JR 137

How do I say this... Yes, the proof is on the floor, but you've proven your floor worthiness over the decades you've been on it. It's not like you've only been at it for a few weeks/months/years. A great martial artist always adapts, so adapt! That adaptation could be you visiting dojos and running a seminar/clinic, having an assistant demonstrate while you're the one who actually runs the class and sets the curriculum, or you could strictly be the keeper of the organization and dedicate all your time to ensuring the branch dojos are teaching the right thing and training the branch chiefs in the teaching methods you've acquired over your career. Not being on the floor full time isn't the end; it's the beginning of a new chapter, or just a change. I don't know you personally, but I'd bet a ton of money that there's no way you can stay away for any length of time. It's in your blood. Play the cards you've been dealt. You may struggle a bit at first, just like when you first started training. It's really not that much different now.

Wait, you mean there's unethical people in the martial arts who'd inflate their own rank and pad their resumes just to make some money? I never saw that one coming. How did you get to your half of all high ranking black belts are self promoted estimate? And so what if they are? If they're teaching you something that's valuable to you and aren't overcharging you for it, what difference does it make if they claim white belt or 1 millionth dan? The information isn't different.

The head of the org doesn't have to teach. It helps, but it's not a requirement in the right circumstances. For someone like you who's taught for however many years now, it's not like you're out of touch with what goes on. It may be a great change for you. Every now and again, we need to step back and see the big picture so the little picture we've been accustomed to seeing makes more sense. Your mentor(s) left you in charge for a reason (I'm pretty sure you said they did). They trusted the org in your hands and knew you'd carry the torch the way they felt it was supposed to be. If you're not teaching, you'll have more time to dedicate to this. You'll have more time to fix whatever needs to be fixed.

Very good post. My wife has expressed interest, but I honestly wonder how long it would last. She'd be far better off doing some cardio kickboxing where you pay per class or at the local Y. If I know her as well as I think I do anyway. Nothing wrong with having different interests at all. It's fun to share stuff that's important, but you can't force it.

If it was sociably acceptable, I'd drape myself in velvet.

A lot of your techniques looked like a sweep would be a good follow up too. I'm a big fan of elbows, knees and sweeps. I'd much rather throw those instead of the standard punch and kick. Maybe it's the way I'm built, but I can generate a lot more power with elbows and knees. Obviously everything is range dependent.

Here I was thinking "yet another bunkai video." This one really got my attention. It's a no nonsense, simple and direct approach to bunkai IMO. Too many people try too hard and go overboard, making each move several steps long. Your stuff seems like it gives an attacker minimal time and opportunity to counter. And it's good to see someone working off of hook punches/haymakers instead of the standard middle reverse punch from zenkutsu dachi that you never see in real life. How about adding some knee strikes in there as well? You're in perfect range. I know it may not fit the kata exactly, but the point is to use the kata as a base, not adhere to it so strictly IMO. Also, which kata were you using?

I don't treat it as a sport either. I competed in a few tournaments my first time around. My sensei was positive about them, as he looked at them as a good way to change things up. We competed in 2 per year, both were AAU tourneys. He held a 2 hour tournament training class on Saturdays after regular classes for about 2 months before the first tournament. my favorite parts of the class were the kata and conditioning. It was pretty cool how we video taped ourselves at the beginning, middle and end and seeing the progress. Truth be told, I don't think he cared much for the tournament itself; it was all about our progress and us having fun with it. Everyone was treated the same afterward, regardless of the outcome, and it was business as usual during regular classes. Not sure if he still does this. He closed the dojo I attended and solely teaches out of his other dojo, which is about an hour's drive away from me. He's left the former organization and is on his own. Reminds me to shoot him an email to say hi.

My wife expressed some interest when I was looking into schools around February, but hasn't followed through. I brought it up once or twice since I joined, but didn't push. She's told me sometime in the future every time. The more I think about it, the more I'm happy with her not training. It's a purely selfish thing, in which I'm not happy with myself, but it is what it is. As I posted in the Why do you train thread, the dojo is the only place I've got that I can completely isolate myself from everything that goes on at home and work. My 4 year old daughter goes to school where I teach, and my 2 year old will start the pre-k 3 program there this fall. I love my daughters and wife more than anything in the world, but is an hour or so 2-3 times a week too much to ask for? I'll try to get her to train when the girls are old enough to join my dojo. It would be pretty cool for the 4 of us to train together.

Thanks for sharing that; great points to absorb. As chance would have it, I spoke more to him about it on Saturday, as it was his son's graduation party. He trained in the late 60s to 1980, when he came here. They did the spinning and jumping kicks (not to the extreme of today's stuff) in line drills and the like, but not during sparring. He said they did them for exercise, coordination, and flexibility benefits. They weren't looked at as combative techniques at all. They didn't wear the heavy chest protectors either. They basically wore what most karate schools wear today. They kicked high at long range, and threw lower kicks, knees and hand/elbow stuff at close range. Taking TKD here around 2000-2002, he said no one in the dojang (correct Korean spelling?) threw punches because they said punches don't score points. His mentality of "I'm not here to score points" was why he left. I don't know what goes on in places other than my immediate area and places where I've lived, but this is what I've seen from every TKD school I've visited. I'm not bashing TKD as a whole, because in college, I worked out with a few TKD guys who didn't go to sport TKD schools. What they said and how they sparred are along the lines of my family's experience. Maybe it's just where I am and have been.

I try to train more. I use to work at colleges, and now I work at a middle school, so I've got summer breaks. My 2 year old and 4 year old daughters occupy a lot of my time (no complaints at all!), but I get some extra time in the summer. I'm going away for two weeks this summer and am trying to find a Seido dojo to get in at least once or twice, but I don't think it's going to happen.

I appreciate the intent too. I don't clean it unless I have to. But you gotta do what you gotta do. I didn't feel like my hard work was all for naught when I cleaned it. Maybe people nowadays are opposed to washing a belt, especially a black belt, because it quickens the aged look of the belt? Maybe that's how they're getting that frayed and faded look so quickly

Reportedly, in the "old days" it was first demonstrated on animals to be slaughtered. When that wasn't good enough, they did it on death row inmates. Reportedly. I think that was in Bubishi by Patrick McCarthy. Could be wrong, it was a while ago. Jean Claude VanDamme demonstrated it on a stack of bricks in Bloodsport.

I'd like to know as well. I hate these threads that leave me hanging.

I like what you said about not all BBs are good teachers, admins, etc. Definitely true. Higher rank doesn't make a better teacher or admin. There's a reason why Michael Jordan isn't a head coach and Phil Jackson is arguably the best head coach of all time in the NBA. Being a great athlete, a great coach, and a great admin are all different things. Same thing with BBs. I've met some excellent practicioners who aren't very good teachers, and some relatively decent practicioners who are great teachers. It's all about conveying the knowledge and being able to correct/improve students. I think the best practicioners and athletes have a difficult time with teaching/coaching because things come so easy to them that they have a hard time with not saying "how can you not do this? It's easy!" CIs can have the tendency to think just because they can run a very successful dojo means they can run an entire organization. They've been successful at the small picture and think the big picture is more of the same. I see this all the time with my colleagues (school teachers). They think that because they can run a great classroom means they can run an entire school. Running a school means dealing with teachers and other employees, parents, higher admin, and a school board. Running a classroom of even 30 kids is a cakewalk compared to angry adults. Running one or even two dojos is probably a cakewalk compared to dealing with the problems of an organization as a whole. I'd imagine you have to put out a lot of fires. It's far easier to ask a student or two to leave your dojo vs asking a CI and subsequently all of their students to leave. Sorry if I'm rambling.

Thanks, Luther. I'm not exactly sure why I'm indifferent to my rank. I don't know if it's because I've "been there, done that" before, or if it's because I'm 39, and I was 19-25 during my first stint. The only thing I'm sure of is that I truly appreciate the process this time around, whereas I was just after results last time. I also feel so much better this time around. I don't have the speed or flexibility I had before, but for some reason I feel stronger, sharper, and far smarter. I was in far better shape in my college days. I can easily see my mistakes now especially when sparring; I know when I could have taken a very hard shot if my partner didn't hold back, whereas before I was all about what I did right. I'm about consciously making myself better. I force myself to do things I'm uncomfortable with, whereas I used to constantly go to what I was good at, I guess in an attempt to cover up my short comings. I guess it's more maturity than anything else. I don't care who's better or worse than me, I just want to outdo myself. I'm really looking forward to taking my black belt test, whenever that'll be. Having Tadashi Nakamura put me through the paces should be a great time. I'm definitely in no rush to get there, but it's the experience and not the "I'm a black belt now" that I'm after. I'm going to try to get down to the honbu in NYC (about 2.5 hrs away) a few times beforehand. Classmates make regular trips, I just have to fit it into my schedule somehow.

I used to clean my black belt with a wet washcloth. It would get sweat stains in it - dried up salt that made it look like I rolled around in white dust. When it first started showing, about a month after I earned my shodan, my sensei thought I was doing something to my belt to make it look like it was old and worn. I told him what it was and that I thought we weren't supposed to wash our belts. He said "just clean it, please." I had no problem with that. People take the metaphor of washing away your hard work too seriously.

Anecdotal, not scientific... I've found most often that tall and thin guys like to keep you at an outside range, where their fists and feet reach you without you being able to reach them. They hate when you get up close. Tall big guys like to keep it a lot closer and make you carry their weight, so to speak. They have not problem keeping you back, and no problem keeping you in either. The best advice is to know your opponent. Figure out what he isn't comfortable with and stick to it. With tall big guys, you've got to get in and get out. Angles too. Chop them down. Throw a few well placed shots, get out of range, repeat. Tall thin guys who hate you being up close get jammed pretty easily, but you've got to get in quick and be able to withstand some shots. Sounds so much easier than it really is. Being 5'8 and pretty much always being the short guy in the dojo has taught me this much.

Exactly. Put Dillman's top students in an MMA bout. Doesn't have to be UFC level or the like; actually I'd like to see them in a local circuit amatuer match. Put them against a striker so the excuse isn't that they got taken to the mat before they could employ their techniques, real fights don't go to the ground very often, etc. Then see the excuses. Kind of like when Dillman tried the no-touch KO on the psychologist. Pressure points have their place. There's anatomical weakness throughout the body. Certain areas are far more sensitive to pressure, rubbing, etc. than others. No doubt they can help. But the concept of knocking someone unconscious with light touches is ridiculous. My previous dojo had a Japanese ju-jutsu sandan come into work out with us. He was into kyusho. He tried knocking us out demonstrating it. Maybe a 1/3 success rate. He grabbed my arm and tapped my neck. Tried several times It didn't feel good and would have hurt more with some force, but nothing like Dillman's claims happened. Wouldn't have knocked me out if it was full force either. He'd have been far better off keeping the arm lock and throwing me. We learned some good stuff from him. I discarded the nonsense.

i didn't learn any martial arts. i am just a fun about it. i just want to say, dim mak is real, it still exist in China. You have an awful lot to say and prove for someone who "didn't learn any martial arts." Unless you've personally used it or have had it demonstrated on you, you have little credibility. Please learn it for yourself, then come tell us what we're doing wrong. I have no problem with people who've got differing views than I do. That what makes this world so interesting and in fact makes us all learn more. I have a problem with people touting things as fact who admit they have zero personal experience with it. i am a fan about Dim Mak. even i had no any experience about it. but i search lots of Videos, i read lots of articles, also news, papers, articles by the website. because these videos made me sure the Dim Mak are the real kung fu. there are also two experiment and science research about the Dim Mak. Even i didn't experience it, from all of these materials , i had know dim mak is the real. i am not that stubborn, i can judge what is real, what is fake. There's a big difference between what you see in a video and in books, and real life. Videos get edited. Not sure if you've ever heard of George Dillman. He's a kyusho "Grandmaster." He's written many books, conducted "research" and made many videos. He's recently been demonstrating no-touch knockouts. Before his no-touch knockout days, several people I trained with went to a few of his seminars. The videos show his techniques of light touch knockouts working every time. At the seminars, they work maybe 2/3 of the time. There's people at the seminars that they don't work on at all. Those never get put on video or in books. His reasoning for why - some people are skeptics, they must have done something to counter his chi, etc. It's nonsense. There are places on the body that will produce knockouts far easier than others. But light touch isn't going to do it. Hitting someone or rubbing their arm or leg or torso the right way isn't going to render someone unconscious. The only way that works is through a form of hypnosis. The person believes it'll knock them out, and therefore it does. If this stuff really worked as reliably as the "masters" claim it does, every police officer, prison guard, and military person would be throughly trained in it, even if it took a few years to become effective in it. If it really worked every time (after enough training), everyone with any interest in self defense would train in it. If it really worked every time, every professional fighter would learn it and use it. Professional fighters have challenged dim mak and kyusho masters countless times. I haven't seen a single report of the professional fighter losing. I'm not saying the masters are frauds. I think many of them genuinely believe in what they're teaching. I'm saying their students are being hypnotized without the teachers or students truly realizing it. Much in the same way placebo drugs can be almost as effective (sometimes more effective) than the real drug. Go out and study it for yourself instead of reading about it or watching it.

Promoted to yellow belt Wednesday night. Yellow belt is 6th kyu in Seido, as go white-blue-yellow-green-brown-black, with an "advanced" belt between colored belts. It was a great experience. My CI pushed me out of my comfort zone, I gave it my all, and I did better than I thought I could. That was what I was truly after. I really look forward to the tests; the outcome isn't any big deal any more. My CI really made me feel great at the closing of the test (class for everyone else) when he said (paraphrasing somewhat) "I'm very proud of the way you've handled yourself every day thus far. Very, very few people are willing to go from being a black belt to completely starting over again as a white belt and go through all the material and ranks again. You've been very graceful in it, and everyone at the dojo can learn from the example you're setting." I wasn't expecting him to go there. My previous system's founder was a former Seido sensei who started his own organization. Being in Seido currently, a lot of the syllabus is the same, but there's more material I'm responsible for at each rank. I wonder why my former organization cut out the stuff they did; the syllabus is far better with it.

I struggle with high roundhouse kicks. I can get them up there, but there's not much power behind it. I'll throw it during sparring so I can improve, but I don't see myself throwing it at the head during self defense. My preference is at thigh height or lower. Side of the lower legs makes a great strike and sweep at the same time. My dojo teaches instep, but I'm all about the lower shin in the roundhouse. So much more striking force for me. Instep for head height though. In sparring, I'll throw a roundhouse at low thigh height then one at head height without touching down. Haven't tried it in a real situation and don't see myself doing it any time soon. In self defense, the ribs are the absolute highest I'll go, as a counter to an over swung punch maybe. Shin as the weapon, getting that solid "thud" I can't get with the instep. I'm far more effective with inside-out crescent kicks and hook kicks to the head than the roundhouse. Just the way I'm built, I guess. Doesn't keep me from trying the roundhouse in sparring though. That's the only way to get better.

I'm across the pond in the US, so I'm not going to be much help, however I'm sure you'll be asked if you're looking for full-contact/knockdown tourneys or point fighting. Kata, kumite or both? Although all tourneys I know of do both.

Viewing your videos, I agree that you need to relax a bit more. Let the fight come to you a bit more rather than bringing it every time. There's a balance between attacking and defending/countering that only experience will teach. The biggest suggestion I can make, technique-wise is that you seem to often lunge at your opponent with both hands at the same time. You got scored on several times when you did this. I'm pretty sure you're trying to throw combos of punches, but try to finish one punch before starting the next one. When you throw both fists out at the same time, you left your stomach open for a counter, which both opponents took advantage of. Had you not jumped in like that, the first match would have been dramatically different IMO. You didn't do it as often the second match, but your opponent didn't seem to give you as many chances to do it either. From a person who doesn't know you's point of view, work on one hand punching while the other is covering up. Definitely throw combos and alternate hands, but one at a time. The speed and technique will come with practice. Again, don't be too hard on yourself. You've barely started competing. It takes a while to find a rythym. And once you find a good, solid rythym, you'll have to change it up so you're not predictable. Only experience can teach you your best rythym and sharpen your technique. Keep at it!

I don't speak Japanese, but I'm assuming just like every other language I speak (Armenian and semi-fluent Spanish), context is everything. Do you think Japanese born and raised karate teachers would have their students yell "Yo!" when commanding attention from their class? Yo! may be one way it's used, and even just about the only way outside a dojo, but definitely not in a dojo where respect and etiquette are of utmost importance. Some find it disrespectful or derogatory, others use it differently. Like the expression goes - ...when in Rome...