G95champ

I love Hangetsu and it has never hurt my knees. I don't have bad knees but they have taken some lumps in football and from lifting weights in general.

I never saw it the only one I ever say who fought as just karate was kyokushin and Hackney and both held their own very well.

Welcome

Please go to the introduction section and introduce yourself to everyone. Welcome to KF.

Bad work will build your power. In fact if you are looking to build power it is something that is needed. Throwing kicks and punches in the air is great but you need to know what it is like to hit something and feel how it feels to actully drive past it. Punching Bags are great because you don't have to pull you techinque. In sparring you still pull moves because you may hurt your friends. We do not usually do it in class but many of our students will take 15 mins before or after class and get some reps in on the heavy bag. Bag work is a good training tool if you can not make class for other reasons.

The one Japanese guy who fought Royce Gracie in UFC II used karate. Gracie controled the fight on the ground but it went about 11 mins or so. Keith Hackney was a White Tiger Kempo. He won several fights and had some of the best KO in the early UFC's.

Welcome you may want to make this post in the introduction section because that is where most tend to say hello.

Yeah because the crowd you would draw are the "tough guys" anyhow and you know what happens when you get PRIDE into the mix. LOL. Before I would let guys from other schools into your open sessions I would have them watch your class a few so they know what YOUR rules are that way they know what they are getting into. Its your dojo don't change your platform for other people.

Good point when talent is equal it comes down to who is in better shape.

Welcome to KF

Welcome

Funakoshi said there are 3 parts to karate-do. Basics Kata Sparring You can not have one without the other. Its hard to do basics if you don't see how they would work in a real fight or the combos in a given kata. Kata is taking basics and using them in a way that simulates fighting. Yes I know no real fight woudl ever happen that way but its much the same as a boxer doing shadow boxing. Then of course how can we expect to be a good fighter if we have never worked the basics and know how to punch and kick. How can we be graceful and have good footwork if we don't work out kata. So the 3 are related and one can not survive without the other 2 imo.

You have never seen kata done correctly then. Bassai Dai, Kanku Dai, Hangetsu, are just 3 that comes to mind where you will see some killer hip movement. If you don't see it early on in the Heian kata you are missing out as well. Again I don't know where you saw or learned about karate at but someone is giving you some bad info on it espically when we are talking about Shotokan. Almost every MA on here will tell you that Shotokan's power is only matched by MT because of our hip movement.

DO WHAT???? Nothing in karate is only one body part.... I mean nothing. Everything goes from the feet to the legs to the hips to the torso to the shoulder to the arm and out the fist. What style of MA do you study? Boxers use hips as well but no were close to the extent a traditional karate student will....

oddly I agree with Mr. Green LOL. The Cross and Reverse Punch cover the same ground the idea behind each is differant. That not to say the don't serve the same purpose because they do. The reverse punch is typically thought of as a KO punch and usually the last move in a normal karate combo. The cross is a set up punch in boxing for the hook or uppercut.

We used to always have an open night for anything. Most of us younger guys would come in and spar but others would come in and do anything from bag work to kata to just hanging out. It was a pretty good thing. As far as bringing in other clubs and non members for an open night of sparring you got to be careful. Because a TKD person spars under differant rules than a MT person does in class. A BJJ may control locks more so than a Wrestler etc. So without supervision and some restrictions it could get out of hand. (Fight Clubs LOL). I would be really careful about letting in people from other clubs espically for a sparring match because you run into so much my school is better than you school junk and heads tend to get hot. However the idea is great and it worked really well for us. You are right the more differnat styles, sizes, ages, etc you can train with the better prepared you will be.

Guys Im 25 and have been teaching for a few years Ill tell you from exp. get a bit older because no matter how much you know adults will look down upon young teachers. Just the way the world is. It took me time to win the over early but the older I have gotten the less I have had to prove myself to new students.

Mental no question

It started back in mid Oct 2002. Durring the middle of football season last year it raied like crazy. We have had a lot so snow in the winter as well but it was never really cold enough to stick good. However it was comming down a lot and this spring has been nuts. I walked across the football field today and its like a swamp. The grass is about knee high because you can't cut it you would just sink up. LOL. Crazy....

Mingo Co. in WV where I live is flooding good. Ive been ok because we live on a hill but its been pretty wild.

O yeah. Now chances are you need to be located in big city so you can have a large studnet base. If that is what you are looking at get you a building and advanced students you can trust to help you out. Good Luck.

At the YMCA I teach at now their is a Judo class going on as well. The guy who teaches it trains with me one night a week and he is new to Karate in general but I allow him to wear his Black Belt but he works basics, kata, etc with the lower ranks. As far as color belts for one class or 2 yeah thats fine to wear you old belt. I will always treat you with that rank but that does not replace the knowledge you are going to get or have to have to equal our rank. Add to that Blue Belt don't always mean 7th Kuy or Red Belt don't always mean 4th Kuy etc. So once they join up then yes I will put them in a white belt. Im my first post I was refering to a one class deal more or less just people trying it out or who just wanted to train and not get rank in what I am teaching.

12 and down is generally the mark I use for kids classes. 12 is that magic number that Little League Baseball and stuff seems to like so it works for me. That is about 6th grade or so as well. Once a kid enters Middle School / Jr High he needs to be brought into the adult world. IMO the problem with a lot of kids is they are not forced to grow up anymore. If the kid hangs in there in the long run he will be better off because he will be training with bigger, stronger, older people. I would not think he would be any slower than any new white belt in the class who was 20, 30, 40 something etc. You don't always know the situation either maybe he can only make the adult class because he rides with someone in it? I will allow younger kids in my adult class if their mom or dad is training because then they can handle the discipline if it becomes a problem. Back to your question no I don't think 14 is to young to be in an adult class.

Yeah LOL It kills me when you see basketball players and others say lifting will hurt their shot and use that as an reason not to lift. How many weights did Jordan lift? A lot... It about doing the little things like warming up and stretching more so than throwing 300lbs on the Bench Press.

BTW one thing I left off no matter what our Burnout section of class is its always done at high intensity.