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My dojo has more than one style of sparring match. It can depend if you are training for tournaments or self defense. Point sparring matches are more tame but the odd punch kick etc can be blocked or wander high. The more self defense matches have a higher accident rate for accidental hard head contact. I can take some good licks and not worry about it but I have always been worried about my face and even more so, my teeth. My teeth are very brittle and have many chips and a full crown capped tooth. I am not training to become a UFC chap so I have been eyeing different forms of face protection. The dojo I train at only recommends one type of full face head gear. It has a couple thick bars across it and two that join with the bottom. Sorry I don't recall the brand name. It provides chin and back of the head protection as well. The good news is there is no plastic to fog up. I sweat heavy in sparring matches and I mean heavy. In other sports I have always had to battle fogging problems. The bad part is the bars do create a bit of a blind spot low for when kicks are coming in. I am finding that the confidence of knowing I am not going to be spitting all my teeth out has been a plus, but I think this blind spot issue will be a learning thing that I will get over and adjust for, but will see.

I have been studying Shorin Ryu Karate now for a little over a year. I would say I average about 3 hours of in class training a week. Most of this has been Kata but I manage to get into the sparring ring about once to twice a month. Recently I have noticed my body seems to be "getting it". I have done pretty good in Kata from lots of practice as I have gone a long, but it always seemed to be a battle to tell my body to do these strange moves, but in the last week I find my body wanting to naturally do some of them, kind of instictively. Some of the Sensai's have called this Neuro Muscular something or an other and it makes sense to me but it seems to have been a sort of transformation for me. I am not saying I couldn't improve my technique but it just seems to be more natural now. This has carried over into my sparring. I know people here argue Kata being a waste of time but for me, a guy with little fighting instinct, parts of the moves naturally happen now like high block, low block etc, sure the folds are not as formal as in Kata but the move and the snap is the same. They happen faster and faster now and it is pretty automatic. What I am wondering is, has anyone else had a point where they felt that their body suddenly starts to "get it" and it all starts to click in a kind of sudden change? I find this really pretty cool and I am loving it and the using of it.

I started reviewing some of my school's Katas in my head and there are a few others that seem to use this stance. The classic Fuokogata Ichi has a number of strikes in it that use this stance as well. When sparring though most seem to use a cross between a Zenkuotso Dashi (fogive my spelling, but it is leaning forward stance) and a extra long Shizentai Dashi.

Yup only picked one fight that I can think of in my life and this was 20 years ago. And I would not call it a fight really.

I hear that there is more than one way to do it but this is the way I was taught. These pictures look identical to the hand out I got in class but I found this using google search engine. http://www.zenshin-karate.co.uk/back_to_basics.htm

I have looked around at online stores and Chapters actual store and the books by Superfoot seem to be not available. I think I have the correct general idea, but am an efficiency nut and like to make sure my efforts are the best way to get there.

Shizentai is used in combination with Dachi in our school and means natural walking and is exactly as described by gheinisch. This stance is not used so much in our school for mounting an attack but is often used as part of a block combination. For example Fuokogata Di Ni (sorry about the bad spelling), starts with a step out into Shizentai Dashi and a turn on your heals 90 degrees into another Shizentai Dashi with a high block.

Thanks I will see if I can find a copy somewhere here in Canada.

Yes, thank you for this article. I never really thought of it this way but it is a great little collection of issues surrounding the "white belt" stage.

I have changed my routine a bit after some of the feedback here and reading a bit more, plus consulting my dojo. I now do the following daily usually around lunch: - standing side leg raises - standing front leg raises - lunges - ham string stretch (put foot forward point toes back as far as I can with legs straight and lean forward trying to touch toes) - straight leg toe touches held in position bending at hips - Y splits repeated with tension on and off increasing splits - put a leg on my desk and stretch to touch toes - inside and outside crescent kicks At night before going to sleep I use a rope setup to hook on my foot and pull my leg up towards my head while straight and hold it in position for many minutes at a time slowly increasing the stretch. Sometimes I use isometric tension as well. I seem to be seeing some gains in my flexibility now but it is very slow. I think adding the crescent kick and rope pull in bed are making the biggest difference plus not over doing the isometric splits. Thanks again to those that made suggestions.

This is a hard call. I know what you are going through. From about grade 4 to about 7 I had the tar beat out of me weekly but class bullies on the way home. Why? because I had a smart mouth, was short but was a total pacifist. It stopped at about grade 9. I had a growth spirt and caught up suddenly height wise and used this change as a point to start sticking up for myself. I used a cold stare and comments to make people think I was dangerous and it worked for the most part. What does all this have to do with MA? Well I think to this day one of my hidden agendas is to give me an edge if it does come to a fight (however unlikely in my line of work and circle of friends). I want to be confident if I had to stand up to bullies and have some skills if needed. I think MA can help you but really bullies will always be around and it is more than just learning to fight. All that being said, my main reason for taking MA is fitness with a purpose.

Exactly! Sorry my description was not the best, but this is exactly what I saw and it is not something I see alot of in our style of MA, so throws me a bit.

Yes it is a long way for me as well, but sounds fun. Banff is a beautiful location.

Happy New Years!

Huh? I started my training at 40. Sure I will never be an olympic contender but I love it none the same.

Sorry no photos. My wife came but we never thought about taking pictures plus our 2 1/2 year old was being a hand full so they had to leave.

I guess it is a relative term for me. So far none of my Katas demand way over the head kicks but because of my lack of flexibility in my Achilles tendons and in my groin prevent my front kick from reaching the face without me cheating my back ankle off the floor. Same with my round house, it can only reach about mid chest and should be higher. Katas might not use the higher kicks but Kumite does and not having the higher kicks is a handicap. I am not sure how to answer the question about which branch of Shorin-ryu we are. It is based a lot on traditional stuff from what I am told. Kyoshi, the head instructor in our dojo is an 8th degree black belt. He studied Karate in Japan and has Doctorate in MA. I think our katas were the ones he learned but it could be that they were changed a bit to fit into the wants of today’s students. For example we learn some Goshin Jitsu which I am pretty sure is not really part of traditional Okinawian Shorin-ryu Karate, but students like because they deal with some of the missing aspects of close in self defence ( countering wrist grabs, bear hugs etc).

Not nearly as impressive but I got my Orange/Black belt today (only 5+ more years till black). They pushed us so hard during the warm up, I thought I was going to pass out! I knew my katas so I got a good grade, but I really have to improve my kick height. I will keep on stretching.

Congratulations, in our dojo 1 out of 1000 people that start the journey to black belt reach it. So this is truely an great accomplishment!

I am not from Nova Scotia but I sure am from Canada.

I am wondering if anyone knows of any good books/videos/websites etc on different kick techniques in general? Every MA dicipline has it's own ways of doing things. My dojo so far has not spent a lot of time teaching different kicks other than the roundhouse, front, side and back kick. I would like to add a few different ones that could be used in sparring or self defense, but I am not sure where to go to find the key elements of it. Any suggestions would be great.

I don't know much about training gadgets and expect lost here don't use them. To me the best training is done with the pretty standard equipment. Heavy bags and time put in. Gadgets might add some spark to the repetition though. I am looking for some good books/videos on sparring techniques myself for xmas.

I have never seen this done at my dojo. They are actually very strict on Gi being worn at all times, but I do see the merit in seeing the difference wearing jeans vs gi pants.

I just found out that a spinning back kick or wheel kick could be legal in our style of karate tourneys as long as you are looking as the kick is delivered.

If you don't mind me asking. What brand is it and how much did it cost you?