bushido_man96

You actually fight with real blades? isn't that alittle dangerous. afterall , someone could mess up and die Forms, not sparring... We've also cut tatami(soaked bamboo mats stood upright on a stand.) No, we wouldn't actually spar with a live blade... that would be silly. But you could fight with blunts!!

I like the use of the word "overskill." Very nice.

Cool. You could also use some tape on the floor as a barrier as well, eh? Cross it, and do 20 push-ups!! I also like cathal's close quarters drill.

I am not for sure, but you may have developed some arthritis in your knuckle from using it to strike so much. You might have a doctor look at it. Other than that, try a few motrin before class.

Unfortunately for me, I have a history of heart disease and diabetes in my family and I have the body type that carries all my weight in my stomach, so it's actually vital for me to loose the weight while I'm younger and it's easier to do. It's part of why I put tai chi on the shelf for a while and took up karate.(that and the weapons of course ) I see. I hope you are able to meet your goals. Family history like that can be tough. Me an my brothers are all pretty stocky as well, and I lift and do TKD to try to drop some poundage as well.

Your enthusiasm is great, and we love to hear about it. I just want to throw out one warning. As you train, you may hit some tough spots and plateaus. Don't let these areas of training get you down. Stay motivated, and know that you will get through them. Think about new things you can do to push through, or find some good martial arts books to read, and just do some mental studying as well. It is all part of the learning process. http://www.natkd.com/shotokan_katas.htm This site has some diagrams, and some of the katas also have videos. The early ones do, so this should help.

See, this is where it is different in TKD. The kick still retracts back to the chamber postition. We rotate our hips over during the course of the kick. Also, if I want a side 'snap' kick, I just try to kick faster, and don't follow through quite as much. Different strokes for different folks, though.

Stretching every part of your body is important. The more flexible a muscle is, the more relaxed it is. The more relaxed it is, the faster it can be. This goes for arms as well as legs. Also, keeping the arms, shoulders, and wrists flexible and loose is great for doing self-defense techniques like arm/wrist locks, and shoulder cranks and such. Also, stretching your back muscles will help with your spinning and turning kicks. Balance is important, and keeping the upper body in line with the lower body will help everything work together. Strong abs and back muscles are important for good kicking. The core of the body is important for connecting upper body movements with lower body movements.

Good advise, Rick_72.

I am not aware of who this person is. Hadn't heard of him before.

I agree with a lot of the posts here. I would also say that you shouldn't get into too big of a hurry. You said that you grade at the end of the month? Big deal....a few more weeks. You also openly admit that you still have room for improvement, so there is your motivation right there. Also, think about the target areas of the techniques, and the applications that are from the forms. When you think it is all physical, then you need to start thinking about everything again, and see what you can dig up and find. Also, I would not be looking ahead to the next kata on DVD. That is kind of like undermining your instructor, and you could develop some habits that you don't see that may cause problems for you.

I agree to a point. Depends on one's background in martial arts as well as their athleticism. To become a black-belt level BJJ practitioner one certainly needs to get a good instructor at a good school and be prepared to train hard and long for quite a while. However, I learned most of the required blue belt techniques on my own through books and video and my beloved bjj.org (RIP), and when I finally started formal BJJ training, my instructor didn't believe I had never taken BJJ before. After a short time training, I regularly tap out blue belts and I have had much better than expected success against purple belts as well. Of course, no one can learn grappling without a partner to train with. I would usually just grab anyone I could from my karate class and grapple, preferably with the former wrestlers we have. However, someone who has little prior MA experience will likely not have the kinesthetic awareness to avoid developing bad habits, so this probably won't work for them. With respect, Sohan That is what I am afraid of, developing the bad habits. And I definitely notice that I don't have very good kinesthetic awareness. I can never tell what is going on with other parts of my body when I have a lock applied to me.

I like the attitude that you take here. That is one of aspects of being a good instructor; being able to help the student come into their own. When it comes to forms and things like that, then the style becomes important. However, in fighting/sparring, it is important to be able to move naturally, and anyone will do what is comfortable for them.

That had to make you feel good about yourself, didn't it? A little bit of a personal victory there.

All martial arts derived from shaolin. Western MA, like pankration, fencing, etc had no shaolin influence. shuai chiao predates shaolin sumo was influenced by shuai chiao. I would wager it has no shaolin influence. jujutsu has no verifiable shaolin influence, despite claims that jjj originated in china. If jjj has no shaolin influence, then it's reasonable to say judo and bjj have no shaolin influence either. shaolin's influence extends primarily to styles created after it's inception via china - like karate. It's been said that te was around before the chinese brought their art to okinawa. If that's true, than it was not influenced by shaolin either, although karate was. I would also like to add that European styles, like wrestling and boxing, had no shaolin influence. Savate probably didn't either. On a side note, by reading many different Medieval Combat manuals, under the sections on gryps and wrestling, you can see many similarities between what the Europeans did, and what the Asians did in their styles. My point is this: the body works in the same ways, and has the same limitations, no matter where you are from. Any society that spent any amount of significant history in warefare learned how to abuse the body in efficient ways. Westerners were just as knowledgeable as Easterners. One of my pet peeves is that when people hear the term "martial arts" is that they immediately think of Eastern styles alone.

yeah, restraint is the neame of the game. If the situation warrants - Like I'm getting attacked by three guys, which recently happened - I can strike. But under normal circumstances, restrain, restrain, restrain. I am going to start asking some questions about the severity of situations, however. There is a 4th dan in our school who is also a PD officer, and he says that if they start swinging, we should be able to do whatever is necessary to stop them, but I am unsure. I don't want the department to end up in a lawsuit because I do something I am not allowed while trying to protect myself. I am sure they would support me, but I would not want that problem to arise. But heck, people sue for anything these days.

When a leisurely walk with your wife turns into "how many kicks can you do in one block."

I wanted to start a thread on drills to break up the monotony of doing one-steps and self-defense techniques. This is to present differnent training ideas for self-defense, and new ideas on one-step training. 1. We used to call this drill "Joe Cool." You make two lines down the room, like you would set up to spar. You stagger everyone, and put one person down at the very end, the front. The person walks down the lane, and the first person he comes to steps out and just does any technique. The defender responds by doing a quick one-step combination. This is good for one-steps, or making up your own, or you could switch it up and make it to where the defender has to get them to the ground and tap out, or something self-defense related. 2. This works well with pre-arranged one-steps. As you perform the one-step, you have to say aloud the name of the target that the technique is hitting. This is great for kids, as it makes them work on their focus. I have also noticed that kids memorize and then just 'do' the techniques, so this makes them think about where they are going more. Chime in with anything, and we can all steal ideas from each other!!

You held rank in kickboxing??

Welcome to KF!! P.S.: I am standing behind you!!

You are probably right, Korean styles use the term Gup or Kup.

It is not a bad idea. Just do a nice, easy walk-through of all your material, and then wait until the testing. It is a good idea for pre-tournament as well.

Thank you, ninjanurse. That is very helpful. In our curriculum, we just have the same sets of forms and one-steps for children and adults.

I have done this in the past, but not much lately. As you do your knuckle push-ups, start with your fists vertical, and then as you complete the push-up, rotate on your knuckles to horizontal, like you would the punch as you complete it.

5'9" and 200? I would love to be at 200. I am 5'7", and weigh 245. I get told that I "carry it well," but I don't know if this is just being told nicely that I am fat, or what.