GaryMo

Ste, can I just ask if you received the Japan style gi and how it is compared to the white diamond gi? I ordered a size 5 white diamond from my club but it's come as 185cm (size 5.5?) and it absolutely drowns me! I'm 5ft10" and weight around 12.5stone. Unfortunately it's been ordered in for me and has had the club badge sewn on.

I can second Dynamic Karate after my Sensei recommended it. It's a great book and written in a way to make it very understandable.

I would consider him to be a martial artist first and foremost as this is what lead him towards acting. Undoubtedly, to the unaware, he will be known as an actor who made martial arts movies.

I practice Shotokan in the UK and jumped from a White (beginner) to Yellow (7th Kyu), missing out Orange and Red (9th and 8th Kyu respectively) and did: Sanbon tsuki Mae-geri Yoko-geri keage Yoko-geri kekomi Chudan shuto-uke Age-uke, gyaku-tsuki Soto-uke, gyaku-tsuki Uchi-uke, gyaku-tsuki 5 step (Jodan oi-tsuki / Jodan age-uke and Chudan oi-tsuki Chudan soto-uke), attack and defence Kihon Kata Heian Shodan Heian Nidan

At my Dojo it's £14 for Kyu grades which includes a training session prior and £4 for belts.

Same here.

Good luck!

With a lot of people, failure can harm self confidence. Personally, I think he made the right decision.

Currently 7th Kyu (yellow) in Shotokan.

He was a little more than that!

My Sensei recommended Dynamic Karate, again by Nakayama. It's a very good book and supplements my Shotokan Karate perfectly.

Does your club class a white belt as 10th Kyu? At ours, a white belt is given with a Gi and you're just classed as a beginner.

Shotokan White (Beginner) Orange (9th Kyu) Red (8th Kyu) Yellow (7th Kyu) Green (6th Kyu) Purple (5th Kyu) Purple with white stripe (4th Kyu) Brown (3rd Kyu) Brown with white stripe (2nd Kyu) Brown with 2 white stripes (1st Kyu) Black (1st Dan, Shodan)

Thanks! I'm not sure I've ever been as nervous though I did hide it well, or at least I think I did!

Many thanks to both of you for taking time to reply. It's much appreciated. Bob is correct in that I was meaning the arm in relation to the other arm and body. Looking back, I could probably have worded it better. It's certainly quite puzzling at first though I know it'll get easier with time in the same way that Heian Nidan did. I'm just trying to concentrate slowly on form as when I attempt to do the alternate blocking with any kind of speed I end up in a tangle! I guess it's now a case of practice, practice, practice!

Hi, first post here I graded for the first time on Saturday to 7th Kyu (yellow) and am now starting to learn Heian Sandan. Just a quick question regarding the crossing of the arms at the beginning of the kata. I'm assuming that it's effectively an Uchi-Uke and a Gedan-Barai? Which move (arm) should be on the outside? The Gedan-Barai? Thanks all.