G95champ

What Dan are you in Shotokan?

Im sorry I dont put a lot of stock in the combat ki stuff. First of all the body is not made to take shots like they were taking. I personally think anyone I kick in the chest while on their knees Ill kill..... Not to say Im a better Martial Artist but when my students hold a kicking shild for me I move them 2 or 3 feet backwards and off the ground. Besides everyone it showed had to take a few seconds to get ready. Im sorry when attacked you don't got a few seconds. I thought the traing was dangerous. I spent 30mins of my TR night class explaining what Iron body was and how the things they saw on TV were not IMO real. Much less a good idea. I think Discovery used that to showcase Martial Arts. Most who are not in martial arts hold it on a high platform. I know this by comments like hes a black belt. Dont fight a blakc belt their bad. You hear it all the time. I think Discovery used that show to make more of those people. I have done some Iron Body and do practice Ki or Chi ever which term you prefer but I teach it as more of controling your adriolin and not force field that protects you.

That would be fun but Im going to do it the hard way LOL. My left index finger took a hard lick from the U key so I may be out a few days LOL. But Ill be back stronger than ever.

It was on Wed. night. It was a few hours long and coverd a lot fo Martial Arts it was very good. However I have never saw anything as amazing and crazy and that Combat Ki.

Im a yellow belt in the art of posting. LOL. May take some time to get that 1000 in oh. LOL. Got to go back to the dojo and train now.

Often I have kids come in to class who want to know how soon it will take them to be a black belt. I give them a catalogue and say here order you belt and go home. I stress its much better tp be a relly good low rank than a poor or even ok high rank. You gain much more respect from others and for yourself that way. If you are in Martial Arts for the belt you need to go do something else. Its not about that. I had a friend in college who said he had been in karate for 18 years. He was still a while belt. He was NO WHITE BELT in my book. He said his father in Japan taught him and he was only given one belt. He went on to say that once that belt turned black he would be a Sensei and once it went full circle adn turned white again he would only then be a master. Goes to show how waterd down our ranks are. LOL. With that said Im a 2nd Dan in Shotokan. As far as skill Im ok. I think I make up a lot in knowledge. I was up for my 3rd Dan test 2 years ago. Which I choose not to take part in it. I will not test for my third until I think I am a REAL good 2nd Dan and that may not be for some time. I

Shotokan is not one punch one kill. I agree to that. The one punch one kill idea means finish the fight ASAP. Don't waste time. However I still think most traditional Martial Arts have a one strike chance to beat a quality grappler. Power is a rusult of speed. Thus to build power you don't lift weights as much as you practice getting faster. Speed + Techinque = Power. Simple Math. Muscle and Body Mass has little to do with it. Thus all good Shotokan students I have met are very fast. It takes a very skilled fighter not to go down when rushed. From my experiance I have learned a quality ju-jutsu fighter or wrestler can throw you from almost any postion once they get a hand on you. Now I have counterd alot of those throws and takedowns but we still went down and once I was on the ground I was at a disadvantage. As most strikers will be. As far as our ideas on not striking first. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. We train by warning signs. Such as hands in the pockets, hand goes inside the jacket, clinching fists, etc. In such cases you can not afford to wait. I have cross trained myself and picked up a lot fo ju-jitsu and hipakido. I use a lot of there self-defense and ground work in my classes. If the world was a perfect place and everyone followed Martial Arts codes as they shoudl no one would attack becasue like you stated we do not attack first. Thus if no one ever attacks first then there is no need for self defense and martial arts. Maybe you should study the Yin and the Yang. In all good there is evil. You can not have one without the other. You can not have offense without defense. You can not have power without speed, and you cant have strinking without grappeling. I have came up with this bit on knowledge on my one. All Martial Arts leads to the same place. Think of it like a set of baseball cards. It don't really matter which card I get first or what rout of training I take in the end I will have compled the set and saw all aspects of training. Shotokan has some really nice Guard work in the Tekki Kata series. It also has some great join locks hidden in other kata as well as weapon defense. Most of this is in upper black belt kata. WHich only a few of Shotokan students ever get to. However if they did they would gain that well roundness. I have went on to long my fingers hurt.

Hello, I have been here less than a week and love it.

Im not going to be in GQ anytime soon. Yeah Im fat but most of the time when people hear 300lbs they think fat as in lard butt fat. I am fat but I got a lot of muscle tone under it. Im the first to and last up from the table. LOL

Yes Im a big guy not as fat as you would thinka 315lbs guy to be. I do a lot of weight training. Howver I am the smallest male in my family. My dad is 6'4 and right at 400lbs and my younger brother si playign football at WVU and he is 6'7 290. So I come fom a long line of BIG men. I got some pics I will have to get scanned but I will put one up soon. Thanks for the info above.

Strikers got one shot to beat a grappler. That is the KO. sure if I hit a guy in the face clean he will go down. However how hard is it to hit anyone in the face clean. If you assume a fight won't be on the ground I will bet you end up there. One is stupid not to trainon the ground if they are looking to be a well rounder martial artist. I am a firm believer in one punch one kill but you got to make sure that punch lands. Hitting a person and hitting a bag or boards are very differant. I do agree that most of us in the USA do fight in a freestyle type system. However I was speaking in terms of tradition and class practice. Low stances are great for a leg workout but lots of shotokan students don't realize you are not supposed to fight that low. However I have seen some do it and do it very well. I personally think if you take a grappler and a striker of equal ability in there given style the grapple will win 9 out of 10 times only because it is hard to land a clean KO like you are talking about. With that said what grapplers don't realize in a street fight if you go down and they guy you are fighting has friends you are in a lot of trouble. Thus I favor striking over grappleing. Only becasue I am mor likly to be jumped than I am to enter competions.

I just reread my post I should not say I only don't compete in tournys becasue I don't believe in fighting to shocase talent. I also don't compete becasue Ima 6'1 315lbs dude. I do have good speed for a man my size but not for point system sparring. LOL.

No I wish I were a grand champion. LOL I do not compete it tournments only because I don't believe in fighting to prove how good or bad one is. I do allow and support my students if they wish it oh. In 1995 my Sr. Year in High School we won the State Football Championship in West Varginia. So I am a champion but in a team sport LOL......

The differance is like night and day. 1. Suprise when sparring you know who your fighting and pretty much what he does well and not sl well. Street fighting you don't know if you got one or 2 or 15 and how good they are. 2. Weapons are fair game. I don't care how bad you think you are a knife will still cut you and a bullet will still kill you. 3. Enviorment sveral things here. One lingthing. I would bet a fight on the street takes place at night more often than not. Thus seeing becomes harder. Weather you got to account for rain, mudd, and other things. Also what type of surface are you on. Falling down on carpet or wood floors are much better than on gravel or blacktop. 4. Dress or clothing. I don't care how many jumping or spinning kicks you can throw in class try them in blue jeans and boots. 5. Supervisors in class while sparring sometimes people get a bit hot but teachers and other students are there to step in. On the street once you are getting pounded you better hope the cops come by pretty soon. Im sure they are more but these are the ones I make light of when speaking to people about karate.

BTW we do that kick at the end of the kata as a jump front more so than a double kick. Chambering the knee as though steppng on a box and then doing the jump front. I have saw it done several ways as I am sure most of you have.

There are just some moves one can't do. Not because of effort always. I know I would not hold ones physical ability aginst them in a test. There is a jump in Unsa that only very few can do correctly but still we have people walking arround claiming to have masterd it. I don't know where you train but If I were your Sensei and saw you could not physically complete a move I would turn a blind eye to it. Karate is not how high and hard you can kich or hit but if you understand what you are doing. If you got the mental the physical does not matter.

We train with no shoes 80% of the time. However I have several women in class who want to wear them so I allow it. Also once evey 2-3 months we have what we call a steet class day where we all train in blue jeans, shoes, sweat shirts and just normal clothes. We do this because if you are ever attacked you won't have the confort of being in a loose gi. The class seems to like it and its one less time I have to Iron my Gi LOL Also add we do train outside in both shoes and no shoes. To each his own IMO....

I understand some may not wish to post such info but it seems that they are some well experienced people here. Which shocks me because I don't think of Martial Artist being on line LOL.... Gehrig Justice 2nd Dan Shotokan Karate 1st Dan American TAO Karate Ju-Jitsu and Tia boxing exp. no rank Started in Feb. of 1993 Im 24

I personally do not teach or practice point sparring with my students. Unless I have some who wish to compete in a tourny. I feel point sparring will get you hurt on the streets. There are not TO's and Refs to stop the action. When we spar we wear shin guards, and gloves, We work at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full speed. Depending on the day. The only time we stop action is after a take down or a person seems to be stuned. Now let me point out you can NOT do this with beginners. We teach control all the time. I have no doubt that the great Martial Artistis can win a lot of fights with point sparring but I am not one, nor are 99% of those who train. I am a big guy (6'1 315lbs) I am not going to win many point tournys. No one can tell me that a punch to my chest is going to score more than me kicking therre leg. I've done full contact and if you ever fight a true Thia fighter you don't want nothign to do with many leg kicks. LOL. Point systems are nice to teach for tournys so no one gets hurt but by no means do I think a karate school should use them as the only sparring practice. [ This Message was edited by: G95champ on 2002-04-01 22:27 ]

I am also going to post under the ju-jitsu sections because Im very intrested in learning more about it. I will be here and there I guess but mostly Ill be in the Intro and Karate part. Thanks

Let me add I am currently 6'1 315lbs and 24 years old. I started training when I was 14 and was about 200lbs then. Now Im not going to be on baywatch any time soon but Martial Arts and lots of weight training have made me a pretty solid 315lbs. You can not change the past or predict the future but you can live in the presant. Do what you can so tomarrow you will be better off and the past won't be filled with questions.

This is Martial Arts Art being the key word. When something is and art size, shape, or any other physical quality don't matter. Its not like you are going to have to run a 60 yard touchdown or play man to man D on Mike Jordan. Karate is the greatest of all sports becasue anyone can do it. No matter age, sex, disability etc, One of my sensei's when I was in college and I traind a lady who was 52 years old and in a wheel chair. No she could not kick but she learned the art. Meaning she understood the inner meaning of karate. Don't make excuses for yourself of why not to do something. The is no TRY. There is Do or Do Not. You must choose if you wish to Do or Do Not.

Just to see what you all think. Pros 1. Power 2. Well balanced between blocking, punching, kicking, throws, etc. 3. Lots of hiddend moves in the break down of the kata 4. It can be used in either sport or combat and does not favor one over the other. Cons 1. Not enough work on the ground. (Although the Tekki Kata really help) 2. The tradition of low stances makes cross style sparring difficult 3. The lack of weapons. (However it does teach how to defend aginst them) I have found this to be true. Shotokan and most other traditional forms of karate are the best place to start. Only because they are so well rounded. If you are wanting to learn how to kickbox or fight in general stay away from Shotokan because of the lack of grond work. However if you plan on cross training. I think you shuld first practice an art like Shotokan so you have a Great base before getting into other arts that focus on fighting above all else.

Im no master by any means. Yes I hold several ranks and I think I am well knowledged in the arts but Im not Master. Nor will I ever be. My sensei Howie Harvey taught us that only 2 people should wear that title one is Master Gichin Funikoshi only because he started our art. The other is Jesus Christ. [ This Message was edited by: G95champ on 2002-03-31 20:52 ]

I don't think any TKD student will ever do well in the UFC. Because TKD is based on the idea of sport not combat. With that said the UFC did have the best grapplers in the world in it. Such as Gracie, Shamrock, Ruas, etc. I would have liked to see a Roy Jones Jr. or a young Bill Wallace fight them. I think grapplers have a huge advantage over strikers just becasue all fights end up in a clintch or on the ground. However I don't think the UFC has ever been able to get a top striker to go up aginst their top grapplers.