Montana

That's not really my point. My point is that you can take a person with no training, put him or her in a boxing or BJJ regiment for 6 months. And they can reasonably defend themself with what they learned. You can't do that with TKD or Karate. At 6 months, the TKD/Karate student is barely grasping its concept. Barely. Ohhh..I'm going to strongly disagree with this one. Students in my dojo, after about 2 months, have pretty solid punches and kicks. Sure, they aren't perfect, and not as strong as a boxers (keeping in mind that punches are ALL a boxer does and trains with), but for a street fight , which is what we train for, they are just fine. I've had numerous students that were brought to me by parents that were tired of their son, and yes, daughters too, being physically picked on in school. Those people get more attention from me and put on a fast track to defending themselves, more than the regualr people in class, because they need it..FAST!

I watched the first season, you just need to keep in mind that what you're watching "martial art wise" is pretty much like the B movies that came out of China for years..fake and unrealistic. Just watching it for entertainment is ok, just don't start thinking you can whoop-up on a dozen guys and come away in good shape! lol

I had to watch the video several times to actualy see what was going on. It switched from one thing to another so fast you can't really see what's going on very easily. As for throwing your sai..you NEVER, EVER, EVER throw your sai! Why? (he asked?) Because you just threw away one of your weapons, and having just one sai remaining isn't nearly as effective as two! Forget what you see in the movies..DON'T THROW YOUR SAI! That, plus they can break! Yeah, no kidding. When I was a brown belt, just learning the sai, I threw mine now and then in the dirt when I was practicing in the yard. Like you, just for the fun of it. Well, one day I did that, and the dang thing snapped in two! I never did that again! lol

WHAT??? You must not be watching the Walking Dead then...when ammo runs low, grab your bow! lol

Martial=warring art. Archery, javelin throwing, discus (not frisbee), track and field, rifle/gun shooting, boxing, fencing, wrestling, etc. The list is long of things that had their roots in warefare. ALL are martial arts IMO.

There is no formalized instructor training, so I guess OJT is the rule. What I personally did was starting (a student) at brown belt (there are 3 before black) I would assign a brown belt student to run the warmups and exercies at the start of class. From there they would do basics (blocks, kicks and punches done as part of every warmup drill). Depending on what we're doing that day, I would have brown belts (actually, any student that I know can help others) pair up with new students, or lower ranked belts, and help them with any issues they might be having, such as kata, blocks, kicks, etc. Basically, I delegated tasks for my upper belts partly so they learned how to teach, and partly to free myself for more advanced things. (ie: naps, eating, football, etc lol ) KIDDING! When a student got their back belt I would start them teaching the entire class..start to finish, under my supervision. Only when I was certain they were able to teach without being supervised, would I allow them to teach alone and uninterupted. VERY rarely was I not in the class, or at least in the dojo somewhere. Afterall, it's MY dojo and I'm responsible for literally everything that goes on there.

HJere's another one for you...Shorin Ryu Matsumura KENPO! Sensei Kuda Yuichi changed it from "karate" to kenpo in the mid-1990's, just to diferentiate what we do from what others are doing., because a lot of other Shorin Ryu systems are doing some rather drastic things we would never do.

I was gone for about a year and a couple of months ago came back on here. Anyway, I was looking back at some of the old threads and this one caught my eye. In the origional post, chrisw08 posted himeself, or his friend (not sure which) doing some basic nunchauku techniques, which, IMHO, had pretty poor technique. Then Harkon72 posted a link with a master doing GREAT techniques, which made me VERY happy to see that there are some people out there that know the difference. This is a very good example of people that don't know good technique from bad, teaching others bad technique..and so on, and so on, and so on.... As a tournament judge for about 25 years at open (all style) tournaments, and normally the center weapons judge, I've seen MANY, MANY, MANY horrible black belts doing God awful techniques, ESPECIALLY with the nunchauku. Please people, learn good technique. The power you generate from good technuique, versus bad technique, is ASTRONOMICAL! *climbing off my soapbox now*

lol..OK, so maybe it's just an exciting prospect for me, but... I'm 63 years old now and have been out of the martial arts for 10 years due to arthritis in both knees and a bad back. I trained and taught for over 30 years, and really hated to give it up, but I was finding, especially in my back, that there were severe limitations to what I was able to do. Sooooooooo...I was looking at the thread on canes just now, and came up with this idea of how to get back into the arts wth my physical limitations. I've used a cane in my class (usually upper-level students) for many years and believe it is the BEST, and perfectly legal, weapon to carry around with you (short of a gun of course). Thru my training in kobudo with tradition weapons for over 30 years, the basic concepts of weapon manipulation of any bo/jo or cane are all about the same. I'm going to start modifying my basics and kata using a cane and see what happens... \*the excitement is building!* Wish me luck.

But..if you make solid contact with his testicles, and for example, CRUSH THEM..you will be paying for his medical expenses, and probably punitive damages for the rest of HIS LIFE! God help you if you damage him to the point that his sex life is over and he can't reproduce! ONLY in life or death situation would I use that type of force on an attacker to that area of the body.

7th-9th Dans wear the red/white striped belt..if they wish to, and 10th (or head of the system) wears a solid red belt. Or..they wear black..it's their choice as far as I know. Sensei Kuda Yuichi from Okinawa wore black when he visited us (his first time in the states) way back in 1978, and he wore black as a 7th Dan. When I had the opportunity to work with him again around 1990 or so in Seattle, he again wore black as a 9th Dan, and head of the system. I have seen pictures of him in other US cities when he visited wearing red/white..so I don't know. I think it depends on his mood maybe? lol

If it was a good fight, no flagrant INTENTIONAL rule violations (cheap shots for example), then a bow, handshake, or a few words is all you need.

NICE! This goes along with what my various sensei's have taught me since day 1 of my training. True karate still exists, but you won't find much of it in big, fancy commercial dojos will wall to wall mirrors and weight machines. Nor is it found very often outside (oftentimes INSIDE) Okinawa..but if you look hard enough, dig and research your local dojos..you just MIGHT be lucky enough to find the real deal out there, instead of a water down version, of karate.

IMO, ANY class, regardless of what is going on, should be open to parents and spectators. If it isn't, then I sould be suspect as to what is going on in there, especially with kids.

DISREGARD...he answered my question alreeady.

I've also seen this sort of things in dojos across the nation. From budda statues in shrines, to crosses hanging on the wall. I've been asked many times by people that they would love to take karate, but can't because they're Christians and won't pray to budda. I laugh and tell them I teach karate, not religion. Sparticus, who did you study under on Okinawa? Sensei Kuda by chance?

Put it in a Christmas card and mail cash to them. I know mailing cash is dangerous, but I've been doing it for years and have NEVER had an issue. Or even better yet, have a friend of yours that they don't know (or a local minister would do it probably), take a card to their door and give it to them anonomously.

EXCELLENT!!! There were a couple of the old black and white vid's of OSensei Soken Hohan (my particular linage) in there but went by so fast!!! lol

The kids class played games, ate cookies and drank KoolAid. The Adults...well, we went to Moose's Saloon and drank beer and ate pizza. More like an office party actually..lol

Simply, no it doesn't annoy me if people think it's just for kids. Honestly, I don't think that in 40 years since I started, that comment has never been made to me that I remember..but then, I'm old too...memory isn't what it used to be.

I've never heard of him...what does he do would be helpful. Links?

I judged a nationally ranked kata competitor once in a traditional kata competition that did back flips, splits and the like and out of 5 judges on the panel, I scored him a 7 out of 10. The other judges gave him much higher marks. His kata, as good as it was, was far from traditional. He gave quite the glare afterwards.

I was a judge/ref for over 25 years, and IMO if a judge scores higher because of the condition of a competitors belt, or his rank, and not his skill level, he has no business being a judge/ref. My opinion of course.

I use either RH or LH forward, depending on who I'm fighting, how THEY are fighting/standing, or what techniques I want to use. IMO you need to be able to use either side just as effectively. I'm RH'd btw.

When teaching(or posting in this case) , i tend to speak to the the "MASSES". the masses can attain the concept of "straight line is easiest" while very few(talking 1% or less) can develop "shifting,torque,combo,angles,etc" to be an effective concept. Sort of like watching Lebron james and trying to teach everyone to do slam dunks from the free throw line, why teach it when a hand full of humans can do it out of 8,000,000,000 on earth. The concept of dunking from the free throw line is possible but i rather teach doing "layups" as everyone can accomplish it. I am sure a handful of humans on earth can catch a punch in mid full speed UNREHEARSED flight, but why teach that? Teaching unattainable concepts and techniques is honestly detrimental to anyone (IN MY OPINION). I can try and do my Lebron Free throw dunks for my entire life time and NEVER EVEN COME CLOSE to doing it. "I just wasted my life time trying to be LEBRON"..... Disclaimer: Listen to your instructor over a random person(ME) posting on the internet. I'm trying to understand what you're trying to say, but for the life of me..I'm lost! By "while very few(talking 1% or less) can develop "shifting,torque,combo,angles,etc" to be an effective concept."..are you sying that very few people can learn and use the fundamental techniques and properties of the martial arts??? In over 30 years of teaching the arts using just those concepts you mention, it's been my experiencve that the vast MAJORITY of people can learn, and use, those techniques. It just takes time, practice and effort.