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IKIGAIWAY.COM
Looking for solid information on all aspects of Martial Arts training. Interviews from highly trained and knowledgeable Masters of their arts. A website by a Martial Artist who understands the principals and philosophy's of the Arts, that will take you to the next level. Go to http://www.ikigaiway.com . Martial Artist from every style can and will learn from this site.
A New Domain Name
I been thinking about going beyond my karate blog and set-up a karate website.
After a lot of thought and planning I set out to find the best Karate Domain for my new site. I tried all the obvious ones, Karate.com, Shotokan.com, Karate Training.com, KarateKa.com, KarateDo.com etc. etc... There all gone!
Most of them are just owned, no site, parked somewhere and being offered for sale. One was priced at $6000, another at $4500, no bids, no offers, just like their sites, nothing.
So I thought about it and found a Japanese to English Martials Arts terminology page and went to town, Karateuchi.com, Bujutsu.com, Kumite.com, Ahh, heres a good one, Ikken Hissatsu.com (the death blow), GONE! I tried some variations Ikken.com, Hissatsu.com, GONE! Ikken is parked with real estate ads and Hissatsu is a knife, thats kind of cool.
I could have got BritneySpearsInADeepKiba-Dachi.com, but eveyones already seen thos pics.
I say "THE HELL WITH IT" all the karate domain names are taken. I'll just stick with my IPPONKUMITE and forget about a karate website for....wait a minute, ipponkumite, thats a karate term and I own it! I'll see all of you at ipponkumite.com as soon a I figure out how to build a website. OH and the name is "FOR SALE" only $12500.
OLD SCHOOL TRAINING
Awhile back, after what seemed like a very hard workout, I was thinking back to when I first started training.
My first training was in Tae Kwon Do at the local YMCA. A friend was training there and got me interested.
This was either late 1970 or early 1971, I was 14 at the time, involved in Olympic Weightlifting and in pretty good shape. The workouts weren't to tough, but somewhat difficult at first, very different from what I was used to. There were a lot of breaks and while other people were sparring or doing kata, we would set and watch. Latter in life I understood that you have to accommodate your class some, there were children, elderly and people who hadn't really done any real exercise in there life.
One day we stopped at the local boys club because we had heard that they taught Karate there. We went up to the gym area and watched as an Instructor was just finishing teaching a class with four students.
We thought, this guy can't be to good, he only has four students.
The Instructor approached us after the class, he was sweating and his gi was dirty. He was pleasant enough and seem to have a real knowledge and passion for the art. He explained that the art he taught was called SHOTOKAN KARATE and that it was similar to our art, just less emphasis on kicks.
He told us that we could train there for $2.50 a month, we were paying $10 at the Y. (Ahh the good old days)
We signed up, feeling a little sorry for the guy, just four students, maybe we could help him out with our months of experience in Tae Kwon Do.
The workouts were Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but they were two to two and a half hours long, that seemed kind of long to me.
We arrived with our clean, pressed Gis, I brought my yellow belt, (just earned that week) all of his students were white belts and he might want me to take over and show them some of my stuff.
Only three of his students show up for this workout, Chuck 17, Mike 16 and Vince 16. The other student had joined the marines and wouldn't be back.
The workout begins and the Instructor has us do this little bowing ritual which was kind of cool, very Asian and mystical. Then he said something in Japanese which I think meant: WELCOME TO HELL.
he was throwing out terms like Gedan Barai, Oi-zuki, Uraken-uchi,
Mae-geri, well it was all French to me.
This continued on and on, up the floor, back down the floor. I'm thinking he's trying to kill us, I felt bad for his students, they must really be dieing.
We then moved into this thing he call "Ippon Kumite", he explained that we probably did something similar and that we would just do some basic Oi-zuki and Chudan-Ude-Uke, HuH. "He forgot about our break"
I'm paired up with Chuck, he gets in a front stance, I get in my ready stance and Chuck punches me square in the chest and I land on my ass about five feet back. I immediately look to the Instructor, he's really going to let chuck have it, no, he looks at me and says "GET UP, LETS GO!", Chuck still has 4 right handed Oi-Zukis and
5 left handed Oi-zukis, then I get my turn.
Next were going to do a little Kumite, The Instructor has a Dentist appointment so were going to have to cut the workout short about an hour, forty-five minutes, we'll make it up on Saturday though.
He wants Chuck and Vince to Spar a little, show us what he wants to see when his students spar. I was just punched in the chest THIRTY TIMES by his students so I assume the best crossed leg stance on the floor that I can, only to quickly find out that there is no setting down, we could stand in a deep Kiba-dachi and if our legs got to tired in that stance, we could switch to any of the very comfortable stances offered in Shotokan Karate.
Well, we each sparred for about 20 continuous mins, "light day". Didn't have time for Kata, because of that Damn Dentist appointment, so we ended the workout with a hundred squatting front kick, fifty squatting side kicks, 25 squatting round kicks, and 25 squatting back kicks.
He explained that he was sorry for the light workout that day and promised he would make it up Saturday.
We left there that day, my friend said "he's never going back, he's staying with the Tae Kwon Do, he's not going to pay good money to get beat up". I thought about it all night between the cramps, the gasps for air, the bumping of sore arms and legs from the THOUSAND BRUISE WORKOUT.
I was there the next Saurday and every TUESDAY, THURSDAY and SATURDAY after that, getting beat up, shins all banged up and watched as the "NEW RECENTLY EARNED YELLOW BELT" students from other schools would come and want to try a class and maybe show us a few things.
The Advanced Shotokan Karate Bible: Black Belt and Beyond
OLD SCHOOL TRAINING GOT TO LOVE IT.
MY FAVORITE MMA FIGHTERS
I love watching the top MMA fighters compete.
Their skills and sheer determination to win, is so impressive.
I like different fighters for different reasons, the only ones I don't care for are the one skill fighters, knockout punch, but nothing else or great grappler, but no stand-up.
Those guys usually get weeded out when they compete with the top fighters, so it's all good My favorites are.
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Some of my Favorite "Quotes" M.A. and Others
"The true value of the martial arts is not in 100 victories but in the perfection of the character of the students." -- Funakoshi
"He who hesitates, often meditates, in the horizontal position" Ed Parker
"Before I learned the art, a punch was just a punch. After I learned the art, a punch was no longer a punch. Now that I understand the art, a punch is just a punch" Bruce Lee
"Mercy is for the weak" Reese Kobra Kai
"Myagi don't like fighting, Someone always get hurt" Mr. Myagi
"Well, the best course is still intercourse" Ronald Reagan
"The couragous man dies a single death, the coward dies a thousand deaths"
"What techniques do you use to psyche out your opponent" --reporter "I punch him in the face"--Mike Tyson
The deadliest weapon in the world is a marine and his rifle. It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. You will become dead marines and then you will be in a world of shit because marines are not allowed to die without permission. Do you maggots understand Sergeant Hartmann
"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character."-- Albert Einstein
"Our Enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and people, and neither do we,"--George Bush
"Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that. -George Carlin
Only Wine gets better with age
Oh, and some women.
I wonder where the myth of the 80 yr old Karate Master soundly defeating 5 young warriors started.
Martial Arts seems to be the only physical art where this myth survives.
As we age we may develop wisdom and experience, but we lose physical attributes. Reaction time slows, strength declines, lose of flexability and the ability to recover slows.
I can't think of any other sport or physical art that makes the claims I have heard in Martial Arts. This is especially true in combat arts. Does anyone think Angelo Dundee could have climbed in the ring with Ali and defeated him?, of course not, yet Dundee had years of experience and the "eye" to see what his fighter needed to do to win.
There was an article in the paper recently how three muggers attacked a 72 yr old man and even though his defense failed, he sent one to the hospital at the scene and had sevearly injured another, this man had been a boxer and a boxing trainer most of his life, if he was only 50 or so at the time, he probably would have walked away unharmed.
Look at non-combat sports, you don't see Arnold Palmer walking away with the Masters Trophy anymore, even though he is a Master at Golf or Jimmy Conners winning any top Tennis Tournaments, Why, because they can't keep up or out play the young warriors in their prime in there respective sports.
Now at 52, in a conflict I'm going to take the quickest path of least resistance, I'm not going to bang away, trade blows, or try to outlast any opponent, especially a trained fighter in his prime.
When I brought this topic up on a forum recently, you should have heard the ageing 7th and 8th degree black belts talk about how much better they are now, as compared to when they where 35 yr old 3rd degree black belts.
Wisdom and age do go together, thats why you see so many smart old people ,especially driving the car in front of you at 28 mph in a 45 mph zone.
I know I'm much wiser now, atleast I think I am................what was I talking about?
Karate Tournament
While driving home Saturday morning I spotted a small paper sign that said, "KARATE TOURNAMENT",it was mixed in with all the yard sale signs hanging on every street sign in my neighborhood.
I anxiously followed these little red signs which led me to the local high school gymnasium.
The first thing I noticed upon entering was all the Black Belts kids, some that looked about 10 yrs. old.
Well they had Kata competition going on one side of the gym and kumite on the other, so I seated myself in the middle so I could catch all the action.
Hmmm, not to exciting, very poor technique, no focus, but a whole lot of yelling that I guess were suppose to be Kiai's.
Now I hear from the group next to me that Danny's fighting next, he's the top junior Black Belt in Kumite. I don't want to criticize Kids, so lets just say I anxiously awaited the mens Black Belt sparring.
Now I'm really glad I didn't criticize the Kids, I see where they learned how not to be effective, to have weak techniques, to lack power, to have no focus, no timing.
It seems the only technique they know is a "side push kick", lean back on your rear leg and push your front leg out, no power, no focus and these are "BLACK BELTS".
I know these Karate instructors sell parents on the fact that they are building character or teaching kids discipline, I say bulls@#t, you take your child to KARATE CLASS, so he /she can LEARN HOW TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IF ATTACKED!
This was a very disappointing event. I remember attending high school gym Karate Tournaments in the past and seeing fighters like Jim Kelley, Howard Jackson, Lenny Ferguson Sho Kasugi, Bob Dunek, Donny Williams, Steve Sanders, Darnell Garcia etc etc... Is this what the new age of Karate and Kumite is all about?
Karate Fighting Techniques: The Complete Kumite
Martial Arts Clip Art
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Self Defense
Fighting when it comes to self-defense, isn't sparring.
Many post that I have read on forums talk about squaring off and what stance to use, if you allow the conflict to progress to this point you've lost most of your advantage.
Now I know there are some real rough boys here who this advice won't apply to.
How many of you witnessed how easily a half trained BJJ purple belt trashes a highly trained Karate black belt. The Gracies walk into a school and want to spar the instructor, he agrees, throws a have-hearted kick to their stomach to see what will happen and they take him to the ground and cause him pain and embarrassment.
What about self defense on the street, in a bar or anywhere. Someone starts making inappropriate gestures toward you, your wife or your family, are you going to spar with him?
You don't know who this person is, maybe he doesn't care if he spends the next few nights in jail, maybe he knocks everyone he fights out, wants to see if he can knock you out too.
Karate is a combat art, developed to stop, devastate, or destroy you opponent. There is a time to leave and theres a time to stop the conflict before it gets going.
Hard kicks to the knees, shins, thighs or groin, knife hands to the neck or throat, hair grabs with hammer fist to the nose, pokes to the eyes. If you have a strong reverse punch, strike the nose, throat, or solar plexus.
Don't let an ex football player with a bad attitude get a run at you, you'll probably end up a tackling dummy.
I'm not against sparring in the studio or competition, it's another tool to develop timing, focus and mental toughness, all necessary in effective self defense training . There may come a time when squaring off is the only option, someone just starts swinging at you or tries to take you down to the ground. This is where sparring in the dojo helps, you block, evade and counter with all you got and hopefully it's enough.
Self Defense & Street Fighting Secrets!
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