telsun

I practice karate, but I would say that we get off pretty lightly compared to the TKD guys. I can accept the creative criticism. It is good to be aware of the weak areas of the art you practice. But some people do seem to take a rather one line approach and totally write off any other art or style other than the one they practice. These are the people are doing themselves no favours. Keep an open mind folks eveyone has something to offer.

Let me rephrase the question. What is your general sparring strategy? Sorry I often call sparring fighting, yeah, yeah I know

Is each round 2 minutes? What grades are the 100 men? Do they fight you in any order,i.e ascending grades? Shows how big kyokushin must be, if I wanted to spar 100 men at my grading each man would have to go about 3 or 4 times!! Where am I likely to witness such an event?

That is very kind of you to say so Fenris-wolf. However you choose to say it

..........but to maximise the power from the hip the power should be generated from the ground.

I would like to retain the sensitivity in my finger tips. Destroying the nerve endings would reduce this, wouldn't it?

"It seems as though the classes are getting easier lately!"

But you disagree with the author Gary Pardue, never heard of him

This is what I wrote in an earlier thread 'Shotokans reverse punch'.

The author is spot on.......nearly The initial power does indeed come from the floor/ back leg. I have described this in another post but lets take reverse punch as a prime example: Standing in a short longstance (hanzenkutsu dachi). Bend your rear leg slightly. Okay the initial drive is from the leg, then through the hip and finally the arm. The push of the leg pushes your bodyweight is forward. The twitch he refers to is probably the small eratic move of the hip. By driving from the floor you coil out making a smooth flowing action. The thing is it does not stop there on impact you should be driving your rear foot into the ground forcing all your weight forward, thus into the punch. Further more when you front kick a bag. What do you do, lift your leg or push it of off the floor? The latter way will obviously generate more power. When you have made impact on the bag your rear leg should be driving your body forward. This is where the power is. I agree with the author (who is it?). My recent instructor introduced me to this and yes, my power did improve instantly. Shotokan_fighter you should not be so quick as to dismiss ideas. Yes power can be/ is generated from your hips but driving from the ground WILL improve your power further.

Thank you, I know where you're coming from My life has been lacking personal successes recently. I do not feel the need to satisfy my own ego only to share myself with others. When you are born people cry with joy, when you die they cry in sadness...........

sunchaser I think you would be a boxers dream!! Glad that you have had it checked out, always good to have peace of mind. I have been training a fair few years now. I have never been knocked out, although I have taken blows to the face and head. I have only knocked out 2 people, by accident of course. Not something I am proud of due my lack of control. I think that you should be okay but I would advise that where ever you decide to train make sure that the instructor is fully aware that there is a possiblity that you are knocked out easily. Strange sport to choose given the fact of your ko history. Whats your motivation?

I have been discouraged from developing finger tip strikes after reading or hearing (can't remember the source) that it will detroy the nerve endings in your fingertips.

No it is 0% speed. Relaxation and tension, does not matter how fast you do it. Well I used to be told tense everything tenseable However I have since learnt otherwise. I do not know if it was due to the incompetance (or different thoughts) of my previous instructor but I do not believe this to be true anymore. It may just be a way to get people to add kime to their techniques. On impact (imaginary or actual) you main focus should be in your tanden, obviously other muscles need to be brought into action otherwise your be dislocating things left, right and centre. You should be very heavy "feeling" forwards and downwards, breathing from your tanden/ stomach. A very interesting statement shotochem. This is something that I have been working on recently. As stated above I used to tighten all muscles that I could on impact. Recently I have experimented with only the required muscles, i.e the wrist to keep the fist on form, etc and the tanden. I have found that I develop more power this way. If you think of your fist, for example, as a weight. You want that weight to keep going for as long as possible once it has been thrown. Tensing the inappropriate muscles will reduce this. You want to be more like a weight on elastic than weight on a chain. I have never heard of kime as being described as something unattainable. I think that it can be simply put as the control of technique at the point of impact. How you do this will depend upon your level of progress.

I presume that you have fought full contact already kyokushin. This should be most of your mental prep. You also need to conquer fear which will inevitably strike you as you square up to fight. Everyone feels it, although some call it simply nerves, or excitement. Whatever you wish to call it you must learn to control it. You need to be confident, but it does not pay to be outwardly confident. Quietly confident is preferable, although some will argue this. Physically: Obviously spar full contact frequently. Get someone to hit you repeatedly in the stomach whilst learning to take the blow and breath normally. You may also wish to use a medicine ball or a swinging heavy bag. Get someone to hit you repeatedly and glance the blows off using just your elbows. Use slight twists in your body to allow the punches to just glance of you. Condition your arms and legs to take and deliver blows. Do rounds of bagwork. Lay into the bag for 2 minutes, give it everything. I don't know how experienced you are kyokushin. I am sure that alot of what I have said you will already know, my apologies if it has been patronising. Asking your instructor would probably be a good idea

Hiya sunchaser. Nice to see you're keeping fit. In regards to karate style Kyokushin is pretty much considered to be the hardest as it includes full contact knockdown tournaments, so the training is pretty hard. The beauty of this is that head shots are not allowed so you are unlikely to be ko'd. Other styles can train extremely hard also though. I practice Goju-ryu karate which has a strong emphasis on self-defence/ practical fighting. Our training is extremely hard. It really does pretty much depend on your instructor. Have you looked into what styles are local to you? It is pretty fruitless choosing a particular style only to find that there is not a club within 100 miles. My advice to you in choosing a club/style would be to go and have a look. You'll get a much better idea of what it's all about than asking about it all. Better still try the clubs out, then you'll really appreciate whats going on. Being ko'd easily may cause me concern. Have you consulted with a doc?

Please answer the question in full

"What would you do if I tried to punch you?" "Well if I knew it was coming I would kill you before you had even thrown it. If I don't know it's coming I will probably get hit!"

Grey is a little John Major'ish don't you think? Go for the silver. Although light yellow would give out the impression of a bright, vibrant young lady. Could that be you?

What; a brief description of 200 kata Or a brief description of 14 Well I would not like to describe either. What I will say is that being a practitioner of Goju-ryu I like the fact that there are so few kata. It is unlikely that I will ever fully understand and appreciate the depth of the few we have. To study 200 is just unthinkable.

Not to sure about the used stuff but the seminars/ events would be interesting. Perhaps a club listing section would also be a good idea. As there tend to be alot of posts asking for clubs in x area.

Weights are probably the best route to take but I have recently resorted to bodyweight exercises. Push ups, crunches, chins, etc will work all the muscles that you need to. Bodyweight exercises can be made very intense.

Colour?

Interesting monkeygirl A couple of drills I have done: Partner holds up a mitt, drops it and you hit it on the way down. Face partner. He will try to hit you, as soon as you see him move hit him. Your punch should land first. Focus mitts are great for thinking fast punches. Punch bag is great for hard fast combos. Be relaxed but alert. As others have said there really is no big secret only practice.

I think that correspondence courses in general are an excellent idea and I may do one myself in the future. But martial arts correspondence courses that's a different matter............