Ted T.

I was sitting at the grading table with my Sensei when he suddenly stood up and apologetically announced that he had to take a break for a second and go to the can. This was unprecidented! So off he went and as soon as the door closed, one of my green belts who was up, on the floor being tested, ran to the women's washroom. It seems her pants had become untied while she was doing the basics, while walking forward and backward. She kept dropping lower and lower in her stance to try to keep them in place while desperately whispering to my wife, her sempai, who was sitting nearby in the grading line, what should she do??? Sensei saw all this and solved the problem for her very gracefully. All I saw was her stances getting weird. She went on to become a Mountie but did not go very far with her karate.

Kyu gradings should be fun!! You get to show off everything you've learned. Your sensei knows if you have passed before he grades you. Think of standing on the edge of a field with a bow and arrow and the target is in the center of the field. White belt must not kill a spectator on the sidelines when they shoot their arrow. At each grading you must get closer to the target to proceed. Black belt must bulls-eye. 1. Never show any emotion except determination. One young lad did a good kata until he flubbed a move at the end when Sensei happened to be making a note on his pad. Sensei looked up just in time to see his grimace, and asked him if he would like to do his kata over again. Ouch. When you make your mistake, (not "if" but "when"... ), never admit it in your posture or expression. It is as if you are saying, "I was taught to do it this way!" A mistake done strongly with conviction is often preferable to a proper move done hesitantly. And, 2. Tie your pant's ties strongly just before you start!! (Heed the voice of exprience! )

The side snap is as quick as the front snap and up to the inner thigh, just as nasty...a great enty / distraction technique. The thrust to the side is a finisher. I don't street fight. But we spar with knees as targets, once a person has control. You must learn how to protect your knees, especially in a back stance (kokutsa dachi). On my 3d Dan grading I had to fight another 3d Dan prospect from a different club. She was fiesty enough but didn't worry me. Suddenly I heard the whole room gasp and her face went white, and I realized I had thrust (stomped) a side kick to her knee, full force, but of course I didn't make contact. I said "Oops, I didn't know this was tournament rules..." and the center judge said, "It was a good clean controlled kick and no rules were given so continue." I let her bop me on the nose and after she told me her whole career and the end of all her training flashed before her eyes when she saw the kick coming in because she knew her knee was destroyed. So, no war stories but that did make an impression upon me.

Due to the animosity between houses and styles in China, many demonstrations and tournaments became brawls, embarrasing their Gov't sponsors, especially in front of foreigners. The PRC gov't decided to fix this by standardizing the routines as a gymnastic endeavor that could be performed by all styles. The standardization also allowed for a standard evaluation / scoring system like in Olympic competition, tending to take ego over stylistic differences out of the picture. Thus they "banned" the use of the names Shaolin and Wudang in their sponsored tournaments, and called everything Wushu. Since the stylistic details that were diferent were the fighting differences, it was these differences that were put aside in favor of a more gymnastic approach. But back at home, your Wushu was based on the fighting style of your teacher, and, back at home, these influences are honored and practiced.

Yes, the point of 2 is the details from the "toe wiggle" to the kill shot, the perseverence, the mind strengthening, the growthof committment.

I think Kill Bill 2 was the better movie. Sure it was more talky / less comic book, but the development of the will and the perseverance of the Bride is an awesome story. She went from fighting machine in 1 to a real martial artist in 2.

Ahh, we visit in the Denver, Castle Rock (Animal) Lake George (Peyton Quinn) area but don't know anyone in C. Springs. We like it out in the Fairplay area and down in Four Corners too, but no training out there.

Go to Rich Dimitri's site and look for the Shredder good luck,

Unless you have international sales, a web site costs without bringing anything in. In ten years I've had two or three calls because of the site and they didn't stay. For local use, the phone book is primo.

Chen also stomps at the end of a step to lower the weight and ground yourself again, a very important Chen concept.

I've never heard of Matsumura Bassai called RYUKYU kata, or are these two different kata? I don't know of any place they are on-line...good luck,

Ask any martial artist how many hours they have put into de-escalation training compared to years of learning how to hurt, maim or kill...

Ask any martial artist how many hours they have put into de-escalation training compared to years of learning how to hurt, maim or kill...

The development of internal power is based on three things: first all the joints are stretched loosened, second, you learn how to relax totaly, and third, the whole body is taught how to act as one coordinated expression of power....ie, no one part of the body is disassociated from the power structure of the rest or is off balance or whatever. I think... Chen tai chi in fact does stomp wih a foot to great effect.

Didn't Musashi tell us to learn all the weapons and to chose the one appropriate for the situation?? Unless you must get physical with someone due to your work, the best answer to a fight offer is to get out of it. You don't want to use a weapon on anyone. That leaves us with the most appropriate weapon being our mind: everyone should learn the art of verbal judo, pacifying and de-escalating techniques. The use of body language to calm the unruly, the ability to establish a quick rapport with a broad spectrum of people and the differences between acting aggressive, passive and assertive will save you from more fights than your super dooper weapon of the day. Remember: Telling someone to "** off!" is not de-escalation! And a last note, with thanks to Ken Cook, who said: "I am the weapon. Everything else is accessories."

Go here: Liu He Ba Fa and Lok Hup Ain't google great!

Hi MenteReligieuse, I think you may have a misconception about the nature of Bagua Zhang. It is an internal Chinese art but it is not tai chi like nor is it slow. Bagua is very circular, with circular walking and circular techniques and the "old" stories tell of old men whirling so fast their ques stood straight out behind them. As for a northen Chinese art that is tai chi like, check out Lok Hup Ba Fa (Liu He Ba Fa) which looks like a tai chi form.

I've noticed my Shito Ryu friends do their shutos different from our Shorin-ji shutos. Their action we call a palm heel block and they don't have anything analogus to our sword hand shuto.

Uchi deshi. My sensei, O'Sensei Richard Kim was Uchi deshi to Kataro, Yoshida for four years. He claimed that what he learned more than made up for the price he was asked. Live in students should get live in training...

Here's an exercise I do - the compression really fuzzed it out but I think the pov gets thru. More cqc than traditional use! http://raisingcanes.net/Bag-Dancing.mov

...or laying over your shoulder on your pect!

Well, I live just north of Cali. on Vancouver Is. so I know exactly what you mean!!! but I like to visit Colorado (a martial arts mecca and we have land in South Park, yup, the inspiration for the cartoon) and want to get to Texas and visit my buddies.

Sure, ok, I do agree but some of those variations are imoortant. In Shotokan I was taught to make a rising block up over my head in a lifting (or, at best, a hittting up motion) and the first strike was the following counter. After I switched to O'Sensei Richard Kim's Shorin-ji karate, I learned to make the same motion but to direct it at an angle into the opponent's face so the block itself became a strike. I was a brown belt in Shotokan so I don't believe I wasn't taught anadvanced application, and in Shorn-ji I learned this as a low kyu grade (I started over). Sometimes small details are important.

47, I do like the way you think!!! On the botton, you can reach the groin and the baldder area but it gets forgotten. A right hand punch into his right bicept can charley horse him up or assit in a roll over. We do sit ups in the bottom position while we practice various strikes to the face as well as claws, rips and feeding his hands into our teeth for a bite!

Hi Double T, yes I agree - I'd probably take the first push, or even (maybe) the second, but as he came forward for more I just know I'd kick him in the groin or bladder. But that's just me and no one expects an old fart with long hair to snap a kick out, Course, no one picks on me anymore, either, just to old, And why "unfortunately" from Texas? One of the toughest fighters I know is a Kenpo guy from Texas!