pittbullJudoka

That's nice Sensei8 we did a moment of silence at work Friday morning at 9:30 but its still nice your family is doing that.

I would like to extend wishes of a merry Christmas and happy new year to all the members of karate forums and their families. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season no matter your beliefs. Also a prospourus new year in martial arts and your life. Hope we have a even better year with the forums next year it's been great.

Not all joint problems are coming from injuries but just plain wear and tear. I do have a a bad shoulder, elbow, knee ect. Some from injuries some from well what ever. I recently in the past few months have had to start taping fingers during jiu jitsu due to the fact they feel like the are pulling apart with some grips I use. I have to tape during any type of monitor that requires me to grip and pull up. My grip strength is fine is just seemed one day my fingers were going to pull in half due to the pain of major resistance. Tape is my friend ask Shorikid I have a couple rolls in my bag, at home, in the dojo, in the office I'm never too far from my tape. Things get wore out as you get older but hey it's life. We're in a contact sport were injuries can and do happen its part of our Rick and I accept that.

No words can express enough sympathy to the families of the victims. I wish no one had to experience what the parents are going through at this time. I agree with those of you who have said they hope that they never experience this I would be lost if I had to come home knowing my son would be here at some point. Those children died in a most terrible way but they are in a better place now I am sure of that. The only good I can see in this horrible aftermath is that those children will not have to experience other evils of the world. I know this sounds evil of me saying this but you have to find the good in every situation. I have seen reports how true they I don't know but is has been said that as a teacher was trying to lead her students away from the school a small boy said " I know karate... It's ok.. I know the way out." I truly hope this is true. For it show the fortitude of some children. As I hope all the children can get past this trying time in their life without lasting effects of what they're suffering through. But mostly Godspeed to Newtown, Conn.

Congratulations to your son on a great stat to the season. Please do keep us posted on his progress. And you've made the best request of your son work hard and wrestle hard no matter what you aren't just chasing the "w". With mentoring like yours he learn from wins and loses alike. Good luck on the rest of the season.

I believe that styles do dominate areas, due to at some point students want to open their own schools but not relocating to do so. And you'll have sister school with a bit of personal flare at each location. I've noticed that you'll see a couple of the same styles in the same area.

Zaine to find the quality of school you are seeking you may have to put the miles in as I do. I have traveled as much as 2 hrs one way to train with my BJJ instructor. Also with this being said I have BJJ schools closer in distance and travel time that I could be attending but I don't feel they have the quality environment and instructors that I have. Also the level of training partners makes a difference in your progression. I was unsure about the traveling to a new school but I quickly became a part of the family. Also my instructor knows that with life I can only make the trip to the school once a week and on the rare occasion twice. But you'd be surprised on what you can pick up on a one day a week training session. Just dig deep and ask the locals once you get there on places to train you never know you may run into that one guy that knows about a place that will be exactly what you're looking for.

Glad you hear you had a good experience and seem to have found a good school.

Congratulations to all winners.

Lupin that's great that you instructor has the foresight to video the things he want you all to be able to have access to when needs be. That is exactly why I do our videos it's a great tool. After a while of watching my own videos and videos that others have made I noticed the thing about loosing details in the angle the videos are shot. My solution was to record from every possible angle including without the uke there especially when doing jiu jitsu videos. But the recreation of the picture you were talking about is very unique and great idea, I'll have to remember that one.

In the dojo I'd for new practitioners shin in steps, as there keep you from killing you training partners are there's little control there. But after some time bare feet and shins. There's nothing more real than a week place kick were the shin diggs into the body or the thigh. Also you experience the real feeling of you shin slamming into another's as they check you kick. On the street I'd prefer my nike shoes or if its purely for a confrontation I'd pick steel toed boots as I'm not going to kick above the waist. But my everyday wear are Nike shoes and I've messed around in them enough to be comfortable scrapping in them.

There's always the peaks and vallies in martial arts. The vallies are the low points when you seem to feel you're getting nothing accomplished. Nothing new technique wise or so you may think. The peaks are when you just one day have something click and its like oh yeah I get it now. You may be standing on the side watching a movement being taught to another and see something in it you had not realized was there. You'll more often find yourself in a valley than on the peak of the summit in the Dan ranks. I'll go weeks or a month and nothing seems to be clicking for me and all of a sudden there it is or is happens in sparring and your like hey that worked really well. I had one of these just the other night. It was a move I thought about will sparring but the in the situation it was a natural reaction and I knew we're it had come from. Just hang in there and keep chasing the hidden techniques. Trust me they're there.

Pictures and videos are great thing to have. I personally have 1000's of pictures and video clips taken in the dojo. I would be lost without them. I take photos every chance I get. Shorikid and I try to make sure that we get pictures after every promotion especially of the kids. The promotion pictures go directly to Facebook because the kids want to show their friends and family. We also have a YouTube channel for the students it contains technical videos as well as sparring sessions, and some collaborations. We've slacked on our YouTube site for awhile but we are filming a lot. But restart your collection you'll be surprised how fast it will grow. I take nights were I will photograph more than participate in class so everyone will have these types of pictures later in life to so. I have one student that had to have pictures to go witha paper he was writing. His subject matter was of course martial arts but he didn't have enough pictures. So he brought his camera to class for a week and I photographed the action of class for him. The out come was he now has a couple hundred pictures of his own to Cherish for a life time. So start your collection over.

Some nice pictures there. Looks like a solid dojo, keep up the good work.

Nov. 27 A.M. Drilled butterfly sweeps, free rolling 45 minutes P.M. Ciriculem review for blue belts, 15 minutes standup sparring

Seems like to me the rust comes of the stand up aspect of the game comes off quicker than if you are trying to get the rust of the ground game.

The mat burn will lessen over time as your skin builds caliuses. Your hands will follow suit. But you'll still be able to tell a really good class afterwards by the tips of you fingers either being sore or the tips will look like they've been peeled. Sounds like you found a good school that teaches the entire judo ciriculem that includes the ground work too. Enjoy it.

Some is better than none. I can only train one day a week due to the distance to my bjj gym and life in general other than that. I get to take part of a very small class so it's like having private lessons with a partner. But if you can train two or more times a week you'll improve faster than of course someone like myself who can only train once a week. I can't tell great improvements in my game a lot of times but I'm rolling with people who train 2 to 5 times a week, but when something clicks look out. I've trained like this for three and a half years and don't see an end in sight and love every minute I get to train with my bjj team. It also helps when you are constantly rolling with people more skilled than yourself and make you aware of some of the mistakes you are making and ways to correct them. I get to roll with everything from the average joe to pro fighters. We will tear each others games apart and help fix the holes we have to make ourselves better.

Nov. 20 A.M. Drilled half guard escapes to side control, half guard escape to mount, half guard sweep to mount, side control and half guard sweep to back take, half guard sweep to guard. 30 min free rolling. P.M. Kata review, 30 min free sparring.

So in reality if you school uses stripes in between belts it's a mon Kyu rank. Or this is my take on it.

Congrats on the promotion. Sounds like you found a good school to train at with all that variety of styles. If I were you I'd pick up a grappling style to complement my stand up. Since its offered there were you are already training.

Nasty isn't the word for it. I had one done a couple years ago something I'd say I don't want to do again if possible but it has been well worth it.

I'm just going to say you we're luck that the collar choke was all you got. Man I'd hate see you try this with one of the purple belts that teaches on occasion at the gym where I train.

The guy was cool theirs no hard feelings between us it was his coach that was disrespectful when I approached him. But that's just how that guy is if you're not a member of his team you are worthless. I told my coach that I was going to be the bigger man and appologize to him and told him the out come. He told me not to worry about it because he showed his true colors and that I was the better person for what I did and how I handled it.

He should have definitely been able to feel how tight it was. I mean I was armpit deep in the kimura and was holding steady pressure and making adjustments to his movement and thought "ok he'll tap any second" and the arm went first. I actively sought him out after they stabilized his arm and apologized and he said it part of the sport and no hard feelings so he knew he messed up. Later in the day I also sought his coach out to apologize and wish his student well but I'll leave it at that since I was disrespected at this moment.