Pacificshore

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Kata just like any of your other skills learned is a method of understanding/practicing movements and reactions. Does this mean this will be the way you fight on the street or anywhere else? I don't think so. How many have worked on self defense moves that had various techniques in them, and when you actually did it at full speed, you left certain moves out? If so, did you realized that you left out moves, or did you ADJUST to how the persons body reacted in front of you? I see the same thought process in Kata training. How it's practiced and how it is applied can be two different things. It'll never be the perfect scenario no matter how you work it because there are too many variables involved. When I was younger, I thought the same thing about Kata and it's use. Now as I have grown older, hopefully wiser, I see that Kata is an important part of my training, as well as my students. Just my point of view

Hello and Welcome Aboard Glad you dropped by for your intro, and a very nice one at that......for a "redneck" :lol:

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I would use Kenpo/Kempo for it's striking ability. TKD or any other Korean art for it's kicking ability. Aiki-jujitsu for it's joint manipulation. BJJ for grappling. Chi-Kung for Chi development. Plus a little Bio-engineering to be able to put the SUPER STYLE together

Yeah I think it would be great if ESPN or any other large sports channel covered more martial arts events. Every now and then ESPN covers past K-1 events, or kickboxing matches, but it's always late at night. I don't see how they differ from boxing events.

Ok, here's one of mine. It was when I was tested for my black belt. My instructor and his instructor are military people (U.S. Marine Corp). My test along with my buddy was held in the Eastern Sierras. It was during the winter time too. Our instructors and senior students basically woke us up at zero dark thirty, or in the middle of the night/morning after driving to get there all day. They had us drilling, doing katas, running, excercising throughout until sunrise. Mind you this was in the snow too. We'd be barefoot in the snow part of the time, then running back to the camp fire to thaw out, and then back for more. We continued on throughout the rest of the day breaking up our training sessions with rappelling excercises, and other stuff that I can't rightly recall at this time. The rappelling came to mind because I about fell off the face of the rock, not knowing what I was doing. Plus we were all like jello after all the constant drills, katas, etc. After all the extra cirricular stuff, we went back to the karate stuff until the sun went down. Luckily for us there were some natural hot springs nearby which we sat in to soak our aching muscles. That was one of the toughest training sessions I had ever been involved in. Plus, I'm not use to the cold snowy weather cause where I grew up was tropical

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If you haven't already done so, why don't you visit both dojos and observe their lessons, as k questions of the instructor, students, parents. Then see if they offer any free lessons, take a few at both places and see which you are most comfortable in and decide if the instructor is for you or not.

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I have always taught and was taught to stand naturally and to be able to defend from that position. With the exception of sparring and kata practice, we defend from the natural stance. Like monkeygirl said, keep your hands up by your face so as to defend or strike from that position. Even if you have to take a step back or are pushed back, you just blade into a natural stance versus dropping into a fighting stance. That way you give away less and retain more of the element of surprise.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA........OOH RAH!!!

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Welcome Aboard!!

I would suggest that you pad up some if your gonna do heavy bag work. The less pain and suffering you cause yourself the better. All the little pains that your body feels is telling you something is wrong. If you ignore the signs/signals, it'll just catch up to you in the end. Train hard, but Train Smart.

I believe sparring in general is important. But does it have to be in tournaments, not necessarily. Sparring helps in development of your techniques, timing and distance. Sure when you spar you can't use all that you've leaned in class, especially in tournaments, but you can certainly work with a partner otherwise and try to execute whatever technique you want to in a very controlled manner.

Protect yourself at all times, stick to the basics, and come out fighting

Yama-zuki is defined as the U punch in Nishiyama Sensei's Empty hand karate book. It essentially is the U punch as in Bassai Dai, if memory serves me

In my art we wear the black gi. As instructors, we do have the choice to wear whatever color we choose, but we all stick to the black gi. As far as the Century uniforms, if I had to select some for my students to wear, I would stick with the ones that are trimmed along the lapels and have the matching stipes down the side of the leg. I would try to stick with the primary colors of our school.

It took me around 3 years with going 3x's a week, plus some

How Do

My suggestion is to ask yourself what it is you want to gain from your training. Next, check your area for the types of Arts being taught. Since I am partial to the Kenpo/Kempo Arts, I will provide some background. The Kenpo/Kempo Arts are various. Some of the big ones are Parker's American Kenpo, Professor Chow's Kara-Ho Kempo, Kajukenbo, and Shaolin Kenpo just to name a few. These Arts focus on Self Defense training. They also offer Kata and Weapons Katas to an extent, some more than others. Some may even offer grappling that has been incorporated into their system. You can also train for sport if you want, or stick to just plain 'ol SD. The main thing with any Art is to make sure that you find a good instructor, and you are having fun in your training. And you are getting out of it what you want. Good luck!

Hi Laurie: How about working the basic punch drills, like the jab, cross, hook combo, then work in some knee strikes and kicks. You can also change up some of the hand strikes with elbows. Throw in some movement rather than staying staionary, as well as some bobbing and weaving too.

Well if your looking for fights, why not just become a professional at it and make some $$ off of it win or lose As for defending against weapons.......you're sure to come out injured, and if you don't get killed in the process

The only blind training I've done before was being in the middle of the circle blindfolded, while using your other senses to "feel" for your opponent within your safety zone. It was good sensitivity training.