DaChroniclez

dont sweat the belt. Be happy with you progress, a belt is just a belt, the real progress is in your ability. I know blue belts who are much more skilled than many brown belts i know. Learn to be satisfied by learning and gaining knowledge.

Apparently you've never taken hits from a really big guy. I have, and I've also taken hits from guys much smaller, and i can tell you, aswell as any other experienced martial artist here that being bigger doesnt mean having more power. It does effect your power, but only to a certain extent. I've sparred guys that are very skinny and tall, and can hit like a freight truck. to have lots of power you must first train technique, then train speed, and then last train strength, strength is the smallest variable in achieving great power in your attacks.

just train the kata everyday at home. Eventually it will be like a second nature to you. You wont be nervous of messing up, because you will nkow it so well.

ivette, are you trying to insinuate that my dojo produces great fighters because of the location and the population of people?? you sir, are very wrong. we have a 90% dropout rate, at our main fighters dojo (richmond) we have about 8-10 students who go regularly, so it has nothing to do with the ammount of people. It's the level of intensity in our training, and our spirit. I am not trying to boast about my dojo, but instead I'm trying to illustrate to you that this level of intensity is necessary to create great karatekas. There are much more populated cities in onrth america than vancouver (ie. LA, New York, Chicago, etc..) and they all have their fair share of Kyokushin dojos. In essence what im saying is, you get what you give. The harder you train, theb etter you will be. THe more you get hit, the more conditioned you will be. And the more you indure, the stronger you will be mentally and in your spirit. OSU!!

a belt is just a belt, i rarely judge someones skill by there belt level. For example, the best fighter lightweight in north america in kyokushin karate (judging fromt he selectiontourney for the world tournament) is only a blue belt, from my dojo (kyokushin belts: white,orange,blue yellow, green, brown, black) It's all about how one trains.

but u say we have progressed, i would put my money on bruce having much more powerful kicks than this guy ross. and i would also put my money on bruce having much more speed, and being able to kick the * out of ross. so this leads me to believe that bruce's training was developed for exactly what he was aiming for, and was very successful, more so than Ross's

that is your dojo in particular, so heres an example showing that it really depends on the dojo you train at. My dojo (sensei tats nakamura) creates some of the best fighters in north america (we just had the north american selection tourney for the weight-catagory world tourney, and we had 2 first place and 2 top 3's) and believe me when i say that the sparring is very painful. everyone goes through injuries at one point or another. and you WILL get beat up on ALOT, but this is what makes you tougher. So I believe in hard sparring in order to gain good conditioning and experience. Kihon/kata is great for technique. but if you are interested in joining kyokushin, than expect to get hurt and having to endure it. It is what develops the Kyokushin spirit which all our karateka must have. OSU!!

Francisco Filho, Andy Hug. Kancho Shokei Matsui is an incredible fighter with amazing form.

he said it DOES follow Sosai's teachings. I believe so too, although teaching methods is another story. Im quite happy with my dojos training methods, but im not so sure about all others.

imo, its way too short. Even if simply because it doesnt train you stamina and endurance enough. I believe its also not enough time for kata, kihon, and kumite either. Personally i like 1 1/2 as a minimum, the more the better.

depends what form of karate i guess. In Kyokushin we are required to be very flexible because we must be able to do mawashi geri to the head. Although most of the time we do low kicks (ie mawashi geri to the thigh) high ones are also effective, and thye have to be in your inventory, for tournaments especially.

go to youshareit.com instead, it allows 100 downloads. Could someone please re-up it?

is it possible to eat too much protein? I generally eat fairly healthy i guess. I eat a big dinner usually and prolly something like a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. Dinner usually consists of rice+some sort of meat+sometimes salad (caeser probably). I have no clue how much protein/carbs this has nor do i know how to measure it, can anyone tell me the approx values maybe? Aside from that, im now starting to drink protein shakes, im not sure WHEN i should tho and how many times a day. Does it depend on if i work out that day or not, should i still drink it if i dont work out at all that day? Going to the dojo counts as workout obviously right? Some of you guys seem knowledgable about this so you could probably answer me. I hgave whey protein at home btw. Also, is it possible to eat too much protein? Or am i just better off drinking a protein shake three times a day and loading myself with protein? ps. My aim is to gain/build muscle. I weight about 156lbs, and i first would like to turn everything into muscle (im not fat or anything just not completely hard) and then gain muscle mass. I assumed this would be the best way, any different suggestions? Eventually my aim is to get to about 180lbs or so. I mainly do the workout at my dojo and at home i do mainly calysthetics, ie. pushups, situps, crunches, squats, etc.. is that goo enough or should i start lifting weights? I have free weights at home.

I really need to get my abs in shape because right now i cant handle the hits they give me in full contact sparring at my dojo. I'm asking you what the best routine/exercises are for abs. Which is better, crunches or situps? Or other execises? What should my schedule look like? SHould i train them everyday? I'm looking for something to get my abs strong for martial arts, and be able to take hits, i'd like it to be an effective method with which i can attain results fairly quickly. Thanks PS. Does anyone know about how to strengthen my thigh muscles aswell, to be able to take low roundhouse kicks mainly? (so far all i kno is to actually get hit, is there anything else?) thanks in advance

im very satisfied with the way we train at my dojo. We work on lots of conditioning and sparring, calisthetics and kihon are there too, which i feel are VERY important. You cant just train with pads without shadow boxing/kihon, technique is the single most important and sometime you forget about it if your workin on pads and instead try to put lots of strength, same goes for when u spar. The other good thing about my dojo is i can basically go 6 days a week.

^^sorry i think you misunderstood that last quote. By saying that "the man makes the fighter" i meant that the mans determination and training methods as you stated. I didnt at all mean his talent or any natural ability. Good points tho.

^^^the key there is crosstrain. I never said muay thai didnt have insanely strong kicks (so do some other styles tho), aswell as clinches knees and elbows (which is where they really shine). But they do have weaknesses (justl ike any other style), they have no grappling, and their punching isnt too impressive either. Another fact is that like i said earlier, Muay Thai is just extremely popular today, that adds alot to the erason why many train in it. They see a good fighter using it, they train it. Its very popular at the moment. But to say that all the best fighters crosstrain in it is also not true. Filho is a good example, he's a monster with insane endurance, and he doesnt crosstrain in muay thai. Im sure there are others i just cant think clear at the moment.

muay thai fighters like to think their style is unbeatable. That is not in the least bit true tho. Their training methods are very rigorous, which is what makes many great fighters, the style itself is also good, but so are many other styles. In the new age, people tend to like styles win which you can be proficient very quickly (ie. muay thai) so thats why its so popular. But almost none of the greatest fighters in history have been from muay thai... Its just really popular these days. The man makes the fighter, not the style. Always rtemembert hat.

u get taught by your shihan??

like i said before, the methods we use in kyokushin are very rough and strength focused. Unless someone trains under these types of conditions they simply wont be able to take the power. The low roundhouse kicks we use would completely destroy a boxer. in full contact kyokushin tournaments, other karatekas who condition for these types of low roundhouses still get knocked down with a few kicks to the thigh. Now imagine a boxer who has no leg conditioning watsoever. cmon...guys one or two quick low roundhouses to the thigh would knock him down, i dont even wanna think about wat would happen if a full power kick to the knee was executed. Boxing has its limits, especially vs styles that train hardcorel ike kyokushin.

any other opinions? I talked to another friend of mine and he said i should just stick to kyokushin for now cuz ill just get confused. If i WAS to crosstrain in muay thai. What should i take from Muay Thai and wat should i keep from Kyokushin. I heard from Muay Thai practicioners that the muay thai kick is the strongest. But i heard from my friend (who is kickboxing champion of western canada) and he said that (even tho they use the muay thai kick) the kyokushin kicks are EXTREMELY powerful, he also said its amazing because the kyokushin guys will kick your head with full power even if they are right up against you. This opposes wat they learn in kickiboxing/thai boxing. What do you guys think? And i would appreciate and objective view aswell, since i do understand that most of the people in this forum probably train muay thai.

I am currently training in Kyokushin Karate at a Dojo under Tats Nakamura. I have a friend who has been training Muay Thai for quite a while and is fairly advanced in the style. I was wondering if it would be a good idea for me to train kyokushin (about 3 times a week at the dojo as it is right now) at the dojo and cross-train Muay Thai with him (maybe once a week/once every two-weeks/twice a week depending on our schedules). I figured it would benefit me because i read in another thread that kyokushin is lackin in punches (which i highly doubt, but hey i dont kno everything), knees, elbows and clinches. This is something i think i could learn from Muay Thai. What do you guys think? I am basically a newb in both styles. I think i could handle learning both, but what do you guys know from experience, would it be a good idea to crosstrain like this. In the future once im fairly proficient at these i would cross-train in a grappling art, but tahts for the future.

its actually bad to right off the bat hit hard stuff, as you said you do in your dojo. The reason for this is in the long run, your power wont be as strong as someone who started at training only Technique, then progressed to adding speed, and then progressed to adding strength. Power comes mainly from a perfect technique and executing it with speed, strength only adds to that already existing power. The single most important part is to perfect you technique and you cannot do this punching hard stuff. You have to do it shadow boxing, or "walkin up and down the dojo" as you mentioned. I'm sure you sensei must know this?!?!???

^^^OSU, i noticed you train kyokushin in B.C., did you come to the Vancouver Open last month?

^^where do you live/train?