Nidan Melbourne

I loved having the multiple interviewers and the interaction on the chat room at the same time. Even if Alex got distracted at one point when I was on (haha). It was good to hear and see everyone that was being interviewed, even if they were being called on the phone (MasterPain) or had Technical Issues (Danielle aka DWx) with the microphone. When I get a chance and time i'll be listening in to the remainder of the live stream. Because I just loved hearing the banter that was going on throughout the stream

Flexibility takes a long time to train and as such you have to be careful. But you would have to progressively and daily train your muscles to accept more and more movement through the joints itself. As such you may not be able to "stretch them as much as I want". Since you are 38, you should be more careful with it because you can easily damage muscles and your joints if pushed too far. As is any stretching or flexibility training at any age! Have you previously done martial arts prior to signing up to your current martial art? I ask because you may be experiencing muscular pain because in Martial Arts you activate more muscles that you wouldn't normally be activating nearly as much.

Thanks for posting the link to watch the remainder of the celebrations Patrick. It was fun to be a part of all the action that was the Karateforums celebrations.

We teach Bunkai on 3 fronts. Curriculum, kyogi and Kata Bunkai. 1) Officially part of our curriculum we test bunkai from Green belt and above (seniors) and black belt up (juniors). Gekesai Kata is the first bunkai to be tested upon. 2) Kyogi is for 1st Kyu and above where we demonstrate our own explanation of kata. Junior 1st Kyu has Saifa Kata & Senior 1st Kyu has seeiunchin kata. For Juniors they have to demonstrate 10 kyogi and seniors 25 kyogi. You can pick a single technique (or part thereof) or multiple techniques in each one. 3) we have the Taikyoku Kata prior to the Gekesai Kata. As such we teach them the kata then what they teach.

I'll be up nice and early for my bit. I look forward to being part of the fun.

I kind of anticipate Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio stepping up to the plate to compete for their respective countries. For Basketball, IMHO America in a way has an unfair advantage because they have so much advertising and sponsorship that goes into not only the NBA but also the College Level. So their facilities are leagues ahead of other Leagues (i.e. NBL in Australia, Euroleague in Europe etc). So the conditioning opportunities are more readily available. But that is just me coming from Australia

Just to get some clarification what is the Board that you are referring to? Also what do you mean by the Shifu being really strict and hard? Is it vastly different to how your Head Instructor and other Instructors teach? There are 3 types of instructor that I have seen; 1) Old-School (Strict, No Nonsense), 2) New School (Has Rules, but teaches according to each student), and 3) A mix of the other 2. I am a mix of the two, strict but allow a degree of socialising and fun in the mix. All my students are aware of how I teach and what I want from them. Also often many instructors prefer to teach only Juniors or Seniors, as such dislike teaching the other. So may I ask what type of class you're in (Juniors [6-14] or Seniors [15+])? At my old club i had strict instructors, but everyone knew how to behave when they were there. Also have you had this instructor previously?

My School is only run by the husband, the wife is a stay at home mum until their child is old enough to attend school. But then she wouldn't be assisting with the operations of the school unless she does help outside of the dojo. My fiancee and I are going to open a school one day together. But we are going to do it all 50/50 where we both undertake equal amounts of admin and instruction. Although we are also looking at having an admin team that focus on behind the scenes.

Would to love to learn from him, even if I faced off against him on the tatami i'd still learn so much!

Welcome to the site good sir!

I personally feel like you shouldn't wash [the belt], but obviously depends on the brand of the belt itself. Because it can damage the quality of the belt or reduce the life of the belt itself. I have an Adidas Belt and the instructions were not to wash. Obviously it depends on what type MA you do and also where. Because Ground Arts would need to wash the belt more than say stand up MA.

If you go for the Napisan probably let you gi soak in it prior to sticking it in the washing machine. I had to do it when i had to get some blood out of my gi

Tough it out and things will improve over time. I agree with what Tallgeese says because you should find a population (kids, adults, BOTH, or if you have specific training special needs) and advertise towards that. Majority of my clubs advertising comes from our location, but also we go to our local street fair and do demonstrations and also operate with schools and run co-curricular classes for the students. I help with teaching at two schools as co-curricular and it tends to bring more students to us. *Note: Here in Melbourne our private schools operate sporting programs (Basketball, rugby, BJJ, Tennis, TKD etc) after or before school. 95% of the sports are against other schools, whilst the others don't compete against other schools.

I use Napisan Oxi-Action which whitens the gi very nicely especially if it has grayed or has stains in.

Welcome back Master Pain! we've missed you

to be honest with you I wouldn't be too sure on locations or cheap uniforms there. I'd probably recommend sticking with brands that you are aware of for when your travelling. As that can usually mean that the quality will be better

I didn't listen to the sound (no headphones) but personally I really wouldn't use that technique, but when you look at the video it was going straight forward to the sternum. Which in a way wouldn't be very effective and places yourself at an increase risk of injury. Although if one was to say use it towards a persons groin or in a Kake Uke fashion (ie. raking the throat or eyes) then i would use this technique.

That is a very odd conversation, as that parent clearly didn't think to ask some simple questions about when their child could start training (in regards to age). I find it interesting that they took the time to look up your clubs phone number but didn't take the time to look at your timetable. Although I know my old club ran "Mighty Mites" which is for 3-5 Year Olds at the Hombu Dojo. Which ran quite successfully for a number of years. At my current club we allow students to commence training at 6 years old. But we don't require parents to come and watch a class prior to enrollment. As they normally ask a lot of questions over the phone or through email. Many of our students commence without wanting to watch due to 2 reasons: 1) Family Member currently Trains or has trained there 2) A friend of the student trains there. But we still get those who call and sign their child up for their intro lessons. And those ones have usually come from word of mouth, the internet or having walked passed.

Personally I agree with what you said Spartacus because everyone at some point or another will experience self-doubt about their own skills and/or why they should continue training and/or their instructors expectations. In relation to their skills, everyone will experience this hurdle because things are just not working for them or that what they are doing in class may not help (i.e. the training exercises that they do). It is also closely followed by the doubt whether they should continue training, because if they are losing interest then the risk is that they are going to stop training. And finally Instructors Expectations, they obviously vary from instructor to instructor but at the end of the day all they want you to do is do your best and train to the best of your abilities. Even if that day is the best day or your worst day.

Amazing work Patrick and team. We wouldn't have connected this well without all your help!

Patrick - i can be on between 6:45 - 7 am (AEST)

That is what I love about Human Physiology is that it can decide to some weird but amazing things, all whilst being a pain in the butt. It sucks when it comes to you potentially breaking your foot but in really it just swells like crazy. Although it has happened to me in the past (what happened to you), and has taken ages to heal.

Depending on the Competition it will vary for chest protection. From memory for any karate competition that uses the WKF Rules requires females to have a breastplate in addition to the chest protector (Covers torso). Usually I recommend adidas for chest protectors and the same for the breast plates. As majority of the Karate related equipment they sell are all WKF Approved.

I love this video because it was sweet and extremely patient of the instructor, whilst getting the kid excited and motivated to break the wood.

I personally believe that TKD has gotten such a bad rap because it has become in a way very 'sporty'. Which does sadden me because it is an amazing Martial Art to watch but in a way I have seen that it is these days 'lacking' because most schools have completely ignored the arms as well. I cannot judge another style of Karate nor another Martial Art until I have studied it myself. I have studied a little bit of BJJ but cannot judge it because i haven't fully submerged myself into the art and learnt as i could due to my current financial situation. But what from I have learnt from it is that it is effective on the ground but also standing up to apply locks, chokes and holds. Even though I stated above that TKD has become very 'Sporty' i DO still believe that the sport side of the martial art does have strong ties to its history. But also it takes tremendous amounts of flexibility, strength, power and speed to execute such techniques. So at the end of the day every single martial art has its merits, strengths and weaknesses within' it. Also it comes down to the individual schools that teach Martial Arts to teach the best that they can and not to restrict students to one slice of the Martial Arts Cake.