Cormoran

I tend to think we need a new english word for shotokan type of blocks. like strock or blike. something that describes what's happening a bit better. I'm thinking the first move in heian sandan would be soft, atleast compared to the normal blocks. not sure if you'd actually call that a block though.

Oh i agree, but i think this is what the instructor is for. Not myself. I grew up seeing all the women in my life get the crud smacked out of them by various men. I'd never hit my mum, i'd never hit my sister, i'd never hit any woman. MY training doesn't require me to hit women.

I firmly believe one should learn to take a hit, there's a point at which this can greatly help you in self defense situations. Someone who knows exactly what a good punch to the face feels like won't panic when they do finally get one in the face while defending themselves. This goes way beyond that, this isn't learning to take a hit, this is simply masochistic. Why did they, even with such insane conditioning methods, continue to neglect our weakest point, our head? I can get punched and kicked in the body and arms all night, first time i took one to the head my sensei could have done anything he wanted to me for the next five seconds. It stunned me and stopped me in my tracks, and that was only a backhand slap. And whats with them all looking like cheesy B grade MA movie bad guys? and the hand kissing cult thing?

We do crescent kicks and inverted crescent kicks aswell. Might i ask why you are so interested in just one move?

oooh I remember go kan ryu. I trained it until I got bored, when I joined my current dojo I realised I was bored because of the lack of fighting. I was also amazed when I went to a GKR tournament in Sydney and only five people from south australia, the supposed birth place of the style, went... all were from the dojo I went to. More people came from new zealand than from SA. It seemed to me if our dojo was the most active in the state and I felt bored then karate wasn't for me, took me years of no martial arts at all before I realised I just wasn't getting the right karate. When I joined my new dojo the 13 year old there was able to kick my butt with ease in sparring, that really impressed me and showed me how little I learnt at GKR. We recently got a new guy in our dojo who also did GKR in the same dojo I went to, he had all the same problems I had when restarting. Most notably he'd apologise when he'd get a good hit in, I did the same thing. When we did this the people we apologised to were dumbfounded, they told us if we did something well we should be proud instead of apologetic, it didn't phase them because they were used to being hit. I just wish I found the right place to train. When I realised how little I learnt and the years I wasted afterwards thinking MAs were boring it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I just prefer to stay away from women altogether when i train. I find they either complain that i'm going too easy on them, or they complain i'm going to hard. Personally i think it's like kids and adults, they shouldn't be mixed for the sanity of all involved.

I've noticed everyone talking about respect for the sensei, but what about respect for the student? Shouldn't respect go both ways? If I found that I had to ask permission i'd feel I was being disrespected. For me it comes down to more modern thinking i guess, I'm paying my sensei for a service. If i also want a different service and he tells me i can't do it then he'd damn well better be able to offer the exact same service i'd get from the other place for the same or lower price. As for advice, sure, that's exactly what your sensei is there for. That's part and parcel with the service you're paying for so whynot utilize it.

When i consider the various 'cheap' moves in kata i'd have to guess that not very many karateka of old found these moves to be all that 'cheap'. As far as kicking, people can find it cheap all they want, i don't mind having the advantage of using more weapons against them than they wish to use against me. In the end, you're in a fight, there's no 'honour' or anything like that to be gained or lost, it's not some b grade martial arts movie, it's real life. You just try to survive.