Training not going great? 

Age is just a number!

Important to do what we can and prioritise. Family should come first. Well done! I recall a tale of one master who would ask students if their family, work or studies needed them to do anything at the start of class. If they answered, “yes” then he would tell them to leave and do it. It was only if they answered “no” that they would be permitted to train. I have had the same where the training needs put on the back burner for a bit. At those times, I just fit in what I can, when I can, knowing that something is better then nothing.

Yes! And a great excuse for talking to yourself. 😊

And then the black belt train's so long, his belt turn's grayish white!

Funny! I'm sure he is a really nice bloke and I'll try to find something incredibly challenging to make you and me feel better :-)

He`s a good lad really :) Despite his successes. He is a kung-Fu Bb and I am a shotokan BB and have trained together every week for years as well as our respective disciplines'. Do you have anyhting planned over our way any time soon? North Wales, Cheshire, Merseyside? @@practicalkatabunkai

Look out for the pretty RU-vidrs talking about this in a few weeks. 😊

​@@dermotrooney9584lol

A gift from Wayne Jones :-)

My old job used to put on a bus to take employees to work. It would pick up around 6am and was a 50 min ride. Most people would get on and go to sleep due to the 5am rise needed to catch it; which was safe enough to do as it was not public transport. I was around 19 years old and had a competition coming up. I was thinking about it as I went to sleep. In my semi-dream state, I was running through various combinations that had been working for me. My left had then came awake and back-fisted the fellow employee sitting to my left. It woke him (as well as me), but I decided the smart thing to do was pretend I was still asleep. I don’t think he knew what had hit him and may have even thought he dreamt it … either way, I got away with it :-) The best one was a close work mate who was a goalkeeper for his soccer team. He did the same as me and, from a sleeping state, dived into the isle of the bus to “save the goal” he was dreaming about. What made it even better he screamed “Waaayyyy!” as his did it. Whole bus woken up :-)

A common issue! It is possible to try “too hard”, which results in excessive muscular tension, which can slow down a technique and reduce power. Power is something that should be measured and not “felt”. When we feel the muscles working against one another (excessive tension) it can feel powerful precisely because we feel the muscles overcoming each other. It’s a misleading feeling though. Better to hit things so we can measure how much power is actually being generated externally. The key is to put all the energy into the right places. Sound beody mechanics which will include strong muscular contractions where needed, and relaxation were needed. The role of “Kime” (not really the “muscular blip” at the very end of a punch, but what most mean by it) is to protect joints and avoid the punch having to slow down sooner. It’s not really got anything to do with power per se. This video on kime may be of interest: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lxBxsg97GpQ.html

@@practicalkatabunkai Thank you Ian - all makes sense. I'm still trying to get my head around it, but they don't seem to put any muscular contraction in and talk about punching against your skeleton, ie. the bones stop the movement going any further (when doing basics and kata). I worry about overextending my joints - as you say in your video. They do hit very very hard though. It reminds me of when I did Systema - being hit by one of their masters is quite an experience and they are completely relaxed. Which you also say in your video, you don't need tension when the strike hits something. Anyway thank you again - I've learn't so much from watching your videos. I wish RU-vid was around in the 80's when I started karate as I've been thinking wrongly about it for years! The kata made absolutely no sense to me and I naively thought that once you got to 7th dan you could pull off these moves. As soon as you realise they aren't designed for distance and supernatural reflexes against ten people - they become obviously really practice and usable by anyone. Your video about karate being for all ages is totally spot on.

@@mauriceshapero7200 Delighted to hear that! Thanks for the kind words!

Because we know how good it feels when it finally starts to click :-) That, and because we martial arts types are not wired as others are.

Why do babies want to imitate grown ups walking in first place? And look, when they do their first steps but fall down again. They cry and try again. It hurts and it feels good to overcome the pain. And we love it to get the applause for achieving something very difficult

It would have to be Among the Living. Stopped listing to them beyond Persistence of Time, but those early albums are great. Their show with Public Enemy is also the best gig I have ever been to.

I saw them with Public Enemy too! It was a killer show. We are showing our age now! lol. The albums with John Bush weren't bad at all but definitely a different sound they had with Joey. It is cool he was able to come back for the last two albums though. @@practicalkatabunkai