Gen_Tora

Whats the handicap? Are you sure it's a handicap/learning thing? Allot of people don't practice out the dojo, so when he's all gung ho in class he may not be at home. If it's a learning disorder based on his ability to remember things try teaching him in a free style format. But, this is my honest opinion, his back kicking form isn't due to a learning disability it's most likely one of several factors. a) physically disable legs b) Incorrect practice c) not practicing outside the dojo d) nervious/mental preception error Quick fix, start a free-style (self-defense focused side class) give him an honorary BB & switch him to that. But, if you want to follow the complete regulations for your art form, then no. Ultimately the desision is yours, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you deside. Peace, Ron

Analysis of Shaolin Chin Na, Deadly Grip of Ninja: Thows & Takedowns thats all that comes to mind right now... Later, Ron

There are allot of hidden methods & techniques to kata, watch other people doing their's & think about how allot of those methods can be applied to real life. Also don't consider a block a block, think of them more as counter-attacks & wrist grabs. Hope this helps, Ron

I'm gonna ask this & don't take it the wrong way. What rank is your sensei? How much does he truely know about his art form? Reason being I have a very bad opinion of most Shotokan schools, for this very reason. There are allot of "hidden" movements in Kata, mose in the basic application of techniques. A simple Judan Uke holds two possiblities. For one you strike the opponents arm with your forearm, then grab the wrist to pull the opponent forward into a reverse punch or after blocking & grabbing the opponents wrist & wedging your other forarm into the opponents armpit & stepping forward wedging their trapped arm between both bodies you can dislocate the shoulder. All of this is based on basic katas learned at a beginning level. So I say break down the possiblities in your kata, then point out that the more realistic stuff was always there but instead of it being up to the constant practice of the student to learn the "secrets of kata" the modernest are openly teaching what was already their. That way the traditionalist save face, & the modernest can accept more traditional training methods but keep to their opinion. A happy medium, hopefully... Peace, Ron

Sad thing is shotokan has been warped from day one, I know guys out here who don't know half of the stuff I do in shotokan, I'm only a shodan. Gichin Funakoshi said that 15 kata where enough for a life time, plus some of the older training methods have been lost due to commericalization of the art. A few sensei stick to the origional format & have produced great results. I have also seen some school do really badly because they don't understand concept. Origionally shotokan training involved, makawara (fence post wrapped in rope or cord) training, exercises with clay pots to develop strength & grip (wieght lifting) & sparring the idea of semi-contact sparring was done because their were no pads used. So IMHO since we have pads how, full contact is the way to go. We used the semi-contact stuff at first but broke into full-contact back when I was in shotokan. I don't know what some of you do now, it depends mostly on the school. Later, Ron

Struggling no, drowning yep... I had 26 students then september 11th hit I reupped. Now I'm back out, & reopening my dojo. I'm looking at 3 students, one is my partner but I'm teaching him muay thai & jujitsu, then eventually ninjitsu. But, I usually select students for the ninjitsu class. Too many people either wonna learn to be an assassin or a cat burglar. Stange thing is as much as I hate hollywoods "ninja boom" it brought allot of business I turned down cause I didn't like the cliential. Later, Ron

I used to pick up little thingd from books when I was in Karate Tournaments (I was like 12 to 14) anyway it was funny seeing my opponent's face when I started using wing chun trapping hands or an aikido throw. My sensei used to laugh at it he called it "showing off my martial arts IQ" Anyway quick self-help guide, I could list a few books but it all depends on what style you wonna learn. Personally I say buy a few books & videos on Muay Thai basic & effective enough. Or some on karate, there are a few "teach your self" books on Karate, judo, jujitsu & Aikio. I had a shirt made for my shool that says "The second most dangerous thing in life is an educated man. The most dangerous thing in the world is a self-educated man." Self-educated means you are only limited by what you choose to know. So I say since you have the chance to look outside a taught style or form. Take adavntage of it! On that note two things to remember; 1) A training partner will help you out allot, even if they are the preverbial clean slaight as you are now. 2) Think outside the box, you've been reading Lee's work. You need to understand one thing, all martial artist are self-taught. If we limit ourselves to what we see & hear in the dojo then we have no place in the martial arts. Knowledge is a gift, how you use it is upto you... Peace, Ron

Any martial art... Karate, Kick Boxing, Judo/jujitsu, MMAs, streetfighting whatever can be used to fight. I see it as this as long as the rules give even footing to both strikers & grapplers its all good. My old shotokan sensei trained in Japan & said during the 60s to 70s, tournaments where full contact no gloves or pads & that allot of guys where carried off the mat. As long as there are safety measures, their isn't much risk of those "old school blood sport rules" becoming fatal or life altering. Professional wrestlers put themselves through more pain by acting then most UFC guys do in the ring. It's all a matter of safety regs & proper planning. Later, Ron

two words, spar allot...

Sensei Mike, I can't PM you but post some info here, hopefully some other might be down for it.

I may be able to help, I was wanting to start a similar idea in my home town. I posted a set of rules for my idea below in another thread. If that similar to what you wonna do then I'm up for it.

Knees, I have a question... Bare in mind this is my personal thoughts... All MAs are theory, I haven't done a tournament in 6 years & even then I was much liked when I was. See the thoery of neo-traditional* Martial Arts is applying form, technique & prinicple to real world skills. The thoery of sport arts is applying the ring to the street, a big gap. Traditional MA have a similar disadvange to most sport systems. When I was 15 to 17 I was homeless, living in a shelter. I had no way of legally making money at 15 so I started "pit fighting" on weekends, a serious ethical mistake on my part. I found a couple of guys who where from the same MA school I was attending. Here is where theory meets reality. Survival be it physical, emotional or economical changes the way you think. You take hits you normally wouldn't to reach an end, result. The problem with sports is that they train you for controlled reactions within the land of fair play. The problems with traditional MA is that allot of conditioning used in the origional days are not politically correct to day. Or simply that a harder path has been made easier for the economical survive of the school or sensei. It's all theory, unless you wonna practice with a real gun, knife & facing a wached out crack head or a slobering super drunk. The worst guy of the bunch is dude looking to feed his kids but can't, he'll just stab you in the kidneys & steal your wallet. Those are things that none of us can train for. So why should we bother training, at all? Later, Ron * FYI: Neo-traditional is a term for school who teach traditional MAs but not by taditional means. Example would be shotokan, where O'Soke Funakoshi said 15 kata were enough for a life time. Yet modern (traditional) shotokan today is taught with near 60+ kata until shodan alone. This isn't to say it's right or wrong, just a big leap from the origional intent of the founder.

Had a buddy of mine from the Marines push me from behind, just jokeing. I did a simple low block, but had to spin around all fast & stuff. I almost broke his wrist, got lucky & hit him in the "right spot." if I wouldn't have pulled back at the last minute I would have broken the guys wrist. Thing is you need to understand that for however long you've been training. You've been building on instinct & conditioning reflexes. The more you train the more stuff like will happen until you develop a lighter touch. Or hurt one of them on reflex, not meaning to & they learn not to mess around so much. On the Blocking being strikes issue, I make the third person in this club. So do we get patches or have a secret handshake yet lol... Later, Ron

I am working on the idea of holding an open style, open rank tournament. Kinda like UFC or XMA but more oriented toward a more rules light setting. I want it to be a) full contact & b) not favoring a certain style type (i.e. striking, grappling, or trapping). What would be some good basic rules, Here is what I have on my own anything need to be changed by anyone opinion? Illegal Targets: Striking 1)Eyes. 2)Front of the Knees 3)Throat or Neck 4)Groin 5)Spine 6)Back of the Head Illegal Targets: Grappling 1)Eyes 2)Groin 3)Fingers & Toes 4)Hair Illegal Actions: 1)Attacking before the fighting signal is given. 2)Continuing to fight when the ‘STOP’ fighting signal is given 3)Biting & Scratching 4)Spitting 5)Striking anywhere but the Upper Ribs, Chest or Stomach of an opponent on the ground while standing. 6)Fighting “Off the Mats.” (i.e. Fighting outside of the tournament grounds) thanks, Ron

I have an interesting point of view on the subject, since I studied Shotokan & remember hearing how the origional system was limited to 15 kata, one had to practice carrying clay pots full of sand, punch a cord wrapped wooden post ect. And then how kumite was conducted more like a streetfight then the rules heavy, Politically Correct Karate we see now. To me that says allot about where we (the people who have studied karate) have came from & how far we have gone from the origional meaning... I think allot of martial artists forget two important things... a) Martial Arts (especially Karate) are a form self-defense only, that means philosophy, health & fittness are second to the concept of defending yourself. b) Most modern training methods serve the origional puroses of the art. Carrying clay pots, equals wieght training. A makawra (?) equals a heavy bag. The times may change but the focus of the art should not. Sparring can be done more safely now, but should be considered as a suppliment aspect to full-contact sparring. Later, Ron

I completely agree with you... Later, Ron

My shodan in shotokan was easy, do some forms KO the other brown belts in sparring, etc. When my new sensei who had trained in Japan tested me last year, for sandan. All I heard was, "You need to put forth more effort... Oh yeah here you go." And he handed the certificate. I test my students everyday they just don't know it... When your ready to move on, you will. Life tests us everyday, why should the dojo only test on every second friday or whenever? My 2 cents, Ron

Devil, I don't know what style you teach but here is the format for my ninjitsu class. 5th Kyu (white belt)---------------------------------------- Basic Meditation & mental exercises Fittness & physical exercise falling & rolling balance & movement exercises blocking & trapping exercises 4th Kyu (yellow belt)--------------------------------------- pressure points striking techiques including some sweeps application of bocking & trapping combined with striking light or no contact sparring w/ focus on using blocking/trapping skills with strikes in a continous & sucessive free from. 3rd Kyu (Green Belt)-------------------------------------- sweeps throws & takedowns Grappling (stand up & ground) Using strikes, blocks & traps as set ups to grappling, throws & takedowns. Focus on none resistance to exercise, partial resistance & full contact sparring. (supervised & video tape) Using the Video to examine strengths & weakness in class Basic Stealth Principles 2nd Kyu (Orange belt)--------------------------------------- Stick & staff techniques Knife Fighting techniques Chain techniques Shuriken techniques 1st Kyu (brown belt)---------------------------------------- sparring drilld with weapons (padded) basic first aid herbal medicines Advance Evasion skills Shodan (black belt)------------------------------------------- Adavnced striking & grappling methods (koroshi-waza Killing techniques) Advanced Stick, chain, knife & shuriken skills 1st Chosen weapon: student picks 2nd Chosen weapon: student picks Training Exercises-------------------------------------------- Repition drills partial resiatance sparring full resistance half force sparring full force/full contact dodging tennis balls Striking Dumby blindfolded sparring blind folded (both) sparring blind folded (only one) Russian Circle Capture the flag 1 against 10 with a 5 min head start: only 3rd kyu & up, limited on certain techniques. hope that helps you... I should mention two important things here 1) my school is know as a fighting school. We don't get invited to most tournys cause we train for effect. 2) I start sparring a free from no resistant, light impact striking & grappling. Basicly so my students can feel out how the form is suppost to work. I let them apply a little resistance to show them how it's not so easy & then let them go at it full force. I video tape the sparring sessions & the whole classes watches it. We discuss what worked, what didn't, why, how to improve & what was done right. You'd be surprised how a this crawl, walk, run method of free style produces compitant martial artist. My green belts can drop most Black belts, but enough bragging. Do what seems right to you. later, Ron

I trained with two bujinkan schools, I didn't like either. And don't get me started on Hayes. Here is a few facts for you to consider, 1) There are three types of ninjitsu, 2) the last ninja active in Japan was in WWII & wasn't from the X-kan ppl, 3) hatsumi hasn't proved his ninjitsu schools as koryu or athentic by the Japanese governemnt or independant agencies. 1) There are three forms that ninjitsu comes in a) bujitsu ryu (war arts school) where "ninja techniques" where apart of samurai study. Basicly using terrorist to fight terrorist. If you want a more modern idea of what I'm saying. b) A yomabushi ryu (mountain warrior-monks school) which evolved in a vacume of philosophy study & zen influence. c) a system of stealth & theatrics that were developed by Japanese carnies. so what kinda ninja you wonna be? lol 2) The last ninja active in Japan was Seiko Fujita the last reconised master of the Koga Ryu. He lead 2,000 japanese soldiers into Burma in a guerrilla operation that lasted 4 years. He also stole scrolls from the Shaolin temple, Korean schools & temples, Indonesia etc. He cross trained his jujitsu form (he never called it taijitsu) in Dim Mak, Karate, Kung Fu, Jujitsu, aikido, Shorin ryu & had the privilage of training with a great many other grandmasters. He & his top students died in a car crash in 1968 (?) & he left no successer. However, his top pupil went on to form his own karate style from his teachings. Though there is no mention where or not ninjitsu was part of that study. 3) The ninja schools & allot of the ancient history of the bujinkan or any other x-kan can't be proven. This is because of Takamatsu had copied thsoe maki down & was in Cina when a bomb destoried the origionals. Since infact this keeps thsose records from being legitamate proof of the ninja lineage of the bujinkan, there is infact no reconised traditional style of ninjitsu. Hatsumi sees his Ninjutsu/ninpo taijitsu/budo taijitsu as a modern (living) art he really doesn't care. Another doubt abot Hatsumi's lineage is the "long fist" style of striking that is taught at basic levels. An interesting thing is that in japan there is some doubt about Hatsumi's lineage in america we just took it as he's Japanese well he must be right. An interesting factoid for you, would be that most "ninjitsu schools" either didn't leave records, left false records or changed the schools name with the person teaching it. Thats makes ninjitsu, all ninjitsu untracable. if you like it or it works for you go for it... ----Now input from a non-x-kan Ryu--------- The style I learned was a family style & the name has changed several times admittedly over the last few decades. Is it authentic? It works, I don't care about lineage that much. So to me yes, we don't pass down scrolls or any of that none sense. I was told my training was a gift & it was up to me to learn & grow & add to what I had learned. Oh yes as far a Frank Dux goes, I know little about the man except he lied about the kumite & the Cia stuff. I've never met him so I'll reserve judgement there. I think Bussey did some nice "modernizing" but I know little of him as well. I read a couple of Hayes books, some where assume & one kinda turned me off cause he was talking trash about other MAs which I didn't like to much. I've been around two Bujinkan schools & what I learned when thier was pretty good in theory but we never tested it in sparring & I had one instructor tell me how Karate was weak & he was too dangerous to spar. I got bored & left. But, I've aso spoken with a few good x-kan instructors to. So I guess it's all in what kind of person your training with.

When I first opened my school in 99 I started with 3 students & my basement. I ended up with about 26 students. Then I joined the army, now I'm reopening the dojo, but I don't have my old house anymore. However, some high schools will let you use their gyms, or weight rooms. They are cheap, come with wrestling mats & have all the room you'll need. Mine gonna cost me $2,500 yearly not counting the B&O taxes & all that *. I get enough cash I'll get a real building. Most of my business comes from cops, military & security people I give them discounts. Later, Ron

I don't teach anyone below the age of 12, mainly because what I teach is focused on combatives, however tenager are worse then 5 year-olds sometimes especially when you have a class full of teenage girls. Scary! lol I usually teach meditations, body shifting skills, ukemi & blocking/trapping techniques ate the first few levels. Basic self-defense root-work. Here is the fun part, I speand 15 to 20 minutes on meditation. I have them practice visiualization exercise. Basic formate... Have them learn to 'empty their mind of contious verbalised thought," focus on their breathing for a few minutes about 2 works well. Now have them start by seeing only a single ball of light like a single star in the sky. The star then will begin moving in a circle, but don't verbalize the command (say the action with your mind) then the ring of light created by the moving start becomes a ball. Have them practice changing the shape, texture & element of the ball without automaticly saying the ball will do this or that. Basicly its a form of self-hypnosis/meditation that will build the contious into focusing automaticly. Thus, I'm teaching stuff they'll pick up later, in the dan levels but have the root work for now. Plus it's great for the ADD ADHD kids. Later, Ron

I have about six black belts at 25, I been training in MA since I was 2 so go figure, & all but one system I'm a shodan (yippy!) Which doesn't qualify me to teach or promote anyone past a 1st kyu. Now, I once when to a karate class with a friend of mine when I was 16. The instructor, wanted to give me my orange belt (??? Kyu) day one because she realised I had "talent." I never said I knew anything or had any belts. My friend eventually told his sensei I was a black belt in at the time 5 different style. Bare in mind nothing above a shodan, in a system which goes upto tenth dan a shodan doesn't mean much. However, the sensei wanted to spar me, she was X-army & had 4 blackbelts to her name. TKD, Hapkido, judo & shotokan. Some of the techniques I used she had never seen before, although she outranked me in shotokan & I was using shotokan (based on the origional core techniques & methods used by Funakoshi) I wasn't USKA. She swore I was a 4th or 5th dan. The point is what may be a shodan in one style, was a like a yodan or godan in another. Even in the same system different organization have completely different standards. So schools, organizations & even individuals don't learn how things work or why they are there. My old shotokan instructor, Sensei Massey left Japan a Sandan but had met all the requirements for Godan by USKA standards. In cass where such a situation was present, then yes double promotion is acceptable. later, Ron