shorinryu912

I wish I could tell you folks what is on the shodan test for our school. I am only a 4th kyu, we are allowed to sit in and watch green and brown belt tests (brown will be coming for me very soon), but sub-shodan level students are forbidden to watch a shodan test in our school, and the instructors will not tell us what is on it, which has me scared sick. We're supposed to be prepared for anything... so maybe I'll just bring a gun to the dojo.

I don't know if the person who originally even posted this thread is even still here, but if you are, please don't quit right away. You said in the original post you have only been there for a few months, that post was put up a long time ago but you have still been there barely a year if that by now, correct? THAT'S why you haven't done anything hard-hitting yet. I felt much the same way 6 months into my Shorin Ryu training, in the sense that I felt like all we did endlessly was work on forms, hit the heavy bag, and do strength training, it felt like we never actually FOUGHT with another person so I wanted to quit... but it takes patience because they don't actually let you, in most good schools, do anything particularly dangerous until you've got a bit more experience than 1 year under your "belt" (excuse the pun )... this is a test of your patience, Karate is a dandy martial art for "practical" self defense, but they're not gonna let you do full-contact sparring or teach you any really dangerous techniques in your first year. Give it time, more powerful movement will be coming (if you haven't already quit)...

Just curious to get an idea of the type of movement emphasized in each respective style represented around here. When you throw a lunging punch (in Karate oi-zuki), does your style emphasize a linear surge of power from the back foot through the hips and into the forward hand (with the body falling forward in a nearly straight line toward the target) or do you emphasize a greater left/right twisting of the hips, such that your centerline actually changes direction? I have noticed the former being more characteristic of Japanese/Korean styles, and the latter being more characteristic of Chinese/Okinawan styles. The former attempts to utilize the power of gravity and the hip muscles, while the latter attempts to utilize the natural torquing power of the circle. Does your style block the same way it strikes? Which method of movement to you prefer/find to be more effective? I find myself using circular movements more frequently in close quarters for striking, and using linear movements over longer range for striking. Almost all of my blocks tend to be circular, which is natural for me as a Shorin-Ryu student since Okinawan styles more closely resemble Chinese (gung fu) movement than Japanese styles do. Don't really know if one method is "better", but just interested to see what is actually used.

We only have white, green, brown and black. I go to a very small private school, we are not affiliated with any large organized body.

With utmost respect intended folks, I think Jay is primarily looking more for technique than for conditioning, i.e. how can he get more horsepower out of the engine he has now rather than swapping in a new one. Handclap pushups ARE an excellent way to build massive strength. They are also an excellent way to tear your shoulder and elbow joints to shreds. If you don't believe that I've got some x-rays to show you. There is one way to always be faster than the other guy. Do less work than he does! I'll race Carl Lewis anyday if he's running 100 yards and I'm only running 50! As long as your hands are up where they should be, and you don't OVERdrive your punch too deep into the target (i.e. don't try to punch 3 feet behind his chest), making the littlest movement you can, with no wasted telegraphing of motion (shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line), you will almost always beat him. Don't do any work that you can't just let gravity do for you. I have visited many schools where I've seen folks being taught to PUSH off their back leg to throw a standard lunging punch (in karate, oi-zuki). This is only half correct. You only propel yourself forward with the back leg to initate the forward inertia of the technique, after just a little push off the back toe, you just relax all tension in your legs and FALL forward into the target. The front leg catches you, and the end effect makes it LOOK like you drove the back leg all the way into the target because it is straight. This DOES NOT WORK, however, unless the hands start first and almost finish the technique before the foot even moves - i.e. hand is almost making contact with the target before the body is added. I have been to TKD schools where the instructor specifically told the students to move their foot first, but ask Dan Inosanto to this day how Bruce Lee executed the lead punch in Jeet Kune Do, and he will tell you, Bruce's knuckles actually touched the target for a split thousandth of a second before his foot even moved. This way 100% of the body movement goes into the technique and none is wasted. Give your arm muscles as much help as you can, i.e. if you can rotate your shoulder/back just an inch further into the target, if you can push your hip just an inch closer to the target, if you can move your foot just an inch closer to the target... that's 3 inches less work your arms have to do. Above all else, RELAX. When your hands are up in ready position they should have only sufficient tension to keep them still. The muscles do not tense until the split second before you make contact. The less tension in the muscles throughout the course of the swing, the quicker and more explosive the final snap will be.

YES. Who would win? The one who learned his style WELL will win. Personally, if you ask me, probably 90% of those who do "a little" KM will whup up on 90% of those who do "a little" gung fu, and I have seen large, beer-gutted cops with KM training have gung fu/karate/TKD practitioners on the ground in a jointlock in about 2 seconds flat... On the other hand, if the gung fu practitioner is truly skilled and dedicated and practices his art diligently as opposed to the cop who doesn't train hardly at all to maintain his KM skills... I wouldn't wanna be that cop.

PLEASE do not overdo your strength training too much at first!!!!! I tore the tendons in my elbows to shreds trying to build too much strength too quickly when I started, and it hurt to even comb my hair, tie my shoes or drive for almost a year ... take baby steps and you will be surprised how quickly you start to progress. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time...

Our sensei had knee surgery last January. He was able to do forms again at full speed by June. He teaches class for at least an hour a night four nights a week. Granted he can no longer squat as much weight as he might like, he used to teach for TWO hours a night instead of one so he has cut back, and granted our style is VERY traditionally Okinawan Shorin Ryu so we don't kick a lot at all, but his surgery most certainly did not force him to cease his training. It's just another challenge for a true martial artist to overcome. It's very inspiring to watch how it hasn't slowed him down. There's an older gentleman in our dojo who has no cartilage (sp?) left in his right knee and he still comes to Kobudo class once a week. I am NOT an expert but your doctor is being WAY too conservative if you ask me.

I think "MartialArthur" nailed it - it's easy to dismiss it as something entirely bad, because one most certainly CANNOT learn the martial arts from a video or book - I tried that, then when I started to train for real I found out how little the videos helped when I found myself on my back on the mat staring up at the grinning black belts in my school. But the possible positive effect it might have is that it could generate enough interest in those who buy it to get them to train for real. I've often asked the same question about martial arts movies - they don't depict our art realistically at all, yet I would not have started training unless I had first grown interest in learning more about the martial arts because, primarily, of movies. So the movies did have SOME positive impact. DEFINITELY don't like them including a "black belt" though, that hands down sends the wrong message about what the priority in one's training ought to be... that's definitely a "McDojo" (parents will buy their kid the kit just so they can have the belt and say they're a black belt + companies know that = money making scheme)

Bearing in mind I am only a 4th kyu so I don't even have that many kata yet... my favorite is Seisan. I think I learn something new about hip rotation or proper explosion of power every time I run through it. You can practice it very very quickly or very VERY slowly (as I do often due to joint injuries) and learn something useful from it. And I think watching a very WINDED, tired karateka run through it tells you volumes about their technique.

Hi all. Hoped the title of my post would attract the attention of anyone who has experience with a combination of the above. My dojo has a very slanted emphasis on upper-body strength relative to other schools which I have visited. We do MASSIVE numbers of pushups. I consider it a lucky night if we get away with only doing 50 while warming up. For my green belt test a year ago we had to do a total of 500 in sets of 50 and 25, inbetween 5 forms, 6 walking sets, 15 ippon-kumite drills, and 25 2-minute rounds of jiyu-kumite. There are a lot of senior level students who have less flexibility and less stamina than I, yet I am probably the weakest adult male there. The other adult male students can all bench 300 lbs plus easily, while I struggle to bench 200 for more than a few reps. I don't MIND all the strength training, but I developed a severe case of tendonitis in both of my elbows about a year ago that has not gone away yet. Aggravating it further is the fact that my occupation is a typing clerk and I type all day long at work. I have modified the way I do my pushups, I used to straighten my arms too much, I have brought my arms in closer to my body and keep them bent at nearly a 90 degree angle, and the pain has gone away a little but it will not heal completely. The pain is still great enough that I cannot condition or train without wearing an NFL-style heavy-duty rubber elbow brace sleeve over both my arms (which restricts my mobility and is very uncomfortable). Has anyone else ever struggled with chronic, never-healing tendontis before???

Hello all. I've been eavesdropping on these boards for a while, thought it was about high time I joined. I am 24 and live in Pittsburgh PA. I've been studying Shorin Ryu Karate for about 2 1/2 years now, I am a 4th kyu, will probably test for brown belt within the next 6 months or so. I study in a small, VERY traditionally Okinawan school run by John Hamilton-Sensei (kyudan), if anyone here is familiar with him. Thank you all users and mods for running such a pleasant, friendly, informative site!