karate_woman

I would say true karate is a great form of exercise, and the techniques that we do have made me stronger, faster, leaner, have more endurance, stamina, and flexibility (did I miss anything?). I am in a fairly traditional club, but I've also competed. From a strictly female perspective, it builds long lean muscles (very nice ). This is one reason why there are so many boxercise and taebo type classes out there...the kicks, punches, pushups, etc WORK.

I personally wouldn't recommend training exclusively from a book, but I guess you have to do what you have to do; if that was the only way I could train I guess I'd try to get videos and books. I also ran across a place that did "correspondence" teaching, and you sent videos back and forth...I guess it is better than nothing, and they can critique your moves too (it is hard to tell if you are doing things correctly when you can't see yourself and you don't know what to look for).

I think you are right that you can't teach fighting spirit but you can certainly develop your spirit, and karate is an excellent way to do that. Having said that, I doubt that the person who doesn't have at least a spark of the "fighting spirit", would stick around in a dojo for long anyway (at least not in a traditional one). Training to black belt and beyond is hard work, teaching properly - even harder. Bringing that spark of fighting spirit into full flame is something to be proud of indeed, and something a good Sensei can certainly help with. I am not a Sensei, so all I can do is try to be a good example.

When you have a baby, there is something called relaxin that loosens your ligaments, and I've read it is dangerous to do certain things too soon after pregnancy (tennis is one, I believe). I had a baby December 28, and returned to karate (I'm a shodan) on February 28. I feel fine, though I managed to injure my ankle a couple weeks later (it is ok again now, though - it felt stiff for a week or two). I've been trying to take it relatively easy, not doing any spinning jumping techniques, hitting the heavy bag, etc. My question is: how long should I be babying myself, and is there anything I shouldn't be doing?

Well, I'm a little biased because I take Goju. My black belt is in Okinawan Goju Ryu, but I trained up to Green belt in Japanese Goju Ryu (my Sensei switched styles at that time). I enjoy Goju because of the balance (it means hard/soft). I have also been fortunate enough to have Senseis trained in jujitsu as well, which really helps with the "ju" part. I've also gone to some of their jujitsu classes, which is rather enjoyable for a change of pace and for new knowledge

Goju

Well, I must say I have some of that kind of conditioning, but not to the extent I think you mean. For example, I went to a competitive kickboxing class after I already had a black belt in karate and we did a lot of kicking each other in the legs repeatedly in the same spots, up and down the legs. I could tell the guy I was training with was hurting too - and he was on the Canadian team, so he was no newbie. Anyway. I enjoyed it and would have gone back but my family got upset that I was black and blue from my shins all the way to my thighs, both inside and out. Not that karate doesn't give me bruises on my arms and legs too, but I think it was the extent of the bruising that bothered them; my typical sparring bruises last under a week - these lasted well over two weeks. I think the one thing the experience proved to me is that even though it hurt a bit, I was able to continue and I never asked or indicated for him to be gentler. I was able to take it, and keep coming back for more, which was kind of a neat feeling. My family was concerned and had other ideas, but anyway.

I keep posting that I like my club, but it hasn't appeared yet; please forgive me if they all suddenly show up!

Re: basics for a kumite competition. I'd check the rules if I were you. Competition at the black belt level ranges from no contact to full contact. Some have sweeps, too. Most often at that level I've seen moderate contact to the body, and light contact to the face. From the sounds of things, you may be doing that type of sparring already. If not, then obviously you'd have to make the changes in your practice so that you would be using appropriate contact (you don't want to be disqualified for hitting too hard, or alternatively, unable to take a hit at the level you need to), and that you have the appropriate equipment. Good luck!

The most deadly style....I find the whole "most deadly" topic kind of funny myself (sorry). How many different times or ways do you need to kill someone? Once they are dead aren't they dead? I'm a shodan in Okinawan Goju Ryu, which certainly makes me no expert, so I really can't offer an opinion on this. I've learned my share of deadly techniques over the years, but it isn't my focus. I refuse to bash another style; they all should work, and mine has a strong focus on balance between the hard and the soft techniques that I particularly enjoy. I remember my Sensei once telling us that t'ai chi and karate both get you to the same place, they just do it in different ways (she then demonstrated with her hands, bringing each hand up to make a circle, one half going up to the left, the other to the right, meeting in the middle at the top). I suspect that the same is true for the other various styles and other martial arts as well, but you'd need the right teacher, and to be the right student as well.

Okinawan Goju Ryu

My favourite kata is Seiyunchin. I love the hard/soft combinations in it.

The interesting thing about kata is the way the person underneath comes through in doing their kata. Although the moves are the same, the person delivering them shines through, and the way a person does their kata upon reaching their yellow belt is different then how that same person will do it when they reach their black belt, and beyond. As for why it is important, well Sensei Chojun Miyagi, the founder of Goju Ryu is quoted as saying that the essence of goju is in the kata. Good enough for me! Discovering the different levels of bunkai in kata is such a thrill.

I'm Canadian but Banff is a long way to go from Ontario. Just posting because your post looked lonely.

Well I think if I read the question right the original poster wanted to know what was best on the street. I'd say karate in that case. Not just because I study karate, and not boxing, but because the poster was specifically asking about the street, as in, fighting for real. We learn so much more than just punching and kicking. It is the other, lethal and disabling techniques that I think give us the advantage. Having said that, I certainly wouldn't underestimate the boxer, and wouldn't try to outbox them

Shodan in Okinawan Goju Ryu, Nidan....next year sometime Was an Orange Belt in Judo but that was 15 years ago.

OK, I'll bite. The issue of why I take karate was enough to get me to join the karateforums club. Yes, there is no doubt that karate, like wrestling, boxing, etc. is a martial art. I don't believe you have to want to be a "fighter" per se in order to be a martial artist or karateka, however. While I must say that I immensely enjoy the aspects of martial arts that are related to fighting and practical application, namely, sparring, grappling, and bunkai, I also enjoy kata and basics. I think that the self defense aspects of martial arts are important, and shouldn't be overlooked, but I don't think that people necessarily need to focus heavily on fighting other opponents; practicing the self defense with a partner works nicely too, though there should be a spontaneous aspect as well for it to work best. My Sensei (also a woman) once told our class that some people, women in particular, take a while before they are able to definitely say they would defend themselves. I was astounded to learn that she was a blue belt before she made that conscious decision. Of course, I'd practiced Judo before I practiced karate, so I'd long since made that decision, and I don't even remember making it (I was 12 when I started judo, starting karate only after I was too old (15) for the only judo class in town). She also told us that she's found in general that the longer people study the martial arts the less likely they are to ever have to use it to defend themselves. This is for a number of reasons, a few being: how martial artists carry themselves, how they generally recognize and avoid dangerous situations, and how most martial arts teachers don't teach people they feel will use the information to harm others. It has proven true for me. But I digress. I study karate not to fight (though competition is fun!) , but because I ENJOY it, pure and simple. For various reasons I have stopped training several times in the 18 years since I was introduced to the martial arts and I have NEVER stopped feeling in my heart of hearts that I am a martial artist, whether I'm training at the time or not. After a time away I miss it terribly and always find a way to return. As for the issue of whether or not you should train if you don't dedicate yourself completely to the study of your martial art, I have an opinion there too. At one point I felt that if I wasn't training a minimum of 3 times a week it wasn't worth it to train, but that kind of attitude was not helpful because there were periods of time in my life I absolutely couldn't train that often for whatever reason. In hind sight, it would have been better for me to train whenever possible than to stop training completely for a while. Sure, my skills decrease when I train less, but they don't decrease as much if at least SOME training is done. I will not dismiss the spiritual, personal development side of it either. It isn't a line, or a holier than thou thing. Whether you choose to believe me or not, martial arts - karate in particular - have helped me in every other aspect of my life, because of the mental and physical discipline involved and the sense of confidence in myself. I won't pretend that karate is the only way to achieve that particular feeling, but for me it was a good fit