camotheman

Let me just start by saying that was a wonderful response, with much more information than I had expected, thank you so much. From what I’ve seen over the years, this is coincidental with many short weapons, and that only waza were practiced originally, the forms were created afterwards. I wonder if that is what Ti was originally like. To my understanding, Nakandakari is a reference to the nickname of Nakamura Seigi, who was an early practitioner / instructor at the Nagamine dojo and Shima dojo, he practiced both Matsubayashi ryu and Goju ryu, but to my knowledge his Goju ryu lineage is unknown (at least I can’t find any info on it). Does karamiti also include kata practice? I’m a little unsure of the meaning of this term. In my mind, it’s referring to indigenous Okinawan martial arts, like pre-1700s. Or is this a synonym of torite / tuite? I find your style extremely interesting, thank you so much for engaging! I’ll throw in a couple more questions if it’s okay with you. Is it known where Kanagusuku Sanda learned his karate / kobujutsu? Since the time he was practicing, how do you think your style has changed? Do you think it is still true to what he taught? Since the style is older, do you see any similarities between Ufuchiku Kobujutsu / Karamiti and Motobu Udundi, or even Matsumura Seito? Thanks again!!

Hey all! I’m looking to buy a new Gi, what are some of your favorites that you’ve used over the years? I’d really like a heavyweight gi that can take some abuse. Preferably cotton, but I’d be open to some sort of blend. I’ve looked at Shureido, but I wanted to get your input before I made a decision. Thanks!

Thank you @Patrick @KarateKen! I’m very happy to be here!

I really like Tatsuya Naka, his videos with kuro-obi world on Youtube are always entertaining.

Friday 05/28/2026 Bo Practice Bo Kihon w/ light, medium, heavy, and extra-wide bo (to strengthen grip). Donyukon Ichi x 2 lightweight bo (1” diameter) Donyukon Ichi x 2 regular bo (1 1/8” diameter) Donyukon Ichi x 2 heavy bo (1 1/4” diameter Donyukon Ichi x 1 extra wide bo (1 1/2” diameter) Repeat above with Donyukon Ni, Choun no Kon Sho, Choun no Kon Dai, and Suuji no Kon. This killed my entire upper body. Finishing each round of kata with the wide bo, which is not just wider, but also just as heavy as the heaviest bo, was brutal. My forearms were on fire, my back was sore, it was a great workout. Highly recommend doing Kobudo with different weighted weapons, I feel like I have way more control using the correct weight after using the weighted weapons. When using the light bo, I feel like I can really focus on the tiny movements that I normally struggle with using the heavier bo. Regarding these “weighted bo”, they are just hardwood dowels that I sanded smooth from a lumber yard, cheap and easy training tool. Breakfast - Fruit Smoothie with a scoop of protein powder and collagen peptides. Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Greek Yogurt, and kefir. Lunch - Chicken bowl with guacamole, onions, peppers, tomatoes, cheese, rice, black beans. Dinner - Crustless Pizza. Pizza sauce, grilled chicken, bacon, provolone, ground beef, pepperoni.

Hey guys, one of my friends is moving to Lexington, KY and is looking for a BJJ or Judo school to train at. I wanted to extend this to you guys and ask if anyone knew of any good BJJ or Judo schools in Lexington. Thanks!

Thursday 05/28/2026 Rest day, I did not train. Breakfast - Nothing Lunch - Buffalo Chicken salad and two string cheese. Dinner - Three Birria Tacos Snack - Pistachios

I definitely get anxiety when performing in front of people, when I competed I would also get super nervous and it would affect my performance. For my Shodan, I had to read an essay about what Karate meant to me in front of everyone testing and I was sweating bullets. I think the biggest thing to remember is that no matter what happens, you just have to do your best and be confident.

I agree, I really try to focus on real world application, especially with Kobudo. I know that I’ll likely never use Kobudo like I could use my Karate, but I still think the application should be as real as possible.

Wednesday 05/27/2026 Nunchaku Kihon Nunchaku Sho no Kata x 3 Nunchaku Dai no Kata x 3 Tomoyoshi / Tomoyoroshi no Nunchaku Kata x 5 Nunchaku flow, working on switching grips and fluid transition from attack to defense, specifically striking then moving to a block or a different kamae. I used a pair of heavy rubber nunchaku with a chain connection for the above. Switched to a pair of foam training nunchaku, practiced striking the heavy bag, focusing on where the nunchaku go after the strike lands, making sure not to get hit with the rebound. Started watching videos of, and practicing, Maezato no Nunchaku. I wanted to learn a different style’s traditional nunchaku kata to expand my nunchaku moveset and also learn different bunkai / techniques. Breakfast - Nothing Lunch - Buffalo Chicken Salad, one string cheese Dinner - Chicken and white rice with Jw BBQ sauce and sriracha. Dessert - Protein Pints chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Congrats on your Sandan!

Tuesday 05/26/2026 Ippon Ken Wall Push Ups - 10x4 Heavy Bag Ippon Ken - 10 x 2 Each Side Saijutsu Kihon Nakandakari No Sai Practice x 3 Saijutsu experimentation - 20 minutes, this is just free-flowing techniques, seeing what feels good, working on unorthodox movements or weird transitions. Breakfast - Nothing Lunch - Homemade Wrap with Kewpie Mayo, Chipotle Sauce, Rotisserie Chicken, and Cheese. I cooked this in extra virgin olive oil and dipped in 0 cal hot sauce. I also had a string cheese. Dinner - Cup of Chicken and Wild Rice soup, Buffalo Chicken Salad.

Cincinnati, Ohio My mom got a coupon from a magazine and I wanted to try it. I just really enjoy karate, and martial arts in general. I have trained in Shima-ha Shorin Ryu Karate, Yamanni-Chinen Ryu Kobujutsu, BJJ, and Muay Thai. I haven’t tested in about 6 years, so I am still a Shodan in karate. I have trained kobudo for over 10 years but have never tested, I have no rank. I used to teach pre-covid. I started karate at 5 years old, so I don’t have too many memories from the beginning stages. I’m either spending time with my wife, watching anime, or playing video games. I am a loan officer for a small credit union. I am hoping to progress in my training, try to incorporate more and more traditional techniques and concepts into my practice, and I’d really like to get my Nidan after all this time.

Thanks everyone for your very in-depth responses, I appreciate it. I think I’m going to focus on training strength and mobility in my hips, back, and legs in order to build a stronger base, which in turn will (hopefully) lead to a deeper understanding of my own body and how I can use it to strengthen my Gamaku and Koshi. If you guys have any specific exercises or drills that you’ve used to strengthen Koshi and Gamaku please feel free to let me know below.

Will do! Hopefully it’ll make me bendy.

Whoops, I meant to follow up with my own little tricks / favorites in sparring in the original post. One of my own favorites techniques is to feint a jab until I can get a good read on their reaction, once I have that reaction locked down I grab their gi at the wrist, or just their wrist, and pull their hand down, then come over the top with a reverse punch to the face. This relies on feinting heavily, as well as hand speed.

Happy Tuesday everyone, I wanted to start off my week with a good question here. What is your favorite “style” of sparring? Meaning, what are your favorite techniques to throw, what are some of your favorite ways to set up techniques? Any favorite traps, feints, or throws? Anything you use in sparring can be discussed. I’m looking to change up the way I spar a bit and I figured I could steal some of your guys favorite techniques! Thanks!!

Hey everyone!

Thanks guys! I saw your own training logs and I thought well now I have to do one. Thanks for the inspiration 5/23-5/25 Log Did absolutely no exercise, celebrated my wife’s birthday, ate way too much food. Ate some pizza and cake on Friday night, went out for brunch on Saturday, got some chicken breast, with a side of mashed potatoes and a cup of soup. I had some nice steak (Wagyu) from a fancy restaurant Sunday night (they had a special, and we had a gift card LOL), had some ribs and chicken wings Monday night. Overall poor food decisions over the weekend but it was worth it to me. I’m thinking of adding my diet to this log, in my opinion food is just as important as the exercises we do. I think over the next month or two I’m going to focus on flexibility and mobility, it’s something I have always struggled with, even as a child. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to touch my toes without bending my knees, and my hamstrings are so tight. I am going to pick up a copy of Thomas Kurz’s Stretching Scientifically and go from there. I will update my mobility progress in this log as well.

What are your thoughts on using a makiwara to practice these concepts?

Thursday 05/21/2026 - Kihon Focus Shiko Dachi Chudan Tsuki x 10 Shiko Dachi Jodan Tsuki x 10 Shiko Dachi Chudan Uke x 10 Shiko Dachi Uchi Uke x 10 Shiko Dachi Jodan Uke x 10 Shiko Dach Gedan Uke x 10 Shiko Dachi Squats x 20 Zenkutsu Dachi Chudan Tsuki x 20 Zenkutsu Dachi Gyaku Tsuki x 20 Neko Ashi Dachi Chudan Shuto Uke x 20 Neko Ashi Dachi Gedan Shuto Uke x 20 Wankan Kata Practice x 3

Hey all, I’ve been doing some research into power generation and how all the different terms fit together. In my research, some of these topics have conflicting meanings or even the same explanations regarding different terms and topics. In your opinion, how do Gamaku, Hara, Tanden, Koshi, and Chinkuchi all fit together? How do you define each term? How do you incorporate these into your own karate training? How does your style view these different concepts? Thanks! Happy 25th!

I just want to say, I haven’t been here very long, but I’ve lurked here at KF and at E-Budo for years (when it was still around), you’ve all been very welcoming and kind. Other forums I’ve seen have so much anger and bickering in their posts, and there’s really none of that here. In today’s increasingly polarizing world, it’s so refreshing to see you all come together for a shared love of martial arts, regardless of real world politics, dojo politics, styles, and much more. It’s really a wonderful thing you’ve built here and you should be proud of your accomplishments. Thank you all for showing me your warmth and enthusiasm.

I’m sorry, I misunderstood your question. I would say that they’re pretty much the same in technique, speaking in terms of the knee motions, but they are different in execution. If I’m doing mae geri and striking with the ball of my foot, I’m driving my hip forward on the leg that I’m kicking with, to generate more force and power. If I was to do tsumasaki geri, I need to be much more aware of the structure of my technique, my hips will be more square than a regular front kick. If I lose that structure on a tsumasaki geri or use too much power, my toe / foot can bend to the left or right, essentially twisting my ankle to the side. Another thing is foot alignment, I’m flexing my toes up in mae geri to hit with the ball of my foot, whereas in tsumasaki geri I am tensing my toes to create that rigid structure.

Hey guys, more of a rambling of my thoughts here than a question, but, I wanted to write a little post about sport Karate and my thoughts and experience with it. I’m specifically talking about WKF / WUKF / AAU style sport karate. A little bit of background, growing up, I competed in sport karate until about the age of 18. I trained this alongside traditional karate, at the same dojo. I do believe that sport karate has benefits, it teaches you to be light on your feet, have good footwork for kumite, good distance management, and control of your techniques (power). Sport karateka are also some of the best athletes that I’ve worked with before. Now, there are also areas where this falls short. In the kumite of sport karate, the match stops when someone gets a point, this is not realistic whatsoever. If I punch you, and you are still conscious, that does not guarantee that you will stop attacking me. Stopping after the point like this can create some bad habits if you were ever in a real world situation. Now, I’m not saying that if you were in a real world situation, that you would stop after one punch, but it definitely breeds bad habits. Another shortcoming of sport karate would be the limited range of techniques and targets. No leg attacks, limited grappling with the opponent, no knees, no elbows, and light contact with your opponent. This limits karate in several ways, but to me it limits how many techniques I can use from kata. Now, I understand that it’s for safety reasons, but I’m sure that there is a good middle ground that could be found with a less limited ruleset and some extra protection. I spoke to my Sensei about this a few years ago and he told me that sport karate is for children, and that you learn “real karate” (traditional) as you age into adulthood / teenage years. I think that sport karate can definitely build good skills and coordination for a martial artist, but still has shortcomings for a real confrontation or traditional karate. I understand that sport karate is huge, and that it’s not going anywhere, but I wanted to pick your brains. What do you all think about this? Does modern sport karate have a place in the traditional space, or should it be left behind?