vertigo

I don't see it the way your friend does... everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but that being said, here's mine: Sometimes running is not the best option in a streetfight. What if someone was threatening or attacking you or a member of your family? Will you sit and watch a friend or loved one get beaten up? I'd rather not. And I definitely don't want to punch/kick someone weakly, have it bounce off, and antagonize them more. If I'm going to attack someone, I want to do it with full force, meaning getting my whole body behind my technique. Regarding the sparring aspect? Hmm.. that's fair, the goal is not to KO someone. However, that being said (as when we work on kumite, we usually go no contact), using my whole body in techniques seems to get punches/kicks in quicker than if I had just thrown my arm or leg out. So even then, I'd rather use my whole body.

No, I don't think it'd be odd to know your karate 'lineage'. It's always neat to know. Just ask your senseis, I'm sure they'd be glad to talk with you. My karate lineage is rather short, but takes me back to the general beginning of shotokan... My sensei is Robert Fusaro who trains/trained under Sensei Nishiyama and (earlier) Sensei Nakayama, who trained under Gichin Funakoshi.

My classes are an hour long... I'd like to see them a little longer.. but that's the way it goes. When I can get back to club regularly, I can train for 2 hours a day, 3 days a week. Right now, I am forced (due to schedule) to take one hour classes, twice a week

Umm.. maybe? It's one of those phrases.. a metaphor? (not sure if that's the right word) Anyway, to the rest of your post... That is a reasonable interpretation of the phrase. When you look at quotes, phrases, ideas, usually they are open to interpretation. I see it meaning avoid the fight as much as possible: avoid the situation to begin with, talk your way out of the fight (only in reasonable situations), etc.. If all of that is not possible? Then fighting is what you have left. Use your training well.

I'd give fantasy baseball a shot. Sounds like a good idea.

I have my first tournament on Saturday: and while looking through the tournament info, came up with a strategic question regarding our sparring. Since I'm only an orange belt, they won't let us free spar (as they do for 6th kyu and up).. our sparring consists of one attack sparring. One person attacks, the other blocks and counters. This occurs four times for each person: two attacks head, two stomach. Here's where my question comes in.. the judges decide who performed better on a sequence, the attacker or defender. I see this as easier for the defender.. it's kind of obvious how to do well there. However, if you were judging a competition of the like, what would you be looking for in a strong attack? Thanks

Welcome to the forums

The lockout seems pretty stupid to me... makes me mad.. I would love to catch some Wild games while I'm here, but I guess not this season! GRR!

who did play ss? i don't even remember!(which surprises me, cuz I usually have a decent baseball memory) but at least i have an excuse

I thought it meant 'house (or hall) of shoto' (pine waves), shoto being Funakoshi's pen name? I really don't think I could put a better description of shotokan than what's been posted above, so I'll just leave it at that

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Hey! That's my job! Just kidding.. Welcome to the forums

Very good points. In sparring, as fast or hard as you could go, the intent is still not to injure your sparring partner. (Imagine a dojo that did do that! Hmm... Dojo of Hard Knocks? ) Whereas on the street, I'm sorry, but if someone jumped me in a dark alley, I'd go after them like crazy, going for knees, throat, etc... it's just a completely different mindset. I see the point you are making.. I still don't disagree with it in a karate sense. (no offense intended)... Thinking on it for a second though, it all depends on the situation (isn't that the answer to EVERY question on this forum? ).. if a drunk decided to start a bar fight and was throwing around weak punches, sure you could roll with those.. they're not going very fast and should be relatively easy to get your body up to speed to where it won't do much... However (I'm dipping into the hypothetical now), if someone did have any sort of training regarding punches, they would be able to generate tremendous force with a punch, to the point where it'd be nearly impossible to get your body moving that fast in the opposite direction.. even if you move as possible, you probably end up going to the ground (which opens up more problems).. would rolling with a trained punch help? Yeah.. but I don't think it'd make a much of an impact (and, again, you increase your chances of getting thrown off balance, which opens you up to more punches, or thrown to the ground, which is worse) And I just realized I wrote WAY more than I intended... summary: Rolling with punches? Fine I'll concede it would help, I just wouldn't want to get even that close against someone who was trained to punch.

good point. never underestimate any opponent. pros? umm.. you might be able to out run him. That's always a reasonable option (unless for some reason, you have to fight him) I agree with the fact that he's probably going to have a little slower movement in general, but with all that weight, has more mass behind any strike he has, so even without technique, will still carry some good power. How to take him down? Every human body has certain weak points (also stated in previous posts): knees, throat, groin, face. These are your best odds. No matter how big or small someone is, a punch in the throat would kinda ruin their day..

I'd say that if you didn't start the fight, nor provoked it in any sense prior to it happening.. you shouldn't feel shameful about defending yourself (unless... you crossed the line. i.e. someone bumps into you, so you barrage them with punches and put them in the hospital) Exactly. The best fight is the one you avoid. and: going waaaay back to the beginning of the post.. I've never been in a streetfight, and hope I have the extreme fortune to never have to use my art outside the dojo; and I wish the same upon everyone else. (don't misconstrue this.. if you need to protect yourself, your family, or for any reason need to use your art for the RIGHT reasons, I understand that need... I would do the same in that situation.)

I originally took up Shotokan, basically for lack of a better way to put it, for something to do... when I got to college, I needed an activity. It seemed that when I got done with class for the day, I had NOTHING.... plus I also figured it'd be an awesome way to stay in shape over winter, filling the spot where I had played basketball back in high school. I had no idea it would become as big as it is now to me... I continue because I enjoy the continual challenge. There is always something new to learn, sometimes a very big change, sometimes subtle. And I was right.. it has gotten me into the best shape of my life, I've never felt better or stronger than I am right now. The best part of all that? As far as I can tell, it can only get better

You know you're having a bad MA day when: - You put on your gi top backwards.. and don't notice - Your sensei decides to use you to help demostrate a technique to the class, with him punching full speed, but without contact... or at least thats what he tells you when you come to. - You ask sensei if he thinks you're ready to test, and he starts laughing - While practicing upward blocks, you get a little too into it, and KO yourself on the chin. - Ever wash your gi with a red sock? these were all I could think of at the time.. keep adding on

I would be hard-pressed to name more than 10 martial arts off the top of my head, much less decided which ones are good for self-defense; so I'll simply post the thoughts I have on the only three martial arts I've been able to observe: TKD, Shotokan, and Judo. Obviously, I'm biased towards shotokan, I'll admit it. It does seem to have strong techniques and movements, which can't hurt in a self-defense situation. I have a feeling if I were able to land a few solid strikes (punch, kick, elbow, knee, etc...) on whomever I was defending myself against, it wouldn't be a long fight (exceptions: very large person; multiple people; weapons involved) I went to a friend's Judo tournament last weekend and was rather impressed. I sure wouldn't want to get within grabbing distance of a few of those guys... Seems that they focus on close combat (throws, grappling, etc.) which really couldn't hurt in a self-defense situation, especially if a fight ended up on the ground (where knowing shotokan, at least for me, may be less effective [lose my base]) Viewing TKD, I don't see it applying much into a self defense situation. I have seen a few TKD trainings, and I'm sorry, but aiming kicks as high as possible or jump kicking just doesn't do much for me... Could the art have some use in a self-defense situation? Absolutely, some art is better than none, I just don't see it as effective in this situation as others would be. I guarantee there are better self-defense martial arts out there... I just don't have any experience around them and/or have never seen them in action. Also, if you think I'm trying to downplay or insult any art (including my own), you're wrong... I'm merely posting my thoughts and (self admittedly, limited) knowledge on the matter.. please take it in stride

This is the same way I bow... I've never heard of any specific way we are supposed to bow in our dojo, so I just kinda picked this one up from the people I trained around when I first started. (on a side note, good form jakmak52 nice trophy too )

Good: - Awesome Instructors with lots of experience (7th and 3rd dan) - University club, so it's right on campus, and cheap - Lots of great people Not so good: - My schedule never seems to work with club, and have been limited to 2 times a week, 1 hour sessions (not including what I work on in my free time) that is the worst complaint I can come up with about my dojo/club... I love it.

nice... shoulda seen that one coming

I will throw my very limited (self admitted ) opinion out, even though it is very short. I don't think those catagories off, I'd tend to think that any style of fighting can (one way or the other) fall underneath one of those four. However, I don't necessarily see defensive fighting as moving backwards; I see it as meaning, waiting for your shot, waiting for your opponent to get TOO aggressive and make a mistake: and you'll be ready to make them pay for it.

My motivation is... umm... rather difficult for me to put tangibly (so if this goes off on a tangent, bear with me) Golf is the only activity I have that can relate to this topic, in the sense that the motivation comes from nearly the same place.. I have always golfed, yet there is always another level of skill for me to shoot for, a new challenge to find, and that helps motivate me to keep working. I see the same things happening in karate for me. There is always something new to learn, some new challenge waiting for me, and I want to face it head on.

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a fair point.. I have a feeling the whole sucker punch from behind thing is neither here nor there right now. It's kind of an abnormality in this discussion; you can't do much of ANYTHING if you are going to be punched from behind without your knowledge, much less try to think about avoiding the hit or being willing to take the hit to give one back. also (going back to: avoid being hit? being hit to hit? question..): It's also possible that at this stage in my training I would MUCH rather not take a hit to give one.. odds are, whoever I might be fighting against is much bigger than me (I'm only 5'10" 130) or will hit much harder than me.. so taking one of their hits to give one of my own is relatively pointless at this stage in my training, I haven't developed my power sufficiently yet. I still disagree (once again, possibly because of the level I am currently at).. I still have the feeling that if you take a bad enough shot, it is still very difficult to "roll with the punch".. Learning to recognize pain as part of fighting? That's realistic.. but you are not really going to be able to learn how to take punches you'd see in a realistic fight situation unless you are in one (which I wish upon no one).