Spartacus Maximus

A common theme in discussions about martial arts is that to be considered "effective" and "legitimate", a person must have experience in the ring or in a actual situations. Martial artist who have neither or are unable to prove it are instantly dismissed, or labeled as "fake". Does a lack of experience using martial arts in live situations or full-contact type bouts really disqualify someone from being a knowledgeable and skilled martial artist? How about as an instructor? A ring fighting record is as easy to verify as it is to hoax. "Real world" experience is impossible to verify with any accuracy because such instances rarely have an audience or witnesses.

What exactly would qualify as a "traditional style" logo? How exactly could one identity elements that might suggest such a tradition or trend exist? If such a thing does exist, where could it be said to originate? The birth country or region of a given martial art? The only quasi-universal trait martial arts logos appear to have is that as a general rule, smaller and older martial arts dojo with strong ties to their region of origin tend to favour more sober designs.

This sort of thing is one of the reasons why one might choose to keep one's interest in martial arts and training to oneself. After dealing with such things a number of times it reaches a point where any answer, attempt to explain or any reply becomes a waste of time. The majority of people who do not train do not understand and do not care to try. Mentioning martial arts or attempting to talk seriously in all but the utmost superficial way about it is akin to have a serious debate about life with a 3year old. Avoiding the subject and restricting who knows about one's interest in it seems like a good way to get along. It sure spares a great deal of headaches.

Belts or any other objects may come sooner or later. It is different for everyone and only relevant in whatever dojo one trains. All that is left when one changes back to everyday clothes and outside of that context is what one can or cannot do. What counts is what one has learned and how well.

Simplicity is always best when it comes to martial arts schools. Overly loud, complicated and colorful designs are not necessary and can often be distracting.

Context is everything with kicks or whatever other martial arts technique. A roundhouse kick has an optimum range and applicability. How effective it is depends on how well the kicker can kick, and more importantly how good said kicker is at knowing when and where to kick. To kick for maximum effect, all this must be done with great speed and timing. All of this can only be achieved with diligent and assiduous training. Like the song says "kung fu (and martial arts in general) fighting has got to be fast as lightning. You've got to have expert timing"

In general there are two reasons why certain techniques in certain kata might be done slowly. As others have explained, this varies from dojo to dojo and even from one instructor to another in some cases. The first reason for slowness is to emphasize a key point and make it easier to teach. Slowing down any movement, especially subtle or complex ones also allow one to feel and remember the required body mechanics to make it effective. The second reason is a question of rythm. Each kata has its specific rythm and some parts are easier to evaluate by instructors or judges when done slowly.

It is entirely possible to train in a traditional way while taken full advantage of the modern equipment and knowledge available. Modern knowledge of how the body functions, for example, is very useful for planning and optimizing training sessions.

The logo of my dojo is simple and "boring" compared to most others. It is the Okinawan three-pointed symbol(looks like three sickle blades stuck together) in a circle with the three Japanese characters for the name of the association inside it between the points of the symbol. No colours except black. The name of the association is embroidered in black calligraphy on the upper left side of the karate-gi. There is no patch and the logo is not worn anywhere on training equipment. It is only displayed on the dojo's main door. A few dan grade students as well as the instructor have a small pin slightly larger than a penny. Mine is pinned to my gear bag.

The man made a foolish decision to resist and ended up getting injured due to his lack of better judgment. The entire physical struggle was both trivial and unnecessary. Much trouble, aggravation and pain on both sides was entirely avoidable if only the man had swallowed his pride and sense of entitlement. It was his choice to stubbornly refuse to move and cause the authorities to remove him by force. His choice again to resist when said authorities came to do their job. What happened was no surprise at all given the man's behaviour. A wiser man would have quietly moved or left on his own and taken up legal and service issues with the concerned parties afterwards, instead of causing a commotion and inconveniencing everyone else around. If he had done that, then perhaps he might have had some recourse, instead he chose to act belligerent and got injured for his trouble.

Putting a specific age requirement to consider an instructor acceptable and credible doesn't make much sense. There are much more important factors to consider. In theory and hypothetically a younger person could be a better and more experienced teacher than someone older, but the fact of the matter is that most people, especially men, will find it more difficult to accept being taught by someone much younger than themselves. A teacher of any kind is a position of high responsibility and authority over other people. A person I that position ought to have the moral character and mental maturity to handle it. Without this one is unfit to teach whether one is 20 or 50

It is usually a good idea to train regularly wearing the kind of footwear one wears most often. The reason is perfectly logical: if by misfortune a situation arises where self defense is necessary and inevitable, one will likely be wearing that type of footwear and said footwear must not be a handicap. Except for rare cases, people usually wear some sort of shoes. Being able to move comfortably and quickly in them is important. Training barefoot is also important but for different reasons. Mostly because training the foot and strengthening the ankle to use as a striking weapon is more effective. Modern society has made it a custom and rule to wear shoes and most people rarely if ever walk about barefoot. Weather and social situation permitting, going barefoot is a habit. I try to go barefoot as often as possible, which means anytime outside work. This has made my feet calloused enough that blisters are no longer painful, just a bit gnarly.

Age is much less important than personality, character and skills( especially teaching skills). There is no specific age to be credible and acceptable as a karate teacher, other than being a fully responsible and mature adult.

As simple as can be. This means that the person being evaluated must be able to do what is expected and not make any major technical mistakes for the level in question. Either one has the skills or does not. Failing matters very little if one has the will and determination to keep improving. How long it takes is never the same.

Any self-defense course or class that spends more time or physical techniques than ways to avoid violence or potential threats is nonsense at worst and wishful thinking at best. Self defense is 90% avoidance and threat management. Physical techniques are of no use if one is unable to read the signs of a potentially dangerous situation before needing to physically defend oneself. The ideal self defense course should teach people to read and understand signs of potential danger and a few very simple counters to the most common attacks in social and criminal violence. It should also cover the difference between the two.

I meant drinking water. All other liquids are for enjoyment because they taste good but plain natural clean water is the only drink that truly quenches thirst. It is also he only one to replace essentials the body loses from sweating.

Peacefulness is meaningless if it is not a matter of choice supported by strength physical and moral. Both of these qualities can be forged through training and both are of great importance in making one useful and dependable to one's house, community and nation. There is a saying in Okinawan karate. It says to first train to defend yourself. When you get better train to defend your family; then your community and when you get better still, you must do it for your country. This means that the more one improves the more one's skills ought to benefit others.

"Jack of all trades, master of none" is the adage many traditional instructors follow. Although it is useful for an instructor to have some knowledge or experience in more than one system, it is by far preferable for said instructor to be devoted and dedicated to the practice of a single system. The ideal instructor is someone who is an expert in one system. Mastering more than one system is very difficult and much rarer than being merely proficient in several.

The key is maintaining a personal balance of activity and recovery time. Personal means the training must be specific to one's physical capacities and goals. The other essential point is that training must be consistent and at regular intervals. Too much too soon is overtraining. So is training to collapse or failure without require recovery. The same can be said of doing anything before one is ready.

Humans are meant to move, so move. Do it as much as possible as often as possible. Also, drink as a daily habit, thirsty or not. Water is health and life. A lot of people are simply unaware of how important water is and how many good things it can do for a person's health provided that enough of it goes into the body. In fact, the majority of people don't drink enough. This should be no surprise as a human is practically made of water. For an adult it is something like 70percent.

The single advantage tetsugeta have over modern tools such as ankle weights is the the weight is on the foot and when used correctly it makes the entire foot and ankle much stronger. It works the muscles of the ankle and foot that are required for kicking precisely as well as making the tendons and joints strong enough to withstand the impact of hitting something. Ankle weights are only effective on the leg muscles above the ankle an up. As toe-kicking is no longer the norm, it is easy to understand that the tetsugeta is not as common as it once was because one of its primary purposes besides working the legs is to work the toes by forcing the karateka to squeeze their toes together to keep the geta from flying off the feet. Just like the regular footwear type, the only thing holding them on are straps passing between the big toe and other toes. They seem quite common still in Okinawan dojos, but maybe there are not so well known in dojo outside of Okinawa or Japan. That was the reason for the question. Also would be interesting to know if something similar is used in other martial arts of other origins.

Maybe this is a difficult question and impossible to answer from a strictly style point of view. No matter what one has chosen to train in, the greatest benefits and lessons are not specific to any single style. Any style taught by an instructor who has both the skills and the talent to effectively teach others will be highly appreciated. Everything one learns about one's style depends on the instructor and teaching methods.

The kiai is probably one of the most misunderstood concepts in martial arts. It has been made into something more complicated and difficult than it really is because those who aren't familiar with Japanese culture and language define it completely differently. The word itself is ki(breath or energy)+ai(from the verb "to join"). Simply put it means "a concentrated effort". In Japanese the expression is not limited to martial arts. A kiai is not some kind of war cry and articulating any word is wasted effort. The sound that is made is not the kiai itself. The sound comes from releasing all ones strength and energy into whatever action one is doing. Just yelling, screeching like a banshee with a torch stuck where the sun don't shine or making weird noises is not kiai. A real kiai is something natural that everyone does. If you have ever exhaled with a burst or grunted unconsciously while moving or lifting a heavy object, that is a kiai. Tennis players and other athletes are a great example of using kiai. Kiai is just the Japanese word for "a burst of concentrated/focusssed effort".

Tetsugeta are an iron version of the style of sandal that was the common type of footwear in Japan and Okinawa a century or so ago. Most people training in Okinawan karate and some Japanese styles have at least seen a pair somewhere Tetsugeta were developed for strengthening legs and training balance for kicking techniques. One unique feature of the tetsugeta is that it forces one to keep the toes together tight by squeezing the gap between the big toe and the other toes. This helps train for toe kicks but it is also necessary to keep the sandals from flying off. Here is the question: have you ever used or do you use tetsugeta regularly? What could be used as an effective substitute to tetsugeta? Ankle weights come to mind but these only seem to work the legs above the feet.

Profanity is part of every language and has been around since times immemorial. The basic purpose of profanity is to shock and express sudden outbursts of emotion. Martial arts training requires concentration and self-control. Profanity does have its place, but it is not in the training area.