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At least 8 hours between cardio and weight lifting for max gains. Don't lift on the same day you do karate

It will work just as well if you cover the ropes with a leather pad that you can slip on while striking, then remove the pad and take it indoors when you're done. This keeps the pad from drying out and keeps you from getting rope fibers in your hand

https://www.goju-ryu.info you'll need to register, but they don't spam you

Insurance- many companies won't insure a tournament unless certain amounts of padding are worn. The amount required varies with the insuring company

Register at https://www.goju-ryu.info. There are numerous videos posted there. Matayoshi put out two videos on kobudo- no explanations, just kata and prearranged sparring. Tsunami carries the videos Do a search for Okinawan Adventures (actually a MA site). You can get kobudo videos from them. These are instructional- don't know how good they are Go to http://www.shorei-kanusa.com/books.htm There are 3 tapes on the bo you can order

The pushups in between ar slowing your progress. Strength is built from stressing the muscles and giving them time to rest. Drop the pushups if you are lifting weigths. Now a comment on jarretmeyers routine. There are several good ways to train pushups if you aren't lifting. His way is one of them. Here's one of the benefits of his type of training that has only been recently discovered. Multiple sets of pushups done each day and while progressively increasing the sets/reps increases the number of capillaries in the muscle tissue. It used to be believed that all you did was improve circulation and oxygen exchange. This will increase the endurance of the muscle tissue.

Many techniques taught seem to work because you aren't practicing against a trained knife fighter (unless you're in the FMA). I'd rocommend getting a video from the following site on knife fighting: http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/booksvideos.html I'd invite someone trained in silat/kali to workout with you. You'l find out just how well what you've learned works. I'm not in an FMA, so I'm not saying this from being prejudiced. You may think, yeah, but what's the chance of meeting someone trained in FMA like knife fighting? If you are in a large city, better than you think as gangs are adopting and learning these knife fighting techniques.

Sigh . . . I guess few people know MA history or talk to older people any more. This is NOT a current phenomena, this does NOT only happen in western countries. I'de bet that few people here have heard the expression "Hammering the nail back down", and even fewer probably know where it came from. The only people in this forum I'd be willing to bet money on knowing the full meaning of this expression, I could count on one hand. Shorinryu sensei is one of them. This expression comes from the orient. It was used in Okinawa and Japan. What it refers to is a student becoming full of himself and who starts letting his ego get in the way. They equate it to a nail in a floorboard starting to work up from the wood. If it works its way high enough, it can injure people. So the only solution is to "Hammer it back down". This hammering can be done several ways. Initially, the Sensei will gently (a relative term here), point out the error of the persons ways. Shorinryu Sensei's idea of dumping them on their butt is an example of this. I know another Sensei that would just reach out and slap the student or put them on the floor with every opening and give a running critique while sparring with the offending individual. This can be very humiliating. If this doesn't work, you go to the next level. Pair them off with someone they think is beneath them, that you KNOW can easily handle them. Tell that person to make sure the offender knows he's been beaten. If he gets a couple of lumps in the process, all the better. The more times he has to pick himself up off the floor, the more effective the lesson too. The last step can no longer be used these days because of liability issues. Remember though that this step was taken to protect the other students. The Sensei would square off with the individual, then only fight defensively for a while to humiliate the person. At some point in the "match" the Sensei would lay into them. Broken noses and other equivalent injuries would often be the result of this step. The student either left or drastically altered their attitude. Problem solved. Just remember that this was after trying less brutal steps proved fruitless. So this is NOT a new problem and there is actually a tradition in how to handle it. Steps 1 and 2 will fix the problem in abou 99% of the people. Step 3 in modern society is to kick them out of the school as they are not worth the liability. Another option is to bring someone else I in at step 1 or 2 that you can trust. I was asked to do this on 3 different occasions by friends who had a problem student. Usually it was to deal with a person that was very close to my rank so they couldn't use the excuse that the only reason they were beaten was because of the huge ranking difference between them and their Sensei. Good luck to the "fossils" and don't be afraid to use a hammer when needed.

Bruce was an incredible martial artist. However, the myth that Bruce Lee understood things people still don't is propogated by the fans that choose to worship him rather than respect him. The Macho attitude you refer to is propgated by the media because it sells. Movies like Triple X contribute to the machismo going on. Few people teach their kids nowadays that the real measure of a man is to have high personal integrity, stand up for what he believes in, and walk away from a fight when there's nothing at stake other than his ego. Kids used to be taught that it takes more character to walk away from someone chosing to belittle them than to square off with that individual. Why? Because you have to have a healthy self esteem to do so and not give a rip what other people think. However, to step in and defend someone that's weaker, or to defend yourself when attacked is a different thing. This is not machismo, but doing what has to be done. Who cares if Bruce could or couldn't defeat a UFC or pride fighting champion. He was a key person, at a key time ,who was dedicated and who developed his skills to a phenomenal level. He should be admired and respected for his achievements. Bruce Lee helped the arts develop to a new level and MANY benefited from his viewpoints. What has Kimbo Slice done for anyone besides himself? One is a great person and the other is basically a thug. This is what you need to bring up when people ask inane questions about who's better than who.

It comes in a spray can. Here's one carried in stores- http://www.niagaraspraystarch.com/

Straight back? This is the single worst thing you can do for your back. It's also a training misconception that is highly prevalent. The idea is to keep an ERECT POSTURE. I can not emphesize this enough! The back is mechanically stronger with an arch in it and balance is much easier to maintain. Ever seen an Olympic weight lifter do a clean and jerk? I challenge you to find a world class lifter that lifts with a straight back. Contact saveaback.com and ask them for rocemmnded books on this subject.

I have been part of one and am now running one. The great thing is you can weave examples from the Bible thru the class, use physical principles to teach spiritual principles and vice versa. I also teach a short Bible study at the end that is optional. I do the same thing I do in class, tie the spiritual and physical principles together. The reason I do this is that most people alive when the scriptures were written understood principles of personal warfare. Today, few people have a reference to understand these principles unless their ex- military. Here's an example. Take the passages on double mindedness. and illustrate why this is a problem by talking about how ineffective techniques thrown with uncertainty are. You'd be amazed how well biblical principles can be illustrated this way. Also, give them a Biblical basis as to WHY it's ok to learn self defense, not just that you feel its ok. I wrote a detailed study that some of you may have read. It's on the internet. Any of you can use it at no cost. If you make any changes to it, then they must be identified as your changes. Here's the link: http://www.opdevelopers.org/defense.html Last, many Christian martial arts schools don't train as intensely as a secular school and subsequently have substandard technique. I was involved in secular MA for a number of years before getting saved and we considered most CMA programs a joke. If you are going to do this, you have to make the decision to be excellent and inspire your students to make that their goal.Not doing so dishonors God. I live in Colorado, if anyone close wants to get together and chat, just yell.

How come people say that it takes a really long time to master kata?And what du ya mean by dealing with applications?So you know the moves in a kata. Is every body part at the correct angle? Is your weight tranferring properly fom one position to another. Do you have correct focus. Are you stiff when you shold be relaxed? Is your foot position correct on EVERY move.. Is your breating correct? Do you undersand the timing in each set of moves? It's not 1-2-3 with perfectly spaced timing. Why do you sink your werght on some moves and raise it on others? That block- what's the application? Do you know how to use it as an attack? How do you make it a takedown? How do you use it as an escape. Can you use it moving IN to the attacker, and what's the correct angle. Why do you do that tiny twist at the end of a specific technique. And so on, and so on and . . . So you think you can master all this, plus much more, in just a couple of months?

Sigh . . .you'rr junping to conclusions without asking questions. 1. The testing requirements ARE listed 2. We DO belong to an association. 3. As I said, he's been doing it this way for FORTY years with no problems. I have about 19 years experience and have taught for 6 of those years on my own, and I haven't had any problems either.Since you are on a college team, may I ask your age and how long you've been training and teaching? If a student asks why they aren't on the testing list, we tell them PRIVATELY. Never had anyone whine or argue. A few leave, most buckle down and work harder.

Think about it. You said you came froma McDojo. So why are you expecting the same type of instruction from a legitimate school? New techniques- don't you think you should learn to adjust them to Goju first? Do you want quality or quantity? Spar? Can't you wait until your techniques are adjusted? IF you came from McDojo, I'd bet your balance needs more work. Goju doesn't just throw techniques at you willy-nilly You work on what you've been shown and when the quality is there, other techniques are built on the foundation you put in place. Goju has a structured learning path, and it's there for a reason. I have a student with several years previous experience in JKD and Hapkido. He hasn't complained one bit about me treating him exactly the way you're being treated. If you have a problem with how it's being taught, you need to sit down and evaluate your motives and goals.

The brain

Another way to look at it- how can you teach what you don't remember?

There is a simple solution. Here's an example, if you test once every three months, you post a list of who is ELIGIBLE to test. Those not on the list have to wait until the next test cycle. Then- only put the names on the list of people you know are capable of passing the test. My Sensei has used this approach for almost 40 years. When a stsudent comes in, not only do you have them sign a release, but you have them sign a paper agreeing to abide by the testing program along with the other school guidelines. In the document you state that testing is a privilige, not a right.

Well, having been in Shotokan for 3 years before Goju (16 yrs), I prefer shiko dachi because it fits my body type better and places less stress on my knees .(I have "duck feet") My wife has her own translation for the term shiko dachi. She says it translates to "Extremely painful to the leg muscles stance developed by a bunch of short masochistic Okinawans" She came up with that after our Sensei had us staying in shiko dachi w/o coming up or changing stances for 10 minutes (well ten minutes for those that could stay in it that long )

Oxiclean works on protein based stains and breaks up the proteins. This would be the final step after the initial washing in cold water. I had my nose broke sparring and refused to let my sensei stop the sparring for a little while. Both he and the other black belt I was training with knew that I would continue to spar after being hurt for at least a short period of time to learn how to continue if something like that were to happen on the street. Well, when I started leaving a trail of blood on the floor from my nose bleeding, he stepped in and stopped it. The front of my gi had blood on it, one of the shoulders had blood and the upper pant legs had blood on them. The three of us were having a private workout in a gym. You should have seen the looks I was getting as I walked to the locker room. Got all the blood out but a small stain. Side note- a sensei allowing this is very rare. The liability is too great. The only reason things continued was because of a special understanding between the 3 of us developed over many after class conversations over several years. In another incident working out with a friend, he threw a backfist which landed with no force because I was moving away. What I didn't know was the stinkin velcro tab had cut me over the outside corner of my eyebrow. He started to back up when he saw the blood and I charged (I didn't know I was cut)). As the fight went on, he was backpedalling a lot. Finally I noticed blood dripping on my gi. Afterwards he said he never realized how intimidating it could be having someone with an entire side of their face coverd in blood continue fighting. (the blood spread around from the continous movement).

People "knowing" from experience and having it PROVEN are 2 different things. Rather than putting this study down, you should be happy that you now have medical proof for your convictions.

The idea of excess protein being excreted is true BUT . . . It can be avoided with high protein intake by changing the protein source, eating more often, and timing you protein intake. Ther are types of protein you can take that are basically predigeted and can be absorbed readily. Specifically whey ISOLATES. These can be taken and almost entirely absorbed without loading the kidneys. You need to make sure you buy HIGH QUALITY supplements. I always recommend buying from https://www.healthproinc.com for the following reasons. 1. Great customer service 2. Excellent pricing. 3. The company has many supplements independently tested and only sells high quality supplements Since you are in England you'll ned to find a supplier there, but only order products carried by healthproinc. Next- eat 6 times a day instead of 3. Second, timing is just s important as amount. Take whey protein and carbs within 30 minutes of completeing your workout. Eat a high protein meal with carbs within the next 1.5 hours. This speeds healing and helps restore glycogen levels. Simple carbs with whey protein creates an insulin spike that promotes rapid and high levels of protein uptake in the muscle tissue. https://www.ast-ss.com has lots of info on supplement timing on their site. I suggest you spend some time there. AST also has a free weight training program called MaxOT that is extremely good at adding mass and strength. Sign up for it and follow their regimen.

Ravenzoom, using my previous post as an example, an option would have been to walk up to them(say about 8-10 ft) and LOUDLY go 'Pardon me!'. Then look at the ATTCKER and say something like- "I can see there's a probelm here or you wouldn't be so angry. If you want to wait I'll have my girlfriend call the police so they can help you get this ironed out." How long do you think things would have continued at that point? Please don't take this as a criticism, but as giving you an idea of the options that are available. There is a reason you talk to the agressor in these situations. 99% of the time they know they'll be in trouble if the police show up, so it rapidly de-escelates the entire situation. Even if the agressor tells you to "buzz off, he's going to teach this guy a lesson", you signal your girlfriend to call the cops and then you can add, "That may not be a good idea. Because if you do that, when the cops show up they'll have to arrest you for assault regardless of what this other guy did." There are actually several books on verbal de-escalation that you can read. For a good list of resources, go to http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/bibliography.html

This topic came up on budoseek. Here's the response I offered: You don't have to jump in and pound on someone to protect others. 2 examples I've personally witnessed in real life. While visiting a Kenpo/Tai Chi school we heard a woman scream outside. Everyone spun around and saw a guy pull a woman out of the passenger side of a car and start hitting her. The driver's side door was open so it was obvious they were together. The instructor told a student to pick up the phone and headed out the door and everyone expected him to subdue the man. Instead he stopped about 5 feet away and said "excuse me" very loudly. The man stopped with his arm cocked and a surprised look on his face. The instructor then said, "Is there a problem here? We can call the police if you want us to so they can straighten this out." At that point the man let go of the woman and said- "no problem, you don't need to call the cops." Instructor replies very congenially, "oh its no problem, we don't mind calling them to help." He turned to the woman and asked her if she'd like to come inside the school and use the bathroom to fix herself up. At this, she moved away from the guy who then jumped in the car and left. The instructor brought her into the school and had her call a friend to come get her. Pretty classy and intelligent approach. Defended the woman without throwing a single punch. Next incident. An altercation is happening next to a gas station. There's a guy that's built like a brick ****house, wielding a golf club, threatening another man who had a paralyzed arm. Before anyone can say anything, one of the customers on a motorcycle gets a really pissed look on his face. He walks away from the pump he'd stopped at and very quietly put himself in front of the handicapped man. He didn't drop into any fighting stance, but anyone trained could see him relax and "settle in". (BTW, he also kept his full face motorcycle helmet on- good idea). The attacker got nervous and started yelling at him and telling him how he was going to cream him. The biker said nothing and just stared back. The attacker asked if the biker was a cop- again no answer. So the attacker takes a couple of steps back and starts threatening the biker again. This continues for the next minute or so with the attacker yelling threats and backing up until he's almost 50 feet away- the biker never moved, said a word, or even twitched a muscle the whole time. Finally the attacker yells F U and takes off. People were standing around talking afterwards. We found out the biker was a Goju practitioner. The handicapped guy had no idea who the attacker was. He said he was walking down the street when this guy jumps out in front of him and accuses him of stealing the necklace he was wearing. A girl that worked there said the attacker was a known cokehead who had just got out of jail for beating up someone. Turned out he'd already hit the handicapped guy once before the biker showed up. Again- the vitim was protected without a single physical technique being used. Just remember, you can often do more to protect someone else with your brain than with your fist.

Ineresting, yet in all this, I haven't seen anyone mentin that Goju STARTS with block and counter and gradually moves the timing to where the block and counter are performed almost simultaneously. I think people may misunderstand something Jules said because of the common perception of what makes a "grappling art". Most people picture this as rolling around on the floor aka judo style. This is not the case. When calling Goju a grappling art, Jules is referring to grabbing and controlling the opponent. Yes tihi may involve throws and joint locks like jujitsu, but it often involves controlling the attacking limb to keep the opponent off balanced and interrupt his rythymn to prevent a follow on attack. This does not mean a Goju practitioner is always seeking an entry for a throw. It means that he gains control of the attacker allowing either striking, joint locks or throwing depending on his position, opponents momentum, and situation. I would also remind Steve that most street fights involve 2 UNTRAINED fighters whose idea of blocking is to take a shot while moving in. This poses a different aspect to Seves question which really should be- why do most schools only train to fight another trained fighter? This has caused experienced karateka to get blasted in a self defense situation because the attacker doesn't act like the practitioner expects. As far as whether traditional blocks work on the street. Many people say no because there are keys to the traditional block that have been lost over the years. For example, in the circular Goju chest block performed in a traditional manner there are actuall TWO blocks performed simultaneously. The hands cross at one point. WHY? Because the pulling hand is actually performing a "tap" block which is then cleared by the blocking arm. You now have 2 chances to move the attacking technique in the same amount of time you think your only doing one. The major difference is you don't draw the pulling hand all the way back but stop it in front of the body. However, pulling the blocking hand all the way back on the counter IS done if you get a hold on the attacking arm. There are many traditioanl Goju blocks that are VERY quick and efficient and are taught that way. In addition, another understanding lost over the years is that every block can be used as an escape against a grab and this works best if the block is done almost identically to the way it is done in basics practice. For Steve. Whenever both hands are moving in a kata, it's not just because that's the way the technique is done. Both hands have a purpose for their motion. Find it. Heck, even the Gekisai kata are chock full of simultaneous hand techniques, but most people don't see them because they don't look. Often, a slight angle change in the body during bunkai opens a whole world of options. Even a slight change in the blocking move shows a whole new application. The chest blocks on the Gekisais are also an elbow lock. Another example of understanding that has gone missing is the down block. The circular down block in Goju done traditionally is also an outside chest block that feeds the incoming punch to the pulling hand and then the blocking hand continues in a downward motion as you move in and it becomes is a strike. One move-and in that single motion is a block, grab, pull, and strike. If you haven't seen these applications you may not be far enough along yet. You have to walk before you can run. Making them work invlolves correct understanding of you and your oppnents balance, timing, tai sabaki, and practice with simultaneous techniques. People taught these techniques too early often have trouble making them work because their balance and timing are not developed enough yet. Jules will tell you the same thing as he is from one of the main branches of Goju and anyone at his level in that ryu knows these principles. Sadly, many of the offshoots of Goju formed when someone leaves too early and forms their own ryu have caused numerous techniques to be lost.