SenseiMike

I'm guessing they do a lot of point sparring in Japan too then. My signature is from a conversation that took place between myself, an ITF instructor and a WTF instructor. It expresses my philosophy that the MA's are fighting arts and should be trained as such. No I don't see myself as a "grand master....blah...blah...whatever" I think you are reading too much into this. But I think if more karate students trained in a way that resembled real fighting, then you'd see the style as more competitive in that arena. That's all I've been saying.

Good points both of you, I see deffinately what you mean. I guess I am taking it to personal, but it does put a lot of hardship on me to cancel at the last minute, refund the tickets that I pre-sold, cancel the trophy and tee-shirt orders, etc... But I do see what you mean.

Yes, but isn't that fighting dirty? I'm not saying training grppling is bad, just that I think staying on your feet is better in a nasty situation where you could face multiple aggressors. A standing submission tho, in which you retain more mobility, is probaly a better option. but thas imo, which doesn't really matter

I learned them from my sensei, but they've been further refined by my good friend Adam who holds a black belt in Ju Jutsu. Nobody is take down proof, but we're a heck of a lot harder to take down than most.

I have the upmost respect for BJJ, I never meant to imply that I don't. I feel that karate is poorly represented these days, and if it wasn't, then you'd see Karate guys put up way, way, way, much more of fight. If you're from the school I'm thinking of, then nope, never been in there, but I shop @ wal-mart and generaly avoid the mall all-together, didn't know you guys moved untill Cliff told me on the phone. I do think that purple belts in bjj should fight at black belt in my tourney because of the time in rank requirement in bjj. Most of the schools I invited, a black belt would have about 2 years experience, maybe more depending on dan level, but between 2 and 2.5 years is about average in karate, tkd, etc..

No, I'm not a national level coach. never claimed to be. All I said was that if karate hadn't fallen into the it's present state of glorified point sparring and instead had retained it's fighting heritage, then you would not see karateka beaten so easily when they do fight in mixed style competition.

Well, that clarifies alot. I have to ask, how politically/socially connected are you with the instructors of those schools? You need to apply marketing 101 on these people. The question, I am sure they ask themselves, which is either the deal breaker or maker is... "What's in it for me?" If you can show something that answers that question for each instructor, I think you will find the resistance start to disappear. That's a good point, I advertised the tournament to the schools as a local event, a way to showcase different styles in a venue that would attract spectators, and create interest for the schools in our own area. I would understand a simple "we're not a fighting school" response, but it's the way in which the other instructors are handeling it that upsets me, Instead of (with a few exceptions) just coming out and saying that, most are simply sweeping it under the rug.

I founded mine on 3 simple philosophies that I'm proud to say my students carry with them everyday: 1) No school should ever charge more than the average student can pay. 2) The instructor may the teacher, but he works for the student, as the student is the one who pays the bills, the teacher should strive to be accesible to the students at all times. 3) Karate is a fighting style, not an aerobics class, not a point based game, and it should be taught as such. My guys not only understand this, but they carry it with them, and those who I turn into a teacher, will opperate there schools that way too. So, in reguards to the last post, those are the beliefs are what The Rising Sun Dojo were founded on, and more than anything else, they are what matter at my school.

Can you explain to me the difference between a "knock down tournament" and "modified full contact" please? Knock down means just that..know them down or out. What is modified full contact? Isn't full contact the same thing? Somebody tells me we're fighting full contact, and you're dang sure right that I'm going to put them under as quickly as possible. yes i can, actually very easy to do so. Full contact, as was clearly stated, is fighting in FULL GEAR, kyokushin knockdown is bare knuckle. My tournament was designed for the l"non hard core" student to feel comfortable. but let me rephrase this better, It's not the students who aren't interested, it's the instructor's discarding the information instead of passing it down. Yes, I do know that for a fact, as I've talked with many students from some local schools via mutual friends. I refuse to disrespect the teacher and address their clss myself, but the guys just don't want their students coming to my tournament. I have my own beliefs about this, mostly about the competition between schools here.

Nobody should ever have to change relegions, but some people's strict faith may limit the scope of abilities. Not meditating is fine for physical chi, but meditation is needed for the higher levels.

Nothing wrong with that. Not all Shotokan organizations are sport oriented. Some teach point kumite and some don't. I'm a Shotokan stylist and when I was coming up through the ranks my dojo sparred both hard contact and point sparring. We also practiced bare knuckle kumite. These days the organization leans more toward competition but each branch dojo is free do teach pretty much how they want. I am not a "sport karate" type of guy and don't teach that kind of thing. I prefer no safety equipment (foot and hand pads) and hard contact and I'm not a stand alone instructor. I think people confuse systems and personal preferences. Kyokushin isn't any different than Shotokan or Goju or anything else, as a matter of fact it's made up of both styles. What is different is the way the particular organization chooses to run it's training/kumite/competition. Same techniques, different way of practicing them. The individual is free to practice however he likes though. When you really think about it, if your system or organization is entering competition, no matter if it's light contact or knockdown, it's still competition. that makes what you're doing a combative sport. It's geared toward competition. Some traditional Okinawan schools never compete at all and there are Shotokan schools that don't believe in or practice that way also (Shotokai). These schools practice only realistic applications of their art and it cannot be practiced/performed safely as in competition. Even knockdown is not true technique otherwise people would be getting seriously injured and /or killed. I don't see that Sensei Mike is doing anything but practicing his Shotokan as it is ment to be practiced. I think the competition folks, no matter the style, are the ones doing "something different" a modern morph/modification of the system. Tommy wow, that was really nicely said. really nice

It wasn't a knock down tournament, The rules were clearly stated, standard free sparring rules, moddified for full contact. The judge applications went out long before the competitor applications did. I refused to take any part in judging or as a refferee. The only response i got was "we don't fight full contact", over & over again.

I've spent months organizing a full contact tournament here in town, and not one of the local schools here is willing to send even one competitor. It's not knockdown, I'm requiring a full set of pads to be worn in every fight. But I just can't belive in a city with as many MA schools as mine, not one would send a single student.

To tell you the truth I think submissions on the street are not a good Idea, If i'm at a bar, my buddy picks a fight with you, you put him in a submission, it has effectively "locked" you up as well. So I'm just gonna pick up a bar stool and hit you in the head with it really, on the street, fighting dirty is a much better bet.

My school's like a freaken hot-box in the summer so we're all cover in sweat. If it goes to the ground it usually ends up in a ground in pound as the sweat makes us to slippery for any kind of lock. However a good choke should still work, I can work my fore arms in there pretty good no matter what.

Goju has 12 I think.

because by and large wrestlers don't fight like that, some judo-ka do, and they do stand like that. example: Judo an art of mostly throwing that can include take downs submissions Wrestling an art soley of take downs & submissions A karateka fights to stay on his feet, but get the opponent off of his. I'd say 90% of karate schools don't do propper stance training, if they did, you'd see a big difference on the national level.

Yup that's it. I teach shotokan, and I love it, but I like to teach it as an actual fighting style, which is where the knockdown fighting comes in.

I really wasn't going hybrid, I'm happy with my shotokan I just like the whole knockdown fighting in general

In the contemporary karate world that we live in, a "stand alone school" may lack the credibility and popularity that affiliated schools have. You've got to be a well-known personality by your own right/name and achievement in karate to be able to compete equitably if you are a stand-alone rather than affiliated with a nationally known or better still an internationally known karate organization. If you have to affiliate, I suggest you affiliate with a Shotokan organization to avoid political and technical conflicts with the mother organization. Besides, as you must be feeling right now, you may not be feeling like you belong, right? I don't know, I actually felt more alienated by the shotokan groups as they wanted so much money, and everything has to be done their way. The IFKK is giving me a cheap way to get my students out into tournaments here and abroad. As for everything else. I think that it's only really been the non-affliated schools I went to that I really learned anything at. The restt of the big schools I've been too, were all really McDojoish.

you can do this n shotokan too, you just have to remember to keep your body loose. The more you work it, the faster you can turn it on. do this when running kata, you'll be a bad S.O.B. pretty soon

This will tick off people that believe in it, but NO. it is not a supernatural force. I've spent the last few years researching this and have found many things that show its a result of natural developments in the body. For example, the breaking of a single board or brick in a stack can be duplicated with a machine- no spiritual force there. It's a matter of force, acceleration and how far the techniques is stopped in the top piece. I can literally spend almost and hour and a half lecturing on this topic, so I can't write everything here. As an example, I've taught aikido's "unbendable arm" to non martial artists in less than 2 minutes without teaching anything about ki. It's a matter of what's called relaxed tension and correct body alignment. Also you get better at it over time because the individual tricep muscle fibers become better at firing all at one time the more you practice this. The strength increase from this natural development alone is amazing. This is why a 70 year old man that's been doing this for 50 years can resist a 30 yr old muscle bound practitioner. Also, when you look at the videos the uke are all tensed up. This robs tremendous amounts of power from their efforts due to several physiological factors. I've ticked off a few "unbendable arm" practitioners by using the same principles, mentioned above, they use to hold their arm straight when I bend their arm. They first assume I have "strong ki". When I explain to them what I did, they get upset because the explanation is contradictory to their "belief system". Here's a post I made on another forum about kiais, stopping people with "ki" in a kiai and "killer kiai" There is no DOCUMENTED case of someone being killed by a kiai. By documented, I mean an incident where independent witnesses could verify the story. Independent means students of the person making the claim are NOT the source. What I will describe here is one viewpoint on the kiai, so many will probably disagree. Although this is a long post, I'll try to keep it as short as possible by not going into intricate detail. There's a lot of myth circulating around a kiai. Part of this is from MA history where a physiological reaction is explained from a spiritual perspective. This is understandable as there is much about the internal workings of the body that were unknown at the time. Before talking about what makes a correct kiai and why, let's look at the physiological effects of a correct kiai on the karateka. The effect on the practitioner is two fold. With a correct kiai, there will be a slight flush in the practitioner, the pulse rate elevates slightly, and in some cases, the hair on the back of the neck or even the arms will stand up. This is very similar to the reaction caused by an adrenaline rush. Some studies were performed that showed certain noises can produce an adrenaline rush in the body, regardless of the source. They also found deep regulated breathing allows you to "control" the adrenaline rush. Note the effects of breathing in the following quote: "As described by Jim Viceroy, a Chicago-area exercise physiologist and sports psychology consultant, the body works like a piston-stretching and contracting, storing energy and releasing it-while executing a volleyball slam. Says Viceroy: "Your body goes through a series of cocking all your joints. Your hips cocks and your trunk cocks, your elbow and your wrist-like rubber bands. You store elastic energy, you create the most tension possible in the body, and you increase the range of motion, including the chest. By taking a nice deep breath, you're presetting your muscles, stretching them. And so when you exhale, if you do it correctly, you'll get this whole marshaling of all those muscles at the same time, and this generates enormous force. Therefore you have more velocity, more power. The effect is partially psychological; much like the kiai, the shout of the martial artist, it breaks down inhibitions and intimidates the opponent. Of course, the force generated by the kiai would propel a backhanded tennis ball over the fence." Comment- earlier in the article, they explain that a "nice deep breath" means breathing with the diaphragm. Summary- The physiological/psychological effects of a kiai performed at the right time, help synchronize the movement with the kiai, firing the "cocked" muscles and creating a strong mental intent that breaks down inhibitions that would keep you from releasing your full strength. The rapid release of breath in the kiai, coupled with the increased adrenaline results in a noticeable jump in power (increased strength from increased adrenaline is a well documented phenomena). In addition, the forced deep inhalation also helps the practitioner utilize the adrenaline rush in a "fight" response rather than a flight response. One of the things kata practice does is aid in teaching you to control your breathing and link it to your movements. He did mention the effect on the opponent. Let's take a quick look at that. Short, loud noises create the fight or flight reaction. This happens in species other than man. Example of such noises would be the initial clap of thunder, a pot dropped on the floor behind you, someone sneaking up behind you and yelling 'boo' loudly. Many times this will cause a momentary hesitation before the flight reaction takes over. The same thing happens with a proper kiai. It will induce a temporary "flight response" in your opponent, which can cause a pause in their movement and thought processes. This gives you a great advantage. The only thing is, the more often you kiai against an opponent, the less effect it has. I use this as a training tool with my students. I have literally stopped them in their tracks during ippon on either their attack or counter. I work with them and tell them to learn to continue in spite of the kiai. They get better over time, although a kiai at an unexpected moment can still freeze them. You can see it rob power from a more advanced student's technique when delivered unexpectedly. (Stand behind them and kiai). The fact that a strong kiai breaks down inhibitions can be seen when teaching people to kiai. Hence- the teaching that a strong kiai= a strong fighting spirit. A beginners initial kiais are weak and ineffective. Making them stand and practice their kiai can often induce giggles and smiles in beginners. Ask them why and they'll say "it just seems funny". When they can get past the social conditioning (don't yell or raise your voice) and really cut loose with a good kiai, this mentally sets them up for delivering full power techniques. I get a chuckle when I see a beginner produce their first good kiai and actually startle themselves Now onto a proper kiai- First- the air should be forced out using the diaphragm Second- it should be SHORT. No Bruce Lee drawn out waahhh's, eeee's and oooohhh's. (sorry BL fans, but that was for the movies). Third- it should be LOUD Fourth- the sound should be produced without any consonants. The reason for this is making a consonant sound like the 'k' in kiai restricts the breathing and slows down the expulsion of air Fifth- do NOT exhale 100% of your air. Anyone that's been hit with no air in their lungs will tell you it's worse than being hit with your lungs full. Keep 10-15% of your air. Think of your kiai as a "Clap of thunder" or the sound of a gunshot. It should crack the silence like a whip. Can it kill? I guess if the opponent had a weak heart and was untrained it would be the same as some people that have literally been "scared to death". Can a kiai stop an animal? Yes- under the right conditions. Often the initial fright reaction makes an animal freeze (tiger's roar as an example).[/i] Hope this helps. I hate qoteing something that long, but i needed too, The unbendable arm use of Ki only refres to the base line of ki development which is mind controling the body, you have proven nothing other than that you can also control the muscles of your body, and thus are in your self a base level ki practioner However you can not explain away the higher level of ki development that includes the healing abilities of which scientific documentation is readily available Christains call this "faith healing", othes call it reiki.

when you reach "can your soul be ki? and if so, can God be your soul? then can God be ki?" This is where it creates the conflict between your religion and your training(ki). if you keep following what you just said, you will being to think as if you were God, since God is ki, and God is your soul and then you compare God to ki- you are suggesting that you can control God and that God is balanced and willed in you(by yourself) because of your training??? Trying to avoid this conclusions is why they say religion and taoist(or budhist)filosophy dont mix. Budhism believes that a creator does exist, and that as we were created by such a being, we are a part of that being, and yes in our own lives we are in a way our own god(s). We believe the physical world to be a mere illusion that our mind creates for us so that we may experience things that would not be posible without a physical world. Ki is everything, the world is Ki, we are Ki, it unifies us, it is part of us, thus we are a part of everything. I was raised christain but left on my own accord, eventually Ki study combined with scientific research lead me to Budhism. The phiosophy of which has greatly improved my abilities I really don't feel that you can make much progrees in it without conflicting your faith.

charka charts, chi-gung exercises, sanchin kiko, reiki, aikido exercises, micro cosmic orbit, macro cosmic orbit. My kata is my chi exercises, combined with seated meditation. I find sanchin to be the basic level of ki manipulation, what every martial artist should have to know, the coordination of mind body and breath. Sanchin work will lead to a zen like mind set, and facilitate woking the micro cosmic orbit, that is circulating ki thro the meridians and chakras. The micro cosmic orbit can facilitate healing abilities such as shiatsu massage (japanese accupressure) and after you've made a good ammount of progress you can move up to the macro cosmic orbit, this moving beyond you're physical body, where the real cool stuff happens.

I don't agree..Not everything is physics..Chi is not Physics because Physics only works in a 3 dimentions..Chi is 4th dimenton. No, classic physics works only in 3 dimentions, however modern physics works on the base level of existence, which is multiple dimentios. I.E. super-string theory, which works at the 10th dimention. Yup, everything is physics