Hawkmoon

Its something I thought about, as a means to keep the body ticking over as it were. For me after a stint with the Wii and then the x-box I always felt its ability to track a punch or kick was poor ! Somehow I always lost at boxing even when the 'target' (as it were) was just pushing there hands out into space where I was jabbing hooking and ducking like a mad man.... If that game tracks me better then I might get a copy see what its like...cheap enough now so why not can't hurt!

I'll add...I'm going stir crazy so will be in the dojo tonight! Strapped up and testing the limits a little!

Well done ! Osu

ah! so would the 'apparent' better results be more due to the massaging of the area rather than the ointment used then?

bad bad bad. Find another club, and report the matter to the reverent bodies.

As a Kyokushin student fighting is a point we deliberately aim for ion our training. As I moved up the grades the amount of fights to earn each grade became more and at green (4 & 3kyu) the fights went from grading heavy to Knockdown! The Ryu you follow, will drive how soon you start to fight, BUT, and do take the complement from sensei, your ability as well, if he sees you have a knack for combat, then the time to start developing it sooner rather than later is a good thing!

Two styles, or two (or more dojos) is a good thing! You will have to work out what is good what is bad, be that style or dojo else the main ryu the one you are trying to enhance will suffer! If the two are close in look etc to each other then you either need to be highly disciplined or risk mixing one with the other, and that a grading failure. or as other have said they need to be hugely different. Me I have mixed Kyokushin with Ju-Jitsu which was worked well, but on another occasion I mixed Kyokushin with Shotokan and depending on what dojo i was in was told I have bad habits!

Best imo...swimming, or running if you cannot fit it in. ...oddly something I've just started to do and feel adds to the running at least (kinda hard in the pool) is to with your gum shield in! (The air flow restriction has a massive effect) The idea is to get 3 or so endurance sessions in as well as the normal stuff you are doing. Bag work is a given, the more you do the better over all. Just for numbers as an example; 50 punches with left arm, rest for a minute swap to right leg 50 kicks rest for a minute swap to left arm and so on. Start with two cycles, then go on to three, then four! Train as often as you feel strong enough to do so, every-other day is a good start, then as you build on that routine add stuff (at home or a run) to the days in between, do make sure you have two days of rest in the week. As you build on that then in the days in between do stuff at home and add that run, move towards one day of full rest. November 16th right?

Daily! Some times all of them in one session, but mostly different ones to keep the mind active! Always the newest one or the one(s) needed for the next grading, but in a week all of them will have been done at least twice!

Turn and spot your target, doing that will help. can I offer... Break the Ushiro into parts, and step through each part with a deliberate move stop move stop mind set. As the guys have said in this thread, think turn not spin. So turn (Step 1) Prepare to kick, spot the target (step 2) Extend the kick - to kick (step 3) Get the mind used to how it feels what the position is, where the various bits of you are! Your feet, your head, your arms. Pick a point on your target, now move stop move stop etc towards placing your foot on that target. Speed it up a little No power no power at all is needed. Repeat this over and over. This as much muscle memory training as it is mind training. Look at your knee it only moves in one direction, so breaking the movement down allows you to think through how to maximize the only movement it has to give you! A trick I picked up from a Shotokan school was to push/throw your arm out as the kick extends out! So a left leg has a left arm extension added to it as well. (Think Superman pose!)

....well an ankle injury with a current elbow injury may well have put an end to my participation. I'm happy to spectate, really am, I love the atmosphere, and yes I do miss the rush of the mat/ring....I'll have to see how I heal! Core work is all I can do just now so core work is what I am doing!

Speed ...youth...age ...power...... No, I'll stand with the traditionalists on this one. Kata has a tempo, its own 'natural' speed, it is this that should be maintained. If you are a big person or small, young or old, the kata is the kata and was before you were born and will always be after you are dead! From my grading background for example: Things I was tested on when performing kata was the speed I add, when speed was the point of the movement at that point in the kata. Power at that point of the kata where power was the requirement of the movement, BUT importantly the time I took to complete the kata. If I was to fast I was considered to be lacking in commitment to the kata execution, as taking to long was considered to show a lack of confidence to perform the kata at all! katas like Taikyoku sono ni or Pinan Sono yon, when performed will take x seconds to complete, as will the high grade katas, Tensho, Garyu, etc etc If you have not missed a technique, or lost speed or not demonstrated power as required you will finish faster/slower than you should, there can only be one conclusion from this (other than you missed something) and that is you missed a valuable point for the kata.

I can't either, but we were taught how to use it properly . It sounds like Ruben has skipped all the way to conditioning like Morio Higaonna without proper training, which is dangerous to say the least. Great posts Totally agree with both... Yes & yes. Training on how, when and what is important, so can I add/suggest a change to your mind and from that your body. Push up! not with your palms or finger tips, with your knuckles! The odd thing is the most important thing you need is a piece of paper! (To start with .....) Start: Take a the push position. Roll forward so that ONLY the first two knuckles are in contact with the floor. The paper is used to test this! Example Do 10 push ups. Different muscle groups in your forearm now start to work. Do 10 a day if you wish for say two weeks. At the end of two weeks it should be real easy and less painful. Now do 20 for two weeks, and so on and so on..... If you are 'fit' anyway, but new to knuckle press ups, do normal push ups first then when you are starting to push yourself, swap to knuckle! (Finish the set on knuckles) change the game up!

Kicking with the ball of the foot, takes practice and no small measures of courage! (consider - Stub your toe, hurts doesn't it! Now kick someone!) That pain memory is what your mind recalls/generates when you start to think about kicking and hitting your target with the ball of the foot when you are fighting! Break the pain memory, this is important. If you do not there will always be a nagging voice in your head as you kick. Less power less confidence.... First things first...stretch! There is no substitute for this, stretch your toes by pulling them back (not with your hand) with the muscles in the foot. If your at school or the office pull them back when you are sitting down, under the desk! Something I do when I have the chance is kick the floor and walls once I have 'that' foot position. I do this to 'beat' the pain memory, to beat that fear. Do take care your not trying to 'break' the wall or floor, just that memory. When you kick the floor (with that foot position) do so like you have a stone in your shoe and your trying to move it the gaps in between your toes or something. As to kicking a wall, well yes it sounds mad, to a degree it is I guess, as here you do add some power and over time you do 'go for it'! When you kick the wall, kick it at about shin height to start with, this allows the foot to form the shape more easily as you work on breaking the memory. (Think kicking a football/Soccer ball) As you become confident (over weeks not days and certainly not hours) aim higher and add more power. You need only reach chudan height, as once you have reached this level you have already beat the memory, its now more a conditioning exercise! Do the kicking as if doing a mai geri, over time once the memory has been beaten, start to kick mawashi geri, consider the head/face and your foot as a third fist! When I fight I do use such a kick like a third punch. I prefer to kick the thigh, my opponent sees a front kick movement form my leg, and assumes a kick to the middle or head...then pow his thigh reminds him he has legs as well!

Might just do that, thanks for the suggestion... ...... that is when I get back into the dojo, need to 'deal with an ankle injury just now! Grrr! At least a week out to let it heal enough to use (I'm hoping just a week and no longer)

cool! Good to be getting back, just don't push it to fast to hard to soon! The last thing you want is yet more time off, and probably for longer a second time around.

Good luck Harkon72! Good luck to you both!

Honestly, in Wales there is huge Kyokushin following, close combat is the bread and butter of our fighting style! Mind you, you could add Ju-Jitsu to what you already do, that as an art is always a good addition imho.

Its a traditional design, but a custom cut and fit! Isami & Ichiban are the official makers of the GI Kyokushin wear. http://www.chokesports.com/kyokushin-gi-k-200-classic-7292-p.asp Sosai worked with Isami to create the GI worn today, shorter sleeves, light weight bottoms compared to the heavy loose fit jacket no ties to hold the jacket together. The GI can be bleached as many GIs are today or as is the fashion in the Kyokushin world, natural cotton(unbleached).

Yes exactly that! I'll add, I'm told I have fast hands today, where 'back in the day' I'd be told could use my legs better than some could use there arms! Well today I can kind'a still stretch like I used to and use my legs well..... at least one of them anyway! The one that is injured at the mo....

Seriously try it, Attack as Defense & Defense as Attack! Punch chudan, we would normally block Uchi Uke (for example) Don't! As the punch comes in SLAP it down to the side! or As the punch comes in strike the forearm! We use lots of thigh kicks, this works at the chudan level as well. A Kick comes in at chudan level, you can't 'block' it with an arm! (There will only ever be one winner in that exchange!) Timing is critical as is speed for this one (yes we do train for this) knee strike the inbound chudan kick....aim for the thigh! Look at this old long and extremely good video: Some example times to view - 2, 4, 16 & 51 mins There are typical thigh 'blocks', as in the kick comes in and the defender lifts his leg to block it, but note the hip angle and how that then translates into a punch etc... (Keep the full on block training up as well as the deflections)

Ditto! For reasons I am unaware of, sensai has taken to taking group shots of us after a training session! Nice as the few of us with grey hair look to have dark brown hair which is nice! Then he posts them to FaceBook...which is......um.... ...sniff... ...nice.

Well I could hardly walk yesterday let alone fight so rest was/is all I can do! Frustrating as hell! I'm already carrying two injuries this is a third I really do not want or need just now. I need them all, but especially this one, to heal fast. After training the other night I got home and strapped up and went to bed, with my foot propped up on some pillows. Woke up, wrapped my ankle went to work (office duty) so only lite work and came home. Lay down with ankle strapped up again and placed a massive bag of ice on top ....and after watching some TV fell asleep. Woke up later, with a very wet and cold foot..no pain! (oddly, can't think why! ) and went to bed. Woke up to a foot I'm sure was not that color before Strapped up, and can walk way better than yesterday and with way less pain! I dunno maybe I'm crazy but a sprain seems so fake, but jeez the pain! With a broken ankle or something that is easier to accept to all at the least there is a visual 'q' for all to see! I hate sprains with a vengeance!

16/9 30 min grappling 30 min break falls 30 min team combat!

Shotokan FC..yes it does! Not thought of that as a name at all. I just trying to give your idea a different feel to the normal pictures people form when you use the mainstream names like Full Contact and Knockdown. Contact to the face is going to be a pain,you either pad up like a boxer, or you do not 'punch' the face at all. Either way you will either look like the mainstream Full Contact or Knockdown tournaments. Which is why I feel the use of MMA gloves is a good idea, but that goes against the reality of bare knuckle. Step back look at the target areas you can or want to hit. You want to hit the... Body -- Yes Arms --> yes Legs --> yes Head -- yes Joints --> NO Grabs --> ? Face --> ? Do you permit sweeps --> ? Do you allow grabs to help drive a kick? --> What about grabs to move close your attacker down? --> ? (Boxing already does this so why not Shotokan FC) Consider the fact that a bout is x time long, if nobody is KO'ed, and there are no 'style' points or warnings to account for then you need to setup a second stage to decide a winner. Your looking at a time extension or.... What about the weight of the fighters? or... sudden death! I hate this as an option but, I have to admit with time running out in the main bout, the idea of loosing due to speed.....no not looking forward to that, the fighters should fight harder to get the win in the main bout. What about fighters that want to move into the sudden death? They move around they skip about never fully engaging... Like I say I don't like sudden death I do like the push to end in the main bout, but the largest negative is the speed demon who waits for sudden death and never fully engages in the main bout.