ZakariRu

No. Its a push. =/ I competed for both the AAU and USTU as a "tang soo do competitor" Sorry. in olympic TKD you are better off throwing a side thrust kick from inside range then you are doing any other technique just because of the push.

see in TKD you ge the opposite problem, no snap just push in techniques. =/

That is the theory behind the heel being down. It is to make the technique look correct. I have trained this style before. For kihon usually I still train that way, but today? I hit hard. Even if it looks like I am not hitting hard at all. Believe me, I hit harder with my heel up then down. Its a matter of being unweighted, if your front foot is off the ground and you are the ball of the back foot your body weight is added to the punch. If you "make focus" with your feet "grounded" you are putting less weight behind the punch and limiting your ability to really thwack something. You may look like you are hitting harder but you aren't. I can give you some makiwara and wall experiments to test this. Kime=Bad karate. Espicially the Way ITKF does it. An Ippon comes from your heart, and your spirit. Not from having 2 heels firmly planted.

Scoring is based on Nishinformation. To score a point both feet must be firmly on the floor. I have seen perfect yaku-tsuki that don't score at ITKF tournaments because the attackers heel comes off the ground when they put their hip into the punch. Same with the lead leg, dont spring into the punch. It would have to be firmly planted. It almost has to look like one steps, looks strong in actuallity is very weak. No kizami-geri please.

Stretch more.

I run with my mouthguard in, the double bit kind forces very quick sharp breathes, and also gets me used to having it in. I used to have issues running distance, It is simply a matter of setting pace. I got very bored very easily still do. I cannot run on a treadmill. I can run for hours+ on trails and through new areas.

Word, David. Im gonna try and come to the big ole wado thingy. =) Call that cell number i gave you or email me at zakloo@hotmail.com and I will try to come out there before hand to train.

Karate does not belong to a nation. Karate is evolving and changing. Japanese Karate is no more okinawian karate anymore than okinawian karate is chinese.(except TKD that's just plain bad shotokan.) Right now Karate belongs to the europeans, who do kata better, and understand much more about spirit, fighting, and training. Anyway, my vote.

Thanks alot Jussi.

So I am currently training with this TKD club, not being able to find a shotokan school that doesnt suck in my area. All I have to say is WTF? 3000 year old martial art that has the EXACT same stances as shotokan. Only shotokan practioners have better looking technique. I used to compete at AAU TKD tournaments as a Tang Soo Do competitor. What a coincidence. Passai looks exactly like the shotokan version of Bassai-dai. TSD has all the japanese forms. with OKINAWIAN NAMES. General Choi stayed in Japan for a few years before moving back to korea and founding TKD right? Wasn't Korea just getting finished being culturely beaten and brutalized by occupying japan? Am I smoking crack here? I want to slap my TKD instructor and tell her to Stop lying to students about where all the poomse come from. How do you tell 100,000 martial artist they are being lied to. Funakoshi's Dojo-Kun (Funakoshi died before TKD was founded but his dojo kun is still hung on alot of shotokan walls.) Seek Perfection of character. Be faithful Endeavor Respect Others. Refrain from violence. (refrain from acting violently on impulse makes more sense) (this is a typical bad translation) The Tennants of TKD? Courtesy Integrity perseverance self control Indomitable spirit. Possibilities? It was translated to korean then to english. Giving us a korean to english translation that is almost as vague as the japanese to english. I enjoy tkd, i have a decent instructor with alot of sparring know-how. I dont enjoy how we have thousands upon thousands of people who believe everything they are told by their martial arts instructors. Thanks for reading the rant guys.

Apology accepted

Book looks interesting, one of the reviewers made an interesting comment about coming back from japan 10kg lighter. i was in tokyo for 3 weeks and returned a good 5kg (10ish lbs) lighter. I ate pretty western food though. Was some sushi, ramen, and octopus pizza. but for the most part it was "Frankburgers" and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Jussi, go back to KU, I have been trolling this forum forever. Yargh! Adidas: Champion.

Now you want to argue semantics. In all fights I gave John's score first, and stated as such. Your attempts at ad hominem are now just plain childish, stating that he should retire did indeed imply his time as a compitetor was up, not that you held a motherly concern for him. I defended the angle you attacked. Too many shots to the head makes him sound like Stallone in Rocky, who was also a nice guy....

Suggesting that anyone needs to retire is not very nice, espicially when they are still the best chance the US has at a Men's -75k -80k or open gold medal. Anything that would set him back physically he would just work around. Look at his back problems, he is still one of the most flexible people I know. My score with John was 3-0 I fought Raffy in round 2.(Mr. Rodriguez won nationals in 03, John beat him 3-zip too) He wooped me pretty bad as well scored a wazari on him right off the bat then I let him psych me out. I believe John beat everyone but Gino 3-zip. Gino scored one Wazari. I used to drive to John's dojo in skokie, as much as possible. His friday night sport karate class rocks, his competition team on saturday is an insane workout. I trained with George just at seminar's,and the EliteMAF spring camp. 988 I was the blonde kid that John knocked out 3 times in a row. =P First year in the adult division at nationals for the AAU was awsome to get to fight John, his feints and footwork are so hard to deal from a first person viewpoint. Your IKF Sacramento? Did you go on any of the Junior team trips? I was on the first Japan trip, too poor to do that more than once.

BUAHAHAHAH I train with John and George a couple of times a year, and I will probobly fight John again this year at the WKC team trials. I fought Mr. Fonseca first round at the AAU nationals last year. He is smarter, faster, and sneakier than he was in sun city. He is not going anywhere. I think hell probobly retire around 35. Christopher Pinna told me that A Biamonti had hit a hard plateu in his training(summer of 04) With that in mind I was suprised he took his 3rd spot place again. George looked better in 04 than he did in 02. I am not sure but it seems this just wasnt his year internationally. Oh Benitello was 30 the first time he won the world champs. John will be 30 in 06. There is no reason for him to retire.

Ive seen Gracie do it? (UFC 3) and Frank Shamrock do it. There have been a couple.

In the JKA style of shotokan there are; Front snap Side snap Round kick (knee in high chamber) Back kick. Side thrust. Only ones you will ever see on a traditional shotokan rank test kihon. In kata there is one Front thrust kick, nidan-geri (jump front) and a few outside-in cresent kicks. There is also the Tekki kick. (returning wave) There are alot of other kicks like cutting kicks (round kick that comes up at an angle like a front kick that turns READ:tkd turning kick hook kicks, spinning hooks etc.) Those are not part of the Shotokan testing syllabus for any org. Unsu does have a front thrust kick, but i do not think i have ever seen that kick drilled specifically in the US or Japan people who do Unsu just do it in the kata.

please have an argument when you disagree

? chinte is a shotokan kata. It is less then 70 years old in the modern format. Nakayama and Gigo changed almost all the kata. So your point is moot.

Bruce lee has the vertical hook (round kick sweeping upward) Karate calls this a cutting kick. A hook kick. (inside out) And an outside in hook kick. all are illustrated with the ball of the foot stretched, striking with the ball or the instep page 84 mentions using the ball of the foot for attacking the shin knee or instep. regardless of kicking type. The text from page 80 on does not clearly display anything. I may be mistaken about if he refers to the round kick as a hook kick and a hook kick as an outward in hook kick. But that does not make alot of sense.

i have knocked kids out with the ball of the foot more than once. John Fonseca (IOC athlete of the year) has knocked me out more than once using the ball of the foot. Im going to agree to disagree with both of you. If you honestly are thinking that there is one way to block a kick everytime ish, good for you. I get my kicks blocked a little less often then i score them. That doesnt mean I get hit everytime they fail. But saying you just step behind makes you sound silly. There are so many factors involved in kicking, distance at the start of the technique, if your kicking to the open side or the back side of your opponent, the angle you are from their front when you launch the kick. The cookie cutter response "Almost every person there that is a capable fighter knows how to shut down the front leg hook kick no matter how fast the other person is." just doesn't cut it.

If you say so. Ive fought in alot of USTU tournaments, the foot work is just as applicable there too. Kickboxing? its good there too. If you feel your more likely to get swept with them dont throw them. I know how fast I am and thats not a concern of mine. But please remember that most karate tournaments do allow grabbing, throws, and base leg sweeps. So it would be as much of a risk there as it would be doing this "full contact" stuff with a hogu on. I think probobly more.

yeh thats fairly basic lead leg kicking foot work. you should always slide when your kicking. Standing in place is a bad thing. you use the momentum of popping your hip to start the kick and skid a little bit, my old dojo we used to do drills where you would put your supporting leg on a piece of paper and try and slide it with you. i get about 1-2 feet of slide. Of the two ways to throw it I mentioned, the thrust kick gives you the most "Slide" The round kick has the same long range as the hook kick. But if your in punching range you cant always throw a lead leg round kick or backleg for that matter. But like i said before you can throw a hook kick to the head or back of the head if your grappling or standing hip to hip. Sometimes in matches competitors will do pseudo grappling trying to tie you up till the judge calls yamae,(stop) If your flexable you can score alot of ippon's or sanbons that way. The other thing about the hook kick is that sometimes at shorter ranges people try to block at the thigh or the knee, and you can just go right around their guard. P.S. Try throwing a lead leg round kick with slide, then using the same slide with a hook kick just let your foot touch the ground and go. Great for closing a gap, huge range too.

yeh thats fairly basic lead leg kicking foot work. you should always slide when your kicking. Standing in place is a bad thing. you use the momentum of popping your hip to start the kick and skid a little bit, my old dojo we used to do drills where you would put your supporting leg on a piece of paper and try and slide it with you. i get about 1-2 feet of slide. Of the two ways to throw it I mentioned, the thrust kick gives you the most "Slide" The round kick has the same long range as the hook kick. But if your in punching range you cant always throw a lead leg round kick or backleg for that matter. But like i said before you can throw a hook kick to the head or back of the head if your grappling or standing hip to hip. Sometimes in matches competitors will do pseudo grappling trying to tie you up till the judge calls yamae,(stop) If your flexable you can score alot of ippon's or sanbons that way. The other thing about the hook kick is that sometimes at shorter ranges people try to block at the thigh or the knee, and you can just go right around their guard. P.S. Try throwing a lead leg round kick with slide, then using the same slide with a hook kick just let your foot touch the ground and go. Great for closing a gap, huge range too.