powerof0ne

hard to say, I wasn't too impressed by the muay thai practitioner's skill. I almost fell asleep watching this fight.

In all honesty a black belt test isn't cheap..do you have any idea how much a good quality black belt costs? In some of the bigger associations a fee has to be paid so you can receive your certificate under them, too. I have yet to promote a student to black belt but when I do it will probably cost them around $150...and most of that is going to go towards the belt. Now, charging in the $thousands is kind of insane, I know of some schools that do insane stuff like this.

I plan on competing in a Kyokushin tournament on April 29th(https://www.seattlekarate.net/tournament.html) and also in the World Oyama fighter's cup(sp?) on June 4th but was wondering if any of you knew of any other knockdown rules tournaments around july to september in the USA. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

This is for point sparring in tournaments..to emphasize your strike so it's more visible but in real life it's pointless to do so. It's also pointless to do so in more full contact matches.

style of karate that "flows" like boxing? I would say daido juku and some of the kyokushin and offshoots..I stress "some", because not all are "flowing". I wouldn't categorize all jiu jitsu/jujutsu as "flowing", either(even though they should be). Where I train/teach now is a school with roots in Kempo and shotokan but also integrates a lot of techniques from other martial arts and would be something that I say "flows".

You shouldn't be doing deep "Japanese karate" stances when you're older, it wrecks havok on your back. Many, if not all of the Okinawan styles have you do the stances higher, and especially more so when you're in your 40s+. Some of the more Japanese karate styles have you do the stances higher too when you're older and higher up in rank. Many styles of Karate have similar kihon, and even do the kata very similar, but not all. They especially do when they come from the same/similar lineage(which makes sense). Uechi ryu has lineage from a specific style of kung fu that most karate has no connection to(I think tiger boxing, if my memory is correct) is probably why it contrasts so much. A lot of my kata roots are shito ryu which in turn has helped me go to other styles and learn their kata very quickly because the kata is very similar in goju ryu and kyokushin(from what I have trained in). I will say that some of the kihon is different in goju and kyokushin but some of it was near identical, if not identical.

As someone that teaches muay thai with some boxing experience I'd like to point out that if a boxer wasn't wearing their gloves they would hurt themselves very badly with some of the punches they are throwing. The punches have to be modified in boxing to be effective without gloves and most people I know really don't have a clue on how to effectively apply boxing without gloves(and not injuring themselves).

I caught a Sensei doing this with a new Tokaido belt before, it was pretty stupid considering his rank is legit(his Dan certificates were from Teruo Hayashi). The closest thing I have done to this was wash my belt recently, I think if I took a razor to my belt that the following monday other people would wonder what the heck happened to my belt.

My Kamikaze silk belt is about 3 years old(which isn't old)but seems to look practically new. I even took Jussi's advice from another thread and washed it about a month ago. I've had shuriedo and tokaido satin belts in the past and they got the frayed/broken in look in a few years..this kamikaze silk belt is something else.

Have you been training on your own in that 20+ years? Meaning, do you think you deserve to wear your brown belt if you haven't been training in that off-time? A long time ago I did a style of Kung Fu for years but I would never dream of going into a Kung Fu school wearing that sash...I haven't been training in Kung Fu in about 15 years.

I hate to streotype but many of the locals are known for street fighting in Hawaii, it pays to do martial arts in Hawaii....especially if you're a haole and call an islander a 'mahu'

I'm almost thinking that you're not snapping your roundhouse kick much if you're doing this like a crescent kick. Practice just bringing the knee up that you would kick with in the 45+ degree angle from whicn you would roundhouse from. *Not everyone does the mawashi geri from the 45 angle, I know this* Anyhoo, if you're looping this around like a crescent kick and snapping it(which I'm not sure by your description), this could actually aid you down the road but you should develop the skill to do a more traditional mawashi geri since you're a shotokan practitioner. You should also practice doing the kick low before you do it high, perfect the technique low first.

That's cool, Kato is very respected in the Muay Thai community by those that have seen him fight before. My first Muay Thai instructor is friends with Kato and would have Kato work his corner whenever he fought in Japan. Within the next year or so I plan on spending some time at Kato's dojo, my hat's off to you if you get the chance to train under him.

I don't know much about the style but from what it says but Ben Otake definitely has a background in martial arts that seems pretty good to me: http://www.martialsource.com/shindokai.htm He earned a roku dan under Kubota so he must have some skill. I'm sure if you just asked an instructor at this school that they would gladly tell you information or point you in the right direction. My only real advice would be to beware any school that doesn't want to tell you their lineage/rank and similar information or information that can't be verified.

I have to also say that my experience with Isshin Ryu in the PNW(WA state area) isn't too good. From everyone I have talked to that has seen Steve Armstrong black belts in action back in the 60s/70s doesn't have much good things to say about them. I also train at a school now that had an Isshin Ryu Godan teach when the owner was on business...what happens is as follows: a go kyu female student was doing a type of jam/block in sparring that the isshin ryu godan didn't like and he told her this a few times. What he did was a spinning back fist that dislocated her jaw. The female student is only about 15 and this individual wouldn't go apologize to her or her parents and the reason why is what he told the owner: "I didn't want them to think I was begging for their forgiveness on my knees". If anyone wants to know this individual's name please pm me because I really have no respect for him and hope to spar him some day to return the favor to him that he gave to this female kohai. Does this mean that I think all Isshin Ryu is crap? no, by no means does it but I think much of it in the PNW/pacific northwest leaves much to be desired. I respect Advincula a lot and how open and honest he is and from what I understand he is a very skilled martial artist. Gary Alexander was obviously one tough competitor in his prime having winning bare knuckle/knockdown competition.

Thanks for the info on the tournament, I think I might enter it. I'm going to be competing in this kyokushin tournament next month: https://www.seattlekarate.net/tournament.html If anybody knows of any other knockdown tournaments between june-august let me know, I plan on entering at least 3 this year.

eh, to earn your shodan I think 2-3 days a week for how many years you said is enough for most styles of karate. I know of many schools where you could earn your shodan in a shorter period of time and only training 2-3 days a week. Now, remember, the shodan is just the first step, nothing more and nothing less.

My sensei did the same thing to me when I was a teen in Shito Ryu, he took it a step further and was too impatient to teach the kid's class so had me teach all of them when I was supposed to be training for Jr. Olympics. Like someone else pointed out you should try to work on techniques that you're not good at in sparring. This is what sparring is really about, working on techniques/strategies...not focusing on "winning". In competition you try to win but in sparring, this isn't really the point. If this bugs you a lot talk to your sensei but I know how some sensei can be and this might backfire(unfortunately). Some sensei expect blind obedience from their kohai. The important lesson I myself learned from this is to never be this way with any of my kohai. I wish you luck in how you go about solving your problem and if you keep feeling that you're not be challenged perhaps it's time for you to move on to another martial art?

Well, Bruce Lee definitely wasn't a karateka and Norris only much later after he established himself really focused on Shito Ryu. Norris was more of a Tang Soo Do stylist when he was coming up the ranks in tournaments. It is true today that Norris is a high ranking black belt in TSD and TKD, while also having a black belt in shito ryu and machado brazilian jiu jitsu. At the same time he is the founder of Chun Kuk Do.

You do know this isn't accurate, right? Unless you're calling krabri krabrong and lerdit muay krabrong and muay lerdit... Muay Chaya and similar arts did not come before krabri krabrong, enough said. it wasn't really relevant. my point here was that muay thai is a new sport, not an older traditional style; it's derived from it's predecessors. however, to be technical, muay thai DID get it from muay chaiya. muay chaiya got it from styles that predated it. Wow, this is splitting hairs, can you not admit when you're incorrect? You got me with the whole "wai" part because I read through your posts quick and thought I read wai kru. If a devote Christian can't wear the mongkon/mongkol, bow/wai, do the ram muay, etc. out of traditions sake they probably shouldn't do Muay Thai. Go do another martial art, it's just that easy. Many fight venues are now starting to allow sawk/elbow in fights in the USA, now. A few years back I would agree with you that hardly any allowed them in the USA. The top of my head I know that elbows are allowed in Las Vegas and here in WA state where I reside. My friend who is a fight promoter allows elbows in his Muay Thai fights...contact me if you want more info on these fight cards. I don't think your club does Muay Thai and to "wai" and say sawadee krap/kaa and nothing else seems silly. We're all entitled to our opinions but this would be like someone saying they train in Karate but doing everything in English, no kata, but saying "ossu" and doing "rei" after each drill. While I'm on this topic I by no means think that a kickboxing style is inferior to Muay Thai, or that it's better but it isn't Muay Thai.

Do you mean a mawashi geri with your rear leg? Yes, it's easier to throw this vs. the lead leg mawashi geri. In fact some people can't really throw the lead leg, they switch stance which is pretty lame. If you can get the lead leg down you can land it a lot more then the rear leg. Over the last few years I have focused a lot on doing my lead leg roundhouse...but I usually throw a muay thai roundhouse(dtae) much more then a karate(mawashi geri)roundhouse because I have a lot more power in my dtae. I land head/neck kicks much more when I'm using my lead leg vs. my rear and I have almost the same ammount of power but yes, I am a little more powerful with my rear and if you can explain what your problem is I can perhaps help you.

I'm glad that it worked out for you, so well and that it had nothing to do with money. Keep us posted every once in a while if things are still going good or bad because this is an interesting situation. The closest way I was ever in something like this was a few years ago I had a group of Muay Thai students that I tried to merge with a more knowledgable Muay Thai, Kickboxing, and Knockdown karate master. He wanted to be looked upon as the "main guy" is what he told me which I had no problem with because I wasn't used to being an instructor yet, and like I said this individual has years of experience on me. Anyhoo, to make a long story short he wasn't dependable on showing up to teach and had a pain pill addiction. It's really sad because this individual has a wealth of knowledge but has too many personal problems. I even thought I became his friend, trained with him privately, worked with him outside martial arts in a business that was just being started...Then, when I went to St. Louis for a few months on work and had him watch my car, my car stereo is supposodely "stolen" and so is his, supposodely. Funny thing is, is that his car stereo is maybe worth $5 on the street and after I come back and get my car I find out he's talking behind my back. It's really sad because this was someone I really wanted to learn from, I hate all this drama in the martial arts.

Yeah, where I train/teach now the majority of practitioners wear a 6 ounce gi(if that). Since we're now affiliated with gracie-barra(bjj) the students that are now doing bjj are going to have to get bjj uniforms. Any of you that have ever done bjj with the gi know why...those light weight gis will literally get ripped. I've even seen this happen in a Sabaki tourny I competed in...an individual had a light gi and when his opponent went to grab his gi his gi ripped. The heavier gis literally last years and you sweat a loooooooooooooot more, so it's a good work out, heh. I must admit I own one of the "weiner" lightweight gis but I haven't worn it in a very long time.

I came up the traditional ladder in Hayashi ha Shito ryu kai..wearing nothing but white and to some degree I'm traditional but I don't think I can be "kind of traditional" either. So I could care less about the color of the gi now as long as it's not some obnoxious looking gi with a bunch of flames or something. In a gi I care more about if it's sturdy enough to last through training and worth my $. I own blue, white, and black gis now...I don't know what happened to my red one(this was over ten years ago)but it was a well made gi.

When I was in charge of a kid's program I picked up a few of the kids but the school owner charged an insane ammount of $ for everything so not too many parent's opted to pay the extra $.