Your personal weakness

[Master of Blades]

I've noticed a lot of fighters when they lose tend to blame whatever weakness they happen to claim to have. Most of the time it is just bad losing but it did get me interested. A lot of my friends put it down to losing their temper or being good at one thing and not at another. So I thought to myself as to what my OWN weakness was. I think for me its the fact that I'm not good enough and need a lot more practice in seeing and seizing that. I would also like to get a LOT better at kicking because I'm not fast or precise enough with my technique etc and that usually ends up with me on the floor and I have to work pretty hard to get anywhere after that. What kinda weakness's do you guys think you have be it bad temper or just lack of concentration.

But before you guys get started I've noticed there have been a lot of needless arguments becuase of misunderstandings or just not agreeing on something. Leave them out of this thread please or else :soapbox:

:asian:

[MountainSage]

There not enough space on the internet to list my weaknesses. My major concern is my lack of lung power.

Mountain Sage
:D

[karatekid1975]

I have good technique, and power, but no speed. My endurance stinks, too. I should start running or something.

[Quick Sand]

I have many, many weaknesses but the one that seems to be causing the most problem right now it that I have NO BALANCE when I'm on one foot, like when I'm kicking.

I also need many years more practice. :p

[Hollywood1340]

Right now in Judo I have no balance, Hari Gosh is a killer, the whole one leg thing. (A reap is an explosive action, a reap is an explosive action, a reap.....), that and my sweep timming needs mucho improvment.

In HKD flow is hard, but I know that will come in time, also taking a shot. My current method, as opposed to lying on the floor and curling up, my old one, is to kihap at impact and strike back.

And in TKD it's my flexiblity. Granted I havn't trained for two months, but..hmmm, maybe that has something to do with it.
Cheers!

[fist of fury]

Chocolate

[Kirk]

I move too slow! I look majorly uncoordinated, and my kicks
suck. That's one thing about gaining rank, and lining up by
rank. Often I'm stuck up in the front row, and have to look at my
sorry butt in the mirror!

I move rike a monkey with a crub foot! <-- anyone know what
movie?

[Eraser]

Originally posted by fist of fury
Chocolate

LOL... who's isn't??????????

Actually I have dizziness issues.. and unfortunatly for me.. they will never go away.. I suffered a major ear infection about 3 yrs ago.. and it threw off my equalibriem (sp???) and its a permanent condition.. SO i just deal with it the best i can!!:rolleyes:

[cali_tkdbruin]

My weakness at times is not losing enough weight in time for a tourney, thus I end up being placed in a higher weight division where my opponents are always bigger and taller. :(

[KenpoGirl]

Originally posted by fist of fury
Chocolate

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Ditto

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

In general for Kenpo training right now would be my fitness. In sparring would be attacks from the left side. I'm blind in my left eye so my field of vision on that side is really cut short. :(

But heck that's only the tip of the iceberg. I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and ........... you get the idea. ;)

Dot

[Dan Anderson]

Hi Folks,
I stumbled onto this thread and it intrigued me. I love doing these kinds of cycles. Recently at a seminar in Michigan, I taught a number of private lessons based on "When you spar, what is it about your sparring tha makes you go Aaauuuggghhh the most?" And then I went ot work. On technical sparring matters, if you want to email me with your problem, I'll take a stab at handling it. What have you got to lose?

Yours,
Dan Anderson

PS - A number of the posts above are answered in the books I have written.

[Astra]

There's a lot, but what I definately need to improve on more then some other things would be kicks, beeing a bit more accurate without becoming tense again and controlling my body at high speed. Ofcourse, my left elbow and right knee injuries that have bugged me for the last 3 months do not help :/ Still haven't managed to see a doctor, shortest line is 2 months away ffs!! Bleh what do I pay for?

[Rich Parsons]

Originally posted by Dan Anderson
Hi Folks,
I stumbled onto this thread and it intrigued me. I love doing these kinds of cycles. Recently at a seminar in Michigan, I taught a number of private lessons based on "When you spar, what is it about your sparring tha makes you go Aaauuuggghhh the most?" And then I went ot work. On technical sparring matters, if you want to email me with your problem, I'll take a stab at handling it. What have you got to lose?

Yours,
Dan Anderson

PS - A number of the posts above are answered in the books I have written.


Dan,

I never saw in any of your books the answer to the Chocolate weakness. Did I miss it??? :D

To everyone,

My weakness is me. ;) And it changes from day to day just like me. Yet if I had to give just one I would have to say the popular vote here of Chocolate.


(* Kaith we need a Chocolate eating Smiley *)

[Kiz Bell]

My main weaknesses or faults are laziness and procrastination. These lead to sooooo many other faults in my training I'm not even going to start list them here.

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by Kiz Bell
My main weaknesses or faults are laziness and procrastination. These lead to sooooo many other faults in my training I'm not even going to start list them here.

Yup, this explains why I don't get the weight off before tourney time...:mad:

[jfarnsworth]

My weakness is that my left side isn't equal to my right. What I mean is my left kicks, punches and so forth are not equally balanced.:( I find the same thing while lifting weights as well. And I would also like to spend more time praciticing.;)

[TkdWarrior]

anything that's edible :D
-TkdWarrior-

[karatekid1975]

Quick Sand wrote:
I have many, many weaknesses but the one that seems to be causing the most problem right now it that I have NO BALANCE when I'm on one foot, like when I'm kicking.

I also need many years more practice. :p

Yes, it takes practice. My balance was .... well, much to be desired. I practiced at it by kicking slow motion and balancing on one foot. I used a chair to hold on to, at first. Then used a wall, then nothing but balance.

Dan,

I have balance, coordination, flexibility, technique, and power. But my speed sucks. Any advice?

[MartialArtist]

My weakness is that I don't want to fight in a linear fashion. I like to move in circles, use footwork, etc. to set up my attacks better while defending.

[D_Brady]

Roundhouse kicks left side,

Kirk, is that movie Remo williams.

[Yari]

Impatience (sp?). I'm very patince with others, but with myself I feel I'm "moving" tooooooo slow.


/Yari

[ace]

><><><:asian:

[Yari]

Originally posted by karatekid1975
I have balance, coordination, flexibility, technique, and power. But my speed sucks. Any advice?

I'm not Dan, but I'll jump in.
It could be your power. If the strenght is gained from body building it might be working against you. Or your strong but can't totally relax when stricking.

/Yari

[Yari]

Originally posted by ace
><><><:asian:


Yes family could be a weakness, but I concider it mostly a great strenght!


/Yari

[cali_tkdbruin]

Originally posted by ace
My Wife

LOL, :D
What are you trying to say? :rofl: :rofl:

[ace]

Im real Tuff in the ring i spar hard four times a week
I've broken my ribs toes & leg

I fight with all my heart
But when the wife starts yelling i start hiding lol
it's all good tho

[Cliarlaoch]

My personal weaknesses? I don't like to dwell on 'em, but my endurance needs work (too much instructing, not enough training... stupid Cliarlaoch), and a few injuries tend to keep me from doing all I want to do sometimes, but that's not anything major.

On another note, I need to get more stuff into my style. I'm good at TKD, but I need to start expanding my skills. That's why I'm always hunting around for other techniques to incorporate into my own style.

[Dan Anderson]

Dan,

I have balance, coordination, flexibility, technique, and power. But my speed sucks. Any advice? [/B]

Laurie,

1. Slow motion kicks to develop independant strength. Ensure that you are throwing the kick with your leg only and not having to "jerk your body" to aid in the kick.

2. Relax when you throw the kick. Go for lightness of it rahter than the power.

3. Put on heavyweight karate gi pants and try to make the gi pants pop when you kick. When you do you are kicking sharply.

As you progress you will notice you are kicking more speedily. Then if you are having trouble with your kicks landing, your timing, positioning or your set up of your opponent are off.

Rich,
Can't help you there, friend. We suffer from the same weakness. Actually, I suffer from weakness to the 4 basic food groups: chocolate, coffee, garlic and beer.

Yours,
Dan

[Deathtrap101]

Well I've got lots of work to do on everything, but what really lags behind for me is my left leg, its got no kicking power, tequnique or speed. I know ive just gota work it more, but i dun like too, lol. And i have to get my endurance back up there, it has fallen some.

[Dan Anderson]

Originally posted by Deathtrap101
Well I've got lots of work to do on everything, but what really lags behind for me is my left leg, its got no kicking power, tequnique or speed. I know ive just gota work it more, but i dun like too, lol. And i have to get my endurance back up there, it has fallen some.

Deathtrap 101 (May I call you Death?),
Video tape you kicking on the right side. Ensure you watch for positioning of your base foot and your upper body. You might be doing something different on your opposite side. That is a common fault when trying to kick on your less coordinated side. Ensure you create the same position on the opposite side. This will help.

Yours,
Dan Anderson

PS - You know, I do seminars on this kind of thing all the time. How's that for a shameless plug?

[Master of Blades]

Sorry this is gonna come out stupid however I say it....But Dan, who actually are you? Cuz you come across as someone of importance and knowledge or something and you said something bout books but I have never heard of you.....care to fill me in? :confused:

[jfarnsworth]

Originally posted by Master of Blades
Sorry this is gonna come out stupid however I say it....But Dan, who actually are you? Cuz you come across as someone of importance and knowledge or something and you said something bout books but I have never heard of you.....care to fill me in? :confused:

I would like to second the above question. I also don't want to sound like a goof here but being in the cornfields of ohio with not much interaction with a lot of people I'd like to hear any part of your history if you care to share. By the way I believe I looked at your profile a couple of weeks ago and also tonight & wondered if there was a congratulations involved because I think you got a promotion somewhere recently unless I'm thinking of someone else. Also enjoyed your explanation on the kicking drills to karatekid. Thanks.

[Dan Anderson]

Hi Gents,
I am Dan Anderson. I competed in the American point karate scene heavily from 1970-1985. I was a nationally rated top ten player from 1976-1980. I just last November won my age division in the Funakoshi Shotokan World Championships. I worte the first comprehensive book on karate sparring, American Freestyle Karate: A Guide To Sparring. My old nickname was "Super Dan." Ask anyone from that era and they'll remember me. There is more of my history at my website
www.danandersonkarate.com.

Yours,
Dan Anderson
:D

[jfarnsworth]

Awesome, and thanks for the info. It's really cool to have someone of such knowledge and skill hanging out with the rest of us. (of course I'm speaking of me only, I don't want to offend anyone here.)

[karatekid1975]

Yari wrote

<I'm not Dan, but I'll jump in.
It could be your power. If the strenght is gained from body building it might be working against you. Or your strong but can't totally relax when stricking.>

I don't body build. So it might be the second thing.

Dan wrote:

<2. Relax when you throw the kick. Go for lightness of it rahter than the power.>

I'll try this one. I may be to tense when I kick. I never noticed before, but it could be the problem.

<3. Put on heavyweight karate gi pants and try to make the gi pants pop when you kick. When you do you are kicking sharply.>

I make the TKD light weight one "pop." Well, it's more of a "snap" sound, because of the light weight material LOL. Ok, bad humor. Sorry.

<As you progress you will notice you are kicking more speedily. Then if you are having trouble with your kicks landing, your timing, positioning or your set up of your opponent are off.>

I think my timing is off. I'm getting better at "faking" my opponents out to land a technique, but I think I hesitate (sp?) too much.

Thanks, Dan. I'll try these things.

[D.Cobb]

Originally posted by Kirk

I move rike a monkey with a crub foot! <-- anyone know what
movie?

I have absolutely no idea!!
:D

[Chronuss]

Originally posted by MartialArtist
My weakness is that I don't want to fight in a linear fashion. I like to move in circles, use footwork, etc. to set up my attacks better while defending.


dude, that's not a weakness...that's an advantage. angles are the way to get to someone who's faster/better than you are (I'm not disparaging your skill or speed). attacking in a straight line is pretty much using tunnel vision, not getting the whole picture or attacking open targets from a different vantage point. weakness, indeed...bah.

me, myself, my weakness is my left side...I tend to favor my right. ever since I sprained my left foot about two years ago, it was out of play for about four months and boy did that suck. my right leg/hand gained in speed, strength, and accuracy while my left lagged behind, so now I'm playing catch-up. probably the only thing TKD taught me was balance and control with my feet. and my current instructor agrees with that, because when I crossed over my hands were terrible. I had better eye/foot coordination than I did hand/eye coordination...I had no clue what to do with them besides blocking. :D

[Chronuss]

Originally posted by karatekid1975
I have balance, coordination, flexibility, technique, and power. But my speed sucks. Any advice?

remember, raw power will only slow you down. speed+technique=power. the better you chamber your kick, the more smoothly it's executed, and the more speed you add, it will become more powerful. like Dan said, try doing some isometric leg workouts. get in a right/left foot forward fighting stance and do front kicks very slowly...count to 10 or 15 and tense the muscles. start at one when you begin to chamber and end at 10 or 15 when you replant. ten reps on each side and you'll feel some burn.

[sweeper]

I have alot of weaknesses.

1: I like kicking alot, this means I stay outside and keep people out with thrusts so I have developed a total lack of footwork.

2: no crosses. I can't fire a cross from either side unless I hit them hard enough with a lead to turn their head.

3: move back rather than to the side. I seem to like the rocker step to much.. it works but it tends to lead into me walking backwards. I have been working on this and I'm getting better.

4: bad head movement. I rarely escape a punch by weaving or bobing, I always get out by a block or interception, sometimes slips work on jabs but genneraly not on combinations

5: the bigest one though is a lack of feal for fighting.. I don't know how else to explain it, I guess you caould say I'm never in "the zone". When I do something like play soccer I don't realy think about it. It's like one half of my brain handals tactical desisions and controls body movement and the other handels strategic desisions, everything just falls into place, there is no desision time, it just happens.. In soccer I think "oh there's an opening there" and by the time I'm thinking "there's" I have passed the ball. In Sparring I think "oh there's an opening there" and because my arms and legs don't take off untill around "there" I get hit around "an".

that and I suck at grappling.. but if I could get better footwork, crosses, head movement, latteral movement, and feal I would be alot better :-p

basicly if I wan't such a dang newbie.

[MartialArtist]

Originally posted by Chronuss
dude, that's not a weakness...that's an advantage. angles are the way to get to someone who's faster/better than you are (I'm not disparaging your skill or speed). attacking in a straight line is pretty much using tunnel vision, not getting the whole picture or attacking open targets from a different vantage point. weakness, indeed...bah.

me, myself, my weakness is my left side...I tend to favor my right. ever since I sprained my left foot about two years ago, it was out of play for about four months and boy did that suck. my right leg/hand gained in speed, strength, and accuracy while my left lagged behind, so now I'm playing catch-up. probably the only thing TKD taught me was balance and control with my feet. and my current instructor agrees with that, because when I crossed over my hands were terrible. I had better eye/foot coordination than I did hand/eye coordination...I had no clue what to do with them besides blocking. :D
My weakness is that I don't like fighting in a linear fashion. So if the situation calls for me to do so, I wouldn't like it. For instance, in a hallway.

[Hollywood1340]

Originally posted by sweeper
I have alot of weaknesses.

1: I like kicking alot, this means I stay outside and keep people out with thrusts so I have developed a total lack of footwork.

2: no crosses. I can't fire a cross from either side unless I hit them hard enough with a lead to turn their head.

3: move back rather than to the side. I seem to like the rocker step to much.. it works but it tends to lead into me walking backwards. I have been working on this and I'm getting better.

4: bad head movement. I rarely escape a punch by weaving or bobing, I always get out by a block or interception, sometimes slips work on jabs but genneraly not on combinations

5: the bigest one though is a lack of feal for fighting.. I don't know how else to explain it, I guess you caould say I'm never in "the zone". When I do something like play soccer I don't realy think about it. It's like one half of my brain handals tactical desisions and controls body movement and the other handels strategic desisions, everything just falls into place, there is no desision time, it just happens.. In soccer I think "oh there's an opening there" and by the time I'm thinking "there's" I have passed the ball. In Sparring I think "oh there's an opening there" and because my arms and legs don't take off untill around "there" I get hit around "an".

that and I suck at grappling.. but if I could get better footwork, crosses, head movement, latteral movement, and feal I would be alot better :-p

basicly if I wan't such a dang newbie.

I second...all of these. I'm really good at blocking with my face. My feet don't move during sparring, and I keep forgetting my head can move independantly of my shoulders, and there are more then two axis's of motion. I fall really well though :)

[sweeper]

that's interesting, I also fall very well ;)

[RCastillo]

My age, I'm 47. Lost a step, or two. My knees are getting worse.

I don't do really well, unless my buttons get pushed.:asian:

[Chronuss]

I have another weakness...everytime we spar...I try and pick a technique or two to work. however, when I try and execute a technique, I always end up doing something completely different to what I had planned on doing. perhaps it's following intuition, perhaps it's not. maybe it's a subconscious cop-out of some sort, I dunno.

[Kroy]

:drinkbeer

[RCastillo]

Originally posted by Chronuss
I have another weakness...everytime we spar...I try and pick a technique or two to work. however, when I try and execute a technique, I always end up doing something completely different to what I had planned on doing. perhaps it's following intuition, perhaps it's not. maybe it's a subconscious cop-out of some sort, I dunno.

Quit sparring with Seig! That'll help!;)

[Wmarden]

I like the early response of not enough space to list my weaknesses.

I am a beginner at martial arts after a long time away from them. So obviously technique is one problem.

Self discipline is not what it can be.

I lack good agressiveness. I am too defensive.

I tend to overanalyze things in general. Though with me needing work on technique this is not as bad a flaw as it could be.

What I have going for me. Strength, I am fairly strong. I have just enough endurance for a real fight and a program to improve the same.

I have good heart and force of will. To stop me, you have to knock me out.(been done already in the short time I have been training). I have a high pain tolerance. This is sometimes a problem though, because I can take injuries and keep going. And I have a good grounding in the moral structure of warriorship. Just need to put more of it into action.

Goodnight

[zen_hydra]

I feel that my size and strength and speed are my handicaps. I am 6"5" and about 250 lb. Fighting well has always come naturally to me. I feel that these things are holding me back from developing a better technique. When I spar, I almost always have an advantage over my partner, so it is hard to find new ways to push myself. Even as a beginner I found myself more often than not sparring against the higher ranked students in my school, and often beating them because of raw ability not technique. Don't get me wrong I do pointedly practice technique, but I am always wondering at how much better I could be without these advantages.

[Quick Sand]

The good news is that my balance is starting to improve a bit, but one of my other weaknesses is not getting any better. :( I don't like to hit people or things. I'm afraid of hurting myself or them. We don't have a punching bag most of the time when we train so we use kicking shields. I'll give them a little tap but I can't bring myself to really hit them. Consequently, I haven't developed any power in any of my techniques.

[Cryozombie]

LOTS...

But if I had to pick the one thing that is "defeating" me right now in my training its TESNION.

We are supposed to be fluid and relaxed, but I am always TENSE. When I activly focus on relaxing before responding I flow very nicely.