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I would suggest letting go of your ego a bit. Your current attitude will only get you a smackdown at a school thats well trained and trains hard.

I used to be a Shureido fan until I got a Ronin heavyweight gi. I now have 2 of the 16 oz gis. To me the only difference in quality was the ties. And the way Ronin attaches the waist tie is smarter. Ronin gis also wrinkle more easily than Shureido gis. Still, I think provide great "bang for the buck". Ronin gis are slightly oversized. They breathe well and moving in them is very easy and comfortable. They come with long sleeves and pant legs, but you can have them tailored and still save LOTS of money over a Shureido. Please don't take this as advertising. I send people to the following link because they have incredibly low prices on the Ronin gis. http://www.discountmas.com/uniforms.html

Depends on not only your Sensei, but how often classes can be held and how hard people train on their own. Under my Sensei- he had one exceptional guy that made it to shodan in 4 years (and he was impressive- till he injured his back working), average is more like 6-7. That was with classes 3 times a week, 2 hours per class.

This is a big selling point of the SPEAR system, which unfortunately has LOTS of holes in it. Cross is right, you don't train a flinch- you train to work off the flinch.

Here's the thing- this was done at an easy pace so someone could see what's going on. The video was made to answer questions about "what do you mean concentrate on the process, not just the end point?" So it was made to talk about the process of the arm movement in a narrow context. There's a lot more to this, and footwork was barely discussed. Now- the idea of the left had having a shot does not consider the effect you are creating on the opponents body. Why - cuz this was not done at anything close to regular speed. Done correctly, the left hand is out of play because of positioning, body shock, or other reasons. Also, done at an easy pace and explaining the components, it looks like thes moves are sequential when in fact they are simultaneous. Have yet to see a one two combination be faster than a simultaneous block and strike, or in the case of the shoulder lift, a simultaneous parry / off balance. More than one person has thought the same thing when this is done at half speed. I've had people tell me they can back off before the block when moving outside and lifting the shoulder, or they can get the follow up punch in when jamming with the crossing hand and striking with the forearm, etc, etc. First- keep in mind that nothing is fool proof and there is always a trade off in anything you do. That being said- Here's what's happened when these are done full speed with other black belts that thought this wasn't very effective 1. The person lands on the floor 2-5 feet away from you- no second punch possible 2. Body gets shocked so hard it delays the follow on punch when jamming a roundhouse with the age uke. You don't pull the crossing hand- it's in a perfect position for an uppercut or barely has to move to block a follow up strike. As that happens, the hand that jammed the punch slides down hard and the forearm catches the brachial plexus. 3. Person tries to roll away when lifting the shoulder- problem is their back is towards you- buffet is now open 4. Head and body get bent backwards- what is not shown in the video is the leg contact done when moving in on many of the techniques- this really screws the opponents balance and takes the back hand out of play or makes it ineffective. 5. Other various and sundry things including spinning the opponent, putting him on his toes on one foot, taking him down with the leg engagement, etc There are 2 things that are important and when you are just teaching the hand movements, they are not discussed- one is intermediate angling and positioning. Second is when you move towards the opponent, you wind up jamming the attack or striking with your entire body weight- not just the arm. The effect on the attacker can be pretty harsh. Because of this, on some of the moves, you have to pull the technique drastically or move easily to prevent injury during practice, and you won't see the full effect of the movements. So, think what you like, but I have my students do this against a charge or multiple attacks after they've practiced it, been taught correct angling and footwork, and get the movement down correctly. The results are pretty consistent, rarely does a second attack get a chance, and if you train them right they are in a position to evade /parry/jam it and the other hand is now in a position to strike or totally blow your opponents balance. Attackers have even had their punching arm go temporarily numb from the contact. The other thing you don't do is stop putting the pressure on the opponent once you've made contact. Against the "normal" roundhouse punch on the street- the overcommitment Andrew talks about works in your favor because of the angling used. As an aside, if an attacker throws a jab, the defender changes what he's doing as he moves in because he can feel the withdrawal- and he's in a position to exercise other options.

Sorry, link fixed now.

http://www.okinawabbtv.com/international/karate/kodansya.html# Enjoy!

I find acting like Curly in the 3 stooges confuses the heck out of em Sorry, couldn't resist

Hey P.A.L.- Does that fall in the same category of techniques as, "Gee, I dunno, he just tripped!" ?

And that brings up another point. Why do so many schools teach you how to get out of a headlock, but never teach you how to prevent one? Anyway, if you do some digging on youtube, I'm sure you'll find some examples. If you want to verify the efficacy of the moves, post the links here. Sorry, but personally, I don't have the time to dig them up. There are simple wrist escapes that require speed and positioning but not strength. You wind up putting your entire body weight into the escape, which is why it works. They need to be taught, not written about, because there are very simple key components which are too easy to leave out w/o proper instruction. I've had my 11 year old students escape from a tight grab. Cross is oh so correct on the idea of teaching someone to move as soon as they feel contact if surprised, or move when the opponent tries the grab if you see it coming. Learn to use your flinch response to keep from being grabbed. If grabbed, learn to use your initial attempt to evade to aid in the escape. You already have momentum built up. Most schools teach a wrist escape with both people stationary and one person holding on. For a woman or kid being grabbed by the wrist, they will also be pulled towards the assailant. You need to practice escaping with first, the grabber standing and pulling. Once you get the idea, then you practice with the grabber moving towards or away from you while pulling.

Hi, Over the last couple of years, I've met some great people in the Colorado area that teach Goju who do not have commercial schools. A couple of us have talked about it and we'd like to try and have a weekend get together of all the Goju Sensei and senior black belts in the area. The idea is to go back to the old way of doing things where people got together, kept their egos in check, had fun and exchanged ideas. After all, it's a lot easier to keep your skills up when you get the chance to work out with another senior individual. Since I'm just putting out "feelers" at this time, there's no location picked yet. However, September might be a good time to do this. If you are in the geographical area, please drop a line via PM or e-mail. E-mail me at: sjw*****at*****shobukanmartialarts.com (remember to remove the asterisks) Sam

Hee hee, Just to confuse the issue further- here's the Uechi version of Seisan

Ages huh? Lessee, you're 16. I guess that means those of us who've been training longer than you've been alive have been practicing for eons. Have you ever had to use your training when dealing with a T-Rex? Us ancient farts could tell you what it was like back in the cave man days. Let me pick my ancient brain . . . aikido and shotokan . . . oh yeah- that's also called Wado-ryu Previous comments were all in fun so don't take them wrong. Keep training, and keep an open mind.

I couldn't agree with you more. What makes a really good teacher is someone who can modify an application for the individual. I've seen my Sensei take 2 approaches. First, if he wants students to get an understanding of the gross movement, he'll show everyone a standard way. Once the gross movement is developed, he goes along and modifies parts of it for individuals to make it more effective for them. His second approach deals with an application that just won't work for an individual if given in a standard approach. He will immediately modify it for them, after explaining it to the rest of the class, so that individual doesn't become frustrated with something that would otherwise not work. Of course, in order to do this, the Sensei has to have an in depth knowledge of what he teaches

You Go Girl!!! Or should that be "you go goju girl?"