Zaine

The last student I promoted to brown went this way. I watched him for the past 2 years of training, saw where he was at at the belt prior to brown belt (we have 3 brown belts), and decided he deserved his first brown belt. I called him out at the end of class, opened my briefcase and handed him a certificate and belt for 3rd kyu. Simple, huh? No pushups (they do those every class anyway), no massive kata drills (these do kata every class anyway), and no sparring (they do that most classes anyway). Esentially, that student had been testing weekly (every class) for the past 2 YEARS! Personally, I don't see a point in a "formal" testing process like you described. I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately. Why do we subject students to testing? Is it simply because of tradition? We know they're ready. We often hear, and say, that a sensei would not be testing a student if they did not believe in their readiness. If we only test those we feel are deserving, ready, and (most importantly) capable of passing, then why do we test? It's an interesting topic and one that I think deserves deeper consideration. That being said, those requirements are fairly standard and seems to be the same ones (more or less) that I was held to when I tested for that rank. Good luck!

I agree with JR here. Clearly you're invested enough to be worried about it. While no joy is apparent now, you are willing to try anything to bring it back. Talk to your Sensei and ask him how you can help get others in. Also, talk to your friends about coming with you. If your Sensei expresses desire to get more students then great! If not, or you can't get anymore, then find a place where your desires are met. Nothing squashes a martial arts journey faster than a loss of desire to go, and if you really want to continue then you must enjoy it on some level.

This one hits it for me. The worst part is when you will see them brag that they are the "ultimate fighter" because they have a "better understanding" of techniques across multiple disciplines, then, when asked to perform some of these techniques, they show only a cursory knowledge of them at best. Grrr.

It would be cool to start a thread on here where we can post the videos. This way, someone can respond to someone with a response video. It would be a pretty good opportunity to see how things are done by other people and learn some new kata.

I agree with Nidan Melborne here. I will go further and say that you should wait. I think 3rd kyu is a perfect place to start cross-training. That being said, do some research. Look at the kata you have learned and watch other systems do it, look at the way you punch in comparison to other school and you will learn to appreciate the way you do it. You will be better at picking up nuances in your own style by seeing the differences in others. I think that every martial artist should "know" other styles, whether that be by doing them or researching them. No style claims to be the be-all-end-all, only practitioners do, so it's beneficial to look around.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Congrats! Well deserved!

Like Bob I only experienced some arm soreness from the bicep down. I would maybe take a look at how you are doing your sai exercises. Especially with new weapons we tend to overdo things (nunchaku was the big one for me and I had many a bruised knuckle because of it). Take some time to take to your teacher to see if anything is not quite what it is supposed to be. While soreness is often a sign that we are simply working a new muscle group, it can also be a sign that something is wrong.

This has always been my favorite myth surrounding not washing your belt. It goes along with not washing you gi either (provided that you begin with a white gi and transition later into black). It's just so ridiculous sounding to me! How dirty and caked with mold and grime would a belt have to be to become black?!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

sensei8 makes a great point about stretching properly. What are you doing to stretch currently?

Completely agreed. I genuinely wonder why most traditional striking arts still practice without shoes. I understand the Japanese/Asian culture of no shoes in the house. We don't have that custom engrained in us here. Wearing shoes while kicking changes a ton of things. The front kick using the ball of the foot becomes quite different in a pair of sneakers. Pivoting becomes different. I think we should wear shoes that are only worn in the dojo. Possibly wrestling shoes. I'm not trying to break tradition, but some traditions shouldn't be done for the sole sake of tradition when there's a more logical and beneficial approach. Not sure about ground fighting heavy systems. Wrestling shoes make sense too, but that's my former wrestling background. Back to my original thought for this post - if you can't pull off a technique in a no gi/t-shirt situation, how functional is that technique truly? If a t-shirt is too light to be able to grab it as part of a throw or choke, how would you use that technique when a t-shirt wearing attacker comes at you? How many attackers are wearing something that a gi would approximate on the 4th of July (or New Year's Day in the Southern Hemisphere)? I have no judo nor jujitsu experience, so don't take that the wrong way; just trying to learn. Solid post!

I find that as one progresses higher up the ranks in an Okinawan system, the more like kung fu the techniques appear. This is certainly the case for the Shorin Ryu that I learned.

Congrats! Well earned!!!

I agree with Wado here. This technology will lead the way to a lot of sport applications, with it becoming focused on entertainment. However, this would be super cool to put on and go a couple of rounds in, even if it was empty handed. If I get the chance to put a suit on, you better believe that I will first in line. This being said, HEMA already has a lot of safety equipment. As a HEMA practitioner, I can't say that I am at want for additional safeties. Furthermore, the health bar is not super conducive to what we practice. It implies that it will take more than one hit to get a "kill" and most HEMA practitioners (probably all, but I'm not that foresighted) focus mostly on ending the fight within 1 - 2 blows because that is the nature of the sword. Often there will be a strike, counter-strike, and another counter-strike and if a winner to that pass hasn't been declared after that then you often see the fighters reset. This is partly due to the various manuals that HEMA fighters use as a basis for their styles. Fiore, for example, has three ranges: Out of range, Largo (where a step in will get a strike), and Stretto (right next to each other) and if you haven't made the kill by then you can either attempt a throw or back off. To sum up, I love the tech. I think it's super cool, and Cold Steel is a fairly good company. If the suits are cheap enough I will certainly consider purchasing one. However, at the end of the day, I don't think it is something that HEMA needs or altogether wants, which is fine.

Awesome article, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Awesome video, thanks for sharing!

Remember that, for Christians, God is in everything that we do. Also, the bible doesn't necessarily shy away from war. There is a verse in Psalms that reads "He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze." So while Christianity preaches peace and love, it doesn't preach indifference towards violence and standing by when we could defend ourselves/save a life. Finally, the turn the cheek passage is about defiance, it wasn't to show submission.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

In the Spring or Fall, a pull string mid-weight bottom is pretty nice (I will say that I live in Texas, so that's really the only time that it's incredibly comfortable). If there were pockets on them it would be even better.

What a great topic! I think that we all fight our egos. This gets in the way of our growth in MA, and can be a detriment to other areas in our lives. I think that you put it best, however. When I step on to the mat, I fight my opponent. I think the goal is to let go of ego, your demons, or whatever is bothering you so that your opponent can also learn something. Sparring, like all other things, should be a learning experience and it is not fair to take that away from either yourself or you opponent.

Congrats! Well earned!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!