JR 137

A few questions... What do you mean by European cut? Basically like slim fit in regular clothes? How heavy do you want it? 10 oz, 12 oz, 14 oz? How much do you want to spend? I highly doubt you’re going to find an elastic waist in anything better than the free with signing up type uniforms. Heavier weight gis’ material gets pretty thick. Elastic in the waistband would get really uncomfortable.

A judge has finally used common sense and ruled that the NYS ban on nunchucku is unconstitutional under the 2nd amendment. I’d say more, but the article puts it far better than I ever could. As a side note, I admire the the plaintiff’s zeal. Spending the time, energy, and money on something like that isn’t something I’d be up for for something as relatively trivial as nunchucku. I wonder what precedent this will set with other banned weapons such as butterfly knives, switchblades, brass knuckles or batons? Common sense would tell you a butterfly knife or switchblade is no different than a traditional knife. Legal things such as baseball bats and golf clubs would easily do more damage to an individual and more damage to a crowd of people than brass knuckles or batons would. The judge also speaks of the history of the ban and how it’s just not justifiable. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/nyregion/nunchuks-ban-overturned-new-york.amp.html Edit: this was a federal judge. I wonder what happens in California, Arizona and Massachusetts who also have a state nunchucku ban. I’m assuming someone has to get arrested and/or denied sale wholesale of them in those states, then cite the ruling?

I didn’t watch it, but stretching to tearing isn’t good. At all. I’m going on 18 years of sports medicine BTW.

Welcome to the forum, alen. Don’t worry about your English. I grew up speaking English and Armenian, and my parents say I don’t speak either one properly Honestly, I don’t think any specific exercises are going to be very helpful. Different activities stress different muscles differently. Your best bet is to practice the movements. Don’t force yourself to go too far stretching wise, and don’t put too much power into it. Ease into the new movements; stay comfortable with them. The pain will reduce and your technique will sharpen up. As far as signing up because you signed up your little one, a lot of people start off that way. It’s a great way to bond with your child and it’ll benefit both of you individually as well. Congratulations on starting back up again. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been; it only matters that you’re back.

It could be. I don’t own Shureido nunchucku, but I’ve seen them and other wooden Shureido weapons many times. I owned a bo as well. They may have changed things, but I’m pretty sure Shureido and kanji should be etched/burned into the butt end of at least one side. I’ve seen that on everything wooden - bo, tonfa, kama, eaku, etc. It’s been a while since I’ve handled Shureido weapons, so I’m not telling you 100% yes they all have it though. Edit: looking at pictures in this thread, I don’t se the logo at the bottom. Every other wooden piece has it but the nunchucku. Perhaps PM struggling mudansha (the thread starter) and ask him if he can help identify them. https://www.karateforums.com/shureido-product-vt51404.html

Congratulations!

I don’t think a dojo should be looked at any differently that any other small business. My father owns an auto repair shop. He invested his own money into it. He’s never had more than two employees under him. He should be able to pick and choose who he does business with. If he wants to, be should be able to put up a sign saying “whites only” “men only” or anything else like that. Why? It’s his business and his investment. If he chooses to turn people down, it’ll catch up with him. Financially and socially. He’ll suffer the consequences. He’s not getting government funding. If a lending institution doesn’t agree with his policies, they don’t have to give him a dime. For the record, my father doesn’t have any racist nor sexist policies. Nor is he a racist. It’s just an extreme example. A dojo owner should be able to turn down anyone they choose. For whatever reason they choose. If the owner gets out of line with this, people will leave and/or stop coming. Simple as that. We don’t really need a whole philosophical debate as to the nature of why or why not, do we? And if a dojo owner is smart, they’ll get rid of the problem causers. Philosophical opinions aside, it’s simply not good for business. Why keep people around who are going to drive out others?

Another thought that’s a bit different that my previous post and what’s already been said by others... Lately when I compete, I don’t have the mentality of having to beat my opponent(s). I have the mentality that all I need to do is do better than I thought I could. I can’t control the level of competition. Some tournaments have a very low talent pool, others have a very deep and high talent pool. I can’t control who I’m put up against and I certainly can’t control what the judges see and feel. All I can do is go out there and try to outdo my own expectations and let the scoreboard take care of itself. I’ve beaten some people who were awful. I’ve been beaten by some people who were way out of my league. Not just in MA but in every sport I’ve competed in. The wins against bums didn’t do much for me. The losses against people obviously better than me where I actually gave them a run and did better than I thought I could do were always far more rewarding. Forget about beating everyone else. Just try to beat your own expectations.

I just came across this article from Men’s Health. https://www.menshealth.com/health/a26133512/stay-calm-under-pressure-deal-with-nerves/?src=nl&source=nl&utm_source=nl_mnl&utm_medium=email&date=020419&utm_campaign=15910171 The beginning doesn’t apply much, but the end is where I found it very useful if you look at it the right way: think about it as your championship to keep rather than trying to win it. As funny as it sounds, I see this in hindsight thinking about job interviews over the years. The ones where I felt like it was my job to lose rather than “win” I did far better and was offered the position practically every time. I was far more comfortable and was able to just be myself without feeling like I was selling myself. The times I didn’t have that mentality, I left feeling like I messed up and was sure I wasn’t getting an offer. I was right all but once or twice at most. Feel like the win is yours to keep rather than feeling like you’re fighting for it.

Does a sweep count as a kick in this thread?

I came to write this indeed, I could never dare use a high kick in a street fight, well, I guess I'd use no kicks at all. If I am blocked or gotten by the leg, I would be in deep trouble. Therefore I would go by punches or elbow strikes-face is a smaller target, so I would try a hit in the stomach. Grapplers are really dangerous when they -grapple, but punches are always faster. Even against a pure striker, my rule is punch above my own waist and kick below my own waist. That doesn’t mean don’t punch below or kick above theirs. By all means, kick him in the head if he’s down. Edit: that’s a true SD situation with no option but to keep fighting.

Thanks for the write-ups, Brian. I always enjoy them. I guess you guys start your school’s regular season later than we do in NYS. I covered wrestling almost exclusively this season as an athletic trainer at my friend’s high school. We’ve got one more away dual meet, then post-season starts. I kept seeing “headlock” as a difficult issue for your sons, particularly Kendall. Some advice, if you don’t mind... The head and arm throw is one of the easiest throws to counter, provided you know how. Easiest way (other than not tying up ) is a duck-under. When the opponent initiates the throw, close the distance and duck under the arm as he’s turning and putting it around Kendall’s head. It’s a timing, feeling the opponent, and body positioning thing. I wish I could link to some good videos, but I can’t find any. Another counter is to shift your weight in front of him as he’s turning for the throw. As he’s turning, try to stay chest to chest but lower, in a sense. Or blocking them with your hips. Video (principle is the same regardless of type of tie-up): Last way, if they complete the throw, is to roll through it. Arms around your opponent and use your momentum to keep rolling. Video:

IMO you really should start preparing yourself long before a tournament/competition. The last few days leading up to it are important, but they should physically be the easiest/lightest days. I’ll use my own personal experience here. I’ve never knew my competition well enough to study film and make a detailed game plan. The simplest answer is one should be addressing their own weaknesses first and foremost during preparation. Further developing your strengths is obviously a good thing, but IMO people focus too much on what they’re good at vs what their true weaknesses are. They want to compensate for their weaknesses more than try to improve on them. Too many people focus on say punching because they have the mentality that their kicks aren’t going to improve enough to be effective. Or they don’t want to address footwork because they’re not going to see results quickly enough. The mentality should be at least get your weaknesses to the point of them not being a liability; at least get them to an acceptable functional level. People like to do what they’re good at vs doing what’s difficult for them. That’s true of practically everything in life, not just MA. The law few days, I rest. I’ll do a good warmup and stretch, do some slow technical stuff, but that’s about it. Just enough to keep my mind and body sharp. No one’s going to get stronger, faster, nor appreciably better in a few days. I’ve noticed the quickest thing people lose is the reaction and timing. Keep fresh with those, and take it easy with everything thing else.

I’m glad it’s working out for you. If you’re enjoying it and benefiting from it, keep at it. No sense in trying to fix what isn’t broken. Only advice is to not count on friends and your husband to join. So many people say they want to or will say they’ll think about it just to humor you. It’ll be great if they do, but from personal experience, don’t hold your breath.

Define low. Below the belt? Below the knee? Either way, the answer is absolutely. Watch some Kyokushin competition videos on YouTube and the like. You’ll see plenty of low roundhouse kicks, aka gedan mawashi geri. Better yet, watch Hajime Kazumi in Kyokushin competition. He threw the gedan mawashi geri like no one else; seemingly everything was was started with it. Outside the thigh and inside the thigh.

Happy birthday, Brian!

I'm a school teacher, not an MA teacher, but I think there's a ton of parallels, so here's my insight... As has been said, everyone exhibits symptoms of burnout differently. And people get burnt out for different reasons. In my field, it can be administration, the parents, the whole tenure process (in states and locales where this is applicable), the pay and seeming no respect for what it is you do, and the students' attitudes and behaviors. Its typically a combination of things and not any one single thing. And when burnout is setting in, the issues that didn't seem like issues become bigger. The smaller things become much larger. You stop seeing the upsides and perseverate on the negatives. You no longer have that passion and love for the profession. Part of this can be due to it simply being not the new and exciting thing anymore; you've lost your rose-tinted glasses. Part of it could be you didn't truly realize the daily ins and outs of the profession. Part of it could also be that you feel like you're not moving up the ladder as quickly as you wanted to. I'm going through burnout at my job right now. My reasons are I'm not teaching what I truly intended to teach, I'm stuck in a pay rate that's never going to catch up with what comparable teachers are earning in a public setting, and there's no genuine promotion to be had; I've hit the proverbial glass ceiling. While this should have no bearing how I should go about my responsibilities to my students, at the end of the day it does impact my job performance. I try my best not to let it show, but people who I've worked with for several years can see it. New people don't. It kills me, but it is what it is. I'm genuinely trying my best to not make this about me; rather I'm trying to show you I'm burned out and why. I didn't see you actually identify why you're feeling burned out. If you can identify some reasons why, it'll help you start to determine what it is you need to do. It'll also help others give you some advice. Just some thoughts.

Just got a new camera a few days ago - Canon 6D. Got it for pretty cheap too (relatively speaking), as it’s been discontinued for over a year now. I had it shipped to my work so it wouldn’t sit on the porch begging to be taken. Of course I had to play around with it, and when a coworker came into my classroom, of course I had to tell her what aperature is and how you can’t get that shallo depth of field with a point and shoot camera. Then I had to take a test photo and show her what I was talking about. As an added bonus, it came with a free Lightroom 6 DVD (THE photo editing software). And I had to show a different coworker what that was all about Yeah, completely un-MA like.

Welcome back, Joe. Glad to see you again. And thanks for sharing all you have shared with us.

The only two traditional weapons I’ve trained are the bo and nunchucku. I really like the nunchucku at first but I got bored with it relatively quickly. I loved the bo. I say loved because I haven’t used one in quite some time. My organization doesn’t do kobudo until shodan. Two that have always fascinated me (since I first saw them anyway) are the eku (oar) and the naginata. I’ve seen a handful of eku kata (though I’ve seen them many times) and have always been impressed. I’ve seen a few naginata katas in videos but haven’t seen anyone use the weapon in person.

You reminded me of what many athletic trainers’ wives typically say - “When are you going to get a real job?” Many of our wives thought we hung out and clowned around all day in the training room, then hung out and watched a game in the afternoon/evening. And it’s not that far off. Yes it certainly was work, but there was a ton of clowning around. And I was a pretty good ringleader One bight when my wife asked me “When are you going to get a real job?” it was like the clouds parted and a devine voice whispered in my ear, and I replied “When they pay me with Monopoly money instead of the real money they’re currently paying me with.” And it was done. I told my boss at the time my revelation. He said “why in 28 years did I never come up with that?” As chance would have it, he got to use that reply that same night. And he was proud of himself. While it’s a comical story, it’s actually true. If you’re getting paid, it’s a real job. Doesn’t matter what it is. A local guy started his own business when that whole banking collapse happened a while back. He got laid off as a head of IT at a local branch of national health insurance company. His new business? He cleaned up dog doo-doo in people’s back yards. Seriously. Real job? He got paid. He got paid enough to stop foreclosure on his house, stay out of bankruptcy, and feed his kids. I’d surely call anything that pays the bills a real job. MA teacher easily included.

2019 goals... 1. Be done with the disc issue that’s kept me off the floor since October. 2. Test for shodan* *By test for shodan, I mean being truly ready - drop weight, be stronger and more flexible. I’ve got the mental part. I just need to sharpen up and get into the physically grueling test shape.

Just change the “Fat Cobra” to “Phat Cobra” and it’ll be a smooth transition

Accomplished 1 and 3. 2, well, not consistently as I’d like to have, so it’s a no.

It’s all about shrinking it a little bit at a time. I’ll usually do a medium temperature wash and medium temperature dry. I’ll try it on after each wash & dry to see where it’s at. I’ll usually stop before it fits right so I have some room for that last little bit that typically occurs over the years. When I get it to that ~ 90% point, I only wash cold and line dry afterward. Note - I buy a full size larger than I need. My current favorite - Shureido K-11 (100% cotton) shrinks quite a bit until it settles in. Somehow, the magic number has been 4 warm wash and dry cycles with that gi (I own 2). Other brand gis I’ve owned have been less. The K-11 and a few other gis stopped shrinking after I started washing cold and line drying; one or two kept shrinking even though they were cold wash and line dry. I guess different gis behave differently. Note 2 - Cotton/polyester blends won’t shrink nearly as much. I haven’t owned a blended gi since my first “free with signing up” gi, but every piece of blended or pure polyester clothing I’ve ever owned shrunk minimally if at all.