DancingSteve

June 9th and 10th is the AAKF/ITKF US National Championships. Competitors have already been seeded from regional competitions therefore you will only be seeing the best competitors from around the country. Eliminations begin at 1pm on Saturday at the UTD Activities Center and Finals (including opening ceremony and I'm sure some words from H. Nishiyama) will be on Sunday. Wait..heres the best part!! No cost to watch. Donations will be graciously accepted to help cover the costs of the gym etc, but there is no spectator fee. So if your in the area. Do come out...Competition will include Kata, Kumite, Team Kumite, Team Kata, Fuku-go, Ko-go, and En-bu. Check the link for more info. http://www.dallas.net/~jka/events/nationals/nationals.html

What is everyone's thoughts on these franchise curriculums. I have instructed Shotokan before on my own, I have also formulated my own kid-centered self-defense program based around Shotokan. I wonder if these franchise programs would teach me any more than I already know about formulating the curriculum and delivering it to the people that I need to. Or are they mostly teaching you how to market, and advertise your specific curriculum to whom you want to. Anyone that has bought into these things out there? I'd love some insight.

We only had half the gym. On the other side was some crazy russian lady coaching some half-terrified pre-teen girls in rhythmic gymnastics. Im not kidding..one time I looked around the curtain and saw this little girl stretched over two mats..one leg on each in forward splits. And the lady was pushing her body downward to make her hips drop below her legs. The little girl was on the verge of tears. I can't make this stuff up..it was kind of disturbing. Especially since I just put my son in gymnastics this year. But yeah...we were all joking around about the music too. Nationals is June 9th and 10th at University of Texas @ Dallas, Saturday and Sunday. Im competing in Kata only, so I'll have some more video. If anyone is in the Dallas area, it would be worth coming to watch. No spectator fee!

Sounds like its more of a mental thing. YOU----^Hell^--------Your Opponent----^Heaven^ You have to go through Hell to get to Heaven. So just set your mind to it, and go.

I think there is also the inherent danger of being taught these techniques by someone who doesn't fully grasp them to begin with. Dynamic tension is supposed to mimic the bodies focusing action when sped up to full speed. I practice my katas very slow with extreme dynamic tension but realistically my muscles are only fully contracted at the very end of the technique. Where the focus point is. Up until then it is contracting slowly and steadily towards that end point. If someone who doesnt fully grasp this technique and is simply making a lot of 'throat noises' and flexing their arm/leg muscles to show contraction. Then your training can quickly become a detriment to your body and your progress in your martial art.

I've never seen a corner judge move in my days. I have competed in WKF (or old school WUKO) tourneys where there were two judges in the ring with you, facing one another and keeping the combatants in between them. But in my experience ITKF judges have always been seated. The trouble doesn't really lie in not being able to move. Because if Judge A --top left corner--cant see it...then Judge B, bottom left corner should be able to. I've judged before..and I've taken the seminars for judging...and it takes a long time to really be confident with what your calling. It also takes a very (for lack of a better term) 'big eye' vision of the fight. You can't be waiting for that gyaku zuki, or sweep, or what have you. You cant see into the mind of the fighter so you have to simply react to their techniques when you see anything that scores. TOo many times judges get used to seeing one or two techniques that score...and they look for those. If they dont see them. They dont throw the flag. 10 years ago when I competed a lot, backfist was a big technique to catch people off guard and if you did it right...BAM it was right there. I was told after this tournament that it most likely wouldnt score and I should replace it with a jab. *shrug* We shall see. I should have some more videos next month of Nationals.

In ITKF competion they stop the fight when theres a point scored, or there MIGHT be a point scored. If you watch again. The center ref will hold his hand out to either side if he sees something that could be a point. Then he'll look to the flags(corner judges) for support. He held his hand out towards me about 4 times, but got no love from the corners so he waved them off for things like, timing, stance, distance, etc. Watch again and see how many times he has his hand towards me, facing up signifying I 'got' the opponent with a technique.

Plain and Simple. Any tournament anywhere. Do your BEST kata first. If you want to do Nidan for the difficulty level, then practice it until its as good as Shodan.

Thank you all. Heres the vid of my fight. I drew a bye in the first round, so I made it direct to the second round of fights. Lost my fight and it was single elimination so I was done. Honestly after watching the video I probably should have won. But I'll make no excuses. You put the judging in the hands of the judges and take it for what it is. I'll be competing at ITKF Nationals in Dallas June 9th and 10th. Well..hopefully the 10th. I think that will be the finals day. Hope you enjoy the kumite. I really am fond of the backfist strike after the first stoppage of the fight.

I have, over the years, seen the same thing. Over use and misuse of it. I honestly only ever used it in class as an affirmative to the sensei, We also say it during bowing in when we bow to the sensei. Which I kind of think of a misuse and sometimes dont do. I have taken to using 'Hai' as an affirmative when sensei is speaking directly to me..or to us as a small group. And only using Osu, in sparing terms, as a group affirmative when the sensei has made a point and basically is saying, You get it? Now lets do it! Osu...and we go. Your comments about it being like a Kevin Nealon skit made me laugh so hard. Its kind of like people who begin a Japanese style of karate and then almost instantaneously being pronoucing everything with a heavy japanese accent and using , neh, in their normal American speech. That also makes me laugh.

A workout for your core. Your abdomen and stomach muscles.

I agree with Bushido Man. When I teach roundhouse kick. I tell my students to learn the technique at knee or groin level. Then move up to head if they can. But if an attacker on the street grabbed my arms or grappled with me standing...the first thing I'd do is do a roundhouse kick to the inside of his knee. Bigger they are...the harder they fall.

I think I converted to mpeg at low quality. Im going to re-do tomorrow.

The quality is crap..Im not sure why. I may try to clean it up a bit more but I have been working on converting this video to avi for the last like 6 hours. So Im done Its me..doing Kanku Sho. Squint and the pixellation might go away.

And just cuz Im cool like dat http://www.karateforums.com/what-can-tkd-learn-from-karate-and-vise-versa-vt26924.html?highlight=

Theres a thread that I believe is a really really long one about this somewhere here. I'd dig it up for you but then..half the fun is finding it right!! Look in either Karate..this one. Im not sure..but I know I replied to it several times.

Go for 10 minutes on the treadmill at a fast walking speed, but kind of crouch down so your legs are always bent. Almost like your pulling a sled? Make sense? Do that until your thighs are burning. Then walk it off. Also, remember to 'connect' through your core. So many times I've seen people do side kicks and high kicks in competition and their upper body is flailing all over the place whilst they fling a foot out there trying to get a point. Class time is about technique, so tuck that tailbone, tighten the abdomen and control that kick. Thats what should be developed first, then those point kicks will come even faster and more in control.

I used to work for a guy teaching kids self defense and he would put his students through a 1-2 hour cluster of a test that tested them emotionally and physically. I honestly thought it was kind of ridiculous. My shodan test took about 30 minutes. Basics..kata of your choice...kata of their choice..kumite...and then the dreaded pencil test. Control test punching at the point of a pencil, while its moving wildly around with a stern Japanese man screaming at you, Faster! Faster! Anyways. Good luck.

Wait Wait...how many katas are you doing? You said you'll have to do the others as well? Or do you mean they will PICK from those one for you to do. When I got my shodan ..they picked from basic katas. I think I did Heian Godan or something like that. As far as the jump goes. If you need more jumping power. Do plyometric exercises. Jump up and bring your knees to your chest 10 times. Rest..do it again. Basically do it until you can't do it anymore. This will build up jumping power. As far as nailing the stance when you come down. Slam your feet into the ground as hard as you can without breaking your ankles. That is how I nail jumps. If you can get up in the air. Then bring the knife hand and the feet down so you absolutely NAIL the landing. They should hear it on a gym floor throughout the entire gym. When I did it, afterwards my heels would tingle. I don't recommend giving yourself bone spurs but thats the way to really stick the landing. And plus....its derned impressive.

I did Enpi. If you can do it well. Do it.

Thanks Ray. I do have a barbell..goes up to 100 lbs. And one dumbell at 20 lbs I also have a treadmill which I've been meaning to add in to the mix but havent yet. I train at class on Tues and Thurs which is an hour and usually gets me sweating pretty hard. I also do kata and heavy bag work at home on the off nights. I guess one question is..What should my basic diet be? What things should I absolutely avoid..and what things should I be consciously putting into my diet to round out my working out. The trouble with me..is I figure if Im working out enough..I can eat pretty much whatever. So Im a bad..bad man when it comes to that. Thanks for whatever you can think of. I've always wanted to have a personal trainer do a workover of me but never had the motivation to pay for it! HAH

Work on this with your sweeps. Instead of the age old...swing your back leg around to sweep your opponents front leg. As your opponent moves in...or even as your chasing him. Lunge (theres that word again)..drive forward so your on their 'outside'. Essentially your almost beside them..your right leg is hooked under their right lead leg and then its just a matter of taking them over your knee. Watch those old videos of Elwyn Hall, he could sweep a horse.

FWIW increased training w/o being foolish will serve to strengthen your muscles and hopefully rid you of most problems. Foolish being...getting kicked in the knee. Pushing beyond your limit, etc,etc.

Catching up on this thread Ushiro Geri is spinning back kick. Gyaku Zuki is reverse punch...usually following a block. Tai Sabaki is just simply moving out of the way. Lunge Punch is normally the generic term in Shotokan for a stepping in punch same leg, same hand. Now to continute the actual topic. My work lately has been a lot with Kawashi, or switching. Basically..staying low and as the opponent moves in, bring your front leg back to meet your rear leg, then explode forward with an attack. Whether it be uraken-uchi (back fist), mae-geri(front kick), kekomi (side thrust thrown from the front of course), or simply just driving forward with a flurry of punches. I have also been working diligently on using 'line'. Which essentially means shifting into an attack line that is not directly accessible by your opponent but allows you a clear attack to them. ITKF fighting has been for so long very linear and you can see the really good fighters have always been utilizing 'line' to counter this. Im hoping it works out. I'll let you know

Im not going to lie and say I knew it the whole time. But april fools did cross my mind. Luckily I didn't WANT to buy a belt..so I didnt jump on board asking all sorts of questions. Good joke by the way.