Shorin Ryuu

The 5th amendment?

Extreme feats of stretching and the like are detrimental to the health of a young child. I believe the amount in relatively active chilren's activities are not to this extent. An example of where stretching and the like is extremely detrimental is looking at the young girls Chinese ballet/performing group. Many of these young girls, while able to perform amazing things while younger turn become crippled for life after reaching the teens, I believe. I've had someone travel in China tell me stories of how they would see them crawling on the ground begging for food as their limbs and joints were malformed from the years of pushing things too far. This sad example is far from being common, however. I wouldn't worry about stretching within reasonable limits.

There's a difference in terminology between standing still, being rooted, being double-weighted and being efficient. I know Skeptic2004 wasn't implying that you should be stock still no matter what happens. He was saying that unnecessary movement, to include bouncing, is just that, unnecessary.

I (and many people here) feel that DVD/video training is only useful in terms of supplementing your instruction and other learning. You can learn a lot from instructional videos, more so if you already have a pretty good grasp of many or at least certain concepts. However, the danger lies in beginners who lack critical thinking skills (in general or in regards to their martial arts) who are unable to gain positive learning from the videos. I for one enjoy watching videos and documentaries of my system as well as other styles and fighting methods. I have numerous "instructional" videos of varying things that I find entertaining and useful in applying to my art (For example, I recently bought some video tapes of Taika Seiyu Oyata). But if you really don't know what you're doing (I'm using "you" in a general sense, not talking about you), then there is a limit to what you can gain. Again, critical evaluative skills can increase your benefits even if you are a beginner. I've used many videos throughout my relatively short martial arts career to enhance my understanding of various things. Usually this involves the use of a partner. *winks at Skeptic2004* All that being said, there are many videos out there with many degrees of usefulness.

Thanks. I was wondering how I was ever going to sleep again at night.

It's an Iraqi finger dipped in ink after the person voted. Edit: I was lazy trying to find a really good one last night, maybe I'll make it more obvious.

I agree with pendakarshihan1. "Hip movement" is a much more accurate term to describe all of the motions. To clarify on my earlier post, I wasn't exactly aiming for a full-blown hip rotation either. See my post: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=14623

E-gads. I find E-teaching to be somewhat dangerous, especially when dealing with weapons. I'm sure most people really haven't "invented" weapons of a simple nature recently (i.e., Not saying that the Southern Chinese School of Ironing Board First isn't great, but that most "invented" weapons don't have too many new weapons principles). Most of these are usually "improvised" weapons instead.

I work very well off the counter, but if my opponent gives me an opportunity, I will strike. If there is no opportunity, I will create one.

I don't think I'll ever find out, if you know what I mean.

One of the reasons I think the vertical fist is powerful is because of the elbow pointing down. Regardless of whether you have a vertical, 3/4 or full turn punch, I always think the elbow should be down regardless. Many people fall into the trap of either full extension or not enough extension. You should be able to punch well enough at all ranges, but if you intend to punch at a certain distance and punch at a closer distance than you intend to (if that makes sense) then it will not be as powerful. Over-extension is just bad because you use up a lot of the springing power the action of extending the joint and levering the arm improperly. Once you really get the rough mechanics down (weeks, months), try to experiment with not only having hip rotation on the "launching" part of the movement, but also significant hip rotation (doesn't mean large or exaggerated, but significant) on the retraction on impact as well.

I don't rely on web sources because for the most part they are either plain wrong, faulty or have no source citation in anything they say. Many websites you encounter most often simply repeat common myths and legends about this or that martial art. Therefore, I tend to shy away from them. Instead, I use more academic sources such as Unante written by John Sells and perhaps the most reliable book of its kind in English as it draws heavily from such landmark sources as Uechi Kanei's Okinawa Karatedo or in this specific case, actually had a professor remark about this in grad school one day in class. Both he and more academic books assert that there really is no proof that Bodhidarma taught the Shaolin monks martial arts other than "stubborn tradition", as John Sells puts it. Instead, he taught them various exercises intended primarily for physical fitness. The temples did become a gathering place for Chinese martial arts practice and expanded on those exercises to actually form comprehensive fighting systems. But as far as a website or anything like that, I haven't looked. Google may be your best bet.

To be technically correct, Japanese karate came from Okinawan karate. In the transmission from Okinawan to Japanese karate, there were a lot of things that changed, and those changes weren't necessarily one-sided either. Okinawan karate is a mixture of indigenious fighting arts and Chinese fighting arts which have had an influence on Okinawan arts for many years. As early as the late 1300s in terms of what records show (conceivably earlier than that), the Ming Dynasty and Okinawa had cultural exchanges which included Chinese nobility and craftsmen moving to Okinawa itself. This probably represents the first large influx of Chinese influence on Okinawan martial arts. In fact, much of Okinawan culture, while retaining a language that is close enough to be considered a dialect of Japanese is very much so Chinese in orientation. Of course most East Asian nations have this sort of experience. Ti(te) was usually used to refer to indigenous fighting styles which no doubt were already influenced by China. Toudi (toute, toude) was used to refer to styles with a much more Chinese influence that is the more direct ancestor of what we now call karate (a term not officially adopted until 1936). These were perhaps more coalescing towards what we now see as karate from around the mid 1700s, although their roots were much older. The "tou" character was a way of writing the character for the Chinese Tang dynasty and an alternate prononunciation for this was "kara". Later, the "kara" was changed to mean "empty". Ti or te just meant hand. Oftentimes even in the early 1900s, it was still referred to as toudi(toute, toude) or ti(te). I think the myth of Bodhidarma teaching Shaolin monks martial arts is a pleasant one, but still a myth nonetheless. The figure of Bodhidarma really is sort of irrelevant to the connections between karate and Chinese martial arts though. Karate does have links to Shaolin. The word "Shorin" is the Japanese pronunciation of the same characters which were used to reference it. You have to remember that even with the Chinese roots and influences on "native" Okinawan martial arts, many Okinawan masters also trained in China and Taiwan as well. You won't catch me dead saying everything was a 1-to-1 transmission. It most certainly wasn't. If anything, Okinawan martial arts (and many martial arts traditions are the same way) were sort of Mixed Martial Arts if you look at their history (and you don't necessarily have to look far back to see this).

I've found this topic comes up rather frequently. Certainly I have a marked dislike for "creative kata" and everything that comes with it. I feel the intricacies of kata lead to a limited number of individuals who can actually create kata that would be worth doing. However, if he wants to make up his own, that's fine. I can't give you any advice on acrobatics, DD. But have you considered doing a non-symmetrical kata? I don't ever go to tournaments or competitions like that, but maybe it looks "cooler" if it isn't just some rigid pattern? Like I said, don't know much about how they grade these sort of things.

Well well "Skeptic2004", it's good to see you here. I must say I was rather surprised when I saw your post. Now you know one of the many ways in which I wasted my time back then and still do... At least you can keep in me in check in case my head ever gets too big.

Nothing.

Oops, didn't mean to give that impression. He's only been my instructor for the past 5 months as I have only recently moved to this area. As he teaches in the same style and organization I did before, there was no need for me to start back at square one. That being said, he really has helped my karate to evolve in just the short time I have trained with him. I only regret that I have to leave California next September and abbreviate my time with him.

One of my current instructors doesn't test at all. He just has two belts before black, which are white and brown (Roughtly 10th kyuu and 1st kyuu). If he feels you are ready he just gives you the rank. I think this method really weeds out the dedicated from the chaff.

That was pretty neat. He must have really form (and good joints) to absorb all that force.

Never use ankle weights to do kicking at anything other than very slow speeds. It is too hazardous for your joints.

I've always found that there is no move in the kata that is not wasted. The only thing ceremonial or symbolic is the bow. Even the method of clasping the hands in a certain way can be interpreted as different self-defense techniques. Perhaps in the newer kata like the Pinan kata the way the opening stance is set-up is more of establishing a uniform position to start from. However, in all the kata, the first move is always a technique. In newer tournament type kata or modified old ones, people have added convoluted salutes and things so these will probably not have any useful meaning. I've always found the "good and bad" and "I can fight but will not" as being nice philosophically but rather unrealistic. They didn't need such external reminders. For better or worse, when karate was introduced to the Japanese in the early 1900s, one of the things they noticed was a lack of this spiritual permeation in karate so they added a lot of philosophy to it. Not that the people who practiced it before were not spiritual, they just didn't necessarily saturate their karate training with it. They just lived it instead. As a matter of fact, a poem from the 1600s I believe that I will most likely be misquoting horribly said that "No matter how you may excel in the art of te and your literary pursuits, nothing is more important than your behavior and humanity in your daily life." A lot of the philosophical interpretation of kata accompanied a general simplification of interpretation by many of the Japanese in contrast to how the Okinawans viewed their kata. There are many taking Japanese styles who are trying to bring this back, but many of the kata have changed pretty drastically already. After I said all of that, no one will be really sure what the exact answer to your question is. And many people simply make up things because they honestly don't have any clue (as opposed to having a few clues but still not knowing) or they don't want to firehose you with advanced interpretations. Realistically, you can make up any myriad of explanations for the opening position in terms of techniques, but this is narrowed somewhat by what the following move is. In my case I've always seen the opening moves as responses to grappling situations or first attacks. Of course, most all of my bunkai involve a mix of striking and grappling, so that would make sense. Long story short: I don't believe in "this is my karate, empty hands" explanation for the starting position of any moves. And for that matter, nor do I believe in the existence of a "chamber position".

As someone else mentioned, focusing purely on the muscular aspect is flawed. Do I lift weights? Yes. Light with high repetitions and a lot of it focuses on both the muscle and the connective tissue. However, and I may be biased since I do Okinawan karate (don't get me wrong...a lot of Okinawan karateka are incredibly ripped, some surprisingly so for their relatively small frames), I like to really focus on using as little muscle strength as possible. As this is the kickboxing, boxing and muay thai thread, I assume that a lot of this training is going both for the ring and for the street. Because the ring is a little different from the street, it really is essential to work those endurance muscles. Back when I was a boxer, we'd do all the standard boxing things (run insane amounts, insane amount of bag work, insane amount of pad work, insane...), but our coaches focused so much on form, which is why our team would always win nationals just about every year.

Hi USAF PJ. You are more hardcore than I am. My first assignment is going to grad school, so I've got it pretty easy. As for a lot of these requirements, if you look at them, they are not that hard individually. As usual, the hard thing is getting them all done one after another. What's your height and build? I'm not as big, so it's easier for me to do a lot of these body weight things. I've found the 20m underwater thing to be entirely mental. Just focus on keep swimming forward underneath the water and you should find achieving this limit rather simple. I've found jumping in and streamling under the water with a flutter kick and then doing a frog stroke works the best, but I suppose it will vary from individual to individual. For the 500m swim, the best thing is not to burn out, but to pace yourself. Therefore the best way to do this is to see first what's the best time you can get at a reasonably fast, but not necessarily uncomfortable pace and start there. I'm not sure what swimming experience you have, but if you want to get decent time in the water, it all comes down to form. If you don't have that much experience (I had several years in swim team, which helped me a lot), I recommend finding someone who does who can help you on your form. Running is pretty much self-explanatory. Staying loose and having days where you do distance and days where you go for speed is pretty essential. I'm not a big runner since my knee injury, but I can still go out randomly and run a 9 minute mile and a half should the occasion arise due to how much other aerobic stuff I do (lots of kata and other things). I was considering PJ for a while, but my knee injury sort of put an end to that (and I'm not very huge...). Since you have to take into account the test over a long period, I recommend incorporating distance runs to help you keep up the endurance as well as lifting weights with your legs in order to ensure your muscles won't simply die. As for the chin-ups, the best way to get better at them is simply to practice them very often. It kind of sounds lame, but that really is the best way. Supplementary exercises won't simply prepare you as much as simply doing them. If you notice on the chart, you get much less return later on for every extra chinup you do, so take that into account depending how tired you are. Like I said, I'm lighter, so I can knock out at least 21 if needed, but I don't do these on a regular basis (but I should...). Pushups. Well, as a fellow military member, I'm sure you've had your fill of these. I recommend doing sets of widearms, regular and diamond pushups to really help work out a full range of pushup muscles. During the test, don't worry about easing yourself downwards, use gravity to fall down and spring back upwards. It also helps to slightly shift your hand positions to work out different muscle areas. This includes turning them more in or out or increasing and decreasing their horizontal separation. This helps in shifting the shoulder configuration as well which aids the burden sharing among your muscles. And of course, remember to breathe. Working out the muscles in your small back also really help maintain stability of your pushups when you're really hitting fatigue. Situps. Since you have flutter kicks right afterwards, I would recommend you use your abs as much as possible (meaning you don't pull with your legs). I've always been naturally good at abs, so I've never had to focus on them too much per se (although I've often had to, if you know what I mean). The best way to focus on using only your abs during situps is to practice doing them with good form without anyone holding your feet. A good diet helps as well, to get rid of fat and all that (although with that running and swimming, you probably don't have that much...). All the same, it gives you better grade fuel for your work. I recommend checking out the diet threads here. Once again, repetition is key. Flutter kicks. Once again, just doing them is pretty essential, but you can supplement using leg machines at the gym. Being in the military, you really know all the supplementary ab/leg exercises, so it would be kind of redundant for me to list them here. The best advice on all the repetition exercises is to really gauge out how much you need at first, since you get less and less return on your effort the more you do after a certain point. As far as the mental preparation goes, I've found simple confidence and firm decision to keep going works rather well. The confidence comes from knowing how hard you've worked, and the firm decision comes from knowing how much you wanted it. I remember years back (yes, I was a JROTC nerd) they were about to change the male physical fitness standards for the standard army test. I wanted to max out the test before it changed (after it did, we would get obscene scores, like 450+ out of a 300 point test) Back then, the old standard for maxing out the test was 11:54 for the two mile, 82 pushups in two minutes and 92 situps in two minutes. I could always exceed the pushups and the situps very easily, as I had put a lot of training into them. The two mile got easier after I joined track, but back then, I wasn't as good. Anyway, it got down to the two mile run, and as dumb as this sounds, I never let myself slow down. Whenever I felt I was or thought about it (thinking about makes you unconsciously slow down), I told myself to speed up. I ended up getting an 11:25. Not necessarily track-quality, but good after the other exercises. I've found when having to do a certain number of repetitions for situps, pushups and flutter kicks, a trick that works for me (may not for you) is to count them in sets of ten. That way your body is kind of tricked into thinking it is doing much less. (As in 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 "1". 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 "2", etc.) It's a good way to do it without juggling numbers really high in your brain, giving your body the impression that you've done a whole lot and it is exhausted. Just a simple trick. As for all the other long distance things, I normally have a song going in my head or it is completely and utterly blank. For some people, they need to think about something motivating or whatever. I normally just don't think and unconsciously regulate my time/pace/repetitions. I've found meditating to be quite useful in turning it off and on. Of course, if you need to go balls to the wall, then you can always rely on that adrenaline. I usually make it a non-issue by doing well enough not to have to rely on it. Your other post leads me to believe you're pretty flexible and do lots of stretching, so I won't belabor that point. Best of luck to you, and if you have any more specifics to ask, please do, as I don't know that much about you, your build, etc. that would help me offer better advice.

In two minutes, I can do between 80-100, depending on how I feel that day. Good, proper military pushups that is. I don't really have them fully incorporated in my workouts, I can just do them from years of previous practice (yuck). That being said though, the best way at getting good at them is just doing them. It's a lame answer, but it's the same as pullups. You just have to do them. There are of course numerous upper body and/or back exercises you can do to supplement the muscle training such as mountain climbers and whatnot, but the best thing is simply repetition. In my crazier days, I used to do them with weights in sets of 40 and gradually decrease the weights (starting with 50, taking 5 pounds off on each set) till I hit zero. By that time, you definately reached total muscle failure. I've lost much of that though as I've focused on other things in terms of workouts since them.

Just be forewarned when you check out the Wonder Okinawa site. Some of the kata I have seen have moves left out or odd camera angle switches that make it difficult to "learn" the kata from simply watching it. This was obviously done on purpose, and in some cases the videos even have "abbreviated version" or something on them. When performing for a large audience or people not privy to training in their style, Okinawan masters often change the kata slightly or a lot. Edit: Looks like P.A.L. beat me to it... Most old Okinawan kata are when they are done properly.