Hawkmoon

Sadly the times available to me to go see the film were limited for me ... and i was kinda desperate to go see it, my kind'a humor! So I just grabbed any showing, turned out to be an early 12'noon showing and sat in the cheap seats! To be fair I'm not a fan of 3D for films like this, Sci-FI aka Matrix or Avatar for sure, but Deadpool wasn't shot with 3D in mind so like Toy Story 3 (Which was watched in 3D well it was kind'a worse to be honest) to make a 2D film 3D takes away form the imagery for me! I'm looking to go again next week, so I'm thinking a gallery showing is in order! Sit back relax chill with some nachos and a few friends ...!!

LOL! 100% hell yeah!! The trailer represents what 20 mins of the start the film, you have over an hours of equally nuts'o laughs and giggles to go! .. chewing gum jokes ... unicorns ... The hockey rink scene ... I mean seriously! ...and why do we never see guy in the boot/trunk of the taxi? He was important to the Dopinder story right?

DEADPOOL. I felt the writing style was well worded with words and stuff placing in order them to make it easy to use your ears if you can't read good making following the script easy and captured the main character very well! The action was well paced as was that song with the trumpets in it! Q the music!! The romantic tension between our red dressed assassin and the unicorn that set the tone extremely low which I felt the film needed !! What about you? Me well to honest I've not laughed so hard in ages totally loved it and will be seeing it again very very soon! No Spoilers!

3/2/16 1 hr - Assist teaching the pee wee class...! 1hr - Assist Junior class! - Knockdown work outs for the older and senior students. Preparation work for when they join the senior class! Senior class 90 mins - time body conditioning mixed though out general exercise. 20x Situps 20x pushups 20x squats - repeated 3 times - separated with strikes (bag work) Bag work. x30 strikes - oi tsuki followed by gyaku tsuki x30 strikes - oi tsuki followed by shita tsuki. x30 strikes - oi tsuki, gyaku tsuki followed by shita tsuki 30x Situps 30x pushups 30x squats - repeated 3 times - separated with kicks (bag work) 8/2/2016 1 hr - pulling my hair helping teach the pee wee class...! 1hr - Junior class! - General kihon and Knockdown work outs. Preparation work for when they join the senior class! Senior class. 1hr leg combos.....3 - 4 - 5- kick combinations. 1 hr fights 50% 'ish!

I'm Hawkmoon ... 1. I do break boards with my hand as part of the demonstration crowd in the summer months. 2. I cannot kill with a look or shoot bolts of lightning from the other behind a bed sheet held high, To save man kind in a fight to the death!...on this or any other dimension. 3. I do not use my mystical powers turning pages of books either!

1/2/2016 90 mins - time body conditioning 30 mins - push ups squats. 20 mins lite sparring 50'ish % Oh! and ... Pee wee class herding pigeons agian! Junior class assit x 1hr

25/1/2015 1 hr - Assist teaching the pee wee class...yes I do consider this a work out! ( ...Its like herding pigeons!) 1hr - Assist Junior class! - Knockdown work outs for the older students. Preparation work for when they join the senior class! Senior class! General warm up: 30x Situps 30x pushups 30x squats - repeated 3 times - separated with strikes (bag work) Bag work. x50 strikes - oi tsuki followed by gyaku tsuki x50 strikes - oi tsuki followed by shita tsuki. x50 strikes - oi tsuki, gyaku tsuki followed by shita tsuki 30x Situps 30x pushups 30x squats - repeated 3 times - separated with kicks (bag work) Bag work x50 Gedan mawashi geri, alternate legs. x50 chudan mawashi geri, alternative legs. x50 gedan mawashi, chudan mawashi geri, alternative legs. Finish the night light sparring - 50% (...'ish!)

Hi Arvind, Welcome to the boards, enjoy! As was I and I returned to MA and have never had so much fun!! All true and very very important to keep in mind when you do! The most important bit in any of this is to do it at all in the first place, to hold back at any 'twinge' or ache really is not doing anything for you, the stretch even your mind set, you have to do it! That will mean pushing from time to time, the trick when you push is to not so much so hard that point 2 becomes a real issue!! What I will add, and I always say this when it comes to stretching is breath! take a breadth, and breath out and as you do try to relax and stay calm, you should see/feel your body move a few more inches as you breath out and relax! Practice and patients is the simply and best answer here. In your mind you have an image of yourself from when you were young, more agile, more supple doing this stuff ... now your older doing this stuff, you have aged and grown that image has not! That image is important but it is no longer true, it is merely a guide now! Now your a different person both mentally and physically, now its time to create anew image, now is the time to be patient and practice! Enjoy!

So how it go?

(been a while ...!!) 18/1/2016 General warm up: 30x Situps 30x pushups 30x squats 5 mins shadow work. Move to combo work: 1 strike then 2 strike combo upto 5 strike combo - add kicks 1 strike with kick then 2 strike with 2 kicks etc ... up to a 5x5 combo. - Repeat general warm up. - Repeat strike combos on bag - tap then 50 % then full power. - Repeat general warm up. - Repeat strike combo on bag. - Repeat general warm up. - Repeat strike combo on bag. Finish the night with 'speed' fights. 30 sec rounds '10%'ish power everyone fights everyone(one at a time)! 20/1/2016 General warm up. - situps - squats - push ups = 1 cycle x4 cycles/times. 600 kicks split ! Finish the night light fights. (upto 25% power) 20 mins on kata (to warm down)

hehehe!! I had a chance to do some 'unarmed combat' with my father one time many moons ago. He had served in the Army was a PT instructor as well as an unarmed combat instructor. He decided to teach me some stuff ... to this day (effective as it was) I still cannot get the images of the first thing he (thankfully) only explained to me! Grab a good handful of the gentleman parts then make a fist ... now do as you wish you will get no resistance at all only utter compliance! Years later at Ju-Jitsu a mistake had my fingers end up in the other guys mouth. We reacted as you'd expect all sorry, laughing and yuk... sensei came over and offered a defense to that attack!! I was instructed to bite down on his fingers, hard, real hard on his fingers now lodged firmly in my mouth! I released in seconds as he applied a technique to a pressure point in the mouth (or under the chin) depending on your pint if view! (p.s he was a smoker, yummy!)

Kyokushin has rules, real honest to goodness rules about a 'fighters' behavior when they win or when they loose. Sosai wanted utmost and 100% complete respect to be demonstrated by all to all no matter what the outcome! A winner can be stripped of there win if they are 'in your face' for example! I sat a referees coarse last year and it was made very clear that a fighter can and should be punished for disrespectful behavior. This was also described to be a extended to a coach as well, by there actions punish there fighter! For me respect and humility costs nothing, but gains you so so much more in the eyes of others and their opinion of you. To be good or even the best is not enough, you have to be a good person, and right or wrong many/most decide if you are a good person if you are humble (good natured) in victory as you are in defeat! One action will mark you one thing or the other for many years, as a manager of a sales team once said: A happy customer will tell two or three of there friends about there experience, an unhappy customer will go around telling all there friends and even complete strangers about how bad things were!

yup, exactly how I have been, I guess the word is 'conditioned' to think about such things. I truly do not mind, it is to me correct, no ego, no "tonight on X-factor!" ceremony, a humble experience! ... I get this as well, it is after all a massive step in anyone's life, its, what is it ..about 4-5 or more years of your life being stacked up and tested to see if you can put that HUGE neon sign around your waste, that black belt ... why not make a bit of a fuss? ... but thats the western world and its influence not a humbling and honor driven Japanese ceremony to present a student with there 'first grade' there 'Sho Dan' ... Personnally I felt a little red faced when i was called up in fornt of a hall full of people many(most) of whom I'll never see again when I was awarded mine. (Hence why I say/use the word 'conditioned'!)

An item I have been very aware of when watching my son in his gradings, I strikes me as rude, impolite (...and so the negative words keep going!) I bite my tongue as its not my place to comment, I leave them to carry on isolating themselves with the outburst! The only thing I note and wish I could change is the shame and embarrassment the child feels and shows as 'mum' or 'dad' loose the plot over something.

Closed. They can 'wait' out side if they wish, but parents and/or partners are not allowed to view the test/grading. Students that are thought or considered to be under performing are spoken to way before the given dates and advised and supported as needed, then if all is well they grade, if not they are not put forward. Its been the way as far as my gradings have gone since my first grading ... some 20 odd years ago. What little I understand of the ruling comes form Sosai Oyama, basically his view of how karate should be taught. (I have to confess to being ignorant of the origins of the 'way things are' as I have simply and even blindly accepted 'this is the way and thats it!")

hmm ... if it ever happens again I'll give that a go, a couple of sheets is way less than a new Gi so if it fails I've lost nothing other then the another pink gi. FYI: just to clear it is in the bin now and in some land fill around here!

Always good to see/read some good news! Great achievement, well done!

... to the OP!! maybe a side thread with a pole to see a sample count of 'closed' v 'open' gradings and 'kyu' v 'dan' gradings! Seems to be a point of vlaue to thsi thread see what and where the divide is! Could be interesting to see if its an area, MA origin or cultural thing.

... yeah not pink! (Yes the washing accident has annoyed me that much!)

I hear that ! The new rule no correction LAW is, in my best cave man voice: "Gi get own wash Ug!" The decision to wash it with a red sheet ... is so sooo lost on me it truly is. Now belt colour runs, yup that was something a friend suffered and so why I started to cold wash the belts to loose the extra dye in the belt! Sensei8, buy a new Gi ...100% yep! I was planning on a new Gi to go with me new Shodan belt when it arrives, I still do and will, at least that way I will have a spare...just in case we decide to wash a red sheet with my Gi! LOL!

They all cover the points that matter and should be adhered to if not the "we-con-you"/McDojo types will grow in number!! I have heard of this and even seen it once, well technically I DIDNT SEE IT because I wasn't allowed lol! I never understood it or at least cared for it. Testing being a private event I mean. I feel that part of life is failing at things, and should they fail I understand wanting to make it private BUT sometimes when you fail at things you are going to do it in public, this is what gives us character. Think Kobe Bryant taking the winning shot and missing it... His fail in public drives him harder, it's the moment that brings the best out in is. I'm a fan of laying it all on the table, win or lose! hehehe I hear you! A public display does put what I feel is correct pressure on the person being graded. I wrote once in a post in the forum something along the lines of: " ... a grading costing enough to make you think am I good enough, but not cost you a second mortgage..." That to me is easily translated to emotional cost as well! "Can I stand up in front of all these people and fail, and if I do can I recover from it?" If you cannot say yes, your not ready! A closed grading is to me normal only because I'ver never experience any other form of grading as a student, sure I watched my son but kept silent as it was his club his teacher there standard and there wants and expectations, nothing at all to do with me or mine in any way. ... but that only supports the discussion about informed and not informed persons, me being an informed Karateka and not an accountant with a degree in bean counting!

Solid post!! The other day I was talking to a friend about the upcoming Rugby Six nations tournament. The idea we were considering was to get a few tickets to any of the games and soak up the atmosphere rather than sit in a pub for a change. Now he suggested we dress up, yes thats right dress up in costumes ... so I threatened to beat him to within a inch of his life and we decided we would wear tees!! The tees I refer to are in the shops today and read: (Football=soccer) A inter sport jibe about football fans about being a bit soft and Rugby a game for real men..(Its an ongoing thing in the UK, SA, NZ and Australia between the two sets of fans) But the exchange between me and my mate rang a bell in my mind and this thread! The comments, as the post above states, are made by the less and completely uninformed. To some of these 'experts' there is stigma or something that they seem to be drawing upon adding to that wry smile or sideways look. So yes 100% with pointing the finger of blame at the media, but want to add, if we are going to blame them and point to eh evidence of this or that film or TV show... shouldn't we also shoulder some of that blame ? After all we the practitioners are the guys being filmed in this or that film or TV show actually doing the stuff we point to as being the reason for this stigma at all? Shouldn't have a level of morality or control something to guide us when the super excited types (yes them guys) jump up and put the foam suits on and do super high kicks of amazing skill in a cardboard city-scape fighting another super happy guy in a costume looking like some alien monster.....

In this thread: http://www.karateforums.com/does-anyone-s-club-insist-on-a-specific-gi-design-vt48738-30.html I've added a post about an ... um ... accident with my Gi and a RED sheet. The result was to turn my 'traditional' white Gi pink! Now the wife had a good chuckle about that ... me not so much. Years ago I made the same mistake and was able to bleach my suit white again, it was all good it last until 5 years ago! Upon going back to Karate I brought a new suit and like before tried to bleach it white, failed, at best it was less pink and after three goes at bleaching it was starting to fall apart at the seems!. (Trousers ..around the crotch) We tried some new washing power 'stuff' that claimed it could correct the colour bleed ... the gi is now in the bin utterly ruined! I've ordered a new GI, its arrived and will monitor with great gusto when its washed to get it to feel more cotton then cardboard... and get the cotton shrink done and put the badgers back on! Bleach should have worked, but sadly didn't for me, so Washing accidents, what do you do?

For me/us all gradings' are a closed affair! Its just the students being graded and the grading panel in attendance. From 10th to 1st kyu! The students grading can be graded at the club they train at. Dan grades (1, 2 &3) These are always done at summer camp, the 'national grading'. When the 'test' is complete, the grading panel might announce who passed etc on the day, but more often than not the results are taken away and discussed in private by the panel and an announcement given at another date. Awarded Ceremony. Is a simple affair the students is called up and the new rank announced to the audience/dojo. Example: My 1st kyu was announced at the next training session at the end of the lesson, I was called to front facing the dojo and given a newly updated license! My 1st Dan grading was announced on the last day of the national grading/summer camp. I was called to the front and greeted by Hanshi who referred to me by my name and new title(rank) in front of all the whole 'summer camp' attendees, handing me my Shodan certificate and updated licence. Back at the dojo, like my 1st kyu grading, I was called up to the front, this time at the start of the session, and handed a club (temporary) black belt to wear (whilst I wait for my personal belt to be made) and guided back to my new position in the line.

... test the ground! Setup a tournament make sure to advertise in the areas you want to influence in advance of the date you pick. As to the date research the areas a little see if you can select a date that falls outside local this or that celebrations or collage games ... you get the idea and test the ground. Try to get feedback from club owners and fighters about the venue, the dates the format (don't blanket survey them!) just chat with them throughout the day about stuff general taking note of there replies when you mention the venue, food vendors etc! If it does well, do the same next year!