powerof0ne

Basically the problem where I train is like this..the female teaching is a legit 1st dan in Kempo and in TKD(not sure what kind of tkd) and her skills are appropriate but I don't think she's a good teacher. I'm a higher rank and thinking of taking over just because she has ruined the kid's class. Basically these kids can't really do much of anything right for their belt level. This girl has them play too many games and not train enough. I've taught a succesfull kid's class in another school before and I definitely had them play some games and such but I also tried to actually teach them martial arts. We'll see what happens, my friend that I brought in to teach Brazilian Jiu jitsu(we're now gracie-barra affiliated) even commented to me that: "those kid's suck". I talked to the owner's son that's a Nidan and he agreed with me 100% about the kid's class, I was just trying to get any ideas by any of you that have perhaps been in a smiliar situation. Basically, I or the owner's son are going to take over the kid's class, we see no other choice. Trust me, I'd rather not teach kid's and just focus on adults.

Are you SKI? You guys follow the Kyohan like the bible too, right?

Yeah, I talked about it again and the owner and I are just holding our breath & basically crossing our fingers in hopes that this student will turn around and basically "toughen up". I'll just try to be nice to him and offer him advice, try to motivate him to train but it's really frustrating. I'd like to see this kid progress in Karate and just try, train...stop making excuses and try, that's all I'd like to see. At Ikkyu level I expect this from karateka is why it's frustrating, he was promoted/tested to this rank before I had anything to do with the dojo. With his current attitude he won't be testing for Shodan any time soon. Oh well, thanks for the advice guys, especially you, Menjo.

Yeah, you might be right...If this is the case I'm not going to do what the typical "me" would do, I'm going to try to encourage him to train. Unfortunately what I think happened was someone was babied too much at their past school. I found out from the owner that he had him retest for Ikkyu(he had Ikkyu from another school so the owner had him test at his), and that after kumite this person went into the bathroom and cried for a period of time. Came back out and finished the test so the owner passed him. This individual's form isn't even that good and I admire that he finished the test I'm not so sure if feeling sorry for someone is a good enough reason to pass them in rank. This individual has allready said he doesn't want to test for Shodan because he saw a Shodan test and it looked to hard for him. It's a frustrating situation because part of me is kind of in hardcore Sensei mode where I want to drill this kid hard, to toughen him up. But, at the same time I know that doing such a thing would discourage him and that I need to be more subtle about it because I would like to see him continue to train. This kid by all means probably gets picked on at school and Karate could be a great boost to his self-esteem. With all of that being said this kid would not have been an ikkyu back when I was an ikkyu in the dojo I received it from.

Angus88, please give examples of where you have seen exagerrations of Kyokushinkaikan's multiman kumite? I'd like to see them and I'm sure others here would too. I find this funny since I have witnessed and partook in multi-man kumite. I can find many links where you can purchase 100 man kumite video of some famous kyokushin practitioners, as well. Don't talk about it, be about it.

I was reading through this and thought I'd make some corrections by someone that posted some info. Cung Le doesn't fight in Pride(not yet, anyway), he is known as a San Shou fighter, has done some K-1 superfights, and will be making his MMA debut very soon. Chuck Norris wasn't a heavyweight Kickboxing Champion, and this is splitting hairs to a degree but Lidell studies Kempo, not kenpo(His Tattoo says "Kempo"). That being said Otto os an awesome fighter but I'm more of a knockdown karateka now and have liked guys like Pettas, Yamaki, Filho, Royama, Hug, Feitosa... A funy story, back in '98 I was fighting on a kickboxing card that had "The Alliance" which was Maurice Smith, Frank Shamrock, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka(TK), and Francisco Filho make an appearance. I was a huge fan of Filho at the time, I had a Japanese Gong Kakutogi magazine with me that had him in it. Anyway after I fought I was told a general area where he would be sitting and I go over...I ask Glaube Feitosa to sign it and guess who's sitting next to Glaube and tells me "This isn't Filho"..Nocholas Pettas! I felt so embarassed by was quick enough to realize who they were and got both of their autographs! haha. Glaube was very nice and a good sport, he even signed the picture of him losing to Peter Aerts! Nicholas was joking about it and was very nice, as well. Yes, I did find where Filho was sitting, he happened to have his baby at the time and his wife with him. I had him sign a picture of him holding his son so I didn't make a complete fool out of myself.

As a kid I would see my father practice Karate in the rec. room and back yard. As most kids my age I was into he-man and g.i. joe so mimicking my father doing karate seemed like the fun thing to do. My father saw that I was enthusiastic about karate so started teaching me when I was 3 or so. All he really taught me was how to tsuki, zenkutsu datchi, and mae geri. I always did martial arts as more of a game when I was a kid and didn't start to take it serious until I was 15. I trained with a gentleman that was of of Samurai descent and took Karate very serious. He hit harder then anyone I sparred with. Everything he did was hard and for some crazy reason I enjoyed it. I'll always remember the summer of '96 when everyone from my dojo competing in the 96' USANKF Nationals spent 6 hours, 5 days a week training for Nationals. Most of us were teens, with one home maker, and the gentleman I spoke of that somehow had the time to train. We would train 3 hours in the morning then another 3 hours at night. I was 16 at the time and this was the first time I was exposed to any really hard training. Out of the 9 people that competed, 7 of us placed 3rd or higher in kata and kumite but this is besides the point..just the memories of all of us training hard. If it wasn't for the people I trained with there is no way that I would have had the discipline by myself to train this way. This is why I like martial arts, it's for the spirit that I feel training around others that like to train.

I knew it was because of a Judo accident that ruined his right knee that he got into Karate..I also knew that he earned his black belt in a little less then a year or so. I read that he would train around 8 hours a day and was a fanatic. Thanks for the info that it was shorin ryu, I know that he also trained under Khang Rhee of the WBBB/Pasa Ryu. I'm sure he's trained under many other people but never really heard exactly what Wallace's MA biography is, just bits and pieces every once in a while. Definitely an interresting style, and I don't even mean by the way he chambers the same because a lot of knockdown karateka have been doing this for a long time. Or chambering for a front kick, throwing a roundhouse, chambering for a roundhouse, throwing a side, etc.

My concern is not wanting to see the student quit and trying to encourage him to stay and progress. Not to be afraid of me when he really has no reason to be, I've never even sparred with him and even if I did he wouldn't get hurt. The owner and I talked about it and basically we're going to try to have a talk with this student and try to tell him I'm at the school to help him out.

My concern is not wanting to see the student quit and trying to encourage him to stay and progress. Not to be afraid of me when he really has no reason to be, I've never even sparred with him and even if I did he wouldn't get hurt. The owner and I talked about it and basically we're going to try to have a talk with this student and try to tell him I'm at the school to help him out.

I think I might be purchasing an Isami karate gi here soon..I will be competing in a Kyokushin tourny in about two months and I know that many Kyokushin, Enshin, Ashihara, etc. practitiones like this brand. Anyone here have any experience with Isami?

You're kidding me? I've TKO'd and Ko'd people cold with a hook kick and I'm no where near superfoot's level of kicking. Generally speaking, I don't even throw this kick when I'm sparring because it's one of my more "heavier" kicks. I've seen Thais ko'd by this kick in Thailand every once in a while, too. My two most powerful head kicks are the hook kick and a kick I bring up like an axe kick but come down on the face with a forward push kick but strike with my heel. I didn't know that he taught Kinesiology, that's pretty cool and definitely worth checking into if you're in the area. Correct me if I'm wrong but was superfoot's first black belt in Goju Ryu? I thought I read that somewhere and it always struck me as weird considering his fighting style.

Shotokan, Shito Ryu, Goju Ryu, Wado Ryu, Shorin Ryu, Ryuei Ryu, Kyokushinkai, Ashihara, Enshin, Seido Juku, Seidokaikan, Shukokai(shito ryu to some ), Judo, etc. would all be arts worth checking into for your brother. Actually, the more I think about Ryuei Ryu might not be good for your brother's age. Anyhoo, some people don't know of this but there is full contact goju ryu competition that is similar to daido juku competition. So if your thought is your brother sticking to it and possibly getting into more full contact the goju ryu dojo he might train at might afford him that option. In fact, if I remember right I think their is a big goju ryu organization in NZ that was at first a Kyokushin dojo but switched "back" to goju ryu(Oyama first taught his style as goju ryu). For Kata(I'm obviously biased), I'd reccomend Shito Ryu seeing as we have a huge selection of kata to choose from in shito ryu. I wish you luck finding out a good dojo for your brother but you're a muay thai practitioner so you should be able to tell what's effective and not.

I normally wouldn't suggest this but you could try https://www.wbbb.org, the only reason why I normally wouldn't suggest this is because I know of a few people that aren't legit that conned their way into this organization with false rank, etc. However, I also know of people that are totally legit that joined this organization because they broke away from who they were originally with and didn't know who to go to. I've seen the certificates from here and they're Korean but the head of the organization teaches more of an old school tae kwon do/karate. What I m ean by this is that his TKD isn't olympic style and is very similar to karate, in the forms too. I don't know how I feel about him ranking people in other arts that he's not an instructor of though. I guess if anyone knows of any Chinese martial art organizations they should give you a link or two?

It might be a tough hurdle to overcome but if you have the skills of an instructor that should speak for itself. Unfortunately much of the general population assumes a high rank means a great instructor. My general rule for myself is if I don't feel that the instructor can do anything against me to defend himself I won't train under him. I had one instructor years ago that I sparred that had very bad defense tell me after I soundly defeated him: "I can make you better". He also tried to impress me by telling me he could teach me how to tear a phone book in half. I won't say the style's name because I don't judge a whole style by one school. Anyhoo you might want to join a more structured org/association to get a commercially accepted rank. I know this goes against how you were brought up but unfortunately to have a commercial school you have to change some things around. In the Muay Thai association I'm under we have a rank structure(In Thailand it's student and instructors/masters, no sash/belts)because Westerners like rank. Unfortunately the more effective martial arts aren't always(usually)the real money makers in a commercial school. The bottom line is your money maker is going to be the kid's class..this is what's going to make you at least break even at first..the kids. I trained at one of the best Karate dojo I have ever had the pleasure of training in and saw it fail because the head instructor had no patience for kids, and hardly any at all for anyone that wasn't a serious karateka. Remember: Kids will bring in the $

I don't know, I don't really consider it something that can really be taken away from me. A few years ago someone broke in the school that I taught at and the owner called me to tell me some stuff was stolen, my first fear was my rank certificates! I rushed over to the school to find almost all of my thai pads, belly pads, focus mitts, etc. were stolen along with the owner's laptop and some other gear...thank god my certificates were still their. It would have been a pain in the neck to try to contact everyone to get new certificates.

I'm not sure who you were giving this tip to because I have no problem with my belt coming untied...I was talking about how "stiff" my silk belt is, compared to a cotton or satin belt. I finally gave in and washed my belt(I was under the myth for years to never wash the obi)and it has helped a lot, haha.

I'm dealing with an awkward situation right now, basically a student at where I train/teach is afraid to train with me. He literally drove as soon as he came and saw I was going to be teaching Muay Thai last night. Monday night he told the school owner that he doesn't want to train with me because he's afraid I'll hurt him. My experience with this student has been as follows: I tried to help him out in some one step sparring, giving him pointers and never hurting him. He's held pads for me a few times while kicking, kneeing, punching, etc...The last time he did(keep in mind I was hitting pads, not him)hold pads for me he made up some excuse that he ate before he came and couldn't anymore so the school owner held pads for me. Less than a minute later I see him kicking while someone else is holding pads for him and to be honest I got upset and said something like: "Hey, your stomache is upset, I don't want you to get sick, you shouldn't do that!" What I said might have not been the wisest thing but this is a 16 y/o Ikkyu(3rd brown right before shodan). I feel like a jerk that this student is afraid of me and I'd like to get a chance to talk to him privately to let him know that I'm trying to help him "toughen up". Obviously, I'm not going to call him out on his excuses again. In all honesty I have no idea how he even got to Ikkyu being as timid as he is. I'm now Mas Oyama by any means so his fear of me hurting him while he holds pads for me is kind of weird(it's a first). I'd appreciate any advice by any of you, especially if you have been in similar situations.

Yes, Olympic style TKD does this and in their tournaments like someone pointed out realistically you don't get points for punching. I found this out the hard way in '96 when I entered a WTF TKD tourny...I literally reversed punched the individual at least 40 times with getting no points in the chest. Why my sensei had me, solely a karateka at the time enter a tkd tourny beats me...however, I did win first place in the forms division doing Chinto and I tied, so I did Bassai Dai and won first place. Which still surprises me considering I did an okinawan/japanese form. I've never tied in kata competition in a karate tournament though, I don't know how often this happens in TKD tournaments.

Where I train we have 4 blackbelts(I'm one of them) and two brown belts. We're also connected to a sister school about 20 minutes away with 2 black belts and one brown belt getting ready for his shodan test(He's 2 months away from the test). In my old Shito Ryu dojo I remember one individual quitting within a month or two after he got his probationary black belt/shodan-ho. My sensei at the time gave it to him because he wasn't going to class that much and didn't even test him..just gave him the belt thinking he'd start coming more(I have no idea why). Well, it backfired on him and yeah...this individual went around telling everyone I was in HS at the time that he was a black belt, I gladly told everyone he wasn't. My Shito Ryu dojo was really weird, the people that didn't compete went up the rank ladder quicker then the people that competed at the national & international level...the logic behind the sensei was so we would be good for our belt rank..I feel that he should have had the same standards for everyone. I never felt comfortable in my early teens when I was a Kyu rank besting individuals testing for shodan-nidan in jiyu kumite.

It really depends on how you train and your goals...remember if you're going to compete in boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, etc...you fight in weight classes. Generally speaking the more weight you can cut, the better off you are. If you're not going to compete lifting weights is fine but if you fight in a weight class you have to be careful how much you bulk up. When I was actively competing in Muay Thai and kickboxing bouts I hardly lifted any weights because I was training at least 4 hours. I'd even train on sundays but usually only an hour or two. I'd also reccomend wind sprints and/or running stairs/hills instead of just a 30 minute jog. I generally would do a 15 minute jump roping session as my warm up before I did anything and after that go run up and down a nearby hill. Don't get me wrong, long distance runs are good for endurance and for losing weight but if you neglect sprinting you won't have that "burst". A problem I witnessed with someone I used to train with who was very heavy into lifting weights was his range of motion wasn't that great...he would throw his hooks wrong which resulted in him having to get surgery at least twice on his bicep. He literally ripped the vein out of the groove by how much of his bicep he was using. No, this guy isn't a roid freak, he's actually been a SWAT/undercover dea/dep. sheriff, etc. since I've known him. Anyhoo to get back to my original point, if you're actually training like a boxer would and it's imperative to stay in a weight class you have to be careful about lifting weights.

I actually have a huge problem when I teach something to someone once or twice and I see them trying to teach it. The main reason why is because they obviously don't have it down after one or two times. I can understand this association wanting you to join but if they're so accepting they should let you "retest" at your current rank..I just hope the head instructor isn't looking at it like an opportunity to "steal" your students. On the other hand this association might be very strict and want you to teach only their way and not be doing kata from the other ryu or anything. This is why I'm not a member of any big Karate organization anymore(I have too much of a Muay Thai, kickboxing, shooto, bjj, judo, etc. background). Like I said, you don't have to be a member of this individual...I understand your situation, he is very good and you're learning al ot from him. At the same time you have to deal with a bunch of drama that's making you feel uncomfortable...If you can deal with it and keep training, you're a bigger man then I am but you were also given an ultimatum.

I haven't even tried the Adidas gi out yet for myself but in the past I've liked these brands: Juka(pretty cheap), Kamikaze, Toyo, Tokaido, and Shureido. I bought a cheap black Tiger claw jiu jitsu gi here about a month ago..I think I only paid $44, which included the shipping. My only complaint with this gi, the "willy cahill" line would be the pants aren't as sturdy as I would like but the top alone is worth the $ to me. My HCK and Ouano gi are finally done...had those for a long time. In jiu jitsu I own white, blue, and now a black gi...In the past I even trained at a more "freestyle" karate dojo and wore a red gi "like, omg!" I typically wear a white gi, though...I could care less about the color of someone's gi or what is on it if their Karate is good.

My reasons for training in Daido Juku is because of Kiyotaka Kato...he is one tough guy. If you earn a shodan in Daido Juku you can definitely fight. Anyhoo, yes seidokaikan formed by Ishii is the style that founded K-1. It depends what kind of Karate you want to do but the bottom line is it is very unlikely you will be a shodan in 8 months.

I think where I train it is a 10 kyu system, I'm not really sure...I train at a Kempo dojo now but I teach muay thai their and my highest ranked student will be teaching bjj soon. They recognize my rank in karate but I don't consider myself a kempo stylist. They do an "isshin ryu'esque" verticle tsuki which I don't really dig..anyhoo in shito ryu it went white, orange, blue, red(within the last decade or so), purple, green 2 and 1, then brown 3 through 1, shodan. Like Fairfax said, kyu ranks with colors vary greatly in dojo/style/region/etc. I know of a school where purple is in place of brown, I still don't know why. If you rally wanna get confused look at Vovinam's belt ranking p.s. I hate the color purple and I can remember when I was a purple belt training very hard trying to advance as quickly as possible..I also trained in a 5 day a week, 3 hour dojo at the time.