Nidan Melbourne

Having not heard of Cipro before, I had to google it to find out about it. The site I was on gives you info on the medication. I saw that they put what happened to your achilles as a major side effect (not just achilles, but tendons in general). So are you able (if you want) elaborate why you are giving the heads up?

This is targeted to the Chief Instructors or Owners of schools that are here . We know that there is the Wikipedia that we all can access (and modify; also be barred through your IP). But what I want to know is how many of you have a Wiki that is private just for your club or organisation. And it contains information that is pertinent to you? By that I mean it looks and feels like a Wikipedia page, but has just information that is relevant to you. And how many of you would recommend it?

I'd say that you should go get it checked out, as many people have a high pain tolerance but in reality could have an injury. When it comes to conditioning you need to be aware of how much is safe and how much isn't. As such when you switch things up, you should be aware of how hard you are hitting + how much pressure you are placing on joints.

We have no steadfast rule on age. But all our students are promoted to Shodan-Ho, regardless of how good they are. 90% of our Black Belts wait longer than the minimum time before going for promotion. Our kids seem to wait 3-4 years prior to attempting for Shodan.

Congrats!!

Originally we teach our students that it is to assist in engaging the hips more. As they progress, we teach them that it is applied when: trapping + controlling, pulling the opponent in, striking an opponent from behind (i.e. from a choke) etc.

I think it was my 2nd Dan Grading, where he pushed harder than I have ever seen him. To be honest, I feel like I was broken mentally during that grading. And it was only during the last section where it was Kumite.

Hopefully you never have to use any physical technique in self defence. For me using a karate technique means that I have no other option but to use it. And to answer the question in the OP; clearly it is useable if it has lasted this long. And also how you respond to the threat! If you deliver a powerful front kick like I know Shotokan has, then yes. If you deliver a weak front kick then who has really failed you or shotokan?

We all use terminology in our dojos that are specific to our style or school, but may be slightly (or outright) different to other styles or schools. For example: the humble 'Upper Block', to date I have seen two different terms for it "Jodan Uke" and "Age Uke". One meaning Upper Block and the other Rising Block. For you as instructors, how often do you hear different terms for the techniques that you teach?

How would you define having 'Mastered the basics'? As you'd have to define very clearly how to master a basic technique. Or more precisely what a 'Mastered' Technique looks like. As I believe if you asked 100 different people, that you may get 100 different answers. Personally i'm a 2nd Dan, but do I feel like i've mastered the basics? Nope not even close. This is due to the fact I personally feel like I am learning about them; despite my proficiency in them.

We haven't had any issues with the length of our syllabus. With the exception of those having transitioned from our Juniors to Seniors Program. That being due to the fact that we have extra requirements aka introduce harder "curriculum" than in comparison to our juniors. So we commence testing + teaching Bunkai at 5th Kyu (Green Belt). So if we have a student transfer at 5th Kyu w/ 3 tags (we test Bunkai + Pre-arranged at 4th tag). They will take a lot longer to pass their test to receive their 4th tag, due to the learning phase that is required of them. Although other than that, I feel like our syllabus for all students to be reasonable. Which I believe is due to the fact we gradually introduce different things (kihon, kata etc) at different times. So instead of throwing everything at them at once, they'll learn and becoming accustomed to it first prior to us throwing more at them.

My general kit has - Band Aids (Duh) - Latex Gloves - Non-Latex Gloves (I’m out of them atm) - Surgical Tape - Anti-Bacterial Wipes + Gel - Dencorub - Strapping Tape - Notebook + Pen

Congrats on the promotion! The hardest i’ve done is for my Nidan. Having vomitted 3 times throughout, with twice during kumite. At the end i thought i had failed and felt like giving up throughout.

Not this year unfortunately, as flights from Australia can be quite expensive especially for a student. But a KF Meetup would be awesome .... if I lived in the US. Albeit I hope one day to have one here in Australia.

Congrats Himokiri!

You need to work on Power, Speed, Strength and Agility. Note: Strength and Power are different for Exercise. Power is the force you generate, Strength is just what you can lift/push/pull. Certain exercises it is safer to go slowly, or to go down slow and up fast. Whereas others you can do fast through its full ROM. So you need to have strong legs, core and gluteals as a whole. But to get height (and angular + vertical velocity) for the jump, single leg box jumps (i know what you said in the OP) can be great.

Your student did very well, and see a very positive future for his training.

I feel like it is someone who questions what they are doing and improving.

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.