Inspirational Karateka Who in your dojo/area/organization gives you inspiration in your training? Is it the person who has won the most trophies? The person who leads your organization or region? Or is it someone that most people do not even notice? During more than two decades of karate training (as of 2002), I have […]
Forget About It In classes that I teach, I usually inform students multiple times what the point(s) of the training is/are. In my day-job, I used to often make presentations to clients and prospective clients. In the sales business, there is a saying concerning making presentations: “Tell them what you are going to tell […]
Chickens As many readers are already aware, there is an interesting website devoted to Shotokan called “24fightingchickens”. This article has nothing to do with that… Chicken Head What I refer to as “chicken head” is the tendency for the head’s forward movement to precede the rest of the body when stepping or shifting forward. […]
Nutrition First of all, please note that I am not a medical professional of any sort. I have studied nutrition only as a side interest. What I know about nutrition is that I should know more! This article is meant more of a reminder of common sense, rather than an in-depth study of nutrition. […]
Dealing with Common Injuries and Ailments Several readers have requested that I write an article about dealing with injuries common in karate training. Rather than try to write an all-encompassing article about dojo safety and first-aid, I will review here some of my thoughts based on my own personal experience. I have certification in […]
Japanese Terminology Is it “cool” to use Japanese terms in the dojo? Does it make our practice seem more authentic? As with the bowing practices I mentioned in my article on that subject, there are some people who believe in discarding this part of our training traditions completely and others who feel that tradition […]
Challenge I often tell my students that their training should be a challenge and they should challenge others in the class. By this, I do not mean that they should put undue stress on themselves to perform beyond their abilities and definitely not to push others in a potentially harmful way. What I mean […]
New Year’s Resolutions Resolution: noun. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination. A resolve to do something. (American Heritage Dictionary) January is the time of year when many people set (or reset) some long-term goals. Very common New Year’s resolutions include such things as “getting in shape”; something that many people new […]
Just Shut Up and Train I have often been accused of teaching some of the most “cerebral” Karate classes. I admit that I like to have my students think about what they are doing, or at least what they are supposed to be doing, and why. But that does not mean that we use […]
Keeping Track Some of us could use a little extra motivation sometimes. Tournament involvement, for example, can be a good sourse of motivation, whether you are participating as a competitor, spectator, judge or organizer. There are other activities outside of regular training that can also help renew interest or bring one to a higher […]
