ShoriKid

Not offended sir, but I'll respond a bit in detail. Same disclaimer, I don't mean to offend, never do on the boards. But, it seems there is plenty of media presentation vs. reality of weapons laws in the US at play here. This varies from state to state, but in the majority, you do not have to have a licence to own a firearm. You will have to pass a criminal background check when buying from a dealer. Most individuals may purchase from other individuals without a background check, though in practice many ask them to meet at a dealers to run a check, or will only sell to CCW (carry concealed weapon) holders. Those individuals have under gone additional background checks, and statistically commit firearms related crimes at a fraction of the rate of the rest of the population (last figures I saw, less than most police officers). A separate background check, identification process and training is required to obtain a CCW. This varies by state, some being "shall issue", some being "may". The difference being that "shall" localities have to issue to anyone who applies, passes all the checks and training. "May" locations have additional hoops to jump through, and generally require a "heightened need" be demonstrated. In practice it is not about "need", but your connections, and often your wealth. As stated above, last figures I saw put licensed CCW holders committing gun related offenses at a far lower rate than average citizens. Also, the number of defensive uses of firearms tend to be very under reported in the news media, but legal defensive use tends to be at least on par with criminal use, despite the higher requires to legally obtain than to steal etc. The number of shootings with firearms continues to drop in the US while the number of legally owed guns continues to rise. This has been the trend for at least the last 20 years even as carry laws become more prevalent. Work place and school type shootings are very rare, and have not been on the rise despite what the reporting may seem like. The media here in the states makes an attempt to make huge issues of this, despite the facts. 24 hour news cycles have a lot to do with this as well. Outside of residing in certain, usually very poor neighborhood, or taking part in high risk behaviors, usually crime related, you odds of being shot are pretty low. On an island with extremely strict gun laws that can be expected. We currently can keep tons of narcotics and thousands of people from crossing our southern borders yearly. Stopping something as small as weapons won't happen. Ingenuity beats the law, every time. An example closer to home, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/man-charged-with-making-machine-guns/story-e6frea83-1226528981674?nk=87db310b1e0b55c6732ed02e928b437e Here you have effectively removed the ability to use these items for self defense, if you take the same stance with them as you seem to have above with firearms. Most states in the US with strict gun regulation, also strictly regulate the use of these items by regular citizens as well. The point, in my opinion, seems more about disarming citizens as their governments do not trust them with their own defense. Carrying a weapon in the US, without something like a CCW, is usually not something you will be able to do. You can transport things, like say a katana to class, but slinging it over your shoulder will get attention. Carrying a small knife, not so much, but this is a matter of local ordinance and state law. In in Tennessee, as of yesterday, there was a change in knife law as to what is legal to have on you in public. Changes in max blade length, mode of operation/opening and blade design all changed. Feeling safe is not the object of regulation of a right or of self-defense. How would you feel if the state, in order to make others feel safe, instituted regulations on how you could train in the martial arts, what techniques you could learn and said you cold not use them in defense of yourself? As to the standards to which someone is held for committing an offense, they are strict and the punishments are harsh. Robbery with a weapon, any weapons, club, knife, rubber chicken (okay maybe not), carries a higher sentence than doing it without. The same crime with a firearms gets you the harshest punishments. Repeat felons suffer higher and higher penalties until the sentence is life. Gun owners in the US are some of the biggest supporters of hard sentences for people who commit crimes with weapons, especially firearms. However, the view, with long tradition of firearms ownership, is different on this side of things. Something to consider, and it may be very different for you, legally law enforcement has no requirement to protect any given individual. This is settled case law through to the Supreme Court. An officer can watch you being stabbed ten feet from them, and they don't have to step in to help you. As seen here (and the City won the case btw) http://nypost.com/2013/01/27/city-says-cops-had-no-duty-to-protect-subway-hero-who-subdued-killer/ Nidan, I hope that I didn't offend above, being able to be armed, from firearms down, is something that I feel law abiding people have a right to do. If not, we, as a society have decided that in any encounter, youth, strength, numbers and size are going to be the determining factors. Training can help over come some of this, however, criminals have shown a sever lack of respect for the law regarding assault, weapons, murder etc., thus leaving the unarmed law follower at a disadvantage.[/url]

And nice thread, and I get to sit back and watch good video now. Thanks for the great clips.

How much training and thought on the martial arts is too much is a personal matter. What some will call too much, others will think is not nearly enough. We have three hours of class time a week. My family likes to see me, and I like to see them, so getting much more in is not really an option. However, I condition, running, body weight exercises etc. four to five days a week. I work a kata several times each morning, usually at a low pace to get my brain going over the motions and to refine the movements. I read articles, certain forums (like here!), books and listen to podcasts. So, my head is on martial arts very often. On the other side of things, I don't have that teen aged obsession with them where they are everything I am and do. I've realized that I need time to recharge my batteries, physically and mentally. Every now and then you need a night off from the training, to take a break or it becomes more of a grind than you can bear. And, a lot of people don't respond well to that sort of long term grind and burn out. They start out on fire for their training and as time goes by it becomes a chore, not a joy. That my be how training is sometimes, but it shouldn't be that way most of the time. When it is always a chore, it's time to step away for a while and catch your breath. There are a good number of folks that can't handle the burn out that comes with longer term training. When they hit that wall, they will step away and never come back because they think that grind is all there is. We dealt with that in the dojo not long ago with a young man who had missed perhaps a half dozen training nights in three years. He was heavily burned out from the training and was going to quit until he talked to us. He didn't even realize that it was burn out, he just knew he didn't like coming to class. After a talk, he took a couple of weeks off and is back training and training hard and having fun again.

Pittbull mentioned this thread in class last night and I immediately flashed to us gathering up gear for a Luiz Palhares seminar. -scene- In the dojo office, gathering up gi, tape, gear bag, water-scene- SK-I can't find my freaking white belt! I haven't needed a belt in years. PBJ-Don't worry about it, you won't need a belt at the seminar. SK-Okay, cool.-finishes packing up- -scene Luiz Palhares seminar. Master Palhares sets up first drill- Okay, they are backing the hips, so you grab the belt... -And, end scene, fade- That bit of entertainment was brought to you because I thought I knew where my old, original white belt was. It had been quite a while since I visited a school and had stored it where I wouldn't lose it. Which led to the above. I've never claimed rank in an art that I didn't have. Always been honest about what I've trained in and the extent of my skill/ranking. I'm proud of what I've earned, but never claim to be other than that. When we teach class PittbullJudoka doesn't change rank mid lesson, but when we shift gears to an exclusively BJJ section, the blue belt comes out. Neither of us does anything like that when we say, maintain control of an arm after a take down and apply a lock. But, say we are training a sweep and guard pass set of techniques, we will very likely swap out belts. By we, as chief sparring dummy I strap on my white belt and get swept, choked and locked. Just for reference we are a gi pants and tee shirt with belt dojo most of the time. Being up stairs with a landlord who believes open windows to be the best AC available has made that a habit. We put on the winter coats (ie. gi jackets) for BJJ and some stand up sessions when we want handles or we are trying to respect the traditions we have come from. Something like this is a school by school sort of thing where you have to make a call on how you teach. Some places, if it weren't a specifically BJJ class wouldn't make the change for sake of saving time. That is their call.

English lesson time. "I practice a mixed martial art." Meaning, I practice an art with more than one art in it's make up. "I practice mixed martial arts." Meaning, I practice a combined set of distinctive martial arts with the goal of competing. We are a karate school with a very mixed origin. We teach BJJ as part of our core requirements. We wrestled in school and try to keep that involved in our instruction and trained under/with a professional kick boxer. We have done a lot sparring under unified rules system, though we typically stick to a very lose stand up format (no groin, don't strike the knee joints.) and gi ground work now. We don't hang an MMA banner or say that is what we teach. We have been told by a professional level MMA fighter out of a reputable MMA gym we should be hanging said MMA banner or at least advertising that way. Just up the street from us is an MMA gym. The instructor has a TKD/Hapkido practitioner with a blue belt in BJJ. They do a lot of cardio conditioning, some sparring (not 100% clear on the rule set, but seems strictly stand up) and some no gi grappling. They occasionally teach joint manipulation and Hapkido related techniques. They advertise MMA, have connections to an MMA gym out of state, as their BJJ instructor comes from there. This is the world, or must my small corner of it, we live in. Different people do different things. We can't generally stop them from doing their thing, just like they can't stop us. Just be honest and up front with what you are doing, don't claim ability, rank, skill, titles you don't have and I'm all cool with you. I ask you be the same with me.

Tallgeese, I think that sometimes you need to keep in mind the level of skill you (the generic you) have when teaching and training others. When training others, especially in something like an LEO environment, keep in mind the depth of the training they will have when looking at the application of techniques. You for example, specific you this time, have a extensive background in BJJ and are a fairly high level practitioner especially in comparison to most people you will be training. You also maintain a level of physical fitness that most of LEO don't. There are things you can make work, and easily too, that most people cannot. What you will have to look at are what things work, within your department/jobs rules of engagement, for people with minimum training investment. They also have to work for that 90lbs woman, if she is an officer, and the 220lbs man who's 50 and a little out of shape. That to me, is the prism you have to look at what you teach to others. You also have to have a context of what you are going to be doing. BJJ for police offers a more suitable skill set than Krav in large part due to the rules of engagement, use of force rules, that are in place. A regular joe on the street may be well served by BJJ, but he will have a different goal and rules. He doesn't have back up coming, doesn't have the physical tools available to LEO, but also doesn't have the exact same use of force rules when it comes to self defense. You can't just crack somebody in the face when they come at you. I, on the other hand, could do so more easily without getting into trouble. So I guess there is a two layer filter to pass things through. Individual capability, and environment where the skill will be employed. Just because I can make it work, doesn't mean other people can. Just because I can do something, does mean it is legal for me to do it.

I've only had one student get close and not reach for shodan. They were stuck at 3rd or 2nd kyu, I honestly can't recall at this point. When I say "stuck" I mean that they had not been promoted in about 2 years. The reason wasn't so much physical skill. He was strong, fairly well conditioned and when he would listen, he performed well. However, there was trouble with his maturity level. He sought approval at every turn and when given the opportunity to teach whatever he wanted in class, where PittbullJudoka and I would be evaluating his ability while participating, he always sought to pull us back into teaching. Not asking for assistance or clarification on a point, but trying to hand off the lesson. The approval was sought through what really read as false modesty, very loudly expressed to draw the eyes of the whole class or "frustration" to get that pat on the shoulder and encouragement. This was a from a man in his early 30s. We talked to him about this and I think he got frustrated because he wasn't being promoted quickly enough. It was a very odd situation to me. I've seen a few quit in other schools who were pulled away by life, work/family etc. There have been a couple who I've spoken with that "I could have made black belt" sort of comes up in the talk about martial arts. If you never test, you could have made it, the world will never know. My instructor told me, for the first time during my green belt test, that half of students drop out by green belt. That was where things started getting difficult. Out of those left, more than half left quit by brown belt. And of those, maybe half survive to black belt because of the difficulty of training.

A big driver, as I see it, in the difference of training for sport vs. traditional MA are the goals. Sport MAs have a clear goal. Competition, the fight and those training in them understand that point and know they have to put in the work. Conditioning, attribute development, tons of sparring and drills. In traditional arts the goal is not as clear. Competition? Maybe. Fitness? Maybe. But, without a focused goal, it's hard to get people motivated to train hard and put in the effort to bring their techniques up in effectiveness.

I'm going to second the married guy with kids and a full time, nonMA teaching job angle here with bushindo_man96. I still am out on the floor with the guys every night, putting in the time and drilling the drills with them and doing my rounds and basics/kata. I can't get to instruct once a week, or month. I do well to get to meet with one of my own instructors more than a couple of times a year. All of us are busy, with kids, jobs, school, military service for one and hampered in travel by disability. When you live on the back side of civilization, where you are 60 miles from the nearest good instructor, it's a lot harder to do. I'm not discounting the importance of training. Give me more ready access and I'm there, every chance I get. For now, I'll work with other martial artists of any skill level to improve my training. And I'll work myself into a puddle of sweat and laugh and cry and bleed along side my students.

To me, I suppose most of the defence would come from the students they have produced. Not so much the number, but the caliber. Forgive me for the short and general answer, but my experience with such high ranks is limited. To me a godan should have all of the technical ability a system requires. Much of the rest is polishing the blade.

It was helpful sir, very much. I gave a detailed reply not because it was not helpful, but because it was. I get a bit long winded on things I love, like karate. I apologize if it came across as anything other than a respectful. What we could spend hours typing we could clarify with a few minutes on the dojo floor. Much respect Sensei, thank you again for the reply.

In depth reply below. I want to say thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread so far. Just because I'm not quoting from everyone, yet, doesn't mean I haven't read, considered and examined what has been said. I love getting feed back from my fellow karateka here. I don't think there is a lot of separation between what I look at and what is said here. Now, I used the Heian kata for reference. I know that it was geared toward school children (middle school I believe) and pulled largely from more advanced kata. I picked it because it's easy to reference, most every karateka has a version of it and will have trained it. The Lingua Franca or karate if you will. Secondly it seems to appear in the same sort of technical sequence even in more advanced kata. A series of knife hands then the spear hand. As you'll see below, I have an application for the technique, and I think it is very workable, however it breaks a rule or two that I generally apply to bunkai/application in kata. Mostly that important and useful things happen often in kata. That you will "mirror" movements showing that they work on the left and right side of the attacker. And I posed the question in class as a thought exercise trying to make them really dig in and question what movements do. I posted this here for much the same reason. And I very much wanted to see what the karateka of the forums would have to say as well. I think we're pretty blessed to have good, honest and sharp minds here. With all that said, I replied to Sensei8's comment because it seems to contain much of what others have said. And to be a little old school, out of respect for the senior karateka, address him first. That was sort of the point I was trying to communicate with my question to my dojo mates and here as well. Repeating technique is the originators way of saying "Hey, pay attention! This is important and really useful!" To me, no repeat says it's useful, because it's in the kata, but much, much less likely to happen in an encounter. Absolutely there shouldn't be material just for materials sake. That creates clutter in your training and is wasting time that could be spent working and refining useful skills. Both the open application and the hidden or transitional need to be trained, I agree. And somethings don't work for everyone, that has always been the case and, I think, a major reason we see a proliferation of styles today. Everyone was trying to find what worked for them and codify it. A spear hand can work, but I feel it is a very lower percentage technique in most situations. The grip/finger conditioning to use a spear hand reliably is something most people don't do. As a push/short strike to soft tissue it can be used, but you have to be careful with it. There are so many levels to the simple "block" taught in karate the only shame is that very often only the outer and most basic form is shown and understood. We cover the block, the deflections, the joint lock, pressure point (bonus points always!) and striking application of "block" movements. A good karateka should never be satisfied with just the surface. Big chunk here and a lot to look at. Those are, mostly, the same sort of questions I ask on every movement. Why does your weight transition this way or that? What movement proceeds? What movement follows? What possibilities do the transitions open up to you? It's all part of the process that you have to apply to start peeling back the layers of kata. Part of why I asked my question, here and in the dojo, is that I'm not satisfied with the technique that it is yielding. The pressing block into the spear hand is alright, but it's not as strong as what I've come to expect from what Okinawan karate. My own application is this, starting from the prior "knife hand block". In response to a left or right hand punch (left puts you on the inside, right on the outside) you have deflected, checked the attack with the transitional movement from the prior "block" and then trapped the attacking limb, and struck the neck/head with the completed "block". Your left hand then seizes the shoulder or hair for the "press block" and you use the shifting weight to front stance to help with this movement as it breaks their balance and you advance with the "spear hand", the lowering of the stance and the attack height further aids in the movement. The spear hand, as I often apply it here is a very oblique palm heel aimed at the side of the base of the skull or jaw line. The transitional movement as you prepare to turn the 270 has application too. Either having missed or failed to finish with the "spear hand"(palm strike), the striking hand now wraps the head to provide leverage and a reference point to aid in targeting the left elbow strike as you step in and start the weight transition for the turn. I hate trying to translate physical movement into text, but there it is. A bit of precursor and a bit of post movement transition to connect the applications to the kata. Maybe, but the stubborn part of me that did Pinan before Heian says it isn't that hard to go from an up right natural stance into a cat stance. But, those were the weight transitions that were first burned into my body. The Up/Down, In/Out of Matsubayashi Ryu are my first love and color at lot of what I do. Can that transition be a throw? Absolutely! I tell our students to always be looking for a throw in turns and transitions. The Earth is a handy weapon to hit your attacker with. It's always there, doesn't break and gravity will help you find it! Many thanks Sensei8, for the time and thought of your reply. I don't think I'm disagreeing with you, or many others here for the majority of what I think on the kata. I just demand that my kata applications give me a lot of mileage. Corner case uses get trained last and least, and I don't like that. The quest for knowledge of any kind is never ending, and when we stop asking questions and stop digging for deeper truths, we stop learning. That is why I press hard to have good, solid applications to show to my students. It isn't that I want "one true way", it's that I want them to have a solid foundation from which to work. I like to teach a base line application, not just the surface application. And from that base line, give students a process that helped me get to those application so they can spring board from there to their own discoveries. It is absolutely true that what we discover in our kata is our own. And those things we find on our own that work for us are the best and dearest of applications and the things that make karate a part of us. Or maybe they make us part of the karate. Wrapping one around another until you can't well separate what you have make of your karate and what your karate has made of you.

Tallgeese, Great post sir, there is a whole lot of truth in it that practitioners of any art need to hear, understand and embrace. Now, I'm with you in that the up close and personal nature of grappling arts makes those defeats very personal. I come to BJJ, thanks to PitbullJudoka, through wrestling in high school. It's a grind as well. You hurt, starve (I hate heavy weights by the way. Always able to eat...) and can't get enough rest from beginning of season through the end of post season. That's the physical side. Taking a beating from guys bigger than you, having a coach (took out "couch", it will suck you in, not push you) pushing, a bad performance on the mats where you have to turn it around a little later for your next match. Mental grind, emotional too. Then there is off season training that is mostly solo when I was at it. All alone with no one to push you, see you quit or gauge your progress. It's the mental side as much as anything there. I'm an old friend of the grind, though I don't get ground as much as I would like these days. Embracing that grind I think is a big part of what separates those who stick around and progress, and those who make it a year or less. The sooner people understand that, the better they will be because they can see it coming and might be ready to handle things like this. Not to derail the discussion, but I would argue that the grind of stand up styles is there, different, but definitely there. That once or twice a week beating in sparring allows a lot of time to dwell on that loss. The daily, why are we working on the jab again, why are we doing this drill again? Repeating things over and over until you are frankly sick of doing them is the only way to progress. Then there is the instructors side of all arts. You always have to be "on" and ready to train, teach something new, deal with students and often neglect your own training.

How about having to be ready to teach every time you step on the mats as an instructor? There are days when it just isn't there. All I want to do is spar, roll or bang on pads. It's selfish I know, but it's better than slogging through a lack luster, flat training session with the students. On a more personal side, I would have to say it's my BJJ (the ground part PitbullJudoka!). I'm so utterly inconsistent that it's not even funny. Some nights I'm really, really on other nights I'm getting smoked or struggling to hold my own against very junior students.

Sensei8, and any other interested karateka, PitbullJudoka and I decided you were the man to talk to on this. Your knowledge is deep and broad. And everyone else who has toyed with karate kata and applications, I'm looking for thoughts. Tuesday night in class I posed a question to our little class. In Shotokan's (and related karate arts) Heian Nidan, the spear hand at the end of the line, what does it do? Now, I pose that because I framed the question like this. Kata generally mirrors itself, telling you that what works on/against one side of the attacker works on the other. Punches, blocks, knife hands etc. But, the spear hand from Heian Nidan, which appears in other kata, uses only the right hand. Why no mirror. What attack is it countering, or technique is it setting up that doesn't have a mirror, or the mirror is so rare that it isn't work including in a civilian self defense system? Now, my knowledge of kata isn't super extensive, however we see almost all techniques mirrored on the left and right sides of the body relatively early on in your training. This single thing though, I can't think of having a left hand mirror. Gojushiho has a series of spear hands on both sides of the body, but it is a relatively advanced kata in Matsubayashi Ryu where I know it from. It is very different than how it is expressed in Shotokan though, smaller, more conservative in footwork and execution. Again, Sensei8 we though of you because of your knowledge of Okinawan arts. However, I'm happy to have anyone chime in on this topic. I know Iain Abernethy teaches the technique as a throw in his approach, and that seems to work well enough, but again, why no mirror? Questioning and questing for knowledge and learning as always. For reference the movement in question is at the 27/28 second mark here

I'm going to second tallgeese here. If the styles you are looking at training are somewhat similar, you need a very solid grasp on the basics, movements and concepts of one before you want to start another. Get your boxing solid before you start training in MT. However, in this case the two things you are looking at training are so very different that it won't cause you any trouble. It isn't like you are going to be working on your side kick in karate class and suddenly you are trying to hit a flying triangle because you got things mixed up in your head. Having done both arts, I can't see that you will have a problem unless it is as tallgeese says, a split in training time.

Martial arts are my drug, and I want to be a good dealer! I don't make a big deal out of it, but people that know me know that I train. The bruising has to be explained somehow. I don't train in public much. In the yard for kata I can't fit in the house, heavy bag work or general fitness out doors. And we have had to train in the park before. Not because we wanted to, but because when I took over the school we were being pushed out of our current location. I've had to explain some tee shirts too. A Sprawl shirt, not so easy to explain. Tap Cancer Out, a little easier.

When I said hard, I meant hard contact during sparring v.s. light/semi contact, rather than linear v.s. circular and explosive vs graceful (like is often meant with hard/soft style). I largely agree with you, but perhaps unlike you I think one of the yin/yang oppositions is realism v.s. safety. Realism genuinely producing better fighters, safety having other benefits. On average at least. Like less down time due to injury? I have to put on a tie and smile at people who want to borrow money every day. Coming in marked up from hard sparring brings a lot of grief from supervisors. Lots of grief. Makes sparring hard for me riskier than just the injury factor. I can endanger my job. It's the only reason I miss my old job in retail management where they didn't care as long as I got to work and got things done. Kyokunshin is well respected not for it's range of techniques, but the contact level at which they compete. The same reason boxing and MT have generally good reputations for producing hard hitters who aren't afraid of contact. That is a huge benefit that a lot of people could do well to receive. All sparring/training introduces flaws for safety. For Kyokunshin, and it's related styles, the "flaw" is targeting/weapons. For most other karate it's level of contact/weapons. You have to pick the flaw, recognize the hole it leaves in your training and how you need to cover it.

Bit of a contradiction, if it's not a fight until you reach short range, why "play" at long range in a self defense encounter to begin with? Get in, get it done and get out. No, it doesn't make you the attacker. If you have tried de-escalation(if you have time), and disengagement (if you have the chance) and you still find yourself confronted with a threat that justifies force a preemptive strike is justified. You haven't "become the attacker", you are acting in self defense. Karate is about self-defense. Self defense does not require to set back and wait for the other person to initiate action with the first attack. It puts you behind on the OODA loop to begin with. You should seize the initiative, close and neutralize the threat. That is what self defense is about, not sitting back and waiting for the threat to come to you. To close and violently put down the attacker, that is the heart of karate and what it's kata teach. Sparring teaches you how not to fight? Then how does long range dojo sparring help you get better at the short range technique you say kata teach? Partner work, or very structure "sparring" will teach you to apply kata technique, not the sparring seen in most dojos. Long range sparring mostly makes you better at long range sparring. Timing, how to take a hit (if the contact levels are managed correctly), how to cope with aggression are learned, but have to be put into context. Those things can be pulled out and then put into a self defense situation and trained, but they are not the same. Unless your dojo sparring is done at close range, where those kata techniques work, it isn't doing as much as you think. Get in close, end things before it is a fight. If you sit at long range and wait for them to attack you've made it a fight. That implies an honest chance of back and forth. That is not what self-defense is about. I've said before, maybe even in this thread, that the lessons learned from typical sparring have to be understood in their own context. The lessons it teaches relate to the edges of self-defense, not it's heart. This is no knock on Shotokan, but it's sparring methods, like those of most karate styles aren't as connected to self defense as people have been told. A lot of that confusion stems from intermixing self-defense and dueling. Those are two very different things and we, as martial artists, shouldn't forget that. Both are useful, and one of them is legal. Training for both can be fun, but we can't forget what we are training each time. All views expressed by Shorikid should be taken with a grain of salt. He exists in the flaming leper corner of "traditional" karateka. This public service announcement is brought to by the Safe Traditional Association of Karate Exponents, STAKE.

Reading this thread is like going through a check list of my training. Others have said it and I'll back it up. You are taking part in a physical activity, for many well past what is considered "athletic prime", ie. 17-25 or 30 if you are lucky. Your training bag should have anti-inflamatories (however you spell aleve...), tape, a few bandaids, instant ice packs, water. Common injuries have pretty much all been covered here. I get to check a lot of those boxes off myself. And I can't reiterate how important recovery and rest can be when you have been hurt/injured. That doesn't mean you can't train, but you have to understand the limitations an injury puts on you and train appropriately.

Good stuff sir. Different than the throw I use/teach from that movement, but I really like it. The unbalancing is similar, but we start from a more squared on position. One of these days we'll gang up and make you do video of the entire Naihanchi.

This is from a phone, so apologies in advance. How much time before you start to teach application? Second night? The first night you demo a few.applications to keep their mind open to accepting that kata are something other than a dance. Lay a light foundation for the kata and then start applying it. That way they don't get fixated on the dance. Thought a few throws and take downs that centered on heian/pin an/basai/passai applications last night. To quote our 1st kyu, "Kata, so full of suck." In reference to how harsh the application s we went through were. I keep telling them, Okinawains were very nice people, until they weren't.

Very cool video Tallgeese. It is great to get out of your own realm and look at new things to reignite the fires. If not, you kind of burn on the low end of things and it can get very hard to really want to train. And congratulations on being asked to be a part of the seminar. That is a pretty big thing if you ask me. Being invited to do that is a sign that others recognize your hard work and ability. On the material in the video, it looked like a lot of fun to me! The BJJ segment you taught had some movements I recognized and the first video with the DBMA material I was "sticks! run!". I just wish I had the resources and time to travel to events like this one.

Sorry What's this "Dog Brother's event" ? You can go on youtube and look it up there. It is in a way like fight club I would recommend looking into their philosophy a bit before doing so. They don't want you if you don't understand the idea that you are there to strengthen yourself AND the tribe. I had nearly forgotten about the Dog Brothers and the Gatherings of the Pack. I used to be on their forums, some interesting individuals there, or used to be. I seem to remember something about a lawn chair vs. boken at one of them ten or so years back. Someone walks into your dojo and issues a challenge, it can't really end well. They've come with something to prove or a story to tell when they leave regardless. I was my first instructors door keeper so to speak. When someone came in and said they had trained before, when they were allowed to spar, I was the first on the floor with them. I was an adult, young, didn't mind getting roughed up in training and was the ranking student after a while. So it was my job to sort the wheat from the chaff. Now that I teach on my own I've had a few guys come in, and it's always young guys, who had trained other places get a little wild sparring. Not out right challenges, but I think they mistook sparring at an appropriate level for lack of skill. Or over estimated their skill because I was trying to fight at their level. Either way it usually only took one or two times of being "reminded" that things weren't the way they thought to settle that. I can't think of any challenged we've ever had that was blatant though. I've heard a couple of stories about walk in challenges from senior instructors. With the way things are legally now, most of those days are behind us.

Bruce Lee with his batwings. If they didn't help the small man hit hard, why would he work so hard on them? Pull ups will develop the back, which help lock the torso down and move the core explosively. Do not over look them. For close range sparring, where pulling, gripping and moving over people is useful they are good, as with any grappling art.