WhiteBelt

Yay, more TMA vs MMA (mixed or modern)... How about Pankration is TMA because it's so old? How about the eastern TMA no longer train the way they used to. Hence they are no longer as effective at fighting and self defense and have evolved for more peaceful times? Besides, any MA can make a fighter because they are just tools and the person is the fighter. The person has to develope the skills, the mind, the body, the willpower to fight. Though, I'm glad you enjoy Pankration. PS, if Pankration is ancient Greek then how is it a combination of Muay Thai and submission wrestling?

I've only played the first few of each. Both get equally tiresome because there is limited gameplay and opponents. Later on SF seemed to get ahead because MK ended up like some lame Killer Instinct type game, while SF still seemed somewhat 'cool'.

Knee problems are hard to diagnose properly. Go see a doctor and get a real opinion. From what you've said it sounds like a couple of things, but you need an x-ray to be sure. Besides a doctor can refer you to physiotherapy if you need it, and give you advice on how to improve your knee. BTW, I've had a similar problem in my left knee. One doctor told me straight up that my cartalidge was worn down and I needed surgery. When I got a second opinion they said I just need to stretch more, and improve the leg strength... Now I take glucosamine and train hard without pain with plenty of strentching and strengthening.

After reading the article that Kirves posted I realize how much harder they used to train. Now I have a guide for training on my own time, thanks.

I finally got a chance to check the place out. It's in a downtown garage and packed with guys during class. The head instructor seems pretty young but has won a few tournaments, and I've heard good things about him. I'll try and check it out again soon. Problem is I have to convince my parents, my GF, and my GF's parents that I can handle the work load during school.

There are different ways to teach, and different ways to do the same things you know. ie, Kyokushin does full contact sparring. There are different kata, and different ways of doing the same kata too. Everything will feel similar but at the same time different between styles.

The weapon comments were on topic... I like the rusty sword bit. I was watching a Wu Shu video the other day. Man, I thought Shotokan had deep stances. I saw them drop their butt down to the floor and fold their legs up. 'Pretzel' stance? JK

That attacker was unstable long before that. I've read other articles that said she was throwing beer bottles at the woman's house long before that. Before that she was taking photo's of the house every hour on the hour late at night. Toronto is seriously messed up this summer. Between SARS, Holly, and now the things you've just recently posted... Don't forget West Nile.

Hollywood Do. Who doesn't want to be an unstopable fighting machine, that saves the world and gets the girl? Actually I've been thinking of checking out: Aikido Jiu Jitsu (any kind) Krav Maga Muay Thai

I'm semi-ambidextrious (sp?). Does that mean I should fight with both feet forward, or both backward?

We have classes for black belts of all levels too. There is a lot more to learn at that level, so I doubt they are learning the same thing over and over. Besides at that level you are trying to perfect everything you already know as well, where as a pre black belt student just has to keep up.

Well it's only 70 CDN a month, so I can always try it out for a month. I think the head instructor was a one time champ in northern Thailand or something. I could be wrong though.

Fallen arches can turn/pull your kneecaps inwards.

I've seen more grappling but that's about it.

We don't chamber anything... but I understand about the stance. Isn't a MT stance square on the opponent? I usually stand however I want though in class. The blocks are used as strikes in sparring, and rarely at that.

When somebody bashes karate and says *insert MA here* is better I simply go and check it out for myself. A lot of people have said that MT is the best stand up, so I'm going out to try it. I'm not going to quit my karate, and I always try to ignore the bashing threads except for the suggestion.

Black is great unless you're training outside in the summer heat. I haven't noticed a difference in the appearance of speed or power, and you can barely tell if they're dirty.

Are these compatable? I was looking for some JJ near by, but all I could find was a lonely MT gym looking for me to join. I can't get enough of MAs. All I need is more time.

I know of a school nearby that costs over $200 a month, Canadian. You learn Karate, Judo, and some Russian self defense course. The frills are health insurance, massuese, neutritionist, etc. I've seen them running down the sidewalk in their bare feet. I wonder if the health insurance covers infected feet...

I don't suggest MAs as a form of exercise because people tend to hurt themselves this way. Everytime I visit my local sports doc he is complaining about all the 30+ guys coming to him complaining about MA injuries. They all hope that MA will make them buff and all that. Instead the end up in the doctor's office with joint injuries.

What's wrong with making your own kata. It would show you how difficult it is to include so many layers in such a simple thing. Nobody said it has to taught to others.

I am going to go with Treebranch here. I think my GF will too. I can never spar with my GF; I always lose. It's probably because I'm not 'focused' on the fight.

If you lock your punch/kick it's going to hurt right away. If you continiously use snap kicks, it's going to hurt when you get older... It's best to find the happy median. Shotokan practitioners with bad knees? Probably because the people in charge are promoting deep stances during the kata presentation because it looks better. When you go that deep it can be very easy to accidentally go too far and damage the knee. I had knee pain before I started karate in a school that was basing their style off shotokan. The only time I feel my knee pain is when I twist irregularly or do jumping squats. But I take some suppliments and am very careful when I am exercising my legs.

I knew a sensei that wanted students to punch at their opponent's heart, so that it just might stop it. I always thought the idea silly, but I guess I was wrong...

Heh, my internet connect goes down for a while and everybody jumps on my post. Anyway, that was the first time I've done point sparring. We usually do free sparring (jiyu kumite?). I just found it frustrating to get stopped all the time by weak shots, when in free sparring I was taking much heavier hits.