aurik

IMHO, kata is one of the defining characteristics of karate; I couldn't see a style call itself "karate" without kata. At our dojo, almost every class has 4 components; warmups, technique exercises, sanchin, and kata. That generally takes up 30-45 minutes of our 1.5 hour class, and these are the 4 core components of our style. The other 45 mins-1 hour tends to rotate on a schedule our CI determines (but typically doesn't share). It could include yakusoku kumite, bunkai, strength/conditioning, throwing/takedown techniques, self-defense techniques (typically derived from kata), joint locks/chokes, or free sparring. He typically rotates these along a 3 month cycle, which aligns with the testing cycles for junior kyu ranks. This keeps the classes fresh, because you don't always know what to expect for a day, but it also gives you plenty of opportunities to see the same techniques again. Our school also has dedicated classes for Aikido and Kobudo, so another option would be to have dedicated Judo classes, where students who want to focus on Judo can learn.

So for the past week and a half I've been on vacation in various parts of Colorado. At first the back was really sore and tight, but the more I got up and moved around during the day, the better it would feel. Today I was able to get up without too much trouble and it only took about an hour to get things feeling mostly normal. Zach and I (and Tracy) had a lot of fun on this vacation. One of the things Zach and I both really enjoy is the TV show "Forged in Fire". Well, I discovered that there is a shop in Colorado Springs where a) a number of instructors have competed on the show and b) they will teach kids as young as 9 years old. So on Zach's birthday, we took one of his friends to Kilroy's Workshop and took a 3 hour "Intro to Blacksmithing" class. During the 3 hours, we forged a "viking hairpin knife" out of a billet of mild steel. Zach and his friend had a LOT of help from the instructors, and I was mainly on my own with verbal guidance. It was a LOT of fun, and we will be going back again. My blade is the one on top, Zach's is the middle one.

Our CI periodically brings in high-level instructors for seminars -- since I've been attending, he has brought James Thompson (judan, his instructor, president of our organizatiton), Darin Yee (kudan, president of the IUKF), and Seishi Itokazu (kudan Matayoshi Kobudo, judan Uechi-Ryu) in to run seminars and advanced dan examinations. I am not sure what the guest instructors charge, but our costs for the seminars have been very reasonable (less than $100). I hope as COVID starts to get under control, we can see more guest instructors in the future.

We've all had days like that, and the fact that you persevered through an "off" day says quite a bit about your character. I personally find that when something feels "off", I'll complete the technique (kata, drill, bunkai, etc), then run through it in my mind and try it again with more focus. Sometimes things go quite a bit better, sometimes they don't. However, the process of going through that struggle will lead to the "a-ha" moments in the future, where everything feels great and you feel like you've done your best technique yet.

The back is improving slowly but surely -- I was able to get out of bed this morning without uttering a single profanity. Things are still very tight and sore, but as I get up and move around they loosen up a fair bit. I've got another chiropractor appointment this afternoon, so we'll see how things are afterwards. Getting old sometimes sucks, but it's far better than the alternative!

Our CI teaches grappling in the form of takedowns, joint locks, and chokes. We don't generally practice ground grappling, because the philosophy is that if you go to the ground against opponent #1, then opponent #2 will likely start just kicking the crap out of you. The idea is you throw opponent #1 to the ground, give him a good smack in a vital area to keep him down for a bit, and then move to the next opponent. For the students that want more in the way of a throwing/grappling art, our school also offers aikido.

You must have some REALLY big students -- I'm 6'2" and weigh 300+ lbs, and I have no problem with a size 9 (~380cm) belt (double wrapped). I know that Eosin Panther does offer color belts up to size 14 (419cm). However, they are MUCH more expensive than your standard color belt...

This week has had its share of ups and downs. On a high note, our CI has introduced a new formal requirement to our curriculum for shodan. Previously, you would have a 3 month test prep cycle before shodan, and then your shodan test would include all of the shodan-specific material as well as the core material as well (kanshiwa kata, kanshiwa bunkai, kanshu kata, seichin kata, and yakusoku kumite dai ichi and dai ni). Now he is breaking those apart into a separate test that you take while you're in the 3 month test prep cycle which you can attempt after 3 months as an ikkyu. Basically he wants to see a dan-level degree of competence in all of these core requirements, and now he wants to see you do that BEFORE testing for shodan. So this past Tuesday, he started working us on Kanshiwa bunkai. We had me, another nikyu, and a yonkyu there (the other 2 were 12 and under). He asked me to run the other 2 students through the bunkai. Afterwards, he ran through the bunkai with me. I hadn't done this full-intensity much since the pandemic, so I was pleasantly surprised at how crisp things felt. Afterwards, he asked if I had any questions, and the only question I had was, "Where do you think I need to improve". His only comment was on how I did the wa-uke strikes in the middle of the kata, and it was more of a personal preference than a "wrong" or a "right" way. Now for the downs for the week. Last night, while I was getting ready for class, I leaned over to grab something, and felt something slip out of place in my lower back. I immediately knew what had happened, but things were still feeling pretty good as long as I didn't aggrivate anything. I was able to get through class just fine as long as I didn't try to bend over, and I was feeling pretty good at the end of class. Now once I got home and sat down for a bit, my back started to stiffen up. When I went to bed, I started getting cramping in both of my hamstrings as well as my adductors and abductors. Getting out of bed this morning was just plain brutal. I was able to get a morning chiropractor appointment, and he did a quick exam and confirmed what I suspected -- basically one of my lumbar vertebrae was completely out of whack and that is the nerve that ennervates the hamstrings, calves, and inner thighs. Yay me. So he was able to get some adjusting in and things are feeling a bit better, but I'm going to be out of commission for at least a week. So, that's where I am today. We are supposed to have a 2 hour black belt (and black belt candidate) training session tomorrow, but sadly I'm going to have to miss it due to the back issues. However, I'll definitely do my best to recover quickly so I can be ready for the next one.

Seisan is one of the three core Uechi-Ryu kata (along with Sanchin and Sanseiryu). You can certainly find instructional videos on the basic steps, but they assume that you've already been training in Uechi-Ryu for some time. As someone who has trained in other styles (Shuri-Ryu) as well as Uechi-Ryu, I can attest that things are very different in Uechi-Ryu, from stances to kimae to blocks and strikes. Memorizing the moves for Seisan isn't all that bad, but making it *look* like a Uechi stylist performing Seisan will take much, much longer. Also, if you want to understand the Bunkai you will almost certainly need an instructor -- I've seen a few bunkai videos, but you'll be hard-pressed to learn much from those videos, since they're generally full-speed and assume you already know what you're doing. I know my CI will do distance learning and private lessons. I've worked with him on some Bo kata in private lessons in the past, but I'd also been training with him in karate for 2 years before I asked about that. Generally he'll teach whatever you want in a private lesson, so he MAY be able to teach you just seisan. I can provide his contact information if you want to contact me via PM. Also, I do know of one highly reputable Uechi-Ryu instructor who has recently introduced what he calls a Seisan MasterClass that focuses on Seisan. I haven't purchased it yet, but since I'll be testing on Seisan next spring I'm considering it. If you're interested in that, PM me and I'll provide the info for that. The short version is, if you want to learn the Uechi-Ryu seisan, you can *technically* watch a video on it, but without lots of training in the Uechi way of doing things, any Uechi stylist will know you picked it up from an internet video.

My CI has very strong opinions on this, and I agree with him. One translation of "shodan" (at least in his book) is "beginner degree". In our style, you really don't start to learn the "good stuff" until you get to first degree. He tends to get really frustrated with parents and kids who see shodan as the end of their MA journey. Personally I plan to continue training for as long as I can and enjoy the ride. Whatever ranks I do or do not earn on the way will be nice but not the reason for the training.

I'm stoked! The only problem is that I tend to binge-watch the whole season at once, and then it's another 6 moths before more episodes drop.

I would say this is highly dependent on the style, organization, and instructor. I’ve trained four different styles of karate-type martial arts. For three of those instructors/styles, I would agree with you. They were more focused on the perfection of the form for the sake of doing the form. My current school is a Uechi-Ryu school, and we tend to focus on what is effective. For example, when our CI teaches kata, he will emphasize what each sequence means using an opponent as an example. When we strike he wants our hands just so, because it translates to striking a specific target on the opponent. We spend about a quarter of our time in each test conditioning our bodies so that we are used to getting hit in common places (forearms, traps, lays, abs, legs) partially so we don’t freak out if we ever actually get into a fight. Finally, when we do our two-person drills we focus on effectiveness, not in looking pretty. As the defender we are expected to disrupt our attacker, pulling/pushing him to control the range and possibly preventing him from completing his techniques. This is significantly different from other schools I’ve seen where the attacker is supposed to stand there like a statue so the defender can do a “perfect” technique.

I'm the exact opposite. I'd rather do solo kata as opposed to group kata. At our dojo, group kata is generally done with one student/instructor counting for the group. With younger/smaller students, they tend to count at their natural speed which is "warp speed" as far as I'm concerned, and I'm just trying to get the movements done in time for the next count. When I perform solo, I get to put what I feel is the proper focus/expression in each movement, and the appropriate power in each strike/block. We have a girl (13-14 I think) in our adult class who is also very nervous at performing in front of the whole class. Right before her last grading, our CI asked everyone to perform their kata solo in front of the class. She was visibly nervous -- after the class I took the opportunity to tell her, "Don't be so nervous in front of all of us, we all want to see you do well".

Happy 20th Birthday, KF! Today was a very good day for me. Over the past 2 weeks, we've been doing a lot more in the 2-person drills and the intensities have increased. The advanced classes on Tuesday have been very edifying, since we generally have most of the instructors and assistant instructors there. Tonight I tested for (and passed) my test for nikyu. This is a bit of a transition test, moving from the pandemic requirements to the original requirements. In August we're going to be fully transitioned to the pre-COVID requirements, but brown belt ranks will be in a state of flux over the next year. Tonight's test was both shorter and more difficult than my previous testing cycles. Part of the reason it was shorter was there were only a handful of people testing today (7 total, I think); today's testing was primarily for advanced kyu ranks and for students that couldn't make the testing the previous weeks. I got there a bit early and went to the upstairs dojo where I warmed up with Tom (who started a few months before I did). We ran through dan kumite and kyu kumite a couple of times -- at a moderate intensity, but it was really good to get the blood moving. I then ran through my katas -- seisan and seichin. With the ~30lbs I've lost over the past month, I felt REALLY good attempting the jump for Seisan (which I previously avoided). I felt REALLY good on the hojo undo, but Sanchin really kicked my butt. Normally in the advanced classes we do sanchin 1:1 with the instructor and they'll do osme light checking and maybe a strike or two. Today I got tested at 5 different points -- at the initial opening, right after each turn, after the first wa-uke, and at the closing sequence. My wife took a video of Kyoshi (our CI's father) testing me after the first turn here: https://i.imgur.com/LvT9DYl.mp4. After some of the pulls, I found myself getting unstable, and it was REALLY hard to get my balance back while he kept striking/pushing in various directions. Definitely something I need to work on between now and testing for ikkyu (~6 months assuming I continue to progress at the expected rate). Next came our dan kumite drill -- this is something we've been working on quite a bit in class, and I'm starting to feel pretty good about it. We first performed it solo -- which I hadn't done in a couple of months. We then demonstrated it with our CI. I have a love/hate relationship to training with my CI. He makes you look REALLY good during a test. He does this by ratcheting up his intensity to a notch or two above where you're comfortable so you have to really be on your toes. After Dan Kumite, we did our rank kata, first Seichin (for brown belt) and then Seisan (or parts of it, required for shodan). Normally we wouldn't start learning seisan until ikkyu, but the pandemic has really thrown things for a loop. We then ended the testing with our sparring combinations. For the most part I did pretty well with these, but towards the end I started getting winded so I was dropping my guard. Several of the students made a number of glaring mental errors during testing -- fortunately I wasn't one of them (this time). Oh, I made mistakes aplenty but they weren't glaring enough to call me out on them. After the test, he made a point of telling the students WHY he calls people out when they make mistakes like that. He does that not because they make mistakes, but because of the mental breakdown that happens after the mistake. He talks about how if you are dealing with a bully or a situation in life and have a mental breakdown, it will end up badly for you. He says that by throwing a bit of extra stress at his students here it helps them learn to deal with it in a reasonably safe place. In the end, all of us passed. The feedback I got from my evaluator (kyoshi) was mainly dropping my hands during the sparring drills. I told him that I was surprised he didn't mention me getting flustered and getting unbalanced during Sanchin -- he said that's normal at your rank, now you know what to expect at ikkyu and shodan testing. Here are the pics with the shiny new stripe and diploma:

Welcome back! I understand what it is like to train through injuries. I have bulging discs in my lower back and arthritis in both knees. I’ve figured out what aggravates them and avoid those types of movements. It is all about trying to move forward in your training as best you can.

Greetings, Questor! I was in your shoes about 3 years ago. I had trained in a couple of different styles when I was in my late teens/early 20's, and then I started back up at a Uechi-Ryu school. For me, it was something to do with my son at first, but I've rediscovered a love for the training as well. I had several of the same experiences you mentioned -- the muscle memory is still there, even if the body can't quite do what you remember. I'll give you the same advice I've given a few others. During your journey you'll have some long phases where you really struggle to learn a technique, and other "a-ha" moments where things just suddenly *click* into place. You're always hoping that a training day is an "a-ha" day, but don't fret it if it's a struggle day. Those "a-ha" days will not come to you without the struggle. Good luck on your journey! I look forward to your next update.

One of the benefits of COVID is that almost every good martial arts school has gone to some type of remote learning. For example, our CI ended up absorbing a kobudo school in Colorado Springs (long story!)-- what he does now is he does remote learning with them, and he'll visit from time to time to give them in-person tune-ups. Likewise, one of his students moved up to Michigan after earning his instructors' license; he now checks in with him and his students via Zoom. What I'm suggesting is that you don't necessarily have to stick with schools in your own area -- if there aren't any schools you can get to a few times a week, then you can consider looking for schools farther away that have a remote learning option. Train remotely as often as you can, and then plan on a regular roadtrip to get the in-person training. This can definitely open up the possibilities for you to find a school more to your liking. Good luck!

As a Uechi-Ryu stylist, this answer is easy -- Sanchin. We have a mantra, "Everything goes back to Sanchin". It is the foundation of our style - our kata are practiced almost completely in Sanchin stance, and we are taught that whenever we strike, to bring the hand back to one of our kimae (which are all based on sanchin). We only have 8 katas, but Sanchin is by far the most important.

We started a new month at the dojo, and things are starting to get back to a new normal. Our CI has moved things around schedule-wise; Tuesday night is now an advanced students only class, run by his father for students working on shodan level material. He has moved all testings from Saturday to Friday, and he has re-introduced contact drills. That last part is my favorite. So last Tuesday night our first advanced class, and it was a lot of fun. Our CI's father ran the class, and it was run very differently than usual. The pace was a lot faster in some ways, but slower in other ways -- after warmups, hojo undo, and sanchin, we broke up to do conditioning while the instructors (our CI's father and stepmom) brought us over in pairs to do individual sanchin work. I got a few small corrections, mainly on working on the scope of my circular bocks, and minor adjustments to where my hands should be at guard. Then we went on to work two-person drills. I paired with our CI's younger brother (a 5th degree), and worked on our dan level kumite. It was very eye-opening experience. He is taller than me (6'4" maybe) and FAST. I was struggling to keep up, but holy cow was it fun. We then started working the takedown part of our dan kumite, and he sorta overwhelmed me with a lot of information on it. I remember most of it, but in all honesty I think I would done better if I could have just gotten some reps in on it. We then also worked on a few of the kyu-level takedowns/throws -- it's been a LONG time since we've been able to work these, so I was very rusty on it. The last part of class was kata -- we started out with seisan (required for shodan). It was a struggle for me to keep up for part of it, but I'm getting much better at it. Our CI then moved the other brown belt and me over to the back of the dojo, where we worked on seichin for awhile. Afterwards, we finished up and called it a day. The rest of the week went in a similar fashion -- we spent quite a bit of time working on the two-person drills we haven't been able to do for the past year. On Thursday night, we were doing conditioning drills with a pair of brand new (adult) students; the new students were hesitant to actually hit us with any real force, so I asked Tom (a student who started right before I did) to demonstrate the leg conditioning drill with me. He has a pretty good kick, and it was kinda fun to work the drills at full power again. With the contact drills returning, I'm REALLY enjoying going back to the dojo again. I mean, it was fun beforehand because our CI was letting us learn advanced material. However, when you haven't been able to make contact with your partner in over a year, it's VERY refreshing to feel resistance to your strikes, and also to feel that satisfying thump when you block or get blocked. Until next time!

So things are starting to return to a new normal in the dojo. This Tuesday I got my second (Moderna) COVID vaccine -- had a couple hours of fever and exhaustion the day after, but by Thursday I was feeling pretty good. Thursday night we had a really good class. Started out with kicking against the bags -- I'm feeling really good about my front kicks and roundhouse kicks. My side kicks are REALLY good when they hit on target, but I have a hard time hitting where I want with my heel. My real weakness is my crescent kick (we do an outside-to-inside crescent). I can get the kick up high enough, but I have zero power in it. I mentioned that to the black belt I was working with and he suggested I work on twisting my hips more in the kick. I'll definitely start trying that in the future. We then split into pairs and started working kata bunkai. He broke the dan-level students up, and had them start working on seisan and seiryu (required for shodan and nidan) bunkai. He then had all the kyu level students working on the first few sequences for kanshiwa (required for 8th-7th kyu) and kanshu (required for 5th-4th kyu) bunkai. We had a couple of new students in the class, but I think it was a good exposure for them to see the applications of the kata. It was also VERY refreshing to do partner work again. As more and more of the students get vaccinated, we're going to start opening things up more and more. The challenge is that kids (under 16) still don't have an approved vaccine, but hopefully that will change soon. Also, I've been doing a keto diet since the beginning of Lent, partially for me and partially to help support my wife (she is diabetic and doing the diet too). I've been tracking my progress daily and I just busted through a plateau. For a couple of weeks I'd been hovering at or around a number (I'm not gonna say it), but in the past few days I've dropped 5 pounds past that plateau, so I'm really happy about it. I'm also trying to push myself on the conditioning. Kicks have always been challenging for me, due to my size. The good news is when I get my mass moving, I can put a LOT of force behind a kick (especially front kicks and roundhouse kicks). The problem is, getting that mass moving takes a lot of energy and a lot of oxygen. Yesterday I forced myself to work through the exhaustion during the kicking portion of class. Hopefully this will start paying off in the long run. Again, thank you for all of the support, and I'll try to check in more often

This can not only vary with the style but also organizations within that style, and also potentially instructors. For example, in Uechi-Ryu we are always taught to grab an opponent to control him and maintain appropriate distance. Additionally, there are a number of throws inherent in our kata and bunkai. However, not all organizations and/or instructors will teach them. Last year, my CI and his father taught at a seminar discussing these throws and takedowns, and a number of the attendees were seeing those throws for the first time. We don't practice those throws/takedowns very often, but they are a lot of fun to work on. Generally we'll work them once or twice a month.

Welcome to the forum, Bob! Good luck in meeting your goals and enjoy your time here!

Welcome to the site, Questor. I was much in the same boat you were in -- trained for a year or two in my late teens/early 20's, got too busy in my 20's and 30's, and then got back to training in my mid-40's. It's never too late to start back up again, but there are some days that I really wish I hadn't taken those years off Good luck in your training and enjoy the path forward!

So Saturday we had another round of testing in the dojo -- testing sessions have gotten much smaller and more intimate than pre-COVID, but that's also because our CI is now doing multiple testing sessions over the course of a month (to reduce class size). At yesterday's testing, we had 3 candidates for yellow belt (including one junior yellow belt and one junior green belt), one candidate for purple belt (yonkyu), and two candidates for brown belt (nikyu). Zach was the purple belt candidate. We made sure to get to the testing about 30 minutes early so Zach could warm up and work on his material. I walked through his two-person drills (kicking exercise and kyu kumite), and I watched the three forms he would need to do (sanchin, kanshu, and seichin). The only feedback I gave him was to make sure he gets his kicks up, because he sometimes gets lazy on those kicks. There are plenty of other things I could see to tweak, but I resisted the urge because last minute corrections are liable to make him overthink. The yellow belt candidates struggled with their two-person drills (yakosoku kumite) and rank kata, but that's to be expected. The CI had to ask those candidates to perform their drills more than once because they kept making mistakes, but they were all able to get through. (And at yellow belt, the test board will generally forgive a LOT of mistakes). Zach was able to get through his kicking exercise without any major mistakes, and he performed pretty solid on his 3 katas. Since there was plenty of time left in the test, our CI gave Zach some corrections on his seichin (brown belt) kata. However, at the level he's at, he is not expected to have that kata perfected yet so it was mainly "You need to know this for your next rank so work on it". After the instructors deliberated and discussed the candidates' scores, they asked all the students to line back up -- and the first name they announced was Zach's! After the test, he got his feedback from his evaluator -- a) keep the elbows tucked when in sanchin, b) keep the wrists straight, c) when doing most strikes, perform the strike, hold it for a moment, and then pull back (Zach tends to make every strike a snap -- there are a couple exceptions, such as eye strikes, and backfist strikes), and d) tilt the hands slightly when doing the sanchin opening. These are all things that are basically OK at green belt ranks, but they want him to correct by the time he tests for sankyu (brown belt). As always, here are the pictures of the proud kiddo

At our dojo, our CI looks for the following criteria in candidates for shodan: 1) Ability and willingness to self-correct. During group kata, we'll usually perform with a count, and our CI expects our dan level students to periodically check themselves in the mirrors and self-adjust their stances/positioning. 2) Ability to accept criticism and quickly incorporate it. Our CI tends to pick on advanced students mostly on their basics with minor adjustments, and before he will test someone for shodan, he will expect them to incorporate those adjustments into their technique. Those are the two biggies, but obviously he expects a certain degree of competence in the entire curriculum up to (and including) shodan level and he expects strong sparring with opponents at (or above) the candidates' level.