jaymac

Great article. I love my rank. I worked hard for it. In return, I am expected to display to my instructor that I deserve to be a Nidan, by constantly improving, helping out, not slack off in training. He respects my rank, why shouldn't I. He thought I deserved it, and I wear it proudly. I need to keep improving in myself and training so that I deserve to continue to rank.

Awesome. It is nice to hear someone of your rank look forward to classes and be dissappointed when class is over. Sometimes in my passing, I see black belts become discouraged in training and actually look bored at times. Seems they feel their technique is perfect.

I loved this article and everyones replies. I am not 40, but in my early 30's. I was just thinking to myself recently if I will be able to keep this up in my 40's and beyond. Because at my dojo there are few people who are in there 40's, I wondered, will I still be able to do everything that I can do now? I really think it was just my fear of aging. (I took it pretty hard when i turned 30.) But I really think that I am going to do Karate forever, and I am glad that there are so many wonderful MA to learn from in this forum.

I enjoyed the post. I have heard (almost exactly to detail) the first descriptive about Master Funakoshi. I also heard some of the second, but it had been meshed with the first in the presentation that was told to me. I bet the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Thanks HongKong! It would be nice though. Did you see the show the Contender with Sly Stallone. I was just talking about this in another post. I loved that show. They cancelled it after one season because of lack of interest by viewers. That amazes me truthfully because the show was interesting. I think if someone did a MA program tastefully, it could work. It would probably have to start on one of the other channels like FitTV, TLC, or Spike TV. It would never make it (to start out with) on regular channels. Maybe that is what Sly should have done.

Yes, thanks Patrick. This has been an amazing place to come and talk with some wonderful MA.

I do like the Ultimate Fighter. Just recently they had a marathon on I think, Spike T.V I watched a whole day of it. That is the only one I watch though. When the Contender was on, with Sylvester Stallone, I watched that faithfully. I guess apparantly though, I was one of the only few, because they cancelled the second season due to lack of interest by the public. I loved it.

Oh no I hope I didn't post somewhere that I was 50. I am in my early 30's. I just have 50 year old knees I really do not want to cut back. We are on break right now, and already I am becoming eager to get right back into it. I can't wait until Easter is over. But even with the dojo shut down right now, i still have achey knees. I guess I really have to blame my job. I guess I should not work and only train. Just kidding.

We were told not to wash our belts, except once, we all received new black belts, and the black faded onto our white gi. I had to wash it and I felt guily for doing so even after being told by the head instructor. Now, I am becoming conscious of some belts beginning to really smell. I check mine all the time. I do not want it to smell. I will wash it then ---reluctantly

Already some good advice. Definitely check out the adult class and form an opinion from there. The belts topic comes up in the forum all the time. Kids get advanced by spending the time in the dojos. That is what I am learning. If they are there for years and do not advance, more than likely it seems, parents tend to pull the child. If you attend an adult class and you enjoy it, you learn from your instructor and others, stick with it. If he does not have an adult class and you are constantly going to train with children -------------> run to another dojo.

Too bad it is not in more cities. I sure would love to watch an event like that.

Definitely some bad politics going on in that dojo. Who is in charge while the head instructor is away? Boy, I wouldn't even want to think about the craziness that would happen in our school had that same situation occurred. My instructor would be livid had one of his assistant instructors talked to any of his students that way. He also would have appointed one senior black belt in his absence to deal with any type of situation like this. You should go to this person and definitely speak with the head instructor upon his arrival.

My point wasn't about which style is better. I love training in Shotokan. I have an excellent (non McDojo) instructor. I also have great respect for the training styles of boxing. I am commenting on how boxing gets a better public opinion because you get what you see. No high flying, circus acrobat kicks, like what most programs on television like to promote as martial arts. My point is, if they put a program, a realistic program about martial arts on television, it may give a better representation of what many of us do in our daily training lives. I do not go to class and learn how to do back flips in my kata, or how to whip a bo around in a non-realistic fighting matter. They do so much realistic t.v. these days, it would be nice to see a show that followed a different, (non XMA) MA studio on a weekly basis.

yes. I just went to his website and was checking it out. His website is mostly about him and his achievements. According to him, he is only 29. Accomplished alot. Almost had to beg our instructor to even put one picture of himself on his website.

Was that a movie? The one with Brad Pitt? If so, I saw it at the movie theatre when it came out. Wierd.

Hey Longarm, I saw that guy on a show on Fit TV. I though he looked kind of young to have a Shihan Belt. He must be good. The show was mostly about a father and a son taking up martial arts. I only saw him for a little bit on the show, but what I saw, I liked his teaching style.

Ten years total. 4 years with Kung Fu and 6 in Shotokan, but train so much, feels sometimes like I have been doing it my whole life. That is a good thing.

I think definitely, mine would be Kanku Dai.

Good technique will always win over strength. Nice job.

Unfortunately, sore knees have been bothering me for several years. I am not training improperly and am quite flexible. I do make matters worse by working night shift on hard floors. I am guilty of training every day though. I know sometimes I should back off a bit, but then I feel guilty.

Are you training with an instructor?

Ever think about going to a gym? They have bags hanging all over and I bet they would offer a student a discount.

Oh, good pic anyway. You can't see the injury

Our Shotokan school definitely does not focus at all on Tournament training. Our instructor teaches traditional kata, self defense techniques, techniques against weapons, etc.... I have myself attended many tournaments with the blessing of the head instructor; however, tournaments are not his "thing" and he does not attend any or send a whole school to one. I questioned for awhile why, and I discovered on my own. Tournaments have become a showcase of gymnastics, acrobats, and negative social politics. The display of sportsmanship has diminished. Traditionalists are rarely seen and rarely do well. Because of this, I too no longer attend very many tournaments, unless it is a small school holding a traditional not for points- tournament.

Thanks again Brandon, the link was perfect. I am going to subscribe.