Nidan Melbourne

I recently had to help plan for several of our athletes who compete at the State and National Level. And their ages being between 9 and 16. Since some were new to those levels, I had to sit down with them to lay out what they should be doing to maximise results and to prevent burnout. When I sit down with the student, I have the parent there too. And explain to the parent that by planning the levels that they training at and when it will allow for improvement and that we don't have to go crazy every single session. And also I inform the parent, that if they push their child too hard that there may be an unforeseen (for them) consequence of being pushed hard. If they try to argue with me about their childs progress, I will tell them that I am doing it in a way for progression without increasing the risk of injury, fatigue or them wanting to quit.

Congrats on the promotion. I always enjoy seeing these type of posts. I remember being promoted to Shodan-Ho in 2008, then being promoted to Shodan in 2013.

To be honest with you i never heard of that urban legend.

Knowledge and experience are key. A few people call me an “expert” in Karate. I am far from it, let alone in Goju-Kai! And i’m a 2nd Dan who has trained for 17 Years. I know some things, but not enough to be an expert. I call some people an authority on their respective style or martial art. Like I call Sensei8 an authority on the Shindokan, and Tallgeese an authority in BJJ. Why? Because i know nothing of the Shindokan, and very little about BJJ. My sensei says reaching your Black Belt is like finally packing your bag and leaving for the journey. Whereas the colour belts are packing the bags. For me; Kyu Grades are like Primary/High School, Dan Grades are University/College.

Congrats DaveB!!!

We teach the first way to our students, as it is the easiest one to teach our students. Our “advanced” way is similar to the way you said the 2nd option. But we start by placing one end on the left hip and then wrap around. Once they get the second portion back, they adjust the belt so you can tie the respective knots. And the tails are of a similar length. My belt ends up with around 30cm for each tail, which is enough to show the full embroidery and a bit extra.

The Mental Aspect plays a vital role that dictates everything in Health and Fitness. If your head isn’t there, then it impacts your nutrition and physical well-being. That is coming from experience, where I have tried time and time again to lose weight. But progressively getting better at if.

Coming from an Exercise Science POV, you want to be focused on Sets + Reps; HOWEVER you want to also be aware of ‘Time Under Load’. Which means that for say a Push Up; you will do: - “Down” Phase: 4 secs - “End of Range” Phase: 4 secs - “Up” Phase; 4 secs So all up takes 12 seconds to complete 1 repetition. I used 4,4,4 as an example, so you can change how long each phase goes for depending on what your focusing on. Generally athletes use that type of method, but is great for the general population to undertake that form of training.

We don’t really have any YMCA locations here where I live; but we have similar places just operated by the various councils or other private organisations. My club operates out of one the council run centres, as did my old club. We use 2 Multi-Purpose Rooms which can be used as 1 large room, albeit we pay for the two rooms. In total we use it for 16 Hours each week; which is spread out over a span of 4 days (5 Mon/Wed, 4 Fri, 2 Sat). Although annoyingly when they renovated the centre, they closed the nearby centre which housed another karate school. Albeit we are actually quite friendly with them, and don’t tread on each others toes. The centre does not control what we teach, their only requirement is that we respect the other users and don’t cause issues.

If your planning on staying in Shotokan, you will be fine. As there is always a difference of knowledge schools offer. If you move away from Shotokan, you will recommence from white belt. And there are no exams you take from moving countries or organisations. As each school will look at you individually and fill in on any gaps.

We go all white regardless of rank. At my old club, we had a Black Belt Membership, which allowed us to wear black pants. However my sensei alllows the instructors to wear a Red Gi, as to help others (guests/parents etc) to see where they are. But none of us wear one.

Interesting but totally fair enough. What will occur for those students who are on one of those ranks that got the chop? I assume it will just be phased out progressively as people grade? And what is going to happen with the stock of belts for the ranks you have removed?

We film all Black Belt Gradings, moreso for all Dan Grades; as we allow 3rd + 2nd Kyus to attend as well. For my own training, yes i do.

We have two sites; Balwyn North Dojo (4 Days/Week) Monday 4 pm Juniors White + Yellow 5 pm Juniors Orange - Green 6 pm Juniors Purple - Black 7 pm Seniors White - Red 8 pm Seniors Green - Black. Wednesday 4 pm Juniors White + Yellow 5 pm Juniors Orange - Green 6 pm Juniors Purple - Black 7 pm Seniors White - Blue 8 pm Seniors Brown - Black (Instructors Class) Friday 4 pm Juniors White + Yellow 5 pm Juniors Orange - Green 6 pm Juniors Purple - Black 7 pm Seniors All Grades Saturday 8:30 am Juniors White - Orange 9:30 am Juniors Red - Black Ashburton Dojo (Full Time; 6 Days/Week) - It is a 2 Story Building. Monday 4:15pm-4:50pm - Mighty Mites (4 & 5yo) 5:00pm-5:55pm - Juniors-White & Gold Belts 6:00pm-6:55pm - Juniors-Orange Belts & above 7:00pm-8:00pm - Adults & Teens-All Grades Tuesday 4:30pm-5:25pm - Juniors-White & Gold Belts (upstairs) 4:30pm-5:25pm - Teenaged Girls (downstairs) 5:30pm-6:25pm - Juniors-Orange to Purple Belts 6:30pm-7:25pm - Juniors-Blue Belts & above 7:30pm-9:00pm - Adults & Teens-All Grades Wednesday 4:15pm-4:50pm - Mighty Mites (4 & 5yo) 4:30pm-5:25pm - Juniors-White & Gold Belts (upstairs) 5:30pm-6:25pm - Juniors-Orange Belts & above 6:30pm-7:00pm - Fitness class (open to non-members, please book) 7:00pm-8:00pm - Advanced/Instructors 8:00pm-9:00pm - Balintawak Arnis (Filipino weapons) Thursday 4:30pm-5:25pm - Juniors-White & Gold Belts (upstairs) 4:30pm-5:25pm - Teenaged Girls (downstairs) 5:30pm-6:25pm - Juniors-Orange to Purple Belts 6:00pm-7:00pm - Kumite class (upstairs) 6:30pm-7:25pm - Juniors-Blue Belts & above 7:30pm-8:30pm - Adults & Teens-All Grades Friday 4:30pm-5:25pm - Juniors-White, Gold & Orange Belts 5:30pm-6:30pm - Juniors-Kata class Saturday 9:00am-9:55am - Juniors-White & Gold Belts 10:00am-10:55am - Juniors-Orange Belts & above 11:00 - 12:00pm - Seniors-All Grades

Burnout and Exhaustion vary greatly on who you are as a person. And the Signs and Symptoms present differently as well. Often it is irritability that is the first sign that people start noticing the burnout. Otherwise it may just be niggling injuries or you are noticing that things just aren't going the way that you are normally accustomed. For people, burnout it doesn't have to be because of an increase in what you are doing. It often can just be that you are becoming worn out from what you were doing at that level for a period of time. Normally I'd say to work through it, and you'll be fine. But at the same time it is often better to reduce such a workload and allow yourself to REST. Otherwise you should change things up, and make it fun for yourself again; as many people forget to keep things interesting for themselves and they just get burnt out from boredom (even if they don't realise it). Everyone of us has experienced burnout at some point or another; and it can resolve after 12 hours or 3 weeks. It is up to you mentally and physically to know when it is the right time to go back to normal. Like Mazzybear said; they get feel better after a good feed and sleep. For me; i give myself 7 days to relax and recover, whilst changing my routine to have it feel like i've gone on a holiday and that I can have a fresh perspective of things.

I recommend that you go see a Physician for scans and a diagnosis. As the Chiropractor can only do so much. As with any health professional, they can only go so far with a physical palpation of the injured site. Especially with breaks, they have to have some imperical evidence (i.e. XRAY) prior to diagnosis.

There is a lot of information contained in every single kata. You have to be willing to look into each kata that you learn. Back in the day, you learnt ONE Kata and its associated applications. You didn't move on to another UNTIL you could apply that knowledge in a Self-Defence Situation; and had to be second nature. But they also expected you to look into the form and figure out how it works for you. At my club; at 1st Kyu we have to be able to demonstrate what we refer to as Kyogi. Where you have to come up with self-defence routines with at least 1 application from the kata in each. So for a 2nd Dan to grade to 3rd Dan; you have to demonstrate 25 'Kyogi' from the kata Seisan. Which YOU as the individual have to analyse the kata yourself, and to understand what is going on.

Thanks for sharing your questionnaire, some of the information feels a bit vague. Especially in relation to ones education; as many countries don’t use the term College but instead use University. In a way I feel like it could have been done electronically, so people can do it whereever they are and not having to spend time editing on Adobe. Also there is a spelling error in how you spelt Aikido; as you wrote “Aekido” And may be worth adding or clarifying question 8 on page 9. As you could have some errors in responses, when people won’t understand or know where they fall.

That is unfortunate for that to occur in terms of shrinkage. I've had mine for a few years now, and found the materials used will generally stretch out again nicely after washing. I haven't had to iron mine, yeah every now and again it looks wrinkly but straightens out after about 5-10 minutes of training.

Solid Post Spartacus Maximus. At my club, we don't screen students at all; albeit unless it becomes apparant early on there are some red flags that may appear. If we have any genuine concern, we will inform them that we will no longer have them join us at our club. For me it is ethically and morally wrong to do so, as it feels like an invasion of privacy. But for the safety of others I would if I had a genuine reason for doing so.

I explain what we are doing and why we do it a certain way. Which will take 3-5 minutes, if it is a new drill. Otherwise I do: 1. Show what we doing 2. Explain what we are doing 3. Get them to do it 4. Make corrections

Super technically I am a Goju-Kai Practitioner. Depends on how many steps away from Yamaguchi Sensei you are. And also what your organisation may have added. My club has a similar curriculum to Tino Ceberano’s organisation. He of whom trained underneath Yamaguchi Sensei. There are minor differences between Goju-Ryu and Goju-Kai. Most predominetly is stance height; as Goju-Kai you are lower than Goju-Ryu. As with Goju-Ryu, we have an emphasis on Bunkai. But also we do utilise Jiyu Kumite a lot and is a large part of our curriculum.

Its Self-Defence; any body part is fair game to strike when you’re defending yourself. If your ear is close to my mouth (when i cant use arms), then i’ll bite it. If someone is attacking me, they lose that right for me to be a gentleman or sportsmanlike to them. It is a matter of life and death.

Sending my thoughts and prayers to your Sensei Noah.

Congrats Shizentei!