Lupin1

I've always wondered why they don't make Martial Arts training games for wii or xbox kinect. It could be almost like Guitar Hero, only for Martial Arts. You could have to learn kata and stuff to advance to the next "belt". I think that would be awesome, although everyone who gets a black belt on the game would probably consider themselves and actual black belt-- like how people who are good at Guitar Hero think they're actual guitar gods and stuff... I would totally buy it, though.

I realize this is tangental to the OP, but you have a right to a place of privacy to change, Lupin. I don't know whether to call this disrespectful or plain old social stupidity on the part of others, and you do have the right to bring this up to your instructor. Don't worry about "rocking the boat"; if your instructor has your best interests at heart, he (I doubt it's a she) will accommodate. And if someone decides to drop his pants with you present, tell him off right then and there. Loud. Oh I know. But I don't like to call attention to the fact that I'm female. The guys in the class do that more than enough. The class was all guys for like 10 years before I came in and it usually still is (I'm serving with AmeriCorps right now and am only home at Christmas and in the summer). They're not used to having a female present and I understand that. Plus I'm not exactly the most feminine female in the world-- I think I'm tougher than some of the men. I try my best to be one of the guys. I do speak up if anyone starts dropping his pants in front of me, but usually it turns into me throwing out jokes about his (lack of) attractiveness or that he's older than my father. It's wrong, I know, but I'd rather try my best to fit into the old boys' club rather than be "the girl".

Hey-- when I was in middle school I was suspended because a boy punched me in the face. I didn't even try to defend myself (I was too busy thinking the teacher's reaction was halarious and was cracking up through two handfuls of blood). The policy was (and I'm sure still is) if you're involved in a fight, you're suspended. I knew plenty of kids who got suspended because some kid hit them while they did absolutely nothing. It's crazy. Of course my suspension wasn't bad because my parents were completely on my side (in fact, my mother was upset at me for not punching the kid back) and to this day I consider it a point of honor that I was suspended in school (I'm a total goody-goody and so the few times I did get in trouble are points of honor for me). But it's still wrong. And btw-- that wasn't even a fight. It was an accident. We were (verbally) joking around during class and he went to hit me in the shoulder to make me stop, but being a middle school boy who just got out of a growth spurt, he misjudged his height compared to mine and popped me right in the nose right in front of the teacher. It didn't matter that it was a accident or that I didn't even touch him-- we were both still suspended for "fighting" and we weren't let back in school until we had both written an essay on we were wrong to fight (which we never actually got into a fight, so we both had to make stuff up) and we had to go to mediation (and when we got there we simply declared we weren't mad at each other. They didn't believe and we still had to sit there for half an hour telling them we were friends and didn't need mediation).

I tend to be the "shoot off a smart alec response and walk away before it has time to register" kind of person. I've never been in a fight and if I ever would be it'd probably be with a girl (most guys don't fight girls) and *most* girls try to keep fights very verbal. I just go along with it and keep it verbal and then we I can sick of it I just walk away. I've never had a problem with it. The guys all change at my school. I'm the only girl in the class, so I've pretty much been coached to get out of there as soon as class ends, so I never change there. The guys change right in the middle of the floor, though (and it's happened several times while I was still in there), except for one who goes into the closet.

I would say that I eventually want to get a black belt only because, even though I know it's silly, if I never get it I'll have always have a sense of something being unfinished. And yes, I know that black belt is not even close to a finish or an end, but I would still feel like I quit before my time if I never got it. Sort of like how in college I felt like I needed to keep taking German until I finished advanced German. Even though I'm by no means fluent, I still feel a sense of accomplishment and I know I would regret if I dropped out before finishing the highest level my college offered. You know? I think it comes a lot from the fact that I was a 6th kyu for 12 years because I stopped training (even though I still practiced on my own some times) and I just had this feeling of stagnation, like I stopped in the middle of something and had to get back to it. Now I'm not going to get a black belt for a very long time since right now I'm not in one place long enough, but I plan on keep working at it during the summer and Christmas and depending on where life leads me, hopefully full time again someday. We'll see...

Ok. I'm still a beginner (5th kyu) and so I know there's a right way to breathe while doing kata, I'm just not sure what it is. My instrutor tells us that breathing is something we don't usually start focusing on until black belt and for right now we should just practice the moves. Which *was* fine with me-- until I moved to 7,500 ft. I'm going back home for Christmas and will go to classes at my old school for a few weeks while I'm there and so I'm starting to get really serious about practicing because I'm really determined to go back better than I was when I left. I don't want any backsliding. So I've noticed that the "whatever" style of breathing that was fine for me at sea level doesn't quite cut it up here. By the 2nd or third time I run through a kata I'm huffing and puffing and need to rest. Yes, I'm a bit out of shape, but I'm also very sure it has a lot to do with the altitude as I'm not this bad at sea level. So I've been trying a breathing technique where I pretty much purse my lips and breathe out quickly on every technique in the kata (like short "blowing out a candle" breath). It's improving the strength of my techniques and forcing me to breathe after every technique, but I'm not sure it's right. It's there a correct way of doing this?

Is there a store near you that sells karate equipment? It would be SO much easier if you could go and try things on before you buy them. Otherwise you'll be doing a lot of buying and returning until you find one that fits. I remember when I bought my first gi since I was little and I had no idea what size to get (I'm 5'7'' and also fat). I went by the weight and bought a size six and it fit pretty well. I just bought some hemming tape and hemmed the pants and not it fits pretty much perfectly.

One of our middle school electives at our private school is aikido. My instructor tried to convince me to teach a few kata to my 2nd graders, but even though she lets the middle schoolers learn aikido, I don't think the principal would go for me teaching 7 and 8-year-olds even just kata. I am planning on starting to try to sneak away from my classroom once a week and join in the mid-school aikido class, though. My kids have Navajo then, so I don't *really* need to be in there.

I'm sure this is a no-brainer, but practice at home. The more you practice the quicker it'll become second nature and the less review you'll have to do in class, so you'll get to learn more new material. And do some squats and heel rises to strengthen up those leg muscles. Also, my instructor always tells us to stand in certain stances we're having trouble with (usually horse stance) while we're watching TV. That way we practice it while doing other things so we don't need to make time to practice.

I think he was joking about starting a fight. He's saying he's worried that even though he's a brown belt, if someone were to attack him tomorrow he wouldn't be able to defend himself. I agree that some sort of sparring would be the best way to test it, even though it's not entirely real because in a real fight no one's going follow the rules.

I can't even get parents to sign off on their kids math and spelling homework. I'm not sure how you'd be able to get parents to do it for Karate. Some parents are just lazy. They expect the teachers to teach their kids everything and don't want to have to do anything themselves. Same thing here, only now they're paying for it. I'm sure some of your parents would jump at the opportunity to be involved while others will think "Why should I have to do this? Isn't that what I'm paying you $X a month for?". It's just the way many parents are today. They were spoiled themselves as kids and now they're acting like spoiled adults who don't want to take any responsibilities for their own children.

While I'm not a karate instructor, I am a 2nd grade teacher, and so I've got a bit of knowledge in managing classrooms full of children and making sure they come out having learned something. I have to admit when you teach the children day in and day out, consistancy can be a rather challenging thing to have. Consistancy of procedure is vital to keeping the children doing what they're supposed to be doing-- they need to know the procedure and know what's expected of them at every moment. But consistancy in standards are harder. Somedays the kids may just be off. Maybe it's almost a holiday or they have some problems at home or there's something else that just throwing them off and they need to have a sort of lax day. And then other times you find them slipping just a bit too much and you suddenly tighten the screws for awhile to bring them back up to snuff and then when they get there you let up a bit. Teaching isn't a science, it's an art. And while consistancy is important, it's also important to be flexible and remember that humans working with humans is never going to be perfect. That's my input, anyway. If I were you I'd talk to the instructor about what you've been seeing. Maybe just bringing it to his attention with giving him a kick in the pants to work on it. Maybe he doesn't realize these problems exist.

I was only 8, so I don't remember it all that well, but I remember it a bit. We don't do formal tests at my school, but the instructors watch you every single class to see if you're ready. I knew I was getting close to being ready because I felt I had mastered the white belt material and was feeling good about it. One night I noticed the teachers watching me and whispering to eachother so I kicked it into high gear and started making my movements as hard and sharp as an 8-year-old girl white belt can. Then when we were lining up I was very nervous because I thought maybe I'd be promoted and then the instructor called me up to the front and had my purple belt behind his back. It felt great.

Do you know any black belts at your school who would be willing and able to help? You could run the program and they could help keep an eye on things and help you and stuff. It might up your credibility with the school and with parents as well as make sure you're doing everything right from someone more experienced.

Does your son have any friends who might want to learn with him? For most kids, karate lessons are a social thing as well as learning the skills. It's like cub scouts or basketball. He might miss that aspect of it if he's training all alone. Plus be prepared to clash with him on occasion. Kids respond differently when their mom or dad is teaching them as opposed to someone else teaching them.

I just moved from sea level to New Mexico (my town is at 7,500 ft) about a month ago. I still have more trouble breathing when I'm just walking around up here than I did at sea level. It takes awhile to acclimate. Give yourself at least a few days up here before your test, if it's at all possible. The first few days up here many people have headaches and are very tired for seemingly no reason at all. It takes a few days to get over it. And like others have said, HYDRATE!!!! You need to drink more water up here than at sea level, and even *more* if you're being very active.

So I'm in the process of moving to my new job in the middle of no where (I'm actually writing this from a hotel room with two days down on my drive and two to go) and the only karate school within a two hour drive of where I'm moving is a tae kwon do school 40 minutes away. I'm not sure if I want to join as I have to do more research and look at all the factors, but if I do join, what are some of the differences and challenges I can expect going from Isshinryu and Tae Kwon Do?

We really don't have many. One of our instructors is named Young Lee and he's been training there since he was pretty young and now he's in his 40s and so our head instructor started calling him Elder Lee. That's about it.

The last book was 100 pages shorter than the 5th book. I think they're just trying to get the people to pay twice for the same movie. And I think it's wrong to show someone half a movie and then make them pay again to see the other half. I'm not sure I'm going to see that movie in theaters. As was as big a Harry Potter fan as they came in middle/high school, but I hated the last book and ever since it came out I haven't really been reading the books anymore or seeing the movies. I might watch it when it comes on TV.

It's very true. Most people have horrible posture, myself included. I spend many hours a day hunched over a computer and so my shoulders are almost permenantly slumped forward. I didn't realize it until my voice professor made it his personal goal to give me a hard time about it every time he saw me (didn't work, btw-- I still slump). I feel almost pompous when I stand with correct posture. I don't like it.

Look at the size of the Okinawans and you'll have your answer.

I used to drink the pickle juice. Yum.

Ours is weird. We go: White Purple Orange Yellow Blue Green Brown Black

I hear you. Maybe one day, not before to long, the yellow belt, or something close to it, will be the new black belt. Well i just dont like to complain a lot about stuff but its nice to see that people on this forum are understanding about traditional MA *whispers* pssst-- I think he's being sarcastic.

I love onion on my hot dogs.