I'm going to use the excuse that my left hand is evil next time an email accidentally goes out with a closing that says "retards" when I meant to type "regards". :)

Quote:

Here are three different ideas I was once shown for the mechanics/timing of a punch.

1. foot lands before punch
2. foot and punch land at the same time
3. punch lands before foot

I think #1 is best suited for understanding the mechanics of a punch because it can be done slowly and the power will be coming from a stable base and rotation of the spine.

From a traditional point of view it would be interesting to learn the horsemanship skills.

Since most people don't ride horses around these days maybe the skill has evolved to driving automobiles in combat situations. I know the police and military have such training. I'm not familiar with horsemanship or combat driving but some of the concepts involved may be the same?

I've seen links posted before leading to private driving classes. If I can find one I'll try to hop back here and post it...

Luke Molitor recently visited our dojo for a seminar and he is an excellent instructor. Do whatever it takes to visit him and other practicing members near you as often as possible.

gambatte

I think my early ninja-like tendencies were inspired by the characters Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow from the GI Joe cartoon. I'm not sure of the popularity of the cartoon or comic outside of the US but basically, the two characters were 'ninjas'.

My brother and I would run around in the woods with sticks for swords hiding in trees ambushing one another. We would also practice our fake martial arts on trees imagining they were the bad team and we were outnumbered or something. Eventually we even started trying to do some acrobatic stunts and I'm suprised my head is still attached to my body after that.

Another early sign was the introduction of paper shuriken in 5th or 6th grade. A friend of mine taught me how to fold them and we experimented with different things to make them hurt more (pins taped to the ends, etc.).

Oh, and blowguns! My step brother taught us how to make efficient darts by melting a plastic milk jug.

This is a fun thread!

brianchurch

Training with other instructors from time to time (mostly in the form of seminars and such) has been a HUGE help for me.

One of the reasons is because it offers a chance to hear or experience a movement or feeling explained using different words or from another angle. It has helped me make connections that I just wasn't picking up on before.

Another reason it's a huge help is because it offers a chance to train with different students who may move differently and have different body types than the people in my regular class. This way, I can see how things need to be tweaked slightly in my own movement to become more efficient.

The most important benefit is that training with other groups makes this art feel like more of a family.

Just a few thoughts

-brianchurch

j,

For vertical leaping we used to have people swing shinai or bokken at our legs. Also, I used to do things like jump up onto loading docks at work, initially i would need a step or two to make it but worked up to doing it from a static standing position.

For distance leaping we would put focus mits or other obstacles on the groud with space between them and leap, increase the distance, leap ... until we couldn't make it anymore, then we would decrease the distance just a bit, leap, decrease, etc.

Hope those help for drill purposes, I can't really give much insight as to what's physically involved in the mechanics of the leap.

-brianchurch

The flash cards are an awesome resource!

In the last few weeks I've been listening to some of the Pimsleur audio lessons while at work and that has helped out with remembering vocabulary and sentence structure.

It also helps to have friends who are familiar with Japanese that I chat with occasionally.

-brianchurch