DisgruntledGirl

I agree to that as well. I hope that you did at the very least let him know how you were feeling before leaving. I myself was about to leave my dojo fairly recently and spoke with my Sensei about it. Little did I know that he had actually been working on things that I was "bothered" with and had implimented solutions like right before I had decided to "quit" but I just didnt know that he had ('cus I didnt attend a "meeting" that I was supposed to ) Might wanna have a chat with him. Maybe you at one point innocently stated that "you were not bothered by belt progression" when many/most people say that but in actuallity do want/need to get that new belt and maybe he took it too far or took you way too litterally.. ...but then again.. years at a low to mid (my assumtions here, I dont know how your schools ranks go) kyu rank with you asking for advice and with you thinking that you were at least "good enough" for the next rank... seems a lil much to me.

First off, I would say that if you have other options (other schools near you) you shouldnt let this bad experience stop you from training in MA period. If you have other schools near enough to go to you should give them a look. If you have managed to keep interest for as long as you have, being treated the way you have, then you must have at least a little passion for it, more so than you would probably have doing any other form of exercise anyway. So you should try to give it a go again if you get the chance and maybe after a little time of cooling off. (note: you may need to start from white belt again... but Im almost SURE that it probably wouldnt take near as long to get you to the belt after the one youve already got) You said that you are "overweight" and I'm wondering if maybe it was even just an "aesthetics" thing for your Sensei in that he didnt want new comers to think that "he didnt train hard enough to make you lose weight" (which most know has nothing to do with anything). I just dont know what his real deal was. I could see him maybe extending your time in each belt if you needed it to get you to a certain level (being "overweight" and "middle-aged" and all... if that affects anything at all, for some it does for some it doesnt) but YEARS as green belt... especially when you actually straight up ask what you could do to get better... just doesnt make ANY sense. Good luck and I hope you dont give up on it entirely.

Agreed. While I have never done any other style, from what I have read and from how my Sensei describes a lot of things I'd say the style is like 80-90% Shotokan and as little as 10-20% other styles such as shito, goju, ju-jitsu etc mixed in with I think a tiny bit of purly "original to the style itself" stuff.

Style: Shindo Jinen Ryu I will give the Japanese and English names for them... but I dont really know what half of them are yet (just counted and I'd probably know about 10 or 11 of them if I saw them, the others I havent learned yet) Japanese..........................English Fudo-dachi.........................Rooted (45) Stance Gankaku-dachi...................Crane Stance Hachiji-dachi......................Natural Stance Hangetsu-dachi..................Half Moon Stance Heiko-dachi.......................Parallel Stance Heisoku-dachi....................Feet Together (parallel) Kiba-dachi.........................Horse Riding Stance Kokutsu-dachi....................Back Stance Kosa-dachi.........................Cross Feet Stance Moto-dachi.........................Short Front Stance Musubi-dachi......................Heels Together, Feet 45 Neko-ashi-dachi..................Cat Leg Stance Reinoji-dachi.......................L Stance Sanchin-dachi......................Hour Glass Stance Shinko-dachi.......................Side Stance, Feet 45 Shinsentai...........................Natural Position Teiji-dachi...........................T Stance Senkutsu-dachi....................Front Stance

While I understand your frustration if your son truely did perform below his abilities but I think in many schools Tekki Shodan is indeed higher up than it is at his school and maybe he knew that and as such maybe it was just a mistake on his part for playing it too safe just cus he thought he could. (though in all honesty, I'm with you in thinking that maybe he was just a lil smitten ) Just so you can get a better idea of how different things can be, in the school I attend: Tekki Shodan is a red belt kata (4th kyu) Bassai Dai is also a red belt kata (4th kyu) and Jion is a brown belt kata (3rd Kyu) in a 10 kyu system So, Bassai Dai and Tekki Shodan are kinda considered on the same level for us... but I'm not that far yet so I have no idea if one is any harder than the other. Indeed things are different... I initially had a slightly "bad" oppinion of your son too when you said "yellow Belt Kata" as that is 9th kyu for us, but felt slightly better about him when you said that it was actually a step above my school's yellow (your yellow being my orange and my orange being your yellow)... but where my oppinion really changed was when you said that it was Tekki Shodan... thats when I started to get the oppinion that you were maybe being a tad harsh... a little harshness would have still been understandable seeing as, by my shools curriculum, it is still a tad "beneath" him... but not too much so.

I actually often worry that I am that student that "lacks control". It is a hard thing to judge really and for some things it can be different what is acceptable from dojo to dojo and for other things it is still different from person to person exactly what is appropriate. I'm on the opposite end in fact to you guys problem in that I find the really higher ups... go almost too easy on me. I like to feel more than gi contact. If I miss a block and its my fault, I dont mind an occational bruise (though I dont want to be beaten to a bloody pulp either, cus that'd be mighty easy to do). But I do try to lighten my own strikes etc for "lower" belts (even though I'm fairly low myself) and toughen 'em up slightly for higher ups... but sometimes I find myself not so much being "told" to pull back but just reacting from my "opponents" reactions to things and we do generally have an understanding that if it is "too much" it will be made known though usually in a very light-hearted manner. In your case however because there is a marked difference between how much the lower ranked strikes hurt over the higher ups you might want to bring it to the attention of the one who's hitting too hard and not necessarily the sensei. You can even bring it up in a manner such as "That's a bit too hard for me, I dont mind hitting you more on the harder side if that is what you prefer but would you mind lightening up a bit as I've got to go to work/school/whatever )

Ah see. That was one of my points too. For some it might be more difficult having to learn the new words... but for me... someone who had never learned any kind of fighting art before... heck, I did not know what a "revearse" punch was, and I had to be told what a "roundhouse" kick is so whether you teach me gyaku or revearse, mawashi or roundhouse... meh... learning the japanese is realy no harder. Now if you had learned another fighting art in english I can see how it might seem harder cus you already had the english terms to go on. I see both sides of the argument. I can see why some find it "pointless", its just that I do not. Sure other sports get by with only "needing" to use their own language (I liked the dance reference though, even though I do not dance) but to me thats what gives a lot of MAs their edge in that most people no matter where you are from, no matter what language you speak if you study Karate you will know what an instructor is asking you to do, (even if you dont speak his language or he yours) if he asks you to do a mawashi geri. I still see others points in that you will still need a translation to get the finer points of what he is teaching if it is a true seminar... but to start out the class, for him to see where you are at already, all he needs to do is say a few words and no translation is ever needed, you just do what he says and from there on it can be determined how much translation is needed.

I can see part of where you are coming from in the "uselessness" of the language of origin in learning an "Art" if all you are wanting to learn is how to defend yourself. But there will always be at least two reasons why I think it woudl still be a good idea to be taught: 1.) for some it is and will always just be "cooler" if taught in the originating language even if it is not exactly conversational and is only a few words here and there. 2.) Even if you dont find it "cool", for nothing other than tournaments in which you have participants from many countries, it can be very usefull if everything from scoring to the names of the forms to anything else that can be said in one or two words can just be said one way without need for translation. I personally never intend to enter a tournament mind you, but you have to teach for one the way you teach for all. Yeah, it's not needed in your day to day classes, but for some things it can just make life easier.

Wow! That is kinda sad. I could see two same-ranked belts maybe trying to figure out who goes first or whatever... but never arguing over it. Are these "adults" (meaning people over at least 15 or so) or little kids? When I was a white belt there was another white belt girl there that started before I started... at that point neither of us knew much so it often ended up being whoever ended up there first kinda thing but still usually it was her first. We both tested for our yellow belt at the same time and by that time I realised that the person who had been there longer went first so she was always first. But for a little while befor the test for orange belt she had missed *a lot* of classes but not really knowing how it worked I still had her go before me but after a few classes she started insisting that I went before her just cus she knew that she wasnt going to be testing at the upcoming test date... I looked a lil puzzled at first, but went where she said just to get on with class. Didnt really matter to me where I went, dont think it really mattered to her either. Kinda weird that such high ranking people in your school could get quite so nitpicky. I could halfway understand a "discussion" between say a 1st dan and a 2nd dan because those ranks are not obvious by ones belt... but not an actual argument.

Shindo Jinen Ryu Yeah, thats what I mean. Sure if I had to take a guess I could have probably guessed that he was "trying" to do Taik... San... but he just appears very wobbly. None of the techniques are executed anything like the way I'd expect a style that would do that particular kata (I wouldnt expect too "soft" of a style to do those... but maybe they do, I am fairly ignorant on those kind of things) would execute them, particularly the soto uke (at least when we do it its a soto...)... seems rather exagerated and just different I spose... not even the punches look right. Everything looks a bit odd.

In our system we do the 1st and third taikyokus so this spurred me to look for vids on youtube of others doing it... In my search I found this guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6N-dF9BX7Y and while I didnt look hard at all thats pretty much the only Taikyoku Sandan I found on youtube (I think it might be bundled in with all of the taikyokus in other vids though but I wasnt prepared to really look for it right now) Just curious if this is just a stylistic difference or if this guy just does one really weird and peculiar Taikyoku Sandan. I was laughing while watching but then realised that there are many systems out there that differ (My style is closely related to Shotokan, but at the same time isnt Shotokan)... I just didnt think it'd differ *that* much. Can anyone tell me what style he is doing though just so maybe I can get a better sence of why he does the moves the way he does?

I honestly dont know how many katas there are in my system, but I know there are about 23-24 up to Shodan. I dont know how many more there are per Dan level after you reach Shodan though. Oh and currently, I *technically* only know 2 ... but I was walked through my third the other day by a black belt "student", and while I know what technique/stances to do where in it, I havent been critiqued on it yet and I wont need to really know it anyway untill *after* I pass my next test.

Even though he might have a negative view of TKD I dont think that you should necessarily take what he said too much to heart. Though I guess it all depends on the type of person he is to begin with. One time there was a guest Sensei at our school and he had me doing some combinations of kicks I had never done before... and he joked a few times with me and said "We are not doing Capoeira here you know. " Cus while I also have fairly high kicks, because what I was doing was new to me, my balance had not quite caught up with the kicks so sometimes I'd be wabbling and flailing about. My situation and yours might be slightly different because I *knew* the Sensei was joking with me cus I myself knew that I was wabbling all over the place. If however you thought you were doing the technique exactly as you thought you were supposed to he may have very well just been commenting on how high your kicks were and this may not have been an insult even if he doesnt have a good oppinion of TKD... or you may have been doing the technique slightly off from the way you had been instructed and that might have been his way of "playing" with you to let you know to change it a bit. Either way, if it was a remark just on how high you can kick take it as a compliment, if it wasnt however, I'm sure he will fill you in on how to change it if it does require some adjustments. If you think you need to (you will know this better than us), then ask him how to make your kick better, but I have found with many of my questions (depending on the type of question) if I wait it out for a short time the answers will inadvertently be revealed right before I finally go to ask.

I dont think I ask that many questions to be honest.... but I do think I remember the post that you are talking about in that I would stupidly "question" the sensei as to what I was supposed to be doing or whatever. And these type of "questions" could never really be answered beforhand I dont think so I am not sure talking directly to me about the history of this or the other would fix that... they would be more about him correcting me in the middle of a technique and because I had/have so little understanding of the thing I'd do stupid things like start off with "b-but, if I did that then..." implying that I wasnt sure how it could work with the correction. Wasnt really a matter of a lot of questions. Was more of a matter of ignorance and every once in a while getting mixed up and whatever came into my head came pouring out of my mouth without filtering. I'm pretty sure I've fixed that for the most part a little while ago though (probably started right after making that initial post a few months ago ).... I hope I have anyway. I really do think I come off a lot more annoying in these forums than I'd like to think I am in real life. Lets just hope anyway

I'm sure this have probably bin covered over and over in here but I just figured I'd start a new post about it anyway. I've read articles etc that totally put down the whole use of Japanese terminology etc in the study of Karate (in english etc speaking countries) as I have also heard stuff like "It just wouldnt be Karate without them!!" I was just wondering what many posters in this forum feel about them.... if they care at all one way or the other even. Me personally? I kinda like the use of the Japanese terms for the techniques. I find that it gives you a lil bit of solidarity with other karatekas in that even if you dont speak the same language, if most/all people who studied Karate used the same terms, then at least some small level of understanding of what someone is talking about in reguards to training can be reached rather easily without much interpretation.... and other than that, being new to any of this kinda thing, I didnt really know the english terms for many of the techniques before anyway so its not that huge of a leap to learn the Japanese word along with the English at the same time. However I dont tend to like, (though have no issue with using them either) the etiquette words so much. Like Usu uss whatever it is or Hai, I'd typically rather just say yes or "I will try" or hello or whatever your interpretation is that that word is supposed to mean. When it comes to words other than techniques I use them because it is expected or wanted (though not pushed "too" hard) but not necessarily cus I like to. Oppinions?

Hmmm I'm thinking you have mistaken many things which I have said (youve apparently even seen some things that I havent even said at all) as I comment on only a small part of what is going on in class and it "appears" as if you have blown some of my minor points into rather large character traits that may or may not be the actual case. No offence has been taken still, but I think in a text based conversation often times things can be easily misconstrued, though I still appreciate what you are saying.

Ah... we have one vote for it probably being "immagined" or mental on my part. Whether it is as much the case as you feel it is or not... I'm fairly certain that what you are suggesting is probably at least a small part of it, I do tend to be a lil self-conscious.

Awww c'mon, you knew he was joking... y'know, kinda like " Sensei? Is that your black belt or are you just happy to see me?"

Yup I figure either of the last two would be fine though. Depending on what he is doing, looking into his eyes might very well let you see his movements as well (though sometimes not well enough), and sometimes you really do need to mainly focus on his movements or you just wont "get it"... but those times he is typically not looking at anyone in particular and is focusing on his own body. I use his eyes quite frequently... or moreso his face for cues when I am doing something wrong before he has to "say" anything. Say I had done something not quite right and I will look over to him and see him just starting to come to me and I can usually tell what he is thinking and fix it long before he actually gets to me, he just laughs. no prob. Always good to pick up a tactic here and there. I honestly havent done as much kumite yet as I would have thought I would by this time, but honestly I think I am just now getting used to the idea of hitting something/someone anyway (have no problem being hit, was just always afraid of hitting someone) so I dont mind too much.... though hope I get started with more soon. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! hmmmmm could be? Nah, I can assure you I am as average as they come... pluss when the sweat is dripping from my face/hair in class I dont think that is one of my most particularly attractive moments anyway.

Cool. Hope so. Might be 'cus I'm not *so* new anymore in that Im not always thinking about "what did he say to do with this hand? my foot goes where? what the heck were all those words he was using?" etc. that the white belts might be doing... that I actually *can* focus entirely on what he is saying and also I'm not so "experienced" with it either that maybe the higher ranks have heard him say some of this stuff over and over and therefore might not feel the need to focus on it quite as much as I still do.

I like to *think* I pay pretty good attention for the most part, I never really think of checking to see if he does it to anyone else untill I'm already in the midst of a good 'ol stare down at which point its too late Dunno, maybe that has something to do with it. I do maintain eye contact as much as possible in those situations... not so much because its something I would normally do but because I figure with the whole MA thing of trying to get "stronger" I figure it wouldnt be appropriate in class at least to come off as too weak or "afraid" to maintain eye contact with someone (generally I dont maintain eye contact easily with people I do not know well) so I tend to make it more of a point to try to stick to it in class.

For some reason... most of the time when Sensei goes off onto a tangent to heavily explain something, whether it be a technique or just some history or ettiquette... I feel as though more often than not, he is looking *directly* at me and pretty much only me (and not in a "pervy" kind of way so dont worry)... not always, but often enough. And not only him. I feel the same thing with the black belt that he has leading the class while he is away at some tournaments. I am not really as weirded out about it as I would have thought I mighta bin (generally in life I dont tend to like to be looked at for too long) and am not creeped out at all. In fact it does make *sure* that I am indeed paying attention. But I was wondering if maybe this is just a tactic many Senseis use in that every once in a while they will pick one person to focus on (mainly just while speaking, not so much when we are practicing anything or working out as I dont seem to be overly corrected or overly complimented by the sensei while doing most techniques) during class to make each of us feel "special" and I just havent noticed that their focus changes from class to class? Or could I just be immagining the whole thing?

Indeed it did. Makes some sense.... cus I am a woman AND I am a fairly short woman (5'-3") whos center of gravity is even lower just cus I'm more bottom heavy than top anyway. Also even though I have never considered myself to be "athletic", I *may* have inadvertantly also strengthened the muscles around my lower spine due to needing spinal surgery when I was 16... so afterwards I was always making sure that my posture was *excellent* just cus I was afraid that I might get used to slouching if I allowed myself to after the surgery (never was really told that that might happen it was just a fear I had) and also tried to strengthen my back as much as I could (though didnt do *that* much to assist with it, but a little). Thanks, never had it broken down for me like that. Dont worry bout the long post... most of mine are longer and much more pointless than yours

I have always heard that the "main" reason for doing crunches rather than situps was primarily because the situps are apparently "worse" for your back than the crunch is. I however do not find that to be the case, in that situps do not hurt my back *near* as much as crunches will... though I feel about the same stomach muscle soreness from both. Am I just one of the rare that do situps with "good form" and crunches with "bad form" or is there better reason than back soreness/injury that I am missing for doing crunches over doing situps? Or am I just completely mistaken in thinking that that was ever a reason for the switch everywhere from situps to crunches these days? What are the other reasons (if any) why someone would be better off doing crunches over doing situps? Or is it that they just do a better job of working the stomach muscles? Just curious

See! I knew we meant the same thing! Seriously, we do. And your answer is what I would expect/want, which is why I had once asked if my Sensei went "easier" on me than others. There are actually some things I "refuse" to do... but none of them are techniques and I consider myself to be able to do any technique and any strength training activity... the only things I sometimes "refuse" to do is certain stretches cus thats how I hyperextended my knee in the first place. You can give me another stretch if you like but stretches where the knees are totally unsupported I'm just timid about. I've had people worry about me when its really not warrented for most of my life and I try to not allow it too much now. I remember one class about a month after slightly hyperextending one knee and a week or two after twisting the other one (not as bad as the first one) and we were doing kiba dachi (dunno if thats in your style) up and down the room for quite a long time trying to maintain a specified distance between someone in front of us... after a while of this my thighs ached and started to shake and litterally crumbled from beneath me and... on the floor I went... I looked over at the Sensei cus he looked as if he had a little too much concern in his eyes and I smiled and said over in his direction "Dont worry! It's not my knees... I'm just weak!" and I got up and continued on (though at a slightly more elevated stance shhhhhh) all he could do was laugh, but commended me on my effort after class Though I cannot tell how hard your kind of "hard" actually is without actually sitting in on one of your classes... I do believe that it "might" be more than I can handle... but we will never really know that.