GrrrArg

Pardon?

Well I think I have you all beat with this little story from last week. Aefibird you should recognise this one.. 08:30 Wake up 08:35 Move 08:40 Turn phone on and notice 1 missed call from Jenny 08:41 Phone Jenny, "Hiya Ben, just to let you know we are nearly there and will pick you up soon, bye for now" 08:41:45s PANIC Breakfast is inhaled as I fall into my clothes ready for work 08:55 Sit in chair to catch breath and wait for Jenny 09:15 Finally get picked up wishing I had gone to the toilet 09:30 Notice annoying squeking coming from front left tire 09:31 Jenny remarks "Car feels a funny.." 09:32 Car begins to violently swing in and out of the fast lane (whilst doing about 80 mph) Jenny manages to get said demon vehicle to the side of the road (in the fast lane) with hazard lights on 09:35 Manage to carm Jenny down whilst gallantly managing to control my bladder (sorry for the overshare) 09:40 Police arrive and we push the car accross the now blocked off road onto the actuall hard shoulder and wait for Jenny's dad to arrive to give us a lift and sort out the car. 09:42 On phone to the boss, who, after failing to even ask if we are ok, asks us how soon we can get into work! grrrr instant dislike 10:00 Finally get into work 19:00 Finally leave work after a "poo" day 19:01 Realise training started 1min ago 19:30 Get home, look for something to kick.. still looking.. computer may not be safe. Just now: realise I left FHM in Jenny's car, have no idea where the car is or when I will next see my beloved magazine or how we will get to work tmrw morning. In conclusion then, im alive but its been one of them ******* days.

Or has she just got herself a new "25" yr old bloke? and a smart one at that.. Side note: Good way to stop people repeatedly sending junk mail where they get you to post something back to refuse a book (or what ever) that you never asked for. See that free post/postage paid envelope... stick it too the largest bag of potatoes you can get your hands on and post it to the offending company. This does work, trust me

People fail gradings, there is no point in beating yourself up about it. All it means is that your not quite ready yet. I could go take a 6th dan grading tomorrow, chances are I wouldn't be ready for it! Listen to what was said and in a self critical manner try and alter it to what is required. Think of it this way, you now have a list of things you know to improve to raise your standard of karate.

Tae Kwon Do: "tie kwon dough" Muay Thai, a bit harder to describe: "moi thai" is the best phoenetic I can come up with for that, someone else may know better

Excellent, ill go have a can now.

You best had. Its easier in the long run. By all means continue the discussion and put your points accross just do it in a civilised manner and try not to let it turn into a flame war they don't serve a purpose except to make all concerned look a bit daft.

Course it is, a kick in the face will end any fight..

Lets not turn this into an arguement please. I know its not yet, but my spidey sense is all tingly.

Incidentally why would you want to lose the love handles. They come in quite handy I think..

Lol mine kinda goes off too one side a bit. It gets either a bit better or a bit worse everytime it gets broken.. Nearly did it again in class yesterday, getting a bit paranoid that everyone wants to break it. Then again, even paranoid people have enemies..

I would say that many MA would not work on the street if you used them the same way you practice in the dojo. Head high kicks are not the best idea when some one wants to bite off your nose. Its also not a good idea to close into grappling distance unless you have to, whether you are trained in grappling or not. Real life street fights are hard fast and dirty. Not something you want to be involved in. They are also normally decided before it gets physical. Even top MAists can be beaten up by untrained people if they lose the phycological battle before the fight. However assuming you are prepared for the mental fight before hand then a MA trained fighter will come out better than an non-trained/experienced fighter 9 times out of ten. If you want to read more theres a great book called "Dead or alive: your choice" written by a guy called Geoff Thompson that is well worth a read, check amazon.

Does it not depend on what the bag is filled with? I wouldn't want to hit a heavy heavy bag with my bare hand, one filled with rags etc: is not too hard on the hands. If im using a bag I normally wear sparring mitts anyway, these tend to do the job well enough.

Break it yourself. After having mine broke easily 20+ times you start to become used to the pain..lol my gran broke it the first time when she took me to the dodgems, didn't quite understand the aim of the game.. I've been lucky this week no injuries. Caused some fairly significant bruising however. You know after a while making contact when blocking with your arms, they toughen up, well mine have made a bit of a jump that way with out me really noticing and in class I was doing partner drills with a bloke a couple grades lower than me. He says I have sharp bones lol..

Like Wolverine guy said, if you aren't putting on muscle it'll be fat. If you are a bit skinny then the fat could be good. Other than that eat well, eat lots and workout lots.

What do I look for in food? Chips mainly.. As my gran says if you want to lose weight eat half.. not the best idea but it works. Eat less of the bad stuff, cut it out over time not all at once. This is the way im sorting out my diet. I think if you cut it out all at once then you will lose the weight fast. But you are more likely to put it back on.

I agree with LuckyBoxer if you are going to use a mouth gauard make it a decent one or don't use one at all. No guard is better than a poor mouth guard because without a guard you will only loosed the tooth/teeth that are hit. With a bad guard you will lose them all.

Looks like a yellow rabit to me.

Founded by Robert Sullivan in 1985 (ish) in Australia. Grown from there, currently in Aus, NZ, UK and USA.

OK if the NAS uses karate scoring system etc: then why doesn't a better karate system beat them? Yes GKR does door 2 door but they don't go to a door and offer someone a black belt. However you are right in saying GKR main problem (and its a biggie) is the low grade instructors. Black belt with a white band going around it. This isn't actually a BB although thats the impression its meant to give off. I don't like it, my advice to GKR students is to find an actuall BB instructor who knows what they are doing. As far as im concerned what federation/association a club is in does not matter one little bit. There are politics everywhere in Karate. From the top right down to individual dojo level. These politics havemore to do with that than anything else. Like you say anyone getting beginers to do full contact is an idiot which is why we don't Later on we are semi-contact, same as many other schools out there. There are numerous threads on this site about the pros/cons of semi vs full contact so lets not go into that. The sheet telling people what grade they get when is a rough guideline only. Like I said in my last post, if that sheet was followed exactly id have my nidan by now. I'm a 3rd kyu. Bit of a difference there. I'll get my Nidan when im ready for it. I done Shotokan and Wado before (not much of either) and as a generalisation the standard in those clubs was higher than GKR but this is changing slowly. My current instructor is easily as good as if not better than other instructors i've had. Many styles let people keep their grades when they come accross, for some reason we don't, I think thats a mistake but im not the boss so.. That 1st kyu of yours, whats wrong with him teaching, if he is of standard then let him, there wouldn't have been a problem if he had kept his grade when he went accross.

You sure you did GKR? If you did then you'd know theres only one shihan, the assistant chief instructor of the club. Gradings aren't done on an hour a class number basis or I'd be a 2nd dan by now. I wish they would offer me a BB lol. No quality in technique or ability? GKR students have won NAS titles over in Australia the last few years running, something that would be hard to do if they don't know how to spar. Non-contact for beginers is the point being made in this topic. Sorry if im being overly harsh but it does get rather annoying having to constantly defend my style to people who attack it with sweeping statements like you made, theres no need to kill a chicken for one bad egg.

True, i get your point.

Teaching has helped me. When your teaching you really do have to make sure you know exactly what your talking about. It helps you maintain that desire for perfection, whilst it is ultimately an unatainable goal its a good desire to have. Unless you turn into a borg.

Who does what now? Cicus de Sole, whats that then?

I went away and couldn't train for two months. The benefit being that most those niggling little injuries that all MA's pick up and carry for a while, went away. Unfortunatley so did the tough skin on the bottom of my feet. First couple of proper training sesions when I got back were absolute hell.