Montana

Due to living in a small town in North Central Montana and not having the financial resources to travel to Seattle or Minneapolis to train with higher Sensei, I stayed a Shodan for 9 YEARS! I didn't care about rank, I just wanted to LEARN! I finally came into contact with a 4th dan in my system, Sensei Greg Ohl, and took the train to Minnesota and trained with him for a weekend. He said I had stayed true to the art in what I was doing and gave me my Nidan. That sparked me to save my $'s and travel to Seattle a few years later and train with the visiting head of the system, whereas I got my Sandan. Quite a few years later I received my Yandan, then shortly afterwards my journey ended with physical issues that prevent me from continuing. Rank shouldn't be your goal. Learning and improving is.

First of all, this depends on the system you ware in and their rules about this. From my own personal experience, I was a shodan when my sensei moved to another state (this was in 1979). I was allowed to promote up to 1st kyu because my sensei knew I was a picky bugger and wouldn't promote someone unless they deserved it. For myself, because of where I lived and with limited resources ($$$'s) to travel to train with higher ranks, I stayed at shodan for 9 YEARS. When I did manage to scrape up the money to travel to train with a 6th dan in Minnesota, he promoted me to nidan, but actually wanted me to skip to sandan because he said I was at that level in his opinion, but didn't feel that was the right thing to do. I was perfectly fine with it. 2 years later I did get to travel again to Seattle and trained with the head of our system, and did get my sandan from him. it was another 8 years before I received my yandan, then I was forced to quit shortly afterwards. I understand that a beginner wants that coveted black belt, but rank really shouldn't be a goal in the arts. Learning and perfecting is the most important.

IMHO, if you're training/learning totally online, without a partner to practice techniques on, you're wasting your time (and money). You learn the moves, but you're not getting the experiences of someone actually attacking you to see how the technique works. Without a qualified teacher to critique you, how do you know your doing techniques flawlessly? You may think you are, but ... IMHO, if you're getting certification from some online course, it's only worth the paper it's printed on. I had a guy come into my dojo years ago claiming he had an 8th Dan in karate. being ever the skeptical person I am I asked a few obvious questions, like "What system?" He didn't know. "Sensei's name?" He didn't know. I said "How can you become an 8th dan and not know the name of the system or your sensei?" He said it was online and took him ALMOST a year to get the rank. I asked him to show me a kata, he had no idea what that was. He did show me some stances and blocks, but they were very, very sad, slow and weak. His punch would have broken his wrist and hand, his kicks lacked any semblance of power or control, and he stood with straight legs. I asked him why he was there and he told me he wanted to be an instructor at my school. (I'm trying really hard not to laugh through all this). I asked him if he knew any of our katas, of course he didn't. Asked him to show me blocks, not even close. Philosophy? Nope. After about 45 minutes I sent him on his way with a little lesson on taking online course. I told him he's going to get himself killed if he started telling everybody he was an 8th dan black belt, because eventually somebody was going to challenge him and he was going to get a severe beating. I did offer to let him into my class as long as he NEVER mentioned his 8th dan or online training again. He left and I never saw him again.

How would I deal with it? Easy...LET THEM GO! If a student wants easy rank, and that's not what your thing (it's sure not mine!)..then they shouldn't be there anyway. LET THEM GO! Perhaps after a few weeks, months or maybe years, they will realize their mistake and come back...or not.

If you are a novice and have no background in the arts, you won't know what you're looking at in EITHER schools by watching a class, or talking to the instructors/students. See if both will give you soem free classes and go with which feels better to you. As for the instructor being the most import, I disagree with that statement, and always have. Yes, a good instructor is vital and very important, but there are some systems that are inheriently flawed IMO and nothing more than ineffective moving around the floor. You'd have a better chance of learning martial arts at a country western dance class IMO.

To be completely honest here..I haven't a clue about anybody in the fighting circuit, UFC or whatever. I don't follow any of it. Would I face them? Sure..depending on the distance from them, I assume I get my choice of weapons? And calibre?

I can't speak for Europe or its financing options (USA here), but I've bought sonme 25+ cars, trucks and SUV's over the past 45 years and one thing I learned is..DON'T BUY A NEW CAR! Why? Well, you'll take a major hit in depreciation the first couple of years. An example: My wife and I bought a very nice 2004 Saab 93 Arc (convertible) last summer. New, the car listed for $44,000! I paid $6,000 for it with less than 100,000 miles on it. It runs GREAT, gets good gas mileage (28-30 combined MPG), has a 2.0 engine with a TURBO that you'd swear was a V8 under the hood when you step on it. All the bells and whistles, etc. Why pay $44,000 and watch your money fly out of the exhaust pipe! BTW, we liked the car so much, we bought a 2006 Saab 93 Arc 6 months later. Total car count in the garage is 6 now..down from 8 last spring..lol.

Self-confidence

Shorin Ryu, the tuite is very similar to aikido techniques.

Of the choices listed, Shorin Ryu is the oldest (actually, 2nd). The oldest being Okinawan Te, which is still found, but rarely.

Good question' date=' if a dojo charges for testing fees. Does that student still get charged each time? What if it takes the student 20 times? Do they keep paying each time?[/quote] I don't charge testing fees. I was never into it for the money.

What if they don't pass?? There have been just a couple of times that the student didn't pass for one reason or the other, but it is rare. I changed my testing methods quite a few years ago and no longer formally test students. When they are where I want them to be now, I just hand them a certificate at the end of class and tell them to go buy the next belt..lol.

I country Western dance, own/ride horses, shoot guns, work with developementally/physically disabled adults, open doors for ladies and the elderly, I am polite to everybody regardless of age, sex, religion, or anything else, and most people call me a pretty nice guy (kills it with the ladies though )

To student 'A': Shut up and train!! To student 'B': Shut up and train!! Student 'A'...just who promoted that student to a position that he/she doesn't possess?? Student 'B'...I will not force a student to test! Test...don't test...it's all good to me!! And when student 'B' is ready, I'll be here...whether it's sooner or later!! For student A, my answer is similar. They don't dictate when they test. For student B, it depends on their "why" & their rank. If they are holding back to have a chance to win tournaments, we'd be having a chat about ethics. If they just don't want to, it depends on their present rank & for how long they are there. If someone is 4th Dan. Runs their own school under me. But hasn't tested for 20 years, we'd be having a chat because at that point, that student is affecting his/her student's ability to promote, as well. Just an example. If using your example of a 4th Dan haven't graded for 20 years, why would they have not gone and attempted a grading in that time? I know many 4th and 5th Dans that haven't graded for that length of time because they are content at that rank and have no desire to be promoted to a much higher grade. What if that 4th Dan who hasn't graded has continually trained under their instructor and other instructors during that time, has the knowledge and expertise of say an 8th Dan but just hasn't been given that rank and the ranks in between? and he has graded students to 4th dan. Because IMHO rank is just a piece of clothing that keeps your pants up. And at the end of the day students acknowledge that knowledge is the main thing. I know about a Nidan that hasn't tested in close to 30 years...and this Nidan is quite content with that; I can admire and respect that. This Nidan has the knowledge and experience of a Dan rank way much higher than current rank. This Nidan has no desire to ever test! Why? A sign of respect to his Sensei who passed away shortly after this Nidan received his Nidan!! Very admirable indeed. I'm sorry you were forced against your will due to politics. To the bold type above... Is this question directed to me? Yes, didn't you say you were forced to get Kudan in due part to being Kaicho Thanks, The Pred!! Forced...that's a strong word, but, I suppose that that's an accurate statement!! I hate the things that lead up to it, and that's one of the reasons as to why I hate my Kudan with a passion!! Apparently quoting the ENTIRE thread with each post seems to be "the thing" for this thread, guess I will too! I hate being left out! Anywy, I test a student when they are ready and I know they will pass..PERIOD! If they have questions as to why they aren't being tested, I will tell them. If they tell me they are ready, I will tell them why, or why not they will be tested. End of discussion.

Uhhh..you're asking this on a martial arts forum? Try Googling it...

Similar situation, different outcome. In 1985 my father passed away and I had to take care of his affairs. I took a break from sorting through his house and deciding what to do with 70 years of "stuff", and went downtown to a favorite bar of minbe to have a beer and relax a bit. About an hour later as I was walking thru the parking lot towards my car I pass by the dtrivers side of a parked car facing the same way I was going. The window rolled quickly down and the driver spit out of it, nearly hitting my leg. I said "Nice try, better luck next time." and continued walking. The doors of the car opened and 3 college age men got out of it and lined up in front of me (Moe, Larry and Curly) Words were exchanged whem Moe decided to cock his arm back and lunge at me. I hit him once hard in the nose and he went down. Larry came at me next and a front snap kick to his stomach doubled him over. I looked at Curly like.."Well, whatcha gonna do?"..and he put up his hands in a obvious "Not me!" gesture. Fight over. I fully realize that running away is a common practice taught by many sensei, and I do also, but for me anyway, I don't like to run. I did enough of that as a kid and unless s the odds are overwhelming, or the outcome of the fight is in doubt, I will stand and fight.

I've posted thsi story before on this forum (can't remembert where though lol) about a 18 year old TKD black belt by the name of Brandon Bennet.. Brandon was the #1 ranked BB sparring champion in the Northwestern US at the time (WA, MT, OR, ID..maybe more) He was tall, fast, accurate and had really good sparring skills....and still in high school!!! On the last day of school his senior year, he accepted a challenge from another 18 year old kid that had been bugging him for YEARS to fight him. The other kid had 1 YEAR of boxing, Brandon had been training for at least 8 years in TKD! They met in an alley off the school grounds and had their fight. From what Brandon told me, he never laid a hand on the other kid, and ended up with 2 black eyes, bloody nose and split lip before he conceeded the fight. The next day he went to his dojo, dropped his black belt on the dojo floor in front of his instructor and said "I quit", and has, as far as I know, never touched the arts again. Moral of the story is this..just because you can win trophies in a tournament doesn't man you can protect yourself in a real fight.

You need to talk to physician IMMEDITELY! It sounds like a heart issue to me..not pumping fast enough for your activity. My wife has similar issues and it's a valve in her heart.

What I ALWAYS stressed in my classes when dealing with gun/knife defense is this..If the guy just wants your wallet, car, cell or whatever..just GIVE IT TO HIM! Your life is worth MORE than whatever amout of money (or whatever) than what you have! However, if the guy is intent on killing you, then you'd better do something!

It works great I think. The real pistol has weight, feel and is just plain REAL that a water, wood or plastic pistol doesn't have, plus dropping the hammer adds a sense of realism to the practice. You can pretty well tell if you were going to get hit or not.

A water pistol is to slow, I used a real .22 cal revolver I had. You can pretty much tell if you were going to get shot or not when the hammer falls.

I've had many AHA monents in my MA life, but I think the first, and biggest one was when body shifting/change of body finally started clicking for me in the middle of a class I was teaching at the local high school. I don't know why, but suddenly it all made sense and started working. My mind opened up to it and I saw all sorts of possabilities and uses for it. I was a Shodan/1st dan at the time with about 9 years in the arts. I had been on my own without a sensei for around 6 years at the time, and had some videos that were given to me by Sensei Ron Lindsey from Texas that helped me TREMENDOUSLY to advance my training.

I consider myself a traditional "purist", inb the sense that I think my chosen art works just fine the way it is and really doesn't need to be messed with and changed....much. With that in mind, I hve incorporated a little Aikido into my Okinawan Tuite, such as the front roll Aikido uses is IMO better and safer than the front roll that I learned from my sensei. Otherwise, I don't think it's a good idea to train in 2 or more different systems and use techniques from both, because you lose the essense of each system as you pass it down to others eventually. I do however, think there are quite a few systems out there that NEED to cross train in other systems, as they have many weaknesses which will get people hurt because they have no training in specific defenses. I won't name systems, but I've seen many dojos that don't teach effective defenses against grabs for example, or how to move their bodies out of the way of an attack. Not to mention the absolutely rediculous, and horrible weapons techniques that are so prevalent now days. My opinion of course.

My origional sensei trained on Okinawa in the 1970's, he told me that challenges did happen now and then, but rarely.

I had 2 guys come to my dojo, which was in the basement of my HOME, to "watch" my class back in the 1980's. About halfway thru the class one of them asks if he can fight me. I told him if he wanted to signup/join the class, then yes, we would be sparring often. He stated he wanted to fight NOW, not later, and had no interest in joining my class. I politely told him no, I didn't spar with people off the street just because they wanted me to. He said..."Chicken?" I replied no, that I didn't spar for fun and the entertainment of others, but with my students and other martial artists when the situation warrented it. He became more verbally aggressive so I went over to the door, closed it and locked it. I told one of my students to standby the phone on the wall and be ready to call an ambulance. The other guy said "An ambulance? Why?" I advised him that he walked into my dojo/home and is physically threatening me in front of witnesses, and he either needed to leave immediately, or yes, we would be fighting NO RULES, and one of us was going to need an ambulance. He started sputtering and backpeddling verbally about how he just wanted to spar with me and see if he could beat me. I told him leave now, or start fighting, and I assumed a fighting stance. He and his friend went out the door and haven't seen them since.,