Zaine

That sucks, but it happens. Just train hard for the next three months and you can get it next time.

I agree with this 100% As martial artists we need to focus on our own journey and not whether or not anyone else is on a similar journey. Also when you're constantly telling your friends that they need to start doing self-defense they tend to be so sick of you pushing them to it that any desire that they would have had tends to go out because they get the view that every martial artist will constantly pressure them into situations that they don't want to be in. So as a martial artist the job in my mind that I need to fulfill is to practice everyday so that I can constantly get better at the thing that I love to do.

Doing that is actually not good for you. Your body is working and you could end up hurting when you stop moving it all together after a workout.

Your right, probably adrenaline. Like with any good workout you just need a good down period where you're still moving but not intensely. I would suggest going on a walk after good hard workout.

Yeah I'm definitely with you. If it escalates to a situation that would need me to take a knife I would probably have the good mind to take it out. I clear my mind in the heat of a fight, but when I get to a point that I need to run usually something in me snaps back into a working mind (thankfully, God help me if that stops).

Sounds like a good alternative, I'll have to try it.

Not a bad way to look at it here. Agreed, that is a perfect way to sum it up.

The confusion comes from lack of clarification on my part. I mean the intensity that a body feels and not the actual level of the workout. Any new work out I start is a build up. I've seen to many people hurt themselves by diving into a new regimen without making sure that they are prepared physically for it. I usually start the build up to the next one as I am petering out with the current.

True, but I like to think of that as a last resort. I'm already perfectly comfortable with physically facing the opponent as I am.

Then don't, it really is up to you. My teacher wasn't certified officially with a Shorin Ryu association and I think I turned out to be a pretty good black belt.

Absolutely!

I agree, however, part of it is getting people in the door and this is a good way to do that. Teach how you're going to teach regardless of what anyone says. The ones that like it will stay, and the ones that don't will go, it's always been this way. However, if the thing that gets people in the door is a piece of paper, you better believe that I'll get that piece of paper.

Perfect! Master Coffman has S.M.O.K.A. that he lets people join if they prove themselves. He taught Gagne who taught my teacher. Coffman learned under Fusei Kise and Hohan Soken. A more than capable martial artist. He is probably one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) name is America for Matusumura Seito. He has a website: http://www.smoka-usa.com/ Check him out, shoot some emails to the officers, you should have little trouble getting certified if you are legitimate in the eyes of that organization. It's a great organization, and once I'm in a place to start my own school it will be the organization that I latch on to most likely.

I would say that this is true and not true. There are a lot of people who study before they jump, and rightly so, and a lot will be looking for some accreditation from some sort of organization. If he doesn't have it he could lose some students. However this would only hinder at first, until the dojo has a name for itself. Otherwise being part of an organization would do great for networking.

Absolutely it does. Shorin Ryu has an extremely structured organization. What branch of Shorin Ryu do you study?

Very true, awareness is something that as a martial artist I take for granted because it's second nature. I forget that it was something that I had to learn and train.

Lol indeed it will.

If you desire to have one go up the chain of command for your system. You might have to prove yourself once again but it would be worth it if it is something you desire to have. It would be required if you wanted to be recognized in the hierarchy of your system. However, start teaching now while you're waiting, it's not until black belt students come along that having a certificate would become as useful as it could be, although throughout the training it does have it's many uses.

I am patient, and the style of Shorin Ryu I got to learn was traditional, and I fell in love with traditional karate through him and he was never hesitant to tell us that the way he taught us a use for a technique was just one way, and that there was a plethora of other ways that were just as effective, but this was the way we did it. I have trusted whole heartily every instructor that I have had, because I chose the right ones. Every single one had the trust in me to confide where every kata was going and where every technique fit. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing, but in my opinion lack of it has the potential to be infinitely worse.

You'll have to excuse me if I find no respect for the people who claim that there way is the "true way" to do things. There are many ways to do things, it's one of the things that I love about martial arts. Luckily for us, for every stubborn master there is an open-minded one.

I find that Naihanchi changes it's meaning from system to system. None of them are wrong, to be certain, but don't tell stubborn masters that. The Naihanchi I learned, for instance, was to be take as you were backed against a wall, slowly fighting your way forward, and where as there was grappling, it was not predominately a grappling kata.

You'd be covering a lot if you went over defense from a standing grab. Whether it be choke, headlock, grabbing the wrist or anything else you can think of. Muggers like to feel dominant in situations against women, what better way to do that than grabbing them?

I can't even begin to tell you how many times my teacher would say "What did I tell you that move was? Oh, it's also this." I have a deep love for these katas because not only are they beautiful, but the knowledge that they trapped inside them are seemingly limitless, I like the pinans for the same reason. I remember a another student telling me that the naihanchis had not practical application once, and later in the class we sparred. Needless to say that I believe that I did a good job in demonstrating many of the finer point of it's bunkai to him.

It would actually make an excellent grappling kata. Right out the gate it would be a break, grab and elbow to the face. Reload to throw them off balance and the throw them over to your left as you punch their face. Side step as you stomp on their face, block, double block, punch, throw them to your left. It's not exactly how I imagine it works while going through it but it certainly could work beautifully that way.

It's all about what your body can handle. I work out six days a week, regardless of whether or not martial arts is part of the work out. All of the work outs I do are intense enough for them to count, and I always feel great after. Every workout for me is pretty intense, and I don't usually go for high intensity unless I'm trying a new work out, and then generally that is going to be of a higher intensity because it's different and my body isn't used to the kind of things that I am doing. I would say start at a high intensity one or two times a week until you can do more. Once you get to the point where what you're doing isn't pushing you as hard as it was, move on to another kind of work out so as to not plateau and reach a stagnant point in your exercises.