isshinryu5toforever

Bushidio, I think that's great advice, because people often forget how truly organized large associations are, but I think his main problem with checking to see where schools are by associaton, is that he can't be sure where he'll end up. The military can toss him around. Lots of people request places like Japan and Hawaii, but end up in California, Texas, Germany, etc. I think, and this is just me, that if you don't know where life will take you, it's better to go to the best school you possibly can, and learn. You can always prove yourself later, if you come to a school of the same style. Most instructors are more than willing to let you prove your worth. Not your arrogance (knocking people out), but how valuble you can be to their school (teaching).

Depending on the person who has dedicated their life to martial arts, politics can mean everything or nothing. Sounds kind of ridiculous, but it's true. As of August 27th, I'll have spent by 18th year actively doing Karate on a nearly daily basis. That's all but 5 years and 7 months of my life. And honestly, associations don't mean a thing to me. I have never belonged to one, and I don't plan on belonging to one in the near future. In Taekwondo, I am in an association, but because you basically have to be to compete. Seeing as how I'm almost positive I've finished competing, I no longer worry about that either. So yeah, just start with a school, see how much you like it, and if you never get bored, keep doing it.

If you have to choose between only Aikido and only Shotokan, and both schools look like they're good schools, then go with the one you want to do more. Aikido is mainly about joint locking, small circle and large circle theory, and using the other person's momentum. It takes a long time to get proficient to the point that you can apply it in most situations. Shotokan, you said you took as a kid, so you know what that's all about. Like I said, don't worry too much about associations, because knowledge doesn't go away. You can't just walk into an association as a 4th degree black belt and expect them to say, "OK, come teach our students!" but if you apply to their association, they may test you, and if you show the necessary skill and knowledge, they will let you retain your ranking. So like I said, don't worry about that so much. Figure out if the martial arts you will learn are good, then worry about associations. I would rather learn from a non-affiliated instructor who is very good and solid as a martial artist (which I did growing up, and still do), than learn from a full ranked associate who isn't a very good teacher.

Checking out the schools first is a great idea. Worry about associations and politics later. It's understandable that you want your rank to transfer, but knowledge tends to speak for itself. Think about what you want more as well. Do you like striking? Do you like grappling? Do you want hard contact training, do you want lighter contact? etc. The only things I know about England are that they have a lot of Shotokan and a lot of Kyokushin. Kyokushin is full-contact bare knuckle knockdown. Shotokan is one of the most wide spread styles of Karate.

The beach ball idea is great. Thanks!

To work on true flexibility, you should be doing dynamic stretches rather than static ones. Static stretches, if you're not sure what they are, are the ones you learn in gym glass. You put a leg out, reach to your toes, hold it, etc. Dynamic stretches are movement based that will allow your muscles to stretch in a natural manner, and lengthen on their own. This link has a pretty good definition of dynamic stretching: http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/dynamicstretching.html As far as strength is concerned, tallgeese is right, you need to work on your core strength a lot to be able to hold kicks out like that. A drill I make students do is to break down the 4 steps in every kick. Bringing the knee up into the chamber, the extension of the kick, the retraction of the kick back into the chamber position, and setting your foot down. By breaking down the parts, I can make them hold in any single position for 10-15 seconds depending on the skill of the class as a whole. This forces them to engage those muscles. At first, you might only be able to hold a kick at full extension for a few seconds, but with time and dedication, you can hold it out for much longer. It all really takes time, dedication, and hard work. Just like everything else in the martial arts world.

Haha, I love fighting games. I just bought Street Fighter IV for the PS3, and it's a beautiful game. It has gotten less realistic over the years, but it's definitely become something you must have a solid strategy for. Framerate has become important, as has cancelling, etc. All the tweeks, and little things in the game matter now. Anyways, I want to touch on a game you missed. I can't remember the exact title, but the early UFC games, maybe the second one, had a great controller layout. It wasn't as intuitive as the simpler fighting games people were used to, so a lot of critics killed it. Here's the deal though, you controlled the fighters kicks and punches with the buttons, but if memory serves you controlled their arms individually with the analog sticks once you were in the clinch or on the ground. This was genius, because it meant you could to things like Kimura locks, armbars, GNP if you could manouver into a sidemount or full mount. It was pretty cool once you really figured out the control system, because you could actually pull off the locks and control moves. You could also end the fight with one of these if it was in deep, no matter how much life your opponent had left. Makes a lot of sense. It was actually pretty realistic. I'll also mention Taekwondo World Champion, which I've really just heard things about, but I haven't been able to play much, because I have a Mac. It allows you to make a fighter, and take them from small tournaments to international competition, and customize their favored techniques based on practice and repetition. They use actual Taekwondo techniques, try to get the results to be as accurate as possible, and there are high risk high reward knockout techniques like the spinning hook kick in the game. As far as Jet Li's game, it was ok, but the coolest stuff was in the cut scenes. It was stuff you couldn't do in game. They did do a lot though. You could pick up most things as weapons, including roasted chickens in the kitchen. The battle system though was really interesting. The right analog stick controlled everything. On the PS2 the R1 button was block. He would parry until his stamina ran out, then he would start getting hit. What took a lot of tactics was the fact that you're getting attacked by between 2 and 20 people at the same time. You had to use spaces, limit their movement, take one at a time, and try not to get surrounded. You also had to know when to run, fight, pick away at one or two people, and then take care of the rest quickly. Basically, it was like playing through a Jet Li movie. Not realistic, but still pretty cool haha.

I think it's a little bit of basic muscle memory and thinking about things. I'd say, you'd like to commit things like kata to muscle memory to such a point that you can do them without thinking about them, and without getting nervous doing them no matter who you're doing them in front of. That's the thinking about it part. You have to mentally put yourself in a different place. Don't worry about the who you're doing things in front of. You can only worry about yourself. When you start thinking about who is watching you, what you're really thinking about is what they're thinking about. You're not worried about what's going on in your mind, you're worrying about what's going on in their mind. That's what messes you up. You stop concentrating. So, it is to an extent, about concentration, but it's less about blocking things out, and more about just worrying about yourself. The muscle memory part is also important though. For example, during my black belt test, I was required to perform half my katas while having a discussion with my sensei. He picked any random kata he felt like choosing, and I had to talk to him while I performed it. It was an interesting task. Luckily, I didn't falter, but I think that's only because I didn't worry about what he thought about my performance, I simply performed. I guess that's the point you really need to get to. You need to be confident that you are doing the best you can period. Then, the nervousness kind of goes away.

I barbequed with a bunch of friends. Hamburgers and hot dogs can be hard to get in Korea. We ended up having a good time, and going out when the sun went down. So, 4th of July was pretty good.

I may be wrong, because I don't practice Chinese martial arts, but I'd probably place my bets on Wushu if you want something acrobatic. And since you're new, I know this isn't my job, but why don't you post an introduction in the Introductions section of the forum? In any case, nice to meet you. I hope you find whatever you need on the forum, and maybe someone who is much more experienced than myself with the Chinese martial arts can help you a lot more.

I don't think Ki or Chi is just a mystical explanation for something that looks impossible. I think it is the explanation for proper body mechanics, physics, and intent. If you start to look at Chinese medicine, they got a lot of things right. They explain it in mystical terms, because they mixed medicine and philosophy, but there are certain bridges between Chinese medicine and Western medicine. One quick example being the Chinese medicine theory that the essence of life resides in your kidneys, so kidney health is key to a long life. In the west, they're finding that there is a chemical that exists in your kidneys that resides in your brain. As you grow older, the traces of that chemical in the brain dissipate. They can be maintained with deep breathing exercises, which are a big part of Chinese martial arts. This isn't to say that all Chinese medicine is right. Some of it is just downright ridiculous, but there is some stuff that's very legitimate. Ok, now for a further explanation on the Ki thing. Ki is supposedly your body's natural energy. The way you harness this energy is through very specific movement. You need proper body mechanics and intent to create the physics necessary to perform things like the one inch punch. To use your "ki" is really to fully exhibit the kinetic energy that your body contains. In things like the one-inch punch, you use your body's energy (not mystical energy) to break an object that seems unbreakable with a strike from such a distance. When you look at the way ki is balanced, it aligns itself with the body's natural pivot points, including the center-line of your body itself. Your "ki center" is really your center of gravity (right around your navel), and this is where all energy comes from. That really is where you generate all the energy for your strikes. I think when we talk about ki, we are talking about body mechanics just using different terminology. The people that talk about no touch knockouts or moving people with extensions of their ki are full of crap. I think that's the problem we all run into when we have a discussion on ki energy. You have too many people out there running around using the power of suggestion to get people to basically fall asleep. If you look at ki as simply a different term for body mechanics, I think it makes it easier to reconcile the past with the present and the spiritual with the actual.

My sensei, of course. Jet Li: I met him, and he seems like a wonderful person. He was very friendly and willing to take time to talk. Pretty down to earth. Park Dong Geun: He was the all-Korea champion in Taekwondo for like 7 years in the 1960s, became the first coach of the US Olympic Taekwondo Team in 1988, and is probably the sole reason why I found an interest in Taekwondo while I was at university. He's a very intelligent, thoughtful man who would do anything for his students, but would tear you in half if you attacked him. I spent a lot of time hearing stories about him from my coach, and of course, met him a few times.

I think we actually had the what is a black belt discussion not too long ago. It might be pretty easy to find. If not, the basic rundown was, yes, it is strange to see kids running around with black belts, but black belt means different things to different people. Also, I think we all must admit to ourselves that people have to make a living now a days. It's both a blessing and a curse that children are often the most interested in martial arts. It's a struggle to keep their interest while maintaining the integrity of their martial art. Also, children are people, and not all children are equal when it comes to physical prowess and mental capacity. I've noticed in Korea that black belt means absolutely nothing. Kids get them all the time. It only requires a few years of commitment. Once you start getting into 3rd dan, 4th dan, and above, that's when they start to really respect you.

I think you're exactly right, students shouldn't fear their instructor. Too many people confuse fear for respect. Instructors need to walk a fine line between the two.

I know journalists write to their intended audience, but I think most people out there know that something called Taekwondo exists. Also, it is pretty easy to use the words "martial arts" instead of using Karate. Had the line read, "The most popular martial arts in the country are from Korea." then there's no problem. Martial arts come from all over the world. We tend to forget the western ones, but that's another post. I don't expect a journalist to write me a dissertation on the difference between Okinawan Karate and Taekwondo, but I do think it's easy to use an accurate, but still widely known, word rather than a widely known, but completely inaccurate one. In this case, using the word martial arts rather than Karate would have taken little more than a half second more to type, but would have changed the tone of the entire sentence, and created a sentence that is far more acceptable and accurate. Also, as far as differences between Karate and Taekwondo, there may not be many when you boil them down to what they practice, striking, but the spiritual gulf between the two is gigantic, and if you want to go that route, then we'd be lumping Muay Thai, Savate, and other striking arts from around the world into the term "karate." I don't think we'd ever call something Thai Karate or French Karate. People are allowed to get away with it when it comes to East Asian martial arts because of the proximity of the countries involved, their common ancestry, and their cultural and financial links to one another historically. Another point here is that the kind of ignorance shown by calling something from Korea, Karate, or telling Korean people to show up in Kimonos for a casting call (the casting director for the movie the Avatar said this one), is that it extends into every day life. It says that it's ok to mix and match the customs, the people, the cultures. It's not directly stated, but this is why language is so important. The words you use indirectly show your attitude toward the world, diversity included in that.

Where in Wisconsin is your school? And how long has it been around? I grew up in the northwest, near Lake Superior. I go back now and again on vacation. Oh, and for everyone talking about using the word ryu, while it does have more Japanese connotations than Korean, ryu, as a word, means way, type, or style in Korean as well. Just like do means way or road in both Korean and Japanese. They share a few linguistic similarities due to their use of Chinese characters.

This is a bit of a rant coupled with a question. Sorry, but it's going to be a bit long. I read a news article about a Karate tournament in Pennsylvania. In the news article, the journalist said that the most popular forms of Karate in the United States are Korean. This struck a nerve with me. I know in the 1960s and 70s, everything was Karate or Kung Fu, maybe Judo (sorry I wasn't alive then, you can correct me if you were). When Bruce Lee was at his peak popularity, EVERYTHING was Kung Fu. When the Karate Kid became a hit in the 1980s, everything became Karate. It didn't matter where it was from. Then the 90s hit, and people became more aware that things existed outside the realm of just simple Karate and Kung Fu. Then the 2000 Sydney Olympics rolled around, and a new sport, Taekwondo, was introduced. This sport was announced as a decidedly Korean sport. Taekwondo wasn't Karate, it was its own martial art, under its own banner, finally. Not to mention the birth of MMA into the public eye with the UFC. People are more aware that there are things like BJJ and Muay Thai. They're more familiar with the language of martial arts. Now, in university, I was taught that language matters. It matters a lot, because it governs the way we exist, the way we interact with one another. It governs our ideas of civility, morality, and the way society should be run. This is why his labeling of all Korean martial arts as simply Karate bothered me. He is basically saying that all martial arts are the same. We all know that while all martial arts do share similarities, grappling, striking, etc., they are not all one in the same. I have had a lot to reconcile as a person and a martial artist. I was adopted from Korea, raised by a white family in Wisconsin, grew up doing Karate (still do it, 18 years in August), got my dan certification through the kukkiwon as a university student at NYU, and am now living in Korea (trust me, I thought I'd have a martial arts identity crisis for a while). That's why all these distinctions of language become important, to me. Me being the key word in that sentence. My question to all of you is, how important do you find the distinction between martial arts? Do you care about the semantics involved (we've all had someone see us in uniform, make a sound like he's trying to be Bruce Lee, and say something about some Kung Fu man)? So, what do you think, and why?

I think it's great that they dug up before pictures of the guy on facebook.

Some of you guys have a lot of gear. I have: one taekwondo dobok taekwondo shoes 3 karate gi 3 black belts (taekwondo, karate, my original size 3 that no longer fits) one full set of Olympic style taekwondo equipment 2 kicking paddles 3 pairs of sai, with a fourth on the wishlist 3 bos (two oak and one custom, exotic purpleheart lots of $$, but worth it) 1 jo 1 pair of escrima sticks 1 set of point fighting gear that's been used twice (we practice knockdown) and of course cloth pads, hands and shin/instep that might be it

That description definitely sounds like a round kick.

I would say, for you, figure out what people do to consistently close the gap, and figure out how to defend against it. Also, work on straight jabs and faster kicks. With your length and reach advantage on shorter fighters, you can be a handful if you learn how to manage your distance and theirs. I guess that would be my main advice to you. Figure out your exact kicking and punching distances. This is a lot harder than it sounds, and it's important for all fighters, but if you want to take real advantage of your size, that's the number one thing you should work on. Next would be working on flexibility and power, so you can make your effective kicking range larger. You can improve both your maximum and minimum kicking range over time. As a short, but bulkier fighter, 5'8" (173 cm) 183 pounds (83 kgish), I either crash, hide behind my hands, put a knee up and move in, or I actually use your distance and wait on you. If I crash, I use leg kicks if they're legal, and upward punches just below the ribcage. I also learned a lot of tai sabaki movements (movements that are designed to take advantage of angles of attack and defense), because I was always such a small fighter from when I started Karate to about the age of 15, so I try to stay close, but move in very specific ways a lot. Smaller fighters will usually work on speed, and they will try to read the hips and shoulders of their opponents more if they are knockdown fighters. Really, there are tons of things smaller fighters can do. It all depends on their size, relative strength, and speed. It would seem that there are many, many methods for smaller people, because many Easter martial artists were smaller men. Bigger guys have to figure out what works for them more often than not.

There are a couple different kinds. I don't know if this is the one the OP was talking about, but my favorite one is the horseshoe based tekko. http://www.okinawanweapons.com/tekko.html

To borrow more from Musashi, he also makes reference to the way a flower blooms. The bult being the student, the flower being technique. People are by nature impatient creatures, seeking immediate gratification. In this way, they try to make their flower bloom to early. You have to have enough knowledge of yourself to know when your flower is ready to bloom. Therefore the technique is really a result of a student who knows himself. Because you change, and thus your idea of who you are changes, you get to know yourself many times over. Therefore, your technique will also change. Learning a technique never comes to an end, so technique itself cannot be an end.

The required kata are: Seisan Seiuchin Naihanchi Wansu Chinto Kusanku Sunsu Sanchin (this would be the, you get beat with a stick kata that Joesteph referred to) Weapons: Tokomeni no Kun Urashi-Bo Shi Shi no kun Kusanku Sai Chatan Yara no Sai Hama Higa no Tuifa and Kyan Sai are not part of everyone's curriculum. Now, you can learn the motions in 32 hours, but there's not way you'd be good enough to pass a black belt test. Everyone has different standards, but even if you only need to learn the 8 empty hand katas to advance to shodan, I just don't see how it's possible in 32 lessons. This is my 18th year as a student of Isshinryu Karate, and I've never seen anyone get their black belt in less than 5 years, unless they were studying at a McDojo.

Haha, yeah Bowswer is definitely a poor father. I'm surprised the guy from Tekken wasn't rated higher. Not everyone makes a deal with the devil to come back and try to kill their kid.