Hi, Well, to be honest I really don't know what to say. There's not much to say about myself. Actually I don't normally do the forum thing. Normally means never. I don't belong to any forums, Facebook or anything else. I recently retired and have some extra time on my hands and have been reading a lot on the internet and somehow stumbled in here. Other than that the only other thing I kind of follow is a blog. Well...maybe two. I'm not sure since one is new so there isn't much there but both seem to follow more or less my type of training preference and philosophy. I don't normally find anyone thinking like I do so I was surprised. Like I said there isn't much to tell about me. I workout and have training in a few things over the years. My main karate style has been Shotokan but kind of an odd ball version. Not sport at all and kind of private. Just a few guys and a donation jar. No competition no point sparring just hard training. We don't worry much about rank and have been training together for many years. I tend to prefer the full contact stuff (which is why I like where I train now) and have dabbled in a few disciplines to that end. Not much just bits and pieces of boxing, kickboxing, knockdown karate but not competitively. Just kind of knock around and a bit less on the rules side. Bob
Hi Bob, Welcome to MAP! I think you will like it here. I welcome you as a part time Karateka - I do Isshinryu as about 50% of my current training, the rest is mostly Muay Thai. The training you are doing sounds pretty cool! So it basically donation based, with knockdown fighting? That is a cool concept I wish I could have encountered in my youth. Any ways - welcome!
Thanks Guitar Nado. Yea, I enjoy it. We just get together in a small training area and do our thing. We use very few kata and work them thoroughly continuously altering and increasing the attack. Kata is basically our class. We don't separate out the techniques like most classes and repeat blocks and techniques in endless reps. My sensei believes that kata IS the class. It's kihon, kata and kumite all rolled into one. Our only basics before actual class are some kicks and punches. Then we'll work strikes on targets, bags, makiwara. But the rest of the class is put on the headgear and fingerless gloves and practice kata application all out. He believes that the most important part of application training is not the defense but rather they attack. If the attacker doesn't continuously try to outdo your defense or get around it or fight against it and just "keep coming" then the defense practice is worthless. What he calls "false." I like it and there's no pressure. We don't concern ourselves with much more than just sweating and working hard.
Welcome to MAP. I'm a fan of the backyard style class and run something similar myself. It can be good training if you find the right bunch of people.