Practical Karate, Again

This happened a few weeks ago. Someone eye-poked me as his first move and I ended on the floor crying in pain. His thumb really went inside my eye socket and we were concerned about my situation. Well, time has passed and thanks to "ice" and rest I have saved my eye and the face you all are tired of seeing. Here is the time-line of the events. It was all swollen and red when it happened but I was to afraid of injury to take a pic at that time. (If it appears that sometimes is the right eye and sometimes is the left one is because my phone acts weird sometimes) @practicalkarateagain in Facebook PS: my female workmates thought I looked really handsome but my boss got really pissed off...

We did this thing last week: fight for 30 seconds, then one guy goes out and a fresh one goes in in EXACTLY the same position the other one was. Someone called it "stupid sparring", so I guess the name is good enough for this post. Round 1 I wish I had all 7 rounds in one video, but they are separated. Click on that one and the rest will play afterwards automatically. What's the benefit of this kind of training? I have no clue... Even the pic is bad today... @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

Yesterday I attended the JKA tournament here in Shanghai. I didn't go to the seminar and grading because I am not a JKA member, but the tournament was something I wanted to see. I went there with my family and could meet my old friend Karasira Sensei, freshly demoted from Nidan to Nikyu, just to be promoted again to Yikyu and Shodan. No, I am not gonna talk about JKA rank promotion system this time... Well, he went on to win the Kumite!! Congratulations to him! As you can see in the program, there is even a Ippon Kumite contest! This is the first time I see it. Surprising, but it was only for kids so I guess no big deal. I am sorry for the photos. I lost most of them on my way back home. I just could gather these few from friends afterwards. Update! There is a video . @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

There I was, lifting some weights , when something came to my mind: "Technique beats strength". We actually had some talks about that topic during last weeks between us fighting pals so I decided to write a little bit about it. YES, SIZE MATTERS. To put it in the simplest of terms: The bigger and stronger you are the more difficult you will be to kill. Read it twice more. So, well, yes, most probably, between two equally sized guys the most skilled one will (should) prevail (not taking into consideration the mindset of each one). But between two not-equally-big guys, will the most skilled one surely win? If I teach fighting during a year to a 6 years girl old and then I pit her against a 20 years old and 300 pounds guy with no fighting experience, who would win? Yes, the girl, of course. She is more skilled!!! Everybody agrees? Truth is that the biggest the size difference the biggest the skill difference must in order to be effective.

Do you ever consider your opponent's automatic reactions when trying to decipher kata? Things like: -If I poke is eyes he will probably bend backwards -If I kick him in the groin he will probably bend forward -If I feint a punch to the head he will probably bring his hands up -If I stomp on his foot he will probably move the leg -If you are in a clinch he will probably try to grab your head I am sure that you can name a few more (please, write them in the comments!) but this will suffice as a short example. Magically yesterday in the gym I found my friend Nils (black belt in Jujutsu) scaring Jourdan (just married) with this: Combo Hei, don't tell me it isn't genius!! The best part is that it worked since the first time, unrehearsed!! (Yes, the video is not unrehearsed, as I had some trouble and had to re-shot it) @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

Have you ever heard that weight training will make you slower? I bet you have. I was thinking about this after I accomplished to bench press 100kg for the first time in my life. Not really an amazing weight, I know, but a milestone for me. I was close to 100 a couple of times in my life but for one thing or another I can never maintain a good gym training stability.  I first understood how important is to have a strong body when I started sparring in Kyokushin. You get strong or you die.  Simple as that. And then I realized that most of Goju Ryu documents I could find at that time were about training the body . And then tell me that Bruce Lee didn't do weights or that he was slow!!! Do you really believe that pro fighters don't do weights? Just watch any boxing/MMA/K1/Muay Thai match! Jean-Claude Van Damme, strong and fast. And an amazing dancer! Contrary to generalized opinion, research has shown that weight training increases speed

Finally all my years of being a student are paying off! As a Psychologist I always remember something one of my teachers told me: "You perform as you train. If you drink coffee while you study, drink coffee for the test. If you study until you are sleepy, come sleepy to test. If you use drugs to study, come high to test." Back to Karate, if you train like a 5 years old girl, then guess how you will fight if you get attacked.  If your techniques only work against compliant partners, guess how well they will work against a non compliant thud.  If you never get punched in the face during training, what are you gonna do when you get punched in the face during a fight? I actually wrote a lot about it in chapter 4 of the book that gives name to this blog, Practical Karate, again . Free download, as usual. @praticalkarateagain in Facebook

Well, I have been writing and sharing stuff but never really explained my teaching experience, so let's do it now! If you want to find out about my martial experience, then you can check me out here . On top of my Martial Arts training I also did cycling for some years. We are a cycling family, and my sister became 3 times National Champion and still competing. My brothers also got local championships. I have competed internationally and some of my "rivals" made it to pro level (Tour the France level) although I didn't. That made me help with the local cycling school, where my siblings competed. Not doing much, just sharing tips and directing the training from time to time. I am still working on my PhD on Psychology, in what I majored in the University, specializing in HR and children's pathology (yes, weird combo). I worked on England several summers with Spanish kids and teenagers who (supposedly) where there to study English. I helped on