pers

Just take a look at Bruce Lee ! he wasn't born with that ability but he build his body for combat through training in martial arts ,like Tyson did in Boxing ,Olympic wrestlers did in wrestling ,and all the karate and kungfu masters did and we as martial arts practitioners try to do . Ever seen a little karateka punch a much bigger and stronger karateka and knock him out ? he wasn't born with it ,he just trained hard to learn how to turn his hand into a weapon of combat .

If you are lucky enough to come across a good instructor in the art you are following then it is to your best advantage to stay with him for life ,all good martial arts have a life time of practice to master . it maybe good to expose yourself to how other arts train and emphasise on once you are fairly competent in your own art like a 2nd or 3rd dan in karate ,but not spending too much time going to them deeply . At some point all martial arts reach the same spot ,just ways to get there is different. Better be master of one than jack of all trades.

Sounds like a good way to develop achilles tendinitis or plantar fasciitis. The human body is not designed to exert constant force for prolonged periods of time through the tendons you're loading in the way you describe. It might be something you can get away with for a while, but chronic foot pain is almost inevitable in later life if forces are not distributed correctly. Contrary to what you have said this would not put any pressure on the tendons as when your body weight is on the ball of your feet it would your muscles supporting you. I trained that way for nearly 30 years and never had any issues. Your muscles can't support anything without loading tendons. Tendons are the tissue that connect muscles to bones. You might be one of the lucky ones that's not had issues, but that doesn't mean that nobody would get issues from excessively loading their tendons and other soft tissues and joints in ways the body wasn't designed for. If we were meant to spend all our time with our heels off the ground, we'd have evolved that way like many animals have, but we haven't. But each to their own. If it works for you, great. Did you notice I mentioned the hill is a fraction off the floor but perhaps I didn't come across very well, it's off when you are in fighting stance and in transition. Test it, roll your weigh backwards and forwards on your hills and you feel your bones feeling the pressure now do the same on the ball of your feet with knees slightly bend and you feel your muscles supporting your weight and more fluid and faster movement possible. Sorry, I think there may have been some misunderstanding on my part. I agree that in fighting stance the lead foot has no weight on the heel. In TSD this is grossly exaggerated for beginners, with the heel raised right up. This is just to get used to the weight distribution, but as we advance, the lead foot is fully down, but with all the weight on the ball of the foot. The back foot is flat but with a bent knee. Much like a cat stance as found in Chinese styles. Also I agree that when transitioning between moves or stances, the balls of the feet are used. I think my misunderstanding was I thought you were saying you hold the weight off the heels all the time, such that the heels never take any load. Thanks for clarifying ,that is more or less my point.

Sounds like a good way to develop achilles tendinitis or plantar fasciitis. The human body is not designed to exert constant force for prolonged periods of time through the tendons you're loading in the way you describe. It might be something you can get away with for a while, but chronic foot pain is almost inevitable in later life if forces are not distributed correctly. Contrary to what you have said this would not put any pressure on the tendons as when your body weight is on the ball of your feet it would your muscles supporting you. I trained that way for nearly 30 years and never had any issues. Your muscles can't support anything without loading tendons. Tendons are the tissue that connect muscles to bones. You might be one of the lucky ones that's not had issues, but that doesn't mean that nobody would get issues from excessively loading their tendons and other soft tissues and joints in ways the body wasn't designed for. If we were meant to spend all our time with our heels off the ground, we'd have evolved that way like many animals have, but we haven't. But each to their own. If it works for you, great. Did you notice I mentioned the hill is a fraction off the floor but perhaps I didn't come across very well, it's off when you are in fighting stance and in transition. Test it, roll your weigh backwards and forwards on your hills and you feel your bones feeling the pressure now do the same on the ball of your feet with knees slightly bend and you feel your muscles supporting your weight and more fluid and faster movement possible.

Sorry but JKA shotokan never turn on their hills, always on the ball of the feet.

Sounds like a good way to develop achilles tendinitis or plantar fasciitis. The human body is not designed to exert constant force for prolonged periods of time through the tendons you're loading in the way you describe. It might be something you can get away with for a while, but chronic foot pain is almost inevitable in later life if forces are not distributed correctly. Contrary to what you have said this would not put any pressure on the tendons as when your body weight is on the ball of your feet it would your muscles supporting you. I trained that way for nearly 30 years and never had any issues.

For me the best way to deliver a roundhouse is by ball of the foot . Delivered correctly it produces or delivers more power and shock to the target and safer and less chance of injury to the kicker .

your hill should never touch the floor but there must be a little space like a thin sheet of paper between the hill and the floor . Toes touching the floor and moving and twisting and turning on the ball of the foot .

I agree and was about to say the same thing. If you think you are better than your teacher then you have to question the quality of your teacher.

An expert is someone who spends about 8 hours a day ,six days a week for atleast 10 years studying an art or science or any skill you can think of from a credible source . Just turning up twice a week for 90 minutes would not make one an expert but simply a casual practitioner . A black belt or even a 5th dan with above training regime would not be an expert but for some it carries a lot of ego . I should add I am not an expert despite having trained in karate for about 29 years .

I was about to say something similar like the single biggest thing is the micky mouse instructors and organisations with flashy images ,too much ego and not much substance . By the way to the thread starter martial arts is about self defence and self defence is about martial arts ....sure you first do your best to avoid to fight and walk away but if you have to then you switch on your weapons .

As a kid we were all excited and fascinated about black belt and nearly all who started karate wanted to be a black belt. Once you get it ,it feels good around your waist but soon a feeling of responsibility emerges in the fact that the belt on its own is not gonna fight for you , you have to do it all yourself , meaning you have to keep going and training and improving . Black belt is a gauge to measure practitioners level of ability and the packing order but it also is a great motivational tool for practitioners to aim for ,when earned on merit from a credible source ,what you have learned to achieve it is more important.

You are spot on ,this drill was not so up to mark , hands are almost redundant where in reality they are an important part of executing a meaningful mawashigeri ,stance are too long and hence slowing the technique . It is about learning the most efficient way to execute the technique and how to hold your guard and move your hands to the opposite direction of the kick to release the hip into your kick thus producing more power and how to initiate your move from the ball of the supporting foot by twisting it in harmony with your hip and the kicking leg. Even in the most basic drill all these should emphasised and concentrate on to develop a good technique . If it is practiced correctly over time and effort even someone with no natural suppleness could execute a powerful mawashigeri and they don't all need to be jodan or head high to be effective.

you mentioned some great names ,Dave Hazard and Elwyn Hall ,Frank Brennan ,Terry Oneil and among the japanese Enoeda,Kanazawa ,Yahara ,Tanaka ,but there are many other great fighters you can add to the list from other countries.

Anything including karate be it shotokan or kyukoshin or else can be real or fake ,strong or weak ,depending on who is teaching it and how knowlegable they are ...

I was never very supple naturally and back in the days had to work hard to be able to kick head high , but there were students who were naturally very supple from day 1 and could easily raise their legs up and high in a kick like a roundhouse but and a big but was they could hardly hit anyone with their pretty kick or even if they did it was not that effective . There were some students specially females who could raise their leg high above their head in a warm up before the class and hold it up there with no difficulty and I used to envy them as I could never do it like they could ,but they could never really hit anyone with their kicks in kumite . but there were people who could not kick high due to their body limitation or age but they could easily hit their opponent at mid or low section and if they wanted do real damage ,so they were much more effective than someone who could kick high but lacked the ability to catch someone or made an effective impact with it . high kicks look spectacular and good for cameras and movies but in a real situation they are too risky to execute , rather kick low and learn how to deliver it to your target effectively in the rib area or lower limbs . After all in a real situation you want to end the conflict quickly and effectively rather than try and kick someone in the head with not much impact which would make your opponent more angry and if he is any good or is experienced he may catch your leg or sweep your supporting leg and take you to the floor.

I have a different opinion on this, giving training and teaching are two different things, normally a higher grade should know more or as much as the guy running the class, unless the instructor is a cut above and undisputed master of the art. There is no harm and nothing wrong to train in a class where the instructor is lower rank than you but an able sensei, you would definitely get a good workout and maybe pick up few points and tips that you may have forgotten or never came across.

As you mentioned that you are a low kyu grade you should concentrate on building a strong foundation by practicing your basic techniques ,they take a while to master . Like gaining any skill there are no short cuts ,you have to put in the time to master them and execute them well while you are doing the basics you should also get to put them into practice against a live partner , just scoring a basic chudan zuki or a front kick take a good while but it will happen with time when you put in the months and years of pratice . techniques like empi and hizageri are too dangerous to be practised in kumite by lower grades , even brown belts can be quite lethal with them as they are still in a stage of mastering control and relaxation . kumite practice varies from club to club depending on the instructors and their own knowlgede and level so we can't paint them all with the same brush . In an ideal dojo enviroemtn as someone else said there are no winners or losers but I like to add they are both winners as long as they understand they are both helping each other to imrove their technique . Even in basic or free ippon kumite where you declare what you are attacking with you attack your opponent with speed and power and try and score on him you are not only improving your own technique but helping your club mate to polish his defences and improve his technique , so no matter who wins they are both gaining . Afterall ,it is not losing a point in the dojo that matters but not losing the battle outside the dojo that matters ! My own experience we were always watched and guided and corrected in our kumite training , many times with a call of yame by sensei for a quick gather around and demontsration of a point he wanted to make with a live demo .

I only watched the shotokan clip as it is the only one I practiced in and know about , that clip is kihon ippon kumite which means basic one attack sparring . If you watch jiyu ippon kumite which is semi free one attack sparring then you should see a flowing movement similar to free fighting . bearing in mind these are training drills aimed at teaching students at different levels of their development . there is also another imporatnt element to include and that is learning strategy and tactics on how to gain adnatage to deliver in attack and in defence and it starts from kihon ippon to jiyu ippon .

Yes it does. Starting from kihon kata and hian shodan, downward block and stepping punch and then you have the three stepping punches. It's all there if you look closely and break it down.

I would have loved to meet you guys down there but distance and time prevents me. Unless you can afford to send me a business class air ticket Then I promise to be there!

this is like asking why you can't play Dire straights Romeo Juliet 's guitar part by mark Knopfler as someone with 2 months of learning the guitar ! Don't worry about kumite ,first spend your time practice the basics of movement from one place to another in different stances and how to punch and block while going forward and backwards , this should take you good few months then start thinking about how to do it against someone else and that would take a life time !

Sensei Enoeda and kanazawa were long time friends , as young black belts they used to go the Tokyo docks looking for some hands on practice ! In the 60s they came to England to teach and made a huge impact on British karate . Enoeda sensei had such great spirit and aura and went on to expand his association KUGB and produce many fine karatekas who are all great teachers themselves . I had the privilege to train under sensei Enoeda few times and I also took my kyu grades up to brown belt with otha sensei . The only time sensei Enoeda taught at a club outside of KUGB was when he taught at our club on a number of occasions ,it was indeed a great honour for us to have him teach us in our own club . The reason was sensei Dave Hazard was one of his top students and had high regards for him . on one occasion sensei Enoeda was going to teach us but had suffered from back problem injury but he still came down and sat in the class to watch us train under sensei Hazard and afterwards was so impressed by his teaching. ohta was a product of JKA instructor class so as you would imagine he was very good . I took most of my kyu gradings up to brown belt under him . It was a long time ago but I still remember his crisp techniques and gracefull movements.

Most karate students spend about 3 classes per week of about 90 minutes to 120 minutes per class ,some even less about 2 classes per week . This is a very small amount of time to try and learn skills of karate ,if you spend most of this time doing boot camp training then you will lose valuable time learning the skills of karate or any other martial arts . So why would this be considered as lack of knowledge to concentrate more on teaching karate techniques and concepts rather that getting students to do 100 push ups and seat ups etc.. ?! A good teacher can give guidelines on how to do this extra conditioning outside dojo but doing it in the valuable short time the students are in the class who have come to learn karate is wasting the time they can practice karate and do it with partner . A 5 minutes warm up and 5 minutes cool down at the end of the class and maybe a couple of minutes during the class to do some stretching and maybe some push ups is all we did during our classes ,lets not forget doing karate itself is conditioning the body as well ,kihon ,kata and kumite are all part of conditioning the body and also polishing our techniques and improving them . karate is a skill that requires many years of practice to master ,if you spend half of your dojo time doing boot camp training it will take you longer to master it but given that you will be less skillful karateka but very fit due to boot camp training but you will get beaten by a more skillful karateka who spend his dojo time concentrating on karate techniques . you know the old saying : To master any skill or art you need to spend about 10,000 hours of practice , so it easy to work out what I am talking about here.

Agreed... My sensei always told us dojo time is for karate practice. He said treat dojo class like university lecture where you are given a lecture and put it in practice and then take these ideas and practice some more in your own time. He said if you want to get fit go and join a gym! Any fitness training should be done in your own time, the ones that emphasise more in fitness training do so to compensate for their lack of knowledge in Karate.