) and has a simulate story with regards to one of the members of that club. Here the other guy hides (if that is the best description to use) behind the fact that he is under 16. The result is he does things he should not and everyone else do not react because he is young.

guys (all) please remember I'm a kyu not Dan grade! I and I alone 'copy' him and I accept what I'm doing is not the right thing to do, for all of my desire to show respect, honor, polite friendly behavior, this is a 'personality' demon I've yet to master...and to be honest I'm not winning that battle just now. Sensei and Shihan I suspect are working with him privately more than we see or realize when we witness the public interventions. I feel a huge sense of shame as a guy of 40'odd years to be in a room of other 'adults' and I see one of these adults acting out like this! Like I say maybe there is more going off in his life at the moment, he was never so public before, it was clear earlier that this sort of behavior bubbled underneath the surface. I could detect this potential in him, but it never came out I've been back coming up to three years, and only now in these last few months (4-5 mths) as this surfaced. To add to the thought direction I'm trying to explore/follow here, I picked up my son form his club the other day to hear his sensei ban one of the students for a year! Punishment that I later found out was issued to address defiance and bullying! The reason given: "Its how we deal with it, it is how this behavior has always been dealt with!" So over the years I've seen different clubs deal with defiance as follows: Ban exercise private correction public correction chat with mum and dad (If applicable) suspension With regards to suspensions, the students who are asked to leave many tended to not come back! The few that did return, many went on to have a good MA career. To refer to the books and so on I hinted at, traditionally such behavior was dealt with by: Exercise private correction public correction The rest of the list seems to me to be adopted form the modern world 20th - 21 st century culture! Not traditional in the MA world. With respect to the bullying aspect of the example: Ban exercise private correction public correction chat with mum and dad (If applicable) suspension to be paired with a better, trusted student able to push back (with interest if required) The last entry above is something noted in books, and the writings of this or that master. I've seen it in the real world only, to my memory, three or four times, and never at the senior (adult) level. One book I read only the other day "The Way of Knockdown" describes the Shihans using Shinai on the students to push them to work harder and punish them for less than 100% effort! http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Way-Knockdown-Gary-Chamberlain-ebook/dp/B00CMQYP6K

hehehe! Yup! I've had a few "oh my god o'clock" moments since getting it installed!" Might have to go back to NFS for a bit and set some new times for the others to beat! Break a habit before it forms!

Really? Thats interesting, to me that seems very low to the point of missing risking missing the shoulder movement and so give away the intent to punch. Daft question, but this works for you else you'd not do it, but I'll ask anyway.... if this a taught focal point or just the place you happened to start to look at from day one?

OK, so is this person still allowed in the dojo and if so why? The behavior IMO has been bubbling under the surface for a while, something I believe I detected in him when we met the first time. I was then as he now demonstrates (and has admitted to the club previously) certain he was the school bully but the open defiance this is new from him and not understood by anyone that suffers his focus or lack of it! Not sure if there is a more personal thing going on with him that is spilling over into training, no idea, I like him am a kyu grade and not the club owner, so not my place to punish or correct. Both Shihan and sensei are working on him, giving him a fare chance to redeem himself. They do watch and intervene as and when required as we have all been told (repeatedly so) to simply stop at such times and call them over. The behavior is driving more emotion in me than it really should, of that I have no doubt, but as I mention it is nothing I have not seen in other clubs I have worked with over the years. (to various degrees and in various combinations) Other clubs dealt with such behavior one way and another, what is done here is not unlike some of these and close to what others have done. My detail in that post, emotion driven, true as that is, is detail given as it is a perfect example to me regarding discipline, order and no matter what culture we are from respect in the dojo and people who fit the bully profile can be found. In MA some of the schools came about because of this very reasoning. So the idea was to explore 'a' way such behavior was dealt with traditionally. (Books and reading and so on of this or that teacher) I tried to start a less aggressive exploration into tradition regarding the GI earlier, but it seems we all think the same way with regarding it! So I thought I'd try a more emotive example , but like I say I'm not sure this thread and that example is the best way of exploring what is or is not tradition or traditional.