Jiffy

I personally dis agree with that. I don't think the name means a lot. We had a lot of trouble thinking for a name for our club. At the end of the day, it's just a name, give them a chance. Some things to check.... (from my website https://www.aacd.info) How do I know a good school from a bad one? Good schools often are recognised by a governing body. Look for someone that has affiliations and check their references. Any good school will be happy for you to attend a class to have a look and chat with them with no commitment to training. When choosing a school, remember you are investing in the service of the instructors, so speak to the person who will be teaching you and find out about them (how long they have been training etc) Remember, each school is different, so have a good look and find one that is right for you. Check their qualifications such as coaching, and first aid. Also, ensure the club has insurance for you.

I actually don't like what appears to be his real personality, but if I was just looking at someones movie presence and ability to make good Martial Arts movies, I'd have to say... Steven Segal

The worst (and I think, the most common) is when someone is doing a great kiai.... that is, they are tensed and they have great kime, then all that tension results in letting out that massive fart that was just waiting for the right silent moment to surprise you, along with everyone else.....

Absoloutly. It's great to see that even way back then, there were martial artisist more interested in the promotions of the arts as opposed to the promotion of their ego. In regards to the MMA question. Absoloutly. I think more and more schools are integrating more grappling due to the popularity of it in modern MMA. I don't personally see a problem with this. We need to be flexible and open minded in our approach to the arts in order to learn everything they have to offer.

I'm guessing your talking about a movement in Doom the game? Sorry, I'm not very good with 1st person shooter games.

Killer Miller basically summed it up. There is something else to consider. Any style is a reflection of the person who created it. At the time of shotokan creation, promotion of the Martial Art was a big priority. In order to do this, Funakoshi reserved some of the more deadly techniques for later in the study of the art so that he could get his (primarily junior) students to start training and doing excersize quickly while still being safe.This does not mean they are not in the system, just that they are not taught till later, and usually, the people who critisize an art (any art) have very little knowledge of it. There is also another thing to consider. It has been proven that under stress, the mind is not able to complete instructions for fine motor movements, but it is able to process the messages for larger movements. Therefore, it would be fare to say that without long terms of training, the novice would better be able to protect himself with basic large movements than with small fidly ones. Then, when the student becomes more advanced, he is able to train the mind better to enable him to use the finer movements under stress and is therefore taught the applicable techniques. Not the only reasons, but food for thought.

I have definately found this. This is quite amusing actually, cos there was a post in the Karate section (I think it was) that said someone had made the observation that Karate people are too attached to being on their feet. As I was saying in the other one, it all comes down to comfort zone. People will always revert to what they are comfortable with.

hahaha, you beat me to it.

I always find this amusing when people find this out. It is such an exciting discovery for students to find there is more to Shotokan than they first thought. Well Done! To qualify myself.... I have been training in Shotokan for 19 years now and I guess I have done a bit of study of it over those years. Here's a bit of a history lesson that should answer both questions. Shotokan is litterally translated as "Shoto's Hall" "Shoto" is the pen name given to a Japanese poet called Gichin Funakoshi. So all the name means is that it was Gichin Funakoshi's place. Anyway, as most of you know, Gichin Funakoshi is renowned as the creater of Shotokan and is often labelled as the "Father of Modern Karate". What most people don't know is that Funakoshi was close friends with Jigaro Kano, a Jiu Jitsu practitioner and the founder of Judo. Funakoshi wanted Jiu Jitsu lessons and in exchange, gave Kano Karate lessons. Both of them encourperated part of this into their arts. Both men were interested in promoting the arts in Japan and world wide. They decided together that the way to do this was to promote it through the school system. To do so, they believed they would need to come up with a system that was safer for kids and that worked more on the physical aspects than the devastating techniques. As such Funakoshi moulded his Shotokan in a way that it could be practised safely. The lethal techniques were still taught, but only to higher level students that had been training for some time. This is why many people look at Shotokan and say it's not effective, but the more devastating techniques are not taught to beginners (usually the people that make these comments). Kano on the other hand felt that a better way to do it would be to maintain his art as it was, but to create a whole new art that was suitable for children and for competition. Hence the creation of Judo. (and why Judo is also sometimes critisized for not being effective). I'm not passing judgement of either style, just stating history as I have found it.

The spelling are inter-changable. Don't worry about them. As for the difference between the two, I'll try to summarise. (and generalise) Japanese Jiu Jitsu - 85% standup, 15% groundwork Brazillian Jiu Jitsu - 5% standup, 95% groundwork

Grand Master, Master, Hanshi, Kancho etc. Most of us agree that the term Sensei or Sifu etc means something along the lines of instructor or teacher, but at what point does someone gain a higher respect? While cruising the pages of this forum, I have seen talk of people called Grand Master from 3rd Dan and people with 6th Dan that are just Sensei. So, I'm looking for your input. What titles have you come across? What do they mean? What is expected of someone with these titles? When should they be issued? When ARE they issued?

You raise some good points, and I see what you are trying to say. What you are failing to recognise though is what other people are saying and also the context in which others live. Here in Australia for instance, concealing a knife is enough to send you behined bars. They usually don't, but they could. Forget guns... We have had this debate before so I won't endeavour to quote statistics either, it just starts up a big argument and there are too many people with strong beliefs. I will say this. Fights are sometimes ended with guns. Fights are ALWAYS started by narrow minded people.

Kali is most commonly only taught as a weapons art. There is however, a lot more to it. If you find an instructor that teaches the whole art, it is much like JKD. In fact, the foremost authority on JKD (Dan Inosanto) teaches his JKD with a heavy Kali focus. This would be a good art for self defence in it's whole form, not so good in just stick form. Goju Ryu Karate is traditional Japanese karate. It has fairly long low stances and linier movements. It's focus is on power and making few movements, but making them work well. I have no knowledge of Systema Kempo is a Chinese form of Karate. Think of it this way. From one martial art, the Japanese took what they liked and called it Karate, the Chinese took what they like and called it Kempo. There is also an amercian version created my Ed Parker. Kempo is also a stand-up striking art, but concentrates on a closer distance and more rapid movements. It concentrates on more hits, but they are probably not as effective of that in Karate. Having trained in Kali, Kempo and Karate, I would recommend Kempo if your main criteria was Self Defence.

School: Adelaide Academy of Combat and Defence (muliple arts) Club: Shotokan Karate-Do Association (just Karate part) Instructors: Brian Donaldson, Shawn Donaldson(me)

Jean-Jaques Machado is an honerable man and one of the best BJJ (if not THE best) practitioners in the world. Chuck Norris (so I have heard) is also an ethical man. I highly doubt he would be given a Black Belt without earning it. These men of all people would understand that a Black Belt is only worth the effort that is put into gaining it.

I think that's a great idea. If I were her, I would love it!!

You raise a fantastic point that I come across fairly regularly. People think that being compitant in their art means they are a compitant all round fighter or worse still that they are invincible. To all people in martial arts, I have a message. Never are we training to be able to always defend ourselves. To expect that, we are expecting the impossible. We are simply training to increase our chances of such. Expecting the impossible, ruins our defence because we reduce our awareness and therefore ability to re-act. A martial artist who is full of himself has less chance of defending himself as a cautious person with no training at all.

I'm against it, period. I love guns, I love shooting, but only in a shooting range. Guns promote guns. If the thugs have guns, then people carry guns to protect themselves. Then more thugs start carrying guns. And the cycle continues. I know from previous experience on this forum, I am in the minority, so please don't bother with a big long post as to why you think they are justified. I already know there are many that feel the opposite to me, but thought I'd post lettting you know there are some that feel the other way.

I personally find Japanese easier to use in Karate, but beginners generally find it harder. In other styles I've trained in, they use English only.

I see. Yes I also study ICHF. If you look at the original combat hapkido syllabus as taught by GM Pallegrini, you will find it does not include such things as ground work and stick fighting. There are other modules that have been added later (eg. the ground fighting part from Master Rodreguez or the Pressure Points part added from that other guy (can't think of his name), but the primary modules are abbreviated version of traditional hapkido. As well as the extra modules, individual instructors often also add parts they have learned elsewhere (we do this too).

I'm not sure I understand your statement. A very good way of looking at it!

I hope it never does. If you've ever spoken to someone who's been in a real knife fight, you'll very quickly figure out that the chance of being cut is extremely likely.

There two main reasons. One is the olympics. This is the main reason. In those competitions, there are significant restrictions that do not apply on the street. This is the most visible form of the art and therefore, what those relate as what TKD is in full. The second is that to some degree, it's not. But this applies to all arts. People see the high kicks etc and say "but I'll never fight someone 12 feet tall". This is true, but what they fail to realise is that the style was created for the common people to defend themselves against enemies on horses. At the time of creation of the art, it was very effective for it's given purpose. The reasoning for high kicks has been lost as has the effectiveness of them, but people fail to realise there is a lot more to TKD than just high kicks.

What you must remember is that although some schools teach grappling, Karate is generally a stand up art. We spend much time educating our students how to fight while on their feet. Therefore, this is where they are comfortable. People will always go to their comfort zone. This will get better with more grappling practise.

That's not true. Traditional Hapkido would never have you doing triangle chokes or butterfly sweeps from the guard (From BJJ), brush traps (from Wing Chun), stick/knife fighting (Filipino arts)...I could go on. Combat Hapkido is far from be "abreviated" traditional hapkido. Ineffective traditional techniques have been taken out and new techniques are constantly being added. Which combat hapkido system have you been studying???