JR 137

My daughter took TKD as part of an after school outreach program. She did very well, but she wasn't punching and kicking right, and the teacher wasn't really correcting any of the kids. I think he was more concerned with them following along in class, etiquette, etc. In a good way though. I bought the focus mitts for Christmas, and worked with her on using the proper striking surfaces during her punches and groin kicks. She picked it up pretty quickly, for a just turned 4 year old. The most effective thing was me holding her arm and bringing her through the punching motion many times. Then constantly saying "make sure you punch right" whenever she didn't. She would hit with the heel of her hand when making a fist. I tapped her knuckles and instep of her foot many times while she held out the technique many times as well, to give her the tactile sensation to where to strike. As long as you keep it fun and positive, they'll have fun and try their best to please you. Just don't go too long. Once she got the hang of it, I started swinging at her to make her duck then counter. She loved that one too. Having her kiai loudly helped too. After a week or so, she's punched right every time, minus when she's getting too silly and going too fast. I bought a very soft kids' UFC blocking bat from Toys R Us the other day for about $7. Trying to teach basic blocks. That concept is a little harder for her. She just wants to move completely move out of the way. It'll come around. The tactile stuff makes them (and adults) really focus their techniques and do them properly. I also hold a stuffed Olaf and have them use it as a punching bag. As long as you keep it fun and stop when they're truly bored, it's not a chore. Just some things that work for me. If you've got some ideas, I'm all ears.

Why didn't I think of this before? http://s12.postimg.org/6ar2l40cd/outslayer_bag_garage.jpg Knees, groin kicks, uppercuts, elbows, etc. Seems like a simple enough solution. Maybe some pillows or a thick blanket wedged in so the bag doesn't hit the wall.

"On the mat," meaning dojo, I fight myself, so to speak. I try my best to do things I know I need to get better at. The only way to reduce weaknesses/improve is to keep working on them. I try to get out of my comfort zone by forcing myself to do things like changing my stance from southpaw to orthodox, kicking with my back leg more often, and kicking higher to increase my flexibility. In a real SD situation that I can't walk away from, I fight my opponent. I've got enough to deal with without getting inside my own head. It's all muscle memory and hoping for the best. I've gotten myself out of every fight I could have been in for the last 15 years or so, so I think I'm doing some things right.

I'd love to check out Enshin. It really intrigues me. I don't have any dojos anywhere near me either though. Seems like a very intelligent, practical, and well rounded take on karate.

Just waiting until my daughters are old enough. My dojo starts at 6 years old. Others start younger, but my CI doesn't have the staff nor student base for another class. Under 6 needs their own specific class with a teacher who genuinely understands how to train them and can keep expectations realistic. She comes with me every now and then and watches. My CI lets her play around with me on the floor until warm-ups. He's asked her to join us in our official warm-up, but she gets shy and plays on her iPad. I bought some focus mitts and a kid's blocker bat (or whatever it's called). Both of them love it. They do surprisingly well with it. If my 4 year old can keep up with class and not take away from the rest of the kids, she'll be allowed in at 5 years old. It'll be a trial/probationary basis. I have no doubt she's physically and mentally capable of following along, my only doubt is she gets very shy very quickly. If there were others her age, she'd easily do well. My 2 year old is another story. She does whatever she wants and doesn't care what anyone says about it. It a cute and harmless way. Sorry to side track...

Which bag are you referring to? Kind of reminded me of the Right Guard commercials in the 80s - "Anything less would be uncivilized."

As a father of 2 young daughters (age 2 and 4), I don't think your view is tainted at all. We may suffer from the same affliction though. Somewhere in my internet scouring I came across a blog by a police officer that teaches BJJ. Every time his teenaged daughter leaves to go out with her friends, she has to escape his mount and get him to tap. When his younger daughter goes out, she needs to escape an arm or wrist grab. His wife and friends criticize him for it. His response "if you've seen what I see almost every day, you'd do the same." Food for thought.

Oddly, there's no mention of kumite in the article. There's similar articles; there's an interview of him by I believe the U.S. branch chief, where it seems this article and a few like it came from. In the interview, there's no mention of it either. I wonder if they actually practiced kumite. My gut tells me yes, and pretty much everything else was discussed.

Had I known I was in the running, I would've had a speech prepared lol. I've never won any awards before. All kidding aside, thanks! There's a lot of great people here. Just glad to be a part of it.

Thanks for the insight, Wastelander. Heavy bags are such a personal thing IMO. I just stopped by Dick's sporting good and hit a bunch of bags. All of them feel different. As stupid as it sounds, there was an Everlast women's cardio that felt really good. I thought it would be a soft bag, but it was very firm. Firmer than most other bags there, actually. If it was a 150 lb MT bag, it would be hard to pass up, even in pink! I almost bought a Kid Kick Wavemaster for me 4 year old. It was on clearance (I think) for $50. Only problem is that she tried kicking it too many times and ended up hitting the base. Didn't get hurt, but I stopped it before she did. I'm going to trust everything I've read about Outslayer and give them a try when the basement's cleared out. I just have to measure what'll fit down there. The ceiling is 7 ft or so. Subtract a foot or so for the chain/hanging straps, and a 6 ft bag may be too long. Gonna rig something up to get a better sense of the actual space. Maybe hang a bundled up blanket for perspective. Going to try to see if anyone has the body bag type bag on display anywhere to get a better sense of if they're worthy of consideration. Thanks again!

I just came across this article about Meitoku Yagi, who was the man Chojun Miyagi's family chose to take over Goju Ryu. I read it several times because it opened my eyes to a lot of things about the old days... https://books.google.com/books?id=8M8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=the+sensei+who+received+miyagi's+black+belt&source=bl&ots=OaFjFWej1f&sig=VGaRGJsNm55EadrCJjQqz5LKreA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAWoVChMIuNrgnYCMxwIVxI0NCh0argqu#v=onepage&q=the%20sensei%20who%20received%20miyagi's%20black%20belt&f=false The biggest eye opener for me was the first hand account of kata training. Miyagi didn't teach kata until 3-5 years after a student started, then taught only Sanchin for 2-3 years before teaching another kata. It goes against the people I've come across who say the old teachers taught kata from day one, and made students practice it countless times. I'm quite sure his students practiced it over and over, but it doesn't seem like it was the be all, end all of training that people assume. I also really like how Yagi said that kata were often changed according to the student's strengths/weaknesses and their rank. I guess it goes against the people who think kata is a sacred thing that should never be altered. My feeling is that if the change makes sense, and the student and teacher truly understand why it should be made, then alter it. What do you take from the article?

Hopefully I'll be able to hang a bag in my basement in the next few months. Once I heard that the piece of work who lives downstairs is looking to move, thereby I'll finally get my basement, the first thing I thought was HEAVY BAG! I had a freestanding BOB bag. It was great for what it was, but not being able to get really close due to the base, the lack of swinging movement, and not being able to go all out on it turns me off to freestanding bags. I'm looking into this bag... http://outslayer.com/0utslayerbodybaggrapplingdummy100lbs-p-727.html Anyone use this or something similar? It seems like it would combine what I liked most about the BOB, yet not have the shortcomings of it. I'd like to throw rising elbow strikes and uppercuts, which I've never liked doing on traditional heavy bags. I'm just not sure if this gives me everything a traditional heavy does. I can see it being a love it or hate it thing. Shipping a 150lb bag from NY back to CA isn't something that I'm looking to do if it doesn't work out. I've never seen anything similar to play around with. Or am I better off with a Muay Thai bag and forgo the 2 strikes that won't make up anywhere near the bulk of my training. Actually, I think I just answered that one lol. Anyone have experience with Outslayer bags? They're expensive, but I'd rather pay double what other bags cost and get the right one rather than buy something cheap that I hate and won't use. I want a Muay Thai bag to practice pretty much head to toe level strikes. I hated not being able to throw a calf to mid thigh height kick in a combo with the BOB bag. Saw some Kyokushin combos on a training video that I'd love to practice full force and full speed.

I was an assistant instructor my first time around. My sensei took my class on a few occasions. It was interesting. My first class with him attending, a student asked a question that I couldn't answer. I looked over to him, and he just shrugged his shoulders and went on as just another student in class. He wanted to see if I'd make something up or admit I didn't know. I told the student "I don't know, but I'll find out when Sensei is available and let you know." When he first walked in the first time, I thought he was going to teach, so I moved into my place in line. He said "what are you doing? Its your class; I'm just another student taking class today." Talk about a self-confidence check! It's always nerve-wracking when you're "teaching" people who know more than you. My CPR instructor certificate course was similar. I was the only non-EMT in the course. And of course, I was the first one to teach the class. It's a situation where everyone knows if you don't fully know what you're talking about.

Wrong time of year for me too. I'm a school teacher. Taking a few days or even a week off at the end of the year isn't going to happen. Too many important things to prepare for and wrap up. No ones mentioned how much it costs either. I'll probably head down for the weekend and stay in a hotel for a night. It's a 2 hour drive for me, so it's manageable. A lot of people from my dojo want to go, but no one knows what it'll cost. I'm sure several people will do what I'm planning on doing.

Being the son of a mechanic, one thing my father taught me was always have the right tool for the job. The best tool in the world won't do anything for you when it doesn't fit its application. Along with what sensei8 said, the knife hand to the neck can be more accurate than a punch, as it could fit the target better. When starting out, punches will be the strongest techniques and feel best to you. This is because they're a more natural strike to people who haven't trained them much, if at all. The best way to make these techniques more natural, fluid, and stronger is to practice them. Practice them in the air, against a minimally resisting partner in situation drills, and hit a bag or pad with them. Then add the complexity - working to fully resisting opponent and full force of a heavy bag. This is true of any technique, be it hands, elbows, knees, kicks, head-butts, and anything else I'm forgetting. Power comes from technique and progressive resistance. Progressive resistance being what you're striking - partners and surfaces like pads and heavy bags. A knife hand strike to the throat will do far more damage than a punch to it, when all things are equal, due to smaller surface area. Same principle as the following - if I stand on the instep of your foot with all my weight while wearing sneakers, it won't bother you. If I was wearing high heels, it would inflict some serious pain. All that being said, don't hit partners full force with a knife hand strike in the neck or throat, please.

This is a very nice way of describing the ranking system; short, solid, and to the point. JR 137 wrote: AND... Kanku65 wrote: I've seen them both ways myself across the wild and wide sea of the MA. Albeit, the highest ranked is most often up front and center; that position isn't lining up at all, for some obvious reason. However, in rare occasions, I've seen the highest ranked line up, in that, far left of the Shomen. Insomuch, I've also seen, and I've done this several times, the highest ranked will sit in the far right rear of the Shomen, or in the very back behind the last line. The highest rank doesn't always run the class. At my former school, we had a noon class twice a week run by a Nidan. There was a godan and yondan who frequented the class. I always wondered how she truly felt about "teaching" people with significantly higher rank, experience and ability. It was a class focused on kumite and conditioning. I miss those guys beating up on me (in a good way). During the summer, those were the classes that you could wring your gi out after you were done. The daytime classes were more of workout classes, while the evening classes were more instructional.

To be totally honest, I think boxing would probably be the most effective street SD. In all my years of bartending and frequenting bars that had a lot of fights inside and outside, I only saw a handful of fights go to the ground. And it was always a bigger guy grounding and pounding a smaller guy. And every time that happened, the guy on top got either a bottle or knee/foot to the back of the head or ribs. Punching fast and hard, and knowing how to move out of the way of haymakers will win 99% of the time IMO. Then again, adding MA hand/elbow strikes and knees/kicks can only help if done right. I haven't frequented those establishments in 10 years or so, so maybe the bar fighting scene has changed. Highly doubt it's changed that much though.

Joko Ninomiya was no joke back in the day. Sorry, couldn't help it. Kyokushin and the like not throwing head/face punches is a common myth. They don't throw them in competition, which isn't 100% of Kyokushin. From my understanding of Kyokushin, the reason head punches aren't allowed in competition is that during bare knuckle fighting, it's too easy to KO and injure your opponent and injure yourself. A lot of Kyokushin schools nowadays will put on boxing-type gloves and head gear and train with head punches allowed. I really like Enshin's circular movement (Sabaki), throws and locks. On paper and in videos it seems like a complete art. I don't have one anywhere near me to find out. I wish Seido had throws. From what I've heard, my CI has a judoka friend come in every now and then to teach some stuff. The honbu has Judo seminars once or twice a year as well. hasn't happened in the 6 months or so I've been involved. I'm not a big fan of ground fighting. I've got personal and coaching experience with wrestling, so I'm comfortable with defending myself from it. But on the ground grappling with an attacker is easily the last place I want to be. How do you run when you see your attackers buddies coming? How do you avoid them stomping on you? At least you've got a chance of getting away or picking something up when you're on your feet. I think the best place to be in an SD situation is me on my feet, and my opponent on the ground. Throwing him there or knocking him down doesn't matter, so long as he's down.

I'm not sure if it was stolen from Judo. Jigoro Kano and Gichen Funakoshi worked together to introduce karate to Japanese schools and society in general. Judo stealing it from swimming is another conversation, of which I have no knowledge of other than I heard Kano based his belts on it. Another interesting belt tidbit. I read somewhere, I believe it was Gogen Yamaguchi (one of Chojun Miyagi's original students) who said Chojun Miyagi (founder of Goju Ryu karate) never issued a belt. He was awarded his black belt by the emperor of Japan, and felt that only the emperor could issue them. After his death, his top students ranked him as 10th dan, and ranked each other at lesser dan. Can't remember where I read that one though.

I saw somewhere in a thread a person said they pass by a few dojos on their way to where they train. Got me thinking, and counting. I pass by 3 MA schools on my way to the dojo in my 6 mile commute from home. If I went directly from work, it would be 6 in about 15 miles (I'd have to drive by my house, so it's not like 6 new ones). Two of those have multiple arts taught by different CIs under the same roof. If I go a few blocks off my main routes or a block or two passed a turn, there's several more. If I go a different, almost the same mileage route, again, there's more. I got lucky when the best dojo I could find that fit my criteria was only 6 miles away! I guess it's some sort of tribute/testament/can't think of the right word here to my dojo to drive by others ones on my way to train.

Interesting. Every dojo I've seen has the most senior ranks on the right. Not that either way is correct or wrong, of course.

As long as you're not using fake Asian accents, stereotypical absurd sounds and the like, I don't see a problem. I teach middle school science. I do a review game I call Grandmaster. Two students in the front seats, the rest behind them. All students have dry erase boards. First student in the front to write the correct answer stays up front, and the other one goes in the back. Every time the student "beats" another student, they move up a belt rank. Students are awarded Grandmaster when they beat every other student in the class without losing. Once they lose, they're back to white belt. The kids love it. Only thing is, they sometimes argue the order of belt colors. I go Seido karate belt order. The kids who take/took Tae Kwon Do give me a hard time about colors and order. Karate Grandmasters typically wear a red belt, whereas red belt is a rank below black belt in TKD.

I've never been asked why I wasn't there. When I joined my current dojo, I asked my CI what was expected, attendance-wise. He said "come as often as you want, or as little as you want; it's your training, it's your money." My last sensei was along the same lines. The dojo was there a long time before I was, and will be around when I'm gone. The world and the dojo doesn't stand still when I'm not there.

The first thing that stood out when I first saw him was how small of a guy he is. I'm 5'8, for reference.

I haven't been to the honbu or Johshin Honzan (Westchester dojo), but plan on going in the near future. I met him at the Go-En preview workout a few weeks ago. I introduced myself after the workout and told him who my CI was. He told a classmate to take a pic, and when he noticed I wasn't smiling, he yells out "Hey Shuseki Shihan Don, JR says he's going to take over your dojo when you're dead!" I had this 'what did he just say?' laugh on my face. He then turns and says "Got you to smile."