Chado

heh heh, I do torite jutsu...which is pressure point application / body mechanics / and a whole ton of other things https://www.dragonsociety.com if you want to check it out...they have a forum on there but the discussion is VERY serious I dont usually get to involved in it. Anime is great (I watch quite a bit actually) and sometimes I find it neat when they exaggerate martial arts techniques to obsurd levels (Tenjou Tenge...his 'dragon coming out' if you are familiar with that show you will know what I mean). Anyway I guess he was just curious, someone asked if it was possible to stop someones heart, or do a one strike kill by utilizing pressure points / meridians and elements of energy...basically my sensei said that that was a load of crap. But since its possible to affect someones heart, even mildly, by knowing someone has a heart condition you could put unnecessary strain on their heart and reduce the length of there life...but not kill them instantly. Anyway I guess your friend was just shooting the breeze and wasn't trying to backup any sort of arguement =) Chado

Ok I only read the first few pages of posts and the last page...I'll contribute anyway... My 'main' sensei (I train with his sensei's a few times a year) is 27, ni-dan in the JKF and the POGKF and in some other organizations which he no longer represents...is currently trying to rank in the WKF for kata (WKA as well actually this saturday is the qualifier) and can do well over 60 pushups a minute...He is also a certified fitness/nutritionalist (I'm not sure of the correct 'term' for that). My kendo sensei is 72 years old, not sure of his exact Dan rank (never told me I feel rude asking as I'm somewhat of a 'new' kendoka) and does play kendo with his students...but isn't in nearly the same condition as my karate sensei. He does have an impressive career and still competes in the masters divisions at tournaments occassionaly. Now, would I personally like to train with a sensei for karate that is a 'wise sage type'? No, becasue that's not why I go to karate...I prefer someone who likes to train with us (he will get down and go face to face with you doing pushups, he spars with us...it's great). Is this what everyone wants? I'm not everyone so I have no clue. But I wouldn't want an overweight sensei standing there holding his arm out telling me where a sidekick should be...I prefer to have a sidekick done and stopped .5" from my face as a demonstration Oh and one other thing someone said as a joke 'anyone with a gi size of over 6 shouldn't be allowed to train' I thought that was funny since I'm 6'2 165> and where a size 6-6.5 gi lol. Anyway that's my $0.03 Chado

I'm curious to know what your friend, after his many years of Tae Kwon Do, has to say about a deadliest move? Did he give you some example to start this line of questioning? Or does he have a philosophy similar to mine and swdw's...and is just testing you with these sorts of questions Chado

Ahh! Thank you for the clarification. Actually the 'torite-jutsu' I have listed as one of my styles is in part a style that does adaptations of techniques to different situations. I agree 150% with what you are saying. We always say 'a block is a punch is a throw is a submission' because it can really be anything depending on the situation. As you said there is no '1 right answer' for each situation, it depends on factors such as the individuals (size/skill/weight/how good they are feeling that day...maybe someone had a bad nights rest?) to the enviroment to everything else. So in conclusion...I agree 150% Chado

So you're basically going with 'its not the technique but the practitioner'? That's pretty much what I was saying but I just 'thought out loud' for a minute so to speak. Even if someone knows 100000 techniques that doesn't make them as good as the guy who knows 5 techniques and can execute them in his sleep... Anyway that's my thoughts. Chado

Not sure where your from and what not...here you have to goto a provincial qualifer (which I am going to on Saturday) and if you place top 3 in your division you move on to the Canadian Nationals (in quebec) and if you place top 3 there you are part of the canadian national team and get to go to the worlds in Niagara Falls (where I used to live...about an hour and a half from where I am now) and compete at Casino Niagara in november as you said. Unless your a ranked competitor as it is and you just got invited? I'm not so I dont know about those sorts of things...but I'm hoping to do well on Saturday. I have a post in the Karate forum asking if anyone has been to one of these before as well...the rules are a bit different then I am used to. So if I dont do well I wont be to upset because it will be a good experience for me anyway. Hope someone else contributes in here, I'd like to know more about what kind of event this is...I usually have a lot of fun at tournaments, and hopefully this will be the same...but the rules are written pretty loosely so if someone isn't a good sport the possibility of getting hurt seems to be much greater then what I'm used to. Oh well I'll post back after the qualifier on Saturday if no one else contributes. Chado

To watch: Suparinpei To perform: Sanchin

Has anyone competed in a World Karate Association tournament before? This Saturday marks my first time...I'm a little nervous since this is at a different level then I am used to. I place rather well in the 'normal' goju tournaments (point sparring). This is point sparring to, similar to WKF rules but 'contact may be heavy as long as its controlled' and 'contact must be made to score point' and finally 'disqualification is unlikely unless poor sportsmanship is demonstrated'. Anyway I was just wondering if anyone had been involved in this before...is it good clean fun usually? Or is it a bit of a blood bath? I guess I'll find out Saturday but I like to know what I am headed into Thanks, Chado ****NOTE**** Perhaps I should of put this in the sport forum? If so feel free to move it...

I think this has a lot to do with the individual executing the move. How strong is your open hand? Can you use a nikah-tei (sp?) to pierce through the body? A strike to the neck would work as you said...any way it's done...If your hand is conditioned for it though I would say open hand between the ribs perhaps? I don't know...discussing this may get some people thinking others are a tad brutal Perhaps I'll give up on this for now and see if anyone else says anything...

Use a product called OXYCLEAN. You can get it at the grocery store...that's what everyone at my dojo uses. If you have patience and soak stuff it can get almost anything out...myself I tend to just throw it in with my laundry and it gets most stuff out but some of the sweat stains need to be soaked to get out. My sensei just got back from texas where he was training on red/blue mat's and doing WKF style sparring (with take downs)...he said his brand new KIME gi is now all blue/red heh. So he soaked it with oxyclean and it came out. Chado

That was a good post. I agree with everything you said

My sensei' didn't really give me an answer that I found satisfactory when I asked him about our origin of our weapons. He said he got rid of the Don Warner moves and brought it inline with 'traditional okinawan styles' like chito-ryu or something he said...but his sensei was telling he didn't like that he taught weapons in goju class...oh well I like the experience w ith a variety of things, for me doing weapons is more of a fun 'extra' thing then anything else...my focus is on my sparring and my core goju kata's. Chado

Why dont they work??? Everyone just says 'it sucks'. Why?? Do they break easy? Is it the machine not functioning as described? What kind of machine are you talking about at the gym? The ones he seems to be looking at are high end ones...the versaflex has that wheel you turn and it has the degree indicator. I want more information then 'they suck dont get one' before I decide to spend or not to spend a few hundred dollars (and I'm assuming azzzy is thinking the same thing ... with the exception that he already has experience with them!) And azzzy: That sounds pretty funny...going through the wall NICE. Was there alot of people on hand to witness this? Like I said my friend James was the only one there but he didn't stop laughing for 5 mins (2 of those mins he was pointing and laughing as I was swinging from the ceiling...)

If it's worth it to me I'll road trip wherever I guess. I have a friend who loves weekend road trips and we both do alot of cycling...so it would be a dual purpose trip for me and for him he would be into cycling at a new destination (never been to montana!) But the bottom line (for me anyway) is it would have to be worth the expense...I can talk to you guys fine on here...but if there was going to be some training involved...I'd love to see some other styles, etc; But not to be rude...I dont want to drive a few thousand miles to hang out with a bunch of white belts and chit chat So I'll monitor this thread and if it goes somewhere interesting I might be up for making it happen...I guess I'm also saying I'd be more interested if there were 15-20+ people interested in going, I dont want to be the only fool driving cross country I just mapquested my route from my house to kalispell MT ... here is the result Total Est. Time: 33 hours, 43 minutes Total Est. Distance: 2189.54 miles So it's a bit of a hike...would end up being a bit of a pain for me (like I said weekend road trips are great...week road trips aren't they use vacation time that makes it tough to setup with more than just myself) but if something is happening I'll play it by ear

One of the Japanese sensei's that come down to Texas each year (my sensei just got back from training with them) is 83 I believe...and he can do cold splits lol. Well back to the point at hand...I dont hear anyone giving any reasons why not to use these machines...someone must buy them! I was looking at one for myself as well, I play DDR (laugh if you want) to warm myself up before doing anything at home...I figured I'd play DDR for 10-20 minutes till I was soaked in sweat and warmed up and then get on the leg stretching machine...do some stretches....get back up and do kata get back down etc; The thing for me is monitoring progress, I like how the machines go in degrees so you can see how far along your coming...when I just slide down into my 'almost splits' I have trouble keeping track if I'm getting farther down...staying the same...or getting worse lol. So please...someone must own one of these? On a side note we have the pulley kind at the dojo...I embarrassed myself using that the other day... I was pulling myself up in a side kick type position but then i lost my balance...and to get it back I pulled on the rope (are you seeing where I'm going with this)? I ended up upside down hung by my one foot in the middle of the dojo...fortunatly it was just me and my good friend practicing at that time...but now that I've shared this with the world I suppose that's irrelevant...sorry there is no picture of this event LOL.

That is funny. Pink. heh.

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. In your profile you have 3 styles listed...but you stated you are a minor...so how long have you been training for and do you compete regularly? Why do you want to have an official tournament...can't you find one someone else is holding? Around here there are plenty of tournaments of different calibers all year long except between end of nov. and begining of march (maybe the odd one but its pretty dead because of the weather I think lol). Anyway you avoided the age question someone else posted...so I'm just wondering (no offence) but is this just a bunch of kids looking to wack each other? :?

Nope not a christian. More of a Taoist I think than anything...I think different things have different names...so what one person calls 'spirit' another might call 'soul' and yet another might just call 'ones center'. It all means the same to me, with martial arts (mainly kata I am referring to at this point) I am able to reduce my stress level and have a better quality of life Anyway...I guess I covered the bottom line in my first sentence... Chado

If you are going to get everything you want from it then go for it. It's better to do that then go to "Bobs Dojo" around the corner and not get what you want out of it!

I know he didn't, like I said my sensei originally was doing Don Warner Kobudo...but then he changed it. Unfortunatly I never asked where he got the changes from, I learn my weapons kata's for tournament and for grading only...they are fun but I spend 95% of my time training empty hand at karate. Kendo is wear I do most of my weapons training I will get where he got the weapons changes tomorrow though. I can trace out lineage for goju-ryu karate to miyagi, I'm somewhere around 5th or 6th generation...but weapons...I have no clue at this point...I'll update tomorrow night. But how about your goju? Is it Don Warner goju?

lol, i think you have tunnel vision for, anti-tunnel vision. ha ha ha kara =)

That makes perfect sense...I don't know about you but in a street fight I wouldn't even be thinking along the same lines as in sparring. My favorite sparring 'technique' is fake jab - reverse punch...I'm not saying I wouldn't ever use that, but I'm more likely to use knees, elbows and maybe some open hand strikes to soft areas...I guess it just depends on the level of seriousness of the fight. I was thinking through it and even with me and my friend James sparring full contact we are still aiming for areas that aren't going to permanently damage each other, we would never kick each other in the knees...or purposely strike each other in the throat. I guess that's why we train so many different things...power with breaking boards/concrete...reaction timing with sparring...strong technique through kata/bunkai...and self defense for awareness. And I missed the comment before about 'hardcore style having you break a bone to pass black belt'. Now this is just my opinion but this is one of the stupidest things I've heard to date :/ When you break a bone it never heals as strong as it once was...I participate in a fair number of 'high risk' sports...I spar hard in karate and I give 110% at everything I do. I have not broken a bone in my body...I've gotten hurt plenty of times but I haven't broken anything. I know alot of people who have broken there arm...and then rebroken it again later because it's not as strong. But, just because I dont think its a good idea to break bones to get a black belt...that doesn't mean other people don't. I just hope there aren't people getting led around on a leesh Chado

I drive 1.5 hours each way to my karate dojo, and about 35 minutes to my kendo dojo. My karate classes are about 2.5 hours long...but to make it better (ie; less driving - working out time) you might want to see if there are kids classes before yours that you can help with. I get to the dojo at 5:30 on tuesdays and thursdays and I leave sometime around 11, sometimes 10 sometimes 9:30 sometimes 11:30 it really just depends on when we finish...if class is going strong we dont stop till its late Oh but keep in mind the added costs of doing that driving, gas, wear and tear on the car...the extra 2 hours each day (or more if you do the kids classes like I suggest) I dont know if your lifestyle allows for these sorts of things. Anyway that's just my thoughts

I flipped over to the kata thread and the kata's you do are the same ones we USED to do before we switched our style a bit. What's the lineage of your dojo? (do you have a chart from chojun-miyagi-sensei to your sensei? Or is it just 'we study okinawan goju?) I'm curious because this is amazingly close to the stuff we used to do...