isshinryu5toforever

I am well aware of the politics involved in Isshinryu. You guys each have a decade on me, but I've been around a little while. Politics aren't what I'm really interested in. I'm interested in aliveness. It's true that a lot of people want to be the next MMA star, especially after seeing what Lyoto Machida did in the UFC using Shotokan as his standup. Ryo Chonan did it in Pride years before using Kyokushin, and you can still see glimpses of Kyokushin in what GSP does. I think the biggest thing that MMA has done to help the martial arts community is that people have to take a look at training methods. I've only visited 4 or 5 Isshinryu dojo in the US, but most of them didn't have a lot of aliveness in their training. Foam dipped gear, not hitting pads, statuesque one step partners. You know, they punch, then stand there with their arm out so you can finish the technique. That's fine for introducing people to concepts, but black belts shouldn't be doing it. I've got to admit, it drives me a little crazy, especially because they bill themselves as self-defense oriented first. In honesty, I'd like to see Isshinryu organizations start putting on knockdown competitions for those that want to try out what they're learning on other people full-contact. Maybe one or two a year would be nice. That's not something in my power though, I'm a bit too young to enact that kind of change.

If you're interested in Kyokushin, go check it out. Every style has beginners no matter how brutal or effective it might seem. Think about Thai boxing. All of the best were raised in the system. They were definitely beginners when they started, and Muay Thai is considered the kind of striking arts by quite a few.

I think it was rash. He chased down someone, got them to the ground, and then got sliced open with a knife. After he chased the person away, he'd won. His property was safe. He only chased the person down out of spite. He didn't know what the person was carrying. He could have had a gun. He's lucky he's not dead. It was more stupidity than bravery.

Welcome to the forum. I've been studying Isshinryu for going on 20 years now. I wasn't alive 34 years ago haha. My main question would be one about your opinion on the state of Isshinryu Karate in the United States currently. From what I've seen there is not a lot of aliveness in most dojo. What is your opinion on that?

This has been floating around the site for a little while. It's incredible what some people believe. I think he actually believed what he was teaching though.

We know what XMA is, and we know what they're judged by, but you have to look at the audience doing the judging. I was brought up in an Okinawan system, then moved to a TKD school with a self-defense focus, and now I'm doing Kyokushin. Those are three non-flash styles. XMA competitors tend to focus a lot on the flash, so their basics suffer, especially the stances. It's hard for someone who grew up keeping their feet firmly rooted, who grips the ground with their toes out of habit, to deal with that. Someone who does Chuanfa and Shotokan is going to have an equal focus on technique. Even moreso in Shotokan than in Okinawan Karate do they look at perfection in singular technique. It's all in the audience.

If you're going to postulate that question, then what does anything mean? Breaking is meant to test focus, speed, and power. I'm sure even you've been asked to break a board or two. It means that you can break a board without hurting yourself. It's a step to being able to hit a live person without hurting yourself. Just a test really. No reason to discount someone's accomplishment just because you don't believe in it. People cut bamboo in half with swords. When are they going to need that? It's still an accomplishment in focus, technique, and not destroying a $5,000 sword. Like I said though, in that vein, what is the point of anything we do? What are our goals? If the goal is self-defense, then there are definitely faster ways to reach that goal than an East Asian martial art. If it's spiritual enlightenment of some kind, then gaining transmission at a Buddhist temple would be a better course of action than any martial arts training. If it's being a better person, well, martial arts doesn't exactly help a person stop being a jerk.

If you're practicing a Japanese Koryu martial art for the purpose of preserving the art, stopping change isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's kind of the point. It's preserving one single thing as perfectly as possible. I'd say that is historic preservation first, self defense second. That's just my opinion though, and others are welcome to pick it apart haha. Now, if you're looking for the most efficient way to learn how to defend yourself against a resisting opponent, then yes, there are much better ways and more alive drills. That's about all I can add as a non-grappler.

It won't help you to learn anything via a website. If you're a beginner, then either join a kobudo school in addition to the dojo you're at now, or wait until kobudo is introduced into your curriculum. Don't learn bad habits now via the internet that your instructor will have to work very hard to correct later. As for chucks, yeah I think they're really just there to look cool. Some people can make them work, but it's because they've trained to make them work. I think that kind of learning curve is much greater with things like nunchucku than say a staff.

The base styles of Kyokushin are Shotokan and Goju-ryu. You're going to see a lot of similarities in the basic technique, but as stated above, the training methods are different. Kyokushin has kept on steadily updating its training methods to create good fighters. Tournament sparring is done using knockdown rules. Expect a lot of conditioning, cardio and body conditioning, and hard contact during practice. Don't think that your Shotokan is going to help you though. Think of it more as starting over. While there is some crossover from one style of Karate to another, they're all unique. You need to get a feel for what the style is about, not just make the correct movements. If you want to switch, switch. Kyokushin can be very rewarding if you train hard.

For a stand up style, it really depends on what you're doing competition wise. For kata, a really heavy weight uniform made out of 16oz canvas is ideal. It gives that "snap" people are always looking for. For heavy contact sparring, a medium weight is good. It "absorbs" a little bit of the impact, kind of, and it'll soak up sweat well, which is the most important. Light weight ones just get sticky. A medium weight will also allow freedom of movement a heavy weight uniform won't. For WTF TKD, they have specially made uniforms that are high-tech fabric. They are sweat wicking, cooling, etc. They're ultra-light, but durable. They've made similar uniforms for WKF games of tag as well. If you want to post a bunch of gi reviews on BJJ gis the thread I started is here

James Bond might not die, but he's far from invincible. He's been captured quite a number of times, nearly killed in almost every movie, tortured on numerous occasions, in the books he was branded by the KGB, and 007s actually die quite often. James Bond is just a cover name for the position. That's why he says to M in Casino Royale, "I hear 00's have quite a short lifespan, so your mistake should be short lived."

It does seem kind of silly, but it's a good test of spirit and body mechanics. You have to have the spirit to hit the thing. An aluminum bat takes a whole lot of courage I'm not sure I have haha. Strike - body mechanics = possible hospital visit if the item is hard.

haha funny you should say that.. I've always wondered if any of you guys had ever attempted armbar-ing a pole or something and seeing if you could bent it. Think it was Rickson Gracie that armbarred a crash test dummy on Fight Science... A lot of old stories say that Masahiko Kimura practiced his throws on a tree. With how crazy he was about Judo, and how crazy good he was at Judo, I wouldn't doubt it.

In sport competition speed is the key, especially WKF style competitions, so yes, work on your speed, a lot. Timing is still the most important thing in any fight though, so my best advice is to spar a ton, all different body shapes and sizes. It will get you comfortable sparring anyone. Note on weight classes, they are great, they do usually minimize the height gap. That said, I found the greatest height range was in the middle weight division. You get shorter, stocky guys, and you get really tall lanky guys. Just something I found interesting.

I actually think the physical gap between elite men and elite women is less than men would like to admit. That isn't to say they should get in the ring together, but it's mostly for the same reasons Brock Lesnar should never fight Shawn Sherk.

It all depends on what kind of competition you're doing. You'll always have to adjust your tactics for your height, but that's not a big issue. It's pretty easily done. 5'6" is not super short. You need to work on timing more than just speed. Speed helps, but you can have a whole lot of speed, no timing, and get nowhere. You need to spar, a lot. You need to spar in the fashion you want to compete. I don't like the dipped foam, first one to touch, competitions, but if that's what you're looking at, then train for it. If you're training for knockdown, then you have some great examples to look at. Kenji Midori, Yuka Kobayashi, both short (Midori is a 5'6" 150 pound male, Kyobayashi is a 4'10" 95 pound female), light fighters, who used speed, technique, power, and timing to win very large competitions. Even open weight class competitions. What kind of competition are you looking for? That might help us give you some advice. Saying Karate competition means different things to different people.

We're definitely adaptive. I think the title of the article is meant simply to get people to read it. A more appropriate title would be should men and women fight each other? Still, it brings up a few topics to discuss.

That is a very provocative question, but here's a pretty evenhanded article that discusses women in MMA. http://training.sherdog.com/doctors-corner/news/105589-can-women-fight He makes it clear that he has a lot of respect for women's MMA. He's just bringing up the topic of proper precautions to protect their safety.

That would be extremely frustrating. You have no interest in politics, you're retired, and they're asking you to come back. You could be a little flattered that they want you back, and they remember you haha. But I'll echo what everyone else said. Write a carefully thought out letter explaining yourself, and they should be able to take that into consideration.

Oh, I definitely see the possibility of breaking an aluminum bat. Aluminum has a certain breaking point, especially when impacted at high speeds. Still, sounds a bit painful for me, and I do a lot of shin conditioning.

I figured you would have read about that one on kyokushin4life. The hanshi, in I think England, who was going for a bend, but ended up with a full break on an aluminum bat.

He wanted more aliveness out of his training. That makes sense, he was already a powerful striker. I love pad work. It allows you to move in a way that a bag can't. For pure power training though, sometimes it's nice to have a good ole banana bag, so you don't need a partner every single time you want to do it.

Judging by the number of posts we have regarding gi's, I would use yes, they are very important haha. I am pretty attached to a few brands. For my Okinawan Karate, Satori is the brand I like. They make made to measure gis. For WTF style Taekwondo, Mooto dobok seem to be tops these days. They've edged out Adidas in my book. For Kyokushin, Isami are definitely top quality. There's a guy who sells from Singapore as well, but I have yet to get my hands on one. That's why I started the thread on how to choose a new do-gi. I know that BJJ doesn't use that term perse, but if you have something to contribute, that would be great. Maybe we could sticky it eventually, so ALL gi/uniform related questions/comments can go there.

And in Kyokushin, breaking more stuff. Like aluminum bats.