bushido_man96

I agree with what you say about getting paid in Muay Thai/MMA as opposed to paying to fight in Karate and TKD tournies. You mention the popularity of Karate compared to MMA now. I'd be interested in seeing a study of how many Karate schools are still out there in comparison to MMA gyms. Perhaps Karate hasn't lost too much popularity, in as much as it has just lost some attention?

I think I read somewhere that the first influence of a roundhouse style kick may have been from Fillipino styles, but I'm not sure.

That's pretty neat, too. Did you get to meet Barnett at some of those fights?

GM Chae Sun Yi, Master Scott Biskie, Me. I'm not sure who taught our GM; I think he was WTF before he branched off on his own, so I am unsure. My ATA lineage is a bit tougher, but if I take some time to look back at it, I can come up with something on it.

I think kicks are good, and are most valuable, when used below the waste. I do think, however, kicking above the waste can be useful, and beneficial, but like anything else, it has to be done right, timed right, and strategized right. Its a particularly tough skill to aquire, kicking to the head, and speed is the best friend, next to technique. Like I said, its especially tough to get good at, but, it can be done.

Congrats!

Congrats to the Cardinals! And to La Russa, going out on top. A great career.

You will have to fill me in on what "todome" is. I'm not well-versed in other languages.

Can't wait! I'll see if I can get it approved by our department.

My point is that squared of with an old master gloves off no rules winner takes all I honestly don't think a bunch of bobbing and weaving is going to do you a hell of a lot of good. He'll be out to punch you once and go home and probably will. Poking him a few times would just help him get his bearings. "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth."

Let us know how you did!

Montana is right. As you progress, you will notice minor skill improvements over time. This is when you really have to kick it in gear, because this is where the little things start to show, and seperate you from others. Stick with it, and just make sure you keep enjoying what you are doing.

Just make sure that when you have the situation under control, you stop. Don't get mad and go overboard, and get caught up in "teaching them a lesson." That's when it gets bad for you; it no longer is self-defense.

I'm fairly shy most of the time. Conversation isn't always a strong suit for me. But in class, I tend to do ok. Its easier when I shout out technique, the students do it, and I comment, correct, or whatever.

Get your students to do recruiting by offering them a discount on their membership fees for bringing in a new student who stays for x amount of months.

If there is nothing for you to do as a black belt, then that is the fault of your instructor for not preparing a curriculum for you. He should at least have a class set aside for high ranks to work out together to push each other. But, as you do get higher in rank, it becomes more of you pushing yourself on then leaning on an instructor to do it as much as he can with colored belts.

Ok, I see what you are getting at, but I still don't think its a "fad." That would indicate that it would have faded out by now, and it hasn't. I'd say that it has grown and evolved since then, and it still does. I'm sure there are some fighters out there who don't represent it well, and there are things that people don't like about MMA in general; i.e., that its not "traditional." But, I stand by my statement that I don't think its going anywhere.

Karate has evolved with the times, and keeps evolving. Techniques change over time. If you keep practicing techniques the way they have been practiced for the past 50 years or however long, why? Those techniques changed quite a bit before, why should they stop changing? I'll call it karate, if karate is my base and I incorporate boxing techniques into it. If you want to say otherwise, my style (Kyokushinkai) has many open tournaments that you can enter to show your superiority of just using karate techniques only. This is no challenge, just a simple fact that the "proof is in the pudding." Many Japanese karateka have, and still do crosstrain in boxing. It's just over here in the Westernized countries that we get silly ideas never to let your obi touch the ground, never wash your obi, never use techniques outside of karate even if they're very effective.... I agree with kcshuffle here. Just because Karateka does some bobbing and weaving doesn't mean he isn't still a Karateka. Its like saying the same thing if a Karateka uses a jab.

Hey, that's pretty cool!

All listed above would make for a great library. I have quite a few books myself. Some, I could do without. Some, though, I like to have on hand just because they have different ideas I don't think of. I love to read, so I tend to go a bit book crazy at times. I don't think its necessary to have a huge library, but, I like to have as many as I can, just to reference different things, or study up on something I'm not familiar with. Then I can bounce questions off others here who have experience with the styles, and they can lend their take on things. Helps make for good discussion at times, as well.

I think tallgeese covered that pretty well. One thing to consider should you have to go the physical route is what you say during the encounter. If you continually shout things like "Leave me alone!" and "Stop hitting me!" it will help your cause, showing you are not the instigator, but are defending yourself. Food for thought. I hope this goes away soon for you.

I don't think I've ever felt anything like that before. If it continues, let a doctor know.

10/18/2011 Naifanchi kata: 3 times. 10/19/2011 SL 5x5B Squat: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 205x3, 225x2; work: 335x4,3, then fell forward. Fail. Time to reduce weight and work on form. Overhead press: warmup: 45x5x2, 70x5, 90x3, 100x2; work: 135x5x5 Dead lift: warmup: 135x5, 175x5, 210x5; work: 350x5 Stretch: standing quads, toe touches, seiza, seated straddle, butterfly and glutes, chest/tris/bis. 330 on squat the time before didn't feel that bad. 335 felt like I had a house on my back! Dropping the weight to work on form, because I get a bit of a good-morning type forward lean going with the heavier weight. Going to try to work that form up. 10/21/2011 SL 5x5A Squats: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 205x5, 225x3; work: 265x3x5, 315x1 Bench press: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 155x3, 175x2; work: 235x5,5,5,4,5 Barbell rows: warmup: 75x5x2, 95x3, 105x2; work: 170x5x5 Stretch: standing/kneeling quads, seiza, front/twist/side bar, toe touches, reverse hurdler, butterfly and glutes, sit-and-reach, seated knee hugs, seated back twists, chest/bis/tris. Really focused on keeping my chest up and back arched on my squats, and I notice a difference. Also, on my heavy 1 rep, I made sure to focus on the same things. Felt good. 10/25/2011 Missed the Monday session, but still wanted to get some work in before Wednesday, so tried something a bit different. Front squats: 45x5x2, 135x2, 5, 155x5 Overhead press: 45x5x2, 70x5, 90x5, 100x2; work: 140x3x5 Dead lift: warmup: 135x5, 175x5, 210x5; work: 355x5 Power snatch: 90x3x5 Stretch: standing quads, toe touches, chest/tris/bis. The front squats were...interesting. They were tough on my wrists, so I tried the crossed-arm hold, which was hard to balance. May need to explore it more. Doing dead lifts without doing the heavy squat sets before made a HUGE difference in how it felt! It felt like it was easier just to hold the bar, and the set was easier than prior. 10/26/2011 SL 5x5B Squats: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 205x3, 225x2; work: 270x3x5, 315x2 Bench press: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 155x3, 175x2; work: 240x5,5,5,5,3 Barbell rows: warmup: 75x5x2, 95x3, 105x2; work: 175x3,4,3,3,3 Stretch: standing/kneeling quads, seiza, reverse hurdler, butterfly and glutes, seated knee hugs and back twists, toe touches, front/twist/side kick bar, chest/tris/bis. The rest of my workout week was shot due to sleeping wrong, and waking up unable to turn my neck. That really sucks.

Welcome back!

Happy birthday. You Rock! Thanks MP!