JazzKicker

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.

Flexibility training for karate is necessary, for sure. Every sport benefits from it, but martial arts more so because of the variety and range of motion. Old school was a brief warm up, then deep static stretching like splits, etc. Sports science has learned that warming up and doing dynamic stretching within the normal range of motion for the activity is best. I would stop short of ballistic stretching, things like throwing axe kicks, before you're really warmed up. Then, to improve range of motion, do static stretching at the end of the workout. Gizmoes like racks and pulleys do work, but they have to be used carefully to avoid injury. Some people will always struggle to kick high because of the structure of their hips- the joints simply won't allow it. I would also caution that relying on leg flexibility to kick high, and maintaining a vertical spine,erect posture, will put a lot of strain on your low back and potentially damage the discs in your sacrum.

I recently read Peter Urban's book, "Karate Dojo". There's a bunch of mystical, apocryphal stories, which he admits are tall tales. Maybe they're good for inspiring children, like fairy tales. There was probably a time when karate was new and exotic to Americans that people believed those stories. I think parables are good ways of getting across an underlying message.

I think Van's school has a good way of handling it, not making a big deal about rank and giving people a chance to fit in and train. Last fall I visited a club that had JKD classes, no problem for me to walk on and train. No belts, no problem. The times it was a problem, it never got past the "Hey, can I come and train here? question." Certainly not a confrontation like the previous question. But it does remind me of a story from about 10 years ago. The club I was training at was folding up, so I visited a TKD school that also offered, they said, Hapkido, with Korean masters. I talked to the GM, he told me it was $1300/yr, but we could "work something out", that he had a Hapkido master coming in a few weeks and I was welcome to come train. So I came back in a few weeks, when they had a class scheduled, and a young black belt and the new Korean Hapkido guy were there, though not the GM. The young one said, sure, you can train, so I put on my uniform. Then they had me come in the office. They wanted me to pay 6 months in advance, plus $20 for the night, and $75 for the month. This, they said, was to "prove my commitment" . I said, well, I'm already committed, I've been doing this for years. And most schools offer a trial, and certainly don't ask you to pay for 6 months before you've even seen a class. I was ready to leave, but they caved, and said, since you're already here and dressed, the master would like to train with you a bit. So we worked out, and I realized (and they admitted later) they were testing me. Needless to say I never went back.

OneKick, I think you're being too kind to simply call it incompatibility. In the example you gave, one instructor black belt had effective technique, the other did not. Worse, the second one wasn't just fooling himself. Your fellow students got into complaining about the first one because they had been led to believe they could practice effectively without it being at all rough or painful. This is the kind of group suggestibility that leads to the phony demos you see so often in aikido (and, to be fair, some of the pressure point/ no-touch knockout things).

Once again my experience was confirmed. Last week I visited a school that was part of my old organization, I talked briefly with the master instructor before a class. I just asked if he had a schedule for adult classes, and he asked about my experience. I told him, and we chatted about the people we knew, etc. He said he'd have to talk to his master (the owner of the chain), took my name & information- and I never heard back. Then I went to my old JKD/MMA coaches new facility. He was happy to see me, showed me around, said I was welcome to come in and use the place after work if I just wanted to work out, told me he'd reinstituted JKD and CQC classes now that he had more space- so yeah, I'll go where I'm welcome and leave the politics and belts behind.

Hey, that's 3 things, not the single most annoying one thing! I would have to say the single biggest thing is the "Nonsense", whether it's the marketing hype, fakers, or posers, and the lack of respect for martial arts that stems from it. People in the martial arts fight amongst themselves about it, and people on the outside just think it's all a joke.