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Tips, Tools, Lessons, Products and Advice to Help You Get More Kick Out of Karate...

If I hear one more person on Facebook say “I’m bored”, I am going to go off the rails! We think that the phone always has to ring, that people always have to be texting us, or that we must have someone to hang out with. What is wrong with hanging out with yourself? You [...]...

s a strongly held belief in some karate circles that things like stances have to conform to a particular set of measurements to be correct. I've seen training grind to halt many times when I practised Tani-ha Shito-ryu, while the teacher moved a student's foot half a millimetre this way, or a leg was nudged a fraction of an inch that way.  I'm not suggesting stances are not important in karate,...

s important. No two people agree on what it is. Don't binge, eat smaller portions .  In most restaurants, aim to take half of your main course home. Avoid temptation . Don't even go to Mexican restaurants. If you must go, say NO THANKS when they put the salsa and chips on the table.  Don't eat even one...Never think about desert or sweets. Don't have dreams. Before you take a drink with alcohol, ...

s passing, and the 15th anniversary of the death of my sensei, Eiichi Miyazato. Of course being in Okinawa, so close to many great karateka, I always arrange to meet and discuss karate with several senior sensei; and this year was no different. Some of the conversations will be published in the months to come, but some will remain private; not because of the topics we discussed but because I believe...

re making a statement about yourself I've never been that bothered about promotion, gradings come and go; I've certainly never asked for one, although I did discuss the subject once with Higaonna Morio sensei when I was training with him in Tokyo in 1987. Having made the switch from Shito-ryu to Goju-ryu almost four years earlier I had no status in Goju-ryu prior to my move to Australia, and he thought...

ll write more about my visit to the island in coming days, but for now, here's a local news report covering a little of the seminar I attended, a visit to the Shureido store, and a closer look at the work of the OKKB. I was at Shureido during the filming, but managed to avoid the reporter and her camera. I am grateful however to the large contingent of American and Canadian karateka who bought a second...

s the recent story of challenges, successes, and initiatives in getting and staying fit. When 2012 opened, I was going to the dojo three to four times a week and also doing some running and spending time at the gym. While I was  planning to go earn my third degree , I was losing ground due to recurring back spasm crisis which would force me to spend seemingly every third week in recovery time....

m struggling with something back home. But inspiration and real Zen like flashes of clarity can come from anywhere, not just the temples or the dojo. Here's a piece of footage I think delivers a message that is so profound and so important to both karate and life, that I believe the majority of karateka today will fail to grasp the essence of what is being said. Lost in a world of instant gratification...

Discipline in the martial arts does not mean making a child do knuckle push-ups for misbehaving in class. I am not a supporter of using exercise for punishment anyway. No, what we are talking about here is self-discipline. Discipline is all about doing what you must do even when you don’t want to do it. [...]...

s punch was famous, as was his liking for a brawl In  a quote I saw recently that was attributed to Motobu Choki, he seems to be suggesting that at least some of his contemporaries where...to put it frankly, stuck up! His dislike of Funakoshi Gichin, for example, is well documented and perhaps this was who he was thinking of when he supposedly said the following: "It is necessary to drink alcohol...

s one of my closest training partners, and as I had no formal dojo to train in each morning, I was keen to have it available. The makiwara is, essentially, just a big stick; you plant one end in the ground and the bash the be-jeepers out of the other end: but that's not all it is or all you do. When I face the makiwara I have a conversation with it, not the audible kind, but a conversation none the...

ve often wondered why? I think some karateka have a tendency to over engineer their techniques, as if a good one is like finding the holy grail, buried treasure, or the final resting place of Jimmy Hoffa: but I don't train that way. I see the type of karate I practise as being defined by certain parameters, so I'm not at liberty to " take the best from each style " as some like to imagine they do,...

Social Media is an important way to interact with friends and colleagues, and in many cases, with colleagues, customers and suppliers. It can be a powerful tool, but it can also be an incredible productivity sinkhole. It is also a … Continue reading → ...

In the “old school” it was considered poor practise to allow parents to observe their children doing their martial arts classes. Were they hiding something, or was there a reason for this policy? A lot has changed, with parents now encouraged to watch and sometimes take part in the running of classes. What are the [...]...

re both huge, both young (26) and it was the first time we've seen Jones struggle.  The web is full of people calling the match fixed and misjudged and all that nonsense but to my eye, Jones won it.  Even if he wasn't the champ, he won it.  But this could be the start of  a great long term rivalry. Gus probably won the 1st and 2nd rounds. The 3rd was debatable. Jones won rounds...

s been awhile. I'm going to try a series of updates. Today's update is answering a simple question that my son asked today while we prepared a snack. The question wasn't about which was more delicious. It was about which was more nutricious or more precisely, which one was worst for us. For me, this is always a tough question. First problem, I need to find some glasses so that I can see the labels....

Mario McKenna on “Correct Practice” Mario McKenna Sensei (guest on episode 13 of The Applied Karate Show podcast) on the importance of correct practice in karate and kobudo training: So what is correct practice? Correct practice for beginners means focusing … Continue reading → ...

Today was the first day of the Okinawan Festival.  Behind me are two panels from the Okinawan Sumo exhibit. Respectfully, Charles C. Goodin...

Aloha, The annual Okinawan Festival will be held at Kapiolani Park on Saturday, August 31st and Sunday, September 1st.  Here is a link to the Okinawan Festival website: http://www.okinawanfestival.com/ Here is a link to a map of the site: http://www.okinawanfestival.com/images/map/Okifest Site 2013.pdf Here is a link to the entertainment program for both days: http://www.okinawanfestival.com/2013/program/Okinawan_fest_program_ 2013.pdf...