OneKickWonder

I think it's a difficult one. I think sometimes instructors oversimplify to the point of actually lying. An example be in explaining the simple low block. Fist comes to opposite shoulder before driving down and across. Oh and we twist at the hips too. And our other hand comes across the body in counter motion. Because this generates power. And of course you can do all of this in less than the length of time it takes for a front snap kick to arrive. All rubbish. I believe instructors explain it like this partly for simplicity and partly to encourage the development of many principles. Our lowly basic low block is so many things, but unless our attacker is delivering the world's slowest front kick, it is not a block.

Indeed. Why do we train so hard? Why do we choose to do hard work that is not technically necessary, often to the point of significant and prolonged physical discomfort? It would be so much easier to just lounge on the sofa drinking cold beer would it not? We work so hard because in our mind, we have a vision of what we are trying to achieve. The mind drives us. The body is a slave to the mind. A weak mind will fail to control the body and laziness and bad habits will take over. When we physically train hard, we are also mentally training. We train ourselves to not slow down just because we're hurting and every part of our body is saying 'stop, it will be easier'.

Slightly late, but here's my 2 tips. 1. Don't over stretch. If you actually start tearing tissue, it will pull tighter to protect itself while it heals. 2. Focus on the foot you're standing on at least as much as your kicking leg. I'm really not that flexible, yet I can deliver a roundhouse kick to my own head height. Only partly through flexibility. Mostly by knowing my own mechanical characteristics.

Solid post!! My gym routine, which changes to keep my body surprised, is heavy in resistance training to the Nth degree, including those areas you've mentioned. I'll see what the bike riding does. I've done 5 5K runs in the latter half of 2017, but, not significant weight loss...feel great...but I feel like the toy that keeps banging in the wall over and over, but won't give up. I too struggle to maintain a healthy weight. Diet works to some extent, but the standard advice is not always good advice when it comes to diet. We're all different. It seems I'm different in that high fibre diet actually makes me seriously ill. Bizarrely I'm most healthy when I maintain a borderline unhealthy diet. But that's just me. My point is we can take advice, but ultimately we have to find our own way. In terms of exercise, I was leanest and fittest when I was cycling a lot. I used to ride the more leisurely off road routes so a bit more physically demanding than the road, but not too much so, and a lot more enjoyable. I never did extreme stuff. It was always leisurely, but over many hours. It became difficult to keep it up when I became a daddy because I suddenly had family commitments. I'm not trying to hijack the thread. My point is really to share what works and what doesn't work for me, in the hope that some small part of it might give you some ideas or help in some small way. Good luck.

We sometimes take bits of forms, and practice them as combos in basic drill lines. It's amazing how difficult it can be to coordinate everything, even if you can perform the exact same piece flawlessly in the form. This is something that bothers me. Without being able to take combat moves from a form reduces that form to nothing more than a dance routine. This is just one of several reasons why I personally like to dissect forms and look at them from many different angles. Something else bothers me. In our club now, as we have a very low student turnover, most of us are getting towards the sharp end grade wise. Most can perform several forms very well. Yet once sparring starts, the footwork and body positioning of many even higher grades is frankly embarrassing to watch. I can't understand how they can move so well in forms and then become robotic and linear in sparring. Our rules place limits on the range of techniques that can be used in sparring, but there are no restrictions on movement. Yet the pattern is largely the same. People constantly trying to break the opponent's centre while defending their own. Getting out 8f the way by jumping backwards etc. So rare do we see any diagonal movements or skilled entries that are absolutely everywhere throughout the forms. I strongly suspect that many students see forms as a necessary part of grading and nothing more.

I don't believe chivalry is dead. Although I can totally understand why so many think it is. I think it might be more accurate to say that chivalry seems to be dead because we are living in an era where folks take offence at everything, largely because the media has for some reason trained them to. The young woman with a pram, had she been truly thinking for herself, would have recognised that a fellow human being was attempting to make one small part of her life just a little bit easier. The brainwashed young woman on the other hand no doubt saw a misogynist implying that just because she was a woman, she couldn't complete this task herself. Don't give up on chivalry and manners. I think it's still the majority that appreciates it.

Every day, the clever gains some knowledge. Every day, the wise man gives up some certainty. Maybe. I don't know who originally wrote or Saudi that. It's just one of the many nuggets of wisdom imparted to us by the narrator of the classic 80s TV series, Monkey.

Excellent.

I've trained in several styles since childhood. But I stopped for a number of years before restarting in my current main style of tang soo do. One thing I've noticed is that if you practice anything well, it never really leaves you. It becomes integrated into you. In fact isn't that the point? So if you leave shotokan after 9 years and practice something else entirely, I believe you will find that the new style (judo in your case) will compliment your old style (shotokan). Judo was my first style. It's been years and years and years since I practiced it, and I thought I'd forgotten it all. But in tang soo do, I realised I instinctively knew how to fall and roll out from a takedown, or close the gap and take the opponents balance etc. Specific technical moves have gone but the core essence is in there still. I'm sure you'll find similar. Your Shotokan won't go away. You might forget a few kata but you'll keep all the techniques and principles, and assimilate them into your other training. Then, in future, if you decide Shotokan was right for you all along, you'll come back to it with fresh insight. You'll probably see additional applications and have a deeper understanding of things you'd missed first time round, and while you might not be allowed to use your new Judo in sparring for example, you'll be able to use the footwork and positioning and balance principles and escapes from take downs etc. Good luck in your ongoing quest.

I ponder these things because a form is meant to convey the essence of the art. At some point in history, and skilled fighter has put together some moves that he thinks will show all the basic movements from which everything else is built. If that skilled fighter from history could only fight right handed opponents, then he wasn't really that skilled. Therefore I suspect the intention might have been to use the form as a mere template on which to base ones practice and study. In another thread, I asked how does one decide when they truly know a form. Well I think if you can't do it with the directions swapped or reversed, then you don't know it.

Kata / hyung / forms generally always are a certain way round. For example, a particular form might start by turning to the left into a particular move. That form always starts by turning to the left. A different form might have us twist left before seemingly attacking to our right. Again, that form always goes that way round. In fact when I think about it, every form I know starts with a twist or turn to the left. Is there any reason for this? Something philosophical perhaps, relating to yin and yang? Or perhaps it's practical, often our left side is preferred as the forward side? Or perhaps it's simpler than that. Perhaps it's just that the original creators of the forms habitually preferred a certain side? Does anyone else think about such trivialities? Fundamentally, would it still be the same form if we did it the opposite way, it starting to the right instead of left?

As I've already said, I'm not criticising anyone who likes breaking. And you and I seem to be agreeing on many points. But I shared my opinion in good faith, not to ruin anybody's fun, but to stimulate thought. If after reading my comments someone thinks for a moment then dismisses it, fine. At least they considered it rather than blindly doing what they've always done without question. When we go to a martial arts class, as we start slowly destroying our knees through bad posture and an instructor corrects us, do we say no, this is how I've always done it, or do we think maybe it's worth considering this? I haven't simply said breaking is silly or anything like that. I've offered sound reasons for my thinking. As martial artists, are we not encouraged to keep an open mind? Some folks give solid reasons why they support breaking. I give reasons why I don't. So far I can only see one post dismissing the whole notion of debate.

Our instructor usually keeps it brief, but very occasionally he will talk at length. I enjoy it. He doesn't talk at length about his day at work, or his family life, or his car. He talks about the philosophy or applications of what we are learning, or the reason why we train the way we do, or other insightful things that are very much relevant to our training and study. The way I see it, I'm happy to lose 10 minutes of training time every now and then while I learn some of his insights. I can practice most of the basic mechanics of a technique or form at home, at work during a break, in the park, anywhere. But I can only get the insights of a person that has lived martial arts since childhood directly from the horse's mouth if I'm actually there and listening patiently.

This guy talks a lot of sense about Self defence. He is a guy that takes his massive wealth of karate experience, and combines it with study of real violence, and develops effective self defence. He is quite rightly highly regarded as a master of his art. He runs seminars everywhere, which always sell out. Note I emphasised Self defence. Still nobody seems to discuss defence of others. Yet as a parent, this is something certainly I think about a lot. I'm sure I'm not alone.

This is the first I've heard of it. I can see how it could be useful for young kids, who can't tie their belts yet. But adults? Is this really a thing?

Breaking is conditioning in a way. Looking at x-rays of people who routinely break’s hands (as an example), you’ll see far thicker areas of compact bone (the outer, non-marrow area) than most other people. Similar to people who hit makiwara, Thai boxers who condition their shins, etc. What happens is the person is micro fracturing their bones. When those heal, the body lays down extra bone to prevent further damage. No different than micro tears in muscle during strength training. How desirable or functional that is can be debated; the physiological response can’t. I agree with what you are saying. But there is a problem. Any repetitive stress to the bone will increase bone density. That's well and truly backed by scientific study. No problem there. But that same mechanism that increases bone density can also stimulate unwanted bone growth, in the form of joint deformity leading potentially to arthritis. This might be in a minority of cases but it is a risk. Of course that same risk exists with any form of conditioning. But the problem with breaking is about control. When you hit a bag or a pad, you can build up gradually, ensuring that you have the control and precision there before gradually increasing the power. With breaking, you get one shot. It has to be right first time. You have to comit 100% to the strike right from the off. Makawari is somewhat different. That's just a primitive DIY alternative to the heavy bag. You can gradually build up with it. There is nothing magical or ceremonial about old training tools. It's just what they had. As I said before, I'm not against breaking for those that want to do it. But I see it as pointless. I'd rather prove my martial arts personal development by demonstrating the techniques in a controlled way against a resisting but consenting opponent. Not a fight. But a demonstration of ability. If I can force a man my own size to the ground when he is trying to remain standing, I think that proves more than kicking a stationary inanimate object.

Uniforms have a purpose. Quite apart from being functional to aid training, they also prevent ego getting in the way. Without uniform you'll have people with all the gear but no idea, and people who can't afford the best. Then you get differences and resentment. Bowing in and out has purpose. It instills respect. If an instructor sees that someone can not follow basic etiquette, then he knows that that person can not be trusted to practice potentially lethal techniques with a fellow student. If you can't bow, how can you be expected to stop immediately and listen if the instructor spots a dangerous habit forming? I'm not against breaking by the way. Some people enjoy doing it. More enjoy seeing it. That's great. But my point is that breaking adds no value to martial arts training in my opinion. As for it being in the culture, maybe it is. But I've not encountered references to it yet in any of martial arts history books I've read, nor in any grandmasters books, but I haven't by any means read everything.

Very true. 'It's not the size of the dog that's in the fight, it's the size of the fight that's in the dog'.

Possibly you could simply be burning out. If that's the case, you need to back off a bit for a while. But let's not immediately jump to that conclusion without considering other possibilities. I'm going to assume that you've ruled out the obvious, like a mild winter illness like a cold. And that there's nothing going on psychologically like extra worry or stress. Have you considered diet? The modern way of thinking (in the West at least), has us generally eating reasonably healthily if we're into training, but it is often flawed in that it doesn't change much through the year. Vitamin D is a biggy in winter. We make it in our skin when the sun shines on us. But in winter we don't make enough, so unless we get it from diet or supplements we end up getting a bit deficient. That's just one example of winter deficiencies. Remember every part of us works harder in darker, colder days than warm sunny ones, so if you've not already considered winter diet, it might be worth giving it some consideration.

I have nothing against physical conditioning. In fact I see it as essential. But we're in the 21st century. We know things now that we're not known 100+ years ago. In any case, breaking isn't conditioning.

I used to believe that true, until I thought about it, and realised it's just yet more brainwashing. Think about it's value in psychological terms. What are we teaching when we ask students to smash a stationary object that is being held still by often several of our friends? How does that help develop the self defence mindset? Then think about other aspects of training that help develop self confidence. In sparring we have a moving, resisting opponent trying to hit us. At first it's scary. Over time it becomes less so, as you learn that you can move as well as anyone, judge distance, and land strikes against resistance. Of course in sparring, unless it's full contact, we don't kick full force like we do in breaking, so we could say that breaking gives us that opportunity. But so does pad work. You could say you need to know that in a self defence situation, you need to know that you can and will kick with enough force to disable an attacker temporarily. There's 2 problems with using board breaking to help with that. One is that a pre cut breaking board or an inch of soft pine tells us nothing of our power, and secondly, if you're full of adrenaline because you're under attack for real, you won't hold back. So when we analyse the pros and cons, we find that at best, most of the time it looks good and makes a satisfying noise. At worst it teaches you to kick stationary restrained objects possibly bruising or breaking your foot just to win the approval of a panel that have only asked you to do it because that's the way it's always been done and they've never questioned it.

The injury happened on Thursday, and I have almost full range of motion (nearly pain free) as of this post. The swelling has gone down substantially! Interestingly, the injury wasn't from a kick at all. I was practicing the hip throw with an instructor. He tried upping the realism by committing more to his attacks and speeding things up. I made a mistake... Whenever I make a mistake with this guy, I see one of 3 things coming at my face (in slow motion, no less): A fist, a foot, or the ground. In this case it was the ground. I landed wrong, and while on my way down, I grabbed him, and he fell on top of me. My toe was injured somehow in all that mess. If there is still pain and swelling, even if not much compared to when you first did it, then it us not healed. It is still very weak. New tissue being layer down to repair the injury is still soft jelly.

I used to agree. Until one day we were told it's about delivering that power precisely on target. And I kind of thought yes, but it's not moving, and it's not trying it's very best to stop me.

Gichin Funakoshi got it right. In his book, Karate do kyohan, he clearly advises that when starting training, one should initially limit themselves to one or two light sessions per week of no more than an hour. By light sessions, this was non contact and mostly kata. He goes on to say that once that becomes easy, then you can gradually increase both duration and intensity of training. But he also writes that one should not train to the point of pain or injury, but instead we should ensure that we are constantly improving, not degrading. He was clearly a wise man. That kind of thinking is still pretty new in the west, where we traditionally seem to think that self abuse is the route to improvement. Sadly I didn't read his book until I'd already completely ruined myself by over training. I am improving again now though, now that I've backed off a little bit.

I've never come across bats for breaking. Sounds silly. Reminds me of this.