Lupin1

Ok. That makes more sense now. I have to admit I'm guilty of judging people who post kata on youtube, too. Every school has different standards and different things they focus on, so it's natural to notice differences in those standards. When I watch Isshinryu kata, I notice bad stances more than anything else because my instructor is a stance fanatic while Isshinryu as a whole isn't that obsessed with stances. So I see these videos of Isshinryu black belts doing beginner's kata with horrible stances and I have to think "man, that guy wouldn't even make 9th kyu in my school with a stance like that". But I don't say it, mostly because I don't have the credentials to back it up. I'm just a white belt. If I did comment and people asked me where I get the authority to criticize other people, I'd have to admit I have no authority, and so I just don't say anything.

I'm curious now. What was the context of this? Were you disagreeing with him and so he put you down to discredit you? Were you trying to correct someone? What prompted him to argue with you about this?

This makes me kinda glad our dojo has carpet floors...

I got my gi off ebay. Middle weight Century gi brand new sealed in the plastic bag for 27 bucks plus free shipping (less if you're smaller than I am-- the smaller the size the cheaper they're selling the gis). The free shipping made it one of the cheapest gis I could find on the internet since most martial arts stores are charging almost ten bucks for shipping. The only thing I didn't like about the Century gi was the white belt it came with, which was paper thin. I ended up stealing my aunt's old white belt since we're the same size and she had a nice thick belt (and already broken in-- can't beat that). If you want to look at them, just search "size (whatever you are) karate uniform" on ebay and look for the ones with free shipping.

I agree with Tomcat. If you're in a real fight, I don't know how much the jump spinning flipping headstand sidekick is going to help you.

I know a lot of programs that actually have "advanced" as part of their ranking system. So you'd be a white belt and then maybe you'd get a black stripe and be an advanced white belt then you'd be a yellow belt, get a stripe and be an advanced yellow belt, etc. It's written into to their grading system. As long as you recognize that a white belt is still a white belt, I see nothing wrong with getting more specific. I've said on here a few times that when I was younger I was a 6th kyu but I was close to getting 5th kyu. I say that not because I want to make myself sound better, but because in my school 6th kyu takes a long time and has several kata to learn, so someone near the end spent a lot more time and knows a lot more than someone who just got their 6th kyu. It's a difference of about a year more training. I really don't see the problem with distinguishing between having just started and having a few months experience, as long as it's made clear that an advanced white belt is an advanced WHITE BELT and not an advanced student period. I personally consider black belt the marker of someone becoming an advanced student. Everyone below that is just a beginner-- just different degrees of beginner.

Ohhhhh. You were sparring. Opps. I thought that you were really fighting.

Unless I threw the first blow, if my friend knocked me out, I'd call the cops.

Well, there kinda is. Re-reading my posts I think I make it a bigger deal than it is (in the adult class, at least. In the kid's class it was a huge deal-- you know kids). We don't even do the whole "line up by rank" thing in the adult class. We usually line up staggered so newer students stand inbetween black belts so we can glance at them if we get lost and it also helps us increase our power when we're between two black belts using lots of power. Although our instructor tends to mention it a lot, although the things he says make me want to stay a white belt. Like "I can yell at you for this because you're a green belt. I can't yell at him, he's just a yellow belt." Or when he's looking for an uki and he makes a big deal that he can beat up his brown belts a little bit but he can't do that to his orange belts. So I guess it is sort of a big deal up until black, where he stops talking about rank and starts talking about how long someone's been in the class (when you've been here 25 years like him, I'll expect you to do X. But you've only been here 15). And there's really no "I'm a black belt so you need to respect me" type vibe that I know other schools get. I mean, sure, people get internally competitive naturally, but there's no "I'm better than you so I line up over here" or "you're a blue belt so you need to kneel while I put on my black belt" type hierarchy you get at some schools.

I thought this was interesting after having this post just this morning. We had a new student tonight. He was in the program when he was younger and he made it all the way to brown belt before going off to college and having to quit and so he's got a white belt now, too. He's been gone almost 20 years, so a lot longer than I have and he remembered as much as I did (well, he knew more forms, he just didn't remember them as well as I remembered my few) and his technique is way better than mine. So now our instructor just seems to be effervescing with pride in the two former students he taught so well that they came back decades later remembering so much. And the poor 4th kyu... He seemed really upset today because he said he thought he was doing so well and then these white belts come in and are better than him (he said. I know I'm not better than him, although this new guy might be) and the instructor had to give him a pep talk and told him not to worry about us, we're just white belts.

I'm in a similar situation right now (only not nearly as extreme as I wasn't a black belt, I haven't been away for as long and my sensei is letting me advance with my abilities-- a perk of our school having no "time in grade" requirements). When I was younger I attended my school for 4 years and was close to getting my 5th kyu. I quit to join a basketball team and two years later I wanted to go back to karate (you know how kids are with their interests-- I was very capricious) so they started me back at white belt and kept me there for an entire year while I worked my way back up to 6th kyu instead of having me buy a new belt every few months. Since they kept me there, I saw all my friends who started at the same time I restarted advancing onto the next belts and wondering why I was still a white belt and some were teasing me about it (of course, it was worth all the teasing when one night I was randomly [to them] promoted from white belt to 6th kyu and was suddenly several belts above them ). Then I got to high school and I had other things I wanted to do with my Tuesday and Thursday nights, so I quit again. Now eight years later I'm coming back to the same school and I again have a white belt around my waist. This time's a little different in that I remembered things a lot better (funny how I remember things so much better this time after 8 years than I did after just 2 when I was younger. May it has to do with having learned it all twice before). It's not really that big a deal this time because there are no 9th or 8th kyus to tease me (not that adults do that as much). The adult class consists of me, a 4th kyu and a half dozen or so black belts, so whether I'm wearing a white belt or a 6th kyu belt (I keep calling it that because 6th kyu is yellow at my school, which is rare and might confuse people) I'm still the lowest in the class. Plus the adults pay attention more. Those little 9th kyus who were teasing me for being a white belt never seemed to notice that when we split up into groups I went with the 8th or 7th kyus, but the adults know that even though I'm wearing a white belt I'm doing slightly higher level stuff. And yes, even in those eight years some things have changed. They added a kata, so now in addition to perfecting the kata I already know, I need to learn the new kata before I can get my 6th kyu back. They also changed the ending of one kata I learned, and old habits die hard, so I keep getting yelled at for doing the old ending... I'll get it, though. I've only been there a few months and I can tell right now that although I've still got awhile, it won't take me a whole year this time to get back up to 6th kyu. Maybe a few more months.

I tried to hem it by hand and then I went the lazy way and used hemming tape. We'll see how long that lasts. It seems pretty strong, so it should last awhile since it's not going to take all that much abuse. We only wear our uniforms once a week for an hour and our training usually isn't that intense.

I don't see why any instructors should care about people training in more than one art, especially if you were already a brown belt in Goju-- it's very reasonable for you to want to get your black belt when you're that close. You're the consumer, I don't see why your Shotakan instructor should care whether you're taking Goju or Middle Eastern Bellydancing in your nights away from his dojo. I can see him advising that starting a new art at the same time as his might confuse you, but in the end I don't see why instructors should have that much say in today's world.

I did try washing it warm and then drying it on low just for an initial wash and it actually didn't do all that much to the fit around my stomach, but it shrunk the legs up considerably, so I won't have to hem them nearly as much. It actually felt like it was a little looser and fit better around the waist after washing it-- maybe it loosened up the fabric a bit after it was all compressed folded in that bag... But from now on I'm definitely going to wash it on cold and hang dry like you recommend. Thanks! Oh, and the ties aren't taught, they tie loosely about half-way up both ties and it's really comfortable when I do that, it's just when I was little I remember tying them all the way so the ends of both ties that are attached to the gi met and it closed completely, so I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be able to do that or not.

Congrats. And may I say I absolutely love your analogy. It's perfect.

As a girl, my opinion is that this woman probably doesn't really want to learn karate and probably shouldn't be there. Guess what-- shots to the chest are extremely common in martial arts and they're something you need to deal with if you're going to be a martial artist. If she doesn't want to get hit in the chest, maybe she should practice defending against that area a little better so she can stop the guys from hitting her there instead of blaming them for her not being able to block their shots. Probably about half of the wazas we do have people punching right at the chest and so I get guys staring at my chest while they're punching all the time. Big deal. I stare that their chests while I'm punching, why should I expect them to do anything different? It may be different since I'm the only female in our adult program so I'm ALWAYS working with guys and they were all here first so I feel the need to not bring too much attention to the fact that I'm a girl, but I think she's over reacting just a bit and she should just get over it and accept that it's part of the martial arts.

I don't think you quite get the question. I know it's going to shrink, I wanted to know how to wash it to minimize the shrinkage.

Well I finally got my new gi and now I'm not sure how to go about getting it ready to wear to class. I've tried it on several times and it's perfectly comfortable right now except I have to hem the arms and legs (I think I'm going to try to do it myself since I'm poor and it'd be good to learn to hem and no one will care if it doesn't look perfect). I know some people say you're supposed to wash it in hot water and dry on high a few times to let it shrink all it's going to before you hem it, but it's the perfect size in most places right now and I'm afraid if I do that it'll end up too small. Should I wash it warm and then dry it on medium or should I just wash it cold and dry it on low it a few times? It's a middleweight 60% cotton 40% polyester uniform, if that helps. PS-- it is ok if the ties on the sides don't come together all the way? I remember when I was little the tie strings tied as tight as possible and brought one side of the uniform all the way to the other side of my body, but the uniform ties are right at the largest part of my hips, so the ties don't come together all the way and the two sides of the uniform don't come all the way to my sides where the other tie is. Is that ok?

Do you still have to pay that if you don't pass?

I'm about 230-240. I just got a size 6 Century gi (just got it in the mail today, actually) and before washing it it feels a little tight in certain spots (mostly where it ties, but of course the ties have to fall exactly at my widest spot...). Depending on how your weight is distributed, you may want more than a size 6.

Haha. When I was in high school we had this week long stretch of -40 degree weather and we had an outdoor campus, so there were kids bringing in bottles of hairspray and spraying them into the air between classes yelling "come on global warming! faster!".

My instructor said today that I could get my uniform! Yay! Of course, what he really said was that there was no rush but whenever I want I can get one if I even want to get one (he's a big fan of people choosing not to wear uniforms, but everyone else at our school wears one and what can I say-- I want to fit in), so what I'll probably do is buy one now and then not wear it for a few weeks because I don't want to seem too eager (I over-think things like that). Plus it'll probably take me time to alter it, anyway. He suggested I get a middleweight, which surprised me, and he said I'd probably be a 5 or a 6, so I'm going with a 6. And thanks for the suggestion of the woman's gi, DWx, but I think I'm going to go with the men's. It's cheaper and men's clothing has always fit me better (the tops, at least). I have really broad shoulders for a woman and I can never move my arms in woman's jackets. And I think I'll try the men's pants for now because, like I said, they're cheaper, but I may just end up getting the woman's pants next time if the men's don't work on me. I'll just have to see how it goes.

Well, I grew up in northern New England, went to college in southern Virginia and now I'm back in NE. And after experiencing both places, I have to say I much prefer the south. The south has it's own beauty in the seasonal changes. They don't have anything close to what New England has for autumn, but the south has the most beautiful springs. In NH everything just goes from brown to green over night, but in VA all the trees and everything bloomed beautiful whites and pinks and purples before turning green. It made the slight lack of autumn foliage worth it. And I LOVED only getting a few inches of snow a year down there. It was just enough to be pretty and fun for a few days. Up here I'm sick of winter before it even officially begins. I hate having to scrape ice off of my car every time I drive it and I hate slipping and I hate using three heavy blankets and wearing a sweatshirt to bed and still being too cold to fall asleep (my mother doesn't believe in turning the heat up-- she'd rather us use more blankets to save money). As much as I love my karate school up here, I want to move back down south. I'm applying to jobs equally around here and down there. It all depends where I get the job in the end...

Hahaha. That's exactly how I got most of my practice. Although I have three angry hormal teenage siblings...

As a woman, I think I'm more likely to get grabbed than punched and I can say from experience that the grab releases I've been taught are extremely effective in releasing myself from grabs (I've had to use them a few times). I'm just around a 6th kyu, so I probably wouldn't be confident with using my karate if a 250 lb six foot man attacked me, but I'd be confident against the people most likely to attack me-- probably other women wanting a cat fight. And I could probably beat any of them on brute strength alone (I'm big and strong for a woman). But my instructor likes to keep things practical. He teaches us the traditional stuff but then he says things like "if someone really did this to me, I wouldn't bother trying to do anything as fancy as that-- I'd just try to gouge their eyes out" and he teaches us things like gouging the eyes out or pushing right under where the adam's apple is on a man as hard as you can or kicking a guy in the nuts or other things that are more practical and harder to screw up in a real fight. And of course he tells us that we should never stand and fight if we have another option-- always do as little as you need to to allow you to get the heck out of there safely.