DokterVet

http://www.wingchun.com/video/wt/KeithKernspetch.mpeg Hmm...the video didn't work for me. I'll try hyperlinking it myself.

Yeah, in class we do a ton of gimmicky stuff like that. Like only hands, or one person can only use hands or feet or whatever. We do two on one sometimes, free for alls, all sorts of wacky stuff.

I would stay away from any place that requires you to have an official equipment bag!

In my organization, all shodan-ho, shodan and nidan rankings are done by the senior dan council. They are all at least 4th dan. After that I think the head instructor (8th dan) does the promotions himself.

Tournament(point sparring): Contact to the body, but not to injure. Disqualification for excessive face contact, or any contact causing injury, blood or instant excessive bruising. Four courner judges and 1 centre judge. 2 points to win the round. A point is awarded to a good karate technique that hits the face (within about 1 - 2 inches of contact) or to the body. Foot sweeps are allowed, and you can take the opponent down, but that is not the goal. You can hit him while he is going down to score a point but a takedown is not worth any points. In class: Continous; you don't stop until it's time to switch partners. Roughly the same rules. Less contact for lower ranks. Kyu ranks must spar with a closed-fisted stance. The black belts sometimes take it to the ground and go to a tap-out. But that's usually before or after class, not during. Don't hurt eachother.

For very low kicks we would block with our leg. The neihanchi katas feature evasions to foot sweeps that can be modified for defending against kicks (just bring the knee up). As for the boxing punches, if you mean a jab, we would just get out of the way because there is basically no way to be fast enough to block a jab. If you mean a full-fledged punch, we would most likely do a deflection. You might step inside as you deflect it and follow up with an elbow strike or takedown. Who knows.

The second last move of the kata (from a front punch in left zenkutsu datchi, you pull the back leg up and bend the punch into a kimae, then step behind with your left leg, drop your body and twist around and stand back up performing an elbow strike and punch over the shoulder) works well as a throw. Is there a judo/jujitsu technique that it resembles?

Pinan Sandan The three elbow blocks in shiko-datchi with the hands on the hips followed by punches: At first glanse, these moves seem absolutely worthless. If you were fighting someone in a ring and you had perfect health, you would never perform a block like this. So are they worthless? Hardly. Like much of karate they are meant for less than ideal conditions. For instance, you are walking down the street with your hands in your coat pockets, and someone runs up to you and throws a punch to your torso. You use this blocking technique, pull your fist out and punch the attacker. Or you are carrying groceries to your car. Same thing, you use your elbow or arm to block because your hands are essentially tied down. You break your hand, wrist or lower arm in a fight. You can still use this blocking technique. And the great thing about these blocks is you don't have to use the elbow sticking out like in the kata. When performing the techniques correctly, the hips should be turning, not just the arms. So if your arm is rendered entirely useless for whatever reason, you could still use this technique to reduce the impact of a body punch by blocking with the torso. Instead of driving itself into you, the punch rolls off slightly by your turning motion (provided you time it right). This would work best if you were facing your opponent head on, then turned sideways as the punch was landing.

Ontario, Canada My igloo just got broadband, but the local polar bears keep chewing on the cables so it goes out every once and a while. Stupid polar bears!

I say take Tae Kwon Do, and get a heavy bag at home. The fastest and one of the hardest punchers I know is a tae kwon do practitioner. You just need to train hard with punches outside of class and use the speed and flexibility of your legs to develop lightening fast practical kicks.

Ok, so in a nutshell, you think that I won't be able to improve my strength while cutting? Just maintain it?

That was based on advice from this site.

That makes sense. You're right, karate for the most part attempts to have the most power possible, sometimes sacrificing speed and guard for that goal. I think I'll pass on the punch to the throat because I don't feel like being hit there, not because I think my windpipe will be crushed. It has taken a walloping before and hasn't broken. If I were ten years younger, I'd steer clear of her though!

The fatalities, for the most part, were terrible. The only real exceptions being Raiden's and Kung Lao's.

I've been told that it is impossible to bulk up in muscle and cut fat at the same time; they must be done in separate cycles. But I'm wondering if you can still strength train while cutting. Can you do the work-outs and not see the size increase but still gain the strength increase while maintainig a calorie defecit?

You should definately ask someone from your own club, particularly your instructor. The method shown in that link is considered the 'wrong' way at my club, so it just goes to show that every club prefers a different method.

I do Wado-Ryu karate, and I'm going to start judo in September. I want to take a grappling art, and judo looks like the most fun. Also, because people wear coats for much of the year in Canada, I think training in gis will be applicable in the real world. If I lived in a warmer climate I'd probably do wrestling instead.

In wado karate, deflections are used more than blocks in application - especially at the higher levels.

"A child could crush your windpipe." I sincerely doubt that. Have you seen it happen? Have a child try to choke you out, or punch you in a vital spot. A child is simply no match for an adult. Speed isn't everything. If there is no weight behind the attack, it won't do any damage, and Tyson's fist will be on its way into your skull.

There was a guy named Cal Worsham who competed in the early UFCs. His record is 5-7-0.http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/displayfighter.cfm?fighterid=113

That's crazy. I live just north of there in Markham, and a while ago someone got his hand cut off with a machete in the parking lot of a chinese mall here for looking at someone's girlfriend. Someone was also shot outside an internet cafe around there recently.

The early UFCs allowed kicks to downed opponents, and I think Pride still does.

A big strong guy like you should do well in karate. Do you know what style it is?

One of my best friends growing up took karate and we'd always wrestle, and he usually won. When I turned eleven and finished swimming lessons I was allowed to start. Because that friend's dad was the head of the club, I got karate for free in exchange for my parents driving the friend to and from class. He eventually quit to focus on drumming, and I'm still in it after 7 years, getting ready to go for my Shodan in August.

Yeah I liked that line about Raiden. It's a fun game. The funniest style in it is Reptile's crab.