Dijita

That's AWESOME advice! Congrats on obtaining your Shodan! Now the training really starts

I'm not sure if this has ever been posted, but I was curious as to what the belt progression is in the art that you are studying. So please post your style, followed by the progression. Kyokushin White Orange Blue Yellow Green Brown Black There's one stripe inbetween each belt level except white.

Yellow in Kyokushin is fairly high. She is testing for her green belt very shortly. I'm not sure how long she has been training for, but I estimated about 4 years, as the students in our dojo who are yellow with a stripe have been training for roughly 3-4 years. I could be wrong though.

Hi Steve! Welcome to the forums, everyone here is really friendly so you will enjoy it. I know I have. Your dancing probably gives you some really good footwork in your martial arts.

Do you know the rules of your tournements? Do you get penalized for excessive force? Or is it a full contact tournement. I don't think there is one real way to learn how to do a controlled strike without hurting the person. It's just a matter of practice and pulling back on your kicks and punches. Sometimes accidents happen though, and you may end up hurting the other person, just like you may accidently get hit harder than what was intended. The good thing is that most people understand this and they won't hold it against you. Just be sure to show good sportsmanship about it, and make sure the other person is going to be ok if you do accidently strike them hard, oh and apologize of course. One way of practicing is partnering up with someone where theres a good trust between the two of you. Practice doing certain kicks or punches making contact, lightly at first... and have the other person let you know if you should go a bit stronger or soften up. Eventually you'll get a feel for whats the correct amount of power. If you're in a full contact tourement, than you are going to want to train for power. Just try to minimize how hard you hit to the head. Anyways, thats my two cents... I hope it helps!

I compete under IKO, for Kyokushin. Just started, and I'm loooving it! I'll be at Nationals in Vancouver on May 8th.

At our dojo (It's a Kyokushin style), it appears that achieving your belt is farily easy up until blue and yellow belt. The instructor for the most part won't test you if he thinks you need work. The nice thing with our dojo is that our instructer writes up a fairly thorough evaluation explaing your stregnths, weaknesses, and what needs to be worked on. I think that's preety unique and a lot of dojos do not seem to take the time to do this.

Wow, that's great! I'm sure you will do great! Good luck with everything... and don't get nervous cause thats what kills ya What style are you studying?

Perhaps I misunderstood his/her statement then.

$50.00 CDN a month which I do not mind paying one bit.

What the heck? Bowing is showing a sign of respect... what martial arts is all about. Anyways, when I bow I look into the persons eyes. However, I think the proper way as far as Mas Oyama had intended: "The correct manner of bowing when practicing with another person is to tip the body slightly forward..., and fixing your eyes on his chest, and trying to visualize his entire anatomy at the same time." -quoted from Mas Oyama's Karate by Bobby Lowe.

Why is that relevant? I'm not saying that it has to be relevant to other people. My personal opinion is that I prefer traditional type of competitions. I'm not trying to belittle anyone who doesn't share the same view as me... it's just what I like to watch. If you like UFC, or non-tradiotional martial arts, then thats great! So sorry if I offended anyone, it was not my intention.

I did my very first Kyokushin tournement this weekand. I entered into the womens colorbelt knockdown class. I had a great time except for one incident (more on that later). I was nervous sitting on that bench, waiting to be called up. I did some deep breathing to try and help calm my nerves. Eventually my name was called to come up to the matt. My first fight went well. My competitor was a very good fighter and took me off guard. She liked to stick very close, and I've never really practiced fighting that close. I had a hard time getting some kicks in.. so I relied on a lot of punches. Once I had her on the move I was able to get more kicks in. We were moving each other around fairly equaly. When the two minutes were up I was exhausted. All four judges called for a tie, so we had to rematch. The second time around I was more prepared and managed to be the one moving her around more predominently. By the end of that round, the 4 judges voted in my favor. I felt good, and I felt thankful to fight such a great figther. She was just terrific and had a great spirit. My next fight was up against a yellow belt. I am only a white belt and I was quiet scared about fighting her. I had partnered with her a month prior at a camp, and I knew she had really powerful kicks. We were told 3 times prior to the match that it was full contact to the body but light contact to the head. When we started, I charged her and got a few strong kicks on her legs. Within 20 seconds *boom* she kicked me in the head with a lot of power, and she didn't pull back the kick. I was knocked silly, I kind of backed up stumbling, trying to keep my balance. Then I went down to my knee. The judges penalized her a point, and after sitting for a bit, I tried to get up and fight her again. It was no use though, my vision was blurred and I was just so confused. I lost that match quickly, and went and sat down. A paramedic looked at me, took my blood pressure and saw that my pupils were not reacting to light and told me to go to the hospital to get checked out. The girl who kicked me came up to the paremedic table and said "I told you I'd keep you guys busy." I was soo crushed by the poor sportsmanship that was demonstrated. I didn't understand it. She had 4 years experience on me, we weren't supposed to kick hard to the head. I couldn't comprehend what she was trying to prove, or her purpose behind it. I always view martial arts as something spiritual. I want to become a good tournement fighter, but I want to do honourbly and respect everyone that I compete against. It bothers me when I see this in the martial arts. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a mild concussion. I didn't lose my desire for tournement fighting after this, but it sure did put a sour taste in my mouth. All in all it was a great event and I had a great time meeting people from other dojos... it's just unfortunate that this had to happen. I did finish 3rd after all was said and done, and I am very proud of my accomplishments

I'm not really a fan of it. It's just not really traditional. I heard too that it's somewhat set up, that is the fighters hold back a lot of their power and such. It's mostly for show and to make producers a lot of money.

That was absolutely excellent! I wish more people would adopt the Tao way. There is a person that I know who runs a small dojo. I had a lot of respect for his skills and talent. He is currently testing for his 1st Dan, and at first I really wanted him to obtain it. After hearing conversations he has had with other people, I'm not so sure that he deserves it. I've heard him put down and mock his own students to other people. Not only is this bad, but he doesn't even do it discreetly. People who are standing around in our dojo can hear him say these things. I'm sure that the word will get around some day.

In our dojo our Sempai only tests those who he thinks are ready, so failing is usually rare. Again more leeway is given to lower belts and people start testing less as they get higher in belt level.

23 is young, I'm 23 and I consider myself a baby. The Martial arts is a lifetime commitment, and always there is something new to learn

Well, I did 6 fights yesterday with my classmates as a part of testing. First time I really did some contact fighting without the blockers. I kicked someone shin on shin, and you know what? Adrenaline rules! I mean I felt it, and had that slight thought that it's going to hurt later, but it didn't really hurt that bad. After I got home though, my shin had swollen so much, but I just iced it up and it doesn't really hurt now unless you touch it. Anyways, I have my first tournement this Saturday (Mar 20). It's just a small tournement but I'm looking forward to it, I think I'll do alright. Wish me luck!

Thanks everyone!

I'm in Kyokushin, and I know that in tournements we aren't allowed to wear too much gear. I think however, that mouth guard and head gear should be allowed for amatuers, and I think a lot of tournements are like this anyways. In class I don't like wearing gear when I am practicing with the blockers. A lot of people do, but I find that if I wear hand gear for example, its hard to get an idea if I am punching correctly. Therefore I don't wear hand gear and my knuckles sometimes bleed but it's not too bad and your hands get stronger.

The gi's that we use in Kyokushin are beautiful. I love my gi so much. It's a heavier weight, which I strongly prefer over the lightweight ones for both comfort, durability and that snapping sound. It has 3/4 length sleeves, and it's reinforced very nicely along the collar. It's hot at first, but then after about 10 min of warming up you don't even really notice it. The pants are also fairly heavyweight, they are nice and baggy and non constricting. It has a drawstring waist which in my opinion is a lot nicer than the elastic waist because you can get a bigger size so it's not so form fitting. Word of advice though, when buying your gi, make sure you know whether it has been pre-shrunked so you have a better idea of what size to get. I know someone who didn't know that their gi wasn't pre shrunk and had to buy a new gi after washing it the first time because it didn't fit anymore.

Thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for.

Were you drunk when you wrote this? Anyways, I agree 100% with what Tal said... he said it best.

I don't like being partnered with anyone (not just sparring) who don't try hard. There are some people I end up pairing up with, that I just don't understand why they are even in martial arts because they don't give it 100%. Heck they don't even give it 20% it seems sometimes.