karate_woman

Welcome

Our fence posts were being put in when the power went out. The guys didn't come back to today to finish (they need power to mix the cement). Also, my office has been closed ever since.

Welcome

Welcome. Ireland is somewhere I've had a longing in my bones to visit for as long as I can remember. It must be because my family came from there in the early/mid 18's. Anyway...welcome again!

Welcome

Welcome

Welcome

I don't think you can do it effectively by yourself, but working with different opponents with some trial and error could make you a formidable fighter if you were a natural. I don't think it was ever a case of someone going off alone and coming back a great fighter - more a progression. I think that what probably happened way back when is people recognized the abilities of the natural fighter were something special but realized that others can be taught to be good too. They probably had a system where parents and/or elders taught the kids what they knew. Eventually they probably developed specialties, with former or present warriors passing on the moves they found work best. It would have been (and still should be) a flexible system where new weapons can be learned and invented, and corresponding defenses for them created. The kids games would also have developed skills for fighting, tracking, aiming, etc. Just a thought

Judo - 12 Karate - 15

Do you mean the WKF version of rules for karate competition (http://www.wkf.net/)?

welcome

welcome

welcome

welcome

Welcome

Welcome. Your favourite foods tend to make my stomach cramp in protest, though

Welcome to the forums

Barrie

I suppose you could do the technique with more force, instead of being in gentle, practice mode (enough to get the tap right away but not break anything). Bury him into the mats, drop your knees on him (if allowed) and then immediately move into whatever arm bar, wrist lock, etc you're using. For clarity, I'm envisioning a situation where you've thrown him onto his side and keep control of one arm - I wasn't sure what techniques you were doing. For the record, once you've learned how to roll out of moves, there is a real tendency to do that - I do that a lot myself - even to my Sensei. I'm not trying to be difficult, it just happens sometimes - especially when I'm all wound up If I do it to Sensei, sometimes he just laughs, other times he's actually grappled with me, and still others we've done the move again and he takes me down faster and puts a lock on me right away.

Sometimes doing several gradings together can be done in exceptional circumstances. We haven't had anyone with no martial arts experience do it yet, though. My Sensei usually allows people to wear belts from their other styles and just grade to the next belt level when they are ready in the new style - one man came in with his nidan in Wado Ryu and trained for a couple of years to grade for shodan in Goju. One thing that would put me off about the situation you outlined is someone telling the Sensei they were ready to grade - I feel the Sensei should tell the student when they are ready to grade, and not the other way around.

Welcome

Welcome

There are a lot of men out there that are uncomfortable with their wives grappling with other men, too; don't point fingers at women on this one. While neither I nor my husband see any issue with me grappling other men, some people have religious or other reasons for their discomfort; attacking his wife isn't productive or appropriate. He really didn't ask us for help persuading his wife that it was OK to grapple other women - while many of us are kind of baffled at what the problem is, he says he sees her point and is trying to respect that - he just wants to figure out a way he can train while respecting the boundaries (they've) set up.

OK, I think we've wandered off topic. The issue was: male only training/grappling as the writer's wife was uncomfortable with m/f grappling and he respected that.

I did a search for you but came up empty. Women are even taking Sumo wrestling these days. (they wear a black leotard as well as the traditional Sumo gear, btw - it would be a wee bit revealing otherwise ) I honestly don't see the need to "justify" training in a mixed class, versus a male only class - especially since it is a virtually impossible task for you to find a club that will fit that bill. Since you obviously DO feel the need to justify this, then I'm assuming that subject has been exhaustively discussed. Is there a reason you have to justify this at all? Does she get to go out for hobbies of her own? I still think your wife should be invited to come watch if she's so concerned; if she's THAT concerned she'll bring the kids or make arrangements. As mentioned by myself and others, searching for a club that has very little (or even no) grappling might be easier than searching for an elusive males only class; there are a lot of karate and tae kwon do clubs out there that don't grapple, or focus on it so rarely that it isn't even an issue anyway. I am also still suggesting having a conversation with your Sensei regarding this issue (in private), explaining your reasons for wanting to grapple with a male; making any sort of "I only want to grapple guys" statement in class is going to come off as sexist, but if everything is discussed and agreed ahead of time and you are paired up by your Sensei it can be done more subtly (IF the Sensei is willing, of course). Having the conversation in private will also allow you to tell you Sensei you aren't comfortable going against your wife's wishes and you won't be training otherwise - then it is your Sensei's call how to proceed.