savedbygrace

This is where I think we have to be careful when it comes to bunkai, and self-defense training in general. If you get overloaded with solutions, then you can get trapped into trying to think of which one you should do, whereas if you know fewer, and can apply them to different moves across the board, it can serve you better, because they will be easier to recall. I agree 100%

We are required to wear a gi top and pants and thats what I wear but if I could decide I would wear shorts and a t-shirt. I dont mean that disrespectful, but I have an short odd shaped body.... My butt and thighs are kinda big so my gi pants fit me very snug (even the large sizes) and its very hard to kick effectively due to the restriction they give me, but I manage to do ok....but if I did have my choice I would LOVE to train in a pair of under armor shorts, I feel like I get so much more range of motion in them, but its probably just a mind thing..

My instructor is very big into bunkai. On our tests we have to give the bunkai for certain moves in our katas. You never know what area of the kata you will asked about, so we have to know the bunkai for all the moves. Its alot to remember sometimes, esp. with certain moves possible being a solution for different situations but Im glad he teaches us to understand that aspect of it. I have learned a great deal from it.

It sounds like you've hit your first plateau. This is normal and is not unlike how you might have felt in your spiritual life when you had your first major trials and tribulations after the excitement of being a new Christian. Just as a baby Christian is often very excited about his or her new found faith in Jesus and all the positive life-changes that come along with that, a new martial arts student often is excited about all the mental and physical results that come from that initial short time of training. You will hit a time here where the going gets tough and you will want to just give up because you think you aren't any good and that you can't get any better. This too shall pass. I know exactly what you're going through. There is a breakthrough at the end of the tunnel you're in, I promise. Thank you all for your encouragement. And yes my friend you are correct. I guess its ironic how I also feel that Ive hit a low point in my Christian walk as well. Funny how you saw that. But thank you very much for your thoughts. I covet your prayers that, with the Lord's help, He will pull me through this low point I am in not only in my trainging but in my spiritual walk as well.

I possible should have put this somewhere else...but its kinda related to training, so I'll try it here. I was just curious if anyone else feels this way. Now, I know I'm weird.. ..but I didnt know if I was the only one that felt this way. I love to train...stretching, kicking, punching, sweating, getting the ole ticker to pounding hard...I love it BUT I HATE my limitaions...I want SO BAD to be able to kick higher and faster and my progress is just not coming fast enough for me. Grant it, I know Im 30 years old and the last strenous working out and stretching I last done was in high school... ...but I guess Im just impatient....Its kinda like a catch 22...I will pray for the Lord to give me more patience, but I'll pray wanting it right THEN.... ..anyway doeas anyone else ever feel this way? I've been training for almost a year and I can see GREAT improvements from a year ago, but I want to keep going and get better, mainly with my stretching ability but it just isnt coming fast enough.....Thanks for the input.

Thank ya'll for your comments. The next closest facility is around 1 hour away. I unfortunatlly got divorced about 4 months ago...and I have joint custody of my 3 yr old son, so my time is spent in several different directions but Im gonna see what I can do....Thanks again.

This is probably gonna be kinda lengthy so please forgive me. I have my green belt at this time and competed in my first open tourny 2 weekends ago. I think it went well and I think I did ok. I competed against 5 other guys, all of them were higher ranking than me and they were all MUCH bigger than me. I am 30 years old, 5'7" around 200lbs. The smallest guy that I competed against was 6'3" and around 180lbs. I think the hardest part I delt with at the tourny was that in my class that I practice at, its myself and about 4-5 other teenagers (13-15 years old) that take with me so I'm use to being the bigger, stronger, faster person. Dont get me wrong the teens I take with are good but Im just more developed physically than they are. My instructor is having alot of problems with his kness which prohibits him from fighting with me so I spar against the kids in the class. Our reach is all about the same or either mine is longer. In the tourny, it was very difficult in fighting someone new with such a LONG reach that I wasnt use to, but I came out 3rd in kata and 3rd in fighting, so I guess I did ok. I also went to a school this past weekend that was having an open house. The instructor at that school and my instructor are very good friends and we like to support each other. We did a little fighting and it was myself and 5-6 other guys and they were all in there 30's and they all had their black belts and were VERY good in fighting. I got a real eye opener with fighting these guys (and got my butt kicked a little.. ), but I also gained ALOT of experience and they showed me alot of new techniques and I also realize how much work I need to do but I do wish I had someone that was taller and stronger than me to practice kumite with....but I'll do the best I can. I guess theres really no point in my ranting...only wanted to share... I would like to train more at the class I went to but its over 2 hours in driving and with my work schedule theres not way to do it frequently......

Ok...I hate you.... ...j/k..Man that exercises HURTS.....but its a good hurt. I guess I never really thought about doing to raising and lowering but I definietly got a different type "burn" when I done them. thanks alot for the tip my firend.....

Ok...I'm gonna try to explain this without confusing everybody with my stupidity. I have been doing exercises as directed by Bushido Man on building strength in my leg muscles. The exercises are when you , say for instance, chamber your leg in a side kick and hold it for 5 sec. then slowly extend in out and hold for 5 sec. then bring it back in slowly and rechamber and repeat. Each time you extend your leg out try to extend it higher. When I do these exercises I can only raise my leg, when extended, to a little higher than 90 degrees. Here's the beginning of my question. I have a pretty high book shelf at home that I can place my foot on and stretch out my leg. The height of it is above 90 degrees. Unfortuantlly I cannot achieve this height when I'm doing the extension exercises, but when stretching I can squirm and get my foot onto the shelf to stretch. I can slowly bring my foot off of the shelf and hold it there in that position, but like I said the hard part is getting it that high (I can only get it that high by first putting my foot on the shelf then bring it off of it). Would it be just as effective if I done the exercisethat way, by first just getting my foot on the shelf the slowly sliding it off and holding it in that position like its done in the exercise? Would I be strenghtening muscles that normally would not be by doing it the "regular" way? I apologize for this being so long and probably confusing ya'll but I'm not good at explaining things. Thanks for any help or comments.

I tried those....man those do work. Thank you very much...I didnt think about those...

My lower abs are really weak and I want to try to work on them. I do exercises at home, but I was wondering if there was anything (exercises) maybe someone could recommend that I could do while at work. I dont have anywhere to lie down, so if anyone knows anything I can try standing or sitting please let me know. Thanks.

Yea, I've seen it done several times before by different people in the past but I never knew if it was a "good" technique. You brought up a good point of why I like it so much.....it stretches the side kick positions which in my flexability is where I'm really weak. This method even seems to stretch me out better than doing side and front splits. Thanks for ya'lls comments.

I know that with any stretching technique the same principles of not pushing the stretch comes into effect. But what I was curious about was doing stretches this way (mainly for the hams and groin).......Say you hang a pully from the ceiling or a beam and run a piece of rope through the pully. On one end you can make a loop and put your foot through the loop and pull the rope with your hands. This will pull your leg up and stretch whatever area you want. Is this a good way of stretching or not? Thanks.

I second that notion...playoff system needed BADLY.......

I would like to give congrats to Florida and all of their fans. I am a die hard Alabama fan (and yes I know we had a crappy season), but I did pull for Florida mainly due to it being an SEC team. I got sick and tired of hearing all the sports media saying how Florida should not have been there and that Michigan should have been. I even heard a few sportscasters say how the "SEC" team could not match up to the "BIG 10" team. I just got sick of hearing it. You can look at it anyway you want, make any excuses you want. Florida is the better team and TOTALLY dominated that game. If my stats are correct..Ohio averaged over 400 all purpose yards per game this season and they were held to under 100 for this game (if my stats are correct, if not please forgive and correct me)....that is total domination IMO. Chris Leak picked the zone defense apart..and that was all she wrote. BIG BIG congrats to Florida, you guys deserve it........

The way we perform it, and this may or may not be the same thing pete is talken about. Say for instance you are in a right side fighting stance (right foot is facing opponent).....you take your left foot "cross" it behind the right foot making an "X", then performing a back kick with your right leg. That make sense?....Thats how we do it anyway......

thank you. I looked for it but couldnt find it.

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate...and a very safe and happy new year. You guys and gals please be careful over the holidays. From working 8 years in the emergency room New Years eve and day are very high risk times of the year that many families lose loved ones to drunk driving/drivers and things like that. Everybody please be safe and careful.

I did a search for this but couldn't find anything. Not in your dojo, but when your at home or in the gym by yourself, do you listen to music when you train? If this has been asked before please forgive me.

Again, thank you all for your responses. I wish some of ya'll lived in Alabama, I think alot of you guys and gals would be great training partners...

Thank you all for your comments. I'll try to answer some of the questions. There are 2 other black belts in our class that sometimes teach and help. They are both very proficient, perform excellent katas, and are very good fighters, so that makes me feel good. I know of 3 other people that received their black belt while under my instructor, but they have all moved off. The 3 I know are very good....katas, fighting, ect. The only organization that we are under is the Mississippi karate association. When we have tests, my instructor invites other black belts (usually 3rd degrees and up) from around our area to help judge. He told me that there will probably be 4-5 different instructors there (including himself) as judges whenever the time comes to test for brown and black. Anyway, I guess my confidence is just not up to par but I hope it will grow with time. I dont want to get "cocky" just confident.

Again, that makes alot of sense. Thank you, and thank you all for your replies.

Thank you Sohan, that means alot coming from you. I guess what confused me the most that I have heard (not just on here but from different places) that you need at least "X" amount of years training to test for your black belt. Most of the "X" have been 3 or more years, so I had that on my mind. The other thing was that I trust my instructor and I know without a dought he is not in it for the money (I mean classes are only 25 a month and tests are only 10), so I should fully trust his judgement, but then there are the majority of the opinions that contridict that....but what you said made very much sense. Thank you.

This type of question is probably gonna get old, but I would really like to hear ya'lls opinions. First off I really enjoy class and my instructor. We only have class once a week and it lasts around 2-2 1/2 hours. During the summer we will sometimes go to 2 days a week. May of 07'will put me at a year of learning. We work very very hard in class and I work hard at home. My instructor has a full time job and teaching karate is more of a second job. He is a 5th degree black belt and he is a very knowledgeable instructor. Our style is Shotokan. After speaking with him, just him and myself, he feels that if things dont change and I continue to work hard, I could possible test for my black belt in 2 years. Now I know that the color of the belt is just the color and doesn't always determine how good you are, but its still a black belt. I guess I dont have alot of confidence in myself, and dont see myself being able to test for my black belt in 2 years. I know that if I tell him that he will respect that and allow me stay where I'm at, but that also makes me wonder how much I should question him, and if I just really dont have alot of confidence. Our system of rank is white, yellow, blue, green, purple, brown, black. Classes are $25 per month and grading tests are only the cost of the new belt if you pass, which is $10, so I know he is not out for money, but I still question myself. Also we have no contracts to sign and currently we are only running about 2-6 people per class. I live in a very small town.. I guess I really dont have a particular question, I am just needing to vent about my situation and wondering ya'lls opinions. Thanks.

Thank you all for your replies.