Coco

Today's karate lessons was awsome! I felt much stronger and my endurance has built up , I have noticed that it wasnt my endurance going short, it was my mental concentration. Also, i talked to a nutritionist today, and he explained to me that to lose weight and do better does not mean I have to completely eliminate chips , cookies, cake or coke, I just have to eat it MODERATELY, meaning not eating the whole pack of chips like I used to do, but eating one serving, and watching my calories. Even though I started this post 3 days ago, it has helped me more than I could ever help myself in 14 years! Thanks again guys! Coco

It increases by that much... White to yellow was 55 dollars, then 65 to yellow/orange etc. By black ur paying about 200-300 dollars

The black belt at our schools always does that, im used to it If you ever tried that on a tournament with me, youd be up for a huge suprise.

Whoa this is awsome. It looks like I was more mentally weak than physically. Yesterday I did the 5-5-5-5 thing, but before I started, I could alredy do 15! That means reading your posts and setting a goal gave me physical strength aswell!!! Now this morning, before I started writing this post, I tried doing pushups, to see if I really did improve... Guess what? I did an amazing 20 pushups in a row! Im letting the coke go and drinking water now, and im finally going to the mall with my mom whenever she wants to. I started going to the pool, and I let aside all the chips. Although I dont want to do most of these things, I know it will probably be for the best. I would like to thank everyone who posted so far(and posts in the future) , and I hope you know you have helped change a persons life in a good way. I will keep posting about my improvements, and I will keep following your advices. Greately Thankful - Coco

Our grading system goes like this : White Yellow Yellow/Orange(Added recently) Orange Orange/Green(Added recently) Green Green/Blue Blue Blue/Brown Brown Brown/Black Black I have been looking. No other dojos around, but theres a gym. Might start going there.

I reccomend not suggesting things you do not know about. This kid, although very playful, takes karate very very seriously, he is in fact, my sensei's son. He gained his black belt in over 7 hard working years, instead of the regular 3 years, and he wins gold medal on every competition he goes to. But still, he is afraid of me so i beat him every time

I would just make him fall down and walk away... The floor would probably beat him up while hes rolling around trying to get up and then he will be all dirty! The BEST!

My story , and the seek of advice - PART 2. On this shorter passage, I will state and explain a few things I did leave out of the original text. First off, if you have read part one of my story, you probably know that I spend about 13 hours on my computer, and never go out. Well, the problem is that when I do go out, im shy and scared of talking to anyone. I dont exersice outside because I feel everyone is watching and judging me. I know this may sound rediculous to most of you normal people, but im afraid of eating in school, because I feel everyone is watching me! I guess my dojo is the only place im not afraid of being looked at or laughed at or anything. Sencond of all, I have karate lessons 3 days a week. Although I am pretty weak in endurance, I work my hardest, which means on days im not doing karate, my whole body hurts, unabling me to do any more exersice. I think this is the thing keeping me back the most, because even if I train the day after karate, ill be super tired for the next karate class! Third of all, my brother is a nusence. He is a maniac. He might be 12, 5'6 and 148 pounds, but hes strong, and he hits me for nothing at all, all day long. After about 50-100 punches in the head or smacks or shoes thrown at me , I finally get mad and take him out in 2-3 punches or kicks or whatever, after he cryes for a while, he gets a broom and comes to hit me. I may get hit 2-5 times max with it, but I get up with my aching body and again, punch him 2-3 times hard to take him out, or sweep him and leave him crying on the floor. As soon as he finishes crying, he goes for a knife. He gets a huge knife and comes after me. I hide as fast as i can in the bathroom and lock myself in for a while. After a day of this, dont you think ill be tired at karate? I know for a fact that my brother has some problems. He might get straight A's in school and be shy to new people, but im his freaking practice dummy, who just gets tired of him sometimes. Yes, ive tried to talk to my parents, for 5 years now, and neither would do anything. Some of you might be wondering, why do I write this NOW? Well, it goes back , before I started doing karate. Since I was born, to the time I started karate, I couldnt do a single pushup. I never knew what a sport was, or what strength or muscle meant. As the years went by, my weak body started getting fatter and fatter. Fianlly , in 8th grade it all came to me. When I was most active, just before school ended, I went to all my classes and worked out every day. I felt like I could kick anyones *. My abs started to develop, my muscles getting bigger, but I still felt tired on karate. (You should keep in mind, sadly, that the real reason I worked out was so that I could get a girl, which I still havent after 2 years) Now, on the summer, i gained about 7 pounds, and i can bearly do 50 situps when i could do 200 before. Also, now I do situps twice as slow as before. Yes, after reading part 2 of my story, most of you think i have problems or im super weird. Im just trying to make it out there, next year im starting high school, and I have no idea of what to expect. Im just coming to you guys , because most of you can probably help better than anyone I know(which is nobody). Thanks, and keep up the amazing posts!- Coco ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have some questions/comments/advice or just want to talk, you can also talk to me on MSN(misterymen999@hotmail.com) or AIM(notsag2003).

Granmasterchen - How did you know I have stairs!? I never take the elevator to get to the 3rd floor, but I never though of just doing stairs for exersice - Great idea, thanks! Ramymensa - I think your pushup idea is the greatest ive heard so far... but I wonder, are 5-5-5-5 pushups as effective as 20 pushups at once?Anyhow, I will try this starting today. WapCaplet - I understand what you are saying. I guess this is the hardest part of all. I will take the advice from people who respond, and ill try the best i can do actually do it. Fat Donkey - My brother is crazy. He only hangs around the house hitting my head everytime he passes by and cussing at me for nothing at all. No Way.

Well I would say the only reson im going is because it is the only thing that gets me out of the house. It is the only place where I get to exersice. Yes, I feel like I have improved alot since I started, and im much more flexible, quick, strong and active, although we only train 3 days a week. Fianlly, no, we dont rent another place for the testing, its on the same dojo.

It would be kinda hard to sweep a 90 kilo guy if ur 58 kilos. Anyways, I know what your going through because im on the same exact situation. What I did to get out of it was, once when he came up to me I told him to bring it on, and started pissing him off. As soon as he touched me I punched as hard as I could in the face, and as he was bending down covering his face, round house kicked him in the head as hard as i could and knocked him out. No... it didnt really happen, but it would be cool if it did huh? No, really, if he touches, you , kill him(not literally), I mean, he tried to brake ur head open with a rock!

Hey, I go to a Shito-Ryu dojo, and i pay 70 dollars a month. The classes are 3 times a week, and the class size is about 10-15 kids. The belt changes are 55 dollars for white belt, and it goes up by 10-30s each test. Am i getting ripped off? I really love karate but I hear people telling me im paying way too much.

Hello. I am 14, 5'6 tall, and weight 165. Yes, i am pretty chubby(not FAT or round). For the last about... 12 months, i have been practicing the art of Shito-Ryu karate. I have met many nice people, won a few medals on a tournament, and fought some pretty tough opponents. As embarrased as I am to say this, I will explain a few of my problems, to the people who I feel will understand me best , fellow karatekas. It all started on the summer of 2003. I was sitting on my butt playing computer, as always, since there was no school at the moment. All of a sudden my dad(who dosnt live with me) calls me saying he subscripted me to a karate dojo, and he was on his way to my house. This hit me as a huge suprsie. I had always wanted to join a dojo, but NOW? All of a sudden??? 5 minutes later, my dad shows up at my house, holding 2 karate uniforms, and a few patches. He hands them to me, explains where to put the patches and leaves. The classed would start at 7:00pm on that same day... I looked at the clock - it was around 3:00pm. I knew i would need some time to get ready and such, so I called on my mom to patch up both uniforms (mine and my brothers). At around 5:00pm , I started taking a shower, and getting ready, not knowing what to expect. By about 6:30 me and my brother were all set and ready, but didnt know how to wear the uniform, or tie the belt. We both nerviously started walking to the karate dojo,which is about 2 blocks from my house. As I opened the door to the dojo, I was suprised. The dojo was as small as any apartment bedroom. I was suprised , though , to find such a nice enviroment. The sensei tought all the lessons in spanish(I didn't mind, im Argentinian) and was super friendly. He was a black belt, and his son, which was 12 at the time was a brown/black belt. They happily helped me and my brother out, and started the lesson. To everyone's suprise, me and my brother were naturals. I fought against a brown belt 15 year old guest student, and did pretty good. That's when the sensei started looking forward to training me good. I started training exactly the same day 2 other kids started training aswell, so there was lots of training for white belts. After about 2 weeks, i had learnt my first kata, Junino Kata. The days went on, and i didn't feel TOO tired, beacuse I was kind of used to exercise (had physical education on 4-6th grade). This was the summer I was going to 7th grade, middle school. As a white belt, I also had a chance to go to a tournament. On the tournament, not many 13 year olds where white belts at the time so i had to compete against class mates(a girl and my brother). I came out first on combat, as i beat my brother, and my brother beat the girl, and second on katas(girl came first). We were all happy at the dojo after that one, and I was realy getting used to karate and the enviroment. As I became a yellow belt, I noticed that my technique had GREATELY improved. As school began, many people quit karate, and the dojo desperately needed people. At this time, just about 10 people, came into the dojo and quit withing 2-6 months. As all of this happened , my teacher always trained us stable karatekas more than the new ones, as he knew they would most likely quit. Yellow and Yellow/Orange belts just flew by. Then, on the day of the test to go to orange belt, a new kid came in. He had used to train with my sensei back when he was in 6th grade, now we were both in 8th, and he was in my science class. Here is where the problems started. We were both orange belts now(thats where he had left before he quit) and now, i finally had an even opponent. He was taller, more fit, stronger, and faster than me. On time, we both became very very good friends and training partners. We both trained together and faught alot, and we both greatley improved learning from one another. I am now able to do 10 pushups, when I wasnt able to do one, before , and now I was faster, and more alert than I was ever before. We both kept on training hard, and one day, the sensai came up to us. He wanted us to go from orange belt to orange/green belt in half the time.(I posted a topic on this a while back). We both agreed, as at the time, passing belts was all that was on my mind. So me, my friend , my brother and 2 other kids passed to orange/green in one and a half months(that meant we would go to green belt in half the time aswell). We kept training hard, and I kept up my school work, and then, we passed to green belt. At this time, vacation had alredy started again, and my friend went off to work for the summer. This is where I am at NOW. Now that you know most of my background story, I will start listing the problems I have had. Keeping all that you read in mind, I ask all of you to try and help me with advice on the problems I will list. First of all, you should keep in mind, that through my karate story, I have gone on and off of doing weights and situps. Sometimes I would do them every day for a month, then i would stop for 2 months and then do it for 2 weeks then stop for 5 months , etc. I guess it started on 8th grade, after the summer I started doing karate. I had no P.E in school anymore, and I spent ALOT of hours playing computer in my house. As the time passed, I phisically became weaker, and fatter. On white, yellow and yellow/orange, I was at my max strength. At orange , and orange/green I had lost some of it. Now, I am a green belt and I feel Very VERY weak. Weak, as in when im doing the basics, for example, my punches can be as strong as before, but i cant keep it up for much. Actually, we should say that I dont have half the ENDURANCE I had before. Now, after about an hour of hard training i feel like ill faint. Then again, now as a green belt i spend 10 hours sleeping and 13 hours sitting on my computer. Now, here is the part that I can guarantee 90% dont understand. I say I sit at my comp for 13 hours and eat junk. I guarantee 90% of you will say, eat right and do some more exercise, or go out. If it was THAT easy, don't you think i would be doing it? Here is why I don't do it - First of all, the place I live is really dirty, and lots of drunk around. Also, my parents arent home all day, I don't wanna go out and keep them worried. Second, once you get into the habbit of being sitting still all day, its like smoking, its freaking hard to get out of. Third, I eat junk food because my mom just donst have time to cook. She leaves me 2 bottles of coke and 5 chips bags. When I get hungry, thats the only thing there is to eat. Fourth, It was a really bad experience, when I worked out for about 5 months and saw very very slim results. I used to do even up to 100 situps every day and 50 30 pund weights on each arm. That greately discouraged me. Fifth, I am just too tired to work out anymore. Sixth, I think its my metabolism. I went on a diet and did exersice for a while... NOTHING. As a matter fact, karate probably made me stronger and slimmer then working out 6 days a week. So, im basically asking you, what should I do? What CAN I do? What would be GOOD? I alredy made up my mind not to pass to my next belt, and take 3 extra months of training time, I know it will benefit me. P.S - Sorry for the long post, I hope I didnt leave too much stuff out, and gave you enough info(maybe too much info) to help me out if you can. I just felt I should share this with someone in this world, since I have noone to talk to. Finally, sorry for any spelling errors, bad sentences or anything that I may have mistyped, I am not originally from this country. Thanks for taking you time to read this - Coco ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have some questions/comments/advice or just want to talk, you can also talk to me on MSN(misterymen999@hotmail.com) or AIM(notsag2003).

Well, Im 14, weight 165, and im 5'6 , pretty chubby. I can beat ANYONE in my class, Including a 13 year old black belt, 13 year old brown/black, 16 year old 6 ft white belt, 14 year old green belt thats taller then me, and many more kids around those stats. Im only a green belt, and i can bearly do 15-20 pushups, but i can do 200 situps. No, i dont even have a 4 pack... go figure.

There is NO WAY any of us can tell you. It is ENTIRELY up to you. You stated that you are a fast learner. That has NOTHING to do with advancing faster. You can learn as fast as you want, but if you do not PRACTICE you wont get anywhere. Think to yourself, every time before class starts, do i really want this black belt? If you know, in your heart that you truly do, you will go out there and train harder than anyone in your dojo, and you will try to perfect every move, every stand and every technique. Aside from that, you should train at your house, from 30 minutes - 2 hours a day, it is up to you, and how much you really want that belt. In conclusion, Can you get your black belt in 4 years? Yes. Will you? It is up to you. P.S: If you do train as hard as you can, but for financial problems, or whatever other reason, cannot get to black belt, you will know, inside you - that you are a black belt in spirit, mind and body, the piece of cloth which holds up your pants means nothing without all of this. NOTE - On another thought, if you want to be a black belt just to show off to your friends or whatever, just go to a martial arts store and buy a black belt. Although this way is the fastest, easyest , cheapest way to get a black belt, when you wear it, you will feel nothing, since no training has lead to this belt.

In my dojo, the black belt has the same problem, so my sensei is making him do the jump in the ground(without jumping) im guessing he will make him jump later on.

Well ive missed 2 weeks of karate classes so far because Im very sick, but i went to firdays class and i noticed that im getting tired faster, loosing my balance on stances i could do before and im forgetting stuff, 2 weeks can do this much to you?? anyways, the green belt test is coming up really soon(about 15 days) and i havent paid for it yet, If i dont heal and get all my stuff right by then, i dont think ill take the test (allthough my teacher would be REALLY dissapointed).

Okay,you guys probably didnt have enough information to give good enough advice, its greately my fault. Here are the facts: I train 4 times a week, one hour per lesson. Im currently ranked 6th kyu(orange stripe green) out of 10, and will test for 5th kyu(green) in a few days again. I am fat, and dont consider myself good at karate. Although my friend says he is one of the best on the county, and i can still beat him(he says im awsome at karate) I dont think i train hard enough. When my teacher talks to me about the belts, i see the desperation in his eyes. Its not his fault, as it is a pretty new dojo, and he cant put white/yellow belts fighting blue/black belts at competitions. He wants to hurry us begginers up so we can get to brown belt, and REALLY compete to win medals. I have decided, after thinking alot, that compared to others around my area, i am still pretty good at karate(always win 1st and 2nd places at tournaments) and i will keep doing belts as my teachers wants me to, but as soon as i turn green belt, im going to start training 2-3 times harder, and at the first sign of debut, i will not take the test for the next belt. I have benefited my teacher by letting me pass through the first 5 belts, i thought i hadnt perfected, but for the remaining 5, i will train my katas and i will train myself until i think im definately, completely ready for the next level. I might take 7 years to get to black belt, but when i do get it, noone will stand in my way to that 1st place in ANY tournament, or ANYWHERE AT ALL!

He probably is giving you low grades because he KNOWS your good, but he thinks your not pushing yourself enough, so if he gives low grades, you would try to improve and get better.I dont think a sensei gives the grades to the people he likes best, it dosnt benefit him at all.

In my dojo at least, if it were on a combat situation on a tournament, we would punch him in the chest/stomach, which would give us a point, but if he grabbed the leg and threw us to the ground, we would yokogeri and not let him get the point , till you hear YAME. Then, you would not let the oponent get a point.

I have been in a Shito-Ryu karate dojo for about a year now, and me and my friend are the best karatekas from our class, but we are only 6th kyu out of 10. My teachers says we are *good enough* to advance belts in half the time (1 1/2 months instead of 3). Recently, he has advanced me from 7th to 6th kyu on half the time, and now im going to 5th on a month. Do you guys think it is way too fast even if i train alot? Is this considered CHEATING the belt grading system? opinions?

Wow! Congratulations, especially on Heian Sandan, which in my opinion is a very hard kata to do! This hopefully will give you the self confidence for upcoming tournaments and competitions, keep it up!

lol, ill tape myself doing some and give to you, which ones you need?

When i make katas i try to make them as complex as possible, and just being in 7th kyu dosnt help lol, i just copy moves that black/brown belts do and it looks awsome.

Junino kata, we use low blocks, high blocks, and reverse punches.