G95champ

Who are you going to throw? No it don't hurt and yes you will change to fit your body is that a bad habbit? I don't know. As long as you try and keep it as close to what your being taught no big deal I would not think. Don't make home training a replacment for the dojo but as much as you train the better you will become.

Yes and No lol. Our white belts are consider 10 and 9 Kuy however the first test they take is for their 8th Kuy or Gold Belt. 10th for us is a general understanding of what the basic moves are and 9th is when we think they are ready to start learning Heian Shodan. Its a mental judgement on my part and really the student is never really told they are a 10th or 9th Kuy.

I don't know really being an athlete helps. Sometimes people just come in and pick things up and look good. Does that mean they can fight? No. Does it mean they are good? not really. Its just means they learn quick and got athletic ability. No question being a athlete helps but it don't mean others can not be better.

You need to have your bread and butter move....

Lewis looked like a differant guy no plan no control just wild. He should have lost. Heck he did everywhere except where it counts.

No question. MA is in everything you do. It can apply to sports, education, work, love, family, vacation, etc.

When testing a Black Belt they must meet these things in my mind. 1. Can they defend themselves against a person of equal size, age, strength, and ability. Hopefully this is better but its the least thing I look at. 2. Do they have a GOOD understanding of the orgins of Shotokan its History, evoulution, teachers, ideas, customs, etc.... 3. Do they have the ability to teach a beginnner the basics. Hopefully this is better as well. 4. Are they mature... This is a big one... Do they respect the rank and the work or is it just a trophey for them. Do they respect the teachers and younger students. Basically are they a good person.... 5. Would they make me proud. More importantly would they make my teacher proud if they walked into his dojo and said I am ___________ a first Dan under Sensei Justice. Or would I hope they never met. LOL...

We do the same but we do go to the ground in a guard, mount, cross mount etc. However your right that once we do a throw we teach the big strike if we can but I also teach the guy being taken down to try and get in a good ground defense by pulling the other guy down with him. I done some BJJ in college and a Judo 2nd Dan takes our class once a week and he helps us out a lot.

Key is the hips not the legs. However you can never stretch the hamstrings enough. Your standard V stretch. Set down legs wide go down L/R/Middle hold 15 seconds or more. Do several reps. You can also do a varation of this stretch by setting in frot of a wall and ussing the wall to push your feet out as you go Left and Right only. Squat or Sumo stretch. Stand with feet a bit wider than shoulders and squat. Place your elbows inside you knees and push out with you elbows on your knees. Drop you butt as low as you can. Doggie Style Stretch. LOL. Get on all 4's. Split at your knees as wide as you can then push your hips back. Keep your back flat. IF IT DONT HURT YOUR DOING SOMETHIGN WRONG!!!. Leand forward and relax then go wider. Kicking high is not a big deal unless you putting on a demo but to get the legs us focus on the hips. Always do plenty of toe touching type stretches to keep the hamstrings loose because they play a factor and will keep you healthy.

Yeah but we do wear MMA gloves for what its worth. With that said I do teach my guys to control head contact espically face. Just because of the danger. If you watch any traditional Shotokan traing films of the early tournments they were pretty hard core. LOL.... I should also say that once we go to a standing clinch if a throw is not made in say 2 or 3 seconds both guys sort of tap and back off and restart. So were not on the ground a lot but we do go down if a clean throw or takedown is made.

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome

I just saw the Lewis title fight on HBO last night and guys he was so lucky that dudes eye was bleeding like crazy. Lewis did not look like Lewis. He beat Tyson and Hollyfield with techinque espically the jab. I know he only had 2 weeks to get ready for this fight but looked like a differant guy. He was throwing wild overhand punches. It was a great fight. Looked like a Rocky fight. I was waiting to see Mr. T in the crowd. If you get a chance watch it. This was the best heavy weight fight I have saw in a long time. I should say exciting not best. LOL. Can't wait to see Roy Jones Jr. as a heavyweight.

Its not that you have to always win its that you don't ever have to loose.

centuryma.com

amen

We spar with what we call shock factor. We don't do point sparring. I think it useless. We don't go all out because we don't want to hurt each other but were pretty close. We do takedowns, low kicks, throws, etc. What I mean by shock factor is if we see I guy is dazed we back off. Otherwise we baiscally play to the tap. Meaing work it to a submission or just when I call time.

I teach 3 class that last 2 hrs each per week

I would say with the rise of things like the UFC eveyone has now taken notice of the importance of the groud game. Most TMA don't get into any ground work until later in your training and then its not a lot. As far as kata goes I will back kata as being the greatest training tool until the day that I die.

Its just the catch word. Eveyone calls any type of tighting that one kicks - karate. IMO this is what gives a lot of traditional arts a bad name because a lot of non karate schools call themselves karate and don't know better.

wait and bait

Well you hit anyone in the throat or grion its going to phase them. LOL. You know sometimes you run into people who are just rough tough guys. In that case lots of times your just S. O. L. Throws and armbars are gennerally set up by something like a punch anyhow. Shooting and taking a guy down is a bit differant but if he is a BIG guy you may think twice about that anyhow. Kicks to the knee and leg will slow down a lot of people. That would be my plan of attack if I came across a big dude that looked like death warmed over.

If he is going to be there to supervise it then its a differant story. The open sessions we had were unsupervised. Which was not a good idea because it was a bucnh of us HS kids running wild. LOL. Thank God no one ever got his head broke. LOL....