Proposal: bareknuckle, full-contact Karate with no kicks, just body punches and nothing else.

[DarthPenguin]

Also, at the risk of sounding slightly rude (if it is then i apologise) can i ask what level you have gotten to in Kyokushin and / or Shotokan? I am much junior rank wise to a lot of the people on here (people don't usually make comments here based on rank which is refreshing) but some of the sentiments i am hearing are similar to ones i have heard before from newer students / members who have not trained enough to work out why some things are as they are.

Sorry if this embarasses them but @Wastelander has multiple dan ranks in a variety of styles (including practical karate ones) and @bushido_man96 is a 5th dan in TKD plus works as a LEO (so will have real hands on experience of defence situations) and they both have laid out cogent points as to why body only striking as you espouse may not work for self defence. If you are equally as credentialled / skilled then fair enough but it is possible that this is a case of "you don't know what you don't know".

[Nidan Melbourne]

On 4/9/2025 at 10:58 PM, Zayd_Nofal said:

Hello. I am a 1st Dan in Shotokan Karate, 2nd gup in Tang Soo Do, and 5th gup in Taekwondo. I also have 1 year of boxing experience and a few months of BJJ experience.  I moved cities half a year ago, at which point I switched to Kyokushin

@DarthPenguin this is from his initial post. 

Don't forget that @Wastelander is very open in regards to his training. Considering he is a Yondan in 1 style; it is impressive in itself as not many clubs have someone with that rank in itself. Same goes with @bushido_man96 and his years of experience. 

Like I'm a Nidan, but some have said I have the knowledge/experience for a 3rd/4th Dan. As I am well overdue to grade for my 3rd Dan in itself. 

But on the same hand; Rank and Experience can be two vastly different beasts. Like I haven't graded for the last 7 years; when I very much could have to be promoted to Sandan then be eligible to grade to Yondan this year. 

Even if I can't train; I am still educating myself and breaking down the basics to their biomechanical movements and doing the same with kata. Then working out how they can be best utilised for Self-Defence Routines. 

 

With respect; I do encourage discussions as to why we often do things, as it should enhance our understanding of how things work. But for that to work; both parties need to be respectful to one another. 

[sensei8]

On 4/17/2025 at 8:01 PM, Zayd_Nofal said:

Complicated self defense techniques don't work

If I may, without me sounding like a broken record…

Complicated??

Something is complicated for two reasons:

1) Practitioner is learning something that’s new and strange to that person.

2) Practitioner isn’t mature in said technique, and that’s because that person is afraid.

I’ve been on the floor for 6 decades and in all of that time, I’ve never seen  not one technique that is effective when either both points above become evident to exist in any practitioner.

Imho.

[DarthPenguin]

15 hours ago, Nidan Melbourne said:

@DarthPenguin this is from his initial post. 

I totally missed that - sorry, my fault!

 

15 hours ago, Nidan Melbourne said:

But on the same hand; Rank and Experience can be two vastly different beasts. Like I haven't graded for the last 7 years; when I very much could have to be promoted to Sandan then be eligible to grade to Yondan this year. 

 

100% agree with you. eg at my judo club the main coach is a 1st dan but he was an international competitor for years, just recently retiring. There are several higher graded people in the class that train under him!

 

15 hours ago, Nidan Melbourne said:

With respect; I do encourage discussions as to why we often do things, as it should enhance our understanding of how things work. But for that to work; both parties need to be respectful to one another. 

Completely agree here and hope it didn't come across as i was being disrespectful to anyone, genuinely wasn't my intention!

[Nidan Melbourne]

2 hours ago, DarthPenguin said:

I totally missed that - sorry, my fault!

 

100% agree with you. eg at my judo club the main coach is a 1st dan but he was an international competitor for years, just recently retiring. There are several higher graded people in the class that train under him!

 

Completely agree here and hope it didn't come across as i was being disrespectful to anyone, genuinely wasn't my intention!

all good; pretty easy to miss or overlook when going through the posts. 

And no I don't think you were being disrespectful. It certainly never came across when reading your posts. 

To me having a higher grade is useful because it at least shows u know the curriculum and have been assessed on it. Unless you made your own "style". 

I defer to some of my students who compete; and they are the ones that are either on the State or National teams. But only when it comes specifically to either their specialty or I am running a tournament style class or specific class. 

[Nidan Melbourne]

14 hours ago, sensei8 said:

If I may, without me sounding like a broken record…

Complicated??

Something is complicated for two reasons:

1) Practitioner is learning something that’s new and strange to that person.

2) Practitioner isn’t mature in said technique, and that’s because that person is afraid.

I’ve been on the floor for 6 decades and in all of that time, I’ve never seen  not one technique that is effective when either both points above become evident to exist in any practitioner.

Imho.

That is true; when you learn something new it can be hard to understand.

I admit there are some "Routines" that I've seen on youtube, Instagram or even facebook that just look overly dramatic or more complicated than need be. But then I remind myself that what I'm seeing is usually the demonstration or the student getting used to the routine in itself. 

But seeing them at full speed, where the attacker just remains still whilst the defence does their thing on the other hand. irks me to no tomorrow. Although that typically gets resolved pretty quickly when someone demonstrates my concerns.

[Zayd_Nofal]

On 4/23/2025 at 9:31 PM, Nidan Melbourne said:

@DarthPenguin this is from his initial post. 

Don't forget that @Wastelander is very open in regards to his training. Considering he is a Yondan in 1 style; it is impressive in itself as not many clubs have someone with that rank in itself. Same goes with @bushido_man96 and his years of experience. 

Like I'm a Nidan, but some have said I have the knowledge/experience for a 3rd/4th Dan. As I am well overdue to grade for my 3rd Dan in itself. 

But on the same hand; Rank and Experience can be two vastly different beasts. Like I haven't graded for the last 7 years; when I very much could have to be promoted to Sandan then be eligible to grade to Yondan this year. 

Even if I can't train; I am still educating myself and breaking down the basics to their biomechanical movements and doing the same with kata. Then working out how they can be best utilised for Self-Defence Routines. 

 

With respect; I do encourage discussions as to why we often do things, as it should enhance our understanding of how things work. But for that to work; both parties need to be respectful to one another. 

I do commend anyone who reaches 4th Dan in any style, no matter what it is. In fact, that seems to be the point at which someone can become a competent fighter in one of the "point" fighting styles (Shotokan, Wado, etc), so not only do I respect those people but I think they can probably fight well.

But with that being said, a 4th dan in Kyokushin will always wipe a 4th dan in Wado-ryu or a similar style.