Sasori_Te

Would you care to back that statement up? How was that post nonsense? I'm just offering my viewpoint and explaining where it's coming from.

Gentleman, it seems that Shukokai is a predominantly England/Scotland/Ireland based art. Although from what I read on one of the homepages Soke Tani would have everyone believe differently: "Modern Karate is made up of many styles which stem from their "hard" and "flexible" schools of origin. The main styles practised today are Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Wado Ryu and Shukokai although many more "splinter" groups have sprung up based to some degree on the aforementioned styles. " Good luck with this style.

After looking at at the Shukokai homepage I can understand why you don't know. I found this statement under the history of karate: "Modern Karate is made up of many styles which stem from their "hard" and "flexible" schools of origin. The main styles practised today are Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Wado Ryu and Shukokai although many more "splinter" groups have sprung up based to some degree on the aforementioned styles. " Karate's two main exponents in today's world would be Goju Ryu and Shorin Ryu which are direct decendants of Naha Te and Shuri Te respectively.

????? Your a 2nd dan and don't know whether your a nidan or not??? After all the training it usually takes to get to nidan I think I would know whether I was a nidan or not.

This place is a bigger mcdojo than the previous one. I'vee sent them an e-mail asking them some questions. I'll let you know how they respond. I specifically asked them what type of karate they practice there and what the cost is.

Mas Oyama practiced his own style of karate called Kyokushin Kai Karate. Oyama's karate isn't any better or worse than Shotokan. It just has Oyama's interpretation of techniques. You should do your stances the way your instructor teaches them to you. You definitely don't want to bump heads with the instructor over his teaching style. If you truly have a problem with it I suggest you find somewhere else to train. To jax_evolution, Stances don't count less as you progress. They count more. As you learn more and more, you will start seeing different possibilities for every movement including those of the stances. There is no wasted movement in karate if you look at a technique from differing viewpoints. Also deep stances are not for strength training. They will get you to a certain level and then it becomes an endurance game.

I'm also curious as to how Japanese words are being used to express Tibetan origins. I'm not knocking Professor Lague's credentials anymore if they are as he states them. I am questioning the usage of the name, especially the term bujutsu. Why not just jutsu? as this also means martial art, but is more directly related to empty hand arts. Also, please don't forget to ask him if he knows Dave McNeill.

My last post was ignored .... But, I thought it might be.

I think I might have to disagree with you. Stances are not the most important thing. Having a good base is where all good technique starts. This doesn't neccessarily mean having a perfect stance. Stances are transitory positions between movements. They shouldn't be too deep during an actual technique application. Deep stances are more of an endurance training tool than anything else. Having a good base implies having good balance and stability throughout an entire movement and through any stance transitions. Then of course the technique needs to be ingrained to a high degree. Just my two cents worth.

The only thing that worries me about the instructor is that I can't find any of his actual training qualifications on his biography page. It says his rank is certified through some Canadian Martial Arts organization and through th IKA headed by Tak Kubota. Now belonging to Tak Kubota's organization might lend credibility on simple name recognition. If you go to the IKA webpage you'll see that anyone can be a 5th degree blackbelt master if you can set up a convincing enough lie. I don't know about this guy. He seems like a better business man than a karate instructor. Good Luck!

thaiboxerken thinks only science can prove anything. Science can only make determinations from the information that it has already "proven" to itself. According to science, physics in particular, any movement at all is impossible. I also happen to believe that science with a closed mind is not science at all. If we all went around thinking things this way then nothing new would ever be discovered. Some people like to camouflage a closed mind as a logical, scientific mind. However, it's mostly these individuals simply fooling themselves.

I'm beginning to wonder whether or not 47mm, gilbert and thaiboxerken are from a group like troll train or something like it. These people go around the internet to places like this to disturb otherwise peaceful boards to see how much conflict that they can create. If you want to see what it is that I'm talking about go to https://www.trolltrain.com . Although, I guess that I could be accused of this because of some of my posts here at times.

In reality you are wrong. Depending on the type of break the bone gets stronger after it heals. To be more specific, I am referring to extremely microscopic breaks, more akin to bruising. The bones will add tissue to these damaged areas to strengthen them. Mainly this applies to the metacarpal/ phalangeal joints (knuckles). You can do the same to any bone by striking it lightly at first and gradually adding to the amount of force over time. This type of conditioning can be detrimental if carried to extremes. The calcium build up on the knuckles can cause arthritis and restricted movement. Supposedly bone cancer can also result, but I've never really seen any evidence to support this. According to a doctor friend of mine, the only breaks that don't become stronger than the original bone are breaks in which the bone tissue is shattered. In these cases pins and screws are used to hold the bone together even after healing.

The only part that I see wrong with this is that you were at a bar talking about martial arts. You could have probably been almost any where else talking about the same thing and not had any problems. I quit drinking several years ago and I quit going to bars a number of years before that. Guess what? I haven't been in a confrontation since I stopped hanging out at places I probably shouldn't have been going to in the first place. An idiot combined with liquid courage is a bad combination.

I've got a better idea. Since you're so advanced and don't need basics anymore, why not just start your own style? That way, you can work on whatever you want. You can send off and get a black belt master level certificate by mail and you'll be all set. Let me know how it goes. Good luck.

Forgot something. As for why would you want to build up bone density, here's the answer. What would hurt more, getting hit with a wiffle ball bat or a regular baseball bat? The weaker the bones, the weaker your strike has to be by neccessity. Also, denser bones in the knuckle area in particular add penetration to a punch.

Yes there is scientific evidence of this. And as I posted before, Not everything can be proven by science. Our understanding of how things work, even in the human body is still very limited. As for the scientific proof that you ask for, it's very simple. If you break a bone it heals stronger in that area than it was before because of the added bone mass from the healing process (sort of like scar tissue on the bone.) If you punch an object , like a makiwara or an extremely solid heavy bag, you damage the bone tissue in the hand and arm slightly. These microscopic breaks heal themselves by adding more bone tissue. Over time you can cause problems for yourself if your training is too severe. You can develop certain forms of arthritis associated with this type of damage. As for the kung fu movie stuff, I've watched firefighter movies before. Does that mean that ladders, hoses and trucks only exist in the movies as far as fire fighters are concerned? That's a bonehead argument. Try again.

How would you come about the knowledge that using pebbles, sand or rice is kung fu movie stuff? Traditional training implements incorporate all of these things in their construction. Granted newer technology has superceded these devices but they are still valid training aids if that's what you have to work with. Also, I noticed that you think there is no need to use a makiwara or, indeed, anything other than a heavy bag for training. It will take you a lot longer, if ever, to build up bone density hitting a heavy bag stuffed with rags than hitting a makiwara or a good leather covered HEAVY bag. I will agree with you on one point, I dislike handwraps. I think they give artificial feedback on how much force you can actually put into a punch.

thaiboxerken, that is where you would be wrong. Bioelectricity has been measured in a laboratory. Your nerves won't work without it. I have a question for you. If Chi/ki is such a joke, why are Western medical professionals referring their patients to acupuncturists and people that practice holistic healthcare? I had a car accident and had chronic neck pain from a whiplash. My doctor couldn't do anything but subscribe me pain medication. He recommended that I try acupuncture from an acquaintence of his. After 2 sessions I haven't had another twinge of pain from my neck. Don't knock it completely if you know absolutely nothing about it. Do some research.

JEM618, why are you taking such offense to someone that doesn't take what you say at face value? Just because you say it is so doesn't neccessarily make it so. I have seen and experienced things in the martial arts that I can't explain. I don't think of them as anything other than natural functions of the human body, only ones that I hadn't experienced before. Just because I have experienced these things doesn't mean that I expect everyone to believe me when I talk about them. Have you ever considered that his "trick" and your technique are the same thing? Think about it. All martial arts really does is teach you "tricks" to control your opponent and yourself. It's a matter of semantics really. Besides, as long as the technique works for you, what does it really matter what someone else thinks? What's that old saying? You can lead a horse to knowledge but you can't make him think? ...something like that

Well, you are currently using one of the best research tools around. Look up martial arts. martial arts history, anything martial arts related. See if you can see any patterns. There are some good history books out there as well. Authors like Pat McCarthy and George Alexander are fairly unbiased about martial history in the East. I've found that researching history that is mostly handed down by word of mouth, you rarely find anyone in total agreement with anyone else. It's a lot of work, but I find it interesting and fun. It will also ad an element of understanding to your techniques. Good luck and good hunting.

I looked at the website. You'll have to asl Professor Lague if he knows Dave McNeill. He's also one of my teachers. Sensei McNeill holds high dan ranking in Danzan Ryu as well, although that is not what he teaches anymore. I don't practice Danzan Ryu anymore and it was only for a few months until I started some other training that I was lining up. I originally started training with Sensei Medici because he also teaches Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu, but he will only teach you Shorin Ryu if you are part of his Jujutsu class. Anyway, I found another karate instructor and so I didn't have to study Jujutsu anymore to learn Shorin Ryu.

At the risk of hi-jacking this post I want to get in on this litle side conversation. I saw an interview with Jackie Chan and he said that he has no formal martial arts training. He was trained in the Chinese theatre as a classical actor. This is where he said that he learned how to do stunts and his own martial arts moves.

I think it would depend on whether or not the guy was trying to undermine the instructor at every turn. I've seen a lot of people run their mouth in the beginning but they tend to be humbled after awhile. Of course, this guy could have had some other issues going on. I've met compulsive liars that can make something up on the spot and tell you it's the truth even if they know that you know better. It's a bit sad really. Anyway, I'm not sure I have a point here so I'll stop now. It's too bad that these situations come up.

I find the name very interesting. It translates as "Sandal Wood Mountain System of Efficient Martial Arts" However, the term bujutsu ususally refers specifically to the Samurai weapon arts and not an empty hand style where jutsu might be more appropriate. It also means that your instructor is claiming the Danzan Ryu Jujutsu heritage by using the name. How long has your "professor been studying Danzan Ryu? Or, if I might ask, how old is your instructor?