CA-Isshinryu

I didn't see anywhere in this thread where Shotakankid said he/she was a blackbelt. The title in the name portion of the forum is based on his post count. The best fight is the one avoided which is exactly what any trained Martial Artist would have done and which is what Shotakankid did by avoiding this person.

I look at the punches, kicks and blocks as tools. The tools do not win the fight so I try not to focus on them. I always try and focus on taking my partners mind. Once you find ways to do that you see how surprising it is to dominate people that just moments before were just as good or even a bit better than you are. Some day I hope to have the ability to focus my mind in ever fight so that I can dominate every fight. I just can't seem to keep the focus for long now and some days it I can't get it at all.

Many open tournaments base their divisions on time traning in your style and age. That takes the belt thing out of the picture. Also, wear what you normally wear. Most of the time you are called for your kata and sparring right after each other so there is no time to change so wear the appropriate uniform. Read the rules before you go. You might need special protective equipment that you do not normally use. If you do not have these then you will not be allowed to spar. If you need extra room to perform your kata then you need to let people know. A Kung Fu person came to one of my schools open tournaments and he needed 2 rings to do his sword kata in. It was quite entertaining to watch. As said above, no kicks below the waste. Many tournaments do not even allow sweeps of the feet. Usually for medium to upper belt people the basic rules are light contact the body and no contact to the head.

The purpose of a makiwara, as said above, is to FORCE you to strike correctly. The heavy bag is for general traning and while not more important will be used a great deal more. Most people just can't spend 20-30 minutes hitting a makiwara. If your doing it right it hurts without causing damage. If your not doing it wrong it hurts and causes damage. Definalty have somebody show you exactly how your suppose to use one. Also, always start makiwara training slow each time. Nothing worse than thinking your good to go and hitting hard with an bad fist angle.

Respect for oneself if the most important kind. If you respect yourself then you can respect others and therefore earn respect yourself. If you lied and said you swam 200 km and didn't then you are lacking the respect from the most important person in the world. YOURSELF. People that try to take the short road and gather respect from others before they respect themselves are only building a house on dirt. As soon as it rains the house will wash away.