Martial arts discussion thread

[GoktimusPrime]

It is mainly okinawan karate (I think... sorry I'm only very new at this) but incorporates other martial arts to provide practical self defence techniques.

There are numerous different styles of Okinawan Karate e.g. Gojuryu, Uechiryu etc. I tried Googling for Kumiairyu in Japanese with Google Japan, but I just found results relating to football (soccer)! (O_O)

I would like to study a set discipline but given my location my opitions are restricted. (ie: this is the only martial arts class in Ulladulla)

Yeah fair enough.

[SGB]

There are numerous different styles of Okinawan Karate e.g. Gojuryu, Uechiryu etc.

You forgot to mention the original style of Karate, Okinawa-Te.


If anyone is considering studying Go-Kan-Ryu Karate, don't. It's a useless style with a ridiculously limited arsenal. Took one lesson a couple of years back and regret wasting my time with it.

[GoktimusPrime]

I once sparred with a GKR Black Belt 3rd Dan (note: I'm not an advanced fighter - anyone who's met me or even seen a photo of me can easily see that I'm not the most athletic person in the world) and I managed to defeat him. Turns out he wasn't wearing a cup!

But before we all start ganging up on GKR, I will say that it is an alright style to choose if you've never done any kind of martial art or sport before (and are effectively unco). GKR is pretty good at teaching you the bare basics of fighting, like stances, punching, kicking etc. GKR's basics are decent. But in my observation I find that beyond the beginner's level it's not an impressive style. I would recommend Gokanryu to someone who had no prior martial arts or sport experience and also had difficulty with coordination or the gross motor skills required to master the basic movements in martial arts. I've encountered two people who had really poor coordination and physical skills and struggled with the basics of Muay Thai and Kung Fu - and IMO they would've been better off with something simpler like GKR.

So IMHO I think GKR can be a good preliminary style for people who may be experiencing difficulty breaking into more complicated forms of martial arts... but after mastering GKR basics I'd probably recommend changing to something else.

Gokanryu is the most popular martial art in Australia. It's also an Australian style of Karate and NOT a traditional style from Japan (let alone Okinawa). I remember once visiting a Gojukai Karate Dojo in Japan and - at the time not knowing that GKR was Australian - asked them if the knew about Gokanryu. The answer was, "What's Gokanryu??"

I suspect that Kumiairyu may also be a non-traditional Australian (or Western) made style too cos I've never heard of it and I can't find any independent information about it. But I could be wrong... maybe it's just a really obscure style (like Goroquan* Kung Fu - the direct ancestor of Okinawan Karate... it's freaking hard to find any information about that style!)

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*The Chinese characters (Kanji) for Goroquan is pronounced as "Goujuuken" in Japanese; 剛柔拳 I've never seen Goroquan IRL, never seen any videos -- saw one grainy black and white photo in an article once. The closest forerunner to Karate I've personally witnessed is Wuzuquan (Five Ancestors Fist); also a Fujian style of Kung Fu like Goroquan, but _much_ easier to find! One distinguishing characteristic of Fujian Kung Fu is the "Sam Chiem" (三戦) stance and form, which of course is called "Sanchin" by the Okinawans.

[Bartrim]

The rep from one of my supply companies came in today and told me he is brown belt at Kyokushin Karate and showed me some you tube videos of Kenji Midori. All I can say is

[GoktimusPrime]

My knowledge of Kyokushin Karate is limited, but I know it is definitely a legit style of Japanese karate. I visited a Kyokushin Karate Dojo in Japan once.

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay... I have a bit of a dilemma here... I teach self defence as a school sport and it seems that one of the students who's signed up for the new sport season (beginning next week) is a disabled student (wheelchair bound). And of course, the single most fundamental aspect of fighting is standing (stances). So if anyone here has ever had any experience teaching, training with or have even ever observed martial arts training with mobility challenged students, I would really appreciate any advice.

My current thoughts are:
+ Everything will have to be very internal as this person's disability means that have very little muscle mass. The student will need to rely purely on biomechanics and not strength. So atm I think most of what I'll be teaching will be modified Taiji w/ some Aikido.
+ I will need to teach him breakfalling techniques quite early. Usually breakfalling is a technique I teach later... as most instructors will tell you, you do NOT ever want to fight from the ground. But given this student's condition, he would most likely end up on the ground and have to defend himself from there. Standing and fighting just isn't an option for him.
+ I will need to teach him self-defensive techniques from a sitting position (e.g. Suwariwaza), but it would have to be modified since the student cannot use his legs.

...I'm honestly not entirely sure how I'm going to modify these techniques. I suspect it will have to be trial and error. :/

[Bartrim]

Maybe you could concentrate on strike techniques Gok. We spent all of our last lesson doing strikes. Our white belt kata is all upper body technique which is kinda hard to do after 80 pushups(yeah I'm out of shape)