username8517

Ahhh, yes Sohan has finally seen the light. Now come take your place in my loyal army of martial artist minions (yes I provide medical and dental healthcare ) But seriously, that's exactly what I was trying to get at. The marketing of this product is entirely wrong. Probably not a MA in the marketing company that worked on this. Just my two cents.

On slow work days, I'm often on here checking for new posts about every hour or so

Well as you mentioned your sensei is not teaching to make money so the idea of promoting you to black seems honest an sincere. While you may doubt you abilities now, your sensei is probably making a judgement based on how much you've improved over the course of this year and how quickly you're picking up on things. Perhaps you just need more confidence in your abilities--and that's just something that's going to come along in time.

I'm no expert on this matter, but you might just want to poke around various websites for price comparison. Here are a couple options from Asian World Martial Arts Female Chest Guard & Sports Chest Guard

Let me know how that goes

Excellent post joemar! When I was studing kali, one of the first things ever said to me was similar to what you wrote here: Anything you can do with a blade you can do with a stick, but not everything you do with a stick you can do with a blade.

I don't have a problem with it being treated as a toy for kids to play with and live in fantasy land. I too did the whole cops and robbers thing when I was little. My problem, as I've stated, comes from the verbage of the it's marketing. It directly states both on the box and in the product description that it will teach you to be a karate master. Now how many other toys of different categories do you see making the same claim? I have never seen a Big Wheels claiming it will teach kids to drive a car. I have never seen a toy gun claiming it will help teach kids to improve their aim. I have never seen a pair of toy handcuffs claiming it will teach kids how to restrain someone more effectively. I have never seen a football cleat claiming it will help teach kids how to avoid tackles better. And so on. The reason you don't see these claims on other toys is due to common sense of the consumers and the perceptions of said toys. Practically anyone can determine that a Big Wheels won't help you drive or a cap gun won't help you shoot as cars has been around in the mainstream society since the turn of the century and guns even longer. However, martial arts has only starting to gain popularity and become more well known in about the past thirty years. There are still plenty of common misconceptions that we as martial artists hear today. But by putting on your toy that usage will teach a child to become a "karate master"--I would bet that someone somewhere will believe it, buy it, have their child use it, and then honestly believe their child is a karate master and not get them adequate and real training. Even if it's just for a month or so--let the child see what martial arts is really all about. That is why I have a problem with the verbage on it. That's not what I'm saying. Yes, they are toys and they should be treated and sold as toys. Not as a substitute for a real thing. How many toy police sets do you see that say right on the package Learn to be a police officer!? Or a toy gun that reads Learn to shoot terrorists like like the Marines!? Like I said before, it's all in the marketing. And unfortunately, it's like bushido_man96 said:

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For me, my problem with this one is the product description Heck, it even puts it directly on the packaging - check it out I guess kind of hits me as a double-whammy as not only am I an avid martial artist but I'm also a marketing professional and when I see dubious advertising like this (I would even consider it blatent flase advertising, but that's just me) it just pushes my buttons in two seperate way. By the way, is anyone else wondering when some knucklehead will sue the manufacturer because they thought they were getting legit instructions and end up getting pummeled in a fight or is it just me?

If this is what you're talking about then I completely agree with you. I still get upset everytime I see it. What do you think of this tool for teaching karate to kids?

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knee injuries. . . . all to familar for me. I've blown both my ACLs and had one of them rescoped. In fact, of the five of us instructors at my dojo, three of us have had knee problems. Between the three of us there have been 9 surguries--4 ACLs and 5 scopings. Even our two senior kyu students have knee issues. Knee injuries, while not common in MA are certainly not rare either. Providing you practice things such as moves and breakfalls correctly you should come out relatively unscathed. But once your knees go one time and cause a serious injury the chance to re-aggrivate them increases. For example, my first ACL injuries was caused my a freak accident while running--basically my foot refused to move one time while the rest of my body said "too bad." And my second ACL injury was due to one of my training partners horseplaying around while I was executiving a move I was trying a bunkai I pulled from a kata. This is the primary reason why I absolutely do not tollerate horse playing in the dojo. I know first hand what can happen. But to this day, if I turn my body wrong in or jam my foot into the floor on accident, I'll get shooting pains in my knee. If it happens a couple times a class, as long as I slow down and take it easy I'm usually fine. But if I'm in a stubborn mood and try and barrell my way through the remaining class at the same intensity, I'll usually be limping out of the dojo and lucky if I can train at the level I like to two days. But from talking with the surgeon that performed all my operations, apparently some people--including me--have a genetic condition where the bones in their knee joints are not perfectly round, but rather come closer to something resembling the letter "V". Then when your knee is torqued quickly enough under the right angle, the outline of your bone structure, rather than allowing for some give (basically causing a strain or extension of the ligament) acts like a blade and slices right through the ligament--creating an instant ACL or PCL tear.

There is throwing in them, I don't dispute that. But the kata only teaches part of the mechanics of the throw. It doesn't teach you how to off balance, which is the most detrimental part. Yeah, I'll agree with that. Kata didn't neccessarily teach that as much as I've discovered by practicing and executive bunkai against a live opponent. Good point.

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We also have materials that were not around even fifty years ago. One of my favorite examples is fiberglass. Given the choice betweeen a say a redwood/rattan/white oak/etc. or fiberglass escrima--I'd go with the fiberglass. It's lighter, allowing for more acceleration (as you mention), thus allowing for more force to be generated. But it also a harder composite than redwood and won't absorb as much of the energy (when compared to a wooden escrima) when it strikes a target.

Nice finds. I especially enjoyed the second one.

Absolutely. I agree with all of that, except for what I quoted above. Like I said above, if it was my thread, I would've used the word 'unnecessary' as opposed to 'useless'. As for what I quoted, I mentioned it in an above post, but kata don't adequately simulate kazushi. Without that, there is no throw. I don't think that kata can properly teach throwing and take downs. As for strength, I agree, but as there is limited progressive resistance, the amount of strength you can gain is also limited. There were other methods used for strength training - carrying vases, weighted shoes, iron rings, stone locks, heavy weapons, etc. I will admit that increasing muscle strength is fairly limited in kata application in and of itself, but the ability to add ankle and arm weight can certainly enchance that. However, there are are take downs and grappling in kata. The key is to look outside the box. Just because a kata is taught that move X, Y, and Z is a punch, turn, and block doesn't mean that's the only application of the series of moves. I have pulled out numerous take-downs and locks out of what seemed like basic moves. Sometimes they work and sometime they don't. But I never know until I practice them of course. I absolutely agree with you here. Of all the bunkai I know and have practiced I have a select few that I tend to utilize on a consistant basis in training.

I think Chuck will pull this out. I think that Tito might have a chance of winning if he can run Chuck out of gas. Not to take anything away from Liddell but in my opinion Tito has some of the best, if not the best, conditioning in the UFC. If he can wear Chuck down, then he might have a shot at a victory.

This is a very good point you bring up here, however, it is not as black and white. I will whole-heartedly agree that there are other ways to train someone to fight using methods other than kata. Kata is a tool for multiple things including, but not limited to: Balance Focus Strikes Grapples Take-downs Blocks Increasing Endurance Increasing Muscle Strength Creative Thinking Can each of these things be worked on through other methods--absolutely. I personally do not rely on my kata to get me through a fight. Which is why I also focus on attacks and defenses against a live opponent (though not nearly as much as my kata as I often practice kata as a warm-up and cool down for exercises). But I do rely on it to work on all the above. I'll even work out some bunkai I pull from kata in situations to see how effective they really are. And truth be told, sometimes they are and sometimes they're not. Bottom line is that it all comes down to personal perference and what you want out of kata. If you're solely looking for a complete fighting sytle, then yes kata is lacking. However, I look at kata as a tool to combine all the above mentioned things into one exercise and give me a basis of what I would like to focus on in live drills.

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Another thing you can do is prior to actually sparring, ask if your "opponent" wouldn't mind if you went a little harder. Or perhaps ask for a partner that doesn't mind you being a little rougher up front so they know what they're getting into. I say this because I always enjoy training with someone bigger, stronger, quicker, and/or smarter. Makes me stay on my toes. This is also help the teens hone their skills incase they're ever confronted by an adult as well. Just remember not to clobber them. Just my two cents.

That and it was the only way to get UFC back on the air. After the first few UFC bouts, it was basically banned for being too violent. If I remember correctly, basically the only rules back then were 1) no eye gouging and 2) no biting. It wasn't until Dana White and his investors added new rules that it was sanctioned again. And then in only 21 states. Not sure about the UFC allowing eye gouging, but I believe this is merely one instance of a highly skilled fighter overcoming adversity. While as you state, an eye gouge wasn't enough to end the fight this time, I would bet the majority of the time it would be in a street fight. It's like that old piece of advice I received when I first started grappling, if something doesn't work, move on to the next one--don't keep trying to make the same move succeed. I absolutely agree with you here. Sure low stances are used for building leg endurance and strength, but it's also used for balance and stability (lower center of gravity). However, I would never fight from one of those positions. Would I use it as a transitional stance--yeah--but never for a whole encounter. Every move you learn in a MA will have to be modified to fit a live situation, as will anything to learn in a boxing, mauy thai, or reality-based self-defense course as nothing on the street will ever be exactly the way you practice it. Blocks executed against an opponent will not look exactly the same as practice nor will any strikes you throw. So if you're going to have some sort of basis for what the fundementals of your fighting style should look like, why is kata such as bad thing??

I shave mine down to the scalp every few weeks or so

I've already gone into detail many pages back about my beliefs about kata so I won't address them again, rather I will merely play devil's advocate in the spirit of a good healthy debate. True. If I want to work on my strength, I can hit the weight room. And my cardio can be built up by doing laps in the pool. However, I really don't enjoy swimming. I'm not saying I can't swim, it's just not something I enjoy doing--I find it somewhat boring in all honesty (yes I'm crazy I know). I'd take four hours of kata over an hour of swimming, but that's just me. Performing kata for workout is not ineffective if you want to work on your endurance, conditioning, stamina, strength, etc, but that should not the sole purpose behind it (or at least shouldn't be if you're running through kata with any kind of bunkai behind it). Are there other options, sure, but does that mean that you can only hit the weight room to work on building muscle mass? Or the track to work on your cardio? Yes, the UFC and other MMA has shown a wide range of what you can expect to see in a fight. However, MMA is bound by rules, not only for the fighters' safety, but to ensure they can stay on tv. Here are the rules for UFC. In it you will find a lot of moves found in various katas that are considers fouls, and otherwise outlawed, such as eye strikes, groin strikes, small joint manipulation, striking the spine, throat strikes, etc. etc. If these are so ineffective and impractical in a fight, why would they be outlawed in MMA fights? I too think this is a cop-out, regardless of what side of the arguement your are on. However, I cannot recall hearing this come from anyone who believes there is use behind kata. Mainly I hear it come from those who try to debunk arguments as to why kata is practical. Once again, kumite is governed by rules so I won't touch that one. However, in regards to modifying techniques--a wise man once told me "Fighting isn't pretty." Meaning you will never see a fight take place where someone performs their entire fight executing perfected moves. Maybe one or two moves, yeah--maybe. However, the reason you practice moves to build certain reflexes in your body to different stimuli your brain encounters allowing you to react without thinking. Take tieing your shoes for example. When you were little your parents showed your the basic proper way to do so. They made sure all the directions were plain, easy to understand, and pretty. And they watched you until they felt you could tie your shoes without their assistance or correction. Now, when you tie your shoes I bet it looks distinctly different than when you were a child. Gone are days of making slow precise moves to put your shoes on. Rather with a couple quick flicks of the hands your shoes are tied and your ready to go--all without thinking about what step came next in the lace tieing order.

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