ShoriKid

Yeah, I concur with you, Brian!! Maybe, it's the beginning of having a one central governing body...maybe!! I doubt it will ever happen.Me too, but I can dream! Can I be the odd man out and say I don't want a single governing body? While it sounds good, and may be convinent in some ways, I just can't be for it. Would you want my head instructor telling you what is good karate Sensei8? I would think not. No more than he would want you telling him what is good karate. Or a karateka telling a judoka how things should be run. Perhaps it is my natural distrust of large organizations tainting my judgment, but I would rather deal with my tiny organization where I know most of the instructors/higher ups, and they know me, than a large group who gets me discounts on insurance, but tells me how I should teach by PDF and email.

Conversely, many people are injured and killed for fear of the consequences of using force. Combined with the asinine mantra, "Violence is never the answer" being hammered into people and it is a mix that makes a violent aggressor's job too easy. People should not be afraid to defend themselves when they need to do so out of fear of the law. In my home state there is no duty to retreat. Which has nothing to do with the way the media has portrayed these laws. It does not provide justification to use violence, up to deadly force, just because I feel like it. The same standards for use of force exist, but it eliminates the need to prove I tried to flee. If there is a legal right to be somewhere, you are not the instigator of the use of force/situation and your use of force is proportional, you have a good chance of being able to claim self-defense successfully. In the US prosecutors have a great deal of discretion on who is charged and with what crimes. If said prosecutor is not a proponent of robust self-defense laws and rights of citizens, they have the authority to charge people claiming self-defense with crimes and try to get a conviction. Through the expense, time and complexity of trail they can get that conviction, or convince someone to plea to a lesser charge in order to avoid greater penalty. Thus, criminalizing a natural act. So what is legal, and acceptable in one location, could land you a long term in prison in another. There is more to my response, but time to head off to work, where by company policy I am disarmed and discouraged from defending myself because lawyers write the policies.

Okay, not the best subject title I've have come up with, but it's what you get today. Now, what I am specifically asking about are exercises in class. Drills, partner work and skill acquisition/refinement should occupy the majority of your training time in class. That isn't in dispute. You should also work to build and keep a level of base conditioning/attributes. This also isn't in dispute. What I am asking is when it comes to conditioning during class time, where should you spend your time? Should you be building a general level of strength and conditioning, or focusing on specific strength/conditioning drills? I don't want to box this in too tightly, and put my thumb on the scale of the discussion, so will try to lay out pros/cons for each. General conditioning: Building an over all level of cardio conditioning/strength in the student. Basic lifts (dead lifting, clean & press, pull ups/push ups), Basic cardio work(sprints, jumping rope, road work), Basic core conditioning (medicine ball work, sit ups/crunches etc) The benefit of using class time here would be in building attributes that would translate to most or all of the skills used in the martial art you are training for. You teach the student what they need to be strong at in general and hopefully they will do these things outside of class too. You get to build the student's body up to have a general performance capability for your over all program. The down side is that it is time consuming. Training time is limited. Usually the old, the more limited that time is. Married people have less time than singles, parents even less than that. Time spent conditioning is time not spent on skill development. The specific abilities you need that student to develop will have to be brought up or refine to accomplish the technique needed. Sport/Skill specific conditioning: Building specific types of strength/conditioning that relate to the activity at hand. Use of drills for conditioning. Pummeling drills, hit and sprawl, mitt/pad work for conditioning on the clock at high intensity. Resistance in hands on drills specifically to create higher work requirements. The upside is that the time spent on this conditioning translates into the specific skills needed in that art. Your students will be strong where you expect them to be strong. Conditioned to a skill and pace that they are going to need to learn. Some skill transfer should be taking place. The down side is that there is more time in setting up the drills. Setting up a mitt drill, or knees on pads, and getting everyone time to do it takes more class time up than having everyone do push ups and burpies. You have to demo the skill/drill whereas with most general conditioning drills you can name/show what needs to be done in a second. And, you usually are only going to have to run one set of rounds/drills to catch everyone. There can be weak links in your conditioning/strength. Outside of the specifics you have built up, your students could end up with holes in their physical abilities because there are only so many drills you can run over time. So, where do you stand, what does your class do? Do you mix the two or not spend any conditioning time in class at all? Is it all on the student to be in shape for class? This question got into my head a couple of weeks ago after training with a different school/gym. Their approach was very different to ours (usually) and I was told that was the norm for almost all classes. It was a lot of general conditioning, with only 6 skill using stations out of an hour and forty minute training session. I fully believe that if I trained with this gym a couple of times a week I would be in better over all condition than I am now. However, I don't not think I would get the same boost in ability to use my martial skill if I spent the same amount of time on skill specific conditioning. There will be a benefit that I would expect to see from general attribute development. I know that box jumping will improve my kicking power/speed (if I don't die falling off the box), however would hitting the bag and shields with a focus purely on power and speed achieve the same gains? Or less, or more?

We've put it on all of our fliers, and the basic class rate in our advertising posts on social media. There is a mention of family/multi-student discounts with the offer to provide details upon request. We don't hide charges, I'm open with them and when folks hear the price they are often shocked. We price about the same level my first instructor did 20 years ago. Not because I don't think that my time/skills/ability are worth that little(man that sounded bad), but because the local economy won't bear much more right now. In considering our first print advertisements, which I shall have to talked to PitbullJudoka about, I don't know if I will include pricing. Print charges by space/word. We don't have the spare cash to take out a half page add with a generous amount of information. We will have to plan for the best bang for the buck. What/where/when being key. How much costs you a phone call or email.

I'm trying to shore up my positional thinking instead of attacking from where ever I land. Balancing good position with passing opportunities, just not there yet. Time and reps.

Again, great video Tallgeese. Details, details, and more details. Grapevining the far leg is something I don't think I've seen before, or at least don't recall. And I can see where that blocks the roll. Thank you much for these sir. A "safe place" to watch video on technique for BJJ in a sea of sketchy stuff.

Congratulations Sensei8! I couldn't help but look over the historic time line of your journey and then look at my own in comparison. You earned your Rokudan the year I started training, were awarded Kyoshi(!) just after I earned my shodan. It gives one perspective when looking at a long and fruitful career in the martial arts. Here is to seeing you around for twenty more years and we can chat via the karateforums holo-room at that point!

I'm enjoying these videos Alex. Box & Arrow is one of my favorite submissions from the back. I guess I'm still a very basic kind of guy. The detail of catching the arm was great and the set up is a little different than what I learned. More video, more reps of work.

As others have said, physical attributes play into any fight. If I'm faster, stronger, have a longer reach, etc. I have an easier time dealing with an opponent. I've faced guys at the dojo when I was exhausted, they had a good 6-8 inches of height, 50lbs of weight against me and I handled them well because of my advantage in skills. I've faced opponents I had strength and reach on and gotten hammered, because of their skill advantage. And, I've lost to people when I was having an off night. I've won because I was "on" and they were "off". While fighting skill is important, in my opinion, it needs to be measured over a range of time, opponents, skill levels, situations etc. And I quote the above quote the above for two reasons. I put a black belt on his back, out cold, when I was a yellow belt with a round kick. Does that mean I was a better fighter? Or I just got lucky? I had that same black belt drill me into the wall multiple times in a row with no effective defense on my part. Does that mean he's a better fighter than me? And secondly, Sensei8, I would love to see you and Greg go at it and train together. I've always enjoyed watching higher level martial artists train together and it seems to help me in my own training. And it would be a blast to see two top men go at it.

Welcome to the forums! Stick around and you will find a ton of knowledge, plenty of differing opinions and a lot less flack for new folks than you will find in other locations. You've gotten some great responses so far hansenator, and I'll add the following: There are some things to remember with karate training. Line drills are foundational basics, not the finished product. Kata are road maps, solo drills that are whole chunks of fighting systems distilled down into pieces that you can apply in a lot of ways. Things should be getting put together in partnered practice, where a lot of time should be spent, with a connection back to the basics. I am questionable as a "traditional karate" in a lot of people's minds, so bare that in mind. Around these parts though, I don't think you will see a ton of problem with the above. More depth and explanation perhaps, but not tons of problems.

Sounds good to me.

PittbullJudoka, half guard review with escapes next week and more stick work? And more video to watch now Tallgeese.

Here you go sir. Pardon the redneck in front of the camera. This is a fraction of the video we have shot over the years. Both straight footage of us rolling/sparring to kata, technical break downs etc. Most of it is stored waiting for up load etc. [/url]

Second good video Tallgeese. I know I will be on the receiving end of it soon enough. And now I have to try to work to that position so i can drill it live too. On video editing and such, you may want to give PittbullJudoka a yell. He's been putting together video and instructionals for us for a long time and has dealt with several editing programs.

Yup. Knee on belly isn't really knee on belly. It's knee on sternum. I remember when Mario Sperry did it to me. I thought he was going to crush my chest. Worst feeling ever. pitbull, thanks for the kind words and stepping out on a limb and giving it a go. Glad it worked out well for you. ps1, that's exacly how I think of it. knee on sternum. Slow to comment, but subscribing to the channel to keep up with the videos. Good stuff Tallgeese. We (well, I am) are one of those "occasional" BJJ guys. When PittbullJudoka comes rolling into class talking up your instructional, which I had seen linked, but not watched with the loading time issues I've had making a 5 minute video take about 20 to watch, I knew it was good. I like the details. No, I love details, without them I end up trying muscle things. Which isn't as easy as I approach 40 as it was when I was approaching 20. I too like the "Knee on Belly" variant. When we started rolling, we used a "standard" knee on belly, with the knee in the belly, foot well away from the body. That changed with time, and Luiz Palhares seminar, we were cutting across the hips, with the foot acting as a stop at the near side hip. I like the "laces in" change and the knee position. The mention of the mobility and awareness advantages for self-defense are good too sir. Very good video. Lastly, I like the knee position, elevating the near side shoulder and head. Looks like it would steal a lot of the opponent's mobility. Sort of the way the shin wedge in a judo style arm bar does. Thank you for the great tutorial.

Absolutely... this is great advice. I also agree that the #1 spot in Pinan Shodan that people have trouble with is the simultaneous/sequential middle block + front kick + body position + shuto uke. I find that where most of my students goof it up is actually the transition into it from the move before (foot-down cat stance + middle punch). The tanden/body shift and foot placement usually gets skewed, which results in the entire waza becoming skewed and performed incorrectly. You know, I never really had that trouble, wasn't even aware it caused folks a lot of trouble. I have always seen people struggle to transition from the left side to the right in the opening sequences. Incorrect stepping during the turn throws a lot of people off their initial line when turning. As to the original question, break down individual stances and work them individually, checking your distance and consistency on each. Doing so will show that there are small variations, perhaps between left and right stances etc. Do them as long "walking" drills.

Honestly, the initial idea for the belts came when there was a mix up in a supply order. I got enough pink belts, instead of the needed white ones, to outfit the girls in my children's class. The adults we planned for, the kids I just ended up with extras. By the time I thought of a second order to cover the boys in class, I would have been most of the way through the month before we got them. This years I plan to actually, well plan. Everyone, both classes, will have the chance to have a pink belt for October.

I totally agree with you. I have trained at a dojo for a couple of weeks and they happened to have a time of all students and instructors wore pink. Due to them trying to raise as much as possible for breast cancer awareness If I remember, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Many events with the purpose of raising money and raising awareness through October. We did this last year. All adults trained for the month in pink belts, in our children's class all of the girls received a pink belt they could train in. We also placed a sizable order with Tap Cancer Out, a BJJ related organization that fund raises for different cancer funds and research groups. Unexpectedly almost all of the boys wanted a belt too, but wouldn't have gotten theirs until the month was mostly out. Lesson this time is to check with the boys before ordering!

Congratulations sir! Well done.

I think the writer is laying too much at the feet of IBJJF rules for BJJ/BJJ players not being as highly effective in MMA as they were 15 years ago. That, I think, has a lot more to do with fighters coming in with better skill sets. They are not single discipline fighters anymore. They aren't strikers with enough grappling to get by, or grapplers with very basic elements of striking. Upper level MMA fighters do most everything well. They might just happen to do a particular thing better and make that part of their game plan. If the rules changes he wants were put into place, points for coming up from bottom, whether passing the guard/getting mount to do it, trapping limbs, escaping etc, it would take about a year for competition teams to have figured out ways to exploit those rules. It is the nature of competition. If your focus is on winning, you will examine the rules, figure out the most effective way to win within them. And that is the arms race that takes place. And I will make the bold, from my position, prediction that those rule changes would do nothing to change the dominance of high level BJJ practitioners in MMA.

A summary of requirements for our shodans. Fitness portion (timed run, push ups, sit ups) Basic techniques, Terminology (very basic) Teaching time (evaluated as a green for brown, as brown for black) Self defense technique Various drills/techniques Bunkai demonstration/explanation Grappling technique Stand up sparring Grappling, live Kata

To the bold type above... I use it all of the time. I referred to it briefly in my last post... Well now, there goes my bragging on my reading comprehension! Sorry I missed that Sensei8. The thumb tip is a weapon I use somewhat, but most of my students down. When I can drag them away from clinched fists, I get them to knife hands and forearm/elbows and I'm tickled with that.

My terminology has degraded to the point I'm not even going to try again. So, English... Thumb knuckle, knife hand (Making sure that you are using that protrusion at the base of the hand), foreknuckles (I tell the guys to knock on the door) and middle knuckle of second finger. First finger, I just haven't gotten the conditioning for. Toe kicks are trouble for me barefoot, my second toe is longer than my big toe, makes holding the right "posture" very, very hard. I love things other than the closed fist. Gloves for sparring have made that closed fist, along with Western preference, have gone a long way to smothering other strikes out. Preach about targeting of those strikes too. They aren't for everywhere, just where they belong. Anyone use the thumb tip much? Not the knuckle, but the tip. Supported on the top of the index finger in a fist, it's got what I feel is a very good structure. It fits plenty of targets and tends to be people's attention (in a pair reaction) very quickly.

Intent laws leave a lot of desire when it comes to enforcement. It gives too much latitude to officers who can let one man walk, and arrest the next man for the same thing. The US has similar "With intent to go armed" clauses in weapon possession. Mostly they will get brought up during illegal carry cases. Sometimes though, it will be used against the guy stopped with a rifle in their auto's trunk, little too arbitrary for my tastes. In your example, you were not outside of your home, so no restrictions on carrying an object in public should have mattered, though I'm not overly familiar with UK legal system. Personally, I think you should have reported the officer and charged them, by name, with theft of your property. It was not legally confiscated by how you are describing things. When they do things like that, and get to walk off from repercussions, they will continue to do it until they are stopped.

And he's got an ebook on Fighting Karate...I think that's the title. Its likely the first ebook on martial arts that I will buy, as I'm a ink and paper traditionalist when it comes to books. Slack's commentary on striking is something combat sport people and traditional striking arts people should pay attention to. He is thought provoking even when you disagree with him. My favorite line, "Fighting is about lying to someone and hurting them when they believe you."