Scorcho

Also the leg triangle. One leg over the shoulder and around the head, the other around the chest underneath the arm. Lock you legs together and squeeze. Also, try a regular choke. Lying down, forehand of right arm against the artery in the side of the neck, left art under the opponent's right arm (in their armpit) and linked to your right. Get as close to your opponent as possible and squeeze.

Hey, I was reading a thread a little earlier that compared Karate to Kickboxing. I think that this is worth discussing further. I would argue that karate is totally different from kickboxing for a few reasons. First, take a look at the stances. In karate, the stance is firmly rooted to the ground, and often quite deep. In Kickboxing, the stance is very tall, and the fighter will often be bouncing up and down on his toes. While some karate practicioners might bounce in point sparring tourneys, that due to the nature of point sparring, where the speed of one technique is much more important than power. Secondly, the hand positions are different. A karate practicioner will usually keep his/her hands open, so that they can block, grab, and punch. In kickboxing, the hands are always kept closed. The strikes are different. Some of this is due to the gloves, but even at tourneys, karate-kas wear gloves that allow them to keep their hands open, for shutos, wawuke's, bushkins, and other open handed strikes. The difference is even more noticible without gloves, where karateists will use all sorts of hand positions like shokens, hi-rocken fists (the bear paw), etc. which expose knuckles differently and increase pain in short strikes to soft areas. And of course, the blocks are different. This is probably one of the most noticible aspects. Overall, I think that the two arts are quite different, and I think that this is seen in the fact that karate-kas usually do not do very well when they cross over to K1 and other kickboxing competitions, at least not at first. That is because they have spent time learning knuckle strikes and blocks that are not very useful with boxing gloves on. By the time they become good kickboxers, you can no longer tell that their original style was karate. Let me know what you think.

Hey, that's really cool! How did you set that correspondence course up? I'd be really interested. Thanks!

One of the first lessons you learn in MA is that the basics are by far the most important. Good luck with your training, and I hope your time/finances issue works out so that you can get back to your dojo asap.

Strong leg kicks usually get you opponent to say "uncle" pretty fast.

Very often, nerves are a matter of perception. Try thinking of the test not as a pressure situation, but as a chance to show the whole dojo how much time and effort you have invested into the art. Most senseis will not test you unless they believe you can pass, and many will have already passed you by the time they ask you to test. So, don't be nervous. Just demonstrate you knowledge and by pround of it.

I've placed pretty well overall in tourneys. Two time junior fighting champ (once second), placed 4th once in kata, and 1st in kumite with a friend of mine. Actually, the kumite was by far the most fun, because my friend and I had it totally down and where throwing full strength strikes. After class one day before the tourney, he missed a block and got a black eye. Anyway, I havn't competed in a few years, especially now that I have been forced to train a different style, since there is no karate at my college. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

I think that belts often become the goal of training, especially considering the instant satisfaction thinking of many westerners. Originally, in Okinawa, there were only 2 belts, white and black. The reason brown is the color of the belt before black today, is that by the time a student was prepared to test for his shodan, his white belt would be so old and so overused, that it would look brown. In Uechi, this is still the way you can tell how long a person has had a black belt, by how used it looks. At my dojo, we had only 4 belts (white, green, brown, black). At my Aikido dojo, we have 3 (no Green). I think this alone, tells much about these two dojos. Belts are not always bad. They can be a mark of honor, a sign of patience and devotion to the art. However, they can also be a distraction, especially at McDojos. Overall, I would stay away from dojos with many belts, because I believe that belts can become a distraction far too quickly. Besides, the fewer belts there are, the more it means when you advance.

Kata, practiced in groups of three. First time, slowly, with maximum strength and resistance, with real focus on technique. Second time, faster, but retain technique and strength. Third time focus only on speed. Pretend you are in a real fight and imagine how you would do the techniques then. If you are looking for exercises, try hindu squats and pushups, regular pushups, etc.

I don't know exactly what style you train, but practicing tiger toes might help. In Uechi, we use our toes to grip the ground and secure our base. It takes a bit of getting used to, but your karate will improve because of it.

Front kicks and side snap kicks about belt high are one of the most effective ways of stopping an attack. Very effective, especially if follwed by a punch or other technique.

The really cool thing about the Gracie's is that they proved that with style and leverage, you can overcome a bigger, stronger opponent. Royce Gracie, famous from his vale tudo and UFC fights, is 6 foot, 170 pounds (about) and beat huge guys like Kimo Leopoldo. It is no surprise that Bob Sapp can beat Kimo, but that is because Sapp is even bigger than Kimo. In fact, that would be an interesting fight, Kimo v. Royce, though it won't happen, since Royce hasn't fought since about UFC 4 or 5.

Nobody said it had to be mystical. It is just a different way of understanding the flow of energy in your body than western science typically assumes. Ki is a combo of mind and body control. It is about tapping your inner energy.

It gets kind of sad when MA mix with politics and money. Sadly, not even the Japanese are immune to this. Sensei Mattson, the man who brought Uechi-Ryu to the US, just recently split with Japan and formed his own organization of Uechi after an incident where a 6th dan was given his 7th dan despite the fact that he had not been training for 10 years and preformed horribly (needless to say, he paid the test fee).

I believe in Ki, or the internal energy of a person. At least in terms of different types of power, I would argue that all described above are expressions of Ki. And don't say no one has ever been knocked out with Ki. I've seen a one inch punch send a 250 pound man twenty feet backwards into a tree.

Doing splits requires more than just stretching you legs, but also your back and butt. Check this out: https://www.ifafitness.com/stretch/stretch7.htm

Depends on your style.

Also try doing some dynamic stretching. Here is a good site for static stretching: https://www.ifafitness.com/stretch/stretch7.htm

Running about 3 times a week never hurt either. You sound pretty light, so try some calesthenics, like pushups, hindu pushups, hindu squats, pullups, etc. Really, though, see what your sensei suggests.

5, and the last 3 are learned afterwards.

The dan naming system is actually based on Japanese counting. Ni means 2 in Japanese, San (Sandan) is 3...Go (Go-dan) five, and so on. Keep in mind though, the Japanese have two sets of numbers, so the counting in belts is somewhat different than the counting you might do in class while practicing technique.

At Dartmouth, we train Aikido and Nihon Jiu-jitsu at the same time. Our first charts focus more on the Jiu-jitsu, because it is more "useful" and because Aikido is derived from Jiu-jitsu. I think that this is the best of both worlds, but then again, I am already trained in karate-do, so I already have self-defense skills. Just remember, there's more to MAs than fighting and self-defense. They teach you discipline, pacience, hard work, etc. Hopefully, you won't get into fights anyway (see my signature).

Though I am still more of a Karate-do man, I have taken up Aikido at college and I really enjoy it. Nice to learn some close fighting skills.

In Karate we learn to fight with both sides of our body. However, most of the time in sparring you fight one side forward. I have actually found that going southpaw can help a lot, especially against faster opponents, because I can use my more skilled right foot and hand to take away the speed advantage with better placed strikes, and then to set up strong blows from my left. It really depends on the opponent though. It also helps because some righties have trouble with southpaws.

Depends on the school and Sensei. However, I do think that in almost every fight situation it at least gives you confidence and helps you mentally. Technique doesn't help if you are to mentally unstable to use it!