italian_guy

We have two classes in our school, the traditionalist class and the competitor class (I'm attending both). In the traditional class we do kata-kihon-kumite in equal amount (by kumite here I also mean drills and grappling) in the competitor class we do mostly kumite every 1.5 hours at least 1 hour is kumite (drills and free sparring). In order to get belts you have to attend the traditional class if you want to compete or you like extra sparring (this is my case) You attend the competitor class. I agree that the heart of karate is kata and its bunkai but you need also kumite if you want to put in practice with a resisting opponent what you have learnt throu kata.

Thanks for the Congrats davison and Patrick. Yes, aside practical infornations as I mentioned in my first post there are also cultural information, that are very interesting. I also agree about the way the entire forum is run that facilitates good discussions and create a very nice internet community.

We use original names both in karate then in TCC. After a while (it took me about 3 months) you get used to it...

Happy Easter. ...even if it is already over.

I think you should have more patience. You should learn the new art and forget some of the old. I started Goju after more than 1 year of kickboxing (not Mcdojoish my KB instructor was a good one), I had to learn a lot of new things related to my new martial art but my old art helped me to progress faster (after two months of training I was admitted to a yellow belt exams and passed with a good score), but something I had to forget. For example in kumite (point sparring) you are not allowed to throw a Jab (kizami-tsuki) to the body while in KB you can. So study patiently and results will come.

I think you did just fine.. you stopped after the first hit. But now I would not give him any further possibility of harming your daughter. I don't know how things work where you are but I would find a way to kick him out of your house.

I think is quite a good art. Like tai chi chuan it requires some time to be self defence effective but it has other benefits. I think it matches quite well with karate.

Hi everibody, As my 1000th post I would like to open a thread about how much this site has influence on your MA. Do you find that the discussion that are taking place in this forum are useful for your MA study? For me the answer is Yes a lot. When I was curious about Tai chi I opened a thread about it and that boosted my interest.I even ask via PM (to some selected KF members) opinion to my school. Or when I decided to switch from kickboxing to karate I opened a thread about some available karate style that hepled me to chose my karate style. I'm looking forward to have your opinion.

Adding to what has already been said, there are some kata in some style (goju ryu or any derivation of Naha-te) which have katas which are mostly breathing exercises like Goju ryu Sanchin or Tensho.

In Los Angeles there is what I consider the no.1 school of JKD in the world: The Dan Inosanto Academy of Martial art. Dan Inosanto is one of the few people that trained extensively with Bruce Lee the founder of JKD. The website is: http://www.inosanto.com

My favorite art is karate. I tried karate (of course), kickboxing (I consider it American MA), Tai chi chuan (chinese) and JKD (chinese-american modern MMA) kali/escrima (Filipino in conjuction with JKD, inosanto method). In karate (Go ju ryu style), I have good teaching, good environment, good style quite complete (mostly striking traditional art with some grappling and ground fighting), and very low price.

Welcome to KF. Osu!

Hello. Did you enjoied practicing this kata?

Hello and welcome.

Welcome to KF.

Good luck with your training and welcome to KF

I voted effective. But if your main goal is self denfence by using a grappling MA I would take Ju-Jutstu (either JJJ or BJJ).

Never practiced a kata that way... but I've practiced Tai chi chuan form with weighted bracelets on the wrist and ankles.

I really like this question. During an interview with Jon Bluming (10. Dan Kyokushin, 9. Dan Judo + many others - all awarded by Japan) he was quoted as saying: "When a new member applies for membership, he is not joining to learn kata. He wants to beat up as many people on the streets as he meets. When they say that they don’t come for that and when they say that they are signing up for the spiritual side of the martial arts, you have a terrible liar in front of you. " Yes that's maybe true, but in the 4 schools I had the occation to train (for a total of about 100 students meet raughly) I only have 1 or maybe 2 cases of somebody doing the arts for beating people (all of them were in kickboxing btw). I think those people are a minority.

Glad you had great time.

Yes deceptive and counter is not exactly the same thing but usually both are part of a counter-attack mindset. While tricky can apply both to attacker and to counter fighers. The original scope of the thread was about personality that become somehow strategy... probably I should not have included the option equal mixture of both, because everyone is an equal mixture of both, I'm interested in what type of mindset (personality) is prevalent.

Welcome to KF and to Martial Arts.

Hi Juniper, welcome to KF.

My opinion as karate style practioner (Okinawan style) is that karate is not the fastest way to learn self-defence, however if you have the discipline of keep practicing and the right passion for what you are doing you'll become very proficent in self defence. JKD (just to take an example from my personal previous experience, I'm sure there are other arts where the same considerations apply) is faster because self-defence is the main purpose for it. Nevertheless karate training is richer and in the long run it teaches you a wider arsenal of techniques.

WOW!! I have to remeber this thread when there will be the nominations for best thread of the year. I tend to support innovation and developent, also because innovation is something you cannot stop, and also because anything which does not undergo evolution will sooner or later die. However there should be a core of technique and traditions that should never be changed... because this will give the definion of karate itself (or a particular karate style) Anyway I have not a definite opinion on this thread but I think this is one of the best debate I have withnessed in this forum since I have joined. Please keep it going.