Sensei Rick

most of them have been good posts too. I always learn when I visit this site. And I just want to thank you patrick, have a happy new years.

It’s weird, I just got up from watching an x mas present of Bruce lee's box set. I watched the way of the fist. He killed chuck Norris in the coliseum in Rome. I was thinking the whole time. I thought Bruce was better than this. When he spins the nunchucko he doesn't do a figure 8. He only circles them and strikes. He seemed much faster when I was a little kid. No one can deny Bruce lee's influence on the arts. He has been dead for 33 years and still is in MA magazines regularly. He is still talked about. In non MA circles he is considered unbeatable, and he was, at the time. He is like Arnold, still in magazines and now even the governor of California. People compare him to today’s champions and say that Arnold could have beat lee Haney in his prime. Bruce was so innovative, and so on and so forth. I'm a little sick of it. And I'll tell ya why. I was in a band and just played a set at this party. We must have played some ACDC song really well because during the break I found myself in a conversation with a guy about ACDC. He said he loved them and they were so great blah blah blah, and then he said the trigger to my point. He said that Bon Scott, ACDC's then long dead first singer was the best and his favorite. I then asked what his favorite album of there's was and he said Back in black. That album features Brian Johnson, their singer that they have now. It is easily there best selling album and there most successful yet Brian Johnson has to listen to people talk about Bon all the time. Dave Grohll has to hear about Curt kobain. Stevie ray used to be called a Hendricks rip off. I was so annoyed at t he guy going on about Bon Scott and then stating that Back in Black is his favorite album. I'm glad that you went to the seminar and learned something useful and hopefully you'll take it and develop it and share that at your new school. Bruce lee is dead. I hear all the time how his style died with him and so on. That may or may not be true. But to go see Insanto and pay a lot of money (your words, not mine) makes the point of your article. I have learned from many people, but I learn most from my own students. I learn everyday whether or not I am succeeding or failing. I hope Danny insanto makes a lot of money with his seminars, just remember, there are plenty of others out there that didn't have Bruce as a teacher, but have great seminars and schools. Please support them as well. Oh and by the way, Brian Johnson can sing, and Dave grohll blows curt kobain away. Ps. I just reread this and it sounds like I’m bitter and I’m really not. But if you really wanna learn martial arts, then Bruce lee is one star in the sky. Don't forget to look at the rest.

Addrenaline will take care of any pain you about to experience, so there is no need to get hit. Next, do like my instructor and myself did in a bar fight one night. We were in a bar, a fight broke out, and we left the bar. Like myagi says, when punch comes, best not to be there, and don't forget to breathe.

I train at a BJJ school but we study a sifferent style with a diffeent instructor. I have done some JJ with the instructor and it's embarrasing to have someone half your size make you tap but............. The sport sometimes looks a little.......different. So many men rolling around together................ sweating and many of them shirtless. I want to post other things but I don't want to be banned. It can sometimes look like those guys really like each other. Like Elton John and his new husband, only more macho. Hey wait...... that instructor pinned me at will and made me tap. Now that I think about it, could I be beat by Richard Simmons? That would be horrible. But now that i joked around a bit, back to your crazy question. When I'm on a date (which rarely happens) I'm to focused on other issues to worry about class. Do I have a good stance, What are her weaknesses, can i get in for the kill shot. Will I score any points. Did the ref see my last point. Hold on a tic, this seems a lot like fighting. Hey, you can train and have a date at the same time.

My current instructor had a school open for five years. In that five years he lost a total of 14k. He said that it taught him many vauable lessons. We now work afor a company and make a very decent living thru teaching. He also rents out a school on sunday. A complimentary style to our own and he has a 50-50 split witht the owner. I have seen so many schools open and close that I once tried to keep track, but ran out of hard drive space. When we had a school in the mid 80's there were around 80 schools in the phone book, now there are 1,200. And only about 3 of em give really good instuction. The most succesfull school has a kids climbing wall and those video game machines like at Mc Donalds. The guy has a huge house on a lake in a gated community. I want that kind of success. Anyone have a number for nintendo.

it seems the coulored thing gets a bad rap. I try to think progressively. I once read an article about wether or not old masters would wear kicking shoes, the article said they would. I tend to agree. I keep many traditional things in my school and i try to teach as much "DO" as i can. But I know the century were in. Kicking shoes will keep you active in the art longer. Period. (at least in a kicking intesive style) As for uniforms, (gi or dobock) I can't stand many of the styles that I have seen. In my dojo we recently went with an all black gi and the parents loved it. The all white gi was imposible to keep clean. I only changed because the manufacture made a better product for the same price. It is a real well made affordable uniform. But I don't care what my students train in. Shorts, Sweats,whatever they have. I have a lot of people in lower economic levels and wanna keep my program affordable so that these kids will chose a proper way of life. If my student shows up with a rainbow gi...... he will get kidded around with, but he will not be disallowed to train. I have a takaido from the 80's just before they went away, before they came back. I paid about 80 bucks for it in 1985. It is shredded and black but the most comfortable gi i['ve ever had. I care more about how if feels than how it looks. [/i]

Doesn't your instructor give you a copy of or an idea of his curriculum? Student's, if your instructor doesn't have a written curriculum that you can see, you won't know your goals. I might not give beginners my curriculum all the way to black belt, but they get a copy for the belt they are working on. Students, if your school doesn't do this and the instructor is just teaching what he "feels" like that day...... your progress will be slow. Instructors, you should know your curriculum inside and out so that you can progress your students through each phase of your program effectively. I know that I only have a finite amount of time with the students each week. Not one second of their time and their hard earned money should be wasted. Now back to the responses......

I have a new question for you all. Many have responded to my inquirery about kata, and how many you have in your system until you reach shodan. Now I want to know how many one-steps and self-defense's you have in your system. I'd generally like to know your instructors requirements for black belt. Even the number of blocks, strikes and Kicks you are tested on at black belt. For clarification, in my style, one-steps are for when the opponent is trying to put his hands on you, and you defend with prearranged techniques. A self-defense is when the attacker already has his hands on you, and you defend with prearranged techniques. In my style the shodan tests are: 20 kicks (must know 54 min.... ) 20 strikes (must know 54 min.... ) 20 blocks (must know 54 min.... ) 30 self defense (must know 60) 30 one steps (must know 60) 10 kata These are the things TESTED by a 30-member black belt panel. Obviously the student's must know more, these are just the minimum requirements. Please tell me about your style.

I am still watching this topic, and find all responses very useful. please keep em coming.

I would agree that you have a strength problem. try working out and working your whole back properly, ask a trainer. I would avoid roman chair and yoga positions like the lotus, I believe they can be harmful to the lower back. WW said to try another art. I would do this only if the pain or problem was unbearable. Have you asked your sifu. Maybe combine your art with another.

Stonecursher: You stand out in these forums and I just wanted to say hi. Is that your picture in your avatar? I have a Black belt in TKD and Taka hashi Ryu. I am a teacher now and love chines arts. I learned a few basic wu shu forms and have a great demo team. We are performing at a phoenix suns game in march. We just performed at a wu shu day in the chinese cultural center here in phoenix. I have also hired a wu shu "coach" (there titles are unfamilar to me) He is an athlete of enormous ability. We are working on a cirriculum to rank my student's in wu shu. Now that you know my goals here are some of my questions. Is kung fu an all encompassing word for chinese arts or is it a specific art unto itself. (tv doesn't help me much here) Is wushu respected amoungst the other chinese arts such as yourselves? One thing that i would like to add. I have seen some hung gar and poisonhand and things like 18 siezng hands. I love the poetry of the chinese moves and the names that they are given. (monk carries log, beauty looks in the mirror etc.) Are these all from one art, or many arts? I'm trying to find history and linieage. If you could direct me to a web site that isn't fool of falsehoods i'd really appriciate that.

That is really a great statement, I may have to steal it for my signature. . I would like to add but this post speaks volumes. A very eye opening article indeed.

The bones of your hip joint may have grown over the socket where the leg connects. This is the case with me and my legs only come apart so far, no matter the flexability between my legs. I can even see this in an x ray. i'm not going to give up tho, i'm just going to try harder each day.

I have studied many styles and have a raibow of belts in a variety of systems. In american kenpo the roundhouse kick was a reverse motion spinning kick, striking with the bottom of the foot. So, if you right leg is back, you spin 360 clockwise with the rear foot, what in TKD we call a wheel kick. They (kenpo) called that roundhouse. Their wheel kick was what I call now a round house. Right leg back, pivot on the front foot, turning counter clockwise with the rear leg, and strik with the instep. Who got these reversed, ED parker of Jhoon Rhee?

I never said it was practicle, but only that it did work.

I wonder if a ground art might be a good thing. Seems like they would be less jaring to the knee, and the guard holding positions might help to train the muscles around the knee, which is what you need.Find a careful training partner and let them know your injury before you start any training. These arts have a lot of hard core players so be particular about your partners.

is that the fist with the index finger not tucked up, kinda straight, pointing back at you.

Now that's a good post On a more serious note I just had the pleasure of testing my skill on a drunk wife beater at a gas station at 2 am. This guy was a huge indian guy about 6 '4" and about 300 pounds, and he managed to get every pound of himself drunk. He was beating his wife, while myself and many cab drivers were hearing it. I got her to cross the street and stand by me and be "safe" He came across the street wanting his wife, who refused my request of her to go inside the station and call the cops. They yelled around me for several minutes and I tried to defuse the situation. I kept backing up, keeping him in the kicking range and me away from the booze odor. I knew that if i started to hit him, he wouldn't feel it. he wasn't feeling anything. And he was so drunk he could barely manage a good beating on his wife. I did manage to keep him in a quick joint lock till the good guys of the police department got there. So my point is alcohol may not take them down, in fact it can help them stay up. and there is no honor or skill in defeating a big drunk guy that can't move. The cops were glad to see that I didn't try anything bad, so was my sensei. Alcohol can do both, knock em out, and keep them up.

hate to tell ya all this, but your kinda wrong. I saw my sensei knocked out by dillman. He too, was a non believer. A good friend of ours, Tony hughs, hired dillman for the seminar. He is too, a nonbeliever. He tells the story quite funnily. He is standing in front of dillman, then he got tapped, lightly by dillman on different point of his body. He says he then pointed his finger at Dillman and said "Ha, you're a phony, I knew this stuff didn't work." He then looked down at the ground and saw himself on the ground, being revived by dillman and others. Then his head was back in his own body, and he didn't know where he was, or who he was for about ten minutes. The whoe time that he thought that he was talking, telling the man he was a phoney, he was really lying knocked out on the ground. I've known my sensei for over 22 years, he was really knocked out. he was knocked out by a touch on his head, his wrist and i think a tap on his instep. It was freaking strange. I was very ill at the time and didn't "volunteer". Dillmans knockout are real tho. I didn't see this program, and haven't heard of him NOT touching someone to knock them out. Go see dillman yourself If he comes to your town, make sure your on a mat!!!!

The bully shouled have known. Little guys fight forever like energiser bunnies. next time tape it for alll of us.

I have a demo team and one of the weapons we feature is the chain whip. One girl on the team is very skilled, but i believe it's like nunchucku. You could hurt yourself with the weapon also. I believe beating this weapon is like playing good music, you need TI.....MING.

Where is the back kick metioned in the original post? anyway, on to an answer for you. I have discussed this in a previos forum, "the value of a black belt" What makes a black belt. With ten years of training, even once a week, he has proven himself. Let me tell you why. For this student not to quit or be discouraged at this point embodies his indomitable spirit. IMO, it states that his character is developed farther than his physicality. He is still trying!! No black betl and he is still in class, probably as many others pass him in rank in shorter amounts of time. I have seen that senerio discourage many students. Bravo for instilling this kind of spirit in him. As for his lack of kata knowledge. Is he just not able to perform.... hmmmm, I deal with this often. I give little patches for each new kata learned. I have some who cant do the moveas themselves, but can watch me, and stop me when i make a mistake. (that tellls me they know it, but have problem telling "thier" body what to do.) another way to test is have the student tell me the moves of the kata. Do they know when to turn, what block etc. Try testing him different ways and see if he "knows" more than you think. And i'd be curious about his self defense and body mechanic knowledge. Does he know what is right and wrong about other studen't kicks and forms? I once knew a disabled quadrapalegic black belt. But he had studied other peoples kicks so much that he made an excellent coach, always identifying pivoting mistakes and other errors in technique. He was a fine black belt. Let me know what you do, or what other help you might need.

Kumori, Your instructor sounds like he has a good cirriculum and has told you the expectation. To me, that is the sign of a good instructor, stay with him and stay on the path. welcome to the wonderfull world of karate. I have been fortunate to make karate part of my whole life. I would love to be 14 AGAIN knowing what I know now. I envy you and I remember my firsts test in karate. Thinking I knew it all, only to flub up completely. Good luck my freind, and make your sensei proud by doing you best, that's all we ask. Osu!

washjeff, I wish you all the success in you endevour, and i mean that sincerly. Remember though, you get a black belt to learn karate. That's just what you did. Now....... continue to learn. OSU!

uhmm, ........ use the internet must we do all the work for you!!!!