SaiFightsMS

When my computer freezes up I simply turn it off. From the power strip if necessary. The I go get a drink of ice tea or something nice. Or maybe hit the bag a bit and let the computer have a break. Then I turn it back on and reboot. Actually it is my printer I tend to call names - it eats too much paper. After I insult it I get up and go behind the printer open the back panel and pull out the paper jam. Turn it off and back on and restart what ever it was I was trying to print.

Cool Rushman, you wouldn't know where they come from would you? My curiosity has been aroused.

I took a careful look at a detailed description of sanchin. I think although it looks easy to learn it has to be one of those deceptive katas. The kind that you don't really begin to appreciate until you have done it many thousands of times. I think I am going to start working with this kata.

A Bunny And A Snake Once upon a time in a nice little forest, there lived an orphaned bunny and an orphaned snake. By surprising coincidence both were blind from birth. One day, the bunny was hopping through the forest, and the snake was slithering through the forest, when the bunny tripped over the snake and fell down. This, of course, knocked the snake about quite a bit. 'Oh, my,' said the bunny, 'I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I've been blind since birth, so, I can't see where I'm going. In fact, since I'm also an orphan, I don't even know what I am.' 'It's quite OK,' replied the snake. 'Actually, my story is much the same as yours. I, too, have been blind since birth, and also never knew my mother. Tell you what, maybe I could slither all over you, and work out what you are, so at least you'll have that going for you.' 'Oh, that would be wonderful,' replied the bunny. So the snake slithered all over the bunny, and said, 'Well, you're covered with soft fur; you have really long ears; your nose twitches; and you have a soft cottony tail. I'd say that you must be a bunny rabbit.' 'Oh, thank you! Thank you,' cried the bunny in obvious excitement. The bunny suggested to the snake, 'Maybe I could feel you all over with my paw, and help you the same way you've helped me.' So the bunny felt the snake all over, and remarked, 'Well, you're scaly and smooth, and you have a forked tongue, no backbone and no balls. I'd say you must be either an accountant, or possibly someone in senior management.'

In another club site someone recieved a Klingon (yes, i prob'ly spelled it wrong) battle weapon for Christmas. And he wanted to know if anyone new of any katas to do with the weapon. It did sound like an interesting idea. Have any of you heard of or seen any katas with the klingon battle weapon?

Moobrak the different sizes of the bo's are to fit the height of the user. Ideally the bo should be a few inches taller than the person using it when it is held with one end on the floor. So they are commonly sold in 4,5, and 6 foot lengths. Some higher end bo's are also available in half foot increments as well. If the bo is too short the hands come off one end of the bo on some of the long bo techniques. If the bo is too long it hits the floor on some of the moves. Yes, it is common to see fight scenes in movies with bo moves done with a variety of sticks and pool cues. Some of the moves I have seen Jackie Chan do with a ladder are also basic bo moves.

Yes Moobrak, they looked interesting. Like a wooden stick with a rope inserted at 2 points through the middle of the stick forming a loop handle. I couldn't see anything about how long they were, thanks for that bit of info Tobias. There is also a book by Takayuki Kubota on the kubotan - the self defense key chain stick. It is based on the yawara a stick held in the hand to be used as a weapon just long enough to have ends sticking out of both ends of the fist.

Advancing in rank is allways important. It seems particularly important at the end of the year. So with this in mind is there anybody out there that deserves congratulating for rank advancement this month? Sai

The theory behind one strike and that is it has a solid basis. To get the situation over as quickly as possible. Not to continue to exchange blow or have some kind of slugfest. The ultimate purpose of karate was self defence in life or death situations. That kind of situation needs, demands a rapid resolution.

I have heard stories about old karate practitioners who could grip the ground so firmly with their toes that they could not be uprooted from their stance, any stance. Kind of like creating a suction cup our of their feet.

Excellant point about the mind speed Eru. It is to easy to forget the importance of how well we mentally process the situation.

When you do sanchin do you do it with closed fists or open hands?

It does seem as though there are allways areas our training could be augmented on. Wether we are traditionalists or not. A simple straight punch can allways be improved on. It can allways be faster, or more powerful. A block can allways be faster or stronger. Our foot work can allways be better. The way we put moves together in our heads can allways be improved on. It does not matter what our backgrounds our. None of us can never reach an ultimate state of perfection in our training.

My martial arts training helped me put my life back together from a really low point. I will never stop.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Does anyone have any idea why blondes are such wonderfull subjects for jokes?

Ok umm, I like the theme music to Mortal Kombat to make me get charged up to train.

I learned one version of tokomine no kon. However, I don't feel comfortable enough with it to include it on my list. I have seen about 3 different variants of it.

I went into the website you recommended Ronryu and had a good look at some lovely weapons. I would like to have one of those gravity sai stands. I saw an interesting looking weapon - the chizikunbo. Anyone know anything about it?

It seems weapons made by Shureido are generally well thought of and expensive. I have seen a few who pride themselves on having shureido gear in a way that is kind of snob appeal. I have seen people recommend shureido weapons in other sites.

We were taught to pivot on the ball of the foot. I find when I do a crescent kick in a kata that includes a 360 spin I have to sort of turn my pivot foot towards the direction I am turning in before I actually start the move. I initiate that move by pivoting on the heel but I finish by pivoting on the ball of the foot. Sort of a 2 step pivot. I have found that when the balance goes a bit wonky on a pivot to be on the ball of the foot and bending the knees helps keep the balance in check so that no one knows I had a bit of a problem for a second.

Thanks Taezee, I work on hand speed and blocking as much as I can. I am moving better now thanks to some of the hints I have gotten in here. My roundhouse kick usually gets through. I know I will never be as agile as a fully able bodied person will but, I am now the most agile person I know who has had ms for over 20 years.

While I was in Korea, many years ago, one of the guys would regularly stand up from his rack and do more than just stretch. He would kind of move forwards and backwards down the isle in kind of an odd way. And breathe kind of funny while doing it. I now realize what he was doing was sanchin. That was his way to keep the blood moving and get in a bit of practice at the same time. If I had only know then. I wish I had gotten interested in the martial arts much younger and earlier than I did.

Well when it comes to training warm up more carefully and more fully. Watchout during punching drills not to hyperextend the elbow by making sure you stop while the elbow is still slightly bent. Same for the knees and kicking drills. And make sure you warm down after training - an often neglected thing. Try doing kata - and other drills in the pool.

That was funny :lol: Buttercups Toward the end of the golf course, Harry somehow managed to hit his ball into the woods finding it in a patch of pretty yellow buttercups. Trying to get his ball back in play, he ended up thrashing just about every buttercup in the patch. All of a sudden, POOF!, in a flash and puff of smoke, a little old woman appeared. She said, "I'm Mother Nature! Do you know how long it took me to make those buttercups? Just for that, you won't have any butter for your popcorn the rest of your life; better still; you won't have any butter for your toast for the rest of your life..... as a matter of fact, you won't have any butter for anything the rest of your life!" THEN POOF!....she was gone. After Harry got a hold of himself, he hollered for his friend, Fred. "Fred, where are you?" Fred yells back, "I'm over here, in the *****willows." Harry yells back......"DON'T SWING FRED!!!" "For God sake, DON'T SWING!!"

Ok I've got one no one mentioned. When we were kids there was this soap opera with a vampire that my brother and sister loved to watch. I was allways too busy then to watch tv. So now, in an effort to figure out a part of what made them tick I watch (or set the vcr) to the sci-fi channel and watch Dark Shadows.