DarthPenguin

The last three episodes could have been retitled "The Cameo of Boba Fett"

They are set in different time periods - Kenobi is set before the original star wars film and the Mandalorian is set after Return of the Jedi, so there shouldn't be any spoilers (with the disclaimer that Kenobi is yet to air!) Personally i found the second season of the Mandalorian better than the first one. Kenobi is an unknown quantity, i want it to be amazing, but i could see it being a disappointment. the upcoming Ahsoka show should be good though - she is one of the best characters in the clone wars cartoons and it will allow them to branch out a little

Anyone else as excited as me about the upcoming show? Slightly disappointed at the look of the grand inquisitor from the trailers (especially since they have done a live action pau'an before in Revenge of the Sith and they looked much better). I'm also curious if it will include a live action debut for Cal Kestis (in case there was any doubt, yes i am a massive star wars geek!)

fingers crossed!!

Please don't laugh at me for the question here but i have to ask, is the show actually any good? I've not seen it yet and have been trying to convince my other half to watch it! With two small kids, professional jobs, training and all the other things that go with life we don't have a huge amount of time to watch things so some delicate negotiation is required and have to find good shows that can both watch. If it is good i can play the "we need to at least watch the first episode card", and as long as a show is good i retain it and can reuse. If it isn't i lose it and might be stuck with an episode of some nonsense like Bridgerton to get it back lol!

Welcome. Sounds like your learning is all about self betterment and a desire to improve, which tbh is the main thing anyway! Best of luck with the learning!

Welcome. Nice to (virtually) meet you!

Best of luck with the testing. Just remember your instructor would not let you grade unless they believed you were ready for it. You are (skill wise) already your new grade, you just need to demonstrate it and be given permission to display the appropriate belt colour!

Viewing it through a business lens the CI has to decide on their business model and what do they want to achieve and what is in their power to control. eg retention, do they want to retain a large student base due to a reputation for excellent training and exacting standards or do they want to retain one due to a reputation for fast progression and a feel good factor? Personally i think the former is more sustainable as if you can get a solid base of long term dedicated students then you keep a solid income stream Some people though find a high turnover of 'transitory' students works for them. They rely on being able to get new faces through the door and seek to maximise the profit available from it. There does seem to be a different perspective on the martials arts as a business idea in the UK though. Discounting boxing gyms, there has never been a massive focus on martial arts teaching being used as a 'job'. People taught from a love of the art and generally sought to recoup their costs for teaching, with a small amount extra. Now we are beginning to see more full time martial arts coaches. Where i live it is mainly a few full time bjj academies, some mma schools, and one taekwondo academy near me, where the instructor has made it their livelihood. I'll be interested to see how things develop over here as things change.

I think the change over time is totally right. I relatively recently returned to karate after many many years away doing other styles and had trained in the 80s/early 90s. When i mention that to people at my current karate class they almost unanimously comment on it being a lot rougher back then (i have to remind myself about the contact requirements all the time whenever i spar!) I have always felt that the contact requirements seemed to be more like a safety valve for people when training. If the rules said minimum contact, we usually always went a lot harder than that with regular training partners, but it meant that if someone was uncomfortable with the level of contact there was a clear mechanism to enforce this. The coach/instructor would just say to watch it - though tbh it was usually obvious and never needed said. Nowadays it seems that the contact rules are taken as gospel and people are less willing to adjust to their (and their partners) preferences. I would like to note that i am in no way advocating for ignoring an instructor's views on how to teach their class. If they want to enforce minimum contact then they are totally entitled to do so and their wishes should be adhered to. We just always had a list of places we could train that would be a little less rigid in that regard, and you could choose to attend there or not as you saw fit. I think it’s just a reality of the modern world. 80s/90s the idea of fighting in general wasn’t viewed as an inherently bad thing, particularly if it’s self defense, so if you came to school or work with a black eye a few friends or something might ask about it but most people would mind their own business. A minor at any age comes to school with a black eye there’s a very real possibility the police are called regardless of what the minor says. For adults black eyes aren’t viewed as professional appearance in most industries these days, so you’re actually putting your professional life at risk, all for a hobby you’re spending money on. Thats a very fair point. I get reminded all the time of the change in attitudes when i give my son the same advice my dad gave me "if someone tries to pick on you, hit them back. Telling the teacher doesn't work, they just flag you as an easy target" and then get reminded by my partner that that isn't allowed at all nowadays! The work thing is a fair point too, i'm an actuary and i have had a lot of funny looks when i attend lunchtime training sessions and come back into the office a bit bruised etc. WFH does help with that though!!

I think the change over time is totally right. I relatively recently returned to karate after many many years away doing other styles and had trained in the 80s/early 90s. When i mention that to people at my current karate class they almost unanimously comment on it being a lot rougher back then (i have to remind myself about the contact requirements all the time whenever i spar!) I have always felt that the contact requirements seemed to be more like a safety valve for people when training. If the rules said minimum contact, we usually always went a lot harder than that with regular training partners, but it meant that if someone was uncomfortable with the level of contact there was a clear mechanism to enforce this. The coach/instructor would just say to watch it - though tbh it was usually obvious and never needed said. Nowadays it seems that the contact rules are taken as gospel and people are less willing to adjust to their (and their partners) preferences. I would like to note that i am in no way advocating for ignoring an instructor's views on how to teach their class. If they want to enforce minimum contact then they are totally entitled to do so and their wishes should be adhered to. We just always had a list of places we could train that would be a little less rigid in that regard, and you could choose to attend there or not as you saw fit.

I'm sorry but i have to object to any hint of referring to Chuck Norris as not being invincible - in the movies sounds like he is not invincible out of them. Pretty sure this is classed as blasphemy!!! (sorry couldn't resist)

Hello and welcome. I'm relatively new here myself and everyone seems friendly so am sure you'll get on well

He is better than me then... main style is karate, back foot is generally pointing at a 45 degree angle depending on what I'm doing, but when I started Iaido the back foot wanted to point forward, that's been very hard to correct that, they kept calling it my karate foot! He is batman, he is better than us all! He has the two powers of being obscenely rich (i think they said in a relatively recent comic that he is a trillionaire now) and unbeatable plot armour - he beat up Darkseid after all!

only way i could see it working would be with relation to variants of techniques: in my main style my toes point this way when executing technique X but in new style they do this way. Then since he can already perform the technique, he adjusts it and 'masters' a new style that is a variant of his first. I am also picturing it like : he is a BJJ BB and gets shown a Sambo, Judo, Luta Livre etc. variation of technique/new technique and since he is already amazingly skilled and remembers it perfectly he can just 'do it' Batman sometimes seems like a lot of writers sat round a table playing a game of one upmanship to decide the craziest things they could get away with for him. I used to say that a fight between Batman and Superman would go like this: Batman moves threateningly towards Superman; gets obliterated by eye beams from Space as Superman has instantly left the atmosphere/ a mountain is moved and relocated instantly on top of Batman etc

Congratulations! All the best. And i hope you have been blessed with a good sleeper!!!

Congrats on the new arrival! Hopefully you have been blessed with a good sleeper!

Totally agree with this 100%. I have always been extremely wary of self defence courses as they can breed a false confidence in someone and could lead to a very nasty situation. That second of thinking "i could do X" rather than just running can lead to something very nasty. As a taster to things that someone could learn over the longer term in a proper class environment i can see the benefit, but otherwise, unless taught extremely carefully they are risky. Personally if i was to teach one i would opt for simple, easy to remember techniques that can be practised in a solo manner. For me, the things that come to mind are: - a simple jab - a simple rear hand punch - the 'technical stand up' from the ground with hands raised to defend yourself - low level front kick to knee - the concept of bridging on the ground (this can be practiced to build strength and then leads naturally into getting someone off you) All of the above can be practiced alone, without a partner to get used to the movement. Things like defences from grabs etc in reality rely a lot on feel, judgement of which technique to use based on opponents positioning, relative size etc and i think that would be hard to get across in a self defence environment Possibly controversially i could also see the value on demonstrating chokes on people and being mounted/pinned. Not everyone has had this happen to them and they may have an unrealistic view of the unpleasantness and think 'oh i could get out of that easy' or believe some of the silly ideas like "if they try to choke me like that i'll punch them in the balls or eye gouge them". Teaching them that this is not the case may be a very valuable self defence lesson

Interesting post! One addition i would make (for instructional style books mainly) would be Pictures / Images : Quality and variety of pictures used to illustrate technique/information. Are there sufficient angles covered and are the images easy to follow Personally i would also slightly amend the uniqueness of information one since if it is instructional based then there should be some commonality of information with other sources on the technique, though i would expect some individual input or opinion from the author. in my personal book collection the only real technique based martial arts books i have are for BJJ and you can notice a large difference between publishers and authors. I have a couple that have excellent content but the pictures are not easy to follow at all and some others that while they have less content are a million times more accessible. I tend only to purchase ma technique books for BJJ since there are so many techniques and variations on them that i might not be shown all that i would like by my coach as they are focusing on something else. With something like Karate though it has a bit more of a syllabus so i can rely on my instructor to show me all i need to see and then i can adapt my personal style accordingly.

Seems sensible. It also reminded me how different things are in the USA compared to over here - we now see the occasional 'high street' location for a martial arts club, but it is unusual - strip mall style classes were never a thing over here. Usually most styles seem to be taught in the evenings, a few times a week, by an instructor/s in a rented space for the session - could be a sports centre, a church hall etc. Full time academies have started to spring up a little more now but they seem to be mainly BJJ or MMA schools (though there are both a Taekwondo and Hapkido one near where i live - but it is very much an exception) Over here the issue seemed to be that the 'better athletically talented' individuals moved towards styles like BJJ, Muay Thai and MMA (if it can be called a style) with many fewer people taking up a more traditional style, so they seemed to start trying to remove barriers (making it easier to progress; gentler training etc.). Some styles just make it hard for adults to train it - as a personal example i decided i wanted to try Judo and started looking into classes. There are judo clubs all over the city but almost all of them refuse to take adults (certainly beginners). Only a very small number allow adult beginners to come along which then also reduces numbers. Thankfully for me, the class that my son attends was one of the few that would permit an adult - though at another of their locations!

It's always good to find a senior instructor that realises they don't know everything. I still remember a seminar i attended with Rickson Gracie several years ago, where he openly said he was now teaching the guillotine choke in a different manner than he had always done before (as his son had shown him a new variation) which he thought was better than his own one. For someone of that level to think in that manner was quite refreshing to hear!

I don't think the multitude or organisations and splintering that has occurred helps either, is like a more extreme version of the crazy amount of alphabet belts in professional boxing. In the bjj world everyone just focuses on their instructor lineage and doesn't really bother about their governing body (unless entering IBJFF competitions). You are a X Belt under Professor Y who got their Black belt from Professor Z etc Maybe a solution would be to adopt a similar model for karate. Individual instructors could then monitor the standard of their lineage - it would become well known that the Instructor McDojo tree was made up of Mcdojo's and people could easily avoid it. The disparate bodies could then arrange tournaments/competitions that align with their institutional viewpoints. So a JKA tournament, a WKF tournament etc. Would be quite a shift in emphasis but it might help

I've never understood what is wrong with having distinct styles that focus on different areas of combat - current opinion seems to be that everything needs to include everything. I always quite liked the approach that GSP (i think it is uncontroversial to rank him as a top 5 all time MMA fighter at worst) took to training - whereby he learnt the art itself and then adapted it to his personal style for mma. He achieved a 4th dan in Kyokushin. Wanted to learn ground fighting so he got a bb in bjj. Wanted to improve his wrestling so he took up wrestling directly etc. In my opinion if you try to learn the arts separately, you can learn then much more deeply and find the techniques that work for you personally and integrate them into your own personal style. If you learn mma then you learn the style that your coach has chosen, which works for them, but if you are extremely different physically/style wise from your coach then it may not suit you e.g. i am 6'4" and about 225lb (in American measurements ) so what suits my much smaller coach may not suit me at all. Nothing wrong with having a karate school that focuses on karate; a taekwondo school that does taekwondo; a bjj school that just does bjj.

Now that is interesting! I look both proud and happy all at the same time! You passed up an opportunity to pretend you were presented your belt by someone who looked miraculously like you (but who wasn't you obviously!)

Hahah thanks! Means i get a snazzy icon for a while when i post!