jaymac

Patrick, hope you get feeling better. I had the flu for almost 2 weeks. I think it is going to be bad this year for everyone. As for soup. I thought I loved new england clam chowder from anywhere. Then I went to Boston. I got New England Clam Chowder from Legal Seafood. Oh my gosh, that is the very best. I am so sad that we do not have that restaraunt in Upstate N.Y. I have actually thought about seeing if I could get it shipped to me from Boston. You can even get that soup at the Boston Red Sox games!

[quote I....I....I love you man... That was great!

Is there definitely going to be another season? I love the contender. I couldn't believe it when they said it wasn't a popular show after the very first season and were going to pull it.

Syphax, I tend to agree with you.

The christmas Century magazine has a couple of new kanji books out right now. Think it is about how to read and write kanji. I bet you could go right to there website and get it.

I know I already posted one, but I remembered an incident that just cracked me up. We had this new little kid with severe ADD starting up and my instructor had asked me to get him started, including having him get in the gi. I thought he was in the changing room putting it on, when I looked out to the training floor and saw this kid in nothing but underwear doing donkey type kicks at some other kids. They were so shocked, they just stood there. I got laughing so hard. Needless to say, he was so hyper and young that after 2 weeks, my instructor told his mom that he wasn't quite ready and asked her to come back in 6 months and try again. She never did though.

I agree wholeheartedly. Don't get me wrong. I would want my children to not fight if possible, but I do want them to stand up for themselves. Schools are different now. Children are being bullied everyday to the point where they want to take guns to school to retaliate against the offenders. Also, fights in school may be stopped by teachers, but what about after school away from adults. Martial Arts is such an important tool to give a child. They build self confidence to stand up for themselves. They learn respect to not bully or start fights. It gives them the opportunity to defend against school fights and keep them safe. Who cares about suspension, detention. If my child did not start the fight, but defended himself against one and came home safely, that is what is important.

When you do get in the ring to spar, take your time and watch for your opponents weaknesses and counteract on them. Alot of times when I am watching black belt tests and the testers have multiple rounds they must endure, I notice at the beginning, they jump in right away and throw all kinds of techniques and ultimately tire out easy. Pace yourself. You don't always have to be first, you just have to be accurate.

[quote I can remember when Century was starting to sell Billy Jack jeans. Do they still sell them?? I don't think so anymore. They weren't very nice jeans, you could kick in them, but they were ugly. I believe that training once in awhile in street clothes may be important, but everyone here really enjoys training and trains hard. If attacked outside, instinct takes over and your body will do what it has been trained to do without thinking first "oh my gosh, I have constricting jeans on today."

Bushido man, if things do not progress soon, you may want to see and an orthopaedic doctor to get an evaluation. He/she may recommend short term physical therapy which will make a huge difference in your recovery time. I didn't believe it myself, but it does. I once had injured my knee and thought if I gave it time to mend, I would be ok. I kept pushing and testing that joint and I found out later that was a bad thing to do.

I wouldn't think of calling my instructor anything but his given title. He earned it and deserves my respect. I know I would never call him by his first name and if I had to address him as otherwise, it would be Mr. ...

I think it is a good thing that parents questions about their child's training are only handled by the head instructor in our school.

Our instructor requires that students attend 2 lessons a week. He allows people to go extra per week, but at a small cost. He says, early on in rank, people are excited about their training and has seen interest falter when they begin taking several classes and not happy that they haven't advanced in rank as quickly as they should. He wants people to enjoy their classes, learn, and go home and practice what they have been shown.

Striking heavy bag will not stunt growth my son, drinking coffee will.

You might be right about that White_Tiger. I got a blue gi from Century. Heavy brushed 100% cotten and I love it. I like the way it washes up and the way it looks.

Exactly! I looked at getting my black belt as just another step in my journey. The information and the improvement in myself and my karate after black belt has been vast. Advancing in rank at this point is not important to me; however, advancing within myself is the key.

Also, remember that practicing kata and all techniques slowly over and over is going to be great for your technique. After practicing it slowly, go home and do the movements quickly and see if you keep that great technique. Keep in mind, doing things quickly, you will have some mistakes, but they should be minimal. You are at a point in your training where everyone begins to question. If you are dedicated, you will stick with it and improve. If you are not, you will quit. I hope you are dedicated.

I know in our dojo, our kake geri is a hook kick, and not an axe kick. It may be different in other schools though.

All good advice. Also, you mentioned that you and your sensei were friends outside of the dojo. This may be why he pushes you more. One: he knows you can do it and two: he may be trying to make an effort to seperate your friendship inside of the dojo and have only teacher/student relationship during training. Each person trains/ learns/ practices individually and should be treated as such. I would not expect a 70 year old man to perform exactly the same as a 20 year old man, but I would expect them both to give 100% of themselves.

Relaxing is good, but also tuck your head. Say you are right hand dominate, when you jab with your left hand, you should throw your shoulder into it and tuck your chin to your left shoulder, then counter punch with the right hand and blocking your face with the left. It is really hard to explain without showing, so watch some boxing footage. Boxers have amazingly great technique and power in their punches and use punching bags with great efficiency.

In a street fight, you don't want to be in there long. Do something devastating to take your opponent out. Groin shots sometimes just give an adrenaline shot to the opponent. Taking out the knee joints on a tall person is your best option and then a blow to the head ---> then get outof there. Sparring: move in and out, but get close so your opponent cannot use his legs, but watch your head. Taller guys tip over easy too if you can knock them off balance.

Very nice. Eventually, anyone with knowledge of the Martial Arts, who continually puts himself/herself in a situation where strikes occur instead of restraints, will find themself in a bad situation legally. I had a police officer and a lawyer friend tell me not too recently that being a MA and a bouncer are sometimes bad combinations. If a true fight occurs and someone is injured by the MA during that fight, the injured person can press charges and the MA can go to jail. They said most of the time this does not happen because the person was drunk and feels stupid for getting into the brawl in the first place, but all it takes is that one time.

I don't know why I looked at that original post and thought it said ballistic instead of dynamic stretching. Thanks elbows_and _knees. I still think that ballistic stretching is a bad way to increase flexibility. I have seen to many torn calf muscles as result of this type of stretching.

Just google martial art equipment links like: Century, Asian World Martial Arts, Macho, Adidas etc... And scan through their uniforms and see if you can find what you are looking for.

Side snap kick - extend your kick out and retract back to starting position. Side thrust kick - kick out and go all the way through your opponent. Leg does not retract back to start. Shotokan is an awesome art. Once I started years ago, my instructor must have been able to read my enthusiasm. He called me "A lifer." Meaning I would be doing this the rest of my life. I think, we also may be able to give you that nickname. Never lose your enthusiasm, and try not to let rank ever get in the way of your training.