Hawkmoon

newbie to newbie! Welcome, exactly why I joined up! some good threads!

A sensitive subject ....it involves your child, someone elses child....tears angry parents the list goes on and the emotions get hotter and wilder even public! I look at this as Junior Black belts are just that 'junior', its not an insult its not a bad thing it's a good thing it should be promoted! Its the future of the club, the style the art! 'Kids' need to see progress, this means a peer from there own group/age who they can relate to wearing what they do and will see as the high(est) grade! If stopping a kid from grading to 'black belt' is so bad, so is grading to brown, and so 2nd kyu, what about 3rd kyu, they are all senior grades! Here really the question is when should a 'kid' be told you cannot grade? A short answer is never, allow them to grade. I feel they should grade to 'black' belt. In this way the other children see a bright future they see the final goal (in there mind the black belt is the achievement rather than just the beginning). When it comes the time they move to the senior class, they are allowed to stand in the front row, next to the highest brown belt, and according to the senior class grading rules train to take the senior black belt/sho dan exam.

KATA! It teaches stances in full kihon basics and how to move from one to another. Its clunky, its slow its hard. Exactly the way it is meant to be, exactly what it is meant to do! Karate comes in three parts, kata, kihon kumate, these all support each other. Kihon (basics) - formal stance. The long way to do it. (a good thing!) Kata (form) - teaches you how to move from one 'formal' stance to another. Kumate - allows you to put it all together. In real world combat situation you would not step into a full Kiba dachi with a Jun Tsuki! The stance become shorter the punch almost flicks out, all for the need for for speed and ease of movement, its more natural!

Your welcome my friend! The kata thing is something I found to have a huge impact on my concentration. The confidence in doing the kata without fear of hitting the wall or kicking the chair was total, in time I realized the mind picture I had of the space I was in really enhanced my spacial awareness! I found I could 'see' the wall and pull my punch short so not to hit it. Then in the dojo this new awareness of space meant I could move around the ring with ease, speed and confidence. Than that my kata grew 10 fold, and so my confidence in my ability. Enjoy!

Historically, yes Kyokushin did teach throws! Much of the early history of Kyokushin describes the student turn over rate (the fail rate if you wish) to be around 90%! This was as much to do with the 'hard style' of fighting as it was to do with throwing your opponent across the dojo. Sosai Oyama held full on DAN grades in Shotokan and Judo long before he went away into isolation and returned to the world with his new fighting system he called 'Kyokushikai.' Today some dojos teach throws others not, my first dojo didn't, the dojo I train with now does self defense (grappling) and Iaido. I've done some Jui Jitsu in the past, kind of like my own homage to Sosai and history. I may yet go back to doing some more, for now I just want get my fitness back and focus on grading. (once I feel fit enough that is.)

WOW now that's a name I've not heard for a while. Ticky Donovan...trained with him once on the beach, a summer coarse as I recall. I started training when I was 18....that was a few years ago. Age is not the end of it, step up and try the club, it will feel odd, be assured of that but it will or will not feel right. If its not right find another style and try them. Do a few, one will feel right, and that'll be the one for you!

hmm...a good thread like this a great deal. When I train I follow a few rules. 1. Allow the body to rest between sessions. 2. Diet fits the day with a view to the week, it is NOT law for your life. 3. Mix the exercise NEVER focus totally on one set or part of the body, work most of your body (not all, but most) and change what you work each session. The rest piece is number one IMHO for good reason. No reason to burn or damage yourself, the body has to recover so let it recover. I train on: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and at the weekend I move the day I train. In the Dojo, I do whatever sensei says, Friday is an easy session in that we do what we would like, I call it a bit'sa session. (bits of this bits of that) Friday is also a day I swap with my plans, in that I go for a run maybe, come home do some sit ups etc etc. BUT what I always do to break from the repetition of sits ups and so on is Kata or kihon etc between the run the sit ups etc Run Kata Sit ups Kihon Press ups Ren Raku weights kata (any order but any mix) For an hour or two. Diet. I say it fits the day, by this I mean my protein intake and carb intake goes up on training days, so giving my body what it needs to burn and use for the session. I eat before a session up to 2 hrs before but not after! When I finish, I don't eat at all if I'm going to bed in the next 3hrs. I replace fluids, absolutely but nothing with sugar...fizzy drinks, fruit drinks big no to them. Sometimes I plan the week depends on upcoming events. Salads do feature in my eating habits! Protein (meat) is on the menu every day! As to exercise. Some people focus on legs, then the next session focus on arms and so on. No no no. Work more on legs but work arms, some core. (Stomach) Work more on arms and your core, some legs Work more on your core, work your neck, some legs and so on Variety, rather then total and complete repeat repeat repeat to me is key. BUT without doubt the one and is actually extremely important bit of you that no one works is the mind! Work on your mind even harder at home than in the dojo. I say this for safety sake, this is why.... Clear a space (garden, garage, front room) close your eyes, do the kata! In your mind see your self in your space doing the kata, see the mistake you made and stop correct continue, then do it again. (sounds like a hippy thing, seriously no try it see for yourself) You star t a kata in a spot, facing a certain direction, when you finish where should you be? I bet your not even close...... Work your mind as much as your body.

Osu. Thank you guys! Osu. p.s. Training last right only cost me a toe!

Post number 2! I'm a 1st kyu, in Kyokushin, and after a break (work got in the way) I worked with any karate club that would allow me to train and (at least to me) was genuine. My first ever grading took an hour or so, I was tested on: Kata - taikyoku sono ichi Kihon - a punch or two with a me geri and kin geri Kumate - 2 fights oh! and folding my gi! After that each grading was harder, and without fail I had to show I still new what my past grades required of me. Come my third grading I was tested on my fitness, so many push up, so many sit ups etc! Come my 1st kyu, I was tested over 5-6 hours. All kata to that point had to be demonstrated. All Kihon I had performed in the past as well as the stuff for the grade I was trying to gain! ..and fight 10 people at 'knockdown'. My break form kyokushin has meant I'm to retake 1st kyo, which I'm more than happy to do. Makes me worthy of the rank, and not insult others just because I walked in back to a dojo and say this is me, so making a sham of all the other guys who have kept training , where I was 'away' for years. However, and why I write this post; Many, if not most of us work hard ,yet I came across (or rather they came to me) asking if I wanted to learn karate, and when I explained what I do, being immediately asked to take a class even a run dojo for them? I turned them away polity, and did some research on them....I recall my sensei explaining such things as 'Wee con Yu' karate. GKR? Seriously

Hi guys, Thought I'd join, see what people think and have to say. I started my career in Karate a long time ago, I walked into a Kyokushikai dojo, and that was that! After a couple of months I was invited by my sensei to visit other dojos in the are a where I soon found out that 'this Kyokushinkai club' was only of many different styles. I learned respect for the other systems, each has it merits and values important tho them as I had my system with its merits and values! Over the years I've done some Shotokan, Tang Soo Do, Wado , Judo and Ju-Jitsu but for me, its always Kyokushin I return home to!