Tiger1962

I don't really care either way and in the style I studied, I didn't have a say in the matter anyway. My belt has two stripes which symbolize "second dan" --- but honestly I never felt any different than when there were no stripes on it. My theory is -- I considered myself a student who was there to learn; stripes are considered a symbol of achievement - or how far you have advanced. It is not meant to be used to "throw your weight around" the dojang or abuse your ranking either. Stripes on a black belt indicate rank --- I suppose it's meant to also remind other students of protocol in relation to the wearer of the stripes. On the flip side, some people let their rank "go to their head" but that doesn't just occur in martial arts industry. So, my personal opinion is that it doesn't matter to me.

Actually the kind of machine I'm looking at is the one you sit on that has the leg extensions to either side. I noticed a few brands (ProForce is one), but I'm not certain how the quality is.

I would like to buy one of these for my husband since I know he's been wanting one for a while now. I'm not familiar with the various brands that sell this piece of equipment and was wondering if anyone could make a recommendation or has one of their own to give a review of. Thanks!

If you're holding your nose or breath because of the odor, you're likely to get sucker punched....or pass out from the smell....lol

Sometimes I wonder if a stinky uniform is a secret tactic used by the wearer to weaken/distract his/her opponent thereby enabling the stinky-uniform-wearer to score more points during sparring matches.

In my old school, kids who misbehaved were punished with either push-ups, sitting out of class or something similar. I don't recall any adults being punished but there were a couple incidents where a couple of adult students had disagreements with each other. Nothing as bad as an actual fight though.

Happy Birthday - you're the same age as my husband - he doesn't think he's old but he does already have an AARP card which I tease him about all the time. You're only as old as you feel - LOL have a great day

I agree with what Tallgeese said (and speaking from experience with various prior foot injuries) - I would NOT put more trauma to the toe. If you can wrap or tape it securely while you train, that might help. Also, don't know if its true or not but I did hear that chondroitin and/or glucosamine might raise the cholesterol levels (if you are watching your cholesterol levels) but you might want to ask your doctor if that is actually a myth or not.

I agree...no way, no how, bad idea for obvious reasons.

I don't have a problem with it as long as it doesn't negatively affect the students....and what I mean by that is, if the people dating are, for example, teacher and student, one would hope the teacher would not give special treatment to the person they are dating. THAT would definitely cause "talk" and rifts and resentment among the students towards the couple.

I agree - my sentiments exactly.

One of my favorite shows because it deals with DANCING and not some celebrity's personal problems for all the world to see & hear.

You work out, you sweat, therefore washing your uniform is necessary - mandatory if I was a teacher or owned a school. I have trained next to some classmates that didn't wash their uniform and it was very distracting. I couldn't concentrate because of the horrible odor and couldn't wait for the class to be over. If it's shrinkage someone is worried about, then wash on cold water --- spray a strain treatment product or pour detergent directly on the armpit section of the uniform & any other offensive areas. Good hygiene is a must !

Yes, unfortunately there is lots of politics in martial arts too. Don't know why, but when I was first starting out, I thought that would be the one place I could escape politics, especially after a long day at work. Anyway, it's like looking for a good doctor or a house, you just keep interviewing schools until you find the right one. Or, the one that has less politics than others at least. Maybe it comes with certain people, maybe not...but you gotta do your research/homework on schools and locations.

$35.00 for all ranks under dan. Dan level and up "starts" at $300 Way too high in my opinion!

At my former school, we would have a class set aside that would be an evaluation and while that wasn't the final grading decision, it supposedly let our instructor know what we needed more work on. We'd take a few more classes to work on the weak spots and then a couple weeks later it would be testing day. I have no problem with a testing session. Being nervous is part of the deal, but I've learned to channel that nervousness into energy and my technique ended up being stronger.

Sure

This is normal for people who are new to karate and you probably will hear this from others but eventually after enough practice, it does get better. When I was new, I'd try and practice some things at home to get better control of my balance, such as when I'd be brushing my teeth or standing at the sink, I'd do it on one leg and have the other leg tucked behind my standing leg or in a yoga type pose and have the raised leg with foot resting on the standing leg. I have taken a few yoga lessons and found that helped my balance in karate tremendously. If you Google some one legged standing yoga poses you will see what I mean.

I've taken a womens only self defense class and what I would recommend is to first and foremost keep it real. My other recommendations are below some of which might have already been mentioned by others. Secondly, advise crucial strikepoints where one can immediately disable the attacker (eyes, groin, etc.) How to use everyday objects as weapons of self defense (pen, pencil, etc. objects in purse that one could carry or conceal in hand. Emphasize being vocal so others around can hear if one is being attacked. Always to be walking down the street in an alert and aware of one's surroundings state...not to be in a "daydream" type manner. Those are just a few that I remember.

I don't know if it's laziness or ignorance or something else, but what I DO know is that it is DANGEROUS. Anytime I see someone make a turn without using a signal I beep my horn. Now that might not do anything but I'd rather draw attention to it than just ignore it. There are way too many car accidents that could be avoided if people would just exercise some caution and common sense.

This is one of my major pet peeves, so much so that I really dislike driving now. Please tell me WHY some people do NOT: -signal when making a turn -signal when they want to pull over and park ...and why do some people: -talk on a cell phone and drive (I can ALWAYS tell when someone is talking on a cell phone while driving). Jeez! Pull over and answer your phone and if you're planning to be on a highway then use the hands-free set. It's worth the cost. Another annoying situation: I'm looking both ways and backing up out of my driveway...no cars are coming. Suddenly a car turns the corner and I'm already half way out of my driveway. Instead of stopping and waiting for me to finish backing out, the driver in the other car keeps driving up close and gets ANNOYED because I'm blocking him and then expects that I will have enough room to continue backing out while he/she is right up on the front of my car. I hate driving. People just don't follow the rules or they don't care. The motor vehicle department should make people re-test every few years.

Exactly, why not both? Open a gym and hold martial arts classes there.

Good luck on your test!!!!!

I think a distinct lack of sensitivity has been an American problem for too many years. I agree joesteph

I think sometimes things can get out of hand with an instructor's quest to make a class produce more effort. We all make mistakes. The good thing is you (Sensei8) acknowledged it and resolved it/apologized for it. That's a good thing. On a number of occasions, I've had the assistant (female) instructor behave overly agressive (verbally mostly) towards myself and other students because she wanted us to try harder in class (or so she thought we weren't trying hard enough.) She really just wanted to throw her weight and rank around because she often acted this way many times. However, me, being older, knew she wanted to prove that although she was female, she had control of the class and could (attempt) to intimidate us to do what she wanted. If she was wiser and just followed the "be yourself" method, she would have realized she need not bully people to do what she asked. Needless to say, the older adults often rolled their eyes at this. She went on to open her own school and I suppose she uses this approach with her own students who don't know her as well as we did. The bottom line is there is a right and wrong way to behave and using phrases like "hit like a girl" or "hit like a guy" is not the politically correct way to run a class & get them to try harder. I think instructors sometimes say that to get a rise out of the student too. People (especially paying students) deserve better than that.