When to test for your next grade?

I often get asked: "Can i test for the next grade soon?" And i always think that i am not the right person to ask. Yes, i teach the stuff and yes i administer the tests, but i will try to explain some of my feelings on this subject.

In my opinion, one should develop the personal insight to know when to test or when to wait a bit. Everyone is of course different in the sense that some people will be ready to test in a matter of a couple of months and for some its a way longer process. However; if you are not confident in the execution of whats on the syllabus, then *get* confident or wait until the next opportunity to test. One can also look at the level of the people that have the same rank as you do and if they all seem like they are miles ahead, then wait. If they seem like they are not approaching your level at all, then test immediatly.

Then my next point: Try to stop caring so much bout the result and more about the process leading up to the test and where to go after it. (Regardless of passing or failing) I think the ranks of karate is a neat trick to make sure there is some structure to what we learn and to force people to focus so as to facilitate improvement. That said (and some will resent that i say the next part) i do not think what color belt you are wearing should matter much, seeing as your grade is not a by-product of a uniform standard. There is no such thing. Yes, we like to imagine that a brown-belt should be *this* good and a black belt has to be atleast better than *this*, but its not working like that. There are great brown-belts out there and there are also some very funky high-graded black-belts. So what; Karate should be about *you* and *your* improvement.

My best advice; Struggle to improve, make sure you *know* whats expected of you for the next rank and test when you feel confident that you will look at least decent while testing. Then, after that, deal with the result in a constructive manner. Too many people give up on themselves if they have *one* bad test. Hello?? Karate is supposed to build confidence, mental resilience and a spirit of never giving up... Quitting cause of a bit of resistance is not gonna make you feel stronger.

I fully expect to fail a test someday, and i can assure you that when i do, i will learn from that and test again as soon as i have fixed whatever part that i failed.

To wrap this up; I am for the most part ok with anyone testing, as long as they have fulfilled the minimum time-requirement since last test and are willing to take any result in a constructive way.

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Shameless plug: Its about 5-6 weeks until the next test and if you are worried bout being ready by then, then maybe you wanna invest in some private tuition. I charge 4000 for an hour session and 5500 if you bring a friend. I am available from 0900 to 1500 monday to thursday, all day on fridays and in the afternoon on saturdays and sundays.

:-)

CAN!!

WE can do *ANYTHING* when we apply our mind spirit and soul.

Training at the JKS Honbu

I found this youtube-video to be quite interesting. As one can see, there is very little ego present (nobody *has* to win and no-one gets very upset if someone score if they themselves miss) In addition to that one can see that the intensity and "fun-ness" is at a high level. Myself; i love to participate in classes like this. There is also some kata at the end and disregard the russian comments :)

Link to video

And then it was over for this time...

Amos sensei is on his way back to New York and we have our heads filled with "move from center; start swiftly and then maybe back off; the wall isnt very intelligent; your tecniques must be smooth; be considerate of what your partner is trying to accomplish; you must maintain your composure at all times" - and so on. I am very excited bout the clarity of senseis teaching and i cant wait to train with him again.

Big kudos to those of the higher grades that participated in *all* the classes available:

Bjørg, Villi, Disa, Gudrun, Vidir, Gretar, Arnar, Leifur, Kari, Einar and the very big Einar, Gusta, Eyrun, Heida, Hafdís, Valgerdur, Oddny. And ofc kudos to Helga for watching everything, making sure we got it right. ;) (Let me know if i missed someone) And lowergrades; as soon as you can do all the classes; I really recommend that you do.

And to everyone that showed up; Thanks for coming, please remember the principles of what was taught and apply it to all of your karate.

Amos sensei training camp 25-27sept 2009

Its that time of year again, guys. If you wanna learn shotokan karate from one of the best teachers alive, then do not miss this awesome event at Lindaskoli.

Richard Amos method of transmitting complex concepts in a understandable way with new exercises is amazing and that is the main reason why i have traveled out of the country more than 10 times to train with him (He has also visited Iceland twice before) He is now coming to a place very close to you and i cant emphasize this strongly enough: Do not miss it.

And to the brown and blackbelts: You have the opportunity to join in for all the classes (yours and the lowergrade class) and if you do, you will get your name mentioned on my fabulous (!!) blog.... ;)

Seriously; immersion is vital for fast progress and weekends like this where we can do over 10 hours of training with a worldclass teacher that actually really wanna teach are quite rare, so i am definetly there for all possible sessions. (I also do the kids-class in addition to the regular classes when i visit him in NY)

I guess you can tell by the nature of this post that i am quite excited bout the weekend already..... :D

Workout music?

I am looking for some help as to what kinda songs that would be good to have on my Ipod for working out to. Upbeat, happy stuff seems to make most sense and to kick it all off i will post some of my favs to get the list started. Hope you guys will pitch in with your best tunes.

Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
Beds are Burning - Midnight Oil
Tubthumpin - Chumbawumba
Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen
Pretty Vegas - INXS
Dr. Feelgood - Motley Crue
Whatever You Want - Status Quo
Waterloo - Abba
Dude Looks Like A Lady - Aerosmith
Back in Black - ACDC
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
I Understand Completely - Paul Gilbert
Hard To Handle - Black Crowes
Truth - Clawfinger
Bad Horsie - Steve Vai
Summersong - Joe Satriani
Pretty Fly For A White Guy - Offspring
Mr. Brownstone - Guns and Roses
Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams
Alive - Pearl Jam
Them Bones - Alice in Chains
A New Level - Pantera
You Gotta Fight For Your Right - Beastie Boys
YMCA – Village People
Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex
Get This Party Started - Pink
Funkytown - Lipps Inc.

And now; YOU GUYS!!!!!

You can do it!! :-D

Just a quick post about putting your biggest muscle into whatever you are trying to accomplish......

:-)