ShoriKid

You sir have the unfair advantage of being highly skilled! When I started training my right was so weak I fought out of an orthodox stance so I could generate good power. Which let me put together a good lead jab, hook and lead side kick. Now, I worked my right side and it's gotten better, still not great. But I switch up to southpaw, sometimes against skilled opponents because it throws them off and forces me to work on it. And it happens naturally during the course of sparring, so you learn to work with where you are so it's harder to be forced out of position/stance be someone. Most of my guys pay a little more attention now when I switch up to southpaw, knowing that I've loaded up the power hand.

Context. It is something lacking in a lot of technical discussions in martial arts and I think that is exactly what Mr. Abernethy was getting at in that video. We tend to get caught up in doing what we do, the way we've done it without regard to the why something is done or how it might need to be changed.

I've reached the point where working out hard enough that you leave with that dead tired, but pleased with the work out feeling really hurts in the morning. Too many rounds sparring and my legs hate the stairs at work. Getting older for combatives. I'm in all those "senior" and "master" categories if I compete these days. Then there are the nights like when PitbullJudoka, the other instructor, comes up asking what someone did, because he can hear me smoking the guys from down stairs when he's running late. Mind you, I'm doing every rep right along with the guys.

GojuRyu Bahrain, you beat me to it. Bertel spends a great deal of time telling everyone that if they do not practice and train like the JKA he is part of, they are doing it wrong. He hammers on about "traditional" karate. Which, in his large classes, doing tons of line work, working to perfect his point sparring and over emphasizing movements in kata for dramatic effect, he claims to be doing. While he may have a point that folks don't generally want to train in more traditional karate, I think he is blinded from the forest by all the trees around him. I could pick his points apart individually, but unless it's called for, I don't see the point in it here. Each person is free to train as they please. The claim of the most traditional of karate is hard to make and do so honestly. The JKA thinks they are doing it right, when a lot of it is Japanese college club, post war expansion and sport oriented. Others are making the same claim from different angles and have just as thin a grip. Traditional karate, from what I've read and seen pointed out by others is different. My frame work, generally pre-WWII stuff. It is small group, emphasizes paired drill work, is combative in nature, focuses on a handful of kata and includes answers for attacks from long range to short, with a heavy flavor of standing grappling and striking combined.

Most of our sparring falls into a continuous realm. We have done point sparring a handful of times just to show the differences. Our contact levels are generally on the low to medium end of contact. We all have jobs or school to go to the next day. On occasion we bump up the contact level, but not too often as too much hard contact leads to injuries. Protective gear is simple, mouth guard and boxing or mma gloves, all males are expected to have a groin cup on when they are in the dojo. Our legal targets are anything from the ankles up, no groin or strikes directly against the joints. Sweeps and throws are allowed, and perhaps a follow up strike once they hit the ground. The length of our rounds vary from 2 minutes up to 5, with between 1 minute to 30 seconds of rest. Those rounds fly by in the beginning and the rest drags out, later in the night it is the other way around. When numbers allow for it we swap sparring partners every round, which gives you plenty of looks. Changing up the rules can really have an affect on how you do, the strategy you can use. I've sparred with people who don't allow leg kicks and when I hold those back and keep all contact above the waist it changes how I have to move sparring.

Those gloves are there as much to protect the fighter's hands as they are to keep cuts down. Unwrapped, ungloved hands don't do so well with repeated strikes to the head. If you break your hand you are out for a couple of months at the very least, if it is a clean break. A lot of that time you can't do much more than work that other hand a little and run. No, or limited, grappling, no strength training and sparring will be right out the window. Contrast that to shin guards. They shift, as many have stated. Enough that part of the way through any bout they will have the strapping material over the shin bone instead of the padding. Combine that with head kicks being very rare until recently, setting aside Cro Cop and a handful of others, there just hasn't been the need. The negatives far outweigh the positives.

I may have missed this in browsing through posts. Spar more. Do so without a coach and against opponents you don't normally face. If you can spar with people from other dojos, just to get out of your comfort zone, that will help to. Getting other looks, from people who aren't your dojo mates helps a ton in relaxing while sparring. I know that may not be the most practical advice, but it will help. A lot of relaxation in training is bred through familiarity. The more you do something, the more the jitters are removed.

On the flip side of this, there are martial artists who are held back from promotion for reasons other than their skills. Time in grade, which Sensei8 was fortunate to avoid due to an insightful instructor, politics, personal feelings etc. I have a friend who was held back from shodan due to school vs school politics. I've known a few people held at shodan because the instructor didn't want them getting too close in rank to them. Sure, at some point rank doesn't matter. And then it does. The skilled martial artist would rather train with the Nidan who is highly skilled than the Godan who is middling at best. However, if you are entering into the world of teaching, most people are not skilled martial artist and the number of stripes on the belt matter. And, if you are part of an organization, being lower rank matters many times. The words of those below Godan generally aren't accorded a lot of weight. Politics is a human endeavor. Last I checked humans are the only ones doing organized martial arts (I hope!). Therefore politics come into play at some point in everything we do.

Wager in Black Belt magazine advocated training no more than 6 months in another style. He argued that by then you would know everything you really needed to know from a style. He also had written that if you couldn't learn a technique and use it against a fully resisting partner in 30 minutes, it wasn't any good. I don't believe in either of those things being true and my experience is what led me to feel that way. Training in another art can fill gaps in what you are doing. Or, has it has for me, caused you to look at your core art in a new light. Boxing techniques may not always jive with your karate in some applications, but it should make you have a new perspective on the way you do karate. American Kenpo techniques I learned from one of my instructors caused me to look at how I moved in karate. BJJ and wrestling flavor how I look at it's in close work too. It is the approach you take to training in multiple arts that can make all the difference. Having instructors that know what you are doing and know how to approach it helps quite a bit too.

You have to remember that some here don't really know the awesome that was Walker. I still remember that episode. I recall a podcast episode were they interviewed one of the Machado brother and he talked about how good a guy Chuck had been helping them out and how dedicated to training he was.

I think the main requirement, for me, is a business set up to extract maximum profits for minimum effort. This is usual done through the offering of a low quality product. High quality instruction is worth every penny you pay. For a long time the ma community has held the idea that instructors should be destitute, teaching for the love of the art. We need to shake that idea, kill it with fire, and at the same time weed of low quality instructors. Not new, or inexperienced ones who just need times to season. The rexquan-do needs to vanish from the face of the earth.

Solid post!! Please understand, our way is just a way, but it's our way. We do yield, but the circumstances must favor to do so. I have meant to come back to this for several days, but the works has conspired against me doing so. Sensei8, I didn't mean any disrespect in my post. A bit odd a devil's advocate perhaps. All movement, positioning, must be to your advantage. Always. Whether to get off your heals, gain a better angle of attack of more advantageous position of power etc. Small or large, movement has to better us in our moment of need. Do you ever do anything to restrict students ability to retreat or maneuver? We have in the past cut the "ring" to a 4 or even 2 meter square, had the other students circle around like an encroaching crowd, and even tired them together at the belt at arm's length. All to restrict movement and force close range engagements.

Are you saying that at this MMA gym they spend not even one hour a week hitting pads, sparring, and drilling techniques? If that's the case I predict very poor results for these amateur fighters, and you won't really need to say anything as that will speak for itself. if the fighters do well, then you've probably misjudged the gym.. as for your friend inflating his credentials, you could just ask him about it in private, you may be able to convince him that it wasn't cool and he shouldn't do it again. Yes, I am saying that they aren't getting the time in. Most of it is conditioning rounds, with voluntary sparring for a few rounds after class end and perhaps an hour or so once a week to hit mitts, work the bag or do any actual skill building. In the small, small world we live in, I spoke to a guy (we'll call him Joe) I know who participated in the fights 2 weeks ago that the local gym sent people to. "Joe" fights out of a gym south of us, a Nova Uniao affiliate. Joe lost one of the local guys, a golden gloves boxer who moved here, in a kick boxing match. The boxer still trains in another town most of the time. The other three fighters went 0-3, a decision, a submission loss, and a TKO. My big problem is, I guess, two fold. One, they are selling a product they aren't delivering which will lead to someone getting hurt. And secondly, in a town this small, anybody teaching gets painted with the same brush. If one person is doing something, everybody assumes that anyone teaching/training is doing the same thing. On the friend, if the conversation leads that way, I may ask where he got that ranking, as I know he hasn't been at it that long compared to others I know. And when he brings it up, say something about that not being the way I would want to go about it. Don't want bad blood with him. I want to believe that he got into the organization(s) for the contacts and training opportunities after his instructor moved away and got caught up in things.

Sensei8, don't feel bad sir. I haven't heard about something like this until I read these posts. Weird! I can't wrap my head around a fully furnished dojo ready to rent, just add students.

Only related by the fact that he asked about the MMA gym when I ran into him near my home. He had one of his students, a low ranked one 8th kyu or there abouts, teaching there and asked me if they had approached me to teach there. His rank/time in training came up as part of his displeasure about the student going behind his back to teach and being dishonest about it when asked. This guy literally teaches up the road from my parents house. I'm sure that his ranking comes from one of the organizations he's joined in the past five or six years. Most of the folks listed for their fights have perhaps the 6 months training, but not the 1-3 hours a week in skills work. During the time I helped prep a couple of guys for amateur fights, and considered one myself, it was a much deeper training background with 6-10 hours a week on skills. Most of the strength and conditioning was your responsibility outside of work outs. A different culture I guess. Instructors who don't look out for their students, who throw them into fights ahead of time are not people I care for. These are both situations that I've run into before. Mostly though, in gyms/dojos far enough away that I was just visiting, or with instructors I had to brush into at a seminar or in one of those far off places. This, in my back yard. I'm also not great at staying quiet about the things I'm passionate about. I've gone for guarded honesty when asked. I don't intend to wage a PR campaign against the MMA place. However, I won't sugar coat what I think of them if asked by someone I know. As to the friend, it's a hard call. He teaches, he's got a lot invested in wearing that rank and I don't think there is a good way to turn him away from that.

Must of us were brought up to say nothing if we didn't have something good to say. As a martial artist I was taught not to denigrate other systems. However, I may have reached my limit lately. We have an MMA gym in our small town that has been operation for just over a year. I've trained with them, and other students of ours have too. Polite people. There is a lot of conditioning, not a lot of skill training. Now they are putting people in amateur fights. I am friends with a pretty solid martial artist that in a conversation the other day said he had been training more than 20 years, and earned a 5th dan in 3 (may have been 5, long conversation), Japanese JJ styles and his purple in BJJ. Outside of boxing as a teen, I know he's trained less than 15 years, closer to 10. I knew his first instructor, when he tested for shodan etc. So, at what point do you speak up about things? I've began giving a very guarded opinion on the MMA gym when asked by people I know. The other case, I've not crossed into yet. He's a long time friend, family with family. We all are appalled at the quality of martial training and decry bad instruction passing off goods to the uniformed. Eyes roll and people get upset over unearned rank. But, what do you do about it? I know many will say, keep training, keep teaching and quality will win out. Where do we draw the line though, say something?

Any army that cannot withdraw will find itself on the spear points of it's enemy in time. Withdraw is not retreat and you have to know the difference, when each must be employed, learn to read the circumstances and make the correct call. Even the kata teach use that there are times when we must withdraw in order to achieve victory. Always falling back, retreating and covering are signs of lack of confidence in technique, and often natural timidity. Most people in these times have been conditioned to not hit people. To be meek in the face of physical threats. Part of an instructors job is to break that conditioning. Teach the limits for use of force, to temper the aggression that a good karate must be able to use. Yakusoku kumite re-enforce this point. We were trained to give ground when it was in our advantage, or to steal it from the attacker. But no more than a step before turning, off angling. You were to look for a stronger line of attack, gain advantage. If you were to cover up, we were taught you will still get hit, and you will lose. That there is no defense good enough to keep you safe. You must go on the offense at some point. Your enemy must be put in a compromised position by your actions.

Jack wrote it, I read it. It's been that way for a while now. I don't know if we will see a blitz from Rockhold, or a fighter who normally applies pressure laying back and not leading because of Machida's counter fighting ability. Machida has lead in a few fights lately, but it is against his normal style and not something I think he enjoys. Rockhold has a strong wrestling background, unless I'm thinking of the wrong fighter, and that could prove problematic for Machida. That though, depends on Rockhold closing the distance enough to make effective shots or to force a clench. The counter side is Machida's Judo training, something not seen in a lot of MMA fighters, which opens a whole different group of take downs that most fighters do not see coming. I'll be watching tonight after I've gotten everyone off bed. What amazes me is the level of ignorance about karate based techniques present in MMA. So much so that something as simple as a traditional front/snap kick to the body or thigh seems to totally confuse most fighters. Anyone getting out of the boxing/Thai boxing striking mold causes all sorts of problems and garners a lot of attention.

Two that still stick around, though perhaps not as bad as before. Don't lift weights, it will make you too slow and stiff to do martial arts. Because being strong is totally bad in a hands on, physical confrontation. And followed by; Size and strength don't matter if you have trained properly. Um, because physical attributes total don't matter in a hands on, physical confrontation.

Are they replaceable? In a sense, yes. They are training me for the day I will be ready to train with another. When I have surpassed what they have to offer and they will joyfully point me toward another who's knowledge is what I need at that time. I have been lucky in that I have trained with 4 instructors. One, I grew to the point of needing another at that time. And I may have come close to growing to the point of needing them again. One I have out lived. Another I have not out grown, and have not replaced. The last I grew to be, at least in how things have felt, become a peer in training more than a student many times. So, have I replaced these men who have been my instructors? Yes and no. They have been key in my development along my martial path. Without them I would not be who I am, for good or ill, as a martial artist. So, in that they were irreplaceable. Has any of them lead me to the end of my journey? No, and in that they have been replaced with a new guide to take me further on. I have joined myself to fellow travelers on the path who have seen a little further down the way than I have or can. Sensei8, with much respect to your Dai-Soke and his instruction of you, I think he took you as far as he could along the martial path. Mortality and time forced you to "replace" him. And I mean no disrespect in saying that. Now in his place you have your students, who from all that you have written here, now teach you very much about the martial arts, though in a different way. And further, he was replaced by you. You now fill those shoes for many others because you were in fact nourished by him martially and it caused you to grow strong in those teachings.

I look a lot of times at the passing of masters in the duality it presents. They are gone, and the knowledge and experience they have accumulated over the years has passed with them, save what was transmitted to their students. That knowledge will only rarely be complete, and will be held by someone with different experiences, attitude and beliefs. Which, in turn, shapes how they transmit that knowledge and in what direction they take not only their own training, but that of their students. At the same time there is a chance for new and fresh ideas, new energy to step up and take the helm. Without infusions of new blood, the system is stagnant. And, while the old masters may mean well, there are things about the younger generations that they are so far removed from they can't understand them. Social media and the internet to spread their art, or at least let their students stay more in touch and build a stronger community. Something as simple as these forums, which I am thankful for (may Patrick be blessed for hosting them), is not something many of the past generations would see a value in or be willing to participate in. It is about shaking hands, talking face to face, which I prefer. However, that leads to a geographically isolated group in many instances or a federation/group so weakly tied together that they splinter when the master passes. But, do you then build relationships across the internet that may, or may not, have any real substance behind them. How many "likes" equal a friendship? For example, out chief instructor is in his middle to late 60s with sever visual disabilities. So, he does not travel much and lives many hours from my home. With work and family obligations being what they are, as well as finances, it makes it very difficult to travel to train with him. For all of us. He knows about the internet, I think his wife has email, but that's about the extent of his use of it and he's not a great fan for phone calls. He is a very face to face man. My instructor below him is on facebook because his family pressured him into making a page so they could keep up with him. He hasn't posted a status or "liked" anything in I couldn't tell you when. In our training we have myself and my brother, geographically isolated from a small organization with no web presence at all and no one of similar mindset in training close enough to regularly gather with to exchange ideas. When our master is gone, who will carry on for him? Our instructor very likely. He is a very skilled and dedicated martial artist whom I respect greatly. However, outside of our small group, where does that lead? When the master is gone and new ideas are open, will it lead us to grow or perish? I've thought about it before, and considered and discussed joining some martial organizations to help bring us forward. That begins the troubles of a new group, a new master, a new path. Do we know them, do we trust them, can we respect the new one like we did the old? I think a lot of men in the middle, where I see myself, hopefully without ego, ask these questions. Is the passing of a master evolution, revolution or extinction? It is a frightening thing to ponder when you have little input on what goes on above and are held responsible for what goes on below.

I think the relatively low number of black belt/advanced partners to train with can play heavily into the feeling that there isn't much to do once you've gotten your shodan. True, up until that point you are learning a lot of individual techniques and katas over the course of a few months. Beyond black belt, that does become a smaller number over a longer period. But, when you are one of a handful of people, getting very little instruction time, on very little material, it can be very frustrating. There is also a lot of time spent paying attention to the lower belts, moving them along. Unless your school is very unusual, those lower belts vastly out number the black belts. That means the instructors time is mostly spent with those lower belts. Now, part of it is that is letting the higher belts learn to guide themselves. But, it is hard to get them the time and attention they need to help move them along. In addition, a lot of instructors just don't have that much to impart to black belts, because they didn't get that much themselves. It is a compound problem, with more than a single facet contributing to what is going on. Add to that all of the social pressures that most people just hitting black belt experience, being mostly younger and not yet settled in life when they start training. I do know I was more than a little happy one night when we had 5 black belts in our small club! Instant black belt class. The lower belts present just had to buckle up and hang on for the ride.

There are a lot of ways to respond here. Tallgeese, you are spot on I believe. It is pretty much the same sort of question we field when talking about standing technique as well. "It depends" is one of those frustrating answers for students sometimes too. When you are new, a white belt for BJJ, a set answer is what you are after a lot of times. Hearing an instructor say "it depends" can make you want to pull your hair out. Getting people to trust their instincts when they are very new and unsure of themselves can be tough when there is pressure on during a roll. Getting them to relax and let go with their techniques go takes a lot of time. Without that time everything gets "stuck" in their head. Too much thinking, too much decision making and hesitation causes them to always be just behind. My wrestling coach used to call it "getting lost on the mat". I'm with Tallgeese on me picking the techniques. While training makes the responses smoother, faster and cleaner, I'm still driving. The training time, the mat sense, helps with Hick's Law. Where those hard earned years of training come in is the speed at which you perceive the attack, read the information and pare down your options. With enough training, you will know your intent, read the energy and the comfort level is there too. Your decision tree has a lot of limbs pared off of it from the get go. Your OODA loop gets shortened up to the point that things seem to just happen.

Great video as always. One of the things that we get asked all the time by students. And the simple answer is often that we are wearing jackets half the year. That you are forced to work more on defense and offense worth the gi is one I hasn't thought of before. One point that we point out is that the transition from gi to no gi is easier. Bushidoman, you asked about on the gi. For us the transition to no gi a sleeve grip can become wrist control very easily. Yes, you need to train that change over, but it is an easy transition to make. The point about getting better at body control by doing gi work was one I hadn't considered. But, in thinking back on my karate based grappling and grips I think my (limited) bjj experience has changed how I can control people. More when I'm not on a phone.

Just adding something here that I think will open up discussion. http://www.ikigaiway.com/2014/making-sense-of-passai-an-exploration-of-origin-and-style/ More later when work permits.