Meguro

Hey Superfoot. For someone who doesn't claim to do any Kyokushin, you are one of its biggest proponents on this forum! I hereby award you an honorary membership- of course this offer is void outside this forum.

Will it be Kyokushin or something different? If Kyokushin, won't it crowd your dojo?

Superfoot: Overhand punch? I haven't used that term, but I guess it's right. The trajectory of the punch is high to low. If your fist were held open, your palm would be facing out.

Narushima (IKO 1), and Tsukamoto (Shinkyokushin), both because they make knock-out high kicks look so effortless.

GMC, have you been teaching Kyokushin Karate in Japan for 3 years, Shotokan, English or all of the above?

Congratulations! Bet you don't drop your guard again.

Three different punches come to mind: mawashi uchi; kagi tsuki, furi uchi. Mawashi uchi, as practiced in kyokushin kihon, is like a back fist and the finish looks like you're doing a jodan uke. Kagi tsuki is a bent arm punch powered by rotation along the horizontal plane. Furi uchi targets the opponents collar bone. Like kagi tsuki it is a bent arm punch, powered by rotaion. It looks like a baseball pitchers throw, only your elbow remains cocked as your arm travels from above your shoulder down and diagonally across your body.

If you consider flashy to be theatrical, almost every Steven Segal movie( where he's near a pool table and a bad guy happens to break a pool cue in half) features stick fighting. Also, the "Bourne Supremacy" (movie not the book) has a knife vs. rolled-up magazine fight scene. Obviously googling escrima, Kali and Arnis will dredge up many more examples and vid clips.

Check out the Muay Thai thread for more details. In summary, Kyokushin open tournament fighters: fight with no weight division: no gloves or pads: no hand or elbow strikes to the head: no grabbing & holding. Muay Thai: gloves; elbows to head permtted; holding & throwing. The only way you can have open weight bare knuckle fights is to prohibit hand strikes to the head. Otherwise you'd end up with a bloody mess, with the smaller fighters usually being the bloody ones. This prohibition affects how the karateka fights inside. A Kyokushin karateka fighting Muay Thai rules would be hampered by his poorer boxing skills unless he did some extra work in this regard. A Muay Thai fighter fighting knockdown rules might be stymied by facing a larger opponent and not being able to box as he was accustomed to. Also, the feeling of bare knuckles landing on your ribs and collar bone is quite distinct from gloved punches, I assure you.

Welcome, Feels. Nice pics.

A broken clock is right twice a day. Thanks, Skeptic.

What about punches to back them up ?? They will have to lower their guard to defend their mid area and BOOM , you connect with a hard axe Heh heh. Haven't forgotten the punches. I like a shita tsuki, furi uchi, followed by a Brazilian kick. Furi Uchi is also a nice set-up for soto mawashigeri. I favor punches to set up the high kicks.

Under what rules would they be fighting? well kickboxing rules,like in a sport format I guess.That would make things fair.Not really. Knock-down and kick-boxing are similar, but different; pain level might be the same, but the rules, techniques and strategy are not as similar as you might think.

I love the axe kick from close in- they can't see it coming! Use hiza geri to back them up, followed by the axe.

Nope. Haven't seen it. Since Ryu Narushima is a well known Kyokushin karateka, I'm guessing that this video/dvd is outrageously over priced. Narushima was well known for his jodan mawashigeri. Highlights of these type of knockouts would be interesting. Knockdown type punches, ehh.

Under what rules would they be fighting?

The evil Japanese stereotype often appears in Chinese cinema and is a reflection of the long standing animosity the Chinese have towards the Japanese. Much of this hatred results from the mistreatment of the Chinese by the Japanese during WWII. Jet Li's remake of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury (Fist of Legend) is a prime example of this stereotype at work. As you know, racism in films is not only a Chinese phenomenon. All countries use racist stereotypes in their media to promote an agenda or unwittingly to reveal certain attitudes.

Would you rather fight guys who take it easy on you or fight guys that challenge you? I think sparring your nemessis will bring the best out of you. The fact that you're asking advice on this forum indicates that he is pushing you to the edge of your creative envelope. If you were having an easy time sparring with black belts, would you bother asking for advice? Since you ask, I'll offer my 2 cents. Your opponent has sensed your comfort zone and is exploiting it. You respond by trying to maintain your distance, backpedalling, or getting pummeled inside. I say, control the distance. As he advances, move forward and around. Jam. Move around and try not to be predictable about it. Vary your timing. Also, while you haven't mentioned it, it appears that since you favor kicking from a distance, the opponent, may be waiting for you to throw your kick to then move in faster than you can follow up. Double up your attacks and vary your combinations. All the moving around is going to tax your cardio. That's what it costs little guys when they fight bigger guys. You've got to be faster and fitter. Add some rope skipping or running to your training routine, if you haven't done so already. Good luck.

Thanks Mike. I don't wish to discourage anyone from training. It's just that training on a whim, eg. slipping it between business meetings or sightseeing, particularly when someone has not been training consistently, might have some unwanted consequences.

For reasons of liability, expenses, language barriers, etc. I would not recommend popping in to a dojo for just a class or two. Many dojo will gladly welcome a visiting student, particularly one who brings a letter of introduction from an affiliated dojo. So if you're a member of JKA, Kyokushin or whatever, it is a very simple matter to find a place to train. If you're out of the loop, so to speak, you may be asked to pay the initiation fee and sign up for at least the minimum period. My recommendation is to get a good guide book and enjoy your one week holiday or business trip.

I agree with you 100%. Boxing skills are often dismissed by karateka too wrapped up in their own system.

I did a lot of other styles before coming across Kyokushin. Got a black belt in TKD and competed in open karate tournaments (point sparring). I joined Kyokushin after watching a knockdown tournament and realizing that whatever I had done in the past would not prepare me to deal with Kyokushin karateka in competition. People often counter this position by saying competition and "street fighting" are different, which is true. My response is, "I don't street fight, but if I did I wouldn't be any worse off than a point fighter." If you're happy with what you are doing, keep it up. Don't change because what anyone else might think. However, if you're curious about Kyokushin, find a dojo near by and try it out. Regarding pads for competition, kids and adults 40-and-over wear headgear, gloves, shin&knee pads, cup and mouth guard.

Wouldn't it be advantageous for you to be a large lightweight as oppossed to a small middleweight? This is the conclusion I've come to. I'm basically in the same position, in terms of weight, Height wise, I'm 178 cm. I don't do heavy lifting. Instead I do lot's of body weight exercises and cardio. Going up in weight will put you against more guys with a reach advantage as well as guys on the borderline between middle and heavy. Which is not altogether bad, if your aim in competeing is to test yourself. If you want to win, it makes it that much harder. If I weren't competing I would like to bulk up. I suppose as I get older it won't be a matter of choice either.

Shihan William Oliver died unexpectedly of a medical condition-not sure exactly. His death was a big shock to the NY Karate scene. Kaicho Tadashi Nakamura, of Seido, was particluarly saddened by the death of Oliver.

I thought I would find more references to Arnis in these forums. A search revealed 222 usages of the term. Mostly the posts are buried in other threads. Seems to me that if there are topics like "internal arts" arnis, escrima and kali might deserve their own dedicated section, or maybe just the weapons section will suffice. I'm not a practitioner of knife and stick fighting. At this point, just curious. Thing is, anyone merely curious about karate, need only click the topic and everything you needed to know, and a lot of what you don't are available. I suppose this is a supply and demand issue.