Spartacus Maximus

Sometimes my legs feel very heavy or sore but that is probably because I train a minimum of five days a week and everyday if I can manage it. Besides normal soreness that comes and goes, I have no history of injuries or chronic pain in any part of my legs or back.

Guess what. The OP's posting profile says Ann Arbor MI and there are literally over a hundred things to choose from in that area. Being completely unacquainted with USA, I did a 1 minute search on yellowpages.com and at least a hundred listings turned up for MA training gyms/dojos. Everything from MMA to taekwondo, and that is just the ones that are listed. If the OP still is not satisfied after looking through those, there is always the next town over.

I rather like the idea of not knowing when the test or formal grading is because it takes away some pressure and allows more attention to focus on training for improving skills without being distracted. Anticipation of a test or grading can give much unnecessary stress and be very distracting. Evaluation should be considered an ongoing continuous process, not just a set period where one has to prepare and then test.

On okinawa I never saw anything akin to the Chinese wooden dummy. A few karateka were creative enough and had the building skills to make their own contraptions but most used a machiwara, which is used only for strikes. The three most common type are a flat board, a round post or a square post. As mentioned by another poster there is also a hanging version. By far the most interesting thing I found was a cylindrical "body" with a clever rope and pully mechanism to power "limbs". It was used to train simultaneous block/strike techniques.

The more two systems are different, the easier it can be to blend them however it is advisable to have a solid grasp of one before attempting to mix it with another. Everyone who ever sucessfully combined different systems was already competent in a base system.

The belligerent and arrogant attitude among the MMA crowd in discussion groups mentionned by others here is quite common. It is nothing new and over a decade ago the same kind of people were found on 'newsgroups' (anybody remember those?) and the earliest discussion forums. Unsurprisingly, the number of these types seemed to increase with the advent of UFC and other such events. For them if it was not BJJ or Thai boxing it was not martial arts. eventually the serious posters would lose interest and the forum/newsgroup would stagnate or become a troll/bashing other styles party. Boring and utterly pointless.

Many people get lost or overwhelmed by details or concentrate too much on the form of what they see(the finger pointing) They try to imitate their sensei's action but miss what is going on inside, the mechanics and inner workings that are not readily visible( the moon and heavenly glory). It may be a cheesy Bruce Lee quote, but I hear exactly the same thing from my instructor. It made me chuckle a few times, but I am starting to understand what it means. Rather than trying to reproduce the form, it is more productive to learn and remember how correct movement should feel and reproduce that until it can be done at will. Good balance, correct alignment or inner muscle action are all important things that must be felt.

Before asking that question, there are many others that must be considered and well thought out. First of all and most importantly are questions such as: Which martial arts are taught within your territory? Always start to look at what is available first. Search the phone directory and online. Visit as many schools and instructors as you can spare the time to manage. What is a reasonable distance to travel to reach the training place? How much resources are available for spending on training and instruction? The answers to these questions will give a more precise idea of the choices and possibilities. Advice to train in MA X is useless if the nearest instructor is two states away.

Thankfully most adults and parents respond to a clearly established protocol. If this is put into writing such as a letter and restated often, there will be very few problems and disruptions if any at all. At my first dojo, anybody parents or children who could not follow rules and protocol or were disruptive were sent home. Even the registration form read in bold type, "the dojo is not a daycare". There was absolutely no tolerance for any rule braking. After parents were called to pick up there unruly or disrespectful little urchin once or twice the problems stopped one way or another, guaranteed. Parents who treat the dojo like a daycare do not appreciate being disturbed or interrupted so they either make sure their child behaves or remove him from the activity.

The desire to change something in oneself somehow is what drives people to start and continue to train. Martial arts changes only those who want to change and have the patience to do it.

It is well known that there are different learning styles. Some people learn best by listening, others by looking and others still by feeling. For learning martial arts it seems that those who learn best by feeling would have a significant advantage. Many aspects such as correct body mechanics and power generation can only be grasped by feeling them. Imitating one's instructor is the traditional way but many people, especially beginners have a tendency to think too much about how to do a technique instead of feeling it.

Most people will respond to clearly stated rules and even more so if these are written for all to see. Students should know from the beginning what is expected of them and parents ought to know their place. If they come to the dojo they are guests and observers who must never interrupt or disrupt the instructor. If they do this, children will emulate their disruptive and disrespectful behaviours thereby ruining any positive attitudes the dojo environment is supposed to cultivate.

No amount of time spent in martial arts can give students qualities of character of which the seeds have not been sown at home. A sensei may be seen as a father figure, but he is not a father and must not be expected to take the duties and responsibilities of a father. Training in the dojo can only improve and develop what should already exist through the efforts of responsibLe parents.

It is the lowest point up to now. There is no way to know what else might be ahead.

Starting and continuing is more important than how old one is when one starts.

When I was a young teenager, my sensei always played us that movie after practise in the summer evenings. My first experience with karate was Shotokan but my real start(over 20 years ago) and lifetime commitment is to Okinawan karate of the Shorin ryu style.

Just as my present teacher does now, I know my previous ones taught me in good faith and more importantly they believed in their students. It is their encouragement and their example that helped me continue my commitment to karate. I heard that at some point everyone has a low point to overcome and I think this is it for me.

My present instructor is probably one exception, but his way used to be the norm in Okinawa. When he says someone has reached a certain level of improvment, that student is told(not asked or invited) to attend a formal complaint evaluation no more than three days ahead. Students are expected to learn, train practise and improve until the day sensei says something to the effect of : you will be considered X kyu or Y Dan. Every other dojo I visited or trained in had exam terms such as bi-yearly or yearly or a system requiring a certain time-in-grade before testing. I rather like how it is done in my dojo because it individualizes evaluation. Each person's level depends only on how often they practise and how much they improve. It is very personal. As an example, depending on how the student applies himself it can take between 6months to 8months of practising to reach 3kyu (the lowest level after white belt).

I have some memory of crossing paths with him when I wandered around. He is quite well informed about karate and has done much research by spending time training and discussing different aspects with many of experts and masters. His grade is not something i consider important because of his significant contribution to explaining karate in layman's terms and making it accessible to younger audiences. As a wild guess based on his level of understanding, I believe he could be between 3rd and 5th Dan( a bit of a stretch give his age)

Sometimes the strength needed to let go falters and disappointment starts to disrupt focus. After all karate has occupied so much time for so many years and I cannot help feeling a sense of great deception at not reaching the goal of finding what I had been looking for initially. Even after searching at the source of karate I had managed to get lost and circle around missing what I tried so hard to find. Luck and unexpected circumstances have proved that searching is as important or perhaps more than anything found.

According to an article on fightingarts.com, 85-90% of people who begin training will quit. The most common reasons in order of frequency was given as Personal & Job Time Constraints 31% Moved Away From School 23% Just Lost interest 18% Injury/Medical Problem 13% Classes Ran Their Term 8% Finances/Cost of Classes 7% Based on experience, are these reasons and frequencies an accurate description of your dojo or are there other reasons which should be considered? As for me, I would probably give loss of interest and boredom higher than moving away. The data given was for adults, so children and teens may have slightly different reasons

Is the practise of requiring a number of years equal to the next Dan applicable? Such as 2 full years of training between shodan and Nidan? In many dojos teaching children, there is a minimum number of lessons or hours for each level. It seems to be more common in the Western world because I have never seen or heard of it in Okinawa or Japan. This brings the question of exactly how long these children and youths have been training. Obviously there is a great difference between 5 years for less than an hour 2 or 3 times in a week and 5 years of training one hour or more daily.

The deadlifts I am familiar with involved lifting some kind of weight. Unless there is a similar thing without weights or any material. The only two things done regularly at the dojo are laps of duck-walk and reps of up/down in shiko dachi with a partner standing on top in Naihanchi dachi between 70-100 times. I need ideas to perform alone, I limited space and with nothing.

As many have stated, the type of weapon depends on what AND how one intends to use it. If the goal is training correct movement or technique, the weapon should be slightly heavier. If it is for demonstration, a lighter and more flexible material is usually favoured.

The Okinawa government website has or used to have awesome video clips of style heads. My teacher's teacher was included there among at least ten others of that generation. Unfortunately I lost the link and am not sure the website is still available.Out of respect for my teachers privacy, I would rather not post him here.