Martial Arts

Passed the test. Now an Orange belt in Karate.

It was intense. We did a lot of drills and forms to start. Went outside and did them in the parking lot for about an hour. It was 104 yesterday here in Vegas so I covered myself with sun screen before the test knowing we would be outside. Came back in and did about another hour of drills, forms, and sparring. Got my new belt and certificate.

My test wasn't perfect as I did get told to correct my stance twice, once because my horse stance wasn't deep enough and once because I needed to switch my legs. There were a few other things I felt were a little off but I get into the mindset that if a test is not perfect then it's a failure. Sensei told me that I did a great job. Feels good to get that first test out of the way. First tests with a new instructor are challenging because you don't know what to expect. I had never watched one of their tests before.

Now I start getting ready for purple belt.

BlackKnight1974 said:

Well done! It's interesting you get results the same day - most of the gyms/clubs I have trained with make you wait for anywhere between a week to a month. Glad you passed, time to start getting ready for your next belt!

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Really? I never head of that.


Thanks for the support!

What are your thoughts on Bruce Lee's famous "Be Like Water" quote?

I just found this video. It's a good Hapkido clip of Master JR West showing a technique at his annual seminar. Master West was my teachers teacher, and I have been on the receiving end of the technique in the video. I've also linked the schools website if anyone is interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I44s2VejWQ

https://hapkido.com/west-hapkido/

It's kind of interesting to watch different styles go against each other. In the video there is a part where the two are talking and the MMA fighter talks about being grabbed and just punching, something the Aikdio fighter didn't seem to expect. We talked about that in class tonight. I was sparring and tried to grab a couple of times (no idea why) and got punched as a result. It can be tough to execute a wrist lock or throw against a sparring partner. That being said, if you're good with them they work against someone resisting even if the attacker is bigger and stronger.

I hold no rank in Aikido and have minimal knowledge of it. Based on what I saw at the end of the sparring (7:31) it looked like he was trying to do wrist techniques similar to what we did in Hapkido but couldn't get them to work. One of them looked like he was trying to do it too high. If he brought it down to his waist/center instead of up by his chest it would have worked, it looked like. He wasn't getting the MMA fighter off balance which is key when doing throws. Unless I am not understanding what he was trying to do.

It looked like the Aikdio student was trying to spar the MMA student by playing the MMA students game. Since Aikido is a defense style I would think it would be better to let your attacker come to you, using the aggressiveness against them. But I am no expert. We have a couple of posters here who practice Aikdio who can give a much better analysis than I ever could.

edutton said:

Yep, that's pretty much on target. He set himself up for a fail. Even before he got in the ring he said he didn't expect to do well, and - surprise! - he didn't.


I agree that his biggest problem was that he was oddly focused on wrist controls, which is a bad idea when the other person is wearing boxing gloves(!). He also kept trying to grab his opponent, which immediately and significantly limits your range of options. At a guess, I'd say wrist locks are probably one of his strengths in regular training - we all tend to fall into what we like/do best under pressure.

And even when he did try to get in an irimi (entering/body throw), the timing was off and he wound up trying to muscle through it, which rarely works unless you have a good size/strength advantage. It's HARD to not muscle through, though, so I won't give him too much grief for that... But the MMA guy was clearly pushing back against the throw, so by core aikido principles he should have just followed that and thrown the guy in the direction he already wanted to go.

His ground game was very weak, but then so is mine; aikido actually does have ground work in the repertoire, but almost nobody I've talked to actually knows that and I've only had a couple of classes where it was featured over the last twelve years. I wish I had the time to add BJJ to my arsenal, but I'm pretty sure my wife would divorce me.

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Well said!


This was my biggest problem with throws and one that our instructor said is the most common mistake he has seen people make when doing throws. They try to muscle it too much. The throw is less about muscle and more about motion. It's not a natural instinct for most of us, we tend to think we need to muscle through something like that.

Solid video here on the history of American Kenpo Karate. The Art of One Dojo page on Youtube has a lot of good information about martial arts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk_RkZortw8

onesecondglance said:

Had a good session last night - our club went to visit another about an hour away from us. They're jujutsu as well, but in a different organisation, though we've trained with them before in big seminars and stuff. (Our club is actually going to move across to their organisation as ours is slowly dying as the original people fade away). Really nice atmosphere - no egos on the mat, just everyone willing to learn.

Their style is similar to ours - enough that I felt comfortable - but a little fancier/fiddlier and with less emphasis on striking. Their throws were sweet, though. What I found most interesting was how I coped when I got their techniques wrong. I used to just freeze and reset when I got something wrong; I'm find it takes a lot of reps for me to develop muscle memory. Last night I just improvised when the technique didn't go as their sensei planned, and found a way back to something that worked for me - i.e. even if I didn't do the exact technique they wanted, I still got the man down and got safe. A nice confidence boost for me.

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It's good you're working with other schools and instructors. It's always a plus when different schools can get together to learn from each other. Plus it is fun. This a good example of how deep martial arts is. You are both learning the same style but because the organizations are different they are taught a little different. Even in the same organization different schools can teach material a little bit differently. This is what I always want to explain to people when someone says Taekwodo and Karate are the same thing. No, they are not. Taekwondo and Taekwondo isn't even the same thing, necessarily. After years of training TKD and correcting family members who said I did Karate, I now am doing Karate and they all think I am doing TKD.

Keeping going is something that was stressed in our class recently too. Say you're doing a five strike combination and you make a mistake doing the wrong strike on the third move, just keep going and finish. If you're sparring or being attacked your opponent is not going to let you reset because you did a hook when you were suppose to do a cross, so just keep going with it instead of restarting. Then correct it next time.

PiaSophia said:

I started pencak silat when I was around 8 years old, I think. My tutor was our amazing janitor who taught private lessons inside his tiny apartment. As my parents got divorced I started rebelling against everything even before puberty hit me and, unfortunately, stopped.

Then, when I was 13 years old and things heated up more and more inside my household, I started Muay Thai. I loved it and honestly lived for it for a couple of years. I did that until I went to university and couldn't find any motivation and time for it anymore. I was turning 17 then. Now, at 22, I miss it so much that I'm considering starting again. Just moved into a new city a year ago and have to find a good dojo to train again.

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to the thread. I hope you find a school that fits you well and you start to train again. What style are you considering training next?

Not my best tonight. I wasn't focused and made a series of mistakes during the class, often being the last person get the technique right (in my defense I was the lowest rank). I even lined up wrong at the beginning of the class. One of those days......

I've decided that being focused is the most important thing I can do in class. If I am not focused there isn't much chance of me performing well.

edutton said:

On a slightly different topic, have any of you put MA into your writing? My first story has some aikido in, although I wound up losing the lovely fight scene where MC rescues her girlfriend, in revision...

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I've been writing a martial arts screenplay this summer and have finished the first draft. It incorporates some Karate, Jujitsu, Judo, and Kickboxing.

edutton said:

Fun! What's the story about?

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It's about a young vagrant who falls into underground street fighting to make money and gets discovered by a coach who trains him to become a professional fighter.