bushido_man96

I hope things continue to smooth out for you, Bob. Sounds like a lot of distraction for you there.

Great fighters don't always make good teachers. Teaching and coaching is hard to do, and I think an important aspect of effective coaching/teaching is being able to.adapt and adjust how you teach. But look at someone like Bill Wallace. Good fighter, and I've heard nothing but good things about his seminars. Some can do it, others not so well.

Its an example of how learning things like how many people will posture to be tough, and what to look for in the differences between someone posturing, and an eminent attack. As well as environmental awareness and the like. I don't think trying to teach "middle ground self-defense" is the answer, either. That will just end up getting someone hurt at the other end of the spectrum. The main thing is making sure self-defense training is all-encompassing, dealing with not only the physical attacks, but the events and situations that lead up to them.

Precisely. It is a good scenario to explain why strikers should become even-only slightly versed in grappling. Very much agreed. I believe some of the Gracie Combatives stuff is geared toward getting to draw your weapon while on the ground.

Something I might add is that when you are drilling technique, you may not be using those 4 principles in the drilling phase. Drilling a technique is going to be different than using those principles to drill a scenario.

People like this pop up in any kind of interaction, not just Martial Arts. You can find them in the workplace just as easily. Like you mention, the best way to deal with them is to steer clear and ignore them, not letting someone else affect your training.

But all styles don't use kata as a training tool. Lacking kata isn't going to cause an inefficiency in learning. Could you give me an example? Sure. BJJ, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Aikido, Combat Hapkido, Pankration, are some off the top of my head that don't train with kata. All are effective combat systems.

But all styles don't use kata as a training tool. Lacking kata isn't going to cause an inefficiency in learning.

I think I'd buy a gun, but that's just me. No Iado classes available here.

Those are very valid points, as well.

2/5/2012 Naifanchi: 5 times through, trying to get some little things ironed out. 2/6/2012 Deffley A Squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 245x2; work: 285x2x3 Box squats: 220x3x5 Bench press: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x2; work: 245x4,3,4 Barbell rows: warmup: 115x5, 135x3, 155x2; work: 186.2x3x5 Glute/ham raises: 3x5 Assisted chin-ups: 3x10 Hip thrusts: 3x12 Bench session sucked today. I thought after last Monday, I would hit my 3x5s, but instead, went backwards even farther.

Last week was our first week back to practice. Everything healed fine in his arm, but the doc said to stay away from practice for another 3 weeks. Now he's back to it, and we plan on hitting another meet next Saturday.

Do the moves have to be submitted for approval?

The problem with learning so many kata, and if you train to use kata as responses to attacks, then when you do get attacked, you are likely to take longer to cycle through what response you should use in response. If you don't train responses this way, then I suppose you could learn all the forms you want to without having to worry too much about it.

Yes, they are. I've also been able to implement elbow strikes along with a takedown; swinging the elbow up over for an armbar...the face is right there, anyways...

Could it be that kata came about because so many trained by themselves, or perhaps with just one other, for so long? It is hard to fight by yourself, unless you have a friend named Tyler Durden... Anyways, nowadays, most of us aren't lonely people that work out alone, in the hopes that the one person will come along in life for us to pass on the valuable self-training tools we have to. I can see how the value of kata is greater when a bulk of training time is done alone. It keeps the techniques categoriezed and organized, and the helps with retaining the bunkai through some association. That's just a guess though.

That's a no-bones about it answer there. A little positional training would go a long way.

This is kind of a valid point. However, "dojo" just translates as "training hall," I believe, so there is nothing inherent in the translation that implies there must be rank involved. We've just come to expect it to be this way over the years. But then again, I like gym better anyways. That's what it is in the U.S., anyhow. I hardly ever use the term "dojang" when I talk of attending my TKD classes. I just use the word "school." Stupid semantics anyways.

What a ride, Bob. Crazy, indeed. It sounds like those who think they are running the show have a plan, and they want to expel anyone in any place of leadership that doesn't share that plan. I'd be interested to know what each of the "Boards" within Shindokan do; what their responsibilities are and what-not. It sounds like there are a lot of cooks in the Shindokan kitchen, if you get my meaning. I'm glad you are reinstated, and I hope things right themselves for the time being.

This is how I mean with my point. Tournament experience is going to be different than self-defence experience. Tournament experience can be easy to get, and is easily defined by a win/loss record. The idea of winning in self-defence has a different connotation, and the experience can be tougher to come by. So for me it would.come down more to what kind of tactics the instructor is using, and the methods used to teach in the classes.

It can be helpful, but is not all important. There are lots of good trainers out there that weren't necessarily great fighters. It can help, and add some credibility to your situation, but if you can't teach what you know, then the only people you will be able to help are "the naturals" out there.

Giants vs Patriots tomorrow. Who you got?

This tends to be the trend, and I think its because kids are the ones who have the time to take up activities like Martial Arts. Adults don't have as much disposable time, therefore, you don't see as many packed in adult classes. There are lots of different feelings on kids classes, what they should entail, what ranks they should be allowed to attain, etc. But the truth of the matter is that in most areas, an instructor is likely to pull in more kids for classes than adults, so a good kids program can be vital to a school.

Does it not matter whether or not you enjoy it? If it isn't enjoyable, then it would also seem like an obligation. I enjoy interacting with the students, and I especially enjoy the technical aspects in teaching moves. I enjoy watching the students as they improve from month to month, and year to year. The cons are that at times it can get frustrating, but that is good in the sense that it makes me look at different ways to "say what I mean," and forces me to become a better teacher in the long run.

Great post, Bob. Good info there on managing time and seeking help. Never be to proud to ask for help!