JR 137

Congratulations, JazzKicker!

Happy holidays to you and your family, Patrick; and to the KF community as a whole.

Congratulations to everyone nominated and those who won. A sincere thank you for the votes for me. I honestly didn’t see it coming and am quite surprised, thankful, and humbled by it.

Yeah, but the patches and embroidery might make people stay longer to avoid getting a new gi

I’m going to answer this as a student... Actually, the first thing that jumped out at me, and very loudly jumped out at me, was why were they even talking during class to begin with? Shouldn’t questions that have nothing to do with what’s going on on the floor wait until after class? If I saw my teacher somewhere... anywhere... I wouldn’t ask about it during class time. Once class starts, it’s time to focus on MA and leave the rest of the world behind. But I digress... As a MA student, I don’t care what my teacher’s political beliefs are, nor do I care what anyone else’s are, inside or even outside the dojo. We’ve (meaning students, not the CI) had some discussions that stopped before they became uncomfortable a few times in the locker room. I stayed out of every one of them. My teacher’s political views don’t change anything on the floor, so long as he doesn’t bring it on the floor. So long as he’s not attending Klan meetings or Neo-Nazi rallies or similar, it makes no difference to me. I’m pretty sure I’d lose just about all respect and wouldn’t be able to be in the same room as him if he went that way, but it would take something along the lines of that extremism for me to care. Now, if he’s bringing politics onto the floor, that’s a different thing. I don’t go to the dojo to hear about anything political. If he was spouting off about issues and candidates I agree with and vote for, I’d still be just as aggravated as if it were the opposite of what I believe. I’m looking for a MA teacher, not a political pundit, evangelist, life coach, yoda, nor anything else like that. My teacher is a great person on and off the floor. He’s the quiet type that when he speaks about something or someone, you listen. When he speaks his mind, he’s not trying to push his views or make it about him; he’s just giving an opinion and it’s easy to see that he’s genuinely considering your view. That’s an added bonus though; I didn’t join because of that, and that’s not what’s keeping me there either. If he was the opposite of that, I’d simply bow in to class, bow out when I was done, and cordially be on my way after I got changed. If I or anyone else ever asked him if he was the one at a political demonstration or anything else unrelated to what’s going on on the floor during class time, I’m sure we’d get either a look of “why are you asking me this now?” and/or he’d basically ignore it and move class along. I’m sure he’d answer honestly at the proper time and place; during class is neither the proper time nor place.

Welcome aboard, and congratulations on your promotion. As far as the hiatus goes, I know that feeling all too well. I trained in my late teens-mid 20s. Left for grad school. career, wife, and kids all kept me away for about 15 years. I restarted going on 4 years ago and am climbing the ranks. Not that the rank is that important, but it’s still something to look forward to, gives you a good goal to work towards, and I just flat out love a tough belt test. Nothing like that feeling of being pushed far enough outside your comfort zone and prevailing.

This reminds me of a situation at a job I had a while back. We were printing business cards for the staff, and they had me fill in my title. I asked my boss “If I’m the only athletic trainer, am I the head athletic trainer? Or am I just the athletic trainer?” I got a blank stare for what seemed like several minutes. I was told “everyone before you was the head athletic trainer, so I guess you are too.” So I signed everything official that needed my title and signature with “head athletic trainer.” Every time, I chuckled and wanted to write “head of a staff of 1” but I never ended up doing it. Edit: my boss’s further rationale was there’s always a head coach even if there aren’t any assistant coaches on a particular team, so I was the head athletic trainer. Another college offered to give me the title of associate athletic trainer (meaning second in line) instead of a pay raise. I told them “you can give me the title of supreme athletic trainer or head training room garbage man for all I care; neither one’s going to put food on the table.” They didn’t like that. I sent my resume to 5 places right after that meeting. A month later I started a job 10 miles away making $10k more. God I wish that could happen again

As Fat Cobra said, it depends on what you want to get out of your training. Personally, I wouldn’t last long at all if I were the only adult. But some training is better than no training, right?

Congratulations

Congratulations on the milestone, and thank you for everything you do here. Karateforums is a far better place because of everything you do.

Actually, that is the very first reason why I left my karate club, I was sick of its turning direction to competitions and nothing else. Probably because I'm a beginner in judo, everything is new and seems amusing to me, but I am afraid I will feel the same after some years. And it seems not many new techniques are being introduced at the same speed as old techniques are removed. I am not very familiar with sports judo-I do not watch videos very often, but I hope sparring in judo will not turn into sparring in karate, in which only a few techniques (like kizami zuki and ura mawashi geri) are used. Competitive Judo is quite different than sport karate. In point fighting (the main type), it’s start-stop, stopping with a scorer point, then restarting. The technique landed is hypothetical, in a sense; how do you really know that kick to the head or punch to the stomach would’ve been enough to end the fight? If I point-fight a 12 year old and he legitimately beats me without me letting him, does that genuinely mean he can beat me up? Does that genuinely mean he’s capable of defending himself against me? Not a chance. Then you have Judo competition. If a 12 year old genuinely throws me without me letting him, he actually did it. I’m on the ground and he’s controlling me. No hypothetical there. If he throws me, controls me and chokes me out or submits me, there’s nothing hypothetical* Judo competition is honest. Not a perfect barometer to gauge the ability to completely defend oneself, but IMO far more than “good enough.” If I’m coming at you, punching and kicking, and you can initiate a throw and follow up that chokes me or breaks a joint, there’s no question what if you’re doing is effective or not. If you’re simulating or lightly doing groin kick, throat chop, punch to the nose, it’s only really working in your own mind. It might, it might not. So Judo competition and point-fighting shouldn’t really be compared. Competitive Judo teaches far more realistic and useful self defense that’s easy to prove it actually worked than point fighting ever did. We could argue if a Judo ippon would’ve actually ended the fight, but if you throw someone flat on their back with you on top of them and adding more force to it on concrete rather than a mat, it doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out you could’ve easily followed up with a choke or submission if the person wasn’t done yet. * Sure, submissions and chokes could be argued as hypothetical. But if you’ve got a choke applied and I tap right before the lights go out, we all know it works. If you’ve got my elbow bent backwards and I tap before you go too far, we all know it would’ve worked if you followed through.

Welcome to the forum. The best bet would be to find a measurement chart online and compare your current gi to the ones you’re interested in. Height and weight don’t typically tell you what size you really need. Most gis list actual measurements like sleeve length, shoulder width, etc. somewhere. 100% cotton gis usually shrink a good amount. I typically buy a full size larger. They mainly shrink in length and not so much in width. I don’t know the material makeup of the gis you listed. Cotton will shrink far more than the cotton/polyester blends will.

There are many techniques in judo that attack the legs directly, but they have been removed from the competitions, because they are too dangerous or wrestlers are just so good at them that they dominate judo championships (as I heard from Sensei). Therefore, we are not taught those techniques anymore. That’s a shame. I could maybe see removing them from competition but I don’t get removing efficiently viable techniques all together from the curriculum. Some schools focus on competition, while others teach teach far more of the complete art. A lot of judoka are pretty upset about the current Judo rule set, claiming that many places won’t teach the techniques that are barred from competition. I think Judo has nearly always suffered from this in some schools, but I think the newest rule changes eliminated a lot of stuff. Very similar to some TKD and karate schools only teaching the sport version of their art. IMO Judo was one of the best arts as far as standardization across the art goes; you can walk into Judo clubs practically anywhere and know what you’re getting. This weakens that quite a bit, which IMO is a shame.

Judo is a totally different world. it has been more than one year now since I started judo. The skin on my knuckles began to harden and I think I am getting used to the techniques. In the beginning, I really had problems because I was so much used to keeping my body straight and feet grounded on the tatami. You need to be soft and elastic-and open minded- to be able to perform good technique in judo. I think every martial artist should try out judo some time. Actually, judo and wrestling have quite different techniques, as my Sensei told me. For example, we never grab legs, and the main difference is the judogi. I have no personal experience with Ashihara, but I’ve done quite a bit of research. From everything I’ve seen, it’s a fantastic style that blends Kyokushin with Judo. Hideyuki Ashihara was a top Kyokushin instructor in Japan. He may well have been the most sought out teacher outside of the Kyokushin honbu (headquarters), and a lot of the students at the honbu traveled to his dojo for his perspective. Ashihara favored circular movement and getting to the “blind spot” over the typical straight back and forth movement that Kyokushin was typically. He didn’t teach stand and pound like rock ‘em sock ‘em robots that a lot of Kyokushin teachers do. He broke away from Kyokushin and formed his own style - Ashihara karate. He was a black belt in Judo as well, and he incorporated that into his system. He eliminated traditional kata and developed his own. His kata look far more like shadow kickboxing than traditional kata. Joko Ninomiya was his top student for quite some time, even before Ashihara left Kyokushin. Ninomiya broke away from Ashihara and formed Enshin karate. From what I gather, Enshin and Ashihara are very similar. I think Enshin takes the Judo aspect further than Ashihara. Neither schools are in my area.

All I have to add is the adults class schedule/time... Friday night isn’t a good time for adults around me. My dojo closed Friday nights due to it, and my former dojo did miserably on Friday nights. My former sensei eventually gave me and another student the keys and let us run Friday nights. We did a lot of working out together because no one else showed up. We got a few guys our age to show up every now and then, but nothing consistent. Friday night might be good for kids (if at all), but I haven’t seen anywhere around here have any success with adults on Friday nights. With limited class availability, you’re going to have to be pretty good at determining the best time for adults. When I was restarting karate, one of the places I was interested in (it was my top two) had one adult class 3 nights a week. I couldn’t make it to two of those nights due to work. Needless to say I didn’t visit. If I was a prospective student for you, and I didn’t want to take class on Friday nights, that only leaves me with one class per week. Perhaps switch the family class and the Friday night adult class? Edit: 8:15-9:15 pm is late. I know you’re at the mercy of space and time availability. The times and days may be holding your enrollment back. At 8:15 on Friday night, I’m not thinking about training. Either I’m too burnt out from the work week or I’m out doing other things. If I’m a prospective student looking into your school, I wouldn’t visit due to the schedule. There are other places that fit my schedule better. Sorry, just the honest truth.

Is there a local college/university nearby? Perhaps try targeting them specifically. Offer discounts to them. Even offer further discounts to them such as if 2 or 3 sign up together. Advertise at the school itself with fliers and the like. What about the local high school? Not adults, but juniors and seniors are close. If there’s a big employer nearby, perhaps target that business’s employees in a similar manner.

Happy birthday, Patrick!

I’d assume it depends on the dojo. If they’re not required to wear a uniform during open mat (and the like) times, I’m sure they’d have an appropriate clothing policy. I don’t think a BJJ school would be happy with people rolling in jeans and shoes.

Regarding your Kaicho role... President of a company consisting of however many customers Writing policy and overseeing the implementation of said policies Presiding over board meetings Liason between the board and legal department Ensuring the protection and integrity of the brand Stuff like that Regarding owning your own dojo... Well, everything major that goes into running your own business: Accounting Legal Supervisory Marketing What you started with and where you took it, financially speaking Stuff like that Really think about your roles off the floor and think about how they’d be viewed by whatever target employer and position you’re interested in. If you’re looking for a marketing position, highlight the growth of your dojo and how you advertised it. Talk about the effective and creative ways you got your dojo into the consciousness of non-MAists. Who am nd how you targeted a specific demographic and why. Same for any other position - PR, finance, HR, et al. Being a small business owner, you do it all.

Not to sidetrack, and it’s somewhat relevant to this discussion... Headgear in boxing was taken away for the issue you stated, but that’s really only about a quarter of why. The headgear cuts down on concussions from single, direct blows, so to speak. Meaning you can take a harder hit without a problem with it on vs off (but that can’t technically be proven either). The issue is CTE, or cumulative smaller concussions that aren’t symptomatic. People getting hit repeatedly in the head at lesser forces have theoretically been having more issues than people who’ve been hit harder but far less frequently. So basically, people wearing headgear take a lot more headshots than people who don’t. People wearing headgear don’t protect their heads as much due to the headgear being looked at as a security blanket. That repeated lesser trauma compounds over the years to more damage than if they’d have been knocked out cold once or twice but didn’t have any other head contact. It’s obviously more in-depth than that. But this is where the research is at, and it was compelling enough to eliminate it in men’s amateur boxing. Somehow women’s boxing kept it, which is a bit perplexing. I’m not sure if women’s boxing dropped it yet or not. Even though the research on CTE has been solid, it’s still in its infancy.

I worked out with a group affiliated with Taika Oyata for a few months (it was understood it was a temporary thing between the sensei and I). I did Bogu kumite twice. It was great. Honestly, I preferred to to bare knuckle knockdown we did in my Kyokushin offshoot school. I loved Taika’s system. I’d have stayed with it if I could’ve. I’ve heard some others do bogu kumite, but I’ve never heard about specific schools or organizations outside Taika’s. I remember bogu kumite wasn’t mandatory for rank advancement in that dojo, but it was heavily encouraged.

A lot of exercise physiology studies have shown interval training to be highly effective in improving VO2 max (aka how good your cardio is) and burning fat. It’s probably the most effective approach. People automatically assume running when discussing intervals. Running is probably the simplest way to do intervals, but it’s certainly not the only way. Interval training is all about getting your heart rate up to near maximum, staying there for a set amount of time, then dropping your heart rate to a moderate rate. Exercise physiologists will argue times of each phase, but there’s no study I’ve seen that states specific times as hands down the best/most effective. Doing rounds on a punching bag is an example of interval training. Think about it - you’re alternating high intensity and low intensity. High intensity during the rounds, and low intensity between rounds. Yes, most people rest between rounds, but their heart rate is still elevated. Google target heart rates and interval training times. If you’re heart rate and times are the same, I don’t think it matters what you’re doing - running, swimming, rowing, heavy bag, etc. Personally, I’ve found hitting the heavy bag has given me the best results. I don’t get bored with it, and I can easily control where my heart rate is at. Last thing - if you’re serious about heart rate training, get a monitor. Polar chest straps are the exercise physiologist standard IMO. You can get one for about $80 that transmits to a smart phone. The watches such as Fitbit are good, but they’re not that accurate once your heart rate is up there. With either one, you can monitor your heart rate in real time and adjust your intensity accordingly. Taking your own pulse would be very accurate, but it’s not very convenient when you’re in the heat of the moment. If you really want to get in shape, be efficient as possible, and get the best results, tracking your heart rate is where it’s at. There’s very little room for error compared to “running hard then jogging.” Rate of perceived exertion (RPE, or feeling like you’re getting a good workout) isn’t very accurate, as studies have found. High level athletes who know their bodies very well are better at it, but most people think they’re working harder or not as hard as they actually are.

I had a real piece of work for a wrestling coach one year. It was 9th grade. It was the only time I ever quit a sport. We had a group of about 12 of us who had been together since 3rd/4th grade. We worked hard and pushed each other. We were all great friends off the mat too. Our coach who had been with us the entire way left to go to graduate school a few months before the season started. This guy came in and did practically everything a coach shouldn’t do. He played favorites, he humiliated us in front of each other, he encouraged the upperclassmen to beat up on us, he was telling us to wrestle dirty, encouraging us to do stuff like take Ex-Lax to make weight, and he was even buying drugs from one of the upperclassmen. Great guy. Out of the 12 of us, 2 finished the season. A few of us came back the following year because he was gone. Most of us remained pretty good friends afterwards. During that season, he pitted us against each other. It was never the same afterwards. Had he not been there, I’m pretty sure we’d have stuck together and been very good by our junior year. There wasn’t a weakness anywhere in our lineup.

Congratulations, Conrad665!

My last gi, (the Ronin one) the jacket shrank perfectly, but the pants kept shrinking in length, maybe 4 or 5 inches. Bought the next size up from my actual. 18 months later it's still that beautiful bright blue/white colour. I’ve completely stopped wearing my Ronin jacket because it kept shrinking even with cold washing and hang drying. The only time I wear it now is for beach training. The pants still fit, surprisingly.