jaymac

Parkerlineage, you may have been Zen, but nice response!

I believe work out and classes should be physically demanding. Newer students ;however, are encouraged to pace themselves and gradually increase their intensity and participation. Seems that if they try to keep up with the rest of the students, they become sore next day and discouraged to return for fear of not ever being able to be a participant.

So it is the 17th. How was your test and how do you feel?

My opinion and suggestion exactly sohan. See a sports medicine doctor as soon as possible. If you do have your c-spine out of alignment, you could do permanent damage if you continue to put yourself in risk of injury while training. And with BJJ, you will.

Any music store has a section where you can get a mixed copy of hip hop or dance music. I do like both because of the upbeat tempo they contain. If you are not sure, tell the sale person what you are looking for and he/she I am sure will take you right to that section.

Thanks Sohan. I think you are right. It is my job. I quit! No seriously though, I do think seeing someone to fit me with proper orthotics would be the best solution here. I purchased some orthotics that I saw on T.V. once and it made my pain worse. I know I have a slight curvature in my spine, so I think that some of the blame can be placed there and a specialist is probably who I should be talking to.

Lordtariel, did you ever put sand in a stand up heavy bag? Seems to work a little better than water. Unfortunatley, training bags are necessary to have in a dojo. Most students who are trying to learn how to perform proper strikes cannot make the wavemaster filled with sand move across the floor. But it is a good goal for them.

I do not think eating a large portioned meal is a great idea, but some carbohydrates prior a good work out are useful to keep you going that extra mile. As said previously, sauna suits are very dangerous. I am appalled everytime I hear a young wrestler in high school has to drop significant amounts of weight prior to a match. I remember one of my friends was constantly ill during wrestling season because he always had to drop weight to wrestle in a division lower than him. The best cardiovascular work out you can do to increase muscle mass, increase metabolism, drop weight, and reduce risk of strain on your joints is swimming.

An excellent source of exercise that will develop muscle, burn fat, and increase heart rate with good cardiovascular work out is swimming. Start out swimming (in the morning or evening) only as many laps as you can do, then gradually increase. Also, I know from personal experience that while cramming for tests, it is easier to get fast foods to eat, then healthy foods. (Pizza was awesome for study session at 2:00 a.m. ) Try not to eat late at night or eat sensibly. You will love Martial Arts and it may be just the thing you need for confidence booster. Although you are holding off until the end of classes, do not let your weight stand in your way, especially if you do not shed the weight you are striving for before summer. Many overweight people attend Martial Arts classes for weight loss and self esteem issues. I also hope you plan to stick with it even after summer is over. Good luck. Keep us posted.

Probably just a normal reaction to severe pain. Alot of people experience nausea and vomiting with pain. It is an adverse reaction the body displays at times during stressful/painful events. Wouldn't worry about it. Did you get an Xray? Maybe you fractured a bone.

I am not really sure how to spell out my kiai in words. Definitely a yell that comes from my lower abs. It works for me anyways. There is a purple belt in our class, a teenager, who I have been working on his kiai. Everytime he kiai'ed, previous to our working together, it came from his throat and he sounded like he was vomiting. It took every ounce of professionalism to not laugh. I think he is finally coming around though. I did it by boosting his self esteem ( I hope). I told him he is getting to be such a powerful karateka, that we should develop a kiai for him that shows his power. Hope he didn't see through my plan.

I think the makiwara is a great training and focus tool. I however, do not use it to toughen my knuckles, but to focus correct technique when striking. Many times a new and even not-so-new student when hitting an object will do so incorrectly. He/she may not be using the proper knuckles, the strike is not aligned, etc... So for us, it is simply a training tool used to perform correct strikes. Powerul strikes (training) when done correctly, can be performed against a heavy bag.

Holland, I think giving a junior rank with a different belt is a perfect solution. It at least gives a student who has trained for a long time a feeling of achievement, but with another goal in mind. It will keep them interested and hopefully they will want to continue to achieve high standards and improve to an adult rank. In our school, under 16 years old are considered junior black belts, but wear the same black belt as adult students, and I wish we recognized them as they are recognized in your school.

Holland, how long have you been teaching? The more you teach and the more students begin to talk about the awesome classes and teacher they have, the more your class base will grow and the more time and energy you will have to put into running an effective program. I think most people start out by wanting to share their knowledge for free. But as student base increases, the dojo size must increase. Thus, more time needs to be spent at dojo than at home and dojo bills pile up. Now if you are going to limit your class size and remain a small dojo, then it is understandable to not charge or minimally charge each student for class or belt testing. Think about running a dojo for over 300 students. Unfortunately, as I am sure, my head instructor wishes he could share his experience for no or little fees, it is not workable.

You did what you needed to do. Who knows what anyone would have said in this situation. You didn't get hurt and that is the most important part. I doubt you could get into any trouble by threatening this person. Really, what is he going to say to the police, "hey I tried to rob a guy and he threatened to kill me?" More than likely he already has a police record and I think your word would be taken over his.

I haven't found anything either. Wonder if it is a style that is made up of many styles and developed by the head instructor. Why don't you go and watch or take a few classes to get a better opinion of it?

Ok, I did like the Karate Kid after watching it several times, but that article was crazy long!

I think that this definition is misleading. The medieval Europeans had martial systems as well. The western world has a serious misconception that advanced fighting systems came only from the far east. This is not true. I have been studying western martial history for some time now. In looking in some of the old manuals, one can see many similarities between judo or jujutsu and the "wrestling tricks" that masters-at-arms taught there soldiers. The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe is a very informative study of these western martial practices. An excellent web site to check out is https://www.thearma.org. Check them out and have your eyes opened. yeah, definitely. boxing, wrestling, sword fighting, sword and stick, joint locking resembling jjj, archery, horseback riding, etc. This just isn't what the mainstream envisions when "martial arts" are mentioned. look into espada y daga, for example. Heck, look at kali. Notice the spanish names of many of the techniques? spaniards put their spin on kali when they invaded the philipines. Yes, this is true as well. I love to study the history of any and all martial systems, and I think they all deserve their dues. I agree also. Anyone who tries to improve themselves and their character through any type of Martial art or any sport, should be commended. Is it really about which one is better? Who cares. Train hard, be good at what you do, and always strive to be better.

You know though, Jason Franks, although probably awesome with his technique, seems as though his style is a great mixture of many arts. From what I could gather, it wasn't a more traditional style that has a set of standards in regards to rank. Maybe in his style, there is not a guideline to ages. I know in our style, you can achieve a bb as a child of 12, but you have to wait several years before you can achieve any rank higher and there is a set standard for each Dan grade.

Form have always been my one of my favorite ways to train. I have gained knowledge of my art through forms along with better technique with my blocks, stances, and strikes, better posture and balance,and more power and control, I can go on and on here. We have had a break in classes due to the holiday, and practicing my kata alone has been a good way to keep up on my training while the dojo is shut down. Especially because while at the dojo, I do not get a great opportunity to practice black belt forms due to teaching.

I do know that most prisons/jails provide classes in regards to how and when you can apply holds/ grabs / etc... My brother in law works in a prison and was just talking about this. There are certain things you can do and not do. Even with Martial Art experience, if you use your knowledge to control a situation and the prisoner is injured, you can get into trouble. You wouldn't think that is fair because he is a prisoner, but I guess there are steps you take and it depends on when you can escalate your defense against an attack. Anyways, if you get the job, (good luck, I hope you do), they will provide you with all that information.

I agree ninjanurse. If a senior black belt student is conducting classes while the head instructor is away, they should set the example and lead classes just as the head instructor. If that individual abuses their position, it would not be out of line for another black belt student to step in (privately) and hopefully set him/her straight. More than likely they have trained together for a long time and can speak as friends one on one. A dojo is a place where everyone should be able to go and train and not be treated as children. Respect should be mutual from white belt and up through the ranks. Any disciplinary actions should only be conducted by the head instructor and/or with his or her permission. A dojo is not a place for powerhungry individuals.

Thank you Armor of God. That is a very good representation of Kanku Sho and how it is performed. I did not see any high flying kick in there that GOM indicated was added for sport karate. It a crescent kick to the back then a drop. Just as it is performed at our dojo.

No matter what style of fighting/martial art one chooses, if you do not practice or become effective in your technique, you could get truly hurt by an attacker. You could still get really hurt even if you are the best martial artist in the world. Sure, practicing locks, grappling, etc... while in a controlled environment looks fun and effective, try taking that same battle out on the street against someone with a weapon, or is hopped up on methamphetamines or pcp (which makes an attacker almost invincible to pain). My personal choice is to not allow this individual to get me to the ground. I am going to do whatever possible to defend myself in a hopefully stand up situation and get away from this individual. I do not want to be in the grasps of this person for a long period of tim, where my chances of becoming injured or trying to fend of him and some of his buddies increases.

I think he displayed awesome self control. It is sad that it happened over such a long period of time. In this day, he would have been the one who would have been punished for striking a girl. That is just how it is. Even if he was screaming self defense. It has been 2 years since this article was written. I wonder how things worked out?