GrrrArg

OK another question, this time more specialised/focused... Arms-for my size mine are slightly bigger than average (compared to friends who don't do MA) but they aren't very wide. As far as I know there is a different muscle that makes arms wide, how do you train it? At the moment my arm (looking down over would be kind of 0 shaped, as oppose to O shaped if you know what I mean. Next what is good for shoulders, mine are too weak in comparrison with my arms. Oh and is there any truth in saying calf muscles should be about the same size as upper arms. My calfs are 14 1/2inches around compared to 12 1/2 on the arms. Thanks for any help.

Thanks

Dynamic stretches in the morning everyday? Not a good idea in my opinion, as far as I know (I am quite flexible especially for a lad) dynamic stretching doesn't actually make you anymore flexible, its just a way of testing your flexibility. I NEVER do dynamics and if I did I would only do them after stretching normally (after a warm up ofcourse ). Feel free to correct me if I am wrong because im not 100% sure, but everything I read about dynamic stretching seems to suggest that it can do more harm than good.

Damn Kirves that WAS quick

Don't suppose anyone is going to ask you to leave or poke fun at you if your waving around a 6 ft Bo staff or a sword

I reckon that I've still got a bit of natural growth left to do, maybe not height wise but chest and shoulders etc: Anyway next question: What equipment should I get, what kind of weights (any brands in particular that are better) and how heavy to start with, and are any of these protein supplementds any real use?

Sparring is all about keeping calm. I'm quite good at it because i'm laid back (any more and id fall over). Kata's such as Bassai-dai are better for agressive people. As I said before spar more

Me, 18 in a couple of days

The other sempai where I train did a GCSE in PE this year and had to do a demo of a sport so he chose karate. He got the equivalent mark to an A simply because the mark sheet only really asked for him to be able to do basic punches and blocks, some kicks and a few katas. It was written for about orange belt (2nd in our style) level and hes got his brown belt. If your going to tech the kids I would with karate for the same reasons monkeygirl sugests, but make sure you take them through some stretching, most people at my school, even the supposed sporty ones, can barely even touch their toes. If you haven't already I would suggest you ask your instructor if you could do some sempai'ing so that you not as nervous when you do the demo:)

Smoking and drinking too much are both bad ideas. But i'm guessing your GM probably quite old (takes time to get to GM) which is more acceptable because the risks would not have been known when they started smoking. Thats how it was with my grandads, when the danagers were publicised one (pipe smoker of tobacco) gave up almost straight away, the other said screw it, its too late now and carried on. Now however I cannot understand people who take up smoking when they know that they are cutting years off their lives-how stupid can you get??

Keep this thread updated on what you do decide will you? I'd be interrested to hear how it turns out as I've thought about it myself. I train with GKR so its perhaps a more viable option for me than others.

Backflips couldn't have ANY conceivable use in a fight so why would you want to learn them at all (unless your a gymnast of course). You would leave yourself wide open to an attack whilst pulling one off-assuming you don't land on your head anyway:) Do you do Capeiroa (spelling???), because apparently they use back flips etc: but thats just as much dance as MA.

Sounds painful...did that help:) One of my instructors said he had a similar sounding problem when he broke a couple of ribs through boxing, took him a couple of months to get fixed up as well.

Thanks for the help guys (and girls?).

Whats the difference between Jujitsu and BJJ? I do Karate at the moment but I want to cross train in close up art as well. Thanks.

The time it takes varies from person to person but I would agree that after six months your probably just going to be getting used to the new techniques your learning and therefore will be alot more rigid than you would have been before you started training. Things get worse before they get better.

G95champ Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2003 6:17 am Post subject: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank Funakoshi he wrote it. Everyone says karate will not work becaise of kata, low stances, old ways of training. Facts are that there is more than one way to skin a cat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How many ways are there to skin a cat? J/K

Simple answer block his next slap, if you know how turn it into an arm lock and push him away. Although I would also say that advising your teachers beforehand is a good idea, make them aware of the situation and say that you are no longer prepred to stand for it and if they do not resolve the situation (it is their job after all) you will respond with physical force. This also means they cannot get you into as much trouble for responding because they had failed to rectify the situation:) Hope it turns out OK, being bullied is not a pleasant experience. Incident ally this approach has worked for me in the past, people now know my grade and capabilities and they don't pick on me because of it. In fact many ask question me about how to join up. Edit: Just got yellow belt for this post-yey

I think the hard task mastering before a grading is a good thing, it stops you going there and being cocky about it (not an accusation, but with higher grades it can happen - personel exp:)) Plus when you get to the grading its often not as hard as the last class so you don't feel as nervous and therefore perform better. I'd say good luck but you'll have already been by now so I hope it WENT well .

Brown belt in Karate, 1st out of three Browns that is. Train for three hrs on a friday, 1 and a half on wednesday and whenever else I can.

3hrs a night on fridays and various other times throught the week I do 1 1/2 hour classes.

Learn something new every day I train in white, do kata in white and spar in white. I don't know if its a US thing or not (not meant as critisism ) but I don't see the need to have more than one colour of Gi for different aspects of training. Also I do think that blue Gi's look a bit silly (no offense) but thats probably just because I always wear white.

Spar more

I wear mine to and from training but with trousers and a jumper over the top and no belt on (tends to get caught in unhelpful places with trousers over the top). I did actually wear it to school once. The lower school was having a non uniform day so the sixth form was encouraged to dress up. There were a few Gi from different karate clubs going around, and I had a red belt back then (one before brown) which depending on style is either low or mid range belt so it wasn't like showing off. You must bear in mind that I actually have no shame. At all.

Go back to the link at the top of the page I just posted there again. I d agree that 4 is a bit to young no matter what the style. I personally wouls say 8, but thats personell opinion, hope the kid has fun!