aefibird

Really, though, its your whole body that helps generate power, throught the way you stand and the positioning of your muscles at the time. I think that, quite often, a lot of people put too much emphasis on the hips(although they ARE important) and forget a bit about other parts of your body. Like Delta1 said, the waist is important for generating power too, as are the shoulders and the calf muscles.

Good luck with your kempo training, I hope you enjoy it!

Congratulations, Smiler!! Well done! Don't forget to tell us all about it, though. What kata(s) did you do?

IMO A good sensei is: -someone who earns the respect of his students, rather than demands it; -someone who listens to questions and responds - and will admit when they don't know everything, rather than just giving a * response; -someone who is patient and kind and willing to demonstrate techniques; -someone who sets a good example and leads by example; -someone who cares about their students and wants to build a good relationship with them; -someone who tries not to have 'favourite' students; -someone who knows what their students are capable of and always encourages them to acheive their best; -someone who is positive in correction and doesn't make students feel foolish for not being able to get a technique right; -someone who is firm and disciplined with students but never harsh or unfair; -someone who can explain a technique to many different people and always ensure that they understand what he/she is talking about. There's other things too, such as punctuality, commitment, keeping promises, etc but above all, realising that you're only human and will make mistakes!

Does anyone know of a website that will translate words/names into Japanese kanji? I was looking on the internet for an embroidered black belt. However, several of the companies that I found will embroider belts, but they don't provide translations. I was looking to find somewhere that would translate my name and the name of my club into Japanese characters. Hope someone can help! Thanks!!

Yep, we do mirror image katas in my club. My sensei also sometimes gets us to perform a kata backwards (ie starting from the last move and working back to the beginning). We occasionally do the 'regular' kata and then have to work straight back to the start again, basically like doing 2 katas back to back. Its pretty interesting with the katas other than Heian and Tekki, I can tell you! Try it someday with Gojushio-Sho... Sensei also makes us perform the kata with our eyes closed too., which is highly amusing for those watching, but not quite so funny when you're actually doing the kata. For a bit of fun and a bit of strength training too, he's also made the adults do a kata (usually a heian or tekki kata) with one of the kids sat on their shoulders! You only do the stances, not any of the arm techniques. Its a good bit of fun at the end of a long hard, training session.

I put together some info about the club, pretty similar to what you've done. It also helped that we'd just had a lad come back with first place from the FSKA world championships in Las Vegas - that helped to show prospective sponsors that we were a serious club and that they would see a 'return for their money'; kind of like what Reklats said. I went (in my capacity as club secretary/promotor/PA to sensei (who has a terrible memory for anything that doesnt happen in the dojo)/general blood mopping-up person!) around to local business asking for either a one off donation or if they'd be interested in long-term sponsorship. However, before that, I sent out a letter explaining about the club, then went to visit the businesses a week or so later. The fact that I'd previously written before going in person seemed to generate more cash - we got a few one-off donations from companies that way. I usually just asked to speak to a senior manager or the head of PR if it was a biggish company. Usually, though, I tended to target the smaller businesses of the local community. As for having a sponsor name on your gi, my club decided against that, because most competitions that we enter didn't allow it, so we went for having our main sponsors name on t-shirts, sweatshirts, bags, warm-up jackets, etc.

Nope, it's not a real martial art. Its basically a collection of extremely funny cartoons about martial arts. Most arts get the mick taken out of them, but its done in a good-natured way, not as an insult to ANY martial art. Like I said before, the book is better than the website - more cartoons for a start!

Teaching the willing is one thing... teaching kids that have been brought by their parents because they thought it might be a 'fun thing' for them to do or gets them out of the house for a while - well, that is another matter. I fully agree that someone who is willing should be taught, I was just wondering what people thought an average 'appropriate' age for beginner students is. You get some mature children and some immature adults, so a "never teach anyone under the age of 12" rule (for example) wouldn't always work.

I think if you had someones head face-down on the ground then it's pretty likely that you've won that fight, because youre controlling your opponent.

I train in Shotokan 4x per week, train in freestyle self defence 1x per week and teach a beginner/white belt class 1x per week. I also train at home when I can. Regarding visualising your techniques, yes, I do this. I was at a church for a friend's child's christening last weekend and found myself drifting off during the minister's sermon and going through the moves in my head to a kara that I've recently learned... *hangs head in shame* Kata in church - whatever next! lol

LOL I was drinking a cup of tea when I read your post and I nearly choked myself from laughing so hard. Good one! No offence intended to any TKD affecionados, though

We have between 20-25 students on average, a decent mix of adults and children (ages 9 and over). Sadly, I'm the only female student over the age of 16, as the only other woman karateka has had to temporarily 'retire' due to being pregnant. My sensei is a 5th Dan and has been training for over 30 years.

I started Shotokan because a friend of mine had started. She showed me her first kata and I was 'sold'! I went along to a training session and have never looked back. Now I train with my sensei 4 times per week in Shotokan, train once a week in freestyle self-defence (a system my instructor 'created' based on many different aspects of MA) and I teach a Shotokan beginner/white belt class once a week, as well as training at home. I'm hoping to start judo or jyu-jitsu soon too, although I think I'll have to have a 10-day week in order to fit everything, seen as I work full time and I'm also doing a part-time degree course too... Well, 'busy' is better than 'bored'!

Drywall or board breaking might look effective, but I think you'd be a lot better off buying a punchbag and maybe a wall bag too and working out techniques on them. As far as the breaking goes, try using your elbows. Just out of interest, why do you self-train at the moment? (Not that I've anything against self-training, I was just curious)

My club just go round the local businesses begging for sponsorship, basically... We managed to get the (quite generous) sponsorship of a local construction company and have their name on t-shirts, jackets, etc. They also put in their adverts that they sponsor my club, so that it looks good for them (supporting their local community etc). Try pushing that angle to some businesses; that if they sponsor your club then it will reflect well on them because they're helping to support possible future world champions! Also, do you share your training hall with anyone else? If so, how about trying to 'tap' them for cash? As well as asking for sponsorship from companies/individuals, how about generating some ££££ by having fund-raising events and seeing if they can provide you with money? Dunno it it's the same in the US, but here in the UK amateur sportspeople are largely neglected when it comes to government sports funding - it can be nigh on impossible to get grants etc. It's a shame, because there are a lot of talented karateka out there who never really get the chance to show their skills in competition because of lack of funding. Good luck with raising sponsorship!

Wow! That's amazing - soooo much respect to the guy. I think it's great he stuck to his own rule, even though no-one else was there. If we were truly honest with ourselves, then I think that most people wouldn't have done that, even if we like to think we would have!

That reminds me of a true story my sensei once told me about his first ever karate kumite competition. He was a white belt at the time and was paired against a 4th kyu. My sensei's sensei had told him to really 'go for it' and not be frightened, just because he was a white belt and in his first fight. Well, my sensei did 'go for it' - to such an extent he ended up biting his opponent!! When he first told me I thought he was joking, but I've since come to know someone who trained with my sensei and he's verified the story. 'The Bite' certainly won't be found in "The Beginners Guide to Karate", but it's a pretty good technique, nevertheless!! Almost as good as 'the stomp on the foot', 'the eye-poke' and 'the kick to the knee' in terms of suprise and effectiveness!! Not recommended for competitions, though...

I agree. I think that sometimes the word 'stance' can give an impression of rigidity and being in one spot when really stances are just a series of smoothly interchangeable movements. Experienced karateka (not just shotokan) know how to 'flow' between moves and become fast and fluid in their techniques. Although a lot of (basic) training is done in rows moving back and forth up and down the dojo it is important to try and remember to learn to move smoothly in any direction with your techniques. IMO this will help when sparring, as a lot of freestyle sparring is about movement, not just standing in one stance and waiting for your opponent to come and hit you!

Congrats on your orange belt too, Hybrid!! LOL

https://www.amiannoying.com You get to vote for celebs and whether they're annoying or not. Very pointless but funny!

Good joke

LOL, that's very funny. I bet he'll ALWAYS remember to turn it off in the future! Heh heh, I bet you can get some mileage out of that one - keep reminding him of it for a good while...

The book is EVEN BETTER than the website! I nearly fell off my chair from laughing so hard when I was reading it.

Well since I've seen a creative weapons form done with an UMBRELLA --- nothing surprises me. An UMBRELLA??? That sounds interesting! Do tell...