bushido_man96

Welcome to KF, Josie! Its good to have you on board.

As far as that goes, the ranking system isn't even an original part of Karate...

I agree here. I think it would be worth checking out, at least. Ask any questions you can, and if they avoid your answers, then it is probably time to leave. Also, watch a class, and see how the students look, and how the instructor teaches. It might be worth a try. Never judge a book by its cover...

Just out of curiosity, what do you base this research on? I have not seen it, other than in BJJ where it takes an average of 10 years to earn a black belt. Welcome to the Forums, as well!

Thanks, ps1. Good vids. Your instructor does a nice job of explaining the details, and taking the time to see everything.

I think that the partner drill would be the best route to take, ShoriKid. Especially with your limited room. That way, they associate it with someone being on them at the time, too. Move when someone is on top, and the more experienced guys can coach them along.

That is a good idea. That is the one thing that I lack on when I get to these seminars where so much is covered. So, I try to take one or two things that I can work on, and go from there.

The school offers 4 classes a week at an hour per class. I do think that practicing at home is important, but I think that our priority is in the classes to prepare the student as much as we can.

The shin kick is a better kick, with a better striking tool, in my opinion. The vids that I have seen were of shins breaking on shins, and there aren't that many of them out there to state that the spot isn't good to hit with. People break their hands punching others in the head, but you still see training in head punches. Sometimes, crap just happens. Now, with that said, I do lots of kicking with the foot, the ball and instep. I have broken boards in the past with the instep, although I don't think it is the brightest thing I have ever done in my life. In the end, your target is going to be a deciding factor in the tool used, as well. Its tough (but not impossible..) to shin kick someone in the head. But to the leg, shin kicking is going to get you better results than a kick with the instep.

I agree here, if your kumite training doesn't soley confine itself to a point-fighting, rules-based system. Not that I don't like rules-based fighting, because it is fun. But at times, you have to change the rules so you can work everything better.

I chose the first option. I think that it is a good drill. Many practitioners talk about punching someone in the throat or jamming a finger into their eye, but how many actually try to prepare for what it will feel like, and the screaming and writhing in pain that would be the reaction of the attacker? Not many, I'd guess. The move is performed in a kata, and that is the extent of it. When you hear that scream, you may freeze up, and who knows what happens next? Incindentally, and I am taking a guess here, but I am willing to guess that the Karate practitioner he is talking about is Loren W. Christensen, whom he had help him with On Combat, and another book recently, I believe. The drill being discussed can be found in Christensen's book Fighter's Fact Book 2, on pages 140 - 142. In case you are interested...

I do like sparring, in the form of competition rules or more self-defense related strategies. As for Olympic TKD strategies, learning to set someone up for a counter, drawing them in, etc., becomes a game unto itself at times. However, the strategy part of it is fun to learn and teach. Its important, however, to not get into the mode of missing the forest for the trees; a goal should be to win, which the strategies help to accomplish. Not all strategies work for everyone. On a different tack, sparring, especially competition sparring at all levels, from Olympic TKD all the way to the MMA of the UFCs, tend to get rapped on for being competition, and that it is not the same as fighting. Well, yeah, that is correct. But at the very heart of human nature is the desire to test one's skills against another in fair play settings; also known as sport. War activities have become games since the beginning of time, like the javelin throw, or Pankration or Hellenic Boxing and Wrestling, to the mode of sport seen today, with the new MMA, American Football, Baseball, etc. Humans still like to test themselves against each other, without worrying about dying from it. Thus, we have sport.

Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine................Jackson.....KO Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz.........................Munoz.......KO Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown.............................Brown.......Sub Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin..............Gonzaga...Sub Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller........................Maynard....Dec Tamdan McCrory vs. Ryan Madigan.............Madigan....Sub Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day......................Grove........Sub Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz........................Boetsch......KO Brandon Vera vs. Michael Patt....................Vera...........KO Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson.....................Riley..........Dec

Welcome to KF!

Wow, those are cool. Very nice.

I thought that was pretty cool. I'd don't know if I could have believed it if I were there for real.

I work for the county jail, which is part of our county's Sheriff's Department. I work the night shift, so I get to see some action at times. Like tg, I really love the job, and I am hoping to eventually be able to make it to the street.

I know that isn't what you meant. At times, though, when going hands-on, it is in reaction to something that they have done, be it resistance or an attack.

I'm not completely disagreeing with you there. The key is being able to articulate your fear. No, not every situation is going to warrant the attack. Like I said, it depends on a lot of factors in the situation. All I'm saying is never say never...

I hear these kinds of opinions and philosophies to learning the Martial Arts all the time. But, who is to say what one's goal should be when undertaking MA training? I say it is up to the person undertaking the training. I'm sure that Gichin Funakoshi was a great man. He did many things for Karate. I have read his book The Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate; it is a good read, too. However, just because Funakoshi said it, does not make it so for me. So, I choose what I think are the things that I want to garner from my MA training, and that is what I want to get out of it. I don't need MA training to make me a better person, my upbringing as a child is what focuses me in that approach. Not Martial Arts training. Exactly! I think so to. In your response, you use the word think. The nature of the meaning here makes your viewpoint an opinion. There are a lot of opinions in the world of Martial Arts training, let alone the world in general. So, the opinion of one will not necessarily reflect the opinion, philosophy, or beliefs of the other.

3-4-09 Weights Bench press: 215x8, 9 fail Row: 160x6, 7 fail Military press: 125x5, 6 fail Lat pull-down: 160x6, 7 fail Machine curl: 50x7, 8 fail Triceps push-down: 165x6, 7 fail Ab wheel: 6, 6 Cardio: Bike for 20 minutes. 3-5-09 It was a beautiful day today. It was nice walking the dog this morning. We walked about a mile. TKD class: 6:00 - 7:00. After class, I spent about 20 minutes working with some of the colored belt students to review some forms.

Those are some good stretches to get you started. After you are warm from working out, some split stretches will be good to add, too. Ask your instructor about them.

That's pretty cool. That would be a fun experience, for sure.

Like tg mentions, I don't think you will see bad habits crossing over, mainly because you probably do more things like in Boxing than you realize. When sparring, you likely don't pull your reaction hand back to your hip/rib, because that would leave your head open to attack. So, Boxing will play on this, and perhaps make some of your defensive actions better, as in what you do with that off-hand, slipping and ducking some techniques, etc. So, unless you start kicking in the Boxing ring, I don't think you will have too much trouble.

KillerMiller is a big proponent of "Breathing Timing," and he explains it quite well. Hopefully, he chimes in here soon with his take. As for me, I don't have any particular concepts in mind, other than to make sure that I do breathe. Typically, I exhale forcefully when executing an individual technique, like in basics. In forms, or basic combinations, sometimes I'll breathe in between a set of techniques, and exhale throughout a series of moves. That's about it for me. Good topic, though. I await other replies, as well.