G95champ

only funny because its so true. LOL

Hello hope you hae a good time here, I have.

O don't get me wrong we work on our ki. I just still in shock of how those Combat Ki people train.

IMO the only way being on a golf team or playing any sport will help you get into college is if you are good enough to get a scholarship. I do not think most colleges look at your athletic ability first. However it makes applicatiosn look nice. It shows you are a well rounded person. In college knowing karate helped me get part time work at local YMCA's, and Fitness Centers. I worked as co-instructor, self-defense teacher and weight room advisor. All of which I got a jump on the other guys becasue I was in Martial Arts and had been a Football player. Also in college I was approached by several bars and local busines for bouncing or security but I never took any of them. (Not my thing) Now that I am a teacher I find knowing karate helps me as well. Becasue I have given several classes to other faculty to help them learn how to break up fights and other things of that nature. Karate is a way of life so anything you do in life it will help. Yeah it looks nice on a appl;ication or resume but it alone will not get you into school or a job. I mght add that some colleges have TKD or Judo teams you may want to look into Martial Arts to land you a place on them. Then that way it really could help you get into school.

I have and I have students who do more than one style. As far as basic moves go I have not found a differance. Sure our shotokan kicks are a bit differant than TKD kicks but to each his own IMO. If my kids come back from a TKD class and are throwign beter kicks I don't even think about changing them. I was doing American TAO (a made up art by one of my senseis who held 3 differant black belts TKD, Tang Soo Do and Hipkido). Anyhow almost all the kata we did were very simular in parts to my Shotokan kata. I did not have troulbe learning thm but because they were so much alike I found myslef doing the other kata in each class a lot at first. However after a few months I was able to completely seperate the 2. I stoped training in Americn TAo after I got out of college in 2000. I have basically scrapped all the kata from that style. I only teach and practice the Shotokan kata. Just way more popular and lots of info out on them. Now I took a lot of what I teach and use from the American TAO style but not the kata. Bottom line a front kick is a front kick and a punch is a punch. Each person must adjust to fit their own needs. Do what works for you and forget style. [ This Message was edited by: G95champ on 2002-04-19 07:07 ]

Forgive me if I mess this up but to my understanding karate was fist change byt eh Jamanese Millitary so they could quickly train their army. No need to grapple in combat but a good kick adn punch can help. I may be wrong but I think that is where the major change in pre-20th century karate and modren karate are at. Let me add this if Funakoshi only got into one fight in his life and ended it without throwin a punch that IMO is what karate is all about. As far as teaching it to school children. Well being a HS History teacher myself. Let me say if I could walk to the back of class and slap a kid upside the head eveytime he was not paying attention insted of saying listen up or soemthing well our test scores would go up. LOL.... Might makes right they say. LOL..... Spare the rod and spoil the child thats what the bible says...... Again Im just a country boy for West Virginia what do I know.

I have not read that book however we teach several differant applications for our kata. The first time we teach the basic blocks and punches then we look at the bolcks as punches and turns and stuff as throws and takedowns. There is tons and tons of hidden info in the kata. Look at my post under the horse stance message. The tekki kata is a Guard groudn defense.

I agree 100% application is very important. I do the ones I was taught then I and my students work on other applications that could be hidden in the kata all the time.

You do that Combat Ki stuff I saw on TV?

Fighters make the style the style don't make the fighter. I think Ken Shamrock said that.

Well speaking for us large guys. Im 315 and can't come close to doing a pull up. However I can bench 330. Anything you do has a lot to do with techinque and practice. However its harder for a 300lb guy to do a pull up than a 150lb guy. Its simple math.

We personally do not do any push up or set ups in class. I think people pay to do karate not work out. If they want to lift on their own time more power to them, I do. However when I pay for instruction I want to be taught not to spend 2 hrs doing pushups. We usually do some squat kicks and tention exercises at the end of class for a burn out but they are directily realted to training IMO. If you do karate the way its ment to be donw you will have a well rounded workout.

Welcome Im working on my Masters in US history. LOL.....

Geez 25 classes a week. That is 5 classes a day. We do 2 hr classes, how long are yours. That would be 10 hrs of class a day. I assume you got more than one teacher.

We teach it the first time as just a stand up kata. However once our students get to blackbelt we go back and breakdown each kata in more detail. When we do Tekki as a groud D. kate we teach the wave kick as a kick to the kiddneys if a guy is on top of you. The kosh dachi as half guard. In other words he has one free leg. All the arm moves can simulate head locks, chokes, breaks and cranks to the attacker on top of you. Just takes a little imagination. There are many many moves in all kata that we ahve yet to find or realize Im sure. [ This Message was edited by: G95champ on 2002-04-17 11:25 ]

The horse stance it to build the guard. As in the ground postion. Funakoshi hid it in the Tekki kata for that reason. Shotokan and most karate don't foucs or teach on ground work but is not to say it is not there. Think of the horse stance as laying on your back with a person on top of you and it makes a LOT more sense.

We bring in shifting and other deflection attacks and blocks in about half way though our belt system.

We do 1 year from shodan to nidan then it is 3 from nidan to sandan.

Boxing and wrestling are martial arts that dont use kata.

I teach and train in West Varginia. Now we are a poor state and if you want to keep a class going here you can't charge that much. However I know guys who charge over 100.00 a month. Most schools in southren WV charge between 25 and 45 a month depending on number of classes each week. I try to avg about 5 a class and never anymore than 35 a month.

That is the state not the west part of Virginia. LOL you don't know how ofter we get that.

We do rounds. You may want to start with like 30 seconds and work you way up to 5 mins or so. We do like a round of all hanrd as fast as we can throwing anything. Then a round of all feet again anything as fast as we can. Then we do 2 rounds of everything. As far as power kicking on a hanging bag we only do roundhouse, spinning thrust, and side kicks. When we do those we do like sets of 5 on each leg and work up to like 25 or so. I think I just made my next belt.

Well unless you do that crazy Combat Ki stuff I saw on tv they took shots to the groin. They are more a man or should I say less a man than I am. LOL

Get back to below 300 and get some flexabilty back Long term to be the best I can be at whatever I do.

I know Dalke is the highest ranked American according to the AJKA. Just figured he was the first. My Sensei Howie Harvey tested under him for his Dan.