darksoul

For me, it's Stature of the Crane. My sensei kept telling me I move like a tiger trying to disguise himself as a crane. I seriously hate that form. lol

Well I do Shaolin KeMpo, which isn't exactly KeNpo. Here's a good explanation of the two - http://www.kempoman.com/KempoVSKenpo.html In any case - Shaolin Kempo starts out with basic Karate style in the early belts. As you move on you get more Kung Fu influences. At black belt, you then start the real kung fu training which includes the 18 Hands of Lohan and some other stuff. I haven't learned it yet since I'm still a fairly new black belt.

Hell's Dojo hosted by Chuck Norris would be simply amazing. I'd totally watch... One minor problem - Norris is too nice of a guy :-\

I work as a lead consultant in business server technologies with emphasis on the Linux OS. Basically I'm a huge geek.

Thanks!

Sadly, I have no words of wisdom for you. I tore my ACL and meniscus in my knees and was out for years - mostly out of fear of my knees being too weak. When I came back, my knees weren't perfect, but they handled the work load. Take it easy. Take 6 months to a year off if need be. Let your body heal and then come back hard. Worked for me

Here in Montréal, Master Paquette does the whole summer for $130. I'll find out about autumn and winter classes when those seasons arrive.

When I did my 2nd and 3rd brown, I was going 4-5 times a week. I found my happy point to be at 3 times a week. Gives the muscles a few days to relax

I'd say go out and try something new! That's why I went to a Shotokan dojo, just to check it out. Finally I found a 7th Dan in Shaolin Kempo in my neighbourhood so I'm sticking to it. In Shaolin Kempo, however, black belt is when the whole Kung Fu aspect really gets going so it's a bit like starting a new style.

I have 3 patches. One from my original dojo on my left breast (man-boob?), one from my dojo where I got my black belt on my right breast (man-boob?), and the Canadian flag on my arm, which was put on to represent where I'm from in open competitions. I'm also a very proud Canadian

Throughout my advanced ranks, I helped my Sensei teach. Once I reached black, he pushed me into doing some teaching for the dojo when he was busy, or away. I think an instructor is absolutely necessary if you want to do martial arts. If you start a bad technique and it isn't caught and fixed early, it will be even harder to break in the future. Doing it just for fun and exercise... well that depends. If you know how to stretch and know the limits of your body, that's ok, but I wouldn't consider it as any sort of way to effectively progress in a martial art.

Wow, that's nuts!

I am a black belt in Shaolin Kempo and went to a Shotokan Dojo, mostly out of curiousity, and I was told that, due to my current rank in Kempo, I would start at brown belt in Shotokan. The way I see it is this, the early ranks in martial arts are to ingrain the basic skills into you - strikes, kicks, slapping out, rolling, etc... and tend to be fairly similar throughout martial arts as a whole. When you already know how to throw a thrust punch, or a shuto strike, or a roundhouse kick, there's no point to re-learn it. Skipping belts without previous training on the other hand, I don't feel that is right.

In my style, you are immediately first dan upon reaching black belt

I never wear my gi outside of the dojo. If I don't have time to change, I will remove my gi top and keep the pants on. I tend to train with an undershirt on anyway.

Hi guys! I'm new to the site and thought I would introduce myself. I am a 1st degree black belt in Shaolin Kempo and a fan of martial arts as a whole. Looking forward to chatting with all of you.

Oh and hi! I'm new here

I tend to try to not use my martial arts at all unless someone is wielding a weapon. I've been insulted, pushed, even punched, but I won't really "fight back" with full force and skill. I'll tend to block or deflect strikes and try to subdue them without hitting them. It's happened only once where I had no choice and ended up just giving them a good thrust punch in the sternum. That knocked the wind out of them and put them on the floor. At that moment, I just lifted my hands, said we're done, and walked away.