Zaine

I just got back from a two day trip to the Ozarks in what was essentially 2 days of non-stop hiking through the mountains. It was altogether refreshing, invigorating, and exhausting. During that time, My mother and I also got a lot of karate training in. It's been awhile since I have been able to have all that space and a kata partner. It was just what I needed.

But why is that a bad thing?

But shouldn't Karate continue to evolve? Karate began as a way to defend one's self. In that vein, the "old karate masters" created systems that work for them. It made sense to them to do things a certain way because it worked and continued to mold their art to fit what they needed. Why shouldn't we do the same? Tradition is great, but I think that if presented with the same conundrum, these same masters would absolutely incorporate ground work if they felt it necessary. Also, does the grappling in a Karate system have to be as good as BJJ? The inverse of this is that a BJJ teaching strikes wouldn't be as good. These, however, are just assumptions. They could be just as good. Splitting focuses don't necessarily mean that both suffer. At its core, a lot of what Karate is about is self defense. If, for whatever reason, I am involved in a street fight and it goes to the ground, then ground fighting will come in handy. It doesn't have to be as good as BJJ, it just has to be enough to get me out of the situation. If the best way to defend myself becomes turning my art into something that resembles MMA, then so be it. I think that our attachment to the tradition of our arts holds us back more than we think.

She might just have ADHD. My ADHD made me act similarly and my mother had a similar policy about being in it for a certain amount of time. I ended up where I am now, 19 years later and still obsessed.

My teacher in Shorin Ryu did this. Of all the things that he added, this was my favorite. I 100% agree that grappling should be worked in to Karate. When I eventually get around to teaching MA it will 100% be a part of my program.

We all have those days, but you're right. All we can do is take a breath and keep moving.

Congrats Mo!

Yeah I think Bushido has it here. My guess is that Bobby wanted to do it and the parents put Jane in there out of convenience.

No I trained in Arlington. I have actually been looking at OKCD since my CI doesn't teach anymore and I recently moved back to the area. Did you have a good experience there?

More than that, Seisan can be wildly different in different branches of Shorin Ryu. Shorinji does is a little differently from Shobayashi. The best way outside of YouTube would be to get a bunch of people together and have some good old fashioned work shops. I actually think that this would be a really cool and fun idea.

That's awesome! It must feel like a huge relief to be around people and train again. Good luck on your test, I can't wait to hear how you did!

So if you're at the point where you want to teach Karate and you feel the need to have a black belt to do so, I see basically two paths for you. You can A) Find a system that you like and train there regardless of how effective you feel the instructor is; or B) Find an instructor that you like and if it's a system you like, great, if not, oh well. I can tell you're someone who doesn't like the idea of BB emporiums, so I imagine that you're struggling with the latter option. My 2 cents is this: If you want to teach karate, and you feel that you are in a position to do so, then teach it. Label it some generic karate (like American Karate-do), and find some students who vibe with the way that you want to teach it. If people can teach MMA without any traditional MA training, then I don't really see a reason that you can't take up the teacher roll as well. I, too, got in to MA initially because I wanted to learn defense. I eventually fell in love with kata, and the other parts of the system as well, but, like you, my milestone for a solid black belt was, and in part remains, founded in being able to defend oneself. So I agree with you there. To me, a lot of MA value for myself comes in my ability to fight. With a traditional classroom structure, I think that you're going to struggle finding that. Schools that do so without focusing on MMA tend to struggle a little bit. Teachers, especially of MA, have to cast a wide net so that they can stay in business. Furthermore, they can't ignore the business aspects of their dojos. It's a hit we take to continue operation. Sometimes we don't get to focus as much on what we think is the reason for the art itself. This isn't a criticism of what you want to do in any way. I like the idea of an art that is combat based and focused. This is all just to say that compromise is necessary and I don't want you to have your passion dulled by some necessity of life.

HEMA does! Paulus Hector Mair wrote a treatise on how to use the sycthe in combat. Check out this Wiktenauer page for the details. As far as history goes, scythes were typically used as weapons in peasant uprisings. The English used it in 1684, when a Duke fielded roughly 5000 peasants in the Battle of Sedgemoor. In 1784 again peasants used them in the Revolt of Horea in Transylvania. In general, as you might guess, scythes were weapons used by peasants and anyone who couldn't afford weapons that we might typically see on a battlefield from the Medieval period onward. As such, Paulus is a weird exception to the rule that most fighting manuscripts dealt with weapons that one might see in a tournament of arms. Aside from this, you would have to look at the kama for Eastern Martial Arts. I'm not aware, nor could I find, any information that suggests that Eastern Martial Arts cares about the two handed scythe. Furthermore, I couldn't find any information on a system that currently practices with it a lot. Even within HEMA you would struggle to find someone who is using a sycthe, it's a hard weapon to manufacture a safe, trainer version of.

I don't have a lot of experience with accreditation and schools that partner with one another, but I'd have to imagine that it would vary with each school, even among the schools within the accredited network. Like you, though, I don't have an issue testing remotely. As a personal preference, I like to do so in person, but if virtual is what I have then I'm just as happy. MA is MA, and I'm happy to continue learning one way or the other.

I totally get it, and to your point, I actually really like virtual programs. It is my very firm belief that MA schools should use the pandemic as a means to start doing virtual classes. I would love to see Zoom class options, videos, online cirricula, the whole 9 yards. I've heard good things about GMAU certified courses, so I would definitely start there.

I haven't heard of that. At its core, I don't think it's the worst method in the world. The issue you're going to run in to is that this is a very "hardcore" method of training. A part of teaching in general is being flexible in the way you teach. With things like karate, a largely recreational activity, there are a good amount of people who are signing up for fitness, or a reason to get out of the house, or because a friend is doing, and the list goes on. For that group, that way of training isn't going to work. Human behavior loves milestones, which a belt system gives, it loves goals, which a curriculum sets, and it loves seeing quantifiable change. The method of your teacher can only realistically offer the last and only barely. If your goal is to be a teacher, then I suggest, on top of training with this teacher, start going to a traditional dojo who is going to give that pedagogy to you.

Without going in to too much detail, I've met a number of people associated with that website (I was a 5th kyu when the Texas rep started training with my dojo, which is not affiliated with this website) and I do not feel that it is a good program to pursue. Others might have a different opinion, and if they do I would love to hear their experience with it. It could be great and personal experience is just getting in the way. What I can say is that they're MSSR, which is what I am a Shodan in, and in their videos that I could find their katas seem different from what I learned so the main instructor must be from a different branch. Knowing what I know of this particular system, the videos didn't give me a lot of confidence. I am also a little suspicious that their VP is a 7th dan after 25 years of training. It could be legit, but to me that seems like a very short time to achieve such a high rank. Finally, I couldn't find many testimonials that were outside the organization itself. When I'm deciding on programs, one of the things that I like to see is credible secondary reviews to help me get an idea of what to expect and I can't find that here.

It wouldn't happen to be cranekarate.com, would it?

When I searched that I got different results. Could you post some links so that we can have a better look? That said, in general, martial arts flourishes in person because it's helpful to have friends to practice with. I'm a little wary of the set up you describe as it screams "cash grab" to me, but I could be wrong. At home karate is possible, in my opinion, it just takes a lot more work. There is no one there to correct things in a fast manner so if you're unfamiliar with the art (or just MA in general) you can develop some bad habits that will be difficult to break. I would be a fan of programs that are relatively close by, so that you can take a trip there every other month to get some in person corrections. I would also want to be a program in which there was some sort of private forum in which you could post videos of you doing techniques to get feedback that way. But, as I say above, some links would help so that we can take a look at what they have going on.

Congrats!

Congrats!

Similar to Wastelander's point, if Shodan isn't the end of the curriculum, then I definitely wouldn't be okay with staying put. If, on the other hand, that at Shodan I had everything available to me to learn, then it wouldn't really matter either way.

I played them a few years ago after the first season of the show came out and I went down a rabbit hole. They're fun, if a little limited by the technology. Completely skippable if you're no interested in emulating it or tracking down a copy, in my opinion.

Congrats CTTKDKing! Very well deserved!

In the timeline Trevor comes before Simon. Trevor was the second to fight Dracula in Castlevania 3, with Simon being the 4th after Christopher, who stared in the Gameboy games.