Spodo Komodo

Those kata look a lot like the Pinan/Heian series with some extra bits. I can't really see anything relating to tai sabaki as they seem to be "up and down the line" kata. Very interesting though.

Bassai-Dai perhaps? (also known as Passai)

That's fair enough, situations change all the time and we are not always in a position to keep up training in a particular discipline. I have been in a similar situation with Karate, I lost the will to live at my previous club so I am currently looking to join another club in another Karate style in the near future but that is down to my personal circumstances. I thought your choice of phrase indicated a familiar mindset among some people coming from heavy cross-training backgrounds but it looks like I was mistaken, for which I apologise. If you want to upset a martial artist, tell them you know all about their art! Good luck, have fun and maybe we will meet in the dojo some time.

Now there is a concept with which I am unfamiliar! A lot of what you get out is determined by what your intention is in the first place. If you are just looking for another quick black belt and a few moves for your MMA then I'm not so sure that you are going to get much more from Karate than you are getting from your Kickboxing. For me, Karate is an all-consuming passion but I have known quite a few people try it for a couple of years and dismiss it as "useless" or "not realistic" and go back to Kickboxing, MMA or Muay Thai. It is sad because they have only scratched the surface, you never complete training you just get to a point of stagnation or lose interest which is more to do with the self than the art. I hope that you enjoy your Karate training and never feel that you have completed it

Sorry, been away for a bit. Weeeeeellllllll... I wasn't keen, it seemed to be a bit of everything rolled into the syllabus. There was nothing that I could fault about the teaching (well apart from using bokken in a strange manner) and they were very good at what they did as far as I could see, but it wasn't for me. That combined with the fact that I am moving to a different city in a couple of weeks meant that I didn't pursue any further than the first lesson. I guess I'm not suited to Chinese arts after all, not "punchy" enough for me.

Well nobody seems to say anything about them on the wider net and they have a lot of clubs so I guess they are OK. There is an open day next week so if I manage to get along I will report back. I once started training in Go Kan Ryu and I am a bit too wary of slick flyers and colourful posters these days.

In summer we would have water breaks every half hour to prevent the kids from gulping down a bellyfull and then honking it back up on the mat. In winter there would only be a general five minutes between the first and second hour when you could hydrate if you wished. Personally I prefer a little and often than drinking either side of a two-three hour session but one also has to be mindful of the disruption caused by young (and old) bladders...

Has anyone had any experience of Wutan UK? They have just started classes literally across the street from where I work and on a night when I don't have much to do...but their not very easy to navigate website lists about five different styles taught before black sash rank (all of which I thought were arts in their own right like Wing Chun) which seems a bit odd to my karateka ears. No prices given either which I always take as a bad sign. However, not knowing anything about Chinese arts other than a little Tai Chi and a childhood pretending to be "grasshopper" I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt if they have no previous.

That's impressive and very wrong at the same time! I almost feel the same way about that as I do about my friend's Hello Kitty Nunchaku. Although I did once make a meccano and razor-blade guillotine upon which I tried to decapitate a 6" Ewok action figure. Thick neck on an Ewok, takes a lot of cutting...

It was Meccano for me closely followed by Lego. I had quite a bit of Meccano due to a local model shop selling it in individual pieces so I could get pocket money sized chunks of kit. I had electric motors, gears by the hundred, chain drives and thousands of sector plates, axles, beams and truss flanges. I recently repaired the lavatory with some bits of meccano from the shed, its not just a toy!

My main goal is to get back into practicing Karate, as a white belt again in a new style. I just can't give it up completely no matter how much I keep wanting to. I am currently hoping to be back in the dojo by midsummer at the latest.

One reason I can think of that separates Martial Arts from gymnastics and break dancing (not so sure about knitting) is the safe release of agression. Human beings are all fairly hard-wired for violence to a certain degree, in most people it manifests in agressive speech or over competitiveness in business or social circles. Releasing that pent up agression in a safe competitive bout of sparring can be enormously beneficial and have a real effect upon the mental wellbeing of the practitioner. How often do you talk to someone who is a really good martial artist and find them to be approachable, friendly and helpful. The so called "sofa-sensei" in contrast are often arrogant, irascible and unhelpful. My old Zen teacher was convinced that martial arts grew up in a monastic environment precisely because of this effect, ridding men in a cloistered environment of pent up agression. Mind you he was a life-long Kendoka/Iaidoka so he had a vested interest in the theory. Personally I'm an advocate of balance in all things, I like to see some reality-based work and some art-based work in any session. I don't see self-defence and martial art as an either/or situation, as they say - a little bit of what you fancy does you good.

Well thanks for all the advice but it just isn't working out. I have decided to quit martial arts and so I bid you all farewell.

While I agree that the scenario given was rude and just plain lazy I can't agree with requiring students to only buy their gear through the school. I have a certain make of Gi that I always buy, they fit like a glove as opposed to the cheap tatty ones that are sold through the school. If I were required to buy a Gi from the school I don't think I would be training there for long.

Sensei8, I have a feeling that this is not quite the problem you are thinking of. If I am right GaryMo is asking which block travels closest to the body (inside) and which one is in front (outside). If this is the case Gary, then the downward moving arm (gedan uke) moves closest to the body, between the body and the uchi uke. It's a thing that everybody gets wrong at some stage but it does end up being the most natural way to perform the move. Hope that helps.

That's one of my sticking points, I don't know anybody there anymore other than one guy who has repeatedly made it clear that if I can't live up to the belt I should quit and the teacher. I rang around last night and all the guys that I went through the belts with have either stopped training or gone on to other arts. At the moment I'm thinking of going back to my old school for a month and if the guys make it difficult for me to stay then I will go and train elsewhere.

I am desperate to return to the dojo after a few years away following an accident and all kinds of complications, including a shattered knee which is now stiff and painful and about four stones of new blubber from sitting around in plastercasts and braces. The only problem is that if I go back to my old Wado Ryu teacher I will get quite a bit of stick because I am in no shape to perform as a shodan should. At the moment I could perform at a pretty low 6th-5th kyu level and will have to re-learn stances, kicks and techniques to take into account my reduced abilities and pretty poor fitness. I would really like to shelve my black belt and work up to it again but in a group with lots of kids and few adults it really isn't very viable. My other choice is to join the local Shotokan group as a white belt and work through the grades again but it feels odd. I don't know whether it is disloyalty to my former teacher or just because I have always regarded myself as a Wado guy I don't know. It also feels a bit like cowardice and even though I have friends at both schools there is an element of better the devil you know. Has anyone been in a similar situation where they can't face going back to their original school and started again at another? I know it's trivial in the scheme of things but it feels like a pretty emotional decision to me at the moment.

I did compete, years ago but I got completely fed up with the ethos of some competitors. I used to think that competitions were about a test of skill between fellow artists, where winning or losing were a personal matter and matches were played out with some dignity. After a while the showmen started to creep in until it was more about bad-mouthing and showboating than etiquette. The last time I competed was over twenty years ago and my opponent refused to bow before the bout, I walked out and never entered a competition again. I was much happier not degenerating to that level.

I meditate twice a day, zazen for half an hour to an hour first thing in the morning and again last thing at night. I have done for over twenty years now and it doesn't get any easier to get out of bed and onto the zafu. As for what to do, the most traditional thing is to attempt to clear the mind and live in the moment, not considering the past and not minding what is likely to happen in the future. Yogic breath control comes from an entirely different background to zen. In zen the breath is used to tame the mind and stop the chatter that leads to our minds working slowly and inefficiently at processing delusions. Once the "monkey mind" has been tamed then it will be able to see things for what they are, not stopping to apprehend feelings of fear or slowing down to work out complex series of "what ifs". In yoga the breath control is used to purify the body in order to bring it closer to a state that can approach the supreme beings and become one with the divine principle. There are health benefits to practicing yogic breathing techniques but these are considered secondary to the religious aspects, and they require a good teacher to explain them properly. If you just want something to help you relax and keep a clear head then I can recommend zazen, there are lots of places on the net where you can get instructions. Yoga is a whole-package solution and is both fascinating and powerful but you need a really good teacher to get the most out of it.

I think Pajarito meant that the blade is made of carbon steel rather than the tsuka. We really can't say much about a sword without seeing it, it's a bit like being a postal dentist. If you want someone to say whether it is good or not I suggest you find someone who teaches Iaido and ask them. If you decide to train then don't expect to be allowed to use a sharp sword until the dan grades, you will probably spend a lot of the kyu grades using a bokken anyway. I know you are excited with your new shiny purchase but unless you are prepared to spend a lot of time training then it doesn't matter how good it is, it is really a decorative object. I have to admit that I did the same thing though, bought a sharp, smart new sword and then ended up keeping it on a stand while I trained with my Bokken and then my Iaito.

Take a look at the mekugi, the peg that holds the blade onto the hilt (tsuka). If it is plastic then avoid swinging it around, the worst kind of swords have plastic mekugi pegs that can shear and send the blade flying. People have been seriously injured this way. A proper mekugi should be made of smoke-hardened bamboo which should be obvious by the darkened texture of the end-grain. Although not necessarily a measure of quality, a useable Iaito (training sword, often alloy or unsharpened steel) should cost around £250-£500 with a shinken (live blade with a hardened and sharpened cutting edge) costing considerably more.

I use the general rule for everyone in life, not just Martial Arts teachers. I use their professional title in their place of work (doctor, nurse, professor, sensei etc.) and Mr. or Mrs. Surname in other social situations unless they inform me to the contrary. Over-formality is always more acceptable than over-familiarity, the former may be the cause of humour but the latter may be the cause of offence.

Eat healthily, get just the right amount of sleep, lay off the booze, when you are studying - just study, when you are training - just train. I am in the last year of a BA in Classics with the Open University which means that I work a normal day and do all my study evenings and weekends, while training two week nights and Saturday lunchtime. I manage to fit it all in and still get distinctions (sorry, shameless boasting there), it's not for the faint hearted but it is very much possible. What is more, it will give you a set of skills that will be useful in every job you do - everyone wants you to do more than the bare minimum so getting used to it is a very good thing. It's only hard work if you let it be.

For me it would be Footloose (and knee not hanging together very well either) or possibly Tubthumping by Chumbawamba... "I get knocked down, but I get up again..." and "he drinks a whisky drink, he drinks a vodka drink, he drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink..."

Lots of info here - http://www.karateforums.com/grk-international-vt21606.html I looked at my local GKR class out of interest and while I didn't find anything necessarily alarming about the karate there are a number of business practices that I do find a little unorthodox to say the least.