JazzKicker

Before a workout last night I was chatting with my longtime friend and coach. He's a full-time martial artist, and the most popular programs at his gym now are boxing and MMA. There's still a small contingent, including myself, of guys who come for JKD sessions and occasional seminars, but his comment was the interest, and overall market, has changed. Seminars, even with "big names" like Dan Inosanto, don't draw the crowds they used to. The martial arts pioneers, like him, Chuck Norris, and those before them, are in their 70's or long deceased. The more traditional arts, with their subtleties, training methods, and techniques, are not being handed down directly anymore. My friend blamed things like YouTube, that people are going to this for knowledge and instruction now, and that by the time our kids are grown, much will be lost (in a sea of 3 minute videos and mis-information). That made me think, though my friend is by no means a traditionalist, he may be right.

A very thought provoking question. The "leaving the dojo for the last time" part of the question frames the question as if, at some point when you no longer go to a physical place, it's over. Thing is, anywhere can be a dojo. Martial art is something you carry around inside you. I could say, though, that I regret that as the years go by, it's been harder to have a dojo home to nurture my training. I kind of regret that when I was involved in traditional karate, I didn't have the experiences of getting a master's belt and having my own school. But the flip side of that, my most satisfying memories, is when I stepped off that path, to a club in my town that became a home for many years, where my skills grew and broadened considerably, I made long term friends, got in great shape. One door closes, another opens.

I'm not sure if this is tongue in cheek or a misunderstanding For the avoidance of doubt, I believe board breaking to be The single most ridiculous aspect of the traditional martial arts culture. Pyjamas. OK, strange, but I get it. It's loose fitting and it's a uniform that takes away any class or gender divides by making everyone look kind of the same. Coloured belts that somehow mean a certain level of skill or understanding? Another bizarre notion but OK, it helps both fellow students and instructors understand roughly how far along you are at a glance. Screaming at nobody while you kick things air? Yeah okay but there is science to back the rapid exhalation as you perform a technique, and kicking thin air without falling over has value seeing as when you try to kick an actual opponent, he will want to move and counter and you still want to keep your balance. Bowing and speaking Japanese / Korean to a westerner who speaks the same native language as you and it's not Korean or Japanese? OK. Erm. Yes. OK, it's a cultural thing I guess, and besides, you never know, you might actually one day work with a Korean or Japanese instructor I guess. Breaking small pieces of soft pine that are being held still for you, as a means of demonstrating how hard you are. ....... erm. .... sorry, got nothing lol. He was playing along with your riff. We get that you're finding some of the trappings and activities in TSD silly. Your feminist principles are admirable, I just don't think you'll get very far with that in such a traditional association. They have 10s of thousands of black belts already. I think your best option is to take your own test and not concern yourself with someone else's, female or not.

Unless you practice old school bareknuckle style, Western boxing is a bad example for hand conditioning. Most famously, Mike Tyson broke his wrist when he got into a bareknuckle scrap with someone. Hand conditioning can indeed cause permanent debilatation long term if you overdo it. Most of us modern, soft people want to do other things with our hands besides punch hard objects, like tapping computer keyboards. A lot of those Okinawan masters (Funakoshi nonwithstanding) didn't live that long by our standards- 60's was old age, so they likely didn't deal with decades of arthritis, etc.

As long as you keep paying, I doubt your instructor will care what your reason for training is! If you decide you're just in it for fitness, that's perfectly valid, and with WTSDA style, that's probably the best thing you can get out of it (besides the social factor you enjoy). Truthfully, there are better, more efficient ways to stay fit if you just want to burn calories, do cardio, keep flexible, and build muscle strength. The thing I end up missing is, nothing else also engages the mind, coordination, and range of motion like punching, kicking, forms.

Most karate/TKD etc. training seems to be done in group classes, especially for kids. Then there's black belt classes, or informal groups or training partners. How many of you, though, if you had the time and money, would want to do private lessons? Would you want to train with someone "famous", like Dan Inosanto? Or just get personal attention from you instructor? I can imagine where someone who is wealthy, or a celebrity (or both!), or just a busy executive, might want to do that.

I'm not a black belt yet. In previous clubs I've been in, that didn't matter. Prior to joining TSD I only ever graded once in another style, and that was a kung fu school where they didn't traditionally have grades, but had decided to experiment with it for the benefit of us western sorts. I trained for years in wado and never graded once. Yet in these other styles, I was treat as a martial artist with ability judged by seeing what I could do rather than the belt I wore. All that changed when I went to TSD. When I started in had no intention of ever grading. Yet now I am nearing black belt purely because, to my surprise, they actually withhold techniques from you until you reach certain grades. This concept was alien to me and I'm still not at ease with it. Especially when you see a senior Dan grade showing off a technique I learned at white belt in aikido. I'm at an age and experience level now where I'm starting to think about teaching. I realise people will then expect me to have a black belt, so I will continue to earn it somewhere, but wherever I go next, I really can't be pestered with being limited to the most basic techniques until I get to the higher grades in whatever I do next. This explains a lot. In my opinion the observations you have are valid, and I think you would be happier with a school/style that wasn't so rigid about rank and syllabus. There are forms in TSD like Seisan they generally won't teach you until 4th or 5th dan- yet they are green belt forms in Okinawan styles. Most of the WTSDA one-step and self-defense techniques are laughable, but you have to learn them, 5 at a time. The bong forms are made up, and not the way Koreans traditionally used it. Same with the dagger and sword forms. As a black belt and instructor, though, you would be expected to teach all that stuff, and the syllabus, so if you don't embrace that, you should move on. That said, if you're close to black belt, it would be a worthwhile personal achievement to going ahead with testing. Part of what TSD tries to teach is persevering towards a goal. After that you can do whatever and not feel like a quitter.

This is a great question, I read it yesterday and wanted to sleep on it before responding. Not counting judo as a little kid, I started karate (and some judo) when I was 18. When I went off to college I switched to Tang Soo Do, and stayed with it until I made 3rd dan, I think I was 30. Towards the end of that I was exposed to Ryu-kyu kempo and pressure point theory, which opened my eyes to things I wasn't getting from TSD. Training in Jeet Kune Do, Hapkido, boxing, grappling, and Tai Chi followed that, along with certification as a personal trainer, specialist in martial arts conditioning. That may seem like a lot, but it's been spread out over 37 years! Things I know for sure: Training keeps you young and healthy Overtraining beats up your body There is no magic, mysticism, or religion in real martial arts Traditional Asian arts are a great foundation to learn basics, discipline, and focus, but the other trappings and methods are a waste of time. Non-traditional, modern systems may be effective, efficient, and scientific, but they're not "art" Speed, power, and size all matter, but not as much without practice. Simplify, avoid the tendency to overcomplicate Practice, repetition is the key to moving automatically and naturally

From some of your other posts expressing interest in other styles, it seems like you are already seeking a change. If you are having trust or confidence issues with your instructors as well, I can see why you'd be ready to make a move. I don't know what your rank is in WTSDA or who your instructor is- if they're not in Region 8 I wouldn't know them anyway. If you feel your progress has stalled but you still like TSD, talk to your instructor. I'm not sure what you mean by "the more subtle aspects". The more advanced training, in my experience, happened at black belt classes and clinics. If you're not a black belt yet, that's another story. The traditional mindset of that organization, though, means their curriculum and training methods are rigid- and short of moving away, changing schools is not an option. That is, you should consider Shotokan, BJJ, etc. as you've mentioned before.

in JKD we throw that straight on snap front kick as a stop hit to the shin. When throwing plain old mid-level front kicks on a bag or person, I almost never hit straight on. Usually at an angle, always aimed to get through defenses (and avoid banging up my foot). Think of the snap, lead leg front kick as a jab.

I think you'll be at a disadvantage, credibility wise, with anyone who knows the "origin story" you describe. People, whether it's old time Okinawa, or modern day America, claim their own style after years of training and teaching (again, if they're credible). The principle you describe is not unique, it appears in traditional karate systems, but I would say it's much less emphasized in modern training where people are padded up and don't do hand conditioning, etc. You yourself could explore and emphasize these techniques in your current style and training.

There are plenty of choices out there, there is absolutely no reason to be a barefoot, bouncy, or jumping fighter unless it works for you. If you still wanted to do 'karate" but take out the jumps and high kicks....Shotokan or numerous other styles. Want to wear shoes? Combatives, JKD, Krav Maga. Just want hands? Boxing is very popular these days. And you wear shoes.

One of the training principles of sports science is Volume (which is made up of frequency, intensity, and time). That is, how often, how hard, and how long you train. If you want to progress, these factors have to increase. In martial arts skill development, the principle of Specificity applies. How you would train for your next belt test should be more well rounded than say, an upcoming tournament. So the answer is, yes, more training is better, if you're working on the right stuff for your goal. Generally speaking most classes are not geared towards individual goals, so a baseline of classes with supplementary, carefully tailored individual training is needed.

I've seen "Cobra Kai" t-shirts, so somebody's getting away with it. As I remember, they were the jerks in that story, so while it's a cute idea, little Johnny's parents might not think so. Sweep the leg, Johnny!

There used to be a website called "24fightingchickens" run by a Shotokan BB who debunked a lot of the nonsense around karate. He had trained in Japan for a while, as well. One of the things he noted was, "oss" was like saying "Yo!" - it's kind of rude. And in the TSD world, I was first taught "ko map sum ni da". Years later my native born Korean Hapkido instructor told me the proper way to say it was "Kam sa hap ni da".

Either way it's good practice to do conditioning. In JKD they're big on stop hitting, kicking the shin to intercept a kick. Basic foam sparring gear is NOT enough to protect your shins against that, some guys use hockey pads for practice. Using the shin offensively to kick is OK if you're conditioned, or you use it against something softer, like Thai style against a thigh. Using instep works OK against ribs, and also gives some extra reach to kick head level. But if you want to hurt somebody, use ball of foot. It has the added advantage of being able to sneak in past a block

i seem to remember you were at a WTSDA school, but I don't know what rank. Certainly having friends there and feeling like you fit in counts for a lot, but whether that's enough when you feel like you are not developing in some ways is a good question. I would say, at least get you black belt, or next dan, whatever it is. In the mean time, take a few trial sessions at the MMA place, see if you like it. Hey, it may blow your mind and you'll make up your mind quickly to quit TSD. I may have shared this before, I got to 3rd dan in TSD, over 20 years ago. I was in shape, could do all the crazy kicks, forms, etc. After that I got into JKD and MMA- and realized I was finally learning how to fight. I had a lot of rigidity and useless stuff to unlearn.

When I first started out years ago, long before MMA, my dojo had both judo and karate classes. Almost no one cross trained. I tried for a little while, but our sensei (who was an Olympic judo coach) advised it was best to stick to one (if I wanted to get good). As far as practical self-defense, the thinking was a judoka just needed to have a good punch and kick, too. Made sense, but I got banged up a lot more in judo, so I concentrated on karate. Fast forward 10+ years and dan ranks later, it was time not to be a purist. I had to unlearn some things, and over time, added JKD, Hapkido, Tai Chi, boxing, wrestling. Each added something to round out my skills, though I'm by no means a master of any of them. It's good to branch out, but it's still a trade-off that you will not master any one thing that way.

The human body is very capable of adapting through conditioning. We're inherently capable of running short distances (like to escape a saber toothed tiger) and walking long distances (to migrate for better climate, etc.) But to run long distances, that you have to train for. Combat is a bit different because we've made it a learned skill, and the primary means of learning has been mimicking and repetition. Conditioning occurs in the repetition. Too much repetition causes injury, though. They've even seen seen disfigured shoulders in the skeletons of medieval English longbowmen, from pulling 100+# war bows. It's only in recent decades, with the advent of sports science, that training methods have advanced to maximize performance and minimize injury. Now it's a lot more possible to train in martial arts without injury, but there's no getting around the primary purpose is to do injury onto someone else!

Ha! He just couldn't afford the rent with fewer students. I've been reading a book about karate on Okinawa, pre WWII and before. There are stories about some instructors being selective about students because of safety, and a few stories of impetuous men getting killed in fights. One story was a master who was provoked into a fight, kicked his assailant with his big toe on a vital point under his nipple- the guy died a couple of days later. It may have actually happened, who knows. But I believe most fights result in bumps, bruises, maybe a concussion or broken bone. But fatalities are rare and just as likely to be unintentional.

Yin-Yang symbols, dragons, tigers, eagles, association logos and such. Do you wear or display them in "civilian" life, like on a T-shirt, etc? Do they affirm your identity as a martial artist, or are they pretentious or likely to get you in trouble?

A long time ago a master I knew said "your flexibility is your youth". As we age, we lose flexibility unless we stretch, maintain range of motion. If your style requires kicking much above waist level, stretching is a must. If you're into grappling, joint locks, then flexibility is defensive, too- it doesn't hurt as much or as quickly. Strength training is great, especially for judo, wrestling, jujitsu, but it's not either/or with flexibility. It prevents injury differently, by developing smaller muscles (like rotator cuff) and your core, so they are not strained when used dynamically.

Great question! I can think of several, though it's questionable whether they changed the game for the better. I would agree with Bruce Lee being a game changer. The TV series, "Kung Fu" (based on Bruce Lee's story idea), despite it's flaws, brought a mainstream US appeal to martial arts, paving the way for Lee's and so many other Kung Fu movies. I admit it influenced me towards taking up karate. More recently, Dana White, Gracie JiuJitsu, and the UFC upended the martial arts world. They certainly made traditional martial arts look useless and obsolete. In Okinawan karate, I think GM George Dillman was a game changer, though now many think he's a charlatan. He was a pioneer in instructional videos, teaching seminars, and interpreting the classic forms as hidden road maps to pressure point strikes (tuite).

I honestly never thought of trying to be as good as, or better than, a teacher. When you're first starting out, or you're learning something new, the teacher is giving you a new skill to learn. Eventually the instructor's job is to be more of a coach, giving you pointers or corrections to improve your performance. What's most important is their knowledge and ability to convey it, not whether they are more physically capable than you. The best teachers I have known or had, their martial art was their life's work, their profession. Both their ability and knowledge reflected this level of dedication.

I figured out how to make the tails on my belt longer. So far I've lost about 4 pounds.