mya

O.k. "John" is very good at Karate. John is a master of Karate. Master John, does not exists unless you are a slave. His mastery is of the Art. Not of the people around him. This of it this way. If John had a Master's degree in science, would you walk around calling him Master John ? No, you would not. Call your teacher Sensei. It is means teacher in the West, (what ever the correct translation may be from Japonese), and if you are in the West you are Ok by it.

So you practiced and attained a Shito ryu black belt and now you returned to the same style and only got 6th kyu in almost 2 years. You appear to be doing the same progression as someone who started fresh in a normal school. What you must ask you is what you want from your training ? 1) If you are looking for a fighting training and your teacher is blocking you from sparing with the experienced students (black belts) and learning advanced technics, then you should leave. In fact you should leave the style and search something that translates to better fighting skills. 2) If you are looking for a black belt to gloat about and show off, then you can just leave and train with the other teacher, knowing fully that your actual teacher will break relations with you, and will probably not teach you more. Or you could just go to a shop and buy a black belt. 3) If you wish to socialize, have a bit of a work out at your current age of 37+ then you are at the right place, and should wait until you get your black belt. You will probably attain brown in around 1 year, and by then you should be fine. This reminds me of a case i heard about a kid whose teacher keep in low rank (around 7 kyu) for more than 5 years. He got bored and asked for a test with country style representative (he had the support of other teachers) and was ranked as 2 kyu. Cloth colour is just a form of incentive or (brag right for children), it is not an indicator of skill. The same way as school grades are not a indicator of technical performance.

The chanced of fight tree persons at the same time are very slim. If they attack realisticaly and the 3 at the same time, you dont even have a chance. One attacks you, and the other 2 just grab and try to hold you. There would need to be a huge skill diference for someone to defeat them. I would play avoidance game, like children play catch. And run from them.

Next time you see him come up to you keep an eye out for his hands. If they go for a pocket, create distance. You dont want him to pull a knife while you are close to him, not giving you to react if he swings it. If he pull the knife, keep that distance even if you need to run. If you get trapped, NEVER EVER try to fight unarmed a armed person, grab a chair. After all its a school. People tend to gain more confidence if they have an advantage. With a chair it will make him talk more and do less. And KEEP the distance. I dont know how you guys in the US have that shoving thing, but where i live no one shoves or pushes people around. I mean if someone pushed or shoved me i would imediatly assume that they where assaulting me and would punch/kick him. Aslo dont let people surround you, its awfull. I was wonce surrounded by 3 people (+wall) and it was totaly frustating. Also if you ever see someone pull a knife on someone in your school and the teatchers dont do anything, you find someone who also saw it and go to the police saying you wish to press charges (even as a minor). This will totaly force to school to act.

My problem with open palm punches is opurtunity. As for me they tend to need swing ala waymaker. If they are blocking/defending, it might be tricky to pull. I presonaly favor vertical punches to the face. Lateral Horisontal punches to the jaw (think of a hook). But these are not with knockout intention or full power, more of anowance and pain complience. So that i can move to the back and aply a choke or trip them. I only punch full power if i know for a fact that he will have no way to defend/move from it.

Train less forms, spar more. No realy, its that easy. You do forms well because you practice them. You spar badly because you dont practice sparing. No solo work will ever save your sparing skills, you actualy need to spar to get better at them. This means finding another human being to spar with. I advise you to make frineds with someone who has the same intention, and that has the same skill level as you. Half my fighting "tricks/taticks" i developed after classes when i would "play" (train) with a few of my friends that where also interested in learning. Just classes is not enuff if you wish to be profecient with the fighting aspect of MA. You need to spar. Just like to learn math you need to study at home. Another advice, train out of sight of you instructor. You will be not in the right mood to try new (probably catastrofic) things with him looking. People tend to be shy. Also another advice that you will learn in a few months, not everything that works for you friend will work for you and vice versa.

Why no one said Fighting skills ? One of the best thing i learned was how to fight.

You can find some of his fight on your tube. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_sort=relevance&search_query=Bas+Rutten&search=Search http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhjp8G7p-EY Hes the bald one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpi4uAeKhko

In theory you should train bouth Muthay and Brazilian Jujitso. But check the Muthay school out, it could be awfull and then boxing would benefit you. In practice, you should buy a gun and learn to ignore them. But the training might prove a lot more enjoiable than just buying a gun. Especialy Jujitso. Jujitso sparing must be rush.

The pating on the head does wonders for raizing guards. I had an adult friend that never protected the head, and i started to pat him on the top of the head. Guess what, he started to keep his guard.

Strange, i never heard about it on my goju. And im secound brown so its that they would be waiting for me to learn basics. We do two rotations on the lower defence. The hip rotation. And the elbow clock rotation. But i never heard something about wrist rotation. Now on the upper/high (level) block we do a rotation of the wrist. Strange... Anyway, its not like its a gimping thing. I always saw the traditional karate blocks more like a learning tool than a practical aplication for combat. Sure it works on newbies, and i have had one of my teatcher pull it on me with devastating effect when i was bellow 6 months. A classic medium level hard block with a powerfull medium reverse punch counter. But ever since those days its extremely dificult to actualy do one of those defences in sparing. Now the more advanced defences, from outside to inside are extremely easy to acomplish. Or the advanced medium level block from inside to outside, but with the open hand. I can pull that one with some skill, deflecting the punch and grabing his forearm/wrist. Witch reminds, i actualy managed to sucefuly pull a basic down block to a front kick, but that was because i was predicting his attack. And got lucky.

A small vidio of what the copetitions are like. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMjGQk-k2ZA

Please give me some enlightment. What karate style is that kata from ? And what stances are you using.

Talk to your friends at the dojo, nothing like a open minded and friendly spar without prying eyes so that you can test/train some stuff. I train Goju, and at the end of class we have 30 min for ourselfs when most peple leaves and only some of the higer ranking studends stay. So normaly spar during that time. And we wait untill the sensei move out to pull those stupid/sick moves. There is nothing worse that a back couch when you are trying to learn something for you by your self (+1). So last class this friend of mine had spared with a boxer and brought a boxer guard with high hands all over the head. So i decided to show him that that guard was wrong to use against me. So i proceded to kick him with my aim in his genitals. I have good control so i can stop them realy close. At the first one he complained that he was not using a protection down there. The secound he complained even more. After the third realy closing to close to home he decided to change his guard and start protecting more his genitalia. This is like head shots (punch). If you dont try them, no one trys them from risk of hurting the other. And then no one can actualy protect themsef decently against a head shot. Ever seen baby tiger play fighting, that is the idea to test and play and learn. Just today i was testing how to aply a rear naked choke on a friend and he was not being very intusiastic about it. All he wanted was to flex and pump iron. So i squeesed a bit more and told him to project me fowards. And he did throw me foward to the grownd. Sure he prefered to spend his time pumpin iron, but he learned something valuable more than pumping. And so did i. Sometimes you just need to push others into training. I speak for myslef, as i hate to flex anddo push ups and pumping. And normaly someone picks me up and there we go training that.

First, socks smell, and they smell a lot. Feet smell and some feet smell worse than the socks. But you can wash your feet before you practice, while washing your socks... is just strange. Then, you have the fact that socks cut a bit of your sensivity of the floor. And they grip the floor is a strange sense. They can slip on hard wood, and grip to mutch on some mats. And a sweaty feet in a wet sock just completely sucks. So wash you feet and learn to train barefooted. PS: if you have feet sickness please do us a favor and wear socks.

Well i wonce got side kicked to the upper ribs left rigs, the ones at the same level than the heart and i never been the same ever since. I doubt that i breaked the rib, because i never saw a doctor but i suspect that i cracked it. Pain would always acompany me every time i was toutched in that place, untill right about a few week. That is the first time i realized it did not hurt anymore. And that makes a fine time of 2 years from the injuri. And now i got another injuri just a bit above the heart, a large coin circle of pain right above a rib. But this time i cannot recolect any strike to that place that could have made it, so it could be a muscle thing, who knows. Or perhaps i took a downward kick while on ground from a standing person... in training and just do not recall. Bottom line, perhaps 2 years. Good thing you saw the docter. Once a cousin of mine of 7 years, broke the omoplata, the large shoulder bone in the back. And we only found out latter when he did and lung xray for another stuff.

Thsi reminds me of brasil, where you where given the advice when traveling there to wear a bill on you pocket so that you could be robed. They did not like people who did not carry money and where rumured to get nasty. So a money bill in the pocket woudl make your life happy. Other advices included no jewelry, as in no weeding rings

I am warry of krav manga, as i heard that it buted the knews of their practicers. Anyway, safe bet is Judo. And no, i do GoJu. And your wife is going to like the way your torso is going to enlarge.

I would say Karate- Shotokan. Shotokan should provide you with a better comptition thing. And GoJu tends to be a harder style witch might not be what you intended. Also have you ever considered Judo ?

Get some tennis shoes. Boots and shoes are not pratical fighting equipment. It will wear you down unless you are "rooted". I personaly hate when i have to use shoes, because of the diference of weight to a common tennis and the lack of grip. Sure heavy boots are cool to stomp but when you are trying to dodge and avoid sweeps that boots will be a pain. If you realy want something to defend yourself buy a mace spray. When he assaults you, be sure that its him to assault you, spray his eyes and lay waste. This is not sparing, when you fight , expecialy a in a fight you are expecting you should always prepare better than the other. Also i dont think you should fight him, he probably has a knife with him as most "thugs" have.

Does a piece of black cloth makes you more skilled ? I personaly do not care about my gradings and belt colour. Sure black is flashy but not the end of all. Same goes for a piece of papper. Let me tell you a story. I knew a guy that framed his first belt certificate (yellow), and posted in a wall inside his room. And then was all proud when some service/repair men where inside his house and looked at the 9 kyu writen on it and looked at him in amazed. If you are/have this kind of person then it matter a lot. Else it does not. If anything being part of a larger organization is good, because they can force you to inprove your place. Have a curriculum, etc. But you pay with lack of flexibility. As in most things.

I think it would be the best tool for an experienced MA, one that would know of its limitations and would not stop doing live training. Who knows maybe in the future you would have dojos with one of thoses. After all the same can be said about the wooden dummy, or a punch bag. Sure bags dont hit back but they teatch you insigtfull lessons on punching.

Are you sure you where not blocking circulation ? I get that normaly when i lay on a bed and compress some arm arteries. You know meditation = low heart beat = low presure = easyer to block circulation. Just lay down one day when rested/calm and extend your arm verticaly for a few moments to minutes. You will see this happening.

I think what you need now is fighting experience. In the old days, people used to use their training in real combat situations. But today, most of use never ever have to fight ouside out scholls. We spar with our colegues in class and we enter tournoments. But that gives you a distorted vision of what you know. Since you cannot start assaulting random people on the street, i sugest that you get a pass time in a job that normaly includes use of your skills. Sutch as disco bouncer, prision warden, police officer, mental institution security. But even then, since you probably live in US you will be dealing with weapons, and trying to not hurt people. This reminds me of the founder of aikido that was counsidered a assasin because of the things he did during the WW2 i think. There is other way, that is doing chalanges akin to what Judo had to endure. But that is hard to acomplish in todays world. So i sugest that perhaps you should visit other schools, train a bit learn how they fight, gain a bit of trust and have them spar you. Why is this important ? Let me tell you a story. Where i train i was quite competent at fighting. Then we got this new student that came from quite a diferent background. He fighted in a strange alien way (at least to me) and i could never block his punches, i always had to dodge them. As we trained togueder i learned how increase my defences against him and how to counter betwin attacks. But he trained a lot harder than me, and fastly he reatched a level where he would completely overcome me. Now i could not even toutch him. Then as our training progressed i learned how to lock/trap hand/arms in my my arm pits, and this alowed me to touch him. Now i still get beaten by him, but now i hit him back some.

Personaly i am distrustfull of 2 in 1 thing. Because when you do the 2 thing you train the double of the time witch mean more training experience, of course its a lot harder to integrate 2 diferent arts but you will be blending them to your personal fighting style. One of the thing that i fear about bouth in one is also that they tend to drops the tecnicks that do not work for them. Let me explain. Im Mr Bob and i train in Karate and Judo, and atain a high level of perfection on my 2 arts and i decide to branch out and teatch. During my years of training i have learned many tecknick many of them witch i think have no pratical value because they are ineficient and do not "work". When i teatch i will teatch mainly the things that work and that i feal confortable using. Mr Mat is a student of me (Mr Bob) and he learns the tecknicks i teatch, but he is a diferent person from me. What works for me does not work so well for Mr Mat. Mr Mat would have benefited more from learning all the tecknicks and discarding the ones that he does not, adapting all to his personality. Its the old debate "Expertise Vs Jack of all trades". So that is why i say learn from the experts what works for you and then become the Jack of all trades. You will notice this in classes, i mean how many of you learned a tecknick that you could not make work and that your partner made work in perfection, to learn a new one that you can make work like born for it and now your partener cannot even make it work at low speed... For example i fight in a totaly diferent way of most people i spar with, most are not afraid to get hit and will parry block and strike, while i prefer to defend and counter by circling and throwing/trap from back.