capn_midnight

another thing you can do is just jump around a lot. Not with your whole leg, just a small little hop from the balls of your feet. This actually has two effects. first, it gets you used to staying on the balls of your feet and being able to move around quickly. Secondly, it developes your calf muscles really well, which will eventually look awesome when you wear shorts. Hehe, seriously though, it will make you jump higher and move faster to have stronger calf muscles. If you ever watch basketball, you will notice the players have HUGE calf muscles.

are they only doing Noh? what about the kabuki and banruki? we had a multi-culti day at work last week. They had a koto quartet playing in the lobby. It was cool.

If you do a search on these boards, you will certainly find tons of posts that have already covered this very topic. That way, you don't have to wait for other people to reply to your post.

I think a bag workout is best for developing stamina, not power. To develope power, focus on technique, flexibility, and muscle training. Certainly you can test it out on a bag, but I don't think the act of kicking and punching a bag is an efficient means of developing power. But stamina, yes... Of course, stamina is very important to power. With out it, you may be able to throw a few hard shots in the beginning of a fight, but afterwords you are dead for sure. Classic rope-a-dope, with you being the dope.

something that has always helped my breathing is "power katas" or "resistance katas". The basic process is to make each move as hard on yourself as possible. Your are contracting every muscle in your arm or leg together, so that opposite muscle groups counter each others movement. The point is, the technique is so physically tiring, and so long, that you HAVE to breathe, or you WILL pass out. Also, you have so much time between each move it kind of hard to forget to breathe. I also use the opposite technique, where you relax as much as possible, and perform each move as slowly and softly as possible. This actually quite relaxing (I suppose it's similar in mind to Tai Chi, I don't know, I have no knowledge of Tai Chi), and excellent for balance. I think your main problem might be anxiety. You are starting to believe that this problem will negatively effect your performance, which makes you anxious and prone to not breathing. To quote Fat Bastard from Austin Powers, "It's a vicious cycle". Perhaps, you are beginning to think that after 10 years, you need to exhibit more speed and power in your kata, to show improvement and advancement, and thereby are performing TOO fast and hard.

My Instructor always told me "Learning begins at black belt". Then, when I got to black belt, he told me "There is nothing more to learn". Then he told me "You can keep working here, but I'm not going to pay you anymore". Actually, he never said that, but it happened. I think after black belt, you should learn how to objectively judge people, especially your own teacher. I've learned in the past few months that my instructor is a total jerk (and not because he stopped paying me, I've been thinking this for a while). But anyway, my problems are not important to you. The most important thing I ever learned was the process of learning. Before this, I had to be taught everything. After, I could teach myself everything. This isn't something that Karate taught me, actually, my mother taught me. It's taken a couple decades to figure it out properly, but I think I've got it. I've taught myself Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, (Calculus I needed help with, hadn't formulized my process for learning yet), Physics, German, Computer Programming, and within the last year and a half, Martial Arts (that was about the time my Instructor gave up and left me to fend for myself. I'm sure he doesn't think of it that way, but he certainly hasn't taught me anything in atleast that long. Oh wait, he taught me not to be blind towards my superiors, that everyone is deserving of scrutiny at some point. All the important things you can teach yourself. Sure, you will need a partner or 10 to help you practice (9 extra incase your control is bad). And until you formualize your process for learning, you will need an instructor to tell you what to do. But once you learn how to learn, you no longer need an instructor. You will be beyond the need of an instructor, and will advance much faster on your own 2 feet.

I just love these essay posts.

I'm a black belt, and that seems to rarely impress anyone. I have a good physique, and I'm really nice, but when women find out I study martial arts, more often than not they're like "Oh, I did that when I was 12. I got to green belt." and so obviously unimpressed. Another thing that confuses me is the number of people that insult me when I wear something that has the name of my karate school on it. In big letters, it'll say "****** Karate Studio" and they have the nerve to push me around, and act supprised when I don't let them. I guess people aren't as observant as I am.

I think it's more about dedication, not what belt you are. I know a lot of blue belts that are dedicated, and know more than black belts that aren't dedicated. The line about "Learning Begins at black belt" is stupid, IMO. I think more accuratly it should be "At black belt, you learn on your own"

From what I've heard and seen, Israeli Krav Maga is extremely effective. Originally developed by the Israeli Army for use in combat, it focuses on disarming opponents with weapons, and efficiently dispatching them afterwords. Another incredibly brutal and effective art is Russian Combat Sambo. Focuses on attacking joints with powerful strikes and locks, intending to kill or severly injure an opponent in a minimal amount of time. If you are worried you would face a lawsuit after destroying a would-be-mugger, you could study CDT (Control Defense Takedown), used a lot by police. It focuses on using leverage and joint locks to hold an opponent, cause him pain, but not damage him (or her, as the case may be). Finally, from what I understand of the concepts of Jeet Kun Do (which is only a bare minimum, maybe someone could elaborate), it's focus is "Whatever works best". JKD will take moves from any style to put them together in a package that more closely suits your needs. Krav Maga and Sambo are hard to find. JKD should be easier to find, based on the popularity of it's founder, Bruce Lee. CDT should be very easy to find, since most Police are trained in it these days.

I like to look at the example of Muay Tai kick boxing. These guys have some of the most powerful kicks, and they block them solidly with their shins, which doesn't have any muscle on top of it. Yet, their shin bones don't break (most of the time. When they do, it's from stress fractures from repeated abuse). These same shin kicks are used to break baseball bats. So, using wood to train us to break bones is rediculous, in my opinion. About the baseball bat break. I broke my first bat at age 8. I hit a baseball along with the grain of the bat. Bats are very week with the grain, but very strong against the grain. The baseball bat break is always with the grain, and is only impressive to people who don't play baseball and people who haven't studied physics.

Speaking from my experiences, which is all anyone knows for certain, when we go to tournaments we sweep kata (pure technique). We do no breaking, and many of the schools in the competition do break. We have a sister school that doesn't break either, and they train world class fighters. So, we have excellent kata technique, they have excellent sparring technique, and neither of us break. (as a side note, my school also has excellent sparrers, they just don't compete as much)

My guess:who opened their lunch=who farted? I would guess it comes from the love of vegemite in australia, which I have been told has a pungent odor. So, if someone were to have a vegemite sandwich for lunch, and they opened it in a crowded area, people would wonder what the smell was.

My school doesn't teach breaking, but I was fortunate to try it once. One of our students had a science experiment comparing the abilities of different types of people (kids, adults, beginners, advanced) to break the board. We had 5 boards, and we only got one chance at them. I broke 4. that makes 80%, on my first try, ie. my technique had not been refined yet. I don't remember what the board was, but I remember he mentioned it was a little thick for beginners. The only one to break all 5 was a cocky black belt that figured he would power his way through the boards. He ended up bruising his hand, I did not, and only missed 1 board (incidentally my first, and it hurt the most). If breaking is about refining technique, then I shoudn't have done too well, because my technique sucked at that time.

http://street-fighter.hypermart.net/images/screenshots/MvC2_04.jpg yeah...this is me at my last tournament. As you can see, I have just beaten my final challenger 12 points to none. They all laughed at me when I told them I would show them my ki powers...who is laughing now? hahahaha! Oh, yeah, and this is my army: http://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gif http://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gif http://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gif http://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gif http://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gif http://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gifhttp://ark.ship.edu/~sm8236/knight.gif[/img]

Combat Flight Simulator 3! IF my connection was fast enough. Barring that, Age Of Mythology!

I've broken before, and must say that while it was sastisfying, I don't see it as being very useful. For anyone other than a master, it is pretty much useless, you aren't going to use this technique on any real person, you won't ever have the chance. Like someone is just going to stand w/ their arm hanging out, waiting for you to break it? Sure, I've seen the guys on TV that take no warm up time, just go as fast as they can through their set, but these guys are the grand masters of their field, we could never hope to be like them. Give me sparring any day, and not this Olympic Point sparring either.

it depends on the student. I think kids need the praise-correct-praise, but it must be done properly. Class for kids is all about excitement. If a kid is excited about doing well, they will try that much harder to try well. For adults, I don't think it works quite as well, maybe give a praise-correct only. Adults know when they aren't doing well, or atleast you would think they would. Adults, i think, are generally more serious about their training, so would appreciate the constructive critisism more. All I know is my experience. Our school uses no negative criticism whatsoever, only the praise-correct-praise. We have a sister school that does nothing but negative criticism. When it comes to tournaments, we own them. We have about twice as many students. Our facilites are about 3 times as large. All told, we are much more succesful than they are, which leads me to believe we are doing something right.

I think many people forget that some schools have more classes per week that others. I know some schools that only have 1 class a week. At our school we have 2 classes a week, and if you're an elite student, 3 classes a week. So when people start comparing years of training, 5 years of 1 class a week is just about equal to 2.5 years of 2 classes a week. For me, I get a lot of training in one week. I have class on monday, wednesday, and friday. Also, on tuesday and thursday I teach a class and fight with the students. So, I atleast spar every weeknight. I also practice kata every night. I'm a very fast learner, so it doesn't take me as long to learn proper technique as it does for some people. I've only been "hurt" (enough to stop training) once. So, I haven't had as much down time as my Dad has, who has arthritis in his feet and has had to quit until further notice. (Monkeygirl and my mention of arthritis is not coincidental. She is my sister.) When people hear that I will test for my black belt before completing 3 years, they think that I haven't had very good training. The truth is, I've had a lot of training, just over a short period of time.

dude it takes about 2 days by priority mail to get a black belt. check out AWMA. But seriously, the goal is not the belt, the goal is the training, the belt is the measure. Too many people get to black belt and quit. People think black belt is the end, it's just the beginning. So forget about how long it takes to get to black belt. If you are a serious practitioner the time to your black belt will be insignificant compared to the rest of your career.

our schools owner always talks about how long it took him to get his school on its feet (about 7 years). Even now, he still has another full time job to support his young family. For a small town dojo, we have a lot of students (I think 130). It's hard to keep a school going, not only because you have to compete against the big schools with huge marketing budgets, but you also have to compete with your other responsibilities (bills, family, food). Some ideas: Buddy Sponsorship Program. Current students sponsor a friend to join. The friend takes classs for a month free. The idea is a) if they like it they will pay for their training b) if they don't like it, they won't finish out the month. Sometimes our school has done 2 weeks free, but that's only 4 lessons and I don't think that's enough to hook someone. Demonstrations and discount coupons. You form a demonstration team of your top 6-10 elite students (even numbers are better). You set up martial arts demonstration at local special events (fairs, parades, kung-fu-flick debutes) and hand out coupons afterward. Tournaments. Tournaments can give you a HUGE influx of cash, if you do it right. You have to make sure you don't spend too much on trophies or on the venue. With a tournament you are pulling martial artists from just about everywhere. Try http://www.karatetournaments.com. Join NAPMA (National Association of Professional Martial Artists, http://www.napma.com). They have all kinds of support programs, marketing ideas, training seminars. Do you require your students to buy all their gear from you? You have a legal right to do so, you have to ensure the integrity of the gear in order to make sure all the students are fully protected. try http://www.centuryma.com for Century Martial Arts Supply and NAPMA for Ikon Gear. For top-of-the-line gear (and top-of-the-line prices) try http://www.tigear.com. Sleepovers and birthday parties. For some reason, kids love to come to sleep overs at the dojo. Karate Boot Camps. About a months worth of traing squeezed into one week (extra classes). At the end of the program, the student will have an extra test on top of your normal testing schedule (promotion is the incentive). We usually charge about $75 a student. You can also snag new students by having a beginners boot camp and tying that into your buddy sponsorship program. ...and i'm spent...

Come on, you can't tell me that noone had trouble with Choong-Ji. EVERYONE has trouble with Choong-Ji when first learning it. I don't know anyone that has learned it perfectly in the first month. The problem is it's your first kata. Kata is a brand new concept for the beginner, they have to adapt. As you progress, you get to watch the upper rank katas, so you can sortof remember certain parts of them. My sister can actually learn an entire kata just by watching it in class for a month, never even trying it. She learned one kata in a weekend. On a side note, don't worry about how long it takes you to learn a kata. Be conserned with how WELL you know the kata, and what is the purpose for each move. Too many times I see people that only know the kata by repetion of copying someone elses moves and having no clue what they were doing. I would ask them, "what is that block you just did" and they reply "I don't know, that's just how I was taught to do it" and they get it wrong.

This happens all the time in big universities, especially places like Harvard and Stanford. While the professor is completing some research to keep his or her tenure, a student called a Teachers Aid (often just TA) will teach class. Many times this isn't even the most gifted student, it's whoever kissed butt the best. Back to the subject. If the Chief Instructor has made the decision that someone is ready to teach regardless of their rank, EVERYONE should respect that decision. If you cannot respect someone just because they are younger than you, you have problems. Respect is something that has to be earned, but you cannot ever show disrespect. I use the "Innocent until proven guilty rule." If you have been placed in a position of power over me by someone I respect, then I will repsect you until you give me a reason otherwise. Age is not reason enough, age alone tells nothing of a person. A true martial artist will use every experience as a learning experience. "A black belts does not an instructor make." My chief instructor has often remarked how he could take some one for six months of solid training and teach them everything they need to know to be a black belt, but he cannot teach someone to be an instructor. Instructing is not about skill, it's not about age. It's about leadership, it's about maturity. I have always been a leader and a teacher, and my instructor saw that in me. When he promoted me to the leadership team, I wasn't the best technically, but he could see that I could teach. Another note on being "not able to learn from someone who is still learning themselves." Do you think your chief instructor is done learning? Once you hit black belt, your training isn't done, it's just beginning. Everything before black belt was just gaining the tools.