theswarm

our shuto uke is the same as the one in bassai dai we generally practice it doing back leaning (kokutsu dachi) i've never really used it in sparring though as it's a pretty close range block and i usually hold my guard out pretty far. My favourite is doing kake uke on an incoming punch moving outside of the punch stepping in and backfisting the nose followed by a reverse punch to the ribs and then a front kick to push them away.

for those of you who don't use shoes at their martial arts school how do your big toes and balls of your feet look? mine are always butchered

does capoueira have forms? I've found some capoueira schools maybe I'll do that? I was wondering if someone doing aikido can let me know about aikido forms?

im in it because i enjoy it i feel like i've really built something and every once in a while i get a belt for sticking at it. I was soooo bad when i first started, i've improved so much and want to keep improving. Great social atmosphere after and before class, friendly people.

well sparring allows us to familiarize with an opponent of a certain size and different speeds, that's why sparring with as many people of as many different sizes as you can is very useful. I wouldn't attribute all of my fighting skill to just sparring though, if a sidekick is done properly with the blade of the foot it should break the bone. The operative word being should, as I've never had to use a sidekick in a real life situation I wouldn't know. One of my senseis said something once about if you're ever in a real life fight make sure it's over as quickly as possible and make sure you leave the place as quickly as possible - you never know how many friends the person you fought has.

a double leg takedown? my friend who does BJJ tried to do that on me I just front kicked him in the stomach and he flew back and keep in mind karate has leg trips as well (well my style does)

ours is pretty deep 2 shoulder widths wide - back leg completely straight but the foot is bent to 1-2 o'clock the depth in the stance comes from the front knee being bent to almost completely 90 degrees (although i have seen some variance on this) the knee pushed out (IE if you're front knee is left then you should push your knee left with your toes pointed in a little your hips should be square to the front and your guard up

ps that site that had the shotokan videos... our bassai dai is different to yours our greeting is at the top, plus alot of our timing is different that was mostly similar speed all the way through, we do alot of the stuff he did slow fast (in particular the back leaning stance knife hand blocks) and he drop his left shoulder when doing the double punch the jodan tsuki and the short punch (shute tsuki? not sure of the spelling) whereas we keep our shoulders back, and I always thought the bit after that part where the person steps through 180 and does the gedan burai that converts into a uchi uke - the move after the gedan burai looked like a fist forward rather than a block. I guess it's different across styles. The empi looks exactly the same though.

my favourites are Empi (how cool is the jump!), Kankudai (and that bit on the ground!), Seinchin makes me feel like I'm in some sort of martial art move belting people in the head then groin. Bassai dai is cool it took me ages to get my kokutsa(spelling) dachu right when I was learning it. Saifa is a great early on kata. What's that kata that sounds like the word seizer? (even though seizer is the bit where you go on the ground) its awesome and what's that one with all those backfists towards the beginning? I like sepai too especially that double ground punch.

to use in compliment with karate (not to confuse me) I want to do something that has fast body movements, I want to improve my speed. I also want something that has alot of forms (so possibly some form of kung fu) and *maybe* something with weapons does aikido have many forms? I've been having trouble finding Shaolin kung fu schools in my area

no boxer is going to be able to fight with one leg one quick and powerful sidekick can be done outside the range of the boxer's punches to his/her knee break it and the boxer would be gone. That being said boxing has some of the best footwork there is A well adept karateka should be able to use their head in a fight. Front kicks are great for distancing an opponent, and sidekicks are great for disabling an opponents legs

skip rope is awesome for endurance the guy at the shop said '7 minutes a day will have you fine' and i'm like 'eh? no i plan on doing this 40 mins a day' i just do some home exercises - dips on a chair (good for pecs, biceps, triceps) , lots of crunches, lots of leg ups, wide pushups for pecs, knuckle pushups for stronger knuckles, etc has anyone got better home exercises that don't require me to go to a gym? (although I am considering going to the gym for a short time)

good point about the kata i know in our style (which is go kan ryu) that those instructors are really exceptional ones of their rank. Only some dedicated students are approached to be instructors, and even so they have to wear no belt for months and attend many sensei classes. Those teachers belts are pretty deceptive too, I could've sworn one of my senseis was a 1st or 2nd kyu for ages...turned out he was 6th kyu (when it came to competition time he had to wear his real belt) but he drilled me way harder than some of the higher rank senseis of other dojos. It was kinda up to the individual there as his teaching structure was so hardcore you would be totally exhausted (by the end) and your body covered in sweat throughout the entire lesson.

Forms are awesome It takes alot of self discipline to be able to do a form/kata well, and in disciplining yourself to do that form well you learn or improve your breathing techniques (useful in a real fight/sparring - breathing improves timing and decreases adrenaline AKA tunnel vision/nervousness), timing ( timing is ever so important), strength of technique. I heard that alot of the katas/forms had secret techniques that the masters of the styles did not wish to be stolen by other schools. In my style i can think of a few techniques in katas that we don't necessarily do in kihon and in sparring. It also teaches you to get out of your shell as far as sparring, you get used to standing thorugh a different stance than you usually do, find new uses for stances, has a variety of applications from those stances. (Thinking of karate now - seinchun mainly in sumo stance). bassai dai - while I can't imagine actually ripping someone's testicles off and then snapping them off with a crescent kick, some of the moves in that i could see a practical application for - the grab and then sidekick that snaps the knee of the opponent etc. You can always tell the people who hate kata when you spar them (in my style anyway) they do not alternate their fighting style often, usually always the same stance. It's hard to explain but even though a kata or form is a routine I think it actually encourages people to be not so predictable as you can unconsciouscly mix katas into the way you fight (because you do the kata like a zillion times some of the combinations of moves become second nature). Basics is the most important. I also think sparring drills is important, a little bit of conditioning, and keeping your body strong, and eating well. Also I think the kinds of sparring you do should change every now and then. I love phonebox sparring, ju kumite is great, 2 person drills, even occasional point sparring is alright if you're into it, and bare knuckle full contact (but my school doesn't do this but sometimes i do it with friends who do MA).

goju if it's taught correctly the emphasis on control and focus, and snap of technique - goju principles are awesome. If it were Kyokushin vs goju it'd be a different story though because kyokushin people are conditioned for full contact

i like that move i might look into learning aikido

ps Dem - what style of kung fu do you do ?

Kaju - it's meatheads like you that give martial arts a bad name. The ultimate street martial (martial meaning military) art is the martial art of the gun. but I hate guns - I prefer to do a REAL martial ART where it involves my body - otherwise I'm going through an awful lot of trouble just to beat someone up

why do people constantly bag out other styles calling them worthless because of some short lived experience with them? it's so annoying... how about this not everyone simply uses martial arts as self defence.... I don't study shaolin 5 animal styles but I'm interested in it as I really like doing forms/katas and improving my coordination, and I already apply alot of similar 'ideas' to my kumite in karate.

i have to admit when I first came across GKR i was like...doorknocking..hmm..i smell Mcdojo. My brother was already doing it - so I came along to a few lessons and was actually surprised. The instructors made sure all of the students had good technique, went through the bunkai of the katas etc. I'm really enjoying it, unfortunately, not every martial art is for everyone - and some martial arts just aren't for some people and there will always be people highly biased for their style and against other styles. It's pretty lame - I'd say if you spent the same amount of time training that you spend attacking other styles on a forum like the internet (rather than proving it at a tournament) you might actually become a decent martial artist. I pretty much only like 3 styles of karate and thats Kyokushin, GKR, and GJR