moriniuk

When I first started Karate, Wado Ryu then Shotokan, in the early 1970's, nobody used the term. It seams to be more prevalent in Kyokushinkai and its offshoots. I've asked a couple of fluent English speaking Japanese friends (both non martial artists) to translate it and they both came up with the same - Yo! I don't use it.

Dislikes: Anywhere called xxxx's Black Belt Academy Anywhere that has classes for lil' dragons. ninjas or tigers. Or anything else preceded by lil'. Anywhere that has a 'program' that has to be 'signed up' for. Anywhere you have to pay more than a few £/$ for a grading. Anywhere they wear more than one patch on their gi. (maybe 2) Anywhere that tells you not to wash your belt. Stupid kiai's (eesaaaaaaaaaaah) Screaming out the name of the kata so that nobody can actually understand it. Extremely dramatic walk outs onto the mat for kata competition. Team kata displays.

From what I remember, the only combat based arts that have the Level 2 coaching qualification which are recognised by Sports Coach UK and the OU are Judo and Amateur Boxing.

In my opinion Yoga should be a compusory practice for everybody not just martial artists. It's fantastic.

The original belt system implemented by Carlos and Helio Gracie was that all students wore a white belt. The belt colour did not signify any skill level or fighting ability. The darker belt colour was to indicate that the person was an instructor. A student who had embarked on the professor diploma course wore a light blue belt. When they had recieved the diploma, they wore a dark blue belt. It wasn't until 1967 that they started to use the black belt. The different coloured band at the end was used to differentiate it from other martial arts. A white band was a black belt who wasn't an instructor. A red band was someone who was taking the instructor diploma course. A red band with white borders was someone who had passed the instructor diploma course.

I'm with the 1st two replies. Never heard of a kyu grade asking a dan grade to spar being a 'no-no' before. Always best to try to spar with people who are better than yourself in order to improve. Sounds like an inappropriate response from the dan grade to me.

If you're going to be situated in a local sports centre, there's going to be plenty of people passing through. This is going to be your best source for potential students. Firsly, put up an advert on the centre's noticeboard. Does the centre have a website with details of activites? Make sure you're on it. Contrary to popular belief, I don't think that having a website or a facebook page is massively important, but a facebook page is easy and free so you may as well have one. There are lots of free website companies out there and it's not too difficult to do that yourself. I think you'll get more response from local adverts in shop windows etc. I've got a listing on the 'School of Everything' website and I've had quite a good response from that. There's a chance that you and your friend could be training by yourselves to begin with and this never looks good to interested passers by. Could you get other students from your other dojo to boost the numbers for a few weeks until you get your own new students? Best of luck. Where abouts are you situated. I'm in Manchester myself.

I've never had a belt presented to me. I've either had to go out and buy one or had one passed town from another student.

I'm currently practicing the Gracie Combatives course at a Gracie Centre. Their instructional dvds are amazingly good (the best I've ever seen) and I've seen evidence of people who have learnt using these alone and have excellent skills. An equally dedicated training partner is essential though.

I've reached a point where Karate wise, I just practice Karate.

Bruce Lee and the Kung Fu TV series.

I mainly teach Muay Thai but I'm a long term karateka. I'm so pleased that some people have said that you should spar from day 1. Best for beginners to spar with experienced partners though.

The 1st and 3rd say 'Muay Thai" which translates as Thai Boxing. The second one says, 'chu jai rin' which is probably somebody's name.

From the severity of the strikes from the guy with the shorts, I'd say that this was a challenge match. I'd also guess that the guy in the white pants was a grappler who had no experience against a striker. He seemed to have no idea of defence at all, but also didn't seem keen to close the distance. Weird.

I've only ever heard of 'mon' grades being used in Judo. They're only for juniors and each mon grade further breaks down the kyu grades into 3 parts. 1 kyu = 3 mon Each mon is signified with another stripe on the belt.

Can you explain your interpretation of the 'Dutch kick' and the 'cut kick' please. I'll guess that the Dutch kick is a low round kick to the outside of the thigh because the Dutch used to nearly always thow a jab - cross - low round kick combination. A cut kick or 'tay tad' in Thai is a kick that arrives at the target area, either low or middle level, in a horizontal direction as opposed to a 'tay chiang' or swing kick which travels upwards at a 45 degree angle into the ribs.

White Yellow Green Blue Brown Black

Exactly what he ^ said.

1. The pads look very similar in design to other Thai pads, so I doubt that the problem is that they suck. 2. I've seen some very small Thai trainers hold pads for some big foreigners with powerful kicks. I would think that the problem is with the pad holder's technique. Have a look at how the Thai trainers do it on some You tube clips. 3. I'd recommend pads made by any of the Thai manufacturers. My favorites are Thaismai. 4. I've never had a problem.

I started martial arts training a long time ago and at that time drinking during a training session never happened. It just wasn't something that people did or even thought about. Nowadays people seem to have to walk around with a bottle in their hand all the time. Obviously it's good to keep hydrated, but I think too much is made of it. As a trainer I offer regular water drinking oportunities during a session when there is a natural break in the routine. To be given a punishment for asking to have a drink is, in my opinion ridiculous. But, on the other hand, a student should be aware that there is a natural break coming up soon when they will have the oportunity to have a drink and shouldn't need to ask.

Not my cup of tea at all. I can't help but be impressed with the synchronisation, and I'm sure they've spent hours practicing and rehearsing the demo. But I don't see how synchronising katas in any way improved your karate, and the time would be better spent doing something else in my opinion. As sensei Harada of the Karate Do Shotokai said to me once, "karate shouldn't be a beauty competition".

This is from my website A Brief History of Kickboxing "Japanese Kickboxing" was originally developed by Japanese boxing promoter, Osamu Noguchi, who combined techniques from Muay Thai, Judo and Karate to form the hybrid martial art in the early 1960's. Traditional oriental martial arts were becoming popular in the USA in the late 1960's but the competitors were becoming increasingly frustrated with the rules which didn't allow contact to be made. They were looking for something a little more realistic. "American Kickboxing" was born in 1970 and re-born in 1974 as Full-Contact Karate. Fighters wore "Saf-T-Punch" and "Saf-T-Kick" protection on the hands and feet and the techniques were more akin to traditional Karate than modern Kickboxing. Nowadays western style boxing gloves are worn but the foot protectors are still the same. The hand techniques used are now the same as western boxing with the addition of a few strikes such as the backfist strike. Members of the traditional Karate community were unhappy with the use of the word Karate being used as they felt that it degraded the art. They wanted the sport to be known as "Kickboxing". However, at the time, the sport could only be sold to TV companies because of the popularity of Karate. "Kickboxing" was associated with the more brutal Muay Thai and Japanese Kickboxing and seen as being too violent, so there was a push for the sport to be known as "Full-Contact Karate". It wasn't until the 1980's that the term "Kickboxing" started to be used instead of "Full-Contact Karate". The first time Full-Contact Karate contests were held in the UK was in early 1976. Western kickboxing definately doesn't come directly from Muay Thai because Muay Thai arrived in the west after kickboxing. Like it says above, both American and western kickboxing came from Karate both Japanese and Korean versions. I think that only Muay Thai allows elbow strikes, some styles allow low kicks and this is sometimes known as 'oriental rules'. Competition kickboxing is also known as 'full contact'.

When I first started Karate the first two grades were white belt with one red stripe followed by white belt with two red stripes. Before your first grading you wore a red belt. It later changed to white belt for new starters followed by red belt followed by orange belt. I can only think that the introduction of the colours was to make it look like you'd achieved something.

Yes, good article. Perhaps reading this should be part of the 'syllabus' for the 1st grade.

I am also a Christian...Prayer is meditation! I suppose it could be seen as that. You're focusing your mind solely on the task in hand. In the same vain, walking, making a cup of tea or cooking food can be performed as meditation. Praying is really no different to chanting a mantra.