Nidan Melbourne

Sounds interesting, but I have heard of some instructors not allowing free sparring until 3rd Kyu. But that according to them is because they want their students to have mastered the basics and understand the bunkai for kata Personally my dojo we allow Jiyu Kumite from 8th Kyu (Yellow Belt) as we only have one belt prior to this rank though: 9th Kyu (White Belt). Our Partner Drills (Gyakusoku Kumite) are done seperately but not as 1-, 2- or 3- Step Sparring. Our Pre-Arranged Sparring has 7 different types. Gyakusoku Kumite Ich has 3 Sections with on average 6 steps in each. This is the same for Gyakusoku Kumite Ni. Gyakusoku Kumite San has 10 Steps Yonhon Kumite = 4 Steps Gohon = 5 Steps Roppon Kumite = 6 Nanahon = 7

Excellent Work mate! very proud

Thats interesting that a belt didn't come with your Gi. Because majority of the gi's i've bought or have ordered on behalf of people have come with a white belt. To date I've ordered around 40 Gi's for either myself or various people and i'd say a good 35 of them came with a belt. The other 5 came from a supplier that sells belts separately to the uniforms as they have a high turnover of purchases that come from experienced martial artists who already possess their own belt.

Hey all, after seeing this on a group that I'm in on Facebook, i was curious to what you all think that compete in any WKF Tournament or National Federation Sanctioned Tournament that operates under the WKF Rules. What rules would you like changed or added? Would love to see what you think about the rules for Kata and Kumite.

I just have to film my bit then send it through. probably will be easier using the method that you described!

I was never the star pupil or the best student. But I was always making sure that I was working the hardest to improve in technique and knowledge. But I know that doesn't make me the best teacher, what makes me a good teacher is learning how to teach the hardest things but in the simplest way possible.

I have used my MA Training a few times in Self Defense, but strangely every single time it has been on Public Transport. Twice on a Tram and Once on a Bus! On two of those occassions it was with multiple attackers and they clearly didn't think things through! So i'll tell you about the bus incident because that seems to me the most interesting of these attacks. I was on my way out to uni and the bus was still at the Depot in Footscray and was sitting on the front seat near the front door but had a piece of glass between me and it. 3 teens come up to me asking for cigarettes and since i don't smoke and i apologized for not having any due to being a non-smoker. They first started hurling abuse and i was trying to calm the situation before things escalated, but to no avail. The first teen decided to throw a punch but blocked and drew into a triangle choke (don't know how I managed it due to the lack of available space), the second teen chucked a punch and i managed to lock him into a headlock whilst still controlling the 1st teen. and told the third one that I will let them go immediately upon him stepping away and going towards the door. This happened within' 10-15 seconds and at no point did I attempt to fully lock in either of those chokes to make them unconscious, but i only applied minimal pressure to ensure that i had control. But those teens failed to realize that there were police standing outside the bus door speaking to the bus driver casually and they saw and heard absolutely everything. The officers assured me that I wouldn't be charged due to my reasonable attempts to calm things down and to defend myself reasonably with a fair level of force required. When they did a pat down of all 3 teens it turns out that the one I had in a headlock had a flick knife in his jacket pocket that he could have easily pulled at any time. After my interview with the police where i gave my statement, they told me that the three teens were 13, 14 and 16 years old respectively but they were a lot larger due to their physical stature. I thought that they were 17, 18 and 19. I told the police that I didn't want them to be locked up, but would like them to be formally charged but as a punishment that they should do community service for both the council and old peoples homes that could use volunteers for the elderly and to keep them company. I told the police this because I didn't want to ruin their lives completely by putting them at risk of danger on the inside. And that they could be rehabilitated and learn from working and still getting an education whilst they are at it.

To student 'A': Shut up and train!! To student 'B': Shut up and train!! Student 'A'...just who promoted that student to a position that he/she doesn't possess?? Student 'B'...I will not force a student to test! Test...don't test...it's all good to me!! And when student 'B' is ready, I'll be here...whether it's sooner or later!! For student A, my answer is similar. They don't dictate when they test. For student B, it depends on their "why" & their rank. If they are holding back to have a chance to win tournaments, we'd be having a chat about ethics. If they just don't want to, it depends on their present rank & for how long they are there. If someone is 4th Dan. Runs their own school under me. But hasn't tested for 20 years, we'd be having a chat because at that point, that student is affecting his/her student's ability to promote, as well. Just an example. If using your example of a 4th Dan haven't graded for 20 years, why would they have not gone and attempted a grading in that time? I know many 4th and 5th Dans that haven't graded for that length of time because they are content at that rank and have no desire to be promoted to a much higher grade. What if that 4th Dan who hasn't graded has continually trained under their instructor and other instructors during that time, has the knowledge and expertise of say an 8th Dan but just hasn't been given that rank and the ranks in between? and he has graded students to 4th dan. Because IMHO rank is just a piece of clothing that keeps your pants up. And at the end of the day students acknowledge that knowledge is the main thing.

100 Students I feel like is a good round number as a minimum to keep things running. On a Monday and Wednesday my club operates 5 classes on each of those days (10 Classes) so for my sensei he says that for all the expenses he has to operate the club he needs 20 students for each of the juniors classes and the main seniors class, but usually 10 for the advanced seniors class. We operate 16 Classes per Week (5 Mondays, 5 Wednesdays, 4 Fridays and 2 Saturdays). All of our Juniors classes normally fill between 15 - 35 kids, our main Seniors (Adults + Teens) have usually 17 - 25 Students. Our Advanced Seniors usually are between 3 - 6 students but for my sensei it doesn't matter how many students he has as long as he can teach and have a space to teach.

I am coming from an Exercise Science point of view which if you place it on a Tree of all Exercise Based Fields is way above Personal Training and just about Physiotherapy due to our training having more exercise prescription to it than immediate rehabilitation. Resistance Training is highly beneficial for multiple areas of health, not just building muscle. But I do understand where you are coming from, as there would be exercises that come from Chi Gung that can benefit people that Resistance Training may not provide. Although you would have to understand that anyone that provides exercise prescription can only approach from a scientific approach to it. Also we can only provide exercises that are safe for people to undertake without risk of injury when their training on their own. Especially if their clients are inexperienced in Training for Health, or also inexperienced in Martial Arts. I am young (24 Years Old), but specialize in Older Adults but would not train my clients outside unless it was specifically for activities that they enjoy or for management of their everyday health to gain an understanding of what needs to be improved on. But I also work with people my age and younger because of sport and lifestyle management, but they only make up 30% of all my clients. For example one of my clients is retired and loves playing tennis and doing various activities, so why would I keep them inside doing exercises that are specific to what they want? Personal Trainers utilise outdoor spaces year round because people do things outdoors year round, especially older adults. Also it happens to be a cost effective manner for them as they don't have to pay for the site. Take into account they are not trained to deal with that population, as they have learnt to deal with only people of their age due to those attending those courses. Personally I haven't tried Chi Gung yet due to my busy schedule for work, university and my own personal training also due to the lack of available schools that teach it and is geographically viable for me. As I am out in Footscray 80% of the time (those who live in Melbourne Victoria understand where it is), otherwise in the Melbourne CBD, Richmond or Balwyn the rest of the time. The main thing is that people go to Personal Trainers, Physios, Exercise Scientists or other Exercise Professionals due to them wanting to manage one thing or another. Often for them that it is usually to manage their weight or to manage any disability that they may have. I have personal relationships with Exercise Physiologists that have been trained in various Martial Arts and utilise it in their practice with clients. Also we have to take into account what clients want, many don't want spiritual guidance or to do anything that doesn't affect their health if they can't physically see it. Trainers can provide recommendations for activities that can supplement their training, and Chi Gung can fall into this category. Many of my own clients are extremely religious and will not undertake any activity that is remotely used by other religions, or is heavily influenced by it EVEN if it is not influenced by any religion IMHO on a cold day, you should still exercise but instead of just drinking hot tea you still can exercise just indoors. Older Adults have the obvious increased risk of injury and need to be careful due to the risk their immune system could be easily compromised. People who are Personal Trainers often move on into other fields or have upgraded their knowledge through attending university courses by attaining their Bachelors Degree and the subsequently attaining Post-Graduate Degrees (honours, masters and PHD). That is why you won't often find older people that are practicing personal trainers, and more often than not if you are older and a PT people will see you as having outdated knowledge or training methods and applying incorrect training concepts. Yes it has it many advantages that other Martial Artists could use, but it boils down to their knowledge and access to it then also comes down to their needs and wants to gain any real benefit out of it. This is also for those who don't undertake any form of Martial Art, but for older people Resistance Training is the major training point along with Cardiovascular Training due to the impact that it has on joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons along with various other uses that it has. But it can be mainly bodyweight exercises that won't cause excessive stress through the body.

Well I've had two "injuries" from training over the years, excluding miscellaneous strains and sprains. 1. Dislocated a toe from my own sheer stupidity (Sorry Patrick!) where I was too close to the person next to me and i somehow managed to snag my toe on his Gi Pants and dislocated it! and that was about 12 years ago. 2. Hyperextended my Right Knee, OMG did that hurt! It was the night that I was awarded my Shodan. It occured from me running on the mats, but i extended my leg out a bit too far and it happened. I was out for 2-3 Weeks getting rehab on it, caused me to be unable to do a lot of things for a good 3-4 months because of the lack of movement. And I learnt to be more careful when running!!! hahaha

Thats still good though considering things change over that time frame.

Out of sheer curiosity, how many people that you actively train with currently were there on the same day or at approximately the same time (Started the same week) as you OR within' a month of you? Personally I have 1 person who started 1 month after me who I still actively train with. Whilst everyone else has dropped off over time. I loved training with those people that have stopped, admittedly I saw many of them as family.

Could we email the video to you?

Taikyoku kata were created by Gichin Funakoshi. I'm interested in Gekisai Dai San. Any video of it? Kyokushin and offshoots do Gekisai Sho. It's reportedly a Miyagi kata, but I highly doubt it is. Primary reason being I haven't heard of anyone doing Gekisai Sho outside of Kyokushin and offshoots. I've never heard of Gekisai Dai San until now. It may possibly be what we call Gekisai Sho. This is the variant of Gekesai Dai San my Dojo does: although our timing is rather different

That is a different variation, our variant goes forwards and backwards but doesn't turn left or right like Gekisai Ich or Ni

We get a lot of students who are like that where they have an anxiety towards testing. Normally it is because there is stress towards it and that they are anxious that they may fail and that they will see themselves as failures. It happens all the time to some of my students.

Politics and Running a Body of Schools can be a massive headache. I know my sensei who runs his own club, and is only affiliated with Karate Victoria (State Body), Australian Karate Federation [AKF] (National Body) and the World Karate Federation [WKF] through the AKF. They don't really affect how my sensei runs the club, they will usually go you need to fulfill these requirements or need to do a, b or c and they will be happy. But this is a rare occassion that they may do that or if even ever. My Sensei has his own website that has videos of majority of the kata that we have for our school, and the same for the facebook page we have where videos are usually of what he thinks is appropriate or people think that may be beneficial for others. For Videos my logic is to agree to show what is for the curriculum and that is it or also do videos every now and again showing valuable information or lessons like what Wastelander does.

Taikyoku kata were created by Gichin Funakoshi. I'm interested in Gekisai Dai San. Any video of it? Kyokushin and offshoots do Gekisai Sho. It's reportedly a Miyagi kata, but I highly doubt it is. Primary reason being I haven't heard of anyone doing Gekisai Sho outside of Kyokushin and offshoots. I've never heard of Gekisai Dai San until now. It may possibly be what we call Gekisai Sho. You are correct that Funakoshi Sensei Created it to aid with Heian/Pinan Kata, but from memory and re-looked it up Yamaguchi Sensei and Miyagi Sensei took that concept and created the 5 Taikyoku I listed. I will try and get a video recorded of it when I can and if I can remember the full thing. Otherwise I'll see if my Sensei can perform it whilst I film it, then will upload it to youtube and will put the link in. What other Goju-Ryu Katas have you heard or seen? I recently saw two Goju-Ryu Schools doing Empi-Ha and Gekiha which I believe were creations by Sensei Peter Urban

I'm interested to know what you have for your school. What is the full list of kata you have for your school. Mine is as such: Curriculum: Taikyoku Jodan Taikyou Chudan Taikyoku Gedan Taikyoku Kake Uke Ich Taikyoku Mawashi Ich Gekesai Dai Ich Gekesai Dai Ni Sanchin Tensho Saifa Seeiunchin Sanseru Seisan Shisochin Seipai Kururunfa Suparempei Bonus: Gekesai Dai San. Not a required kata for any grade. For the Goju-Ryu people what extras do you have or not? For those who are curious or don't know, Goju-Ryu have 12 core kata which in my list above is Gekesai - Suparempei. The Taikyoku Kata were created by Miyagi Sensei to assist younger students due to the complexities of the more advanced kata. But not part of the core

For me you should breath in through nose and out through your mouth. This is from a combination of my University Training as an Exercise Scientist and my Karate Training. This method is to prevent hyperventilation and an increase in blood pressure during techniques. Holding your Breath during movements is not usually recommended due to the strain that it can place on your heart. This is actually called the valsava manoeuvre.

1) How did you first become interested in martial arts? At first wasn't overly interested until my mum enrolled me into club. But i FIRST got interested when I first watched the Karate Kid Movies 2) What discipline did you decide to practice? Goju-Ryu Karate 3) Why did you choose that specific discipline over the other disciplines? I didn't really have a choice (see answer 1), but for me i realised that it would be better on my joints and suits my ideology on life. 4) What is your skill level within your martial arts discipline? Currently a Nidan (2nd Dan) and a White Belt in BJJ 5) What other things do you like to do? (When you're not in the gym/dojo, what else do you like to do with your time? This can be physical or nonphysical pass times) I go to the Gym to work out, go to the movies, do photography, and see friends and family, oh and also spend quality time with my fiancee 6) What are the first 3 martial arts related brands that come to your mind. (FIRST, not BEST). Seishin, Arawaza, Adidads 7) How do you decide what martial arts gear/equipment to get? (How do you select one type or brand over another?) Usually quality and the price of the equipment. Usually will only buy what I can use in the Dojo and for Tournaments (AKF or WKF Standard) Roughly how often to you buy new martial arts equipment? Haven't had to buy new equipment in about 2 years, so every 3-4 years i will get new equipment 9) Where do you get your equipment from? Is there a reason for this? Well kumite equipment I go through my sensei as he bulk buys the equipment then onward sells them to students. Gi's I either go through Sensei if I want the clubs embroiddery or will go through Seishin, Arawaza or outlets that sell them

The cheapest I own is a AUD$35 Gi that is from JOLS but doesn't make a nice crisp noise and that is a White Gi. My two other gi's are both white; 1 is a Tokaido and the other is a Seishin. But both of those make crisp noises but both are very expensive but worth it

In Karate you can be fulfilled in Mind, Body and Spirit. It purely depends on your willingness to let into your heart, soul and mind. Spiritually can take many forms, not like in the west where it seems like it is purely only in Religious Views (i.e. Christianity). For me Spirituality it can be seen as awareness of being a small piece in a larger bit of work, but the openness and interconnectedness with everything from a connection to people to the smallest ant.

I have worked in several Gyms + health clubs along with having a good relationship with many Exercise Scientists, Exercise Physiologists, Physiotherapists, Personal Trainers etc and the only ones that know of it are culturally aware but haven't practiced it themselves or they have done it when they lived in China. Having a Martial Arts Background I often give advice; even at the rudimentary level of what certain Martial Arts are like. Yoga is a very Indian concept whilst Chi Kung (Chi Gong or whatever spelling you know of) is very Chinese. IMHO People are more drawn to Yoga because of the Meditative and Relaxing Qualities that it offers, and people will promote something that they feel is of benefit and less "scary" in their eyes. As such you can't expect people to be informed of it when they haven't experienced it themselves or have an interest in learning about such topics. Even if they were somewhat informed about it they would only know of the Hard Portion of it due to having seen it live when the Shoalin Monks have come to town or have seen it on Youtube or TV. For example here in Melbourne (Victoria Australia) there are approximately 20 Schools that teach Chi Kung compared to the hundreds of locations that teach Yoga. Also IMHO you can't say that Chi Kung is more interconnected with Martial Arts, whilst Yoga isn't. The way I see it is that for Yoga yes it is about poses, but it also has concepts that can slot into Martial Arts relatively well (dependent on the Martial Art in itself) like the posturing, moving gracefully whilst maintaining balance. This interconnects with Martial Arts as you need posturing and balance to move even when you could be placed in a compromising position. Whilst Chi Kung yes can be used more proficiently than Yoga. So in other words for me Yoga can be used for a supplementary viewpoint whilst Chi Kung can be used more Practically.