JR 137

What is the challenge exactly? Individually (each person) do 100 consecutive kata? I know 16 kata, so I could repeat them until I get to 100... do all 16 6 times, then 4 more. It's enticing. All the kata I know are between 15 and 20 counts, so it's not like I get hit with gojushiho (54 steps) or our version of Kanku which is about as long or maybe a little longer.

Pretty loaded questions, if you ask me... For the money vs the loves it... My teacher retired from his full time, non-MA job. He opened the dojo because he loves training and teaching. He makes enough to keep the place open, cover some of his training expenses, and maybe, just maybe take a vacation once a year. He could try to open a bigger and nicer place and attract more students and raise the price, but he's content. It's his retirement job at this point, and him and his wife (co-owner) have very good pensions and don't rely on money from the dojo. My former teacher's main source of income was/is his dojo. That doesn't mean he chose karate as his profession because he thought it would make him wealthy. He chose it because it's what he loved. He earns a decent living by working class standards, and he's fine with that. It's like the saying - if you love what you're doing, it's not "work." Is the hobbyist less or more of an MAist? Nope. One may be more passionate about it, might train harder, etc., but that's an individual thing, not a paid vs hobbyist thing. Also, see above. Pro fighter vs everyone else... Stereotypically pro fighters have different expertise than everyone else. A pro fighter's expertise is his/her own training and competing. A teacher's expertise is teaching others. A pro fighter's expertise may be very narrow/focused, whereas someone like me's expertise may be broader in context. Pro fighters, teachers, and students all have different goals. Their training must reflect those goals if they're going to reach them. There's some crossover, but if a pro fighter trained the way I train, he/she wouldn't be very successful. If I trained the way they train, I wouldn't be as successful at reaching mine. If my teacher trained to beat Connor McGregor, he wouldn't meet his own teaching goals. And none of us would last long enough to meet our own goals. We all have different types of expertise, based on our own goals. As far as being sadistic and training to hurt others. Some train so they don't have to hurt others. Some train to hurt others as little as possible/necessary while keeping themselves from getting hurt. Some train simply as an alternative form of exercise. Some train to compete. Some just want to look like Bruce Lee (the way he moves). The few people who train solely to hurt others either don't last very long or change their reasons for training shortly after they start.

As has been said, a 5 year old taking karate for 10 years isn't the same as an adult training for 10 years. In addition to what's already been discussed... Kids' curricula aren't as large. In our organization, a just promoted junior black belt is comparable to between 4th and 3rd kyu adult curriculum. So 6 years to learn what an average adult does in a few months short of 3 years. Then there's the standards at which they're evaluated on. It's impossible to require the same standard of performance for a kid as required for an adult. Most adults will quickly learn the basics - punches, blocks, kicks and stances. I've seen VERY FEW 5-8 year olds do these things properly and consistently. They don't always make proper fists, they hold their fists at odd angles, don't have very good functional balance, don't use both hands during blocks, don't rechamber, etc. They're capable of doing all these things, but they need to be reminded constantly. In a word, they're awkward. If they were adults, they wouldn't promote. But they're not adults and shouldn't be held to adult standards. A 15 year old who's been training since he was 5 is no where near the same thing as a 30 year old who's been training since he was 20. That doesn't mean kids aren't good and anyone with 10 years of adult training is better than everyone with 10 years of kids' training. I guess adult training is kind of like "dog years" compared to kids' training

Good to see you, wayneshin. I've seen a few conflicting reports on karate in the Olympics. I was pretty sure it was a medal sport, but I read in a few places that it's an event the host country gets to add for that Olympiad, and not a permanent addition. It can get picked up as a regular event, but there's a lot of conditions from the IOC.

There's plenty of things I didn't do that the "cool kids" did and some still do. If that makes me a dork, I guess we're in it together.

To be quite honest I've never had an MA teacher teach anything absurd before. We have some one step sparring and prearranged sparring stuff that could be considered unrealistic by some if they didn't know the true intent though. People bash those things saying stuff like a fight will never go that way. Of course it won't. They're drills to teach distance, timing, targets, possible ways to to hit targets, etc.; not a step by step what you should do when someone throws a punch manual. I've seen some crazy stuff online though...

The instructor's personal physical abilities really don't mean much. I want a teacher that can break down my strengths and weaknesses and help me fix them. Strengths and weaknesses in technique and strategy. A teacher who can do a flawless kata, splits, jumping flying kicks, etc. does nothing beyond entertain me and gives me the line (cue kid's voice) "my sensei can beat up your sensei." What's the minimum age? A mature, responsible, knowledgeable, and experienced adult. There are some that can probably pull that off at around 20 years old, but they're truly the exception. Experience means a lot. My former sensei turned 30 my second year training. He was quite a good teacher and physically the best MAist I've been around. My current teacher is 63, and needs hip replacement for the 3rd time. My current teacher is a far better teacher due to his experience (he been in karate longer than my previous sensei was alive at the time I was there) and maturity that comes with being older. I didn't realize the age and experience level meant as much as it did when I was training under my former sensei, who was a yondan at the time. As a CI, the more (quality) experience and maturity the better. As an assistant instructor, less is acceptable. I wouldn't miss me taking classes from a 20 year old assistant semi-regularly. Everyone has something to teach, or a different perspective. But I wouldn't solely take that person's class under most normal circumstances. Someone like Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura's son who was training in and out of the dojo since he could walk and was assisting his father from an early age would be an exception if he was my CI at 20 or so. Same for any other legendary teacher's child who's done the same. But again, they're extremely few and far between.

Welcome to the forum!

Give or take a little bit, I know exactly where I'd be if I never left. The guy I tested for shodan with and would've tested for nidan with if I didn't go away to grad school was promoted to godan last year. We came up through the ranks together, with him starting about a month before I did. He never left. I'd most likely be at the same rank if I never left. No regrets though. Life happened, and in a good way. I wouldn't change anything.

Karate in the Olympics will be WKF point fighting rules. And kata. It won't be a permanent sport; it'll be a demonstration/exhibition sport. Meaning the host country can add a few sports to the games that won't be permanent. If there's enough interest (read money generated), the IOC can add it permanently. I'm pretty sure medals are awarded, but I don't think they're "official" Olympic medals. It's all stupid technicalities IMO. I'm quite sure karate will be one and done in the Olympics. I would've loved to see knockdown rules (like Kyokushin), but that didn't happen. I'll watch it, but most likely will ask myself why, because I don't like WKF rules at all.

Welcome to the forum. I'm quite sure most of us regulars here can relate to pretty much everything you're saying. My wife doesn't get the obsession I have with karate, nor a few other things. She doesn't have to get it to be supportive. Just like I fail to see the allure of some of her things. But I don't have to get it to be supportive of her either. The dojo is my happy place. When people ask why I like it so much, I usually joke around and say "where else can you beat people up and get beat up without getting arrested?" After an odd reaction, I tell them the truth about why I keep going back... The dojo is the only place I've ever been where the outside world ceases to exist. I have no time to think about how my boss ticked me off when someone's trying to kick me in the head. My 4 and 6 year old daughters whining and complaining don't go through my mind when I'm about to get punched in the stomach. My wife's chore list doesn't exist while I'm on the floor doing my thing. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and kids with all my heart, but an hour and a half or so without them a few times a week works wonders. I've never gotten that from anything else I've done - work, sports, working out at a gym, etc. As I've gotten older (I'm 41), I've realized that the only person I have to compete against and compare myself to is me. It's all about outdoing what I thought I could and couldn't do. It's all about surpassing my own expectations. Or at least my own realistic expectations. Why am I here? Like you and many others here (I assume), I don't have very many people to share my passion of karate with. But beyond that, there's a lot of great people here who've got a ton of experience and freely share it with someone like me who's only been at it a very short period of time, relatively speaking. I trained for 7 years, took almost 15 years off, and restarted about 2 and a half years ago. There's people here who've been training longer than I've been alive. And no ones ever talked down to me nor made me feel like my insight, experience, nor opinions are irrelevant. That speaks volumes of this place. Keep up the hard work and enthusiasm. And stick around. There's a lot of great people here who'll help you along your path any way they can.

Welcome to the forum, OkamiBlack. It seems you have some extensive experience in karate and have some valuable insight into things. You may want to go to the introductions section of the forum and properly introduce yourself and give us some background information. Regarding your current thread... I'm not a fan of sport karate for a lot of the reasons you mention. My biggest issues with it are the stop-start nature, and the use of techniques tailored to point fighting that would be ineffective at best in a true fighting/self defense situation. These combined with the obnoxious "gamesmanship" (to keep it polite) make point fighting unwatchable for me. I competed in a few AAU tournaments in my early 20s. The school I was at wasn't a sport karate school (we were a Kyokushin offshoot), but our sensei encouraged us to participate as a way to get experience fighting different people, under a different rule set, and to experience the pressure competition brings. It was a way to change things up. We competed in a local tournament, then qualified for a regional tournament. If we won that, we'd qualify for a national tournament. Several of us qualified for the national tournament (including me 3 times), but none of us went - we didn't have the time, money, nor motivation to travel from NY to Florida for a point fighting tournament. It just wasn't a priority. Our sensei held a specific additional class on Saturday afternoon for anyone who wanted to compete. We trained for a solid 2.5-3 hours. No one was forced to go to that class nor stay once they started. We'd typically start about 10 weeks before the first tournament. I completely empathize with your frustration, but I think you're forgetting some by-products of competition, and most importantly preparing for competition. At 40 years old, I decided to compete in my current organization's tournament last year. I initially did it because my then 5 and 3 year old daughters wanted to see me compete. After much internal debate, I decided to do it. The actual competition, while it went pretty well, wasn't close to being the highlight. Training for competition gave me a sense of urgency in my training. I didn't train for point fighting specifically; I figured I'd fight the way I do in the dojo and the points will take care of itself. We did point fighting during a specific tournament class that my CI added to the schedule, it that was the extent of it. I didn't train nor compete to the rules; I fought by the rules if that makes any sense. During training, I was forced to address my weaknesses. There was no "I'll start to get in shape tomorrow" "I'll work on that next week" etc. My weaknesses needed to be address appropriately, honestly, and immediately. I only had about 3 months. My cardio, hand speed, timing, footwork, and kicking all improved quite a bit. And I didn't practice throwing that stupid backfist/reverse punch combo that's the bread and butter of point fighting, nor anything remotely resembling stuff like that. I think that hurt my point fighting a bit, but I don't care; I got better. I was basically taking my regular training up several notches. Same for kata. Our kata must be performed from the syllabus and exactly as described by the syllabus. There's no altering kata to make it look prettier, flashy, dramatic, etc. Basically, it's to be performed as if the head of our organization is testing you on it. And I forgot to mention - if you do the ridiculousness of yelling and putting your arm up after you think you scored a point, you'll be penalized. Do it again, and you'll be disqualified. I had a great time at our tournament last year. It was great meeting the people in my organization. I'm pretty sure I'm going to compete again in it this October. If I don't actually compete, I'll train like I'm going to. I guess it all comes down to why you're competing, how you're preparing, and how the tournament is run. Here's a link to the thread I started about last year's tournament... https://www.karateforums.com/tourney-coming-up-vt49646.html

As with anything else, practice makes perfect! Absolutely. But the beer would be gone before it was truly ready to be drank. I know that sounds like I have a problem with alcohol, but it's not; it's a problem with patience. It's the same thing when I'm cooking - I'm constantly checking what it needs. But the difference is the food doesn't take days to weeks to be ready. I'll give it a try one day.

I've always wanted to brew my own beer, but two things have held me back... 1. I don't think I could watch the process and not start "sipping" from it too soon. 2. I'm quite sure I wouldn't do nearly as good a job as my regularly purchased stuff - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Porter, Old Slugger Pale Ale and Benchwarmer Porter (Cooperstown Brewery), and Anchor Steam and Porter. Looking at my usual stuff, I guess I'm a pale ale and Porter drinker

Happy birthday, Danielle!

We just had our annual beach training on Saturday. A few pics of me from our dojo's Facebook page... Bulltahr "liked" this one. I wonder if he knew it was me Taikyoku II kata... https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1473099152733968&id=346940395349855&set=pcb.1473099342733949&source=49&refid=13 Taikyoku I... https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1473099142733969&id=346940395349855&set=pcb.1473099342733949&source=49&refid=13

As you probably know muscle is more dense than fat, so maybe you're losing inches of fat, and gaining muscle mass, hence keeping the weight relatively stable. I've told myself that a few times. I haven't convinced myself that that's what it is yet though

Welcome to the forum, Lynn. Reading your post, one thing really stuck out to me... Regardless of if you're right and the sensei knows it, you're never going to win the argument when you complain about what his wife is doing. Even if he fully agrees with you and wants to change it, the overwhelming chances are you're not going to get him to make his wife change. Anyone else, quite possibly, but not his wife. Sorry, that's all I have time for right now. I'll try to post more later.

Funny thing happened along my martial arts path... My first sensei would tell newbies and kids/teens to try to make their gis snap. My current CI tells the same population to stop trying to make their gis snap, and just use proper form. Horses for courses. My gi snaps. I don't do anything to make it do so. I think I'm doing something right, regardless of the snapping, because a lot of people have told me I hit pretty hard. Not that I'm trying to hit anyone as hard as I can. Some people love the snappy gis. I genuinely don't care if it snaps or not.

I like what's been posted. To add... If you make a mistake (which you definitely will), don't dwell on it; move on. Don't take it personally if you're corrected on something. Be prepared to be pushed to your limits. Trust your training. Expect the unexpected. Every teacher I know has said the first thing they look for is spirit/attitude. Give it your all, and everything else should take care of itself. If you've been invited to test, your instructor thinks you're worthy of the next rank.

7/28 218.6 lbs I honestly have no idea why I'm not losing much weight. My clothes are getting baggier, my face is noticeably thinner. My pants belt is loose and I need a new one. I've been in the dojo at least 2x a week and hit the bag at least twice a week (most weeks have been 3 times). 10 rounds, 2.5 minutes per round, with 1 minute rest. I spend significant time in the peak hr zone. I'm eating right and have completely eliminated soda. I've got to get my Total Gym out of the closet and start using that again. It's just a matter of rearranging a bunch of stuff in the house and making space. I'm just stumped by this. Maybe I'm getting old

For some reason, every cup I've recently come across is narrow and protrudes out too far. Not to be that guy, but it seems like everything's supposed to be stuffed in. I miss the wider and less protruding ones.

I trained for a little over 7 years, from 1994-2001. I was 18 when I started and 25 when I had to stop. I was preparing to test for my 2nd dan. Mid-August of 2001, I was offered a graduate assistantship 5 hours away. I was scheduled to test for 2nd dan the first weekend of October, but obviously couldn't make it. I figured I'd be back in 2 years and pick up where I left off. I met my wife during a trip home from grad school. I was offered a good job 2.5 hours away from my home in the opposite direction a few weeks before I graduated. I worked evenings, weekends, and travelled a lot. Working with a Div I soccer and basketball team does that to you. Add my by then fiancé and a completely new town, and I genuinely didn't have extra time for anything. Marriage, my first daughter, moving back to my hometown, then another daughter. I finally found the time after changing careers. It only took 14 years I've been at my current dojo since February of 2015. Karate has always been on my mind, and it was always a matter of when I'd start again, not if I'd start again. The organization I was in first was started by 2 former senseis from my current organization (Seido Juku), so it was an easy transition back. The syllabus from both organizations are about 90% the same in both. I honestly remembered just about everything; it was a matter of sharpening things rather than relearning. Within a few weeks, my speed, power, timing, and sharpness came back to close to where I left off. The only thing that lacked, and still does, is my flexibility. I'm honestly a far better MAist now. At 3rd kyu, I honestly feel better than I was at close to 2nd dan. A lot of that is due to maturity, not chasing rank, and having the sole purpose of my training being improvement rather than promoting to the next rank. Sorry for the autobiography

If he couldn't beat you, how exactly was he better than you? Does his technique look prettier? Just because one can make a kata look flawless doesn't mean one knows what the movements mean, nor how to actually apply them under any amount of resistance. I'm sure you could teach an accomplished ballet dancer a very advanced kata and how to punch and kick quite quickly, and it'll look phenomenal too. That doesn't mean for a second that said dancer will be able to defend him/herself. It doesn't matter how pretty nor ugly it looks. What matters is that it can be used appropriately when needed. The more you train, the more experience you get. Hopefully it's the right experience. There's no substitute for experience. All IMO.

I like doing that. And stretching in the pool. I can get splits (if that's what we're calling them ) a lot deeper. Kata and the splits in a pool. Sounds like a hoot! Try doing kata or anything else MA in the ocean. Waves do funny things to your balance. Edit: I'd imagine it's not too easy to get to the ocean if you live in Michigan. Motivation for a vacation? I'm about a mile off of Lake Michigan, and 60 miles from Lake Superior. Superior gets 3-5 foot waves fairly regularly. It's probably a bit colder than you'd like, however. I didn't realize the Great Lakes had waves. I learned something new today. I've been on a cold shower after I work out kick lately. I've been to beaches in Maine and New Hampshire; the water can be freezing sometimes, even in August.