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Okay , that was an interresting topic . My opinion is , sport TKD is just a sport and useless in real situation unless you came up with a lucky shot , traditional TKD is another story . As for competing with TKD guys ,my dojo sponsors an anual tournament where many martial arts schools compete under kyokushin rules ( full contact , knock down rules ) , each and every year top TKD fighters participate in the tournament and they loose big time .

I think having 20+ katas is not that bad , my sensei always says that a student must focus on the bunkai of ONE kata that suites him the most .

If i am to choose between TKD and kickboxing , i would definitly choose kickboxing , however , in your case , i'dd say stay in TKD for the next 3 month , earn the next rank

Lol.. i totally agree , when i started karate i had the purpose to be able to handle myself on the street , however i don't think like that anymore , my highest aim -for now- is to beat top fighters , if i am to beat top fighters in the ring , then i am able to handle myself in the street , do you think thats right ???

I suppose it won't be BJJ anymore , just like TKD and judo lost their spirit by becoming a part of the olympics , sure judo is effective but not as much as it was .

16 is a pefect age to start training

Sometimes you just get boared . Sometimes you are so depressed from life so that affects your passion for martial arts and everything else , sometimes you don't need to do any new technique or kata , or work on another aspect , sometimes you juat need a break

Lots of people say that they have done a martial art in their youth and that it was effective for them , just to show off . Some of them might be expert in Tai bo . I personally think that sports Taekwondo is useless in the street , however ITF might be effective if well used

Lol.. It happens with me all the times , in local tournaments , it's always me and a fellow member of my dojang competing for the first place .

Forms ( kata ) is called Twalo in chinese , right ???

"the block is not the only defense. Training your body so hard that the blows would not affect you is another good form of defense " Oyama Sosai once said . Quoting from Master Gichin Funakoshi's book {karate do my way of life }: "Once, as he [itosu] was about to enter a restaurant in Naha's amusement center, a sturdy young man attacked him from the rear, aiming a hearty blow at his side. But the latter, without even turning, hardened the muscles of his stomach so that the blow glanced off his body, and at the very same instant his right hand grasped the right wrist of his assailant. Still without turning his head, he calmly dragged the man inside the restaurant" Knowing that Yasutsune Itosu Sensei is one of Funakoshi's teachers . The fact of retrieving your hand after each and every strike does not prepare you for the street . Even wearing gloves and striking head with full contact does not prepare you for the street , since gloves will make hands bigger so they cover much of your head and opponent strike would be much easier to block than real life. There are only 4 inches between the chest and the head , a person able to strike chest with full power in competition is also able to strike head with full power in real situation , a fighter able to knock down another well conditioned fighter with a strike to the stomach is definitely able to knock down a human with a single hand strike to the head ( real life ) Plus , head strikes are not allowed in competition , however, we do train on them regularly ( Kihon , kata ...... ) Do you actually belive that a Kyokushin Karate-ka would stand there and wait for the attack ?? from what you have seen you must know by now that Kyokushin karate-kas are offensive and thats why "fighters square up and exchange blow for blow" . There is a better way STRIKE HIM FIRST . as mentioned ,We more than anyone believe in the one strike one death mentality . Something to mention here , yes , fighters square off and exchange blows , they do also BLOCK most of the blows , by covering the targeted area , same terminlogie exist in other fighting styles like in boxing when one covers his face while his opponent perform a combination ,I can block one strike heading to me ( in a strike - block - strike system ) but can't just block or avoid all the moves in a combination of attacks thats were your body must be prepared , got my point ??? .

Parker is the instructor who brought kenpo to USA i suppose .

Yeah .. i remember this episode, funny ..

You know , from the way i c it , eliminating point sparring from karate is the goal to reach , not turning it into pure sport . When karate become a part of the Olympics , traditional dojos will disappear and Mcdojos will flourish and grow in number , basic stances and moves would be lost and the stress on the training would be point sparring which is INEFFECTIVE in real life and we will c more of those black belts who are excellent within the walls of dojo , but in a real situation they would run like wind . I also heard that it is required to add more protective gear ( just like TKD ) . Changing rules will demolish karate , and if you do not believe me , just take a look on how judo was and how it is now after it became Olympic ( leg locks are eliminated , ground work is limited , etc..... )

Shidokan is a great style , I would like to compete by it's rules one day . Since it joins three fighting styles , i assume that competition in it is quite hard , therefore i love it .

Exactly! Karate is about building spirit and determination. While it can be built by intense basics. I believe that hard sparring is more effective at building spirit. As you are constantly pushing youself to the limit. Agreed with you guys .

The norm to get ablack belt is from 4 to 5 years . Shidokan is more mixed martial arts than a style in itself , don't you agree ???

From Horse stance , stand up while taking head down with right hand , right elbow to the head . Zankutsu datshi w/double tsuki

0.125 from the third try .. Cool JavaScript

No pain , No Kyokushin . Kyokushin is not all about pain , but invoking pain and enduring pain is much of what kyokushin is about . And if you do not have a high pain threshold in dojo , how would you be able to endure pain??? ( in tournament or in real situation )

Before i get my first dan , i used to pay about 20 dollars per moneth , now i pay about 0 dollars per month . I have been with my sensei for 7 years now ( he was sempai back then ) and he is more like a big brother than an instructor , he rarley charges me for anything .

Good post .. But let me tell you one thing . Our sparring system is not point sparring , it's full contact , knock down system . So , you actually are going to use your moves in real situation the same way you are using them in sparring ( i mean we are not missing anything by not doing karate techniques in traditional way , we are allready performing techniques with full power on most of the parts of human body) . The only way to score in our system is to knock down your opponent so that denies your "Point sparring" argument . As for balenced training , i really think it's the best approch , and thats what we are actually doing now in the dojo , but since we have at least one or two tournaments per month , most of our training is ( and should be ) focused on sparring

Sooner or later they will get you no matter what you tried to do .. U know , i have herd of a specie of rats that live in large groups , about 2000 rats living together , and if they encounter a human ( alone of course ) they surround him and try to get him off balance and then eat him alive , personally i didn't belive in that .

Fox_NFLs_GG is right, plus , who says that point fighting doesn't prepare you for the street ??? As a kyokushin student , I am totally against point fighting and prefer full contact style , but again , aren’t you performing karate techniques in point fighting ?? isn't tournament classes a karate class ??? Tournaments have variables that control it and street have variables that control it , to each his own . Oh , I forgot to mention that tournament sparring plays a big role in building confidence.

To answer you guys , and i said it before , we didn't decide to stop training basics , we decided to stop training basics on it's primaery form which means punching and kicking air and using heavy bags insted so we actually are doing the basics in a "saprring-oriented" way . And let me tell you something , it happned that sensei wasn't instructing the junior class this month and he asked me to do it insted of him , so what i did is applaying that idea to c what would be the results . And just today we had a tournament ( for juniors as well ) guess what , my boys took all the gold and silver knowing that in the previous tournament most of them lost from the first match . I am happy to c that our idea actually worked , if it effected on juniors like that ( highest rank was green belt ) what would be the reults for yoshudans ?????????????