Kyonovice

For those living in the UK (might be available elsewhere, I don't know). There is a show on Sky Channel 468 (Frontrunner) at 1pm today International Black Belt Open Championships. From what I gather it's something set up by Martial Arts Illustrated, know that it is on today and I think 22nd and 24th (might be wrong). I've set up to record as I will probably be out, but might be worth a watch

On top of the diet experiment, I have just ordered myself a new bike on our cycle to work scheme...I will shed the belly and turn my weight into muscle!

First comes technique, then comes power... And work out what height is a good height for you to kick, harder to deliver a high powered kick to the head so sometimes better to aim lower. Seriously, stretching legs, hip flexors etc etc that is what I would do, and work on that technique! For a mawashi-geri, ensure you are swivelling the standing foot, generates more power, as you are a newbie (going by your name), speak to your instructor (it's what they are there for), side thrust and side snap kicks are generally taught stepping sideways in front of the standing leg, this closes your hips up, try stepping behind, much better, more powerful Just my opinion and ideas.

Just weighed in with new scales: weight 11st 6 % Body Fat 24% % Body Water 55% % Bone Density 7.1% BMI 25.3 (But BMI is a load of rubbish)

Wow! And people moan about nd want to do away with out NHS over here in Blighty

Well ive just ordered some new scales all singing all dancing body fat and water content...

weighed in this morning and I am down to 74.1kg so going well so far....my aim is to get to a point where I am down to about 70kg (11 stone), and ideally lose the slight bear belly I had acquired so that I am mainly lean muscle

Quick update...just weighed myself and after 3 days i have dropped to 74.3kg (or 11st 7lb)...and ive nkt craved dairy or alcohol

Thanks, I shall see how it goes, I am so adamant that I want to try this, just for the month to see how it goes, 1st weigh in is 75.6kg and I dread to think how much % body fat (I reckon at least 20 %)

Nah, I did my own research, though I would try a more oriental diet (well sort of - cutting out dairy and adding more veg, not eating man made starchy foods such as pasta etc)

So, here in the UK it's "Sober for October" so I am going to try a little experiment with my diet and weight management.... My only vice now it alcohol (wine and gin - mmmmm gin). So I am going to weigh myself tonight and log my weight, I am then going to go this month without alcohol (and while I am at it, I am going to seriously reduce the amount of dairy I take on - gone is white coffe, "normal" tea and in come black coffee in the morning and green tea, I don't eat much yoghurt or cheese anyway). I will then log my weight at the end of the month and see what a difference this has made.

Thanks for the reply. My Sensei is Hungarian (really cool guy) although i have trained with Japanese sensei before (Enoeda and Ohta)

So the other night I was training with my young son at our Shotokan Dojo, my son has literally just started out at aged 6 (so proud). Sensei was getting us practising kicks, we went through several of the basics, mae geri, mawashi geri and yoko geri. My son, being such a newbie (and quite small) was struggling to get his kicks up to chudan height and was getting annoyed with himself when Sensei took him to one side and said something like: "Don't worry about height of kick, if you can only kick the leg then kick the leg, man can't walk without leg" This got me thinking about how true that quote is and how my training has changed as I've inevitably got older. When I was a young whipper snapper of a brown belt (early teens), I was more than happy throwing a mawashi geri to an opponents head, being only 5ft 4 inches in height, this shocked opponents taller than me, that I was that flexible that I could kick them tot he head with power, it was one of my show pieces (I used to watch Van Damme movies and try to replicate his style of kicking - I know!) Anyway, now in my 40's and having a fair amount of practical self defence experience behind me, I just can't bring myself to kick jodan height anymore, my hips don't want to without complaining and, well in all honesty I can't see a need for it, flashy kicks look great in the movies, but in a real life self defence situation, they are next to useless (unless you can kick to the head at incredibly close range that is - think it was Terry O'Neil who was the master of this). Having taken some months of Kyokushin training and learnt their lower kicks with the shin (much like Muay Thai), I now use that as my go to technique if I have to kick someone, it puts a person on the floor in a flash and due to it being low, can be delivered from incredibly close range and is hard to see coming as the the body hardly moves. This is so much better for me as my body doesn't complain about it either, my kicking leg is quicker to the ground and I am able to follow up with something else (put the person in cuffs, use a control technique etc). So yes, Sensei is entirely correct, man can't walk without legs, man can't walk man can't fight.

I have had numerous instructors over the years and pretty much all of them in my later life have told me I need to relax, strong in shoulders but relax more...must be something in what they are saying, I just wish I could relax more in my training!

Growing up studying Karate from aged 9, I always wanted to compete and win...now aged 41, I purely want to train to help make me a better person, to be able to walk with confidence at night (I do this a LOT) and to be the person I want to be....Powerful (internally) and peaceful, that is all.

I'd suggest looking at your diet. I never thought I was a terrible eater, as I avoid fast food, eat a lot of fruits and veggies and almost nothing is fried or greasy. I recently started watching my carb intake, however, and weight started falling off. Pizza and pasta are great... I can eat a 12" pizza by myself fairly readily. When it comes to pasta, I'll boil nearly half a box of noodles and eat them all. Now I'm eating way less carbs, and I think I'm feeling better! Yes, my diet is in need of attention although to be fair I don't eat much fast food now (maybe a kebab once a month when my works team decide to have "dirty refs" - can't be arsed to take prepared food in for our break (if we get one)). I eat as much fruit and veg as I can, my sugar from non-natural sources is low, I don't eat chocolate, drink skimmed milk etc. My main carb intake is from potatoes which I love (have to have a roast on a Sunday). I think my main vice is red wine, if I am at home for a period of rest days, I do love to share a bottle of wine with the wife to relax a bit, no coincidence that I didn't drink wine on Monday due to training, was working to midnight last night, weighted myself Monday morning - 75.4kg, weighed myself at the same time this morning...75kg

I have finally managed to view Bruce Lee: Too Young to Die which was a documentary shown over here in Blighty on Sky Arts recently. My opinion, very good documentary, nothing "new" or "ground breaking" about it, but it did have some good insights into the man who is an absolute legend in the field.

Married, 2 kids, full time job (made worse by a 5 week shift pattern covering early shifts, late shifts and nights - which knock me out)... I now try to train at least twice a week at the dojo when I can with my 6 year old son and go to the gym twice a week when I can and swim once a week when the shifts allow me to. Once my son gets settled into the twice a week training, I hope to be able to take him through some kihon at home as well. So all in all, I do 3 hours a week at the dojo, 2 hours of "gym fitness - weights and a bit of cardio" plus an hour of swimming. With all that in mind, struggling to understand why I can't drop below 166 pound in weight!!!

Sensei 8, I have only just come across this as I haven't logged into the forums in so long! Good luck to you in your quest for the lifestyle changes you are aiming for, it's not easy but then what in life is? I too am going through something of a major change to my lifestyle after having suffered a horrid bought of depression and anxiety in recent months, out is going the alcohol as of end of this month, out goes the takeaways and in comes more training (with son), swimming and gyming...lets see where we get to.

I personally think (and this is purely personal) that looking after all that we intake leads to a healthy lifestyle. By this I mean not only looking after what we eat and drink, but also what we allow into our minds by way of newspaper reports etc etc. It's about balance, so having a healthy, balanced diet with the occasional "glitch" is fine otherwise (personally) I get bored of the diet. The same works with regards to information I take onboard, reading trash all the time (tabloids in the UK) isn't healty, balancing the intake of news is essential so as not to live in total fear of the "streets" etc

Ossu Now, tonight, my stance is looking better already (after only 2/3 sessions), but my hikite is incorrect for my style...in Shotokan, we were lazy (hikite on the belt), in Kyokushin, the hikite is much much higher, almost parallel with pectoral muscles...more work needed. Still, I supported in the junior class tonight as the club has grown and Shihan now needs another adult in the dojo who is DBS (Disclosure Barring Service - criminal records check) cleared, as I am for work, I supported which was good, and now I know I need to spend some time on the makiwara practising the hikite transition. I also went through the requirement for 1st grading and know I can do that by and large so I think with some more practice I can grade soon!!! Oh, and my 5 year old son has now had 3 sessions, first thing he says when he gets out of school on Mondays and Fridays is "Am I going to karate tonight...please let me go!!!" This to me is fantastic that he is loving it so much, and according to Shihan, he has the coolest dojo entry (and doesn't need reminding to rey etc at entry/exit unlike others who have trained longer!)

There is no body structure requirement, when I started training I was probably about the same weight but slightly smaller.

I've known my stances haven't been 100% for sometime, too tight in the shoulders which is why I get so knackered all the time when training (and sweat far too much!), however, all I ever got told was to "relax more". Turns out, the issue has been the over arching of my back all along... Next training session on Friday, shall see if I can get the feel of it then, might do some kihon in my living room in between, got my son to train now (he started last night, he LOVED IT)

Tonight in the dojo I was picked up by my Sensei whilst doing Taikyoku Ichi kata on my front stance. Bearing in mind I've been doing this kata on and off (in Shotokan) for 20 odd years, I was a bit surprised to have my front stance corrected. Sensei picked up on an arch in my back where I am leaning backwards thinking I am keeping my back straight, I have been over correcting this for 20 years and only now, I have been corrected on this. Have to say, it felt weird when I was first put right, felt like I was leaning forwards, where actually all I was doing was standing dead straight... Now I need to figure out a way to land like this every time I step into front stance...not easy, any tips until my muscle memory adjusts accordingly??? Who ever said you really start to learn when you get your Shodan was right!

Trust me, I have stopped training so many times since I got my shodan when I was 18 and always gone back for various times. My latest break in training followed an injury at work, I went back last Monday after a number of months out, injuries are there, they will be there but as already mentioned, be mindful of them and you should be ok. I love training, it makes me feel great and in this last month alone I Have lost 5kg in weight, I feel happier and want to now try and gain my shodan in this style (eventually - lots of time to go to get there, heck I may never get there).