jarrettmeyer

I've been KO'ed once, at a high school wrestling practice. I was laterally dropped onto the back of my head. I remember the grab. I remember trying to resist. I even remember starting to fall. Then nothing. I woke up with one heckuva headache. Other than that, I was fine when I got up. In retrospect, it showed great technique, coordination, and an eye for opportunity. But in high school, that is a very embarrasing thing to have happen to you. Kevin (my opponent) and I were great friends both before and after. But other peers never let it go. I have also experienced something close to what Angela experienced. But that was not a KO. Well, maybe it was. You decide.... While boxing in college, I was hit so hard in the temple that it disrupted my inner ear. (I felt a pop.) I kept going for about 30 seconds, but then I started getting woozy and collapsed. It was really weird. People were wondering why I fell down when my opponent hadn't landed a punch since that previous one. I never lost consciousness, and I was mentally aware the whole time, but I couldn't get back up. I just couldn't get my body to react. I ended up being down for about 10 minutes. Although it was not a lights-out KO, I was completely out of commission, and I could not defend myself in anyway.

And to give you an idea of Mr. Lee's dedication, everything I've found pretty much says 10,000 repetitions before technique becomes permanent muscle memory. And from 10,000 to 100,000 repetitions before it becomes automatic response. If I maintain my current training regimen, I'll know pinan shodan around 2031! It's all about having goals

This is true of any style. But Shane's probably correct in saying it may be more comfortable for you to be wrastlin' on the ground.

I would agree with Sho-ju that gojo is much more of a countering style. I've watched classes from beginner to black belt. NEVER have I seen any technique used to throw the 1st strike. We're always training the counter-first-then-make-your-opponent-pay-for-it technique. Almost all of our techniques and kata are block+strike, trap+throw, trap+strike, etc. Someone does something to you first, then you react off of that. It's kinda funny watching goju sparring. No one seems to want to throw the first punch. All comments in my limited scope.

This is actually a topic that I am having conflict with. I'm actually learning two techniques because of it depending on who is teaching me that particular evening. (1) Sensai has me doing very deep stances. The point here is to increase stability and friction against the ground. He says that you should feel the strike start in your toes. Tighten everything, then explode forward from your gut. The good news is that I am stable, no question. You can't move me at all in those wide stances. My problem is, I can't move me either. But, I completely understand why sensai has me do this. (2) One of the blackbelts, who is big into sparring and competition, says my stances are way too low. I need to be higher. On my toes, not my heels, springy, quick. I don't have time for stances. But I completely understand why the instructor has me do this. How do I reconcile the two? Wouldn't the *best* answer, whatever that is, strive for a balance?

This might be a simple answer, but if you went to an "out of shape" instructor, would you learn anything? Isn't that what teachers do? Did you gain more skill by practicing the techniques he taught you? Did you grow as a person because of philosophy he practiced? Was he a kind person who helped the less talented in the class? Did you, upon leaving his dojo, say to yourself, "That fat slob doesn't know what he's doing." Hopefully, everyone at the dojo teaches something to somebody - sensais, black belts, seniors, mid-grades, newbies, kids, your self - everyone.

I like it! "Because sensai tell me to."

All of you, back to the physics classroom. Strength is the ability to support weight. Power is a function of mass, acceleration, distance, and time. Let's start with a base model of a 400 pound squat, 10 reps, 1 squat every 4 seconds. Cutting time to 75% (from 4 seconds to 3 seconds) generates 180% power (same amount of strength). Or you could use 720 pounds (increase strength). Or you could do 18 reps (increase duration). Cutting time to 50% (from 4 seconds to 2 seconds) generates 400% power. Or, you could use 1600 pounds. Or you could do 40 reps. Obviously, you're not allowed to cut corners on your lift, and a 2 second squat is pretty darn quick to make them quality squats. But, you should be able to see that because speed is such an important factor, you can cut weight and still generate the same amount of power by doing more or doing them faster. Of course, you can also keep the weight up, and do them faster, and do more.... and power goes through the roof. (Sorry, I'm an engineer, so I really get into this conversation every time I see it. I'm a total geek, and I mean no disrespect. If I post that enough times, eventually we will all know the difference between strength and power.)

At our dojo, since face and groin are allowed targets on any day, full contact means joint locks, sweeps, throws, trips, and kicks down on the knee are allowed. We're never allowed to go full power, except on single techniques under much supervision.

Ditto, Mr. Tiger. Read Morgan's Living the Martial Way. I think more boxers train more rigorously, change their diets, lift weights, jog, etc. more than karateka. That makes for a better warrior. If you are really fighting, the better warrior will win regardless of formal technique. All martial arts are artificial. Given a boxer and a karateka who both train for 1 year, 2 nights/week, 1 hour/night, and do little on off nights, the outcome is dependent upon luck. Same thing the other way. Both have trained vigorously for 8 years, and the karateka has studied COMBATIVE KARATE, not dojo sparring, then the outcome again will be based upon luck. That boxer didn't pull punches when he trained. Neither should the karateka.

"Strength" is amount of weight that can be supported. "Power" is a physics function mass, speed, and distance. Take any lift you want: military press, bench press, squat, even dips and pushups. Doing a pushup requires a certain amount of strength. Whether you crank out 20 pushups in 15 seconds or 20 pushups throughout the day, the same amount of STRENGTH is used. However, the person who does that in 15 seconds generates more POWER. You must be careful when using weights. As has been already stated, too much weight+too much speed = blown joint. That power also generates momentum, which your body may not be able to handle. In your desire to create power, don't end up in traction.

I am always surprised by the number of parents who started doing MA with their kids. It is absolutely great to see a kid and a parent doing something together like this, each in their gi. Alot of people are at the dojo 5 nights a week. Parents come watch their children on kids' nights. Children bring their homework and watch their parents on adults' nights. I didn't have a great home life, so it is wonderful to see these families spending time together. My wife and I both do goju ryu. I hope someday we'll have a child who joins us. To the poster's point, many of these parents are 45+ by the time they receive their black belts.

Actually, one of the Black Belt women specializes in a form of tag that makes you think twice before throwing ANY type of kick. And she's fast, too. If she sees your weight shift, she'll be smacking your cup.

It infects as much as you let it. People respond to good and bad actions alike. The good news is that WE are the antidote. From what I've read during my short time here, the regularly posting members of karateforums.com would make up one heck of a dojo. My dojo is great. Not bowing on or off is a great way to buy yourself some pushups. The students, children and adult alike, are very respectful. "Thank you, sir." "Thank you, ma'am." Students are very supportive of eachother. This has been a rough week, because sensai has been with his sensai, so the black and brown belts have been teaching. My sensai pushes me as hard as I need to be pushed. The other students push me as hard as I want to be pushed. If I ask them for a break, the answer is, "Relax. Get some water." If I ask sensai for a break, the answer is, "Are you sure?" And I know the answer to it. There's nothing that he can do to me in one-hour that I can't handle.

In our tournaments, groin is allowed. Shots to the knees are not allowed, and that will give a point to your opponent. A forward punch to the torso will not score a point. A reverse punch will. Any strike to the head will score. Face strikes are not allowed until at least brown belt. If you're in the ring, and at least one of you is less than a brown belt, then no face contact is allowed by either combatant. Side, top, and back of the head are still valid. It's not meant to be completely realistic. It's a sport. Good dojos distiguish the two.

What is all of the "one-strike" stuff? I'll just tell my sensai that I don't need to practice all of these combos anymore.

I was thinking about getting one, but that's my dilemma. Where do you draw the line between pride in what you've accomplished and humility that MA is supposed to teach? I would put the tatoo where it would be easily covered by a gi, polo shirt, etc. Eh... I'm going to side with, "It's your body." Putting the kanji on your knuckles (ala Jake and Elwood) would probably not be the greatest idea.

By definition - karate, TKD, judo, aikido, kung fu, etc. - in their purest form, aren't all of these martial arts? These all have technique, kata, application to self-defense, and an obligation to make yourself better. That said, the rest of this is editorializing. Feel free to disagree. Martial arts are only to ever be used to defend yourself or defend your loved ones. There is an active, present threat to life or well-being. You may get killed. And you may have to kill. If you HAD to, could you take a life because of what you know and how you have trained? If you DIDN'T have to, but were given the opportunity, do you have the control to injure but not kill. Physically, emotionally, philosophically, religiously (if that's your thing) - these are all required in the martial arts. Suppose you're training in Goju Ryu, and you do it to get in shape. Self-defense happens to be a handy byproduct. You practice technique up and down the mat. You start learning kata and bunkai. A year later as you walk from a downtown night club to your car in a parking garage, you and your wife are threatened at knife-point. You and your wife have both learned karate, so it's 2 on 1. You turn tail, let your wife stay in front of you, and run back to the club and call the police. The police find no one, and you go home safely. Are you a martial artist? Let's see. You met an encounter. You and your loved ones are still alive and well, without a bruise or a scratch. On the other hand, any competition where there is a necessity of safety protocol in any measure is a martial sport. Point sparring easily falls into this category. There are dozens of people in my dojo who go to competitions. None are in fear of their life. Maybe a pulled muscle, a bloody nose, or a black eye, but never their life. Same thing with the extremely elaborate competition gymnastic routines.... er, modern kata. These are, like it or not, martial sport. Back to the post, I remember back in the 80's, Andre the Giant was quoted as saying something similar to, "The punches are fake, but the bruises are real." I think if you allow yourself the difference between martial art and martial sport, there's really no trouble in classifying the WWE. Osu.

True, but regardless of style, there is some amount of technique that must be discovered by the student. A good Sensai will recognize which technique may and may not be adapted. I saw in one of my grapples that a particular move would naturally create an opening in an opponent to throw an elbow strike. On the other side, I've had a 12 year old green belt teach me a very impressive trip manuever. Seriously, not to start any gender wars, but I would never guessed that a 12 year old girl who weighs less than 80 pounds could take down a 250 pound, 25 year old male. Hey, it happens. She adapted a manuever that she couldn't get to work into something that did work. One day, her limbs will be longer, and she'll be able to use the technique as Sensai taught it. Until then, she very appropriately improvised. That's part of the growth of the martial artist.

At our dojo, nightly classes cover technique, forms, and self defense. If you would like to spar, there are optional classes that meet on Friday and Saturday, and I have yet to see Sensai attend one of these classes. It's run by the other brown and black belts. Your belt progression is based on your knowledge, technique, and kata, never your sparring ability.

I agree completely with Red J. Very well said. In what we've done so far, disrupting balance is the second move. There is a kick down on the knee, a hammer fist to the groin or jaw, etc, something to rattle your opponent as the first move. There's actually quite a bit of grappling in Goju Ryu. I know that Karate is a broad term, but I thought that Karate was much more of a striking skill set. We work on grappling about 1/4 of the time. This is a few months into classes. Lessons begin with finding your own distance and balance, fighting on your terms, whatever those may be. Then they move to taking your opponent's balance.

I don't know the whole answer, since I haven't done it, but if you intend on breaking anything more than a 1/4-inch piece of kiln-dried pine that has been cut against the grain for easy breaking, then the answer is.... ... Get an instructor. It's too easy to get hurt.

Our dojo is all about the respect. And we practice kata every day. Brown and black belts are doing really long kata. Mine is about 20 seconds. Our Sensai does a really good job of distinguishing between technique vs. kata vs. self defense vs. sport. Suppose in our first class, we learn backfist. In that week, we will taught how to do and where to look for a backfist in various kata; this is where it applies in self defense; this is how you use it in competition sparring.

I've been critiqued every class so far regarding my back foot in my forward fighting stance in goju ryu. It should be facing forward. I used to fence and it used to point to the side 90 degrees. As I get tired, my foot drifts out 15 degrees... 30 degrees... 45 degrees... all the way to 90 degrees. Also, when sparring, as I get tired my reverse arm moves further and further back. (In fencing, it is illegal to block target area with your non-weapon hand. That's why they keep it behind their body, above their head. In sparring, blocking target area is the whole point of why you keep your arms up. So when I unconsciously expose target area, you can see the dilemma.) I have to rewrite old muscle memory with new muscle memory. I'm convinced that it will happen, but it will take some time and lot's of practice! Of course, I'm sure being able to throw a roundhouse to the head while holding a 3ft stick in your primary hand would hold some pretty high value. Karate+Escrime?

I totally understand that. For whatever reason, I can't jog or do pushups for the sake of jogging and doing pushups. But as a motivation to get better in MA, those are completely reasonable activities.