ShoriKid

My first instructor had been teaching for years and had seen a lot of people go through his doors. He taught Shotokan before he had switched over to Shorin Ryu. He believed in the basics, drilling them hard because that is what you would fall back on. He liked to spar and work kata hard and wanted us to do the same. We had things a bit better than Montana for set up, with the dojo in an office line between an insurance place and a skating rink. A small space heater, which you sort of got closer to as you go up in rank. Not be default, it just seemed to work out that way. Ahh, the joys of learning to break fall in well joisted plywood floors! Good or bad instructor? Good in his love of the basics and his hard nosed, 'get in there and stay in there' way of inspiring fighting spirit. His bredth of MA knowledge may not have been the best, but he at least encouraged learning anything you could. And, I owe my start in the arts, my base (which has served me well) to this man. So, he's great there and I can't say enough good about the man. Oddly, we now work in the same business and same company.

Keep working on my conditioning. Sharpen my sparring and grappling. Basically, keep bringing myself back up to a respectable level since I've have time to train now since a job change last spring.

Al the flip did was achieve the mount without catching a nasty up kick or having to approach from side control after tossing the legs to the side. It was a display of athletism, one which most people would argue couldn't be done in a fight. Think of it as a link to toss out to folks who like to say that MMA only uses what works and none of that fancy stuff. There is some fancy stuff, and it works!

That would be one way to by-pass the up kicks that I hadn't seen before. Throwdown, I've got to ask. What exactally was "uncalled for" in the clip linked? Other than a head first dive to pass the man's legs, what should he have done?

Tori, it is an honor, trust me and a thing of pride to see what he's learning and doing. One of the things I remember the most about being a newly minted shodan was the incredible feeling of responsibility that settled in a week or two after I reached the rank. I told someone who asked about it that it was like wearing a gun. Heavy. I felt obliged to work harder and push more because I felt that as sempai and a shodan, it was my responsibility to be an example. Not in an egotistical sort of way, but that it was my job to set the standard. Or to strive hard, every time we trained, even if I failed. It wasn't that I was in a 'see me, see me!' mode and thought I was better than everyone else. I felt that weight settle, and knew I had to push or that I was some how failing my sensei, myself and all of the other students I was training with by looking like the black belt gone soft. Like I'd earned rank and now it was the easy part.

In my home dojo there was Sensei and then everyone else. Sempai was the highest ranking person below Sensei. After a long while, that was me. Before I made shodan, I was teaching kids, warming up the adults and working with the beginners in the class. We had teaching requirements starting at low brown, 3rd kyu, with logged hours of instruction time etc. Sensei was just sensei, even when he was promoted and certified as Renshi, fully certified instructor, at 6th dan. Now Hanshi came in and he was Hanshi. Old school all the way, demanding, a perfectionist, a task master. And a kind man with a keen eye. He was the one that told me during a break at an old day class we did, where as sempai, I had garnered 'special attention', that it was my duty, my responsibility to look to the growth and developement of the lower belts. That I should have one or two hard working yellow belts that I was mentoring. That I should "take them under your wing and give them the advantage of all the sweat and time you've put in. Let them have it easy where you had it hard." That's stuck with me quite a while too. I was the first one there after a while, and the last to leave. After I got my shodan I was there more. What really did it for me wasn't the title of sempai, but the night my Sensei calls me outside right before class. It's snowing and I'm barefoot from having already started teaching and training. He reaches into his truck and turns back saying, "Here, you need this for your uniform." I figured it would be the organization patch he'd ordered for me, but it was a small flash with "assistant instructor" on it. Could have knocked me over with a feather right then. As to some people having a knack for teaching and others not, I'm a complete believer in this. Our best instructor never made shodan. But, Sarge was an ROTC instructor and former Army squad, platoon and then Company Sargent as well as Drill Instructor. The man could teach anyone about anything as long as he had an understanding of it. While he wasn't the technically most sound man there, he was VERY good at teaching. Here's the part where I maybe embarass PittbullJudoka a bit. Not out of spite, never would do that. I know the exact night he's refering too. Couple of weeks back, we had a good class. He worked hard. His technique and stances had improved markedly since just December. He helped me with the sequencing of a kata we were learning. (I just can't get it to stick in my head.) Despite what he says, he had a good night. Just not in the way he was thinking. I was very proud of the progress he'd made since his promotion, and the work and effort I saw in him. After we bow out from class, unless we're just super informal for the night or so tired we can't think and all in a rush to get back to wives and kids and food, we have a bit of a tradition I guess you'd call it. We shake the instructor's hand and give a 'thank you, good class Sensei'. Everyone shakes and thanks each other for the class. Its in recognition of the effort everyone puts in and the role the others play in our training and progress. Without them we couldn't learn. That particular night now, PittbullJudoka had shined through in those little ways that show up in good shodans. The effort and heart, the love of the arts. As we shook hands, I wanted to acknowledge this and let him know it as well. If it bothers him, I'll not do it. All he as to do is ask. For me it was a show of respect, one black belt to another. In something like that, I don't see the time or the degrees. I see practitioners loving the martial arts, and that's were we're all equals.

Pittbull, you know now I'm going to be TRYING to catch you in the armbar don't you? I don't know if coaching would have helped that much, but man I would have appriciated it a lot. Going into competition by yourself is tough for a lot of the mental aspects of the game. Additionally, that lack of a coach from the side lines, which just about everyone allows for now, can hurt. It's easy to get caught up in the match and be missing something that someone right next to you can so clearly see. A whole in the opponent's defenses, something you can do to improve your position etc. bushido_man, Your right there is some "sandbagging" at almost any tournament you go to. I've seen a few guys at sport jujitsu tournament there were clearly wearing a belt well below what they were preforming at. I saw an adult yellow belt in the beginner's brackets hit a scissor take down, transition to mount to arm bar in something that looked like a training video it was so smooth. And Pittbull can correct me if I'm misremembering here, but I think the guy I lost to in that grappling tournament went on to either place or win the the division and in the absolutes that day. I didn't stick to watch the rest of the competiton. Having been up there the whole day before, doing a seminar right before competing and knowing what trouble it would be to fight traffic if I staid while a UK basketball game went on, I headed out. Has anyone watched tape of their own sparring sessions or competition to critique themselves? We keep threatening to bring in a camera and tape some sparring to watch and work off of, but we always forget to do so. That and I doubt that by the time we got to the sparring porition of class most nights, we'd be technically adept enough to opperate something with more than two buttons.

Congrats and better luck next go around! As they say, been there, done that. I cut a little weight for my last try at a grappling competition and lost in the first round. PitbullJudoka got in a nice sub that day though. So, is this just one more in a string of competitions, the beginning of one or the end Treebranch? What srot of rules set were you working under? I get curious to see what other folks are up to when it comes to competition.

You should be fine to take in some water. By the time you get up in the morning, you should be really close to weight if your going to train and have time to check the scales before weigh ins. Good luck at the scales and good luck in the competition.

I swear I thought I posted here last night, computer must have been hungery. Teaching will cause you to break down the technique like nothing you've done before. I know that a lot of a guys like to toss out the old saying, "those who can do. Those who can't, teach." But, it's goes against a quote kept on the dojo wall, "If you would know anything thoroughly, teach it to others." by Tyson Edward{I think}. The original post wasn't about receiving external motivation and gratification. It was a way of really looking at the progress you make when you STOP getting that external feed back. When you don't learn two new ways to kick or earn another belt. You have to look at what your doing, and I mean really look at it in detail, to see the progress. The reason for that is staying motivated and being focused on your training gets harder then. This sort of self examination can provide some motivation and keep your training going in the direction you want it to. marmaduke, I feel for your son. About six months after my shodan I get stuck in the same rut. Teaching the kids classes, which was fun, and teaching along side my sesei during the adult classes. The deal was that as long as I taught, I wouldn't have to pay for training. nearly six months later, I was still waiting on the training part of the not paying for training deal. I wasn't asking for much. A few minutes here and there. A bit of a critique on my kata before or after class. Perhaps 15 minutes of time a class for myself. It didn't get there. I hinted, and then plainly asked. I got put off and told we would get on my training, "soon". Soon didn't happen so, as the only non-instructor black belt, I quit teaching the kids. I showed up early every time, but I wouldn't teach. In the adult class I worked out, but wasn't getting instructional time. I still helped with the adults as I could still get in my work out. When my sensei confronted me about not paying for the past few months since I'd quit teaching the kids, we had one of those uncomfortable discussions. Meaning, I told him I'd pay him for the instruction I didn't get as soon as he paid me for the teach I did. Things were tense for a few months, but I finally got my training started, so I started teaching again. The meaning of all of that? Not sure. But, sometimes the sensei can get so caught up in having the help in teaching, they have to be reminded that they didn't just hire another assistant instructor. That he has to follow through on his part of the "you teach the kids, I teach you for free" part of the deal. It can be a touchy conversation to have. Congradulation on your son earning his belt. One of my girls gets old enough and trains, I'll be floating if she gets her shodan.

Sometimes also known as Shaolin Karate-Do. I know what I can find on the web, which is basically a list of instructors and lineages. What I'm looking for are some first hand account and experiences others have had with the style. I'll be up front and say that I have yet to meet a practicioner of the style that has impressed me. Not that I'm an authority on Chinese based arts mind you. Nice people most certainly, but do they, in your experience, have any ability at all? Can they fight, work good self defense or have good forms work? I'm looking to the Chinese stylists on the boards here for obvious reasons. You all know the background of those arts much more than I would even dare claim to and have resources to vet them that I do not.

One thing I have heard consistantly about running a financially successful school is that the kids pay the bills. The income that will cover rent and utilities, even the insurance you'll need comes from the tuition of your children's classes. It's what lets you train the adults the way you want instead of focusing on cardio-kickboxing etc. That's not saying that you have to compromise your standards, it is just a business aspect that you have to keep in mind if you want the doors to stay open. Either way, good luck with whatever decision you make.

Thanks ps1. The thing I've been thinking about is that a lot of people I know how make it to black belt level and get, not so much burned out, as discouraged. They feel like they aren't learning anything any more. Not in an egotistical fashion, that they have nothing left. They just can't see the progress any more. They feel like all they do is train and they don't get any better. What the above is, is a way for me to lay out my own thoughts on the sort of progress they can expect. A detailed way to look for that progress and stay up beat and motivated. Feed back on how to put this sort of thing into words and keep those higher end students from getting down on their progress would be very welcome.

From what a quick net search shows up for Mile High Karate, it's a program based on youth (grades 4-12). It's apparently is offered as a sort of family oriented fittness program. I'd speak with the head instructor and express my concerns if I were you. Find out exactally what this shift to Mile High means for what you can and can't teach and to whom. If it's a kids program and you can run a seperate adult program as you see fit, perhaps it's something you can live with. As long as you can still build a good foundation with the children's program it might be tolerable. But, if it's something you have to compromise good technique and sound training for, especially for older kids(say 14+) and adults, I wouldn't be willing to do it if I were you. I hate hearing that things have gone down as much as they have for you though sir.

Thanks sir. The original way I was going to frame this was in terms of 'peaks" and "plateaus" in learning. What you got was the result of too much thought and a body immobilized by a lack of sleep and pain meds for a tooth ache.

The question was posed a few months back by a newly minted black belt, “Does your learning slow down at a certain point?” This from a man who had trained very hard to reach the rank that he had and was wondering what it was going to be like as his training continued. I offered my opinion and encouragements of course, but the question, and some that followed, was worth considering in more depth than a freshly post workout brain was capable of doing. The more I have thought about it, the more I wish I’d been able to answer the question a little differently. With more detail and better examples mostly, as my general point could be summed up as “Depends on what you mean by slowing down.” Having had time to reflect on the question, I believe that there is a general pattern to learning martial arts, and perhaps a lot of other skills. And part of the question of slowing depends almost entirely on perspective. The pattern of learning follows some general stages; introduction, breadth of learning, exploration and then depth of learning. These stages are not fixed, in as much as you can repeat stages without necessarily progressing to the next one. The frequency that a student passes through the stages though, and the rapidity, will control his perceived speed of learning. Introduction, while self explanatory on one level, does bare mentioning. When you begin to acquire any skill set, any knowledge gained seems like a leap of unimaginable progress. Think back to that first well thrown round kick, or correctly preformed kata. You had just done what a short time ago seemed very difficult, nearly impossible in some cases. But, you had no prior knowledge of what was required to accomplish these feats, and looking back on them, seem very minor in comparison to things you now are capable of doing. Any new skill seems wonderful and complex and you can get a real feeling of learning. You can catalog what you have learned, ticking off techniques like running through a grocery list. As that list expands, your knowledge grows in breadth. The physical list of things you can do is getting longer. As your breadth of skill increases, you are passing the introduction level and begin to see things that though they appear to be difficult, you can spot aspects of them that you know you will be able to learn. A kata, when you watch it in its entirety, seems very complex. As you see it again, you have time to seee the components which make it up and the complexity lessens though the kata hasn’t changed. Breadth of skill continues increasing as you continue to train and advance in skill and rank. Most of the kyu rankings are spend in the introduction and breadth of skill. More ‘new’ technique, kata/forms and movements are learned at this time than just about any other. Whole patterns of movement, ways to stand and even think are learned at this point. While seeming to be part of a continued introductory phase of learning, there is a subtle difference that there is a base of knowledge to work from and, at some point, you don’t see the rapid accumulation of individual techniques. If I were to mark the point where introduction becomes expansion and breadth, I’d say six months into training the transition begins taking place. Even while looking across the vast expanses of material a student is learning they begin to experiment with some things they have already learned, and add on other items/skills that do not fall directly into the skill set they are learning(Think of a karate-ka working on judo throws.). This experimentation is not just about skills and techniques outside of their style, but in tinkering with, lightly, the things they have already learned. Does the side kick really work as well as sensei said? Can I make this combination work in sparring? What if I turn my foot so, and my hips thus? Does that give more power to my kick? These sorts of questions seem to arise more toward brown belt level. There is enough of a foundation, and enough time to pause from taking the rough edges off of techniques, to being to play with them, to personalize them. Subtle inflections in kata, a slight shift in the way you do a stance. It is the personalizing of the art that before may have been stale and monolithically unchanging. Life is being breathed into technique that had been museum pieces or done from wrote memory. This fiddling continues on after reaching black belt, and will for a long time. Some caution must be used though. Some tinkering is fine, but fundamentally altering a technique or kata without having first understood it thoroughly can, and often does, lead to badly formulated movements. An instructor has to keep an eye on the student at this point because they are starting to stray a bit from the curriculum. Encouragement and guidance, as well as a steady hand, are needed to keep the student from losing sight of what they are trying to accomplish with the experimentation. Customizing a kata in a minute detail is different from grossly altering a sequence. Feel and flow may be a good enough reason, but function needs to be there as well. At some point the experimentation has to give way to gaining depth of understanding. While I do not mean to imply that depth of understanding comes last and that it is not something lower belts/newer students shouldn’t strive for, it is often the last thing to come. Springing very often from experimentation, depth of knowledge is something all skilled martial artists will possess. But, it is the thing that takes time and separates the true novice from an advanced practitioner. The depth of understanding and use of technique comes slowly. Often when there is no ‘new’ material to cover, no increase in breadth. The refinement of kata and movements are a primary example of depth of learning. Timing, combinations a little better, getting them to land is another example. Learning that if you turn the wrist a certain way or torque the shoulder another, the lock comes not only easier, but is stronger. Subtle adjustments that you find through time and repetitive application and small alterations are made over time and ramp up the effectiveness of what you have already learned. One of the most easily accessible examples of increasing depth of skill is working on kata bunkai. These steps of learning lead back into one another. Introduction to another art may add not only new technique, but a wholly different way of applying old ones. And, in turn, through that re-examination of what you already know, greater depth of understanding as you experiment with what you already know. Now this does not mean that I think I have a handle on how the human brain processes information and the body burns skills into memory. So in the end, I think that even as you advance, you may not see the progression in skill that you once did, while the introduction and breadth phases, but that increase in depth and experimentation phases add to your abilities just a much. Think of the first two as establishing a two dimensional growth, and the third and forth phases as adding a third dimension. So, while it may not be readily apparent on the surface, there is learning going on. It requires more time to step back and examine what skills and advancement you have made than it initially called for. So the point of all this is a way to step back and look at what learning is going on in your training. Do not get discouraged if you think you’ve stopped progressing. That is a normal part of martial arts training. It’s then that you have to question why you train and search for motivation in order to push on and train more. It can also provide a chance to look at what you’ve learned and perhaps decide on a direction for your training to take in the next months. Whether that means concentrating on a particular aspect or finding a new school is up to you.

Found this on mmaweekly.com today. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6048&zoneid=13 Let us all remember that fighting, even for sport is dangerous. I feel for this man's family who he leaves behind and hope and pray that they will be well.

Night-Owl, trying asking while they are still a bit groggy from the hit. Works best then. Bushindo_man, your on the same track I was on. With my friend from the home dojo, we worked together, trained ttogether before he came to our school. He was already a 2nd dan, and I was squeaking along at green belt. We sparred, traded techniques etc. He'd always heard bad things about our dojo(he trained at the rival one in town until it shut down). After a year training together he came to train with us, because he said that I was a solid student for my rank and they had to be doing something right where I trained. At the 4 month mark he got his first promotion and got to spar with our sensei. It was one of those educational fights where you learn that despite being younger and faster, it just wasn't enough, not even close. He was dieing to spar him again after that, loved the challenge. Knew he wouldn't win, but loved the challenge. My friend developed a love of kata after a while, having before seen them as something you had to do to get the next promotion. And as he started to move up in the ranks, sensei took us to the side and was talking to us and he told my firned I was the best set of cheat notes he could get and he told me I needed another person hitting shodan with me as well. Bloodied, bruised and beaten, we pushed and worked and got better. We got to the point where we were training so much we could work a 'sticky hands' drill that he'd done basically without watching each other. Side stance or front on stance, with wrist contact, follow the oponent's lead and one of you tries to slip through a strike. We moved and countered without looking, while shooting the breeze etc. I helped the man pack up the night he and his wife seperated. He backed me when I got cornered into a face down at a parking lot where as the car loads showed up he shook his hea dna laughed saying it was my show he was with me and that we'd make a good go of it. Thing is, I think we all, if we stay with the arts long enough, fall into friendships like this. Ones that are disproportionate to the time we hang out or other interests. When you find those other people that are just as oddly wired as you are, it's hard not to make friends with them. Shoot, I have a hard time not falling into martial arts related conversations when we all get together. The shared struggle is something a lot of other people don't get. My dad asked about PitbullJudoka's shodan test and I described it. He didn't get why we'd put ourselves through that sort of thing. I told him we were all a little crazy. In the end though, there is a measure of respect and trust there, knowing what those guys went through in training, having been a part of it, I don't have for other people. Sure, I have plenty of friends outside of the martial arts. But maybe one or two that I trust with my safety. Only one or two that I know the measure of.

As Pitbull said, cut the junk. No soda, it's one of the worst empty calorie killers for cutting weight that I can think of. oatmeal for breakfast, in small poritions, has helped me a lot with weight. Though keeping strictly off the junk is killing me. Mother in-law cooks so dang well and sends cakes and good leftovers home so much it's killing me. A lot of the weight reduction is going to come off smaller portions with more activity. You know, just the basics. You can do a one day fast before weigh ins won't kill you if you have a day, or even say, six or eight hours between the scales and your competition. Shoot, it's actually pretty good for the body if done correctly. The last few days, cut back to distilled water and if your relatively close to making a weight class, you can always sweat the last few pounds out. You don't have to go to sana suits, but a layer of sweats, head covered and do some rolling/running, and you can safely pull about 3-6lbs without getting hard core. You want something more serious to get the weight off? I can't tell you anything that a wrestler won't tell horror stories about.

Treebranch, How much time do you have between weigh ins and competition? If there is enough to recover, cutting 10lbs isn't all that hard if your willing to do it.

Shotokan, depending on who you ask, decended from either the Naha or Shori branches of Okinawan karate. Without getting into some of the alterations that it underwent once reaching Japan and residing there for a while, it depends very much on which branch of Shorin-Ryu your talking about as to how related they are. While there will be some similarities in kata, the stance work that I'm familiar with from Matsubayashi-Ryu branch is higher and lighter, more mobile and less rooted in most application. A higher chamber for the strikes in kata and a variation in height due to stance changes while moving. There are other differences, but at this hour, I'm not focused enough to type well, let alone put the details into writen English. The word "English" just took four tries to type correctly! I'll elaborate more if you'd like and share the folloing. http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/023/eng/index.html

Yes, I'm steeling from Keith Vargo's article in Black Belt magazine this month. He talked about something I've known and seen for years now. I just never saw it put into print before. The comradery formed in the dojo and gym by people in fighting sports/arts can be quite deep. While we all have different views and approaches to the martial arts and fighting, there are some commonalities that draw us together. There are physical barriers to push past and goals to strive towards. You depend on your training partners to help you grow. You trust them with your safety and well being. You respect their skills and abilities and share in their struggles, just as they share in yours. On the dojo/gym floor, there is very little room for falsehood and deception. The truth of conflict and combat weed out things that don't work and the illusions we often surround ourselves with. Cutting through our self deceptions and the images we project to the rest of the world, we are often left bereft of anything but who we really are. The brutal honesty of sweat, blood and tears can forge friendships that transcend economic status, educational levels and almost any other aspect of life that exists outside the doors of the place you train. Across the line, or past the door, of the dojo or gym being a doctor means nothing. Neither does being a janitor or flipping burgers at the local McDonalds. Effort, dedication, skill and perseverance matter and counted in high regard. You'll find yourself learning to appreciate the abilities and worth of others that you train with. And often, the harder the training, the greater the appreciation. My best friends are the people I train with. My best friend for years was my training partner at my home dojo. We worked hard, pushed each other hard and hit each other harder than we would dare with anyone else. We did it because to do anything less was to cheat a friend. To lie to each other. To steal something. I've found that odd, but known it for years I suppose. For a long time I thought I must be wired wrong. I discovered that the people I work the hardest with in the arts, that can hurt me the most, are the ones I respect more than any other. Their behavior outside of the dojo may not be perfect, but in that training hall, I know I can count on them. I know them better than I do other people. I trust them, often more than I would anyone else, because we have that shared hardship and entrusted out physical well being to one another. I've heard it said that hard training polishes the spirit. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't really polish, it just wipes away the dust and shows the mettle below. And that allows you to see the same in others too. I wonder, often, if i'm the only holding this view. Or if I've just been hit in the head too much. Or, as I meantioned above, that I'm just wired wrong. Vargo's article let me know that I wasn't. Though I'm not sure how common this sort of mindset and view of the people within the dojo and gym is with others. I've been at this for a while now, training. And I wonder if that view is in part, becuase of the time I've spent in the martial arts, or it's a more common thing than that. Something that the white belt, six months into his training notices. What sort of experience or view do the rest of you hold in regards to the friendships built with training partners?

The Proforce gi has a sizing chart that gives all of the measurements, not just the height/weight chart that most use. I'll be hitting a size 4 most likely after looking at it. I usually mis-match mine gi when ordering. A 4 pant and a 5 jacket. I like the extra room in the shoulders, though have to roll the sleeves most of the time. I had an old Century double weave size 5. Good grief, that thing could hold half the guys at the dojo and have room to spare. At least the pants. I think they had something like a 60" waist when pulled all the way out. 5'9" and 180lbs? I think not. Anyone know about how well they stand up, brand wise in general?

I'll be using them to drill with partners when not using them to help drill/instruct class. We've got a kick shield, and I got a good thick kick pad for Christmas(love my wife ). I'm leaning toward the curved myself, I just want to hear both sides and see if I'm after what I need. I'm looking to drill to increase clean combination speed with the guys at the dojo. That and putting a bit more power in the hands work and I think I can use them for round kicks at least. Traditional style and methods with newer gear. At least that's the plan.

Just looking for an opinion here too. In focus mitts, what does everyone prefer? The flat, straight faced mit? Or the curved faced mit? And a bit of why on each one.