northerndragon

September 13, 2008 Anyone here prefer a specific resistance training program to complement their martial art? How about Karate practitioners too? • resistance bands? • weights? (free weights) • Yikes, I'm a victim of advertising: How about the Bowflex? (as seen on this website forum) • kettlebells? • Total Gym? And on that topic does anyone warn against a specific type of training with resistance? My assumption on this is to use complementary training (a-la Bruce Lee) to ''Complement" one's art, not make them look like Arnold Schwarzeneggar in the process. thanks, Eric B.

As for sparring hands: I note that at times I do not bring my hand ALL the way back after executing a punch. This is something I'm working on but in the heat of sparring it tends to "float" between the hip and somewhere in-between. All > great posts.

My fault for not getting back to my question sooner. I see now that there are several talking points which have developed. For me personally I appreciated every one of your responses, in terms of keeping an open mind and seeing what my shortcomings could be, in terms of training, "in Karate". But, I do not see any need to exclude boxing, being that it is a fighting/pugilistic sport/art, depending on one's view. As for the initial post on 'Starting Point' for all punches: My naivete that I will put out there was that I thought different lineages of Karate were all traditional irregardless of how they started their punches. I did not know that Kyokushin was not a traditional art of Karate. I learned via this thread that their higher-hands/starting point is not traditional. That being said, I see now that perhaps my question is directly influenced by tradition. And depending on the lineage and one's own preferences, the 'Starting Point' will invariably vary from style to style. I train with the hand starting point initiated at the hip. Reason for my question in the first place: >I tried recently executing my Oi-zuki or Gyaku-zuki from the higher position one day when training at home. It seemed comfortable that day, but I noticed a drastic change in the muscular response the next day: I was very sore!< This marked soreness I suppose is attributed to muscle-memory getting "tweaked" from a different start position, in this case higher. Lastly: I was interested in the notion of Hanmei ( using the 45 degree angle of the hips ) to generate power (twisting motion) into one's punch. Someone mentioned about the ''Hinge Point'' so my follow-up question is: Were you referencing Hanmei? Or the opposing influence that can weaken a punch? This last part is another topic altogether. kind regards, Eric B.

September 5, 2008 Anyone here have a hard and fast rule about the starting point of ALL their punches? If so, where's it beginning? This question is not about "where" one throws a punch or what "kind", I'm strictly asking what , if any , is the BEST starting point. • Some schools, like Seido, start their punch at chest level: at or nearby the armpit. Anyone practice this way? • Some, like Shotokan and the Shitoryu sensei I talked with, start all their punches at the hip. Specifically directly above the hip, fist inverted prior to firing. Anyone prefer this practice? Sidenote: I'm not asking this question to invite demeaning answers about "why I asked" or "what's wrong with my question" > which I notice seems to occur here on this forum. Granted, the vast lineages and styles of people that visit here and post here, this quandary is bound to happen when someone from one lineage/style addresses another lineage/style's question. I put that sidenote out there just to make it clear, I'm not asking to have any answer evolve into a ''you're wrong'' , ''you're uneducated'' sort of scenario. That being said, I look forward to what folks think is the most efficient starting point, anatomically and physiologically speaking of course. au revoir!

2008/8/5th Quite a few responses on my topic initially posted months ago. Glad it's offering food for thought. My take on this is I agree with Bushidoman_96: One Steps are for a specific purpose. If one reads the first post that I wrote, this One Step scenario happened on just my second of third day of JOINING. No point in taking a full-on strike to the face when your positioned prone/bent-over, letting your partner take ahold of your punching wrist beforehand. Bad scene. Thanks for my back Bushidoman_96. All other points about training, conditioning, respect, and honor I agree with and that could have been the case in any other dojo where one gains this in due time. I've since moved on away from this aforementioned dojo. No hard feelings now. Glad it is such a "hot topic" though for some: just make sure you read the first post.

hmm, great responses. I'd agree that Bruce's speed was his greatest asset. Never gave it any thought though in regards to his mental attributes, until reading Norris' article. The article describes how Lee was always five or six "steps" ahead of his sparring partners, including Norris. Good question, to wonder if Bruce would've easily gone to the ground to grapple. IMHO, if Lee faced a competitive match, at least in terms of speed vs. speed, he might have needed grappling skills to end it on the ground. Either way, I agree with you folks that in their prime, Bruce Lee would've won in kumite versus Norris. BUT, ALL respect to Chuck Norris and what he's accomplished.

Okay, maybe this is an age old topic, but I recall reading an old article about Chuck Norris agreeing to costar in Bruce Lee's movie back in the day. As everyone knows, Lee won their epic battle in the Colloseum. In a real life sparring/kumite event between the two, Who Would Win? At the time of this movie, Mr. Norris was the undefeated World Full Contact Karate (spelling?) Champion. In particular, Norris, in this article, complements Lee emphatically about his mental attributes as an advantageous tool that he used to great effect when sparring. Norris recalls how mentally savvy Bruce was during free sparring and/or training. He remembers it causing much malign for the opposing sparring partners that Lee faced during practice: Lee's decision making was what Norris wished he had during his fighting days, and Norris was already undefeated! I wonder how that would translate in a kumite with Lee vs. Norris. food for thought. peace.

DWX, No, you did not give the wrong impression at all. In reading your post I had the notion beforehand that this lady was someone you were on good terms with. I was merely stating the obvious: it's always unfortunate to injure one's classmate/friend. I was not insinuating one iota about any maliciousnous, nor any intent. Glad your training partner is doing great now. If I had done the same thing I would feel bad too. This is the reality of ''posting'' in open forums. Mix strangers and occasionally sensitive topics in textual mediums and voila: some text gets misconstrued versus having said something face to face. peace.

Dwx, You injured your training partner: That is just awful. Sorry that happened for you, and for her injury. I hope she's healed up. Injuring someone is the worst!! > Especially in training. You owe her big time, a free dinner, lunch. A recall a teacher once said that our dojo partners are like family. She was there to help you learn and vice versa.

Another good book, IMO, is from Kancho Hirokazu Kanazawa - 10th Dan! "Black Belt Karate ~ An Intensive Course". Not only is the editing and writing professional, the photographs actually pay great service to the flow of the text. It's intended as a workbook to help one through an intensive course sotospeak. Kodansha International Publishers, copyright 2006. regards. Eric

Rafael Aghayev! I was just watching some video of Rafael Aghayev, a black belt out of Azerbaijan. That guy came to the Vegas Nationals and laid waste to the competition, from a purely sporting viewership I see how his charisma is contagious. Anyone interested in the kumite, sports oriented clash, should check him out. He's all over the internet.

All responses here were great: glad it provided discussion of a little used, if at all, tournament kicking technique. Dobbersky: I see how, with the Kyokushin practitioners, that this kick has offered kumite wins. Given their reputation, voiced here, and through word of mouth, Kyokushin seems to be the one of the few lineages that uses it at the tournament level. They are tough folks, Kyokushin. Uff-Da, as the Scandinavians would say! LOL For me personally, I see how it's effective when an opponent turns their back, but it telegraphs mightily, by the mere nature of the upward swinging arc. Its speed does make up for that.

Zanshin, Nice of you to reply but you have me all wrong. I did not go into this dojo with any preconceived notion of self righteousness and more importantly, I did not have a preconceived notion of self-knowledge about them that put me up on the pedestal that you insinuated. FYI, the internet research was done purely to establish a physical address in Google as well as to garner phone numbers, which helped me to telephone them for setting up an intro-course. None of the internet data gathered even remotely provided some sort of ''knowledge'' about them. Fish, Surprisingly this blue belt was 42 years old! Odd considering most men that age outgrow throwing blindsided kicks or punches on a fellow class mate, more importantly, on a fellow white belt. I recall how distinctly angered the sensei was about hearing this. He did confer with me that this man was due a private meeting with him before the next class. As this is all in the past, it is amazing how it still solicites replies from folks. Great forum here.

The BB of C, I see your point, in that you like to 'throw it in' from time to time. & I agree because it is such a good kick, even just to use it as a FEINT, drawing your opponent backwards if launched aggressively! It can buy one time when they're up against a "runner" who rushes at his/her opponent incessantly. The BB of C, How or when does your Isshin-ryu Sensei permit you to use it in his/her class?? At free-sparring? I see 'Zanshin's' point that in WKF tournament rules it is considered illegal. It can be devastating. This All Comers Tourney I went to had programs describing the kumite rules, and it was vague as to the intricasies of what punch and what kick were legal > aimed at the head. It listed the head as a potential target. This particular tournament was put on/hosted by Renbukai. The sensei I listened to said that the Jinen-ryu students were using an axe/reverse knife hand (downward arcing) strike to the tops of opponents' heads, which he thought was illegal and was stunned to see it in kumite that day. regards, peace.

To all responses: kind regards and many thanks! Someone asked in the middle of the group of posts, if I had in fact told the teacher. To answer this question specifically, 'Yes', I told him and to put it bluntly, the teacher was hot under the collar. He told me emphatically that there is no contact allowed in any One Steps. He asked me if it was "Joe Smith" (actual name omitted) and when I told him this was the case, he immediately reassured me that he would talk with him in person alone before the next class! The fact that he knew who it was at the outset showed me that this student may have developed a reputation. For Zanshin, I agree yes I've been bouncing around for a bit, figuratively more than literally, as I've only been to two actual dojos. One was the aforementioned Gosoku Ryu and the other most recently was the Shito Ryu. As for researching and studying up on a style, BEFORE actually visiting, I've learned that this process although time consuming actually helps prepare me mentally prior to stepping foot on the dojo floor. The means of research has been internet forums, actual dojo websites, or a phone call to the sensei(s). Surprisingly all have been helpful, if I knew the right questions to ask. After learning my lesson, in hindsight all the experiences have been worthwhile.