JR 137

3 things that don't lie... Drunk people* Spandex Kids Kids speak the truth, without inhibitions. When they see it, they call it. They're not afraid to let someone know they think highly of them. *Drunk people tell the truth. But people who are beyond drunk often have no idea what they're talking about.

Welcome to the forum. How long have you been training? What style are you studying? How often do you go?

I've been interested in hojo undo, but piecing videos together isn't working out well. Is strengthening exercises the main focus of this book? Yes, the book covers a variety of exercises with a variety of tools, which you can build. All of the exercises are specifically connected with kata movements, as well. Added to my Amazon shopping cart. Thanks!

I've been interested in hojo undo, but piecing videos together isn't working out well. Is strengthening exercises the main focus of this book?

Most I've seen don't have minimum requirements, but they have divisions. Divisions by rank, gender, etc. The rank divisions are broken up by years of experience rather than belt colors at the tournaments I've been to. It's been about 20 years since I've even looked at tournaments, but I don't imagine they've changed much.

So last class, she finally came across someone who she couldn't back into a corner. The kid refused to step backward during sparring. I wanted to see how she'd react to someone who didn't back up, and she did great. She held her ground and didn't get frustrated, but more importantly she didn't get intimidated. It looked like a 5 year old white belt Kyokushin slug fest, where they were all offense and no one was blocking. Again, it's non-contact at this point, so bear with me. After I explained what no contact meant after her last class, she got it.

Absolutely. Part of starting this thread was to use it as a journal of sorts, to get pointers from people who have/had their kids in the MA, and get pointers/perspectives from people who teach children MA.

She's been doing her own "katas" for a while now. Running around punching, kicking, jumping and kiai'ing. I bought her some focus mitts last year for Christmas that she loves punching and kicking. My wife and I sit and watch her do her "kata," then my 2 year old has a turn too. I've taught her basic punches and kicks - mae geri, mae keage, kin geri, mawashi geri. Tried the basic blocks, but she struggled a bit. She struggled a bit in class with basic stuff I didn't teach her - yoi, noare, mawate. She picked up on those in class though. She's such a smart and athletic kid, and very focused. I just want her to keep the focus and love for it.

She's only been to 2 classes so far. We don't have the half hour classes for the little ones like most dojos do. She's a just turned 5 year old in a 6-12 year old class. Class is 1 hour, available 3 times per week. My CI recommends once or twice per week, no more than twice to avoid overdoing it. I agree with that. I'm thinking twice per week, Saturday and either Monday or Thursday. If I take her once per week initially, I'm not sure she'd progress quickly enough, thereby frustrating her. I don't want her to feel "lost" for too long. We're not a big dojo, and definitely not a commercial one; most kids are around 8 and up. I think there's about three 6 year olds total. A conversation with their parents would definitely help too. She's all about it. She loves every minute of it and wants to go more. I want her to progress so she doesn't feel lost in class, but its not all about her becoming the next Bruce Lee either. Competition isn't on the table either. I just want her to have fun doing something she loves doing, and pick up the skills and benefits the MA offers. I'd say once a week, but she's going to need to get some relatively quick success at first to not get frustrated.

I was thinking about this when I posted in my thread in the Getting Started section of the forum... MA is unique compared to other "sports" in that there's no off-season. I think a big reason why kids stay motivated is stuff like soccer, baseball, basketball, etc. is because there's a start and end date. Is there an off-season in MA? Kids' sports seasons typically last 8-10 weeks or so. They might go right from one sport to another, but it's not the same sport 12 months a year. MA offers the incentives of belts and possibly some tourneys, but those can get old. Especially when a kid has put 4-5 years of consistent training in and reached a junior black belt. Now what is going to keep them going? Perhaps give them a week or two off every other month? Maybe at least a week off after every new belt/promotion? But after the new promotion, I'm sure they're excited to wear the new belt and learn new stuff, so maybe not. What kid wants to get their new belt, especially a black belt, and not wear it for 2 weeks? Some places charge too much to begin with, so why waste half a month's tuition? Just looking for ideas. My 5 year old daughter just started at my dojo. I'm looking at ways to keep her from burning out down the road. Better to be proactive than reactive.

I agree with you, Spartacus. However, Kathryn's a bit different than most kids. She's a bit of a perfectionist. If it's something she's determined to do, won't quit until she's done it right. Sometimes to a fault. This summer, we went to a park that has kids' monkey bars. They're about 4 feet or so from the ground, and about 7 or 8 bars long. She tried to get all the way across, but couldn't. She'd get about half way and fall. She got up, and tried again. And again. And again. I kept trying to help her, but she refused. After about a solid 5 minutes of it, I had to pull her away. That's how she takes on a lot of things. Her motivation has always come from within. Never once argued about going to gymnastics when she went, soccer, basketball, etc. Those were all 8 week or so programs, so perhaps that's why she maintained in interest in them. I've just never had to force her to do anything, other than clean up her mess or get dressed in the morning lol. Now that I think about it, it might be a good thing to take her once or twice a week for 8 weeks or so, then take a week or two off. I think the biggest reason why kids generally don't get sick of things like soccer, basketball, football is because there's an off-season. They may pick up another sport once one ends, but there's an end/change. MA doesn't have that. Perhaps that's a reason why there's the turnover there is. Just spitballing here.

I read up a bit on Shu Ha Ri as you suggested (I've seen you reference it many times before). Makes total sense. I've been doing that in the MA and in life without knowing it or thinking about it. It reminds me of photography - learn and practice the rules of photography, get good at them, then learn when and how to break them. Time is the most valuable thing any of us have. Sometimes we forget how valuable it truly is until we run out of it. My favorite thing in the world is spending time with my wife and daughters. There's never enough time. It's funny you bring up not looking at senior students and thinking 'how am I ever going to do that,' as that just happened last week. Some sandans were working on some advanced yakusoku kumite while a partner and I were learning one for our rank. I looked over and thought 'how am I ever going to do that if I can't even get this?' On the way home, I remembered how difficult what I Pinan 5 looked when I was a white belt and thinking the same thing. Time and experience are what make what seems so difficult today become easy and second nature down the road. That's why we learn to read the alphabet before reading Shakespeare. Kathryn is a great learner and athlete. She'll get it. I have zero doubts about anything she sets her mind to. She just needs work on the little things I didn't teacher - chambering punches, mawate, yoi, noare, etc.

I agree. Seems that the landscape has been altered over quick results, no matter the quality of those results, it's for the quantity instead. Imho!! Why learn and try to perfect one kata, when you can learn the movements of 10 kata Why exercise and change your diet to reduce blood pressure when you can take a pill for it Note: I'm not stupid enough to believe that exercise and diet alone are enough for every single person.

Today was her second class. We had her birthday party last Saturday, and we've all been sick, so we couldn't get back in sooner. She was thrown into the deep end, so to speak. There was no assistant, and only my CI running class. One other white belt who's about a year or so older, and the rest are a couple years older and a few belts ahead. She didn't receive the almost constant 1 on 1 attention she did last time, but still did quite well. They did a lot of things she's never learned before, and she did quite well - side kick, kiba dachi with techniques, kata, and prearranged self defenses. She did a great job of following the CI's demonstration and following the other white belt next to her. Just like me, her kicks during kihon line drills leave much to be desired, but they're pretty good during kumite. No idea why I suffer from this; it's not a lack of effort by any means. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I asked my CI if she's ready after class, before I pay the upfront costs of the gi, patches, Seido national dues, and 3 months tuition (3 months isn't required for new students, but it's cheaper this way). My CI said he was looking to see if she was focused and mature enough, being that she's actually a year younger than when he lets most students in, and she's great. He said "I can teach any student who's focused and wants to learn, and she's obviously ready." Actually, she's more focused than a lot of the kids twice her age. My only concern is that she sticks with it and doesn't get frustrated with what she may perceive as a lack of improvement. We don't do the stripes on the belts every few weeks, patches all over the gis for various things (the only patches we have are the kanji on the chest and logo on the sleeve), etc. While there's a kids' program and it can be a lot of fun, it's very traditional and serious. It's not predominantly games with some technique thrown in; it's karate with some games thrown in. When my CI runs class (which Kathryn wants to go to his classes), it's like an adults class at kids' ability levels. I just hope she doesn't get burned out any time soon.

Even though I hate the cold, it doesn't hurt my motivation. Humidity absolutely kills any motivation I have to do anything. I just want to sit around in A/C and drink cold stuff.

The trend I see my CI follow... After a group promotes, the focus is more on kihon for a few weeks. Then it slowly transitions to more focus on kata. Then the focus gradually becomes various forms of kumite - "self defenses" (prearranged one step kumite), kihon kumite (prearranged lesser step kumite movements), yakusoku kumite (multi-step prearranged kumite), and jiyu kumite (free sparring). We do the 3 Ks of karate every class, but one will get more attention and duration than the others, depending on where we are in the whole grand scheme of things. My CI goes to honbu every other last Friday of the month along with any student who'd like to go (there's a special meditation class run by Kaicho Nakamura followed by general class), and many Seido higher ups are there. He always brings back some new drills, combinations, exercises, etc. that we'll focus on for a while. He also attends every black belt promotional test and other event he can. He's there quite often. Seido has a standardized curriculum that every school follows. My CI refers to it quite often to check if we should move on or continue focusing on what we're currently doing. Not sure if this one's current, having a 2003 date on it. Notably absent is "Seido strategies" which is are sets of tai sabaki drills... http://www.seidokarate.co.nz/Syllabus.pdf When tested, we demonstrate everything in the syllabus for the respective rank. Tests don't go in order of what's written, and it's not single techniques; it's far more complex than the syllabus implies. Edit: I previously linked to the wrong thing!

Weather and seasons don't get me, rather times of the year. Being a school teacher, the end of marking periods put a damper on things - having to log in grades, having extra stuff to grade (trying to give students a last minute chance to bring up their grades, giving more assignments so that there's more graded stuff to give a better chance, etc.) Then there's holidays. Dojos close for the various holidays and somehow it always works out that they're on my usual training days. Or personal "holidays" such as our anniversary, wife and daughters' birthdays, Valentine's Day, etc. Whatever the disruption to my normal training schedule, the answer is proper scheduling. Knowing I won't be able to be there on specific days forces me to go on other days. I usually attend Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday; if I can't go on Saturday, I'll go on Monday and keep the rest of the days. Bad weather such as dark and cold or rainy or snow (not dangerous conditions where I shouldn't be driving) makes it far easier to go for me. It gets justified in my head as "what else am I going to do?" Being a teacher, I'm off from work all day, and with the kids. It's easily justifiable in my head as "I need some time to myself" and go almost every night. An hour and a half break isn't too much to ask when I've spent the entire day with the girls. Now that my oldest daughter is going, it's even easier to get motivated. No point in keeping her from going just because I don't have the motivation. I've never realistically not been motivated to go. Usually, I have to talk myself out of going too often because I have genuinely more important things to do. It was like that when I was single, and the same now that I'm married with 2 young ones. Actually, I'm more motivated to go now, because getting out and clearing my head a few nights a week in a constructive way makes me a better husband and father.

im a big fan of Gekisai Dai kata. Mas Oyama changed it slightly, therefore Kyokushin and its offshoots (Seido being an offshoot) do it differently... Kyokushin and its offshoots also do Gekisai Sho... Kyokushin schools often claim it's a Chojun Miyagi kata, but I doubt it. No one outside of Kyokushin does it, and there's no mention of Gekisai Sho anywhere in anything Goju Ryu. I wonder if Oyama created it (I'm sure he'd take credit if he did though), he picked it up from Gogen Yamaguchi (Goju Kai schools would at least mention it if he practiced/taught it), or from So Nei Chu who was a Korean who taught Oyama Goju in Japan. Gekisai Sho is a shodan kata in my former and current system. I didn't care much for it when I did it; I guess I always wanted to work on Seiunchin instead, which was the other shodan kata.

"The floor" perhaps taken to the next level... The Guy in the Glass by Dale Wimbrow, © 1934 When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf, And the world makes you King for a day, Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, And see what that guy has to say. For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife, Who judgement upon you must pass. The feller whose verdict counts most in your life Is the guy staring back from the glass. He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest, For he's with you clear up to the end, And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test If the guy in the glass is your friend. You may be like Jack Horner and "chisel" a plum, And think you're a wonderful guy, But the man in the glass says you're only a bum If you can't look him straight in the eye. You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years, And get pats on the back as you pass, But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you've cheated the guy in the glass. http://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm The first time I heard it was when I was pledging my fraternity. One by one we were brought into an empty and dark room with only a candle and mirror. The person who'd later become my big brother read it while he was out of sight. Then you'd sit there for what seemed like forever until you were lead out of the room. Very powerful. I live my life, and subsequently my MA training according to what the poem says. Not that I'm some converted follower of a poet cult, but the poem speaks nothing but the truth.

Excellent points. Regarding partner work... It becomes very obvious who's who once you start sparring. I went into my current dojo as a white belt, and everyone knew I had studied before once we got going. In the locker room, few of them asked me where I studied and for how long. Walking out, 2 others asked, saying "you don't move like a white belt." After a few months, one of the yondans swept me during sparring, saying "I don't treat you like a yellow belt because you don't fight like one." Not to pat myself on the back by any means; others have walked in and I could easily tell they've had previous experience too. "The proof is on the floor" meaning the color of the belt doesn't mean much. I agree about the sparring/partner work that "the proof is on the floor"! Sensie8 it really fits don't sue me lol. The being "swept by another student". We have a rule and iys that no sweeps are allowed unless you are a black belt and you must sweep a black belt. Part of this is because we are not on mats, we are on a gym floor, so sweeping should be done with some experience. Has it been coming for you at places you have trained to sweep one another? Just curious. Bushido pointed it out that in sparring it matters and will really show. I personally never got into much sport aspect of my training, so.times I wish I had but just never been my thing. Last time I was at a tournament I was there because my wife was competing To be honest, I'm not sure about the sweeping rule during sparring. Pretty sure it's for black belts to do to other black belts. The rule I do know is don't throw anything you haven't been taught to do, and don't throw anything you can't fully control. I haven't seen any kyu grades get swept outside of prearranged 1 step sparring (we call them self defenses) where sweeping is part of it. The 4th dan who swept me sweeps a lot of black belts. You'd never know it from looking at him either. He's been in an accident and has pretty much permanently lost a lot of motion in his back and knees. He's so good at it, he sweeps like its his job. I think I'll start calling him the custodian lol. I threw a kick, and before I touched down, he grabbed my shoulder and swept my plant foot out from under me. I had that look on my face that everyone who sees it for the first time thinks I'm mad at them. In the locker room he said "sorry if I ticked you off when I swept you. I don't spar against you like a yellow belt because you don't fight like a yellow belt." I laughed and said "I was mad at myself for getting swept; do it every time if you want to." Another 4th dan laughed and said "careful what you wish for; he can sweep anyone at any given moment!" Forgot... We don't have mats either. Hardwood floors. Our CI's logic is mats teach you you don't have to fall 100% properly. In intermediate self defenses, we do a ton of sweeping. If I can find a video of it, I'll post it; they're standardized in the Seido curriculum.

5 years is a long time for a kid to wait to promote. At 13, that's almost half of your life!

A very interesting topic. Junior black belt is one of those things that just doesn't sit well with me. I keep telling myself that I should accept it, but I just can't. I see black belt as something almost sacred. Yes, it's just a piece of cloth, but what it should represent is something much more than a child is inherently capable of IMO. I have a few students who are junior black belts (I'm a school teacher, not a MA teacher). They always seem to forget to say the "junior" part, conveniently. I don't think 5th-8th graders (my student grades) have any business wearing anything remotely close to a black belt. I must say that the ones who are junior black belts are more mature than most of their classmates, but that doesn't justify it IMO. Not that it hurt my ego in any way, shape, or form by any means, but a non-MA student really put all my feelings into perspective one day... Student to me: "You take karate?" Me: "Yes" Student: "Are you a black belt?" Me: "No" Student: "Gerrard (fellow 5th grader) is a black belt. He must be better than you are." Me: "How so?" Student: "Because he's a black belt and you're not." All I could think was do you really think a 5th grader is more mature than a 39 year old? Do you really think he'd stand a chance against me? Me: "I'm sure he worked very hard for a very long time to earn his black belt." I know it shouldn't bother me, but kids having this rank just devalues the rank. People think MA is a joke. Seeing 10 year olds running around wearing black belts makes me think they've got a point. I think BJJ got it right with completely different belt colors for kids, and no junior black belts. But hey, there's tons of adults who have no business wearing a black belt either, so I guess it's all good. At least the unworthy adults aren't immediately identifiable like a 10 year old is. I hate that I feel this way, but I genuinely haven't come across any concrete reason not to feel this way.

Excellent points. Regarding partner work... It becomes very obvious who's who once you start sparring. I went into my current dojo as a white belt, and everyone knew I had studied before once we got going. In the locker room, few of them asked me where I studied and for how long. Walking out, 2 others asked, saying "you don't move like a white belt." After a few months, one of the yondans swept me during sparring, saying "I don't treat you like a yellow belt because you don't fight like one." Not to pat myself on the back by any means; others have walked in and I could easily tell they've had previous experience too. "The proof is on the floor" meaning the color of the belt doesn't mean much.

Regarding the Tang So Do people in your dojo, it seems they're more like guests in the dojo than formal students of your sensei/members. Perfectly fair for guests to wear their rank and uniforms. I'm assuming they're not there for instruction so much as to work out with a different group and share ideas? I'd assume if one of them became a dues paying member and/or wanted to officially become a Kyokushin student in your dojo, they'd be expected to wear a Kyokushin gi and a belt presented to them by your CI. Or am I off here?

Congratulations to all who were nominated and all who one. I honestly don't know what to say about my awards. I didn't post yesterday because I didn't know how to say it, and I still don't. All I can say is thank you. It's a great place to be, filled with great people.