Hello

[Harry Cook]

Just a quick hello. My name is Harry Cook and I've been involved in martial arts since the mid 1960s. My main training has been in Shotokan and Okinawan Goju Ryu but I have also dabbled a little in Chinese internal systems, Uechi Ryu, Brazilian Capoeira, Okinawan Kobudo and various Japanese weapons systems.
I am very interested in the history of karate, in particular the links between Chinese and Okinawan methods.
Harry Cook

[Glenn]

Are you the Harry Cook who writes for Dragon Times/Classical Fighting Arts, as well as wrote a book on the history of Shotokan?

[Harry Cook]

Guilty..That's me.
Harry Cook

[Glenn]

A pleasure to meet you. I haven't had the opportunity to read the book, but I enjoy your articles.

[Bill Glasheen]

I believe we've met, and had a word or two back and forth about injuries and stuff.

I know you well. Glad to have you aboard, sir!

- Bill

[gmattson]

Hope you will enjoy our forums as much as our gang enjoy your work.

For you "newguys": Harry is "THE" authority when it comes to the history of martial arts. We will be able to learn a whole lot more from him than he will from us.

Welcome aboard Harry.

[CANDANeh]

Harry Cook who writes for Dragon Times

I recall seeing that name often in Dragon Times (miss that paper).

I am very interested in the history of karate, in particular the links between Chinese and Okinawan methods.

Always a good topic of conversation among Uechi people. Wow a big hello

[MikeK]

Glad you are here Mr. Cook and I've enjoyed what I've read by you.

Leo, you can still get it but now it's Classical Fighting Arts. Still good, still not published often enough.

[Harry Cook]

Thank you for the kind comments gentlemen. I look forward to some interesting discussions.
Harry Cook

[maxwell ainley]

Hi Harry ,

Harry is a friend of my original uechi-teacher Dave scott sensei , I do remember chatting with you up at the budo sai ,very brief I think .

I feel sure Dave taught you some [uechi sanchin ? .

Anyway how as your martial arts involvement direction going these days I now years ago you were involved with julian on seminars etc , plus terry ,and steve morris senseis etc.
max.

[Harry Cook]

Hello Max, yes you are correct, the first version of sanchin I ever learned was from Dave Scott; I still do through it at times, although most of my sanchin training now is through the Okinawan Goju Ryu version that I learned from Higaonna sensei.
My own training at the moment is concentrating on building up strength and power - lots of heavy weight training and hojo undo plus bagwork etc etc. Soon I will shift to flexibility and speed training, especially in footwork and kicking.
I still train with Julian Mead whenever I get the chance, but my contact with Terry O'Neill has been almost non-existent since the demise of Fighting Arts Magazine, mores the pity.
One short term training aim is to take part in a match between the surviving relics of my original university team and the current university team (this is Durham University). I have managed to find a few tottering survivors of the 1970s and we plan to take on the childr.. (sorry young men) of the current squad. If the worst comes to the worst we can always hit them with our zimmer frames!!
Anyway it should be fun!
If you are ever in the north (that's the real north, not the midlands where Liverpool and Manchester etc are situated, please feel free to come and train with us. My class might look like shotokan, but underneath it is really naha-te.
Harry Cook

[maxwell ainley]

Well thank's Harry for the invite [Hexam is it ? I am in yorkshire .
What do you feel about the sanchin Uechi... and the sanchin Go-ju in your experience of both such as;the overall feeling they give .

Plus your present use of heavy weights? ,I know you like free weights plus the okinawan traditional equipment , I think at one time you had a thing for making home made equipment etc , similar to Graham Noble .Whats your views on the multi gym ,nautilus if you have any , in relationship to the okinawan tools .

Max.

[Harry Cook]

Actually I like both versions of sanchin; it is the hard/soft flow which is valuable. I quite like the slightly more 'hunched' or 'rounded' feel of the Uechi sanchin and the more natural breathing - I don't make the harsh breathing usually found in Goju.
Training with machines is Ok if you can't get free weights, but the machines make you move along unnatural curves. There is an interesting acount in Bill Starr's The Strongest shall Survive by Ken Patera about what happened to his strength levels when he had to use machines rather than free weights; his strength dropped.
I do use a lot of home made equipment, or adaptions of equipment. For example as I usually train by myself I needed to have a safe way of bench pressing. I don't have a bench (takes up too much space in my own dojo), so I use two industrial rachets hanging from hooks in the ceiling. I have attached a bar to the nylon straps, so I can adjust the height of the bar off the ground. This means if I fail on a press the bar does not crash down on my face or body. This means I can do a whole range of full and partial presses with fairly heavy weights.
This kind of thing plus chiishi, kongoken etc etc is useful and satisfying in a kind of masochistic way!!
Yorkshire isn't too far south; our main dojo is in Hexham, but on Sundays we train in my own dojo in my back garden. You might find that more interesting.
Harry Cook

[Bill Glasheen]

Harry

You're right on the money with your view of weight training. The machines not only fail to work key stabilizer muscles (thus putting your unbalanced body at risk for later injury), but they also fail to develop generalizeable coordination skills that one can take straight to the dojo, the street, or the playing field. It's interesting for me watching how all the strength coaches in colleges and professional teams now are going back to some of the more traditional methods of the past such as Olympic lifts and such. Furthermore, recent research is emphasizing the unique fundamental issues that one needs to address when approaching weights: mass of the athlete, strength, power, coordination, flexibility, agility, speed, etc.

Bodybuilding has done a number on the field of weight training. Bodlybuilding is all about the "show", and sometimes that can be at the expense of the "go". My wife once competed, and she and I have a pretty good understanding of how and why our training methods necessarily differ.

Sounds like you are being quite creative these days with the available resources. That's the essence of the traditional martial arts.

- Bill

[Glenn]

Just for clarification: By "machines" are you referring to the circuit training at fitness centers where each piece of equipment targets a different muscle group? Or are you referring to something like a bo-flex or other equipment advertised on TV?