Givnal

I think its this kind of thinking that turns many away from martial arts and is frankly a terrific way to injure yourself so you dont train for a while. In one steps the idea is to let the other person practice a return technique without the substancial damage that comes along with it. Anyone can break someone elses ribs easily if you let them, this kind of training makes no sense to me. Are you sure you understand what one steps are and how they are conducted?

What did you finally decide? I might have missed it but did you end up finding a place you like or are you still considering the gosoku-ryu dojo? Just curious because I think if you can work through some of the adjustments there you may infact fall in love with it. Sometimes just one visit to any dojo can give you a false sense of what the program really entails. After a few visits and getting to know other students you might get to enjoy it more, sometimes half the battle of finding a new place is new faces and the interaction that goes along with it. Ive come to realize that training, even if it is in a style I wasnt looking to get involved with is still beneficial. Give it some time, everything you learn can offer more for your personal arsenal.

Absolutly, that was a great post and all of it was 100% on, loved it. On the note about tough guys just fighting alot....I know lots of familys that have many brothers in them that have spent about all their lives punching and kicking each other. Most of them are accomplished at beating and getting beat at an early age so in a way its just an extension of early training. Some people are just naturally nasty and dont mind getting cracked in the head where most people would back down. Also we shouldnt forget about the thugs that are doped up enough to keep coming when they shouldnt. Even an extreamly accomplished MArtist could easily be overmatched if the opponent doesnt feel broken bones or other pain related gifts.

For anyone with disk problems hyperextensions are a no no. There is some extreme torque to the lower back. Ive had the same back problems as described above and over 20 years have mostly gotten ahead of the pain. Lots of physical therapy. Its very easy to make this kind of problem worse. The best thing to do is talk to your doc and clear your excersizes with him, which sounds like you did already. In general, hamstring stretching and light excersize is a great start and will help relieve tension. Core excersizes like crunches are much more healthy to the spine than sit ups anyway so stick to those if you can handle them. Not that it might be a problem, but Ive found that gaining even a few extra pounds in the belly really pulls the back forward and can create more pain. Loosing the belly was the single most important thing to pain management for me, Im finally at a stage where it doesnt bother me much but I really have to pay attention to my body and dont push it. Its an injury that wont go away, Im sure Ill always have problems if I dont keep an eye on it. Of course my problems might be different, but when your back makes your legs hurt its certainly a serious problem. I hope you can get it somewhat resolved, I wouldnt wish that pain on anyone.

This is what Im thinking too. Ask him what the level of contact is. I practice some of the same style and we have what we call the Five Degrees of Focus while training. One of the first things I learned. 1. No contact 2. Skin contact 3. About 2'' beyond 4. About mid body 5. Complete During one step the attacker stays idle after the defender's block and then the defender makes his attack. At this point its just stupid to blast you since he's basically just letting you practice your technique. Our contact is always 2 unless told otherwise during one steps since they are just warm ups mostly. He probably has poor distance control. My instructor always said white belts are the most dangerous to practice with, sounds like he may have advanced too quickly . Hang in there, you might ask your sense about it, maybe you are paired with him because your new and everyone else knows him. Then again, you could always just smile at him after the next time and ask if thats the level of contact you should be using also

Ive certainly had my fair share of kicks to the back of the knees to make me go lower, smacks to the belly to straighten up etc. Id like to say I think Ive gotten it, but about that time I seem to get another reminder that Im slipping again

I study shudo-kan with a heavy gosoku-ryu influence in it as my sense has dan ratings in both. Ive never met Soke Kubota but would love to, my sense has. Its a very hard and fast style. If you have an opportunity to study the style I would, Im a little biased

Yes, if they are indentified and tracked down. They can be charged for leaving the scene of an accident, and for failure to report the accident. If any level of injuries occured in the accident, the severity of the charges can increase. Ah. So does the same mindset apply to something like this even though the other person is the aggressor? Could you get done for something like negligence? Id think leaving the scene of a crime would only be illegal if you were the criminal. A victim or intended victim shouldnt be in trouble, IMO. I think where you could get in trouble is if the attacker lies and there are no witnesses to back you up, or if someone mistakes your defense for a first strike. On top of that, people have been dragged into civil court for wrongful death by shooting a criminal in their own house, so it stands to reason the same could happen in this case, even if nobody died. People sue for any reason. I think this still makes me lean toward getting out of there quickly. Maybe an anonymous 911 call would be good in case they didnt get up.

I was thinking, if you were accosted by an individual and were forced to defend yourself and after, that individual was going to need a long hospital stay, what would be your next move? I suppose this may be a loaded question with huge dependence on circumstances such as witnesses, location such as (drunk guy at a bar, or mugger on the street), loved ones who might be with you, etc. However, would you leave the scene regardless as soon as it was over no matter what, or stay for the law and answer questions or maybe even try to press charges? In my mind if there were no witnesses to confirm you were the intended victim you might have a problem proving you wern't the attacker. In a crowd, witnesses may not see the initial attack. I personally think Id bail regardless, and if the cops had an ID on me, license plate, etc, they could ask me questions later. Id just say I thought it was better I leave quick since I thought I could be out numbered, feared for my safty, etc. In any case, the possibility of a civil suit could be very real even if it was proven that you were in the right, something else to consider. Anyway, I noticed we train for these instances but dont talk much about ''after the fact'', so it seemed like a good discussion topic.

Ill work on it, thanks for all the tips.

Dont sweat it. There are alot of boneheads out there not worth the hassle. Your deposit was way more important than any altercation, you did the right thing. Even though it is human nature to be frustrated over things like this, just smile and move on. Its one thing for someone to insult you and quite another to defend your life or property. Choose your battles wisely, you cant fight them all. Self Control is one of our dojo's kun, I sometimes remind myself of that every now and then too.

Good point, being positive is always helpful. By the way I am an accomplished pessimist, if nothing else

Sasori Te, thanks. I think that may be easier to do than trying to ignore the random thoughts all together. Thats so accurate with the breathing analogy, your definanitly in my head. Ill try both methods. As far as seiza, we do it basiclly sitting on our knees, back straight and one hand in the other, not in the lotus position. I was under the impression that this was a meditation posture and a time to focus on karate only, kind of a time to shed thoughts not related to training. Do you do focus on something different or is there another goal in your training? Is your mention of concentrating energy part of that meditation or something else? Im guessing you have been doing this a while.

I think a grab to the groin or simply grabbing an ear would pull him off you rather quicky. What was it, 8 lbs pressure to remove one? Pulling out a large chunk of scalp, an eye gouge or throat strike might not be a bad move if you can get it. We are trying to seriously hurt them, this is real life right?

Hmmm, that might work. Im afraid it may turn out to be one of those things like laying in bed at night watching the clock thinking, if I can get 4 hrs of sleep Ill be ok....then an hour later....if I can just get 3 hrs... I think my problem is that I just cant think of nothing at all. I dont know, maybe its medical How do you hear or feel something and not think about it. Please note, Im not trying to be a wise guy but I just seem to be tuned into everything. Hard to explain but the more I try to ignore my outside world it seems like I notice more. I sometimes use an electronic box that makes waves, white noise, waterfalls etc. at night to get me to sleep and that helps but for the most part clearing my mind is tough. I will try the small time frame tonight and work on extending it, this is something I really need to learn to do.

Well, Ive been thinking about seiza and about what it is supposed to accomplish. I regurlarly practice before training but in reality cant quite get around the mental part. Sitting there doesnt bother me much but trying to clear my head and focus is another story. I seem to either get tired or my mind wanders off to other things in life. Ive tried meditating in the past but again my active mind wont let me. Even when I try concentrating on breathing Ill get sidetracked onto another thought. I even have trouble sleeping due to this also unless Im physically done in from training or work. I have a somewhat stressful job and could really benefit from it if I could just get my act together. Id love to hear how others have gotten around this, or whats helped them.

You should get another . One thing I have noticed is that Im using muscles, or rather, working deep tendons that I havent worked quite like the bag produces. I think its from holding your shoulders high and many more strikes than you would sparing or just working techniques. I sometimes over do it without thinking, then I have to focus on recouping. Seems to be one of my bad habits

A couple months ago I decided Ive been needing more cardio and less weight training. My stamina was suffering a little. I opted to get a speed bag and heavy bag which can be darn good cardio, at least for me. Ive fallen in love with the speed bag and sometimes loose track of time, alot of fun. Ive found that this has been the single most effective thing Ive done to increase my punching speed and I can tell its helping my timing alot also. Add in some heavy bag kicking/punching techniques and Im exhausted. Definanitly not just for boxers .

Yea, I agree. Fight Quest is a way better show IMO. They train and fight harder than the other show and this last Krav Maga show was awsome. Those guys train insanely, especially that girl's school. Loved it, I was cracking up when the host was saying that he thought she was somewhat crazy. The Hapkido show was very good too, Ive put this on my favorites to watch list.

Its pretty rough on a body to go high intensity/heavy lifting for a sustained time, although Im of the opinion that heavy lifting does increase speed as well as power. Endurance would likley increase with lighter weights and more reps. Switching up light and heavy routines every week might be good for muscle confusion. Basicly HIIT. Just run your normal schedual going 6-7reps 4 sets at your highest weight one week and the next dropping a bunch of weight til you can get 15-16 reps on your sets. Switching body part training every couple weeks could be beneficial for the same reasons. You can also do some isometric type lifting where you work half muscles like Schwartzneger's 21s for biceps where you go 7-7-7. Your reps per set would be 21, curls- 7 from the top to midway, 7 from the bottom to midway and 7 full reps. Those were always killer. There are other ways to train other bodyparts similarly. Youre right about the compound moves, big core excersizes like that are bread and butter but remember that your MA training is going to take alot out of you and thats probably why your having trouble recouping some. Football linemen and boxers train differently so I guess it depends on what your after in the end. That said, at 40, now I could never keep up with a schedual like I used to. Shoot, even when I was 30 and lifting heavy I doubt I could have thrown in 3 days of karate training and the 3-4 days of lifting. Just too much, the muscles wouldnt have enough time to heal. More is less sometimes, but the good thing about training is that you can switch routines and mix things up all you want, as long as youre keeping to a routine and you are enjoying yourself you'll keep progressing .

Ah, very good. Im staying away from Creatine also these days although for me it worked very well and I did notice a good increase in sustained energy. It is expensive and I figure I dont need all that these days, besides I was always dehydrated. I was going to mention vitamins also but you sound like you have a pretty good head about what you are doing. Make sure to check back in and let us know how the new routine is going.

Good to hear youre changing things up a bit. You sound like I used to weight train. I have to admit that when I started karate I had (still have) trouble getting loose in the shoulders and hips. Not enough streatching over the years, I wish I had taken the time to do that. It would have saved me some frustration now. Thinking about diet, another good thing for recoup is to have some good carbs within 30 minutes after you finish your workout, could be a baked potatoe or slice of pizza. Helps to keep your system from crashing. Dont over do it though. Toss in a bunch of protein also for muscle growth, Im sure you know all that. We could talk about Creatine also but thats another story and Im not sure what your lifting goals are either. Very easy to dehydrate on that stuff.

I spent many years hitting the weights and I found one thing many of us, (myself especially), forget that we need recoup time. Everyone is different but I was one of those people that if I didnt get a solid 8hrs sleep I had a harder time recovering. Make sure youre getting enough shut eye. Training, nutrition and sleep, top 3 things. I used a similar training schedual however I broke my arms up into different days. Chest and triceps, Bi's and Back worked well for me. When working with presses your using alot of triceps and when doing back excercises, especially lat pull downs, pull ups or even bent over rows you are using some bi's. By including these muscle masses together you are exhausting sister muscles so to speak, and giving your arms a little less intense training by splitting it into 2 days instead of doing it all in one day. I was mostly into strength training and found I made some great gains by switching my routine monthly and skipping a day now and then when I felt I was overdoing it. Sometimes pushing too hard can actually hurt our progress. Anyway, just a couple random thoughts.

Good point. Ill have to just ask I guess.

Thanks. I know my first instructor is ok with it. Im not sure about the new one. Ill have to e mail and ask him. Is it common for someone to be able to take bo classes and not practice the karate style taught at the school? I probably wouldn't even ask if it is improper etiquette.