Nidan Melbourne

I stopped for a total of 1.5 Years, because I was completing Year 12 at the time and also needed the extra 1/2 year off cause i needed a break. It wasn't hard for me to get back into it, because it was a relatively short break.

They do concern me, as i know what the potential risks are and what can happen to my brain. When I am training, that is something I work on is protecting. my face.

- Put effort in to your training & gradings - Work Hard + Smart - KISS Principle - Don't Rush especially in Kata - Look after your body - Don't treat others poorly

I do like it when my CI has multiple styles/arts under his or her belt. As they took the time to learn each one, and also that they can pass on that additional knowledge too. My CI does Balintawak Arnis as his additional MA, and every now and again teaches us that curriculum. Which means that we are also learning it, but also will dramatically improve our primary art of karate due to the amount of rotational force being required.

Now you all may of heard these terms before, either on here or somewhere else. It is important as martial artists to be aware of these terms, as we are susceptible to being affected by one or the other. As is anything sport and health related. Undertraining is where you are training less than what you are supposed to, and can have a negative impact to your health. You may not become injured, but is similar to being inactive or sedentary. Whereas Overtraining is defined as doing way too much training or doing something to excess and without sufficient rest. Athletes are often at risk of this especially around competition time. The potential risks are burnout mentally, and also putting your body at risk of injury. These risks may appear as either very minor or severe, often as athletes or non-competitors not caring or taking extended amounts of time off. But how do these impact us everyday martial artists? It impacts us where we don't look after our level of training, too little or too much.

I use Skins under my Gi which I find to be comfortable, but have found that the durability of portions not to overly fantastic.

It isn't overly consistent at my dojo, but we do try and educate our students that they should practice good hygiene to prevent spread of infection etc. But I am picky with Fingernails and General Hygiene with my students, and have sent people home for poor hygiene before class has even started. And those I sent home smelt BAD, and you could tell that they didn't think about others. I wash my gi's after each usage, but depends on what i've done as well. If I wore it for 1 hour and did very little I might stretch it out to a 2nd day for usage. So I've washed both my gi's that i've worn this week, and will most likely take both with me tomorrow to the Dojo. As I am going to teach for a couple of classes, then will be going to the new dojo to assist with a Grading.

Well Two Things; but they interrelate so much: 1. Relax!!!! When you relax, you develop and form better habits than when your tense. Also it prevents you from doing something silly that could lead to injury. 2. Listen to Your Body! Also means to remember that you need rest, as all humans do. Because if you don't then you will get hurt.

That I am capable of way more than I believed!

I practice my Kata/Forms in different ways like you said. It is honestly amazing to see what deficits that you may have by adding or removing something. On Monday we did all our kata without our Arms, which is harder than it looks especially with the more advanced kata. Other way we do it is without our legs, so we remain stationary and do all the related arm movements. If I get time tomorrow morning i'll film it and load it up.

Well deserved for your time here

When I teach a student to Kiai, I normally to tell them to do a short + sharp Kiai. I used to yell "Kiai" when I was told to do so, but years ago it seemed to have developed to a "aisha" or something similar.

Welcome to the forum KarateLdy. We look forward to discussing various topics with you. May I ask what style of Karate that you currently train in? So I can cater and adjust terminology appropriately.

People relax in different ways, for me it is to do Karate or listen to music (Rarely do I combine them). Whereas for you it might be something completely different. Often people are tense for reasons that they may not be conscious about or they are fully aware of. But for some reason they can't seem to offload those reasons, or there is just a lot on their plate that makes it difficult to relax. When I see students who are tense, i like to make them relax by getting them to laugh and have fun. Which works like an absolute treat, because they realise that is what they were missing. For you i'd recommend taking time off (if possible) for yourself and do what you enjoy with the pressures of everything else in your life. Often this works for those who have multiple sources saying the same thing in regards to being tense (among other things). But obviously that only works if you are able to financially take some time off + also have the annual leave to do so. Thanks for the response and the advice! I teach for a living, so I'm "mostly off" from work until the end of August. Yes, that helps immensely. My issues may stem from what I went through growing up - I was never very coordinated, and typically failed miserably when attempting anything physical (outside of art.) I was also bullied quite a bit. While those issues aren't immediately prevalent in my life, I still have some mindset issues that I need to work on. Well we are here to support you if you need people to talk to! I have always had tremendous respect for the hard work Teachers put in day in day out. Especially how hard and stressful it is for you and others to get through to the next generation. Being Bullied when you were younger takes a long time to get through and work through everything that happened. I'm 25 and was bullied in Primary School and part of Middle School, in which i'm still working through things.

The NCAS is the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme, which is a nationally recognized training scheme where we are taught the essentials of being a good coach along with the legal requirements as dictated by State and Federal Guidelines. It covers; coaching styles + principles, health and safety recommendations, legal guidelines and other information on how to be a good coach within' the Dojo and sporting realm. Only my Club has something called "Lead Instructors", we require them to have the NCAS Accreditation because it is recommended by the Australian Sports Commission and Australian Karate Federation that at least one person teaching has such qualifications. At present I am 1 of 3 people who have those qualifications in my dojo and as such I can lead a class with the knowledge of what is required of me legally and also of what records to keep.

People relax in different ways, for me it is to do Karate or listen to music (Rarely do I combine them). Whereas for you it might be something completely different. Often people are tense for reasons that they may not be conscious about or they are fully aware of. But for some reason they can't seem to offload those reasons, or there is just a lot on their plate that makes it difficult to relax. When I see students who are tense, i like to make them relax by getting them to laugh and have fun. Which works like an absolute treat, because they realise that is what they were missing. For you i'd recommend taking time off (if possible) for yourself and do what you enjoy with the pressures of everything else in your life. Often this works for those who have multiple sources saying the same thing in regards to being tense (among other things). But obviously that only works if you are able to financially take some time off + also have the annual leave to do so.

Can't lose belly fat fast unfortunately. You need to put more energy out than what you put in to lose weight. Some people will lose belly fat first before any other area, whereas some will lose fat off their glutes + legs first.

I have fought outside of my own style a few times, to give myself a reality check (of sorts). It was the best thing I ever did, because then I could grow and learn even more.

Would those who may be the most senior still be able to train under your master after he retires, or would they have to find someone else who is more senior to teach them?

I admit my dojo has a distinct lack of Groundwork, but that is due to the fact that we have no one who has a background in Judo, Jujitsu or BJJ. I trained for 3 years in BJJ back between 2007 - 2010, but in no way do I have the experience or knowledge to teach others certain techniques. However I do remember some of the basics that you learn at White Belt, but not a whole lot. When I can afford to do so, I do plan on going to train in BJJ regularly to get better at working on the ground. Which then in turn i'll be teaching my students (+ my instructors) additional groundwork stuff to expand their abilities.

Thanks for sharing this Alan, it is always good for people to be aware of this. Considering we all were told that you shouldn't do it because it leads to arthritis. Cracking of Joints is called 'Crepitus' and from what we know doesn't lead to Arthritis, as was previously a common myth. Here is a link for further information on it: https://www.arthritis-health.com/types/general/what-crepitus. Most GPs aren't always on top of this type of information, because of the huge number of cases they go through, so they may not have just had much use for this information until someone comes in asking about it.

Instructor Training? A way of teaching our new and current team of instructors to learn how to teach students in accordance with your Dojo/Organisations Curriculum and Guidelines. So in that how does your Dojo or Organisation do Instructor Training if any? In addition to that, does your organisation/dojo require any additional qualifications to be an instructor? This is what my Club Requires: Trainee Instructors - Lead Warm Ups in Class - Take a Small Group with supervision from an Experienced Instructor - Participate in Discussions with Instructors about progress - Test Students for in-grade 'tags' Requested - Level 1 First Aid + CPR - NCAS Bronze Dojo Certification Instructors Requested of all Instructors - Level 1 First Aid + CPR - NCAS Bronze Dojo Certification (Not Mandatory) Lead Instructors (Who can operate classes in absence of CI) - Level 1 First Aid + CPR - NCAS Bronze Dojo Certification (Course operated by the Australian Sports Commission)

In Martial Arts, I believe that there should be no Profanity of any kind whilst teaching or training. Why????? Because using profanity (in my eyes) is a lazy mans way of talking and using language. Do I use another language to use such language? Nope, no way jose.

My Club consists of 2 people who are more senior than myself (1 Sandan + 1 Godan). In which the Godan is the Head of my club. But if you look at all my fellow Nidans; there are 2 who have the knowledge of at least Yondan. I'm actually forging relationships with Instructors from my own style and other styles so I am able to continue to train even if my club no longer has the senior instructors at the top. It comes down to adaptation and my willingness to make changes, if a Senior Instructor thinks I could improve and adapt something to me physically.

It isn't just in the US, it is happening around the world where children are less "Fit" these days. Honestly I think it is partially because parents don't really encourage children to go out and have fun. But instead they are given iPads, Computers and Xboxes at a young age to keep them entertained instead. Also coming from a young person (25), it discourages us even more when we get compared to the "old days". Have I ever said those two words to my students? Nope. Back to the OP, it is in my view because the instructor is burnt out and that he has just done it for so long that he just can't keep it up anymore. More so we don't know what is going on the instructors personal life which could be impacting on it too. If you lose your passion for something, it does come through especially if you have done it for so long. But it does seep into the classes, because you just can't find that energy that you used to have to put into them. Also it is potentially because of the long term expectations on him to do everything, and that there hasn't been any relief for him to train and relax without those expectations from everybody.