Saturday, March 31, 2007

Download Shotokan Streaming Videos to Your Computer

YES!

It's finally here!

Dojo Key Subscribers are sure to be delighted when today's update is completed!

MyShotokan will now feature a fantastic new benefit! All of the Shotokan Karate Videos in Sensie's Office will now include the ability to download and save the streaming videos to your computer!

Friday, March 30, 2007

New Shotokan Karate Videos

Greetings all,

Hope you all have been training regularily over the past couple weeks.

This week I'm posting new Shotokan Karate Videos in the Masters Section of Sensei's Office. Dojo Key Subscribers will enjoy a wide range of Videos featuring Sensei Masahiko Tanaka - JKA - Japan Karate Association.

Tanaka Sensei is a living legend in Shotokan Karate... sometimes compared to the infamous Samurai from the 1600's, Miamoto Musashi. (I spell from memory please let me know if I have it wrong)

Watch for the update announcement later today!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Flexibility Training for Karate

I've struggled to increase my flexibility throughout my decades of karate training.

Now, I'm over 40 years old and I am MUCH more flexible than I was in high school.

However - many of my students are a long way off from doing the full splits - and the students in my club have indicated that this range of flexibility is important.

So, we've started to study the book Scientifically Stretching - and we are re-planning our class training structure so we can incorporate the sequence and intensity of training that this manual prescribes. I want to write out a rough idea of this sequence of flexibility training drills - just so it's easier for me to remember this structure when I'm teaching the next karate classes.

Start of Class:
Rotate wrists, elbows, shoulders, trunk etc,
10 minutes calesthenics to warm up the main muscle groups
3 sets of dynamic stretches
light kata to warm up to karate techniques

Class content

Warm down with a full twenty minute, detailed series of isometric stretches intended to strengthen the major leg muscle groups by contracting them strongly while at their maximum range of motion.


...over the next few weeks the Class Content section of this general karate lesson plan will be much the same... because we are on a flexibility increase phase of our training, we will be spending 8 minutes of training broken up by stretching. For example, we will do one kata five times, then stretch, do a second kata 5 times, then break for a stretch... each set of kata and stretching take 10 minutes. Between each set of kata we will put our legs up on our stretching racks in front split and side split - then we will remove our karate belts, loop our belt around one foot and hold our legs out at maximum hight to the front and side... then back to kata...

Ok - that should be enough notes for me to keep in mind the routine we will be repeating... then I am LESS likely to get side-tracked... ;-)

Monday, March 12, 2007

Karate In Hungary



You don't have to speak Hungarian
to join a Shotokan Karate Class in Hungary!


This weeks' updates to Sensei's Office includes a couple nice lengthy clips from an out-door karate demonstration that was done somewhere in Hungary.

I don't speak Hungarian, but I know I could join in with this class and I would understand everything - because the instructor is using Japanese!

These clips caught my eye because it's a youth class that is taken through all the basics. Because all the students are doing the standard sets of moves, it's easy for me to compare my club... for me to compare my yellow and green and brown belts to the skill level of this club.

The second clip is well worth the watch because the group ends the demonstration with a number of interesting and unique partner combinations for the demo - a few of them I'll be using for MY next karate demonstration!

The large crowd of parents and friends are really supportive - One can certainly tell that this club trains hard, has strong spirit and positive by-in from it's community.

I'm very happy to include these clips in Sensei's Office
for my Dojo Key Subscribers!

Remember, if you are a Free Member of MyShotokan.com - you can try Sensei's Office for One Week for just a BUCK!



Sensei's Office includes 7 additional
Categories of Shotokan Karate Vidoes!


Updated weekly with Club Videos
New Masters Section added each month!


:-)

Friday, March 9, 2007

Shotokan Karate Blog

If you have a Shotokan Karate Blog - be sure to let me know!

I'd like to include links to anything you write about your karate training - and of course, I especially enjoy watching karate videos between classes.

One member of my small Shotokan karate club has had the great fortune of living in different countries over the past few years. Recently she was living for a few months in an asian country - and was able to train with a Shotokan dojo there. She describes the training as... Brutal. Much more physically demanding that our classes. She also says that almost all the senior belts in their club (brown and up) can do the full splits.

She is moving back to asia and will be training with that club again in a few months - and - she wants to be able to increase her flexibility and do the full splits before she returns.

So - our club is re-focusing our training time to emphasize flexibility training. To help learn what routines we should be doing, I'm going to research and develop an entirely new section of videos for Sensei's Office in MyShotokan. This new section will be dedicated to everything I can find about stretching and how to develop strong, flexible legs and hips.

Watch here for more details.

Sensei Doug

Monday, March 5, 2007

Sensei's Office Updates

This week I've added a video that is sure to get some big reactions from many Shotokan atheletes.

I found a match between a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter against a black belt Karate Shotokan instructor.

By now I think most everyone is familiar with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Challenge) Matches - and how many of these fights are finished on the ground... much like a real-life school yard brawl.

Subscribers to Sensei's Office also get to enjoy a fantastic video demonstration of Bunkai for Empi. You'll be amazed as you watch these karate videos as three top atheletes demonstrate some of the possible applications to the moves in the Kata Empi.

Finally, this week I've started to add a collection of Shotokan Training Videos from a small Dojo with a great crew of people. They have graciously posted a large variety of helpful karate training routines for basics, partner work and kumite drills. Over the next while, we will join them, practice along side them - and gain new material for our own training.

See you all in Sensei's Office!

MyShotokan