Nidan Melbourne

6/2/14 45 min run 20 hill sprints - 50 m run up a 60 degree angle. Sprint up walk down. Once at bottom 10 seconds to go again 37 sit ups 37 push ups (doing the push up challenge 1 push up a day. Increasing number of push ups each day. so january 1st you do 1 push up, January 2nd you do 2 pushups. all way up to December 31st where you do 365 push ups. except on leap year where you do 366) Kata sanchin with hand weights. All advanced Kata after Saifa with proper technique

Kekogi and Dogi are two names for a karate gi

yes it is totally normal to feel uncoordinated when you first start off. you just need to practice! the more you practice the better you're going to be

3/2/14 2 hour class (+ a further one hour added at the end of it, so 3 hours overall) warm up - jogging around the dojo, sensei yells 'up' you do a tuck jump, 'down' touch ground, 'swap' run to another part of the mat, 'switch' change directions Sanchin Kata (Twice) with people striking body (with kicks, punches, resitance to techniques, hit with belt etc) Taikyoku Katas (Jodan to Mawashi Ichi), Gekesai Ichi + Ni, saifa, seeiunchin, sanseru, seisun, kururunfa + Sepai. all slow by the count so you would be wrecked by the end of it. 15 minutes of high intensity training - 50 push ups - 50 sit ups - 30 crunches - 100 bilateral slides in shiko dachi - kicks (20 of each - 10 off each leg) - front kick, groin kick, roundhouse kick (Jodan Mawashi Geri), reverse roundhouse kick, spinning heel kick - 100 "strongman" uchi's with both arms - 50 tuck jumps - 50 "super" burpees (Squat, Push up, sit up, tuck jump) 10 rounds (3 minutes each round) of light kumite (full contact, throws + takedowns allowed etc) stretching required afterwards and ended up having an ice bath to help my muscles recoup.

a lot. 4-5 times a day! maybe i'm a little bit too addicted? lol

Hi Nidan Melbourne...can I ask a quick question...what will happen to your forum name when you are graded to Sandan? hahaha i'll ask patrick to upgrade my username

the karateka is actually my sensei as well, hence why we only really have more advanced students to do bunkai with it more safely. Taikyoku Jodan and Taikyoku Chudan utilize the same stances. The main differences are in Jodan you use Jodan Uke (Upper Block) and a jodan tsuki (upper punch) whilst in Taikyoku Chudan you use Chudan Uke (Middle Block) and Chudan Tsuki (middle Punch). Taikyoku Gedan you are in Shiko dachi for the duration of the kata. and you use Gedan uke (lower block) and gedan tsuki* (lower punch) *whilst in shiko dachi, the gedan tsuki turns into a chudan tsuki due to the change in stance (from say sanchin dachi or zenkutsu dachi).

Thats interesting! cause around the corner from my dojo there is another karate school and they have never had any issues with us (well yet at least). The main reason why we haven't had any issues with them was that we all shared the love for karate and martial arts. Both schools are Goju-Ryu Karate also. No issues because the two of you have solid karate-do, and you both allow the floor to speak for itself. I can see a landlord who owns a strip mall, for example, not allowing another school of the MA rent from him/her because a proprietary agreement might already exist between landlord and existing renters. However, across the street, under a different landlord, well, bring it on and allow the floor to speak for itself. I agree that both our schools have a solid karate-do. Both sensei's sat down together to discuss managing a school and how to ensure the success of both schools. We have an understanding that we respect each school for who they are. and that we support each other as much as possible. at some point both schools are planning a little mini tournament between the schools and have trophies for the winners. purely out of fun and respect of both schools.

He/she clearly doesn't seem like the person that is happy to see students who want to broaden their studies of the martial arts. you did the right thing by your friend to go and support them at the ceremony. I have attended many ceremonies to support my friends being promoted. My sensei doesn't mind at all, that i do that purely because he knows that all of his students will do the right thing for the school and their own friends. He has significant trust in us to show respect when we visit other schools. He taught us to be polite, respectful and follow that dojo's rules and also follow our dojo's rules (if there are contradicting rules we will follow the host schools rule). that way we can be very tough on our behavior. When my sensei left our old organisation, there was no bitterness between him and his old sensei (even though he was not a very nice person to everyone). Although there is some competitiveness between the schools, as his sensei hates (for some weird reason) other karate schools that were started by his former students.

we often use a rotating curriculum. but there are guidelines for what each rank has to be able to do. but otherwise we vary up what every rank has to do, in which it will keep them interested and challenged.

for a few of our katas they are of the Taikyoku Series so there are (potentially) unlimited uses for it. such as this one which is Taikyoku Jodan.

most of the kata at my school we don't really have bunkai for as they aren't really variable like other kata. but it doesn't mean that there is no bunkai for it, but will be very small. But it would have some very complex movements to it that lower ranked students wouldn't be able to perform. But the more senior students would be able to understand those applications and apply them properly.

That is probably one of the considerations why the judges voted for the japanese team.

as much as i am against people dating in school, but as long as it doesn't affect their training (or interrupt others) when they break up or stay together i don't care. But i have noticed that there are some people that i have seen in class that i think that would be cute together. has anyone else seen this?

I love how good both sides are anyway

29/1/14 Karate 7-8 pm 7 min High Intensity Training - 50 bilateral slides from shiko dachi, bilateral movement to touch ground with increasing speed - 50 push ups (full) - 50 mae geri (with partner) full force - 50 sit ups + high five (with partner) - 200 uchi's to side (with both arms going at once) - push against partners legs (whilst they push against yours), whilst sitting on ground. - 50 roundhouse kicks to body - as many full force punches to stomach as possible within' a given time (with a partner) NO BREAKS in between each section. you go one after the other 2 rounds of kumite - 4 awase kumite (it is soft and slow, to be able to see openings in your opponent and you get used to being hit a lot), thigh kicks allowed - 4 minutes point sparring - 9 minutes light sparring (throws, takedowns, thigh kicks, groin kicks etc are all allowed) It hurt like crazy.

We start showing students the applications at blue belt (for juniors) and white (for adults). We do that as adults can understand it easier than the juniors. But they start being tested for it at 1st kyu. they do gekesai bunkai for their black belt and shodan. saifa bunkai is also required for grading to shodan.

certain behaviors in class (including before and after) basically. like kensei mentioned as well.

last night i was out with a few friends and we had an interesting conversation last night whilst at the pub about etiquette at our respective dojo's. I found it rather interesting to hear what their schools do for it. What do you all have as etiquette at your dojo/s?

very much a cultural thing. when i go out to dinner with fellow students and my instructors. there are a few of the lower ranked students who do it for everyone, even if we tell them not to worry about it.

at my local gym it is more popular among females to do circuit training. myself and a few male friends joined in (we're all members at that gym so it was free) and we got death glares from these females. I believe they went and thought "why are you here, this is a females training thing" even the trainer said "why are you here, we don't normally have males and we just assumed that no males really want to do it" but one of my friends just replied back going "that is incredibly sexist and the fact you don't want everyone to be able have an intense workout" So we got her name and went to the management so we could raise that issue of what was going on. Not surprisingly the manager there (who is also the owner of the franchise) pulls this trainer out, and from what we heard she (the trainer) got absolutely scolded and fired. As they (the management team at my gym) have a 5 strike policy with all their staff. on the 5th strike your fired. which was the case for this. before she got fired, she had to apologize to us for her sexist comments. the management informed us that she has received numerous complaints about her behavior hence why she was let go. as compensation we were given 4 months free membership (which equates to $300 for each of us individually). But overall circuit training is a lot of fun. as we have gone since that incident.

Our minimum age is 6.

Sounds to me like your very lucky. He sounds open minded and confident. Respectable traits. His actions obviously motivate you to respect him and justify you loyalty. I am very lucky to have him as my sensei. He wants us to learn as much as possible.

The worst thing is that we are in the middle of a bushfire season. So this hot weather and high winds aren't helping that. In fact it is making it worse for the firefighters fighting those bushfires. also our paramedics are struggling to keep up with the demands of treating patients. and our cops are dealing with an increase of violence throughout the state.

I greatly respect my sensei and i am loyal to him. He will have both of those until he either abuses them or till he proves to me otherwise. he earnt every single bit of respect and loyalty that i have for him. He also respects me enough to show courtesy to wherever i train. and that i won't disrespect his school or any school that i visit. Even if we left on bad terms, i would still respect his school and that i wouldn't prevent anyone from training there. He is also fiercely loyal to all of his students even if they annoy the heck out of them. and respects all of those students and acknowledges that they are all individuals that have different ways of learning and different personalities. He encourages us to go out and learn karate from different instructors. as he wants us to grow as individuals and to expand our knowledge. We are allowed to share whatever we have learnt from other schools.