weaponless

I just used one in my last kumite. After planting several side kicks into his gut, he turned sideways to avoid the sidekick so the next time I started out the same way and when he turned to avoid the side kick, he was shocked to find that he turned his body right into the reverse roundhouse. Unfortunately he dipped a little at the same time and instead of hitting him in the upper chest, I hit him in the head, and gota talking down from the sensei as we weren't supposed to make head contact. So yes it can be effective. As for help with the execution, I'm not sure what your problem is, so I don't know if I can help you. For me, I find it easier to do than alot of other kicks. For me, it's an easier kick than a normal roundhouse.

Short answer..... not a chance. Eight months is nothing in Karate; however, eight months is more than enough time to get hooked . It also depends on the individual how far you can go in eight months. For some people, in the first eight months, they're still struggling with the more basic stances, while someone else might be doing spinning flying kicks. But no one can master karate in such a short time. But you should have an idea on whether you like it, for some, it will already have become a part of their daily routine. Karate is a life-long journey, so don't be rushing through it or you might miss the point. Eight months of training in Japan though will be a great experience for you and will definitely be worth it, and when you return, you can always continue your training at a school where you live. By then, you should have a grasp on some of the basics, which will be your foundation. Work your basics over and over and you'll be fine. I like how Mas Oyama put it.... Kihon (basics) is like the letters of the alphabet. The kata are like words or sentences. Kumite (sparring) is like a conversation. Your first eight months will basically be you learning the letters of the alphabet. Don't worry, it won't be boring like taking 8 months to learn your ABC's, lol. Welcome to the world of Karate... I know that you'll love it. Tell us all about your experiences when you get back from Japan.... I for one would be interested in how the beginner in Karate is taught in Japan.

White Yellow Orange Green Blue Brown Black There are a couple extra belt levels for the kids though. For my jujitsu, which isn't the same organization, there's only white, green, brown, and black. And, of course, there are more dan levels.

One exercise that I find is really goood for my balance is to stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Lift up one leg (knee bent) until you can grab the bottom of your foot. Now, without letting go of your foot, starighten your leg and bring it out to the side and hold it there for several seconds or more, or until you start losing your balance. Now, alot of people try it when I show them, and alot of them say after failing at first that they can't do it, because they're too tall or their arms aren't long enough or whatever. That isn't the case.... I learned it from a guy who was 6'6". If you find that you can't hold on to your foot as your leg straightens, it is only because you aren't getting your knee up high enough. Your knee has to get up there high or you won't be able to straighten your leg and not break contact with your foot. This is the other advantage of this exercise. It helps teach you to get that knee up there, which I don't have to explain is important in Karate. So it helps with keeping those knees up, is great for building and mantaining balance, and by bringing your leg out to the side, you get a nice little stretch out of it too. Change legs and repeat!

You will always encounter that. I'm sure there's a no-gi BJJ practicioner that is telling your Judo friend the same thing about her Judo. It's just the way of things, don't worry about it. Her beliefs in Shotokan or his belief in the superiority of Judo is irrelevant to you and your training. A huge part of Karate is the development of the character, not the muscles and fighting prowess, though that is also a part of it as well. There is no one superior style. It doesn't exist. Don't limit your mind in the way that your Judo friend has. Besides, my brother practices BJJ, and he cannot take me down. Now I'm not worried if he ever did as I have a strong background when it comes to ground fighting and he knows that but that's what he knows and he knows full well that he cannot stand with me, the strikes of a grappling art normally can't stand up to a striking art. But I help him with his training... with trying to take down a man that both doesn't want to go down, is hard to take down, and very dangerous on his feet. So I wear foot gear and gloves and he tries to take me down and he put me in a favourable position on the ground....and it stops when I get onto the ground, we get up and do it again.... well he very rarely takes me down. He can't get anywhere near me, and when he does manage to get into close range.... well Goju is geared around in-close combat, and even without using any of my other jujitsu and aikido training, my Karate is combined with Daito-Ryu Aki jitsu, so alot of the time, it is him that gets thrown. I can tell you that he now has great respect for Karate. Meanwhile another Judo or BJJ practicioner could have me on my back and squealing in pain before I knew what was going on.... there is no one unstoppable style, just individuals with calm minds that make their style work for them. A Judo man still has to get in close in order to throw you.... when he gets there, make him pay for it, it's really as simple as that. Try to understand what the Judo person is going to try to do, then you will be prepared to stifle it. Know yourself and know your enemy and you will be victorious in a thousand battles. Judo is a strong discipline, no doubt about that... but don't sell yourself short.... Karate isn't the joke that people may think it is..... they probably have a picture in their minds of Ralph Machismo doing ugly ugly kicks and washing cars, painting fences, doing crane kicks and drum techniques and figure, "WOW! Karate is some kind of Joke!" Let them think how they want. What they think has no impact on your training, on the development of your character, with your personal journey in the martial arts. For one martial artist to insult another martial art....well, maybe he or she just doesn't get it yet, and some people never get it. Some people learn to fight....Learn Karate and you will be able to win the battles in life that have nothing to do with punches, kicks, breaks and takedowns. Somewhere in my Katas, I get lost in them, and in losing myself inside the kata, I find myself....Maybe that doesn't make sense.... but anyway.... Whatever it is that you take away from your training, no one can take from you..... They've tried that before, and we just learned how to use farming tools instead, LOL.

All the best of luck to you. If you are only 14, well then without getting into a silly puberty talk, your body is going to be going through some changes right now.... don't be dejected if it somehow feels that your techniques are getting sloppy. Your still growing into your shoes, so to speak, and sometimes it can be a hard thing thing a young man of your age to be graceful on his feet, so don't feel that you're not cut out for karate anymore if things get tougher for you over the next while. Besides, everyone goes through a phase where it seems to them that they're taking 2 steps back. You are still moving forward.... Just think of it like you're walking backwards for a few steps, you are still heading in the same direction as you always were. Don't let the search for a black belt blind you, it is the journey that karate ( and for that matter life) is all about, not the destination. Honour, integrity, and time....... If doing karate was easy all the time, then everyone would do it and all those cats you saw wearing white belts beside you when you started would all still be there. Being 30, I grew up on Star Wars, and quite frankly, I'm still a junkie ( I build EL and LED lightsabers and everything, LOL), so I'm going to relate a story about Yoda I read in a book once. Yoda was sitting by the river with one of his pupils when the darkness came. There was a latern a few feet behind him, and Yoda reached and reached for that lantern, trying to hook onto the handle with his cane and pull it to him. He tried and tried for several seconds until his student, using the force, levitated the object and it floated into Yoda's hand. As Yoda let out a sigh, his student asked him, "Master, you could have easily brought it right to your hand. Why struggle with it, when you could have done it the easy way?".... Yoda responded by saying, "It was exactly because it was easier that I didn't do it!" Anyway...... May the Force Be With You.... P.S. Killer Miller had some really good advice. I don't know him at all, but in reading through all these different posts since I've been on this site, it is clear he knows what he is talking about... Plus, he's a Shotokan guy too. Osu.

I've found my knee problem has gotten better through karate. Now, I'm not a Shotokan practicioner, but the stances in the Goju that I take has very low and deep stances, so I can relate to having to do low stances. I had a serious knee problem (I turned it over while wrestling with a 200 lb man up on my shoulder years ago). I had problems with everything. A simple hop in the air could buckle my knee, stepping off a stair, anything. When I first started karate, I was constantly worried about my knee and "buckled" it several times early in my training. I wouldn't go to class if I didn't have my brace, I just wouldn't go.... I was too afraid of hurting my knee without it. Then the best thing happened to me.... I lost my brace for a month. So I went to karate anyway, at first very tentatively. Then, after kumite, it occured to me. While I was sparring, I wasn't thinking about my knee at all. And after several side kicks, including a tobi yoko geri, and worry free footwork, it occurred to me that my knee wasn't that much of an issue anymore, at least so long as I didn't make it one. I was told by my sensei when I began training that the karate would be good for my knee, for strengthening it, etc., and I didn't think it would ever happen until I turned around one day and realized that all the kicks and stretches did, in fact, strengthen my knee, and without the worry of hurting it, it doesn't get hurt. I found the brace a month later, but never put it back on again. Now it sits, unused, not needed. My knee is no longer an issue, I won't let it be. One of my peers a long time ago said to me one day when I was worried because I couldn't find my brace right before class ( I found it when I got home) and I was planning to take it easy and was worried about hurting it, said to me when I said I couldn't believe I lost my brace... "Maybe you lost it because you no longer need it." His words ended up being prophetic, as when I would later on lose it for a month.... that was the month that I needed away from the brace in order for me to realize that I really didn't need it anymore, that the karate had made it better. Now I don't know if your knee is starting to act up because of some kind of flawed technique... I can't speak to that. But I can offer up that if the techniques are done right, it should make your knees strong and put you a leg up ( so to speak) on the non-karate practicing population.

What you are saying was what I was trying to say. Thanks for explaining it further. I guess maybe I didn't explain it well, and I agree with you that the point is missed by many. I, personally have never had any problem with hip rotation ( I was taught to box before I hit puberty) so I try to explain it in a way that seems to make most sense... I don't know, maybe it isn't really an explanable thing. Bruce's analogy seems to make perfect sense to me, but I can see your point on how it can be misconstrued and can lead to improper technique based on a poor understanding of the concept. And I really didn't mean that they should be thinking about it when they are doing it, I guess I chose my words poorly. I agree completely that if you have to think about what your doing, you've already lost. I completely understand what you mean when you said, "mentally cutting off the arms, etc.".... it was kind of what I was getting at when I said to practice throwing punches without using your arms at all, letting the hip rotation carry your shoulder to the target, and by default your arm which is attached to the shoulder. I think I just confused things again... Oh well.... Miller, I think you have an idea about what I'm trying to say.

It is an excellent style for in-close fighting, and I find it an excellent compliment to my ju-jitsu. In fact, my Goju is actually taught with Daito Ryu Aki-jitsu. And it is excellent for promoting a strong body. Sanchin training everyday will turn you into a piece of rock. The more you study, the more applications will reveal themselves from the katas. It is an excellent traditional style and is good for personal growth and the development of character. I love the give and take of it all, the marriage of the hard and the soft. It has become a part of me. It is tsune. It is always with me in everything that I do. I enjoy ju-jitsu, I enjoy aikido.... but Goju.... well, that is in every breath that I draw. Best wishes in your training. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a grading in 4 hours so it's kata time for me. Osu.

Practice throwing punches etc., using only hip movement. What I mean by that is don't throw the punch...have your hands in postion, but when you throw the punch, keep your elbows in and just feel the rotation (think of a boxer who warms up and his trunk seems to swing left and right yet his arms don't extend into a punch). Then, slowly start adding the arm movement and before you know it, the hip rotation will be there without you having to think about. On top of this, I have often seen in the dojo that when students are working out certain sequences, etc., and are doing them at half speed, that they simply toss their arms out, that because it's half speed, they throw their punches in a lazy fashion.... When you' re doing the techniques at any speed, do it with the full rotation of the hips. If you half-* it when things are done at a moderate speed, the likeliness of the rotation being absent when done at full tilt is much greater. I like Bruce Lee's idea on this. Think of your centre as the centre of a circle, and when you strike, envision it as tracing the outline of the circle to the target. If you can do this, then your hips are already doing the right thing.

There isn't one way of kicking and everything else is wrong.... that's why there is different styles. Although I have said and will say that there is a great deal of power to be found in a karate style kick, I would also conceed that there is even more power to be found in a Thai style kick. However, such a kick does sacrifice some balance for power. Now I'm obviously not saying that a Thai fighter is off balance all the time, but there are times when a missed Thai roundhouse kick will leave the practicioner spun out of position and slightly off balance, whereas the same is typically not true of the karate roundhouse. Is there less power in the kick, yes... but, more balance. Plus, I feel that it takes alot more work to develop the power of a karate kick, but it is there... waiting for your technique to catch up with your body and once they become one, watch out, it can be thrown fast, hard and with little upset to balance (or as little as can be had standing on one leg).

You want to be careful when trying to learn a kata outside of class from an outside source. Katas are often done slightly different from school to school for different reasons. And though the general idea may be the same (and should be), the differences can be more than enough to cause you problems. I can't even count the number of variations I've seen on the Gekisai katas within different Goju schools. The variations would surely cause a raised eye from your sensei. You don't take a sensei and then learn from a book or an internet video instead. Let yourself learn the katas as they are presented to you, by your sensei, in the right time. He may teach the kata a certain way, with certain nuances and emphasis on certain things and that's the way you'll be expected to perform it. Now, even though you shouldn't be turning left when he's turning right, lol, the little differences are enough to mess things up for you. It is much easier to learn something right the first time than to unlearn something and then re-learn it right. You don't want your mind and body to develop the wrong memory if that makes any sense. I understand your desire to learn new things, but don't rush things, let it come in its own time. Don't rush through the forest to get to the other side, enjoy each tree that you pass. Don't let a final destination blind you from the journey. In Karate, there is no final destination.... Karate is the journey. Enjoy it. Cherish where you are now, and take the extra zeal you have to learn new things and place it into training what you have already learned. You will find that the foundation that you have built will be stronger and when you do learn that kata that you've been eagerly waiting for, it will come to you easier, you'll understand it better and quicker, and your training will progress all the more because of it. The strength of Karate is the perfection of character. You certainly have the zeal and the passion for what your doing which is most important. I am reminded of Yoda..... Keep your mind on where you are now, what you are doing now. Tomorrow always becomes today.... tomorrow is an illusion... tomorrow never comes... there is no tomorrow.... Hey that, " there is no tomorrow" just reminded me of that scene in Rocky IV when....anyway, I digress...lol... Remember.... honour, integrity and time....

A karate style kick can be fast and powerful.... It's all in the technique..... and practice, practice, practice. Once you can turn the chambering and kicking motions into one big "snap", the power will come..... ....Think, the snapping of a towel. I don't know if this makes any sense, but it is a little hard to explain.

The whole idea of visualizing your opponent/opponents is to help you understand the movements that you are doing.... and they should help you to figure out the bunkai without having to be shown... If you can visualize the "fight" you can see the techniques, you may see some that others may not see, while they might see applications that you do not.... If you approach the kata with the mindset that everything you do has a purpose, things will become clearer to you. For example, you may easily be able to visualize that someone attacks when you are doing a block, then as you transition to a strike you can visualize that you blocked the attack and counter-attacked....that's easy enough.... but soon enough you will begin to see more, like when after you block you might re-chamber your blocking hand before striking with the other... this is a possible application as well. The hand that chambers itself becomes a grab after the block pulling the person to you (as the hand pulls back into your body) and into the empi that you are performing with your other arm.... this is a very simplistic way to look at it but it gives you an example. I have often seen bunkai that even my sensei never thought of (which is very gratifying), and have often had others pointed out to me that I never saw..... there is soo much in the katas if you open your mind to the possibilities and the best way I know to do that is to actually visualize your opponent/opponents. You might see a block, I might see a strike, both are valid.... sometimes a block is easily turned into a strike to the bicep, etc... My sensei has often said, "even a low block thrown with intent can have devastating effect".... Just ask the guy I sparred with at my last grading who kicked me continually... and I blocked him continually.... I only got a chance at one offensive move (it landed but)... he was on the attack the whole time, and though he didn't really land anything he pressed me the whole time and so I chalked it up as he got the better of me..... After the grading he gave me all this credit like I did great or something that I didn't understand until he showed me his leg 3 classes later ( as he wasn't at a couple)....the reason he wasn't at a couple was because his whole shin was mangled, cut up and bruised....."low blocks with intent" my sensei said.....hmmmmm, that's why he's the sensei. Also when I visualize during kata, I also try to visualize what kind of opponent.... for an example of this I will go back to a taikyoku Kata I learned at white belt (I don't know if you learn taikyoku katas but since you've only been in two months it seemed the better example). In this kata there are three blocks, followed by an oi tsuki that immediately turns into a soto chudan uke and (being a taikyoku kata) this pattern repeats itself into finally at the end the kata is ended with with downward hammer fist (tetsui)... so for this I would visualize that my opponent is a small, fast, boxer type guy that is always on the attack, always forcing me to block, when I try to punch he is so fast and relentless with his attack that I have to abandon my oi tsuki and turn it into a block again... this continues to the end of the kata, when, finally tired from the non-stop attack, I get my chance, and being a smaller faster opponent (I'm a pretty powerful guy), and one hammer fist and he's out.... I find visualizing the opponent as well as what the opponent might be doing helps me as well. Finally, visualizing the kata has one last advantage, at least for me..... it focuses me.... kime and kiai are essential in kata, and getting your focus can sometimes be as easy as picturing yourself in that fight.... If you're in a real fight you wouldn't take time to make eye contact with people around you that are watching would you? I hope this all helps, and don't worry about your sensei not showing you the bunkai yet after only two months. Everything will eventually come into place and you'll soon get more in to bunkai as you are too new to be bombarded with everything yet.... and a time will come where the bunkai will reveal themself to you on your own.... Give it time, it's a long road, and the journey is more important than the destination.

I'm not sure that it's a very good idea, for soo many reasons many of which have already been mentioned. If you and your friends want to compete with each other, that's one thing. When I was in high school, me and a few friends would go to my house on lunch and box...but we were also usually drunk too, and there was gloves involved and no money.... money makes things a little different. Heck, when we got drunk, we would hockey fight each other full force just for the thrill of it, and if one guy got the upper hand, someone would yell, "toe to toe" and we would just start slugging at each other again. But I had * for friends, we all knew that if we got hurt, it was our problem, and we actually liked bashing each other, and then hugging after a really great fight. When we boxed, whoever wasn't fighting would be the judges, and since we were all friends, what the judges decided was never questions, and there were no sore losers. But I wouldn't wish that on anyone....too many times one of us would have to explain how we left school one way, and came back from lunch with a black eye, lol...... Alot of questions that you won't want to answer. If you like the competition of it, get a few friends, and join a boxing club..... I look at it like street racing.... do it at the track, it is much more gratifying. And though I think you could get some friends together and do something like this without anything happening... it only takes one bad thing to happen to change things, and a guy who you thought knew what he was getting into and took responsibility for himself, might change very quickly once his arm was broken, or his pretty-boy face was scarred badly..... Too many things can go horribly horribly wrong..... It's definitely not worth it...... I was lucky enough to escape my Viking days.... It was all luck, I wouldn't lie and tell you anything different about how we carried ourselves back then. Or simply roll with each other.... no strikes, just positional wrestling and submissions.... but submissions can be very tricky and dangerous as well, especially when being used by an inexperienced person with little conrtol....when your putting a submission on a friend, there is a fine line between the amount of power needed to cause a little bit of pain and letting him know that he would be beat, and slapping on the technique full force and breaking something.... If you ask anyone in BJJ, I'm sure most will have stories about the student that had no control or little regard for their training partners, and ended up hurting people..... It's a very dangerous thing you're planning, either way. Be careful and stay safe.

White: Taikyoku Gedan, Chudan, Jodan, Soto Chudan Between white and yellow: Taikyoku Dai Shu sho Yellow: Taikyoku Mawashi Uke, Kake Uke, Gekisai Ich, Wanshu Orange: Gekisai Ni, Sanchin Green: Tensho, Saifa Blue: Sanchin Tensho, Seiunchin Brown: Sanseiru Sho dan: Shi so Chin, Sho Chu and Dai Ni Dan: Seisan, Sho, Chu and Dai San Dan: Seipei, Sho, Chu and Dai Yon Dan: Kararumfu, Sho, Chu and Dai Go Dan and up: Suparumpei, Sho, Chu and Dai, Hakutsura And along the way we might learn: Shorinji Seisan Empi Ha Bassai Dai Nihanchi Arakaki Unsu Sanchin Chu, Dai Tensho Chu, Dai Urban Han Aragaki Sochin GoJu ShiHo Sho Matsamura Potsai Wan Do Itosu Rohai GoJu ShiHo Dai Oyadamari Potsai Wan Kuan Empi Ananku Kushanku Dai Jitte Rokkishu

Your best bet is to find a MMA type school where their focus is capitalizing on the MMA craze. Tons of these places have popped up recently, hoping to be the next "Pat Militech fighting systems" school. I know that there are a lot of these places local to me in and around Toronto/Mississauga area (Canada) that have an MMA approach to them teaching Muay Thai and gi/no gi BJJ and Judo. It seems that alot of people these days are more interested in becoming MMA fighters than career Martial artists, and to alot of people these days the UFC is what Martial Arts are all about. And these "training centres" seek to capitalize on this fad. Of course most of the time, you'll be lucky if you even have a jiu-jitsu brown belt teaching, many are being taught by even lower belts as there just aren't that many BJJ black belts to go around. But these places are single-minded in their pursuit to make you a cage fighter and to give you that generic MMA fighting style that has developed where everyone has to learn the same stuff to compete. Go to one of these places if you want to do no gi Judo and you'll find what you want. You'll be throwing gi-less opponents in no time and throwing around terms like guard and mount in no time. Of course you won't be getting a traditional judo experience but you'll learn many of judos more popular techniques with or without a gi; of course this will all be thrown in with BJJ rolling and Thai boxing, and if you're ever in a self-defense situation where it is reasonable to be rolling around without fear of being stomped by your opponents friends, or where you have oodles of time to lay against a fence in a standing clinch, you'll be quite proficient. If you ask me, I personally wouldn't be taught by someone that isn't even Shodan, or someone with a jack of all trades mentality, but for the UFC, that seems to be the way to do it. You'll have a good well-rounded training for MMA and a decent repotoire that could be used for self-defense...maybe. Profficiency in a Martial art is not obtained overnight, nor can you train in 2 or 3 different ones and expect the level of profficiency of someone that only trained in one, but you'll have a decent bag of tricks and if your goal is to hear Joe Rogan yell out: "KIMURA, KIMURA, KIMURA!", then head on over to one of these places and have a purple belt instruct you in a mish mash of gi-less techniques, because in the street in a self-defense situation, your opponent will more likely be wearing a collared shirt or something that would allow you to use gi techniques, than be shirtless. If you want to be a UFC fighter or MMA fighter, go for it, more power to you and good luck, hope to see you in the ring/cage.... if not...... How many times have you seen a crazed mugger go at someone wearing skin tight "tap-out" shorts with nothing else on?

There are also times when you would use ie in the affirmative and use hai to answer no. It all depends on the situation, who you are and who you're talking to, etc. There are many "rules".

Hariatoshi is a 3 point block..... Rekken or Ura Ken is a backfist.

The Aikido that Steven Seagal taught was a particularly severe, combatative style of Aikido. The Aikido that he uses and teaches is designed to be applicable and effective for the street conflict. He uses alot of powerful techniques that simply do not look the same as most other Aikido masters... it could partly be due to the fact that he's a big guy at 6'4" with huge hands, etc., and could partly be due to the fact that when he first started out in Japan, he had to be better than everyone else to get the same respect. His Aikido is severe and brutal... more so than many others that you will see taught. If you train with Seagal, you will get punched in the face if you don't avoid it, you will get choked, etc.... He teaches a very practical and combative form of Aikido.... ... Of course, some of his more recent movies do include alot of fantasy "Hollywood martial arts" techniques....that can't be avoided, once the Matrix came out, and Crouching Tiger, etc., peolpe simply expect people to be flying around with wires, etc... Personally, I think it kind of killed martial arts movies in many ways... before Ong Bak came out.... it's nice to see someone actually doing something, and not just playing stuntman and wire tricks. These days, Hollywood can teach anyone to "fake" being an accomplished and believable martial artist. They just choreograph a fight sequence, teach it to you, and you and the other actor practice that sequence of events for a few months until you can do it in your sleep. There's a difference between Jet Li with wires on and Keannu Reeves with wires on, but not much difference on the screen. You can teach Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor to learn a choreographed sword fight and it will look awesome, but could they hold their own in a sword fight with Sho Kazugi.... I prefer my movie martial arts done by martial artists, not actors and dancers. Anyway....

Younger students get the chance to teach and help others... those in their age group who are of a lower rank, to have a 13 year old trying to teach adults or looking down to an adult of lower rank should not happen. Personally, I don't think that children should hold the rank of Shodan, but my cut-off point is 16, so take that as you wish.... I don't believe in junior black belts...I think there should be a certain expectation for Shodan, they should be wholly capable of defending themselves against most situations or people that he/she is faced with, or they wait until they can before becoming a black belt... I went to high-school with a "junior black-belt" and I pounded his head in in the parking lot one day. He threw one lousy kick that didn't hurt and got pummelled. Now I'm 30, and I don't behave like a hooligan anymore, I did alot of drinking and fighting and carrying on before I straightened out my life in my late 20s. But the fact remains that a "black belt" should be of a certain caliber that you won't get at 14.... period. I knew a guy in University who had been a brown belt as a youth as they didn't have junior black belts...when he reached adult status, he spent 4 years training at the adult level before he was granted Shodan, and he deserved it, he was old enough, strong enough to justify holding the rank of Shodan. There are no youth black belts at my school, they aren't allowed to be... but the cut-off between youth classes and adult is 16, and I'm fine with that.... I'm 30 now, but when I was 16, I was a mean son-of -a-gun and got into fights with "adults" in bars and such that I shouldn't have really been in in the first place...such is youth.... I'm older and wiser now... ... But at 16, there is a certain amount of maturity that starts to show, not that you're mature at 16, but if you're an immature jerk at 16, odds are you still will be at 18.... We have one 16 year old that just started in the adult classes at my school, and really, I have to watch myself around him, because he still is impressionable, and he can't handle the force that alot of the adults can, and I don't want to see him using a bunch of force against people knowing that he couldn't take that force back. but I know that so I go easy around him, and the Sensei would never pair him up with someone that obviously has more power than him, just in case.... But he started at 16, so he won't see Shodan till he's easily over the age of 18.... For those who came up in the youth ranks, when their age places them into the adult class, things change for them in a hurry, not, "welcome to adulthood, here's your black belt." The standards are different for youths.... there are different belts, and no black belt..... they have much much lower requirements for their belt gradings.... get belt promotions with half of the kata reportoire as the adults, and when they become "adults" they're expected to train like adults, and know what the adults of a particular rank know.... I don't see a 16 year old becoming a black belt at my school, even if it is possible..... As to how do they learn to teach if you don't let them teach and correct/instruct adults.... very simple, they teach/assist/ correct those in their age group and lower of lower rank.... just like with the adults.... higher ranking adults assist the lower ranking adults, higher ranking children assist lower ranking children...very simple. That having been said, noone can say anything to you unless he is Sensei. The only other person that can tell you what to do is Senpai, and she isn't likely to start dishing out push-ups.... If a brown or even black belt tries to tell you something at my Dojo, you simply say "Thank-you" and you do what Sensei told you to do, regardless of if they tell you to do something different. Higher ranks "assist" at my school, nothing more..... they cannot show you any new material, only Sensei can...they cannot punish you, only Sensei can.... On the other hand, I cannot ask a higher ranking belt a question about a technique, etc, I will be told to ask Sensei.... No member is allowed to teach another member anything, unless told to by Sensei. Higher ranks do not teach, they simply help you with techniques that have been taught... Now a brown or black belt can teach a class, and there is also a blue belt who teaches occassionally (blue belt is right under brown in our belt system)...this is done by Sensei's word, not on their own accord, and when they teach, they are given the respect that their position deserves, can answer questions, etc.... other than that, they can't really teach you anything. So we don't have too much of those kinds of problems at my school... higher ranks assist lower ranks, are shown the respect for their rank, black belts are addressed as Mr./Ms./Mrs. and their last name.... Senpai is always Senpai, Sensei is always Sensei.... there is respect.... and since a higher rank doesn't discipline a lower rank and start demanding push-ups and stuff, they keep the respect of those under them..... ...On a final note, no student under the age of 16, regardless of rank is allowed to say much of anything to anyone over 16, regardless of rank.... A 14 year old purple belt (which isn't even a belt for adults) doesn't give tips to a full-grown man with a white belt, it isn't permitted.... one of the virtues that we aspire to is respect for our elders and compassion for our juniors.... a youth is not permitted to deal with the adults. They call you "sir", they are respectful, and are shown the same respect. A youth cannot walk in front of an adult in the Dojo, even if he is a purple belt and the adult is a white... it is not done.... the adult is the senior in the relationship, regardless of rank..... as it should be.... When they're over 16 and hold a higher rank than an older adult, that is a totally different story..... but at 30, I'm not taking sparring tips from a 13 year old...it's not going to happen, and can't happen with the way our Dojo is run.

There are Aikido techniques for when, or I should say 'if", you end up on your back with the person in the "mount" position. They are actually similar to jiu-jitsu techniques, not exactly, but the same in principle.... but like everything else in Aikido, you are using your opponents force against them.

We have 5 white belt level Taikyoku katas...I guess every school is different... Well, the fifth, Taikyoku Daishu-sho, is really more of an in between white and yellow kata, if that makes sense.... it's kind of a transition type of thing.

Yes there are ground techniques in aikido....however, the goal in Aikido is not to be on the ground, but there are techniques should you in some way end up there...most are based upon getting back onto your feet though.

I'm not saying that you'll be a wizard in no time, or that you'll be able to control experienced martial artists after a couple months of training, but, people do have to realize that some people have natural instincts that can't necessarily be taught. What I mean is that some people just have natural jiu-jitsu instincts, even without any formal training.... now would they stand up to someone with formal training...perhaps not, but for a person with innate grapping instincts, a few months training jiu-jitsu could make them a very dangerous person, if that makes any sense to you. There are people who instinctively know what to do in situations without any training...which way their body needs to move from certain positions in order to escape, people who instinctively know when to go for a certain grap, when to transition to something else, when to apply pressure and when to go limp. For people like this, structuring their innate abilities with training can make them surprisingly profficient in a short time....Also, there are those with wrestling or Judo backgrounds that can often transition into jiu-jitsu much quicker than those without the background. I'm not saying that jiu-jitsu is a style that is easy to learn or that it can be picked up easier than others...it takes work and dedication just like anything else... But some people almost seem born for it, if that makes sense. I'm not one of these people, but I am somewhere in between... I find jiu-jitsu techniques come to me easier and much more naturally than Karate does, and I am better at them than I am at Karate, which I train much much more at. I do have a wrestling background though, and I am very comfortable in a clinch, in close, or on the ground... Which was partly due to neccessity being 5'6" and 200 pounds, I have a body custom made for getting in close, lol. I know, I sound like a cannonball, but I'm not, I grew up playing football and power lifting, ect., so I'm not the short blob that I sound like I am. But I do believe that someone with natural jiu-jitsu or wrestling instincts, given they have a good training partner or partners, and dilligence and hard work and humility, alot can be done in only a few months.... you won't be beating any Gracie's, but then again, I've heard a couple Gracie's say that their respective system was designed to get good fast, so, who's to say.... With hard work one man can accomplish more in 3 months than the nonchalant can in a year... and some people are just geared to certain styles more than others.... that's why I work my Karate ALOT more than my jiu-jitsu (and I work jiu-jitsu more than some that are dedicated solely to jiu-jitsu), I do more Karate as it doesn't come as natural to me, and it all comes down to how badly you want it.