Fenris-wolf

A bit late, but congratulations anyway. As others said, there's nothing better than earning a reward you worked really hard for. Good on ya!

Well, it's not a matter of fees so much as that they're "handing out" belts. True that the only person who can really push yourself is you, but it's so good with someone you have confidence in to encourage and challenge you. Finally, how can you know the quality of the training you're getting if they're selling belts? That's just depressing.

Good on you for making an effort - and being strong enough to survive your experiences in the first place! Pretty much what everyone else said. Personally I really think it's important a woman learns how to take a punch (other kind of assault). It's amazing how even a "tough" guy flinches when they are first hit properly. And as SubGrappler said, a resisting partner! It's scary how many women take "self-defence" courses and then try and demonstrate... "No, not like that, grab me like THIS!" *fear* Good luck - the fact you're taking this first step is a great sign!

The whole thing, to me at least, just says what I've seen demonstrated. If you get any (stand up!) MAists and get them doing full-contact, it all looks pretty much the same.That said, if it was a MMA rules fight it would be a little different...

I haven't trained in karate for ages, but I think it's fair enough to make someone go back to white belt. If your style recognises other styles' belts that's fine, but I don't see wearing the white belt as disrespecting your style but rather just representing your skill level in the style you are currently training in. Although I can see the logic in wearing your BB for kumite... Really I think feeling disrespected because you don't get to wear your BB seems ridiculous. But then MT doesn't have belts and I'm quite happy to let someones style speak for itself.

I think you just haven't found the right style. And I agree with others here - you need to train for a long time before you could take a step like that. If you're not willing to make that sacrifice, how could you create your own style and[/i] teach it? Moreover, if none of them feel right for you, there's nothing wrong with mixing up styles in competition (at least in Muay Thai)... Obviously obey the rules, but find what works for you. And in "real life"... It's whatever works! Noone's going to critique your style then!

There probably are a bunch of millionaires running around who started this course... By sucking in and using people who would believe that stuff. Look at pyramid schemes.

Well, my boyfriend is Super Hearing Man - and he can drink 15 Red Bull & vodka and not die! He insists I am Super Eating Woman - often I'll eat twice as much as him and still be hungry when he's stuffed! (He even has a high metabolism: what's with that?!)

Oo, really? Ha, that will be interesting! Don't really watch TV full stop, so I'll have to keep an eye out for that

Oo, reading the hatemail at realultimatepower.net cracked me up - I'm sure the guys from the ninjitsu club near us take themselves that seriously. (We spar with them sometimes) I commented on someone having a "Ninja - masters of the night" (or something like that) t-shirt... He was all like "What? That's what we are!" :lol: Oo, recently saw Tongan Ninja (if you like stupid, satirical humour, look that movie up)... Makes me want to go to sparring with those dudes and make fun of them. How can anyone take themselves that seriously?!

:lol: I think you'll know when you're training too much. 2am is probably a bit much. I personally think the obsession part's not so bad - so long as you get enough sleep, and rest time (to build those muscles!). Although when you're right into it, you don't want rest time... Anyway, I don't know if I can offer any advice - it depends entirely on your personal and work relationships - if you're lucky enough to go out with another (obsessive!) practitioner it helps!

Oo! Front kick is really good, not many people (in NZ MT, anyway) use it well - if you want to win, that's all you need to do to me! But my favourite to throw is a whip (um, roundhouse is the same theory I think - straight leg, hip turned over into it?) right across the gut. Mmm. Accidentally winded a visitor in sparring once when she turned into my kick... Felt mean, but was funny. (She fell to the floor and gasped: I was shocked!) She came back aggressive though, not hesitant, so that's good.

I've only had one "full" fight (we have novice fights with shin pads, heavier gloves, and shorter rounds), and I lost. It was very close, a split decision, and quite a few people thought I should have won. Now, I think it was a reasonable decision (I landed more good shots but she threw more and when it's that close that's all it takes to win) but knowing the above makes me feel better! Plus I gave her a bleeding nose and 2 blacks eyes and I walked away just fine. Anyway, I was happy - better to lose a close fight than win against someone who gives up (a lot of women do, unfortunately) Also, I've never been in a "real" fight, but there have been a couple of times where, in retrospect, I regret holding back. Some people really deserve it.

Yeah, pretty much same here. I like that he's obviously intelligent... Sometimes I don't like that some of what he says may be taken literally - but that's partially my issue where I believe what with all rap being so derogatory about women, tongue-in-cheek or no, it starts to sink into the mass conciousness of younger people. *shrug* I'd rather be stuck on a desert island with him than a conservative preacher!

Haha, go Australia. I like football but can't really say I actually bother to watch it (I'm a NZer and you pretty much have to pay to watch it, plus I'm too lazy to wait till 3 in the morning). Pretty much just couldn't resist commenting on the Australia comment. It's so unfair, I was in England about a month ago and the people we were staying with had premier league tickets they were giving away... We were leaving the day it was on! Oh god, so unfair

Mine is completely random, but it cracked me up. In reference to someone finding the title "Play Leader" at a kids party amusing. "Let Us Turn The Jump Rope In Accord With Socialist Principles!" Hehe.

Yeah, we do the "12-step ladder", though it is not put to us that way - it's usually 1-10-1, and can be anything from pressups to burpees to kicks. Kicks are good; once we did 1-20-1. Ow. Well, teaching styles are very personal. I do enjoy the "tough" style you're talking about - I feel off being yelled at etc. And I love hard sparring. Not knock-out hard, but recently we've been doing all this "light" sparring and it's just annoying. But personally I deal very badly with negative reinforcement. This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but it's one thing to have someone yell at you to "just do it - I'm not counting till you do it hard", quite another to tell you that nothing you ever do is good enough. Especially in contrast to making other fighters do 1/2 the work and praising them for it. Can you hear the bitterness?

:lol: You rock. Congratulations.

Female, 21. Also too lazy (and cheap!) to get licence. Have [motor]bike licence though.

Well, I had a friend who injured his ribs and many months later he started getting gradually increasing pains - I massaged it for him a few times and it just felt like tight muscles (going right up one side of his chest, down his arm and his back). But his chest was very tender and sensitive. Eventually he surrendered and went to a physio and it turned out he'd bruised inside his ribs. Or something equally unpleasant. So, advice? Go see someone I guess - but I'll talk to him at some point in the next couple of days and I'll ask what he had to do. Can't harm (I hope!) Actually (I always write too much ), my OTHER mate had cracked ribs from a fight and was trying to hide it because he had another fight coming up and didn't want to get pulled out. He was wearing a bodypad for knees and apparently it was excruciating. He confided in his training partner, but never saw anybody and went ahead with his fight. He survived and just took it easy for a bit longer than usual after that. He seems OK.

Wow, that's an awesome response! Thanks. Yeah, the Kyokoshin club is near where I train - we actually spar with them sometimes, but I find the lack of punching to the head frustrating. But a. he's SIX, and b. I'm kinda doomed in that area with karate. *shrug* Leaning towards Goju-ryu at the moment, will definitely let you know what I think - will do some proper investigation after the weekend.

Um, is this normal where you live? (I'm semi-presuming the US somewhere - feel free to correct me) Sorry, cannot help the tangent. And what I mean by that is... I train in Muay Thai in NZ. I use the term Muay Thai loosely, since despite our best efforts, white guys just don't fight like Thais. Anyway. We do not have a "rank" or "grading" system, and in fact I have trained in Thailand and they most certainly do not. Now, I don't mean to patronise you, and you may know this, but I'm going to assume you don't: we trained at a gym that has only recently opened to farangs (v lucky they take women!) with a good reputation. They have a handful of trainers, who are paid for this job. And they have fighters, who train and fight for a living, their titles being their livelihood and showing their skill level. At our club we have a "fighters" group for those who are training to fight, "semi-seniors" who are experienced enough to need much less direction, and "beginners". The beginners are usually taught by semi-seniors as they learn the basics of stance, whip kicks, guarding and punching properly. I don't quite understand about not being "qualified" to teach. How would you define teaching? What about when you are sparring and the more experienced person points out what you should be working on? When you critique another person's technique on the pads? To be honest the whole "grading" this seems redundant and a bit like ego-boosting. I mean no offence, though it is an offensive statement, but I might as well say what I mean. I'd be very interested in your response - feel free to PM me if you think we should take this out of this topic.

Haha! I should have known I'd get that reaction to comment about kata - I actually happen to respect kata very much (and are fairly opinionated about the fact that a lot of people seem to lose track of the fact that "originally" it was only one aspect of a very seriously used martial art and no less important then anything else), and my introduction to MA was in fact in Seido Karate and I enjoyed kata very much. Each to their own, though. Anyway, thanks - you're right, I probably should shop around, just not quite sure how to ask "So... Can you buy belts at your dojo?" Will have a look at Shotokan - the only styles I really know anything about are Seido and Kyokoshin. Goju Ryu looks promising, but it's hard to tell from a website.

Hey there. My little brother (as in, 6) wants to start karate and as a. I'm the only one in the family who's done any martial arts and b. I want to do some "bonding activities" with him, I'm going to find him a dojo and take him if I can. The problem is, there are SO many disciplines of karate, and (no offence) so many bad dojos. I am not sending my little brother anywhere where a 9-year-old has "earned" 1st dan. Now, my mother's relationship with her partner isn't fantastic and you definitely notice how it affects him. ie: He is very defensive and often over-aggressive; I'm actually a little afraid of him turning into a bully so discipline is the name of the game for me. Now, I live in Wellington NZ, so no one here's going to know which specific dojos are good, but I would imagine I could get a [semi] objective overview on different styles. What would be good in terms of actually learning realistic fighting techniques as well as all the pretty stuff like kata? Which styles are known for consistancy (as in, Judo is pretty much the same everywhere, is there anything like this in Karate)? What styles put a strong emphasis on respect and discipline? Any advice you could give me would be great. Thanks all!

Well, I know I don't spend a lot of time at karateforums these days but if you do get it set up I'd definitely be interested, my MSN email is: pom_kit_teung_koon_tung_keun@hotmail.com