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In general when I am sparring, I find it kind of unatural to throw a kick after a reverse punch. For that matter to throw a revers punch after a kick. I am constantly being told to do combos in sparring matches but other than a grounded punch, reverse punch or to squeek a front kick in then punch, reverse punch they just don't flow correctly. Is this just a function of my flexibility or is this a learning issue? So far none of the Kata I have learned helps with the muscle memory of what I should be doing.

I have been thinking, something that you do see a lot in our style of karate is standing in a defensive posture, fists out and one leg in chamber. It seems to help cover the lower kicks and makes it easy to pull the trigger on a fast front kick/roundhouse, but at the cost of mobility and a bit of balance. In general I would think it is bad to hold the kick chamber position very long but I have not heard of this as being a bad thing as a rule of thumb. Does anyone have any thoughts on this being good or bad?

I agree. I think Forms reinforce Kumite and visa versa. Sure you can learn to fight without either, but I myself find the moves I use in Kumite are based on parts of Kata and happen really fast. As for moves and winning competitions, I know many championship class MA that use mostly a handful of moves but do them really well and win consistently. There is something to be said for the keep it simple concept in sparring IMO. I think having a few wild card moves that they might not be as familiar with might help to throw off an opponent but are not key IMO> Of course what do I know, I am only a lowely orange/black, but I do spend too much time thinking about these things

I have taken many shin hits. Lots of students old and young in our dojo wear shin pads. I don't but then again I don't bruise that easily and so far have not had anything with perminant damage there. I have had some issues with broken toes, bruised ribs etc though.

In my last sparring class I took a pretty good beating btw. There were more students present this time and going against some black belts certainly showed me how much more I have to "take it up a few more notches", to be at this level. I did come out learning a bit more and being more dedicated to working on my technique so I can compete, some day.

For me personally it has been about a year, but this can varry I think depending on the student and the style. I am not an expert in such things so I cannot speak specifically on this.

My mistake is not counter punching quick enough or going on the ofensive when I catch them off guard. There is also my lack of flexibility (I am working on it), I cannot kick high enough, yet.

I hear ya about sparing! It both scares and excites me. I have only been to about 5 sparring classes so far, most of the time I find it fun. I learn a bit each class and am slowly getting better. I suspect the same will be true of you. In our dojo you are not expected to start attending sparring class until you are a green belt. I am only an orange/black, but figure the sooner I start the more learning I get. I am generally up against black to blue belt students. My body is still hurting from the beating I took last night.

Go for it. Most people I know drink more like a half dozen a week, so I consider it rare.

I love beer but rarely drink. I would say I drink a couple every 2 or 3 weeks.

For me having other materials to supplement the learning I am having in class is valuable. Even if the dojo does not teach it this way, having an understanding of other ways of doing things I think is usefull. I do think that some famous MA do use books and videos as a cash grab though.

Welcome to the group. I love this forum for learning and feeding my MA obsession.

Excuse the bad grammar and possibly confusing statement. It should have read "it is still that mark of poor MA" and when I refer to protected I mean via blocks etc not head gear.

Thanks for the info. It is too late for me to be changing my head gear now as I have bought this one (actually an xmas gift from my wife). It will take getting used to but am less worried about this type of accident etc. My pride keeps me wanting to protect my head. Yes it might be protected but it is still pretty a mark of poor MA if the head is not protected adequately IMO.

I was orignally looking for a more Self Defense oriented MA, but was interested in more tradional aspects of MA as well. I checked out the local dojos and just liked the feel of the dojo I went with. It also had a bit to do with being able to train under a 8th degree black belt. I thought in the long term there would be more that could be learned from his experience. So really it was a number of factors. In retrospect I do not regret my decision. It does not hurt that this dojo is only a few blocks from my house either.

Also I think it follows that they would have underqualified Sensais. I don't mean their belt is less than black, but the actual knowledge they possess is as you say watered down. Not all black belts are the same. Some dojos/organizations have very strict, tough requirements, others it is not.

If I am not already tired out from other exercise like we do in warm up (especially the ones that tire out my lower back) I can do a bit over 40 proper pushups. I am struggling but I can do them. With the pretty heavy cardio etc stuff we do in day to day class I can only do about 15 in a row, but it depends. I try to push my self to not sacrifice technique in class so they will slowly improve over time.

Well I guess it goes both ways, and forgive me if I took a bit of offense to what I thought was a slight against me. I am not really macho at all. I also don't steer clear of sports because they might give me some injury. In my life I have been into some pretty agressive mountain biking and mogul skiing as a kid. The threat of physical injury I think actually adds to the rush of these sports, but I figure why risk it if I don't have to in this case.

The head gear I am using looks like this but is all black (ProForce): http://www.karatedepot.com/catalog/images/items/pr-hd-43.jpg

Well I don't mean to be counter snippy, but this seems to be a bit of stereo typical macho attitude. I know full well that I am going to have the occasional injury and that MA is a sport that this is going to happen in. This is not the point of full face protection for me, the point is there is no need for me to risk my face/teeth etc getting messed up for what is a pass time or hobby for me. I am very serious about my Karate training. I am more of a threat now in a fight than I was a year ago and this aspect of MA is part of why I do it. I love the rush of sparring but just dont want to risk some of the possible stuff that could happen to my face for no real reason other than to be macho. I agree that I am missing a small bit of the experience if I wear tons of protection because you rely on it to keep you safe and this does play a part in a real fight. I guess that is why on occasion they get us to spar without equipment.

Well that seems like an over simplification. Yes getting hurt is on my mind but not because of the pain but how it would mess up my day to day life and to be honest Karate sparring does put you directly in the path of a sport that will cause injury. In my one year of Karate I have broken one toe, seriously injured another, bruised a rib and of course had my share of bruises. I have never skipped a class due to my broken toes etc. If you ask anyone that knows me I have a huge tolerance for pain, but I just don't want to get messed up for no practical reason. Besides I have a pretty face and my wife likes it that way

I had asked ppl here about the one the dudes on the Extreme Maratial Arts show were wearing but didn't get any real feedback on them. Our school you never see this type but it could just be that they don't have a dealer handy to buy them. They recommended the one that I got and I like it but it does create a blind spot. I am not sure that the full face plastic ones would be a lot better. The lower breathing part I am sure would distort the view and would create it's own type of blind spot. Lastly I throw so much heat and sweat off when I spar I would fog it up no matter what they say. i have never seen anyone sweat as heavy as I do when sparring (to my embarassment).

Yes that is what he called it. It was explained as follows. We don't think about walking yet it comes automatically. Why? Because your body just knows what to do when you walk. Karate is much the same, you start off not knowing the moves, your body learns it and it becomes natural. They kept saying this but deep in my mind I was not sure if I "bought it". I figured it wasn't a lie but could be over stated. Then my body started to do things automatically NMM started and now it has given me a boost in my Karate interest. Yes there is still lots of reptition and stuff to learn but I guess I can see how it gets applied personally. It wasn't so long ago when an attack was launched in sparring class that I would throw a block or two but cower away, but now a block will come from no where and I automatically feel my body reacting. It really helps the self confidence IMO. I am still going to get my butt kicked if I got in a street fight but I am wondering, if this change has happened at about 1 year for me, what will it be like after an additional 5 years (approx) when I will be at black belt and beyond? I have also noticed that I can do the blocks and counters with more power and snap. I used to have to kind of cut the corners of the technique because I felt I needed to in order to do it fast. Now that it is coming naturally and I had continued to refine the techniques in Kata class they are much more powerful.

Kyoshi often says this to us when you think you have forgotten your kata, he says "just do what your body is telling you to do" and he is right, you start on a certain way because it seems right, but you might hesitate, your body knows what it needs to do, but your mind can get in the way at times. I find this also applys to sparring. At first you react to everything and there is a pause as you think about what to do, but as I do it I don't think so much about what is going to go back or be done as a counter or an attack combo, they just flow and happen and it feels like you are not thinking about it really.

Yes I have a good mouthpiece, but you don't understand. Just a good hard grinding of my teeth can cause them to chip or crack. Secondly, it isn't that I depend on face protection but MA training is not worth me breaking a nose or spitting teeth out or even in worst case breaking my jaw. Our school requires a bunch of equipment at lower belt levels (I am only an orange/black) and makes it optional as you move up depending on how intense of sparring you are doing. This is for liability I believe. At Green belt they start to allow some lightish head contact and at black I beleive it goes up to more heavy. Of course at this level you should be pretty good at blocking, but you still are going to get your bell run every so often. Anyways, I understand the argument of less equipment is more realisitic, but on the other hand for day to day training, I think being protected just makes plain sense.