jaymac

I try to train every day, attending classes at the dojo and on my own at home. I take shotokan and find that I get a great work out. The instructor puts us through great workouts at the beginning of class.

useoForce, do you actually think anything that you say to him would make him quit. My father is dying of emphysema from smoking cigarettes. He has heard from everyone how bad it is for him and for years that he should quit smoking. He is living on oxygen and cannot work anymore. I walked into his house the other day and there he was sitting on the couch, oxygen in nose, and smoking a cigarette. He does not care and either does that guy you have to work with. I once told a fellow student that I could not work with her because she smelled so heavily of cigarette smoke that it nauseated me. I no longer have to work with her - she quit. To each there own, but why should non smokers have to put up with it.

You should be blowing out when taking the hit. Why are you letting people hit you in the stomach anyways. One wrong punch and you could really cause serious injury to vital abdominal organs. You can bleed to death very easily by injury to spleen. Ive seen it happen quite easily in motor vehicle accidents where there was little front end damage to vehicle and not obvious injury to victim.

All you need to practice hard kicks is a kick bag. Using anything harder without alot of training may break your own leg.

Wow truestar, I wonder if other students felt the same way about that female instructor. Did anyone ever quit his school because they didn't like her?

Fairfax, I think you hit it right on the head. My advice would be the same. Take a few classes and compare it to learning online. you will see a huge difference. Also, I have to say, I attended a tournament once where a guy (how he got into the tournament in itself had to be a good story) who was a self proclaimed black belt competed. I have never seen worse technique in my life. He was sitting next to me and bragging how he trained himself with books and videos and online schools. He said he earned this black belt he was wearing. Can you actually do that? I don't know, I never looked into and in fact forgot about it until now, but he was absolutely not representing any form of martial art skill. But hey he had confidence and he really tried, but he was REALLY BAD! I was really hoping after the people running the tournament saw his performance, that maybe they suggest he not spar. Maybe they did and he refused because he attempted sparring. 1-2-3 out. He didn't get hurt because the nidan sparring him had pity (as we all did). Nobody wanted to see this guy get hurt at all. The nidan just went in and made quick points (using good form) and won the match easily. All in all, if I was serious about learning a martial art, I would want to learn it from an instructor that I could actually talk to and ask questions and learn from.

I think that really is kind of expensive too. Really though, you should call around. See what dojos will offer free trial memberships and try them out. Take a friend along. Maybe the two of you will find a school that really fits you. If you have a friend to practice with and advance through the ranks with, it makes learning that much more fun. On a personal level. I have trained in a couple of different styles. I have stuck with Shotokan karate. It provides a great work out, good self defense, awesome kata, sparring, and is traditional. I try to avoid schools that there main focus is on earning points in a sparring match, unless you plan to fight in the olympics, then that school would be awesome.

Just wondering cathal, how well is this students technique? I just recently had a similar situation with a newly promoted yellow belt. She was starving for more information, wanting to learn more than required for her rank. Instead, I said "lets take a look at your white belt kata and all the requirements needed at that level." She was a little shocked but did show me this kata and her defenses. I worked with her and broke it down giving her more advanced technique and asked her to incorporate that into her home practice. I told her when she really improved her technique of white belt material, I would help her with improving technique of her yellow belt requirements. Later she came to me and thanked me for slowing her down a little. She said she hadn't realized there was so much to learn about technique even at beginning levels. I hope it continues to work for her.

Most martial arts originated in india by buddist monks and were brought to china and taught.

I don't know what to think about this style and dojo, but it is not for any of us in the forum to think. What do you and your son think about the school and the instructor? As for looking for videos. It really isn't a good idea to purchase kata video. Even though heian shodan and all heian kata are similar in basic movements, instructors may teach them slightly different in their dojo. To allow your child to learn from a video and then have him learn it slightly different from the instructor will only confuse him. If you really want to assist him with his kata. Talk with the head instructor. He may help him during private lessons or during class time. Good luck.

How can this be a real situation. Who in there right mind is a 2nd Dan and have absolutely no sparring experience? I am a 2nd Dan and began sparring as a white belt. No way would I ever consider a professional career in sparring if I have never sparred. Nor, would I attempt to fight an unknown for my first sparring match EVER. What if he sparred every day. This has to be a story.

Well put Hobbes!

I too do not know much about ninjutsu. I am glad that someone else knew that they had 15 dan grades. Anyhoo, that individual placing the ad probably isn't trying to appeal to experienced martial artists. He/she is going for the inexperienced individual who will ooh and ahh over a 14th dan grade instructor. It would be something to check out though, if I lived in Australia.

Touchy subject. I think someone else posted about oxyclean. I use it on all my white gi, and it works great. Seems to take out all stains well. As for the obi thing, I am not going there. Great post though!

My original goal was to get control over stress in my life. After years of training and achieving dan levels, my new goal is to keep going until my body says "stop trying to kill me!"

The only thing I am afraid of is spiders. Serious, sick to my stomach fear. Jeet kun do, have you ever seen the picture of the bird eating spider of australia. It is as big as a dinner plate. I would cry if i ever saw that thing for real. There is no reason for a spider to be that big. None.

It is hard to tell someone what they should or shouldn't do. I don't drink or smoke, not because I am a Martial Artist, but because I don't like it. But, as an adult and a MA BB, I would like to think that I set the example for younger students. I would hate to be a BB hanging out somewhere with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other and have a young student see me and think, well if my sensei is doing it, then it can't be that bad. To each his own. However, you cant demand that everyone in your school has to quit their unhealthy habit. I mean, if someone told me I could no longer eat the McDonald's breakfast bagel sandwhich, I think I might just be bummed out

I am guessing that if you are going for purple belt with black stripe, you have been there for awhile. I am sure you have talked with your doctor about participating in MA. Talk with him about your concerns, but also talk with your instructor. I am sure he would not want to put your health at risk over achieving a rank. Usually, belt testings are formalities anyways. An instructor would not advise you that you are testing if he/she didn't think you weren't ready for that rank. Good luck. Keep training.

Respect does get you far in MA and in life. You seem to be a very respectful and caring person. Unfortunately, you are going to see many people come and go in MA. Those lacking respect rarely make it to black belt. I bet you will make it though. Good luck on your upcoming test. You will do well.

Not knowing whether the 20 year old has adequately trained to fight professionally or if she is indeed fighting a professional fighter is making it tough to answer. If it were me and I was prepared to fight -no matter who it is- I think I would like to know a little about the fighter. is she typically a kicker, a puncher, or combination of both. Wanting to go professional, I would want to know what the length of her arms are etc... maybe study some film on some of her fights. I mean this isn't like getting into a suprise fight with someone out on the street. It is a scheduled fight against a worthy opponent. Who would want to go in a ring and look like a complete novice?

I call my instructor Shihan. At our school, I address all black belts as Sensei until 4th dan in which they are renshi, then shihan at 6th dan. Out of respect this is done inside and outside the dojo. In fairness though, I am not friends with the head instructor, he is my mentor, a father figure, a teacher, so I do not have a problem with this, and would not ever feel comfortable by addressing him by his first name. It is all I have ever known, so do as I am asked. My friends whom are ranked, I usually call them by title in the dojo, and by their first name outside if they have asked me to do so.

How is this for wearing down a belt (or at least severely mistreating it). Last night I was driving to work and I saw a karate belt lying across the middle of a lane being driven over. Gone this morning.

It is nice that he looked awesome at the tournament. That is what many sports martial artists train for. To look awesome at tournaments. Wonder if he does everything in his style as well as what he trained for at that tournament. I went to a competition once and a sandan said to me, "I hope we don't tie in kata because we will have to do a different kata 2nd time." I said, why would that matter. This sandan belt said, "do you think you can do another kata as well as the one you plan to compete with?" I said "Absolutely." "I practice all my kata everyday. " This was my first competition as a black belt. I was shocked by this. I found out that most of the people competing that day, compete at least once or twice a month all year. They earn points for their scores and hand out awards at the end of the season. Needless to say, I went once. I am glad my instructor doesnt push tournament training as much as training everyday in everything I should know.

LOL RG. That's awesome. I have heard very little about that style. I think I will just stick with Shotokan!

You are still very young and at 22 years of age you have plenty of time to train in your martial art if you enjoy it. Keep in mind high kicks are pretty, but not always powerful (although many TKD practitioners have nice powerful high kicks). Midlevel to lower level kicks are more powerful. When doing a Mawashi geri, be sure to turn your hips over when you kick and pivot on your base foot. This will give you a more powerful follow through. Also, on your own, you could weight train. Remember to warm up first, then stretch to keep your flexibility, then do some weight training (upper and lower body). Also, a great training tool is a heavy bag. Century has some great hanging or stand up bags available at different costs. Good luck.