Nidan Melbourne

Current recommendations say that you should be wary of static stretching during warm up. Whilst dynamic stretching is better for your muscles. But both have the risks of injury during warm up and cool down. During my clinical pracituum hours for Exercise Science and during classes we are told to limit static stretching unless the client (not patients) is sore and needs to help reduce the soreness and tightness. Be aware that athletes and non-athletes have different requirements in terms of stretching. Research has progressed a lot in the last 4-5 years and stretching will always be a side of research. But there is a clear indication that static stretching can reduce peformance

Thanks guys & girls Will share a photo if i can of the presentations or grading after it happens

As much as my sensei promoted me to nidan upon advice of his sensei. I have decided to grade for it properly as i feel i havent earnt it unless i graded for it. As it wouldnt feel right if i didnt grade for it as a shodan. It is going to be a gruelling 4 hour grading on the 12th December. But the difference is that we have a short turn around for results as we have our clubs breakup on the 16th. As we normally have about 1-1.5 months between grading and finding out results for black belt gradings. I am actually nervous about going for it but still rather excited about it. Will definitely post results once it comes out.

It is interesting for such a short kata in itself, you could easily do several books, but still not get everything that it teaches in itself. My sensei says 10 years of learning a kata you scratch the surface, 20 years you get a little better at understanding the kata and slowly get deeper so on and so forth.

True I have seen that in many cases where the clubs logo is on the arm, with the organisation above the heart. I think it is the SKIF has quite a long/large logo on their chest.

Being quite tense is very common for those that are usually quite sedentary. May I ask if you undertake any other exercise other than Karate? Often it is just tightness that needs to be loosened through stretching, so you will need to make adjustments at work because that is what is making you tense. I have found over my years in Karate is that people are tense for three reasons: 1) They are uncomfortable in the class setting 2) They are stressed about things outside of class 3) They are sore, from whatever they have done recently. Some friends of mine, that I have trained with or they train somewhere else have said that they like to meditate daily just to relax.

Check with your sensei, normally they go over the heart. But on majority of my gi's i don't have any patches with the exception of the brands logos on them. I have only 1 gi that has my clubs logo on it, and it is on the left (it is embroided on). Albeit I haven't worn my clubs gi in over a year now because of other gi's that I own. But sensei doesn't mind if we don't wear our club gi that has the embroided club logo on it.

Most people will usually have their Left Foot in Front as they then can have their Right Hand ready to fire a Gyaku Tsuki (Back Hand Punch) as it is usuallly stronger. Which is the case for me, but I normally fight with quite a short stance to bring people in for me to strike. When I do kumite I am not restricting myself to keeping the same foot in front. Normally I have 70% left foot in front and 30% right foot in front, but often I go vice versa. This is so I can have stronger technique and movement off my left side (I'm right handed). So the more I can train it the better that I can get

Kime for sure is required to learn anything. You can't learn something if your not concentrating on it. Especially for Martial Arts if you slip up on concentration then there is a high potential for hurting yourself or your partner. Concentration is needed to improve on technique. For instance we had an Adult Kyu Grading on Monday Night and I focus on Stance and HIP ROTATION for techniques.

I love seeing peoples work ethic, seeing it in the dojo varies from student to student. A lot of the younger or more inexperienced students they are still developing it. But we have had many students that are young that have AMAZING Work Ethic. As they go above and beyond their age for maturity and how hard they work

The therabands just feel different. And the resistance seems to dramatically increase when they're nearly fully stretched. I could see some people hating the cable resistance feel and loving the bands. The downside to the pulleys is momentum. Therabands do a better job of minimizing it IMO. That is true the resistance from Cable Machines feel different because obviously there is the weight on it + the fact that there is gravity acting on it. Therabands and other resitance bands do feel better because of the consistancy that you can have from using them. As it reduces the strain of gravity acting on your joints. One of my clients currently (Shodan-Ho in Goju-Ryu) is working on his kicks with resistance bands + having weights physically attached to him via the use of weight belts for ankles etc. And loves it because it is forcing him to activate more muscles throughout his legs, but also through his pelvis and core. Cable Machines I don't mind so much for when I want to train myself or someone in small sections of a kick or even stances for that matter.

Therabands or Resistance Bands are really good in relation to working kicks. But I don't like using the more expensive ones for kicking training because they can break fairly easy. Obviously it is more difficult with Head Kicks (I.e. Jodan Mawashi Geri - Upper Roundhouse Kick) and oh well roundhouse kicks in general. The Deep muscles are the muscles that are closer to the core. So The ones you mentioned are below the quadriceps. As there are always layers of muscles. Using support to help train until you get better.

You don't have to run to work cardio. Any exercise that you perform at a higher intensity can be considered Cardio as well. Circuit Training is great as it keeps you interested, as long as you work hard and not slack off. Like JR 137 said, he wants to do cardio kickboxing. It works the heart really well but also works on fighting stuff. I cannot stress enough, go see an Exercise Physiologist or an Exercise Scientist as they can program a lot of amazing stuff to help you lose weight along with cardio work. Strength Training burns more calories than Cardio training along. So you can alternate between a Strength exercise (Say a back squat) and an a cardio exercise (say a resistance band and have a partner).

congrats on passing your test!!! Learning is always an enjoyable experience.

I'd say try TKD as you never know it might suit you really well. I am very lucky here where I live that has a huge variation of styles of karate and other martial arts. Our own Wayneshin for instance has a few schools, and one is within' a 15 minute drive for me.

Personally for me I haven't used the Century Gi's before as they aren't readily for sale here in Australia, or at least here in Melbourne. I own a Black 'Tans' Gi which is a local Martial Arts store here in Melbourne. I rarely use it, with the exception of the pants which i wear monthly. But I also own a Seishin Gi (Love it!), Jols Gi (It's alright, not the greatest) and a Tokaido Gi which is the heaviest of my gi's and is really good just long in the arms.

For diet i would recommend a Nutritionist or a Dietition as they can help you with the food side. Because everyone is inherently different, so what may work for one person may not work for you. IMHO eating many small meals can work for many people, but that can 'shrink' your stomach so when you do have a larger meal you won't be able to consume it. But also you have to be very specific to what you have in every single meal. Currently i have 2 main meals which is lunch and dinner, then 3 small meals to get me through the day. Usually on a day like a saturday where i officiate basketball all day that is where i do 5 small meals because that will keep me energised, then 1 large meal at the end of the day. In terms of exercise depending on if you have any prior injuries, or medical issues then worth going to an Exercise Scientist or an Exercise Physiologist as they can prescribe exercise that benefits you more than what a physiotherapist or a personal trainer can do. Losing weight and maintaining it you should be doing moderate to intense exercise for most days. Which karate classes are both for sections of time. This relates to food because you need to put out more than in all whilst getting that nutrition in. I use a fitbit to help me track how far i go and also it has 'active minutes' which is when you work at a certain level to get some exercise. It is a great motivator and gets me moving.

Good luck to those nominated! Surprised i got nominated for health training and fitness

In every Martial Art there are many many techniques. But do you have 1 technique that is your absolute favorite or even absolute favorite to use during kumite? Personally mine is Gedan Mawashi Geri or Lower Roundhouse Kick which in Lamens terms is the thigh kick. I find it to be a very useful kick that not many people expect to see.

Overtraining occurs at different points in time for everyone. It is when people start getting injuries and highly prone to fatigue. Even for 'healthy' people it means you are physically active most days with 2 days rest, even overweight/obese people require rest days to help recover and prevent injuries. But this comes off from Moderate to intense exercise, with normal walking being at a Low intensity. Training and hitting a plateau is a good thing, but to improve you need to increase by 10% at a time. Often people will do more than that is safe, which can include training more days than they should. In the sports world overtraining is very common, irregardless of sport (Martial Artists are not exempt from this) as they push their bodies hard nearly every single day and the trainers often don't take into account every player as an individual (Sorry JR 137!!) whilst others do take it into account during training sessions. Currently I am training 20 athletes from Basketball, Rugby Union + League, Netball and Karate. Out of them all the Rugby Union and Karate players/practitioners were the most reasonable and looked heavily after their own health to prevent overtraining and injuries. These clients vary from the age of 12 to 52, and some of the young ones are going overboard by the time that I took them on as clients. When I am working with clients that aren't into exercise or anything like that, I incorporate Karate as a way of helping them along and making it fun and get them to focus on learning something through movement. But it teaches them more than just how to kick and punch, but how to look after themselves and that exercise can be fun and enjoyable. For instance I ignored the signs of overtraining where i hurt my knee (Have zero mensicus in my left knee due to surgery) and what I can tell a stress fracture in my right foot. Which sucks because I am due for my grading in 5 weeks time, which now means I am likely to have to miss that grading. Which is why i was working so hard to get ready for! but alas my knee and foot gave out to it. Now i get the chance to rest my joints and heal before grading. As much as the final decision is the individual in relation to their own health, often they need that reminder that they are not indestructable and need to adjust their training to prevent injury. This is where their trainers, teachers etc need to have awareness of overtraining AND overreaching (Going too far in upgrading their training) and what consequences occur as such.

Definite congratulations

Ummm as far as i know you should be at minimum two grades above what your students are grading for. Unless you personally have the skills, experience and knowledge of a higher rank when you havent graded for it. For instance i can grade anyone to Shodan-Ho. But there is no rule regarding it because one of my friends is a shodan-ho helped grade me to shodan

Will be keeping everyone updated on how it is going

Spot on as well. Also what would happen in terms of the work being properly credited? I ask because there could be an issue down the road where people would take those videos to claim as their own work.

Sounds like a really good idea. Would all videos be accessible to the public? Also by what is your definition of Traditional? As in Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, Shotokan and Wado-Ryu only? Or every single style of karate under the sun?