jarrettmeyer

The kiai is simple biophysics, and everyone should have multiple kiai's in their repetoire. The kiai should match the technique. In pinan nidan, there are two kiai's - one spear hand and one upper block. The kiai's wouldn't be the same because the kiai represent two different types of activity. They have different duration and pitch. I also agree with the other posts that the kiai should be a natural outreach that occurs because you put that much energy into a technique. Walk up and lightly slap a 75 lb punching bag and kiai. You should notice that you sound like an idiot. Now set up everything for a punch forceful that you try to swing the bag enough to hit the ceiling, but try not to make a sound. You'll find yourself restricted in your core. Do the same thing letting the sound pour out and you'll find a much more dynamic strike.

Oh, he's been complaining about it as long as I can remember. He just refused to ever get it looked at. Silly old man. It literally had to get to the point where he could barely move before he asked a doctor about it.

All hernias are the result of too much stress on a membrane. Imagine a filled water balloon. You can squeeze the balloon a lot and move water around. If you squeeze too much but don't break the balloon, you can create a stretch mark in the side. This is a herniated water balloon. You will notice that there is now a bulge here because the resistance at the stretch mark is less than that of the fully in-tact areas. This spot is now more vulnerable to rupture. It heals slowly, and it reinjures easily. But, it will heal if left alone and not stressed. If it does rupture all the way, you can repair it. This basically involves removing the stretch-mark area and closing it up with in-tact membrane. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who returned to 100% without surgery. We had one student (in his 40's) who had herniated the cartillage in his knee. He was back full-on in 6 weeks after surgery. But, they caught it early. Most people go for years (decades) with these problems without medical care. By that time, there's no fluid left in the cartillage, and then it's time for complete joint replacement surgery. My dad cannot go up stairs. If he were in a basement and the building were on fire, he would burn to death before he made it up the stairs. He was told that he probably herniated the cartillage over 30 years ago. From there, it probably ruptured at some point. Over the next few decades, liquid slowly drained from the cartillage. Now he can barely walk at only 51 years old. With that said, if you have the surgery option, and you can get it repaired, I would. But, like I said, I just don't know of anyone where it fixed itself substantially.

The bigger point is that the only person that you have to answer to is yourself. What does that belt mean to you? Does really just keep your gi closed? Does it represent time, technique, progress, sweat, sometimes tears? I have earned a tip on my white belt. I am really proud of that. It means something to me. When all is said and done, the only person you must ever answer to is yourself.

For the record, I was joking in my above post. There isn't a [sarcasm] tag. I measure my success by my improved energy levels, slowly reducing waistline, and increase quantity and quality of pushups and crunches. Feeling better about myself and having pride that I'm really enjoying such a physical activity is worth more than any belt.

We do something similar at my dojo. We have about 6 junior black belts. When they turn 16, they must retest.

Wow. Purple belt in 6 months. Let's see... 3 months of shorei goju ryu... still a white belt... should make 9th kyu by April and (hopefully) yellow belt/8th kyu August. And that's if I keep going, practice on off nights, and show repect to my teachers. I must be an idiot. Your friend is obviously a lot better student than I am.

I agree with delta and WW. It has to be a balance of both. You can't have the body without the mind. You can't have the mind without the body.

I've read this post for a few days now, and all I can think about is how funny all of this is. But I will offer another point of view. I, too, work in a warehouse, and I find myself occasionally setting a box in place with a series of backhands. I do have a few motivations. Sometimes, it's experimental: Can I get a sidekick up to the 4th shelf? (Not quite.) Can I punch this steel door hard enough to open it and make it hit the backstop? (Wow, doesn't hurt.) But most of the times, it's because I miss being at the dojo. How demented is that? I miss not being in class. I miss not being drenched in my own sweat. I miss not practicing. I miss not improving (or at least trying to improve). For me, there's something with martial arts that I never felt with other activities. The first thread I ever posted was "Why do you do MA?" Line for line, almost everybody said, "It's part of who I am now." Given the number of posters who have all said roughly the same thing, I think that this is part of the learning phase of MA. Whether you're 2 months or 20 years years into this phase, it sounds like it's just something you do.

I thought it was the referee's job to judge based on the rules, not ignore the ones he personally doesn't like or do not conform to his system. Silly me.

My brother-in-law has a Bobcat with a jackhammer attachment for the front arm. That thing can rip up a whole length of sidewalk in about 15 minutes. It takes me about 20 with my bare hands. Seriously, though, relax and the speed will come. And when you figure it out, let me know how you did it because I still haven't figured it out.

Groin shots are completely allowed and happen very frequently at my dojo. We have several techniques designed to target or protect the groin. I'm still a white belt, and I've taken at least 6 shots to the groin, and defended a lot more. Thank you, cup!

When I hear "Mixed Martial Arts", I think that the term is redundant. Unless, of course, your style has progress to 1600 AD and stopped progressing, your style is Mixed. None of these styles evolved in a vacuum. This weekend, I learned to do the same hip throw in my goju class as I learned *cough* *hack* years ago when I started wrestling in junior high. Either my style has roots back in Rome, or freestyle wrestling started in Okinawa. Or maybe, just maybe, the concepts of warfare hold true regardless of culture. Personally, when I hear "MMA", I think "Modern Martial Art." Let me go get my glow-in-the-dark kamas.

To make a short story long, I think that a better argument is to train until you don't have to think. The forms should help you with this. It's a perfect paradox. We study the detail of the kata. We learn the bunkai. We learn stances and breathing and technique. We practice combos on the bag. Then, when we get to the sparring ring, or - even worse - a real fight, we must only think about right now. You have done all of that studying so that you don't have to think about anything when the time comes. When I used to fence, we had this chart on the wall that showed success rates based on time spent fencing. The most success was experienced by those with over 4 years or less than 4 months. Why did the newbies do so well? Because they had nothing to think about other than scoring the touch. The newbie and the expert are very similar in mentality. Newbies don't think about a proper lunge or good footwork keeping the back straight. It is that time in the middle that you are the biggest threat to yourself. In those middle years, you are thinking, "I leaned over on that last lunge," or, "I bent my wrist too much on that parry #6."

And tommarker takes us back to the "It's not the art, it's the artist," statement. I would also agree with tommarker that like boxers and muay thai practicioners, wrestlers as a group train for COMBAT more seriously than karateka.generalization> But, as always, see sentence #1. A karateka will do everything in his power to make you fight his fight. If the karateka is skilled in grappling, then guess what? That's still his fight. If the karateka is skilled in elbows, gouges, arm bars, and chokes, then he is still comfortable. If the karateka is not prepared for this type of attack, but still well-trained, then he will adapt. Regardless of technique, the rules of engagement never change. Fight on your terms. Control distance. Feint. Move. Counter attack. Whoever does this better will prevail.

Hey! That's how I'm learning! Seriously. But I'm working with good black belts who know have fooled me enough to show that they know what they're doing. If I hit too hard, they hit back. I say, "Thank you, sir."

I think that you have to get under 7% body fat to start to see all 6 "packs". Your only fat intake should be fish and oats. The rest of your energy should be carbs. And, depending on your body type, you're looking at probably 45 minutes of workout each day. Remember, the first 20 minutes don't count! You have to burn out the energy that's in your blood first so that your body can look for it somewhere else.

Hey, no problem. Glad to help. Lots of people are helping me, and I like to teach any time I get the opportunity. But before you go trying to teach him a lesson yourself, talk to your Sensai. Although I have met no one at my dojo who is like this, my Sensai has a strict policy of not teaching students who want to get into fights. If you're there for that reason, you'll be asked to leave and never come back. Shy of that not working.... MwaHaHaHa.... Remember, control the distance, attack from off-angles, watch for him to telegraph his moves and weight shifts, and attack quickly after he throws his technique. Also, one last thing. You must be loose and calm. If you're worrying about getting hit, then your mind will be too preoccupied, and you'll probably get hit. You should only be tense at the moment of impact. I don't know about that whole "mind like water" thing, but a body at ease is definitely going to help. Big guys will tend to tense up. In fact, a lot of newbies will do this, regardless of size. This burns a lot of energy, all of it wasted.

Well here's another point of view. My background: I am an overweight white belt who lacks control. I'm not studying karate to learn to pound on people, but 2 outta 3 ain't bad. I've wrestled, boxed, and fenced in my past, so I have a little knowledge of fighting technique. Here's what works against me. 1. Keep moving. I can't keep up. Eventually I break down to the point where the little guys are spinning around me, and I stand in the middle and chase. 2. Get in and out. It takes me longer to control the distance. I can fight in quick rapid bursts, but I lack the endurance to keep going. My fencing and boxing taught me good blocking, but attack 2, 3, or 4 times before I can riposte. 3. It takes me longer to attack. My weight and size telegraph my technique, and my attacks linger out in the open longer than they should. Because of my size, I generate a lot of momentum, so if you get off angle, it will take me even longer to react. 4. I am VERY reluctant to kick. (a) I have less control than with my hands, and I'm not comfortable kicking yet. (b) My feet are slower than my hands, and I have yet to land a kick that didn't hurt my opponent. Good luck against the big guy.

Unfortuneately, this can only be answered with vague generalizations. By my sensai's teachings - First rule of self defense: maintain distance. Don't end up nose-to-nose, yelling and screaming. You'll get hit. Keep any and all aggressors out of your sphere of control. Now someone lunges in at you. Feel free to counter, block, dodge, etc. I would see no reason to let that strike land. Also, counter with the control that you can just keep your opponent at bay. If he keeps getting up and coming back for more, then give him more. This gets complicated. So now you've lost that ability to maintain distance. Your back is to a wall. Your opponent has friends. You were recently at a Pacers/Pistons game. Any other possible situation. If this is really the case, I could easily see the claim where your safety has already been compromised. Although I have never been in a real fight, I cannot think of one that could be talked down post-combat.

I agree with all of the above posts. "Practice like you mean it." MA is a great tool for self defense. Good MA, beyond just hitting people, should teach awareness, discipline, and confidence. Those should be used to diffuse a potential fight. Even if you do MA for fitness, or personal growth, or even competition, you had better be learning how to take care of yourself. One of things that my sensai teaches is that every technique, EVERY technique, see the ghost of your attacker in front on you. See your attackers in kata. See your attackers when you drill that side kick.

Most people expect their opponents to dodge and step back from an attack. Stepping into an attack is actually a very good defense. The strike has not yet accelerated to create a lot of damage. If you do it correctly, you also get your elbows and knees into the fray, so if you can counter quickly, and get back out, this *might* work. Of course, if your opponent is good at grappling, you could end up really screwed on this move. I did this twice against the same black belt. First scenario: He throws a right forward punch. I step in, facing the arm, my right side towards him, my left shoulder at his full arm extension. My right arm went over his, and I got him in the temple with the back of my elbow. Point! Second scenario, same opponent, a few minutes later: I found my butt on the mat. I stepped in, and he threw me to the mat by sweeping my feet out from under me as I stepped in. Lesson: I need more moves Of course, he has been doing this 12 years longer than I have!

Back when I would lift regularly (and I lifted for size), we would alternate days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) on a 2-week rotation. Monday - heavy arms/light legs Wednesday - heavy legs/light arms Friday - heavy arms/light legs Monday - heavy legs/light arms Wednesday - heavy arms/light legs Friday - heavy legs/light arms ...repeat... If you lift properly, you're always working your core. If you're sore after a workout, that's okay. Go home, pop a few ibuprofen, relax for the evening. If you should feel no more than an annoying, mild discomfort the next day. Two days later, you should be fine and ready to go. If you're still feeling it, then you still have damaged tissue. Consider your body still closed for reconstruction. Remember, lifting weights works because you have to intentionally damage yourself. The body's repair process creates a stronger mechanism (i.e. bulkier muscle tissue with less fat content) to avoid that damage next time. Also, start with light weight. You might walk into the gym knowing that you can bench 150 lbs, but DON'T. Warm your body into a routine. Start between 80 and 120 lbs, depending on your size. Do high-quality lifts. Next time 85 lbs. Next time 90 lbs. Etc. This lets your body learn to repair itself properly. Don't attempt to go up to the next 5 pounds until you can do 3 sets of 8 reps with the same quality lift as the 80 lb press. When you get to the point where you're maxing out, you might spend 2-3 weeks in a row on the same weight, but that's okay. You'll get those next 5 pounds if you keep with it. It will take longer, but you will be healthier in the long run. Those who lifted for tone, lifted everyday on every muscle group without complaint. They might only bench 50 lbs, but they'd do 4 sets of 50 reps. Good luck!

In it's most basic form, isn't this up to the practicioner? An art is anything that you use to outwardly express your inner thoughts and emotions. Whether painting, sculpting, MA, riding horses, architecture, baking, writing, being a doctor, etc. isn't the practicioner expressing himself? My karate is an art, because that's how I train. I am expressing myself. I am working to make myself both physically and emotionally better. My karate is a sport. I follow a set of rules designed for competition, with a goal of doing better than my opponent - both the internal and external opponent. Even consider the student who studies because of hatred and violence, only wanting to hurt others. If this is what he feels and expresses, then is it not art just because you don't like what it looks like? Ultimately, each individual must be responsible for the answer to this question. (Sorry about the pontificating.)

I also recently started goju ryu, and it took me 4 weeks before I could make it through a whole class without asking for a break. Believe me, I EARNED that night that I didn't have to ask for a break. My first night, I didn't make it 15 minutes. A 1-hour lesson on continuously working blocks, punches, and kicks up and down the mat is very strenuous. It was for me anyway. Stamina and endurance must be built.