moriniuk

For those Kempo style belts it has to be Eosin Panther. It does seem a little odd that he's asked you for a new belt.

Training in long and low stances to fight in shorter and higher stances. Practicing forms and movements slowly to fight at full speed. Performing katas against imaginary opponents to improve fighting against real people.

Jack must be around 70 years old now. I used to train at his dojo in Gorse Hill, Stretford. I only went to the Stockport dojo, which was like a concrete garage, for gradings. He came down to the Stretford dojo every couple of weeks in his white Triumph Stag. His brother, Dennis Tilley has a dojo in Denton.

I have the radio on as background music for my Muay Thai sessions. The first Muay Thai gym I ever trained at always had music playing and it's very common in gyms in Thailand. Muay Thai fights are always accompanied by music. I also have soft and gentle classical type music playing in my Tai Chi sessions which I find compliments the movements of the forms. Saying that, I think it would be a bit weird in a traditional type Karate session.

A little light hearted reply to the above. Is that why you changed styles from Shorin Ryu to Kempo? I'd prefer to practice a style where you're the last man standing after you finish the kata. Not much point in training to lose. I've never seen the finishing kata movement of collapsing in a heap, katas are usually finished with 'zanshin' or a state of awareness.

Garyu kata There's a couple of high level, chambered round kicks and one high level round kick, spinning back kick combination. Still none of the, now almost representative of the Kyokushin fighting style, straight leg, low round kicks and shin blocks. I think that it can be concluded that these techniques were not an original part of the Kyokushin style and that they have been borrowed from Muay Thai. There's nothing wrong with that, karate is always evolving. I'm just interested in the history of these techniques.

First of all the term kickboxing can cover many different formats and some people refer to Muay Thai as kickboxing. Kickboxing can be little more than an aerobic workout or it can be a professional level, full contact ring sport. In general there are no elbows, knees, low licks or clinching alowed in kickboxing. These techniques are all allowed under full Muay Thai rules. Also in Muay Thai the fights are usually accompanied by traditional background music and the fighters perform a traditional wai kru and ram muay (respect to teacher / boxing dance) before the bout. A professional Muay Thai fight is usually a slower pace than a professional kickboxing fight.

It doesn't impress me at all. I think he tried to fix a problem that didn't exist and in doing so came up with yet another 'style'.

Can you provide any links to back up those claims?

Yes, the web is a great source of information and it would be good if you (rmurray) could provide a link to information which scientifically proves that headguards prevent brain injury. Here's some information from the aba (uk) website. Head guards are discussed later but probably do not greatly affect the incidence of acute or chronic brain injury. HEAD GUARDS 1. There is currently much debate about the advisability of wearing head-guards. They are mandatory for all contests and the head-guard must be AIBA approved and bear the AIBA stamp. 2. It is very important that a boxer is given ample opportunity in training to experience the effects on vision, balance and comfort from wearing a head-guard. 3. The value of head-guards is still under scientific evaluation. Head-guards, in good condition, should reduce soft tissue bruising and cuts around the eyes and face. 4. The overall value of a head-guard in reducing brain injuries is unclear. The energy absorbing material used in the head-guard will reduce the force of the blows, whether from a punch or from striking the back of the head on the ring floor. 5. The argument against head-guards is that they allow more sub-concussive blows and may also increase acceleration in rotation because of the larger mass. I doubt very much whether 99.9% of board certified physicians know the first thing about the benefits of headguards in boxing. (Quote, rmurray) "But regular people like you read it, they believe it's true then they post it here". Could the same not be said of you? I can only reiterate that I know of somebody personally who was involved in these tests and the results were as mentioned above and in the previous links provided. So I would stand by my statement that the jury is still out.

It just seems coincidental that before 1971 there are no signs of these techniques, in Oyama's books at least. Then with the advent of Japanese Kickboxing and its Muay Thai influence these techniques appear in Kyokushin Karate. I don't know when low kicks were allowed in Kyokushin sparring rules, but I wouldn't mind betting that they weren't allowed before 1971.

However much you analyse the Kyokushin katas and the other Shotokan and Goju katas, I think you'd struggle to say that this, that or the other movement was actually a shin block or a straight leg round kick using the shin to the thigh. Chinese kickboxing that we see today is a relatively new concept that bears little resemblance to any form of 'traditional' gung fu style.

DWX said, "I guess if you don't get anything for doing it, why bother?" At the risk of stating the obvious, I'd bother to make an attempt at blocking a kick so that it doesn't score on me or knock me out, and I can return a fast counter attack whilst my opponent is in a disadvantageous position. Regarding punches, there seemed to be so many missed opportunities when the players came in close after kicking and they both just held their arms out to the side waiting for the referee to separate them. It's a shame, but there's no doubting the worldwide success of the formula and everybody seemed to be having a good time.

Exactly what Wastelander said. You've probably got a few real life 'Bobs' in the dojo that you could practice placing strikes on and self defence. They're expensive and in my opinion the money would be better spent on something else.

That Brazilian kick too. I don't know why it's called a Brazilian kick but that's a Muay Thai kick as well. I suppose that in the early days of Japanese kickboxing matches the Japanese Kyokushin people saw the Thais using these techniques and because they were so effective they've now become part and parcel of the Kyokushin syllabus.

The round kick is probably one of the most used kicks in Kyokushin sparring and particularly a low kick to the thigh. It seems to be thrown with a straightish leg and not chambered as in other karate styles. The shin is used as the striking surface instead of the instep or the ball of the foot. To block this low and sometimes middle kick the shin is used to block it. Now then. In Mas Oyama's three great works, What is, This is and Advanced Karate there is no mention of this type of kick. The kick illustrated in all of these books is thrown from the chambered position and nothing is mentioned about the thigh being a target. The shin block isn't mentioned at all in any of these books which were all published before 1971. In another book, Essential Karate published in 1978, there is one picture illustrating a shin block, and all the kicks are the same as in the other three older books. Was this kick, low target area and shin block used in Kyokushin prior to the advent of Japanese kickboxing which was influenced by Muay Thai in the late sixties and early seventies?

I'm not a Taekwondo stylist although I have dabbled in it a few years ago. I mean no disrespect from the following questions, I'm just curious. I went to watch the British Nationals Championships in Manchester, UK today. The players were wearing the electronic vests. Can somebody explain any of the following: * Why, when high scoring kicks are allowed to the head are the arms almost always held down by the sides and not in any sort of guard position? * Why, when punches to the body score, are they very rarely used. * Why does there appear to be almost no attempt made to defend against any incoming techniques other than body evasions. The emphasis appears to be to just keep attacking and hope that you score more points than your opponent in the process. Thanks.

Is it specifically the Dentonarea that you're interested in? You said preferrably Shotokan, but have then asked about a Shukokai dojo. Denton Shotokan Karate Club is in an old mill building near to Sainsburys. It's been there for years and is run by Dennis Tilley under Sensei Kato's group. It's not KUGB. Manchester's a fairly big city and it's around 20 miles across. There will be lots of Shotokan dojos and Shukokai ones too. Not many of the other big styles though.

Thanks for those links. It actually looks like I was talking sense.

I don't think that any time should be put on it. If you have the skills and the knowledge compatible with other people who are already graded to a certain level then you should be graded to the same level.

The jury's still out on whether or not wearing headguards for full contact boxing reduces the chances of brain damage. If anyone can produce any medical evidence to suggest otherwise then i'd be interested to see it. As far as I'm aware, very little scientific testing has been carried out. I do know someone that was involved in some testing that involved blood tests which highlighted the effects of any mild concussion. The results were marginally worse for those wearing headguards. Some of the reasons why are: You get hit more because of lack of vision. You get hit more because it's a bigger target. The bigger target can create a bigger torque effect. The extra weight of the head guard creates a larger moving mass which creates more brain shake. Maybe people tend to hit harder because their sparring partner has a headguard on. Yes they will prevent cuts, but how often do they occur during sparring? Yes they will keep your mouth closed to reduce any jaw injuries. The opinion is that using heavier weight gloves for sparring is a better solution. In my opinion, a lot of organisations use them so as to be seen to be doing everything in their power to make things appear to be as safe as possible. One thing that I think they're good for is in the case of a knock out or a fall, they can reduce any injuries from coming into contact with a hard floor. Regarding football and motorcycle helmets. These have a hard shell and hard padding and I think they work in a different way. They are to prevent injuries to the skull if it comes into contact with a hard surface like a road or another player's helmet.

Doesn't 'Tang' refer to the Tang Dynasty meaning China? Tang Soo Do - China Hand Way Similar to the original meaning of Karate - China Hand. Giving a style a cool sounding oriental name seems to suggest a little bit more credibility than something like Johns Smith's school of the empty hand. Just as in South East Asian countries and probably Japan and China etc they call English language schools things like Oxford, Cambridge, Westminster etc School of English. Black Dragon sounds better than Pink Dragon, but I did once train at a Thai Boxing gym in Thailand called Pink Flamingo!

Eat a well balanced and varied diet of nutritional food and do more exercise. You need to balance the energy in with the energy out. It really is that simple. Other little tips are: don't go food shopping when you're hungry use smaller plates drink plenty of water eat smaller meals more regularly throughout the day as opposed to 3 big meals. It's ok to leave something on the plate if you feel full.

This have probably been discussed a hundred times on here already but the problem with using a 'black belt' as a standard to teach is that there is no universal standard to earn a black belt. A white belt could potentially make a black belt look like a beginner. Grades obviously have their place but many people concern themselves far too much about them. I train and teach various martial arts about 3 times a week for about 2 hours each session kind of doing my own thing and dipping my toes in and out at various places. I also do some running, walking and cycling for general fitness.

I didn't mention the Ho Shin Do group because I thought they were similar to the other groups that you weren't interested in. I'm sure that they used to advertise that it was a Shotokan/ Goju mix, but looking at their website it seems to be Goju now. I may be very wrong, but I thought that the Ho Shin Do group was run along similar lines to GKR. They have a location very close to where I live in Manchester and they came knocking on my door offering discounts if I signed up for membership on the night.