Bleeding Lion

i am a grandmaster in Okinawan Goju Ryu Bleeding Lion Style. Im going for my 10th dan in a few weeks...make that my 12th dan, why wait?

We only do kata in my dojo, no kumite...I know and think kata is the most important part of karate, but can you let me beat the brains out of someone please? Just kidding. without kata, you dont learn new techniques, but it would be nice to get a feel of kumite once in a while to try to apply them and get used to the adrenaline rush.

my thoughts exactly.

kick fake with my right leg, mae geri to the groin, elbow to the chin, back fist, open hand head block (as a strike) to the chin or punch to the head. yeah, ive been trainning the gekisai katas a lot lately

G95champ: I believe its "the best of the best". really cool movie.

you didnt lose to a girl. you lost to a better sparring fighter. why does it matter that she was a girl? didnt you get slapped by your mom when you were a kid?

Shorei Shobukan Goju Ryu, headed by Shihan Rosberry.

^^^^^^^ what he said.

if you use weights, it would be wise to insert some rest days in your weekly schedule. if not, then its all about your goals, and the intensity you wish to attain. ive done abs exercises both once a day and twice (even 3 times) a day. 2/3 times a day worked very well for me, but the downside is that you have to have time in your schedule for that. i obtained the best results (strength, look, stability) ive ever had for my midsection by doing 1000 crunches a day, 300 morning/afternoon and 400 before bed. try every combination and see what works best for you.

why not both? i dont think they're incompatible.

katas im actively working on: hookiyu kata dai ich/ni gekisai dai ich/ni/san gekiha dai ich/ni saifa gakuse no kata seyunchin kata I never practice one kata alone, regardless of if its new to me. Always going back to the basics proved to be useful for me.

Adohan: You're very welcome. I picked it up on men's health forums myself.

well said.

Conqueror: Thats actually very impressive. Like my sensei says, ultimately everything is shown on the mat, not on certificates. In my opinion theres nothing wrong even with a 15-year old sandan as long as she has the technique and proficiency of a sandan.

Honorary ranking Thats another good political tool that is many times misused or misunderstood. From my understanding, the name is self-explanatory; it is given to honor somebody for something s/he did, but do not in any way necessarily reflect the person's skill in the organization. For instance, if somebody makes a significant donation to an organization, s/he could get an honorary belt as a sign of gratitude. The honorary ranking thus given does not reflect the rank of the person but shows the organization's gratitude for the contribution.

So many companies/industries are trying to introduce very simplistic, misconcepted quick fix formulas to weight loss, and this is one of them. Drinking milk is good, but that alone will surely not make you lose weight. It is just a very small and perhaps optional part of an effective diet if you consider weight loss alone.

According to the latest research, your post-workout (PW) meal should be 3/4 carbs, 1/4 protein. This would maximize the replenishment of your muscles, recovery and growth. The carbs should be high insuline carbs (bananas, grapes, gatorade...) and the source of protein should be rapidly absorbable; whey powder is a very good choice but something like cottage cheese is not since it is mainly casein which takes longer to absorb. One good PW shake could be made with powder gatorade, a high insuline fruit like banana, and whey protein powder. For that kind of stuff, may I suggest you forums.menshealth.com which is a very good source of info.

I basically outlined short goals: 1. just being able to get in starting push up position on 2 fingers. I did this step for around a month. 2. trying to get progressively lower and lower, up to the point where im low enough to think about going back up. 3. trying to get back up in starting position. I assumed you are more or less comfortable doing 1 hand push ups. You have to remember that this is exercise is more mental than physical. You have to sort of negate any thought that you cant do it. This is the reason I tried to master this. I think that if you try to do it purely physically its going to require more time. That was my mistake when I started. Overall, I find it to be a very good exercise to make you believe you can do a lot of things if you can "control" your mind. Let me know if it was any help or if you need more info.

In Shoreishobukan Goju Ryu, up to shodan, we have: Hookyu dai ichi/ni, Gekisai dai ichi/ni/san, Gekiha dai ich/ni, Kakuha dai ich/ni, saifa, seisan, gakusei no "student" kata, two forms of sanchin (long/short). After that, im not too sure but I think its 7 more from shodan to nidan, 12 more from nidan to sandan... after that, i have no idea.

Thanx a lot. I really feel like I accomplished something.

Thats really a disgrace (using a key or something else to scratch your black belt and make it look older and whiter than it is). A visiting young student came in our dojo last night, being sandan at 19. His belt was practically white, but you could tell it was worn out for other reasons than years of hard work. It is really a disgrace when a student keys his/her belt to make it look like s/he put lots of work. Ultimately, like my sensei told me afterwards, everything shows on the mat. Thought the incoming student had good kicks, he had no real power or commitment in his techniques, and didnt know all the curriculum required for a rank of shodan (as my sensei told me), but was sandan. Sensei was telling me that if the student was to practice regularly in our dojo, he would put make him an ikkyu. Keying your belt is immature and is contrary to MAs, no wonder why people set an age limit for shodan rank. Sensei told me many schools that compete key belts to make it look like they practice a lot more than they do. Thats disgraceful.

an index and a thumb.

two finger push ups that is... I did 2 in a row yesterday before I almost busted my chin. ohhhh yeahhhhhhh!!!!!!

How bout you get there and let me know?

I think a mistake most people make is to assume people think like them. What i mean is, someone might just walk up to you and throw a punch at you just because you looked at him/her disrespectfully. Sometimes trained TMAist might wait for 'hajime' to start the fight while the untrained would just punch you. I've witness a good amount of fight where a fighter didnt know at what point or if he/she should start fighting.