joe divola

Thanks for the advise. As far as half ranks, there are half ranks between every rank. So if I am 3rd kyu and test a half rank I would be 2b. It would take another half to be a 2 kyu or full brown with one stripe. I guess it is a way to give some type of progress instead of just failing people and making them retest the same thing later. It's not my instructor that does the testing but a senior instructor. It doesn't seem like he is telling my instructor what it is that I am doing wrong. I get the same thing after my test, the same generic response to what I am doing wrong. Just seems like there is more but maybe I am reading into it too much. I am going to try to attend classes with the senior instructor once a month. He teaches in a town that is an hour away so its hard to do regularly but maybe if I go every once in a while he will notice and maybe help me out a little during the classes.

I am currently a brown belt in Shotokan. Testing seems to be going slow lately. It took me a year and a half to get to brown testing full ranks all the way through. Then comes brown and half ranks is what I have been getting lately. 4 half ranks in the last few tests. Not a problem except that I'm getting no feedback after I test. I also find myself getting tired of the training. 4 or five days a week for the last year or so. I recently took a break to do some other stuff like running swimming and got back into the gym. I am going to try two days a week karate and supplement the other stuff more into my routine as I have got away from that the last year. Any suggestions would be helpfull.