Ripper

Now that's the biggest joke I've ever heard. It's just a little trick you were doing, and yes you did move. Just tape that same action and you can let us see you moved.

I'm still very anxious to know the answer of Shotokan-fighter. He/she is pretty quiet.

What's all this * about hierarchal, breaking out of line and pass out on your training? People like that should go to the marines. But I guess they are just not tough enough. Karate is just a sport, a hobby. Nothing more nothing less. The same people are in favour of the black belt. A black belt doesn't say d... All that matters is the way someone trains and his/her attitude while training.

I think you made the right decision, aefibird and the statement above from equanimus couldn't be better. Especially when you like to reverse engineer katas you'll find a lot of use of the aikido lessons.

Your example to prove your point was purely about difference in distance. You are contradicting yourself throughout this thread.

Yes, it makes her stupid. It is wellknown in sports you should drink before you get really thursty. You can hardly drink too much. You can, however, drink not enough and get dehydrated, causing you to perform less. You could even pass out. And about some assumptions in this thread in general. Maybe she trained longer than Ti; this doesn't automatically mean she knows more about whether it is good to drink during training or not. So Ti might not be a black belt. We don't know if he trained 40 years of kickboxing. So perhaps Ti knows things we don't!

It does annoy me too. What annoys me more is that mister wilko thinks he knows me. He says people like me run around and "waste his precious time". Pretty smart without ever seeing me. I think he picked up a sixth sense while training karate. But then again he is already a purpel (or was it purple??????) belt.

This only proves you need a certain distance for a technique to work. The same when you do a stepping punch and you are stopped alsmost at the beginning of the step. Then nothing happens either. When you are at the end of the technique you have the maximum power. It does not prove that your technique is more powerful.

I can't even remember exactly why (it's been a while ago), but I think it was for the same reasons like almost everyone else.

Did he give you a good reason why red is a no-no? Forget that; who gives a f... what colours you wear on your belt. If I were you I'd wear it all the time (but then again I can say this easy behind the comp). And if they would have trouble with that or even want to throw me out of the dojo I wouldn't want to train there anyway. Why people allways have to do so mystic about karate? It's just a hobby.

Ronryu, in Shito you have Pinans, right? Maybe another good example then is the Pinan Godan (or Heian Godan for me). I'm not sure it is in the Pinan but in the Heian there is a jump. They used to tell me it was for jumping over a stick...yeah right, tell that to my grandmother. A better explanation would be: someone tries to 'bear hug' you from behind. With your left you grab his right wrist from above. Then you use your right arm to get under his right arm. If you can (off course not in the dojo) grab his hair. Pivot and throw him (or her) to the ground. In judo it is called ippon seionage.

Focus and kime are two different things in the karateworld. In the previous posts you can see what is meant by focus. Kime is just another word to say that you do it with power and speed. You say the focus is not in the direction of the attack??????????? Are you saying you "are driving your energy" to the ground? Could you explain that?

I've heard of this theory too and I think it could be right. The main argument in favor of this theory is that you use the same muscles when you throw someone.

Please, please, enlighten us with your wisdom and tell us what kata is.

Hmmmm..... sounds pretty familiar. Didn't Funakoshi say the same?

Hmmmm.... can't think of any to be honest. Well OK, the one I allready mentioned. If you think it's fun (to run around in a weird suit, yelling oss, doing hundreds of mae-geris, walking a kata for the thousand and one time, etc.).

I think you are talking about something else here. Prior to the impact you try to relax and only use the muscles for the motion to the target. Focus is about contracting all your muscles at the moment of impact. That's just *. The only thing you are doing is actually hitting the brakes on your motion. If you want to generate the most power you have to follow through instead of stopping your motion. Then why baseball- or golfplayers don't stop their motion at the point of impact????? The one-hit application is another myth. It is not about hitting someone only once and then he "dies". It is about putting all your energy into your attack.

Thanks for the link, Ali. Sapp is always good for a laugh, but that sumo guy is even worse. BTW, in my previous post I was talking about the championship instead of the premium. Sorry!

Don't know where you are from, Zal, but it was on Eurosport last week, and I'm sure they will repeat it sometimes. The final was won by.........If you don't want to know don't read any further!!!!!............... Remy Boniasky. Man, I love that guy, maybe because I'm being chauvinistic, but he allways gives all that he's got. Again, a Dutch winner of the K1-final; we must be doing something good!!

You are referring to the so called focus-myth. Can you give me one good reason why you want to "focus"?

That was the idea... Nothing at all. But if you want to get fit I don't think karate is the best sport for it. Off course it depends also on the way it is trained in the dojo. But if you want to have a good exercise; why don't you go jogging instead of wearing a strange suit, yell oss all the time, pay for exams, etc. And if you want to learn a BIT of self-defense; why do you want to train so many kata's and do so much kihon if there is an easier way of learning self-defense? Karate is a very ellaborate way of teaching self-defense.

Maybe the question should be the other way around; What is effective for self-defense? If you ask it this way, the answer would be a self-defense course where you don't only learn how to get out of a fight but also how you don't get into a fight. IOW there is a lot of things that are involved in self-defense that are not taught in karate. Furthermore the sparring thing in karate is a lot different from the normal self-defense situation (for example when you are in a crowded bar where you can't use those flashy mawashi-geris). Off course in the katas there are a lot of useful applications, but that's also the problem; there are so many and when it comes to self-defense it is better to rely on a few techniques that you have trained many times, because otherwise it just might not work out the way you thought. So if your main goal in karate is self-defense I have to say you are in the wrong place.

I don't think the question should be if you are too old but rather WHY you want to do it. Allthough I have a lot of fun doing it I think a lot of people start doing it for the wrong reasons. Maybe that's why so many stop doing it. If you want to do it for self-defense, you'd better go to a self-defense course instead of karate. If you want to do it to get a good exercise, you' better pick up a 'normal' sport where you don't have to do so many boring exercises. If you want to get 'spiritual'; go read the bible or the koran.