italian_guy

One last applause

Although many people expecially from modern MA think they are either useless or not optimized I think that the practice of form has a lot of benefits. They are good lo learn proper body mechanics, coordination and equilibrium, some in my style are ci kung exercices (Sancin, Tensho) so they have specific health benefits.... and aside all that they are fun, and they make me feel part of a large tradition just thinking that the movement you are doing are repeated throughout the world and thruoghout time (since at least one century in my case but think about the 8 pieces of brocade in kung fu... it is almost 8 century old).

I agree with all people stating that MA is a Personal choice, meaning what can be good for me may or may NOT be good for you... in any case my personal choices are: best suitable MA for street fighting: JKD. best for physical/mental strength: Karate (expecially Go-Ju ryu) endurance/toughness: any style with serious training my choice would be Kickboxing or BJJ because usually it involves a lot of physical training.

I think that JKD is a great style if you take MA having self-defence as your main goal. Yuo will learn skill taken from various arts like Kickboxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, Wing Chun and if your school follows the Inosanto lineage also Kali and Silat. Btw does your school follows the Inosanto Method?

Best wishes for the continuation of your journey

Same as me... but I'm also struggling to improuve my physical and technical abilities in karate. Concerning belts and grades they are ok as motivators sometimes but I'm careful to not overestimate their value.

I think aikido is a good idea... an IMA alternative can be Tai chi chuan if the teaching is combat oriented (avoid non-combat oriented TCC).

Hello, Goju ryu here. Taikioku jodan,chudan,gedan. Gekisai Ich, ni Sanchin,Tensho Saifa, Seyenchin, Shisochin. Total of 10.

I have a useful site for video of kata, it is: http://www.goju-ryu.info/ It is not only for goju but also for other styles.

CONGRATULATIONS!! Hard work pays (almost) always. Congratulations also to you karatekid1975

Here are the results: http://crane.50megs.com/index6zh.mht 5-0 Looks it was a triumph for Sanda fighters....

All Bruce Lee's movies

I started karate at 43 now I'm almost 45 and enjoy it. I'm the oldest in the dojo (older then all the instructors) but this is almost never a big problem, if you cannot go at the young grasshopper's pace, just slow instructors will understand.

In my dojo there is this policy: we have two diffent classes (I attend both) traditional karate, and sport karate. In the traditional karate if you come from a different style you have to wear white, because kata and kihon are different in the other style and you have to start from scratch. In sport karate you can wear the belt you have earned in your previous style because kumite is somehow style independent.

I agree on this one, I'm not able to kick head-high, and also my mid-section kicks are not perfect but I can still have fun at kumite which I think is all that matter (I'm not doing karate for sport or self-defence but mostly for fun and fitness).

... and this says it all.... Not everyone may like the way how an instructor teach.... some like absolute truths, they do not want to question and compare they want to learn what they think it is written on stones, your old sensei was suitable for those kind of people, maybe he knows the art (even if I doubt it somehow, if he is not self-questioning as a teacher I think he was not questioning as a student and the lack of this quality do not made him a good MArtist) , but he has not a very universal recepee on how to teach it. By leaving him you made the right choice.

I think there's nothing wrong in inventing a new system provided that:.... 1) The person who is inventing this new system has a long practice in one or more system (let's say more than 15-20 years of experience in MAs) 2) The purpose is not creating a new school, self-promote to grand master and start to create a chain of Mcdojos but rather to give a contribution to MAs in general. I mean finding a new way to teach things selecting what work in a certain environment (competion, self-defence, etc.) and make a new sintesys, ... thats why I like JKD.

I selected, I don't mind. If all they want is to became professional MMA fighters I think they should have a school optimized for this purpose, however MA in its completeness is a different thing.

I haven't reach black belt yet, for each belt exam we have 2-3 bunkai drills taken from the kata that we learn for that particular exam (e.g. yellow-> Orange we have Gekisai Ich and Ni and their bunkai drills).

Hope you'll recover well. Now I'm having also a knee problem (smaller then yours) that prevent me from training, luckily I can benefit of the Xmas period stop. Good luck then

Good luck. Strange Yellow belt comes after Orange in your style. In mine is the opposite.

Congratulations. Pretty hard test!!

I think it meant to be goju I notice the goju symbol (the one in my avatar) on the gi of the disciples of Chozen (who was taught by his father, who in turn was taught by Mr. Miyagi's father).

Shogeri made a good description of what you should expect in JKD. JKD is a mixture of various martial art that follows the principles originally stated by Bruce Lee. The JKD I study includes Kickboxing/Wing Chun/Kali/Grappling, and at more advanced level also Silat. I think it is a very good art for Self-defence and fitness. However the description of the school you made does not match the Idea of JKD I have (JKD has no form by explicit statement of Bruce Lee)

scottnshelly gave you good advices... try as many school as you can.. your body and your mind will tell you which art is better for you. Your body because it's not a matter only on body configuration but also on other factors (like flexibility, power etc.), see what your body like to do and you will feel more confortable in a art respect to others, for example I'm 6 ft tall with relatively long limbs (compared to people of my height) but I do not have much flexibility on legs or lower body in general so a korean MA or even a northern style kung fu would not be a good choice. Aside of your body (and even more important) is your mind that matters... you should have confidence in your classmate and you should trust the teacher in order to succeed. You should also feel confortable with the level of contact that your school practices. The art should be adeguate for the goal you expect: you should determine if you do MA for self defence, for sport or for fitness and fun. The answer to this question points you to different arts. In conclusion try as many as you can and pick what you like better, this is my advice.