EvilTed

"He also said that in his younger days in japan, the training was extremely tough and the fighting in the dojo was contact with people getting hurt regularly." LOL, sounds like our dojo I went back to training last night after 3 weeks off with a serious back sprain and almost got my middle finger broken. One guy got kneed in the jaw and several had rib and knee injuries since the last time I saw them We also have no weight restrictions. The 125LB Japanese guys fight the 230LB American guys all the time. Osu! ET

What a stupid bloody poll

All our fight classes are gi pants and t-shirts. It's just easier that way Osu! ET

They seem to be like most Okinawan styles to me. Most teach jissen kumite as far as I'm aware. Kyokushin has the nameas THE full-contact styles, but many of the Okinawan 'ryu' styles have been doing it since the beginning. I see no point in slamming this school unless you have direct evidence that they are bunk. My $0.02 Osu! ET

If he's hitting you in yourt knees you need to learn to shin block. Ask your sensei to demonstrate the blocking techniques to the front and rear leg, both inside and outside attacks. They are very straight forward and easy to learn and once you've grasped it, you'll instinctively to it and not get bashed so much. Osu! ET

I talked to someone at my physical therapy and they told me it was dehydration. Seems that the glucosamine robs water from the rest of the body to add it to the joints, therefore you need to drink more water while taking it than normal. Thanks ET

I have two Isami heavyweight full-contact Gi's. They are incredible and will last a life time. At first it's like training wearing sail cloth - tjey are that thick and heavy. Make you sweat like a mutha Osu! ET

Our dojo took 1st, 2cnd and 3rd palce at an open tournament in San Diego last year - all with knee kicks to the face It's a beautiful move and doesn't have to be executed that hard. Just fast hit to the jaw and it's lights out. Osu! ET

Well we have two shodans in JKA Shotokan at our dojo. Both were trained in Japan - the man is Japanese, his wife is American. On the question of JKA training and is it as hard? You first need to define 'hard'. I'm sure it is very aerobic since both are very fit but they both tell me the Kyokushin training model is more extreme and 'brutal'. For example in our basic exercises we tend to do 100 kicks with each leg and 100 punches compared with 20-30 in more traditional styles. Did they find noticeable differences when it came to sparring? Both remarked it was dramatically different with the risk of bodily injury much higher. The man just came back to training after a month off due to getting his nose broken by an axe kick to the face. I'm actually unable to train myself for the last two weeks due to a severe back sprain that left me unable to walk for a couple of days I'm getting physiotherapy now 3 days a week and may not be able to train for another two weeks. Add to this a split meniscus in my knee and just getting over a fractured bone in my ankle in February and I think you'll understand the 'hard' part of the argument. It's not that traditional styles train less hard than full-contact, but rather that full-contact styles are a lot harder on the practitioner. One lapse of concentration during full-contact sparring, especially in the higher ranks can lead to serious injury. Osu! ET

Ooops! http://fightingkarate.cjb.net/ Osu! ET

Knockdown, The tournament was called 'Spirit of San Diego 2003' and was hosted by Shinsekai (I believe this is the new name for Seido Kai Kan after they were sued by Seido Juku about the simillar name?). Anyway, more details available here: wyciwyg://0/http://pop.mircx.com/pop/cjb/html/1086197348142 Osu! ET

Knockdown, Yeah I know he left. I was just stating what World Oyama was and who created it. Osu! ET

World Oyama Karate was founded by Shigeru Oyama and his brother Yasuhiko Oyama and Miyuki Miura. There were the leading lights and the hardcore Kyokushin instructors in the US. http://www.australiankyokushin.com/biographies/s-oyama.shtml http://www.australiankyokushin.com/biographies/mmiura.shtml World Oyama is basically US Kyokushin by the best Japanese instructors sent by Mas Oyama to the US. The training is the same as it was in the 1970s - hard core Osu! ET

Is Van Nuys in SoCal ? Are you part of LA Kyokushin? We've challenged LA Kyokushin to fight us for the past two years and they keep making excuses and never showing up We WILL be taking part in an open, full contact tournament in San Diego in August against Seido Kai Kan, Karate Juku, Kyokushin and World Oyama. You should bring some fighters and make it more interesting for us. Last year we took 1st, 2cnd and 3rd place. Osu! ET

Killer Miller, Taller fighters are far from a "piece of cake". Most of them will use their reach to their advantage and jab and mae-geri the * out of you if you stand at distance. Then there's the axe kick to the face that most of them seem to be fairly adapt at The only way I've found to deal with them is get inside quick - hit and run, but watch for the counter on the "run". ET

Oh and on the question of stance, we fight probably 30* to 45*. Head on is no use because you will get nailed full on with a punch or kick -there is no deflection. (This is the whole point of a lead hand punch, it is simillar to a jab in boxing with its speed but it's purpose for in-fighting is to turn the oponents body so that it is square on to receive the really hard reverse punch). Side on is even worse because one hard low kick will sweep both legs together and put you on your * ET

I disagree Having studied TKD for two years in my youth and now studying a first generation Kyokushin derivative (World Oyama Karate) I'd say there is very little, if any TKD in Kyokushin. For example, the way a roundhouse kick is executed in TKD is totally different from Kyokushin. There is very little effective punching in TKD compared to Kyokushin and the low kick is missing from TKD. Kyokushin evolved out of Gojo-Ryu and Shotokan with elements taken from other martial arts. Basically, whatever worked in a real fight was incorporated. The low kick came from Muay Thai. We have a TKD black belt in our dojo who is now 2cnd Kyu in our style. He was third in the US Nationals a few years ago and was going to go to the Olympics. He says there is no comparison and that the Kyokushin style is MUCH harder and more effective. ET

You left out Vladamir Putin. He has a black belt in Judo and was awarded an honorary black belt in Kyokushin. By the look of him and the fact he was in the KGB, I'll wager he's not just honorary Osu! ET

Not sure how you would use shuto to attack in Kokutso Dachi unless in a counter? In our style all blocks are both offensive and defensive. As you have found with gedan bari - shuto makes a very effective weapon to strike or push the collar bone area. Osu! ET

Here's another... http://www.tracyskarate.com/Stories/was_elvis_really_a_black_belt.htm ET

According to this guy, Elvis was a real blackbelt http://members.tripod.com/beyondthereef__1/tigerman.html ET

Hard to say why people lose interest in karate or anything else for that matter. I think modern society has bred a world of impatient people who expect or rather demand immediate results from their actions. "I want it and I want it now!" The trouble with karate is the results are not immediate and for most of us perfection in unattainable without years of hard work, sweat and overcoming personal hardships. Personally, I did Shotokan and TKD around 20 years ago and lost interest after a year or so. I never thought I'd be doing full contact karate at close to 40 years old and only now do I begin to realise what it's about. It's not about the * kicking potential, the Matrix moves or getting a black belt. It's about climbing the mountain - when I get to the top, I'll be able to say "Wow - what a view" Osu! ET

Yeah, I think you broke it or fractured something at the base of it. I did a simillar thing with my right foot (same toe) and left it alone. Months later when I broke my pinky toe on the same foot I got an X-Ray which showed lots of chips and fragments at the base of the first toe damaged. It had the caption 'probably old' and an arrow pointing at it Get it X-Rayed and be sure. Osu! ET

hobitbob ? What's with the alter ego Equaminius ? ET

I've been taking Glucosamine / Chondroitin supplements for a month or so to try and help my knee heal but I've noticed some wierd cramping / spraining in the tendons around my achilies or front of my foot around the ankle ever since taking it. This occurs on both feet and started happening the day after I started the supplements. Talking to someone close to my age in the dojo last night it seems he has the same cramping and he has just started taking the same supplements. Anyone else get simillar feelings? Osu! ET