Rick_72

With the child that was having breathing problems, is it a re-occuring problem? Does he have those problems at every class? Could be he suffer's from an asthma, or some other known ailment and has those problems often but works through them. Most schools aren't going to jump into a student that's having a medical problem, if they go sit down for a few minutes, but they have to identify it to an instructor. The question is, after the instructor identified that the child was having problems did they give him the opportunity to sit down or did they tell him to suck it up? And what was his response? First aid training is good for anyone. Its obviously a good idea for anyone teaching a physical activity, especially those physical activities that involve putting your hands on each other in potentially damaging manner. Our instructors don't let our kids do knuckle push-ups, which is a pre-cautionary measure because their bones are still growning. There's no reason to stress kids bodies like that. Our adults aren't forced to do knuckle push-ups, however, most of our instructors do them that way so many of us imitate. As far as over weight instructor's go, well there's not much that can be said about someone that is teaching you something that is supposed to make you more physically fit, if their not in a good state of health themselves. I would say this though, some of your instructors are going to be significantly older than you, and as we get older we tend to gain a few pounds, so be careful judging someone's martial arts ability based off of their outward appearance. Could be those guy's are a lot faster, and more proficient than your giving them credit for. I've had a couple instructors that may look overweight at first glance while their in their gi's, but are also power lifters, so their looks are deceiving. We're all interested in different physical activities, I for one am a runner so I'm obviously going to be thinner than someone who is a weight lifter. Another point on overweight instructors refer's to actual training time. Many times being an instructor of martial arts makes your own training time suffer significantly. You can spend 3-8 hours a day at the dojo training your students, and receiving very little training time of your own. You can't always do the exercise's along with your students, otherwise who would be correcting the students mistakes. If you spent the better part of your day in a gi training your students all day, are you going to hang around the dojo for a couple hours a day training yourself?

I'm still of the mind that the real learning doesn't begin until Shodan. I've had the opportunity to watch the black belts at my school during "black belt only" training, and they really get the opportunity to get into the weeds on bunkai and individual technique, that just doesn't exsist due to time constraints for the beginner to intermediate class's. Sure we all learn kata's, technique's, and basic's throughout our Kyu grades, but we don't really start picking those things apart until we've learned how truely unimportant the belt color we're wearing is to the actual learning process. Of course its nice to achieve new grades, it keeps us motivated to continue, but they really just mean your ready to handle learning more. That being said, I'm scheduled for my Shodan test the middle of next month. I've been training for three and a half years. I normally would have been closer to four years, but I'm being transferred with the military, and my Sensei thinks I'm ready and doesn't want me to leave to go to another school (of the same style) without my Shodan.

I always wanted to get involved when I was a kid, but my parents couldn't afford it. When my two boys started, I figured even at my age I could at least have some fun with it. Its become part of my day. Helps me with fitness, and keeping my mind in the right prospective.

Ok I'm actually coming to terms with a similar dilema right now, actually the opposite. I was a boxer (very amature, mostly just a lot of training) prior to taking up Martial Arts, and I don't think many of the poster's here are really understanding the fundamental differences in boxing vs. TMA. First and foremost, boxing is a sport, TMA is arguably a sport and self defence systems. The conditioning required to be any good at boxing is grueling at best, TMA doesn't require the same level of conditioning (most schools). Someone said boxing has two basic target locations (head and mid torso), and TMA has three (head, torso, and legs). I would argue that TMA has many more target locations than that. In boxing you score points by landing an undeflected or slipped strike to you opponants face, while in TMA you score points for any area on your opponants head (even the back, which will earn you a warning in a boxing ring). In boxing the kidney area is strickly off limits, in many TMA kumite tourny's I've been to that area is open season. This is just to name a few. Due to my previous boxing training, I find myself leaving targets, that I've never trained significantly to protect, wide open, and taking a beating on them. Another problem that I'm working on is tucking my elbows in tight to my body. This is standard boxing 101, just like tucking your chin. The problem with it is that a fighter still gets the wind knocked out of they lungs from side and round kicks, because from their shoulder to their elbow is laying right up against their ribs, and that makes blocking those kicks nearly impossible if your don't see them in time to move out of the way. If your a traditional martial artist, sparring with a boxer, you have to take away the things that he know's. Keep him inside of your stance, quick waist level kicks work well for this, because he wants to be in position to pepper you with a jab, and fire the heavy artillery. If its someone your going to spar with a lot, learn his tells. Keep in mind, and this is something that many have stated, boxers train to get hit (because in boxing your absolutely going to), TMA trains to block or get out of the way, when your fighting a boxer....your going to get hit, protect your chin and your bread basket.

I did the same empty hand, and Kobudo kata's in tournament's for the better part of 4 years. They were both winners, and they never got old, because as I progressed my dynamics got better. Don't try to do a kata that's above your belt level, simply because its above your belt level. Do a kata that you've practiced a lot and feel like you know well. As far as sparring, don't be discouraged if you lose. There are schools/styles out there that keep a white belt on students that have been training for years. Its just the way their style is. Those guys are going to be good, and the only way to deal with them is to revert back to what you've been trained to do, and just execute it. I'm personally very aggressive in sparring. I always press that action. Of course that is sometimes my down fall, because there are those fighters out there that thrive on counter striking. You need a health balance of aggressivness and caution. Try to be aggressive at first, and if that's not working for you, lay back a bit and become a counter striker.

Wanna strengthen your bones? Drink milk!

I personally don't advocate for body conditioning and this is why: What are you conditioning for? Are you deadening the nerve endings, creating calcium deposits over bones, or compressing joints so that you can spar in class once a week or a couple of times a month? Are you doing all this because you want a career in full contact of some sort? Or are you actually conducting conditioning simply to be tougher on the off chance you get into a fight on the street? Conditioning you body to throw a punch or kick on a heavy bag that provides some protection, while wearing heavy bag gloves and wrist wraps is one thing, because your protecting your body from permanant injury or disfigurment, while still conditioning your self for the impact of those strikes. Punching and kicking hard objects to make yourself tougher is a completely different situation. Unless your lifes ambition is to be a professional fighter, and your willing to accept the risks of permanant pain after your career's over, then all your doing by banging bone and soft tissue against hard objects is setting yourself up for artheritis, bone spurs, broken bones with permanantly sore calcium deposits over top of them, painful joints (that may or may not tell you that its going to rain), etc. later in life. I would say use the safety of a padded bag, and just bang it harder and harder as your get stronger. I plan on a career in martial arts after I retire from my military career, and I want to be the best martial artist that I can be so I'm confident that I'm passing on the best education to my students, but my wife still want me to be able to move my hands when that retirement comes.

However, grappling affords greater ability to control another's limbs. When striking with an opponent, you are just as likely to receive as you are to give. Absolutely....just wanted to stress that on the ground you really have to understand in your mind that your going to get hit, even if you don't, the likelyhood is greater that your going to take some strikes at that close range.

Bo is king of the tournament. I think mostly because its still pretty practical, and its not hard to make look very powerful. Most of the other weapons really take some skill to make them look like you could actually hurt your oponent with them (obviously their all very dangerous, but take different skill levels to actually wield correctly).

I always find it hard to follow kata from pictures, because I don't get to see the transitions, and turns very well. We have a Bojutsu kata that we do, but its just a combination of Bo Shodan, and Bo Nidan. Bo Nidan coming first, than transitioning into Bo Shodan. The kias are in the same place as they are with the individual katas in that one.

One more thing on ground fighting in the street....going to the ground in a real fight is a lot like a knife fight, your probably going to take some hits. With stand up, there's many ways to avoid being hit altogether, and end the fight with your own strikes.

We have a very regimented schedule. Monday- Kata, Tuesday- Sparring, Wednsday- Self defense/Tuite, Thursday- Kobudo. Everyone likes that they know what they'll be working on when they get to class. It helps all the students know what equipment to bring to class with them, instead of having to haul everything around in their car with them all the time, just in case. For warmup's our beginner's do 25 basic's, it takes about 12-15 minutes. Blocks and arm strikes are done while moving, for cardio warm up. Kicks are done from front stance, open leg stance, and feet together depending on the kick. Beginner's only have class's on Monday, and Wednsday so the work out is pretty intense, and fast so they can get into the cirriculum right away. Our intermediate students warmup with Kihon Go. It takes about 10-12 minutes, depending on how fast the instructor wants to go. It warms up cardio, while doing most of the same things the beginner's do, with the exception of the standing kicks. Many of the intermediate students also attend the basic class's on Monday and Tuesday as well. Our advanced students all for the most part have already gotten their warm up from attending one or both of the previous, beginner and intermediate, classes, so we don't do warm up, we just jump right into that night's cirriculum.

For sparring just like many have already said, get in close. Wait until they kick or throw a punch, avoid it, and step into them effectively jamming them up. Guys will long legs usually also have long arms, which makes them just as difficult to throw strikes (slow) on the inside as it is for them to throw kicks. I tend to disagree with the immediate thought to take them to the ground though. While shorter, more compact fighters do have some advantages on the ground because of their lower center of gravity, a big guy with any knowledge of fighting on the ground will use leverage against that low center of gravity. Also, someone that is significantly taller than you is going to make your "guard" much less effective because they can still reach your head, if you find yourself on your back. On the street most fights involve flurries of head punches, sometimes uncontrolled. Most people know this, and are expecting you to swing for their face in a fight. That's why those knee/groin kicks that many have talked about are so effective against a taller opponent, they just aren't expecting someone to open up by taking their legs out from under them, or dislocating their knee.

How so? If a stance is one leg forward, then any time you have one leg forward, you're in a stance.... I don't understand your statement When you fight, you probably assume a "fighting stance" if you know that conflict is emminent. However, you normally would not assume a cat stance, a horse stance, or a front stance to fight from. You may move into a similar stance to these while performing certain moves, but you will then go back to your natural stance when the transition is completed. I generally assume a front stance, but it is such a short and undemonstrative stance that you could be forgiven for not recognising it as such. But it affords me both defensive and offensive potential and the aggressor will generally perceive that and back down. Mike I guess that's the beauty of Shorin Ryu, we fight, and do kata from pretty natural stances. While we do practice some of the more traditional stances (horse, cat, sanchin dachi, etc., etc.), most of our fighting stances are not too long, natural as if you were just standing there and stepped forward slightly, not unlike a boxer.

My Sai's are under my back seat in my truck. I can't imagine getting in any trouble for having them, as their not sharp. But I could imagine some strange looks if I was walking around with a katana strapped to my waist (*see Highlander the movie haha).

As far as kata goes, empty hand as well as Kobudo, you need to practice in a busy area. During tournaments there's a lot going on all around you. Several rings going at once, crowd noise, applause for other rings, and many people staring at you. The trick is to be completely focused on what your doing. Paying no attention to any of the other distractions, and/or the judges. You really need to be in an almost perfect state of meditation ("in the zone") to really demonstrate your knowledge of a kata to the judges. Try practicing with 3 or 4 other people sitting in front of you as "judges", then have them critique you like crazy after you do your demo. It will help you in the long run, working the nerves out. As far as tournament fighting goes, just understand that you need to practice for purely tournament type fighting, because its a lot different from training for a real fight. Tournament kumite is very challenging, don't allow the fact that its controlled strikes for a single point on every break lull you into thinking its easy. Your technique's have to be controlled to the point that your not rendering your opponent unconscious or hurting them, but they have to be fast enough to make it thru their blocks. There are a lot of technique's that work in point sparring, that I would never even consider trying in a real fight, and visa versa. Practice throwing a scoring technique as soon as the judge say's "fight". This can be done on a heavy bag, you just need someone to stand there and say "fight". This will help you determine your faster technique's.

You said yourself that your kata is far from perfect, so instead of worrying about the dynamics (doing it to count) of the kata, work on the individual techniques. In other words, since the class your participating it is obviously moving too slow for you skill level, embrace the fact that you have the chance to really concentrate on each movement in the kata. Still utilize full power in your movements, but analyze each technique to perfect them. This way, when you are moving on in rank, and have the opportunity to then conduct this kata without count, you can worry more about the dynamics and less about the individual technique's because you will have better muscle memory for the technique's.

If you can't feel the pressure of a slow developing arm bar before something gets injured, well more power to you, but I certainly feel the pressure being applied, and when I'm ground fighting (training) there's plenty of adrenaline flowing. Back to what someone else said here though....if I get into a fight with someone its because there was no way out of it, and they were the aggressor....they can tap till their hand goes numb, if I lock an armbar on them their arm is getting broken, because its happening fast and I'm not trying to submit them, I'm trying to end the fight.

The beauty of restrainting someone is that by applying a good technique and putting them into the ground (notice I said "into", not "on" ) is that you can inflict just as much pain with a non compliant attacker as you could with strikes, sometimes more. Not that I enjoy hurting people, however, I sympathize with law enforcement personnel and their ability to counter a combative suspect and what the law will allow them to do.

I really don't think you need to be a martial artist, mma fighter, or a medical docter to realize that the pain your feeling from a correctly applied armbar is because something is about to tear or break in your arm. Most joint locks work because they force compliance due to pain or the inability of the person their applied to to counter them, which denies them freedom of movement. In short, they end an attack because the person attacking you is no longer able to continue their offensive action. The problem with joint locks/manipulations in a street fight is most of them require more than one of your appendages to apply, leaving you open to all sorts of seperate attacks from other individuals. Of course if your a bouncer/security personnel (which I think a couple of the guys in this conversation are) you usually outnumber the attacker and don't normally have to worry as much about multiple attackers as a guy walking down the street does, so joint manipulations are great for you to end a situation and boot the offending party out of your club/bar. I'm personally very leary about applying anything to an attacker that requires both of my hands to hold on with, or forces me to remain in a certain position/direction. Although if you see a subsequent attack approaching you can always put the guy your manipulating in between you and the second attacker, but that of course depends on your level of awareness of the impending situation which we don't always have.

You know, its really fun to learn the other weapons, but I really love the bo. I think its the only Kobudo weapon that I could really use in today's day in age in a real situation, because you can turn so many different everyday items into a bo. Plus I like the reach advantage over my opponent.

Mainland Japan, or Okinawa?

I'm not very knowledgable about Isshin Ryu, what I do know of it is all favorable. From that read Grandmaster Armstrong seems like a man after my own heart.....however, I'm a little biased being a Marine myself.....so I hope he's doing well.

Honestly, I always thought it the other way around, because I find many technique's in Kobubo, that when taking the weapon out of your hand translate almost perfectly into empty hand techniques. But I guess the argument holds some water, because if you think about it, who would want to fight a Samurai with nothing in your hands to block/parry his sword with (when considering the age and purpose of the creation of Karate/Kobudo).

You get back what you put into Karate, or any physical activity for that matter. If you walk in with an open mind, and a willingness to learn, you will undoubtedly benefit from any Martial Art you choose. If you find yourself in a good school, and you'll be able to tell within weeks if the school you choose can be labeled as good, you'll gain self confidence, a stronger will, and a desire to achieve. Once again though, you get back what you put in. You have to work hard to achieve anything in Martial Arts, and with that hard work that you put in helps build your confidence and will. Good luck in you search.