catlike

Yep, yep and yep. I don't think I conceded many points other than going off the mat. And the head whack. I feel like so far, my Karate has been in defensive mode, and that's kind of fundamental in the art. 'There is no first attack', etc. I'm not feeling so down about it atm, hope to put some stuff together over the next few sessions. Thanks all!

Graded recently to 5th kyu Wado Ryu. All the test was going reasonably well until the sparring. I totally fell apart. Going against a guy much better than me demoralised me a bit. Got a few whacks to the head and i pretty much gave up. Sitting down after i realise that most of the things we do are responding to attacks, not developing them. Obviously, I'll chat to my sensei. But has anyone any other tips?

Where I'm realising the usefulness of the pulling hand at the moment is generating that extra rotation of the shoulders and letting the striking hand have a bit more depth, weight and acceleration. It's explained a lot better in 'the red book*' than I can here, but I like to think of it as one end of a pivot. And you don't want to be at the other end. *(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Introduction-Karate-Shingo-Ohgami/dp/9197023116/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504193500&sr=1-1&keywords=ohgami)

When I know I'm tense, I know how to stop it. Purposefully tense all the muscles in your body for a second, then relax everything in order starting from the top, or the bottom. This could take a few seconds, or you could meditate on it for longer. One of my issues is not realising I'm tense. So for that you should make a habit of de-tensioning at set points. I started doing this before a kata (at Yoi), but to be honest, you could do it both before and after every move during Kihon if you wanted. Works for me, I know it's not going to work for everyone though.

When I was young (7 or my sensei was a really lovely lady called Debbie. Full of energy, very engaging with the class but didn't take any nonsense. I gave up karate when I was about 10, and didn't really care for it until a couple years ago when the itch needed scratching again. When I returned, I thought about Debbie, and how she'd affected the way I approached everything in my 'training', even though I never treated it as such when I was a kid. As it happens she's not training any more, but she teaches Zumba. At the same venue I returned to in a different school. Sounds complex, but it's the local YMCA, they rent the gym out, and there's a zumba class before the karate school some nights. So casually one evening before class I went and chatted to her. Said she should come to karate one night. Obviously she laughed and said she trained for 20 years at karate. Then I told her she was my inspiration and I thanked her for everything she did for me all those years ago. Was a lovely moment, and I really hope I can pass that gratitude on to my son when he's ready to start training.

I'm usually pretty far from judgemental when it comes to MA. Very much each to their own and all that. The guy can martial arts ok. For sure, he's got it all, no question. I'm not saying I'm taking anything away from anyone's art. But to me, that whole video looked like NASCAR. Stripey suits covered in logos, drums, massively showboateyness, etc, etc. Not for me, sorry!

I completely agree with everything you wrote. As it happened, yes it was basic and generic. And I was very much trying to adapt what Sensei had just shown us when it was clear she wasn't doing it right, but as you noted, I thought I wasn't getting a proper go at it with her not performing correctly. The incident caused me to think more about respect. Would this person have given me any respect outside the dojo in general life, had we not met inside? Was there a sense of entitlement going on? Did Sensei see the incident and decide to ignore it? (I did ask if anyone had brought anything to his attention, or if he needed to talk to me a week later, he said no). And then question my motivation to 'correct' her. Should I have kept quiet? Would I like to be corrected by someone lower 'ranking' than myself? I kept returning to the point "I won't be able to learn if my partner refuses to carry out the drill". In the end though, it's not worth wasting time over.

Interesting replies, all quality stuff. What if you notice another student doing something wrong? Do you say anything? I noted a higher kyu student wasn't kicking correctly during bunkai, and it meant they weren't in the correct position for me to respond. I tried to suggest the correct movement, she immediately had a go at me for disrespecting a higher grade!

It's awesome, I'm on series three at the mo. I take it as a MA version of The Office. Anyone who takes anything from that channel even remotely seriously frankly deserves it imho. RE-STOMP THE CROTCH!

I think I'm at the point where a penny is either dropping or has dropped. At training recently we did some simple sparring with a Junzuki and Gyakazuki. The defender just did some natural blocking. I was up against some well established and in my opinion very competent guys; all brown belts. Over the last few weeks I'd been thinking a lot about stances, power and the mechanics of how you can deliver a punch with maximum force but all at the correct moment. I tried to put it into practise during this sparring, and by golly it actually seemed to work! I think everyone I sparred with made a positive comment about speed or power - and I'm certainly not used to compliments like that! But then we did some line work and I thought I was 'trying too hard' and the result seemed to manifest itself in tension throughout my body. So the question - how do you relax but be on high alert and responsive at the same time?

I struggle with this. On the one hand, getting a child (that's anyone below the age of 16) up to a known standard with regard to discipline, structure, technique is really, really admirable. On the other, would I, as a Kyu student, feel like the child 'outranks' me? I saw several high (low?) kyu graded children training and grading at a previous club and based on their performance, understanding and general behaviour, I absolutely cannot see any other reason than extracting cash from their parents for their colour of belt. And I certainly would not consider them to be my senior in rank. Could i spar with them? Could they teach me the finer points of technique? This feeling I had would not go away, and after countless sessions where I have to wait patiently in line while kids cocked about and did things kids (they are kids, I get that!) do I felt like I had less respect for the school, dojo, CI and ultimately myself for not doing anything about it. I think it's all about balance, and I don't think there's a correct answer, more likely wiser points of view. If I might add mine; I think 4th kyu (based on 9 or 10 total) would be the most achievable for someone who still has physical development to come. So, like a 'blue' belt would be about the most a child could achieve.

Excellent work that man!

She's not even 5 yet, chill out and set your expectations lower. I think pushing MA at an early age is a good thing, but they have to be able to 'receive'. By that I mean really basic stuff; line up, stand still, stop fiddling with the belt, stop picking your nose AND THEN ... build MA on to that. I'll bet if she's in school they don't see too large improvements in specific subjects at this age. I have a 5YO son, he's desperate to start Karate, but we visited once, and it didn't go well. His attention span is about 5 mins! So every now and then I get him in a (waaay too big Gi) and show him 5 mins worth of Karate. Just enough to keep him interested. When he's developed his attention span enough to listen for 30 mins, I'll take him to a dojo and see how he gets on. Not entirely relevant to the question, but I think illustrates different approaches and expectations. She'll be a black belt before you know it!

This time last year I made the choice to train at Karate as I'd been approached by a local club. Hadn't trained since I was a small person and without looking at any other local clubs I thought I'd give it a go. Over a year, I've come to believe I'm not in the right club for me. I don't disrespect anything the club does, or any Sensei or Sempai, I just don't think it's the kind of club I align with. I looked around at a few options, I'm lucky enough to have 4 other clubs in my local area and chose to engage the one that looked most professional. So I'm starting over! 'New' club Sensei and I have had numerous discussions and I like the approach he has. From my humble perspective, the club seems better managed, the other students seem like they have similar values to me (and the age varies from late teen to "I'm not comfortable asking") and overall I am impressed by the quality of the operation. I've been told I'll get a grade suitable for my ability, but to be honest I'm learning all new Kata (Wado) so I'm white until proven otherwise!

We don't do a lot of sparring, but when I attend one of our larger seminars there is a tendency to have a kumite session, where you get 2 mins per opponent and keep rotating. As a low-kyu student I've seen short tempers, badly aimed kicks and very little in the way of proper techniques. When engaging kumite, it seems most revert to body punches, front and side kicks and not much else. Punch, punch kick, etc. Why not Empi, Uraken, Shuto? Takedowns don't seem common, neither do proper blocking technique - it's all parried away rather than a full powerful block. Is it because the techniques are too dangerous to use without lots of control? Is there a question I should be asking about what is and isn't acceptable in kumite before the session?