aefibird

My school is a member of the FSK, which is a member of the EKGB. We are also registered with SportEngland.

I was torn between voting for the staff and the sai, as I like them both equally.

I'm 25. Laurie, I can sympathise with you - I sometimes still get asked for ID for beer. One of my newbie karate students asked me how old I was the other day. He was shocked when I said 25 - he told me I looked about 17!!

Good luck! I hope you get in.

No, we don't have Chipotles in the UK, at least, not where I live. I've been into McD's once since reading that book (and on that occasion I was dragged there by my nieces). I only had a coffee, since the thought of eating their food makes me feel nauseous after reading the book.

My lesson fees are charged per lesson, rather than on a monthly basis, but it works out at about £35-40 a month, which is about US$55-65 (I think). Coco, the belt testing fees that you mentioned seem VERY high. Does your school have to rent out another place for testing, or does it take place in your regular dojo? I'd try and find out where your money is going to - it seems like an awful lot to be paying out, especially as your instructor seems to want to advance you quickly - can you afford to keep paying high testing fees every one and a half months? Maybe you should have a good look round your area to see if you can find a cheaper school.

As I've said before... Shotokan karate isn't all about linear strikes and low stances as a lot of people automatically assume. There's much more to it than that - it's just that a lot of it is 'hidden' and needs careful thinking about. Shotokan has many elements to it that some martial artists don't know or don't see, such as grabs, chokes, sweeps, trapping, even ground work. There are also circular techniques in there as well - it's not all straight reverse punches and point sparring you know! Some people don't seem to want to see past the stereotype, which is a great shame .

Thanks for the links glassman!

Welcome to Karate Forums, zerohour!

I read that recently. Good book! Will you be going to McDonalds ever again after reading it??

Me too! I would have dug it more at school if it wasn't for the goof-up with the exam and the wrong syllabus and all.

Not my version. My boxed set is 3 DVD's. Decidedly below average - 3 and 1/2 out of 10.

Well, bruising is caused by a disruption to the small blood vessels & tissue just under the surface of the skin. Any pressure (from a punch, kick, grab, etc) can cause tears in capilliaries (the very tiny blood vessels) which leads to bruising. If your partner was pinching or squeezing your arm, then yes, bruising would be the inevitable result. It should settle down in a day or two. Try arnica cream - that's supposed to be good for bruising.

Well, there will be differences between Shukokai and whatever style of karate you choose, whether it be Shotokan or whatever. Even if you started back at karate in another Shukokai club there'd bound to be differences between your old and news schools, even though they were the same style. At my shotokan club we've had quite a few people switch to us from other styles. Most of them have adjusted separately and their knowledge of other styles have actually enhanced training. I've found that the only people who don't adapt to a new style well are the ones who are determined to hold onto their old training and old ways of doing techniques no matter what. You probably know the type of person I mean, the "well, in my old club we always did it like this..." sort of person. If you're willing to retain your old knowledge whils being adaptable to new ways of training and thinking, then I think that moving to another style will be quite an easy thing to do. As for your grade... well, it would be up to your new instructor. My karate instructor always allows students from other karate styles to keep their current grade. Students from other martial arts generally either drop to the grades just below the equivalent that they held in their previous martial art (eg, if they were a 5th kyu equivalent in Judo or whatever, then they'd drop to 6th or 7th kyu in our club) or keep the equivalent of their current grade if the styles are similar. The students from other styles of martial art are held back from grading for a minimum 9-12 months on average in order for them to get to grips with the diferences between karate and their former martial art, although it just depends on how quickly they adapt to Shotokan. However, it depends on the club instructor. Some martial arts schools insist on all new starters going back to beginner/white belt grade, whils some allow new students to keep their current grade or to down-grade by one or two belts. Good luck with your swop to another style!

Generally, MA students advace faster when they practice at home compared to those who don't.

Welcome to Karate Forums! That extra $115 a year on top of what you pay seems like an owful lot of mony to me. I'm suspicious about the fact that they just 'sprung' the charge on you lately, rather than telling you when you joined. It seems like a way of getting money out of you with no good reason, especially as you are paying a lot for monthly classes and belt testing fees too. Try and find out what the yearly charge is for and exactly how it will be spent. If it seems to benefit you and the other students then it may be worth it, especially if the quality of instruction is good. If you can't get a specific and detailed answer about where and to whom your hard-earned $$ are going then it may be a good idea for you to try and find another club.

Most martial artists that I know personally do not wear anything under their gi's when training, even the women. In my karate org it is forbidden for men to wear a top under their gi when training at regional or national events (it is ok for gener dojo training, but most men don't bother anyway). Women are allowed to wear a top under their gi, as long as it it plain white. I don't tend to bother wearing anything under my gi for karate, but I do wear a sleeveless top for Aikido. Generally, I find it is too hot to want to wear another layer anyway!

I like Wayne Otto too. I'm also impressed with Leon Walters, a big name in UK karate, although I don't know if many of the US guys will have heard of him. Sonny Roberts from my own karate organisation is good too. He's been described (not by me, by a respected martial arts magazine!) as having the "best gyaku-tsuki in the whole of England". As for the women... Tania Weeks, Tracy Kite and the well-known Cynthia Rothrock are my particular faves. A post about 'favourite competitors' can't pass without me mentioning the Chief Instructor of my karate organisation, Sensei Aidan Trimble. He was the first Westerner to win the All-Japan SKI karate championships, as well as many other top competitions around the world.

I'd go with The Hulk, even though I'm a Spidey fan.

Actually... (here's where my knowledge of useless info comes in) Neil Armstrong actually did say "that's one small step for a man..." The 'a' was lost in transmission and it was (and is) generally believed that he only said "that's one small step for man". Sorry to hear about your A Level results GrrrArg. If you ever get it changed then let me know and I might have a chance of getting mine altered as well. I got straight A grades for my History all way through 6th Form, but ended up with an E grade result in the exam, firstly because it was based only on examination (something we didn't know - all the students had been told (wrongly) that coursework would be taken into account) and secondly because my school had been teaching us the WRONG syllabus for the exams!! We'd been learning British History from 1760 -1929, but we should have actually been doing the European history syllabus, seen as that was the one that we were taking the exam on. So... all these students turned up for the exam and there were questions on there about Louis XIV and Peter the Great etc etc and other stuff that none of us knew anything about because no-one had ever taught it to us! *grrr* *gets off soapbox and calms down...*

I'd definately go with the e-bay option!

Well, I can't really say that I prefer it, but I do practice a lot alone at home. If I'm in class, then, yes. They can point out to me my errors or things I need to work on or give me encouragement or whatever. When working at home (or if I'm in the dojo training before or after class) I prefer it if no-one is around. No, but basically that's only because I don't own a video camera. I wouldn't really want to watch it if I did tape myself, though, - I hate looking at still photo's of me, never mind a moving image. However, I can see that it would be a useful tool for learning and improvement. Not when working on kata, but I sometimes stick a CD on when doing bag work. Inside at the dojo, both inside and outside at home. Inside at the dojo is wooden flooring, inside at home is carpet. Outside at home is paving flags. I don't tend to wear shoes when practicing kata, unless I'm outside. If I train outside I wear rubber soled trainers(sneakers) or martial arts shoes. I usually train so I can hear myself breathe when performing most kata. Absolutely! I think that it is vital to gain as much knowledge and info as possible about your martial art. I have a large collection of books about karate and aikido and I often spend time working things out in my head and trying to figure stuff out for myself, without consulting a book or Sensei. I try to. I think it is important for people to practice forms as if they were doing those techniques against another person. A martial artist who practices forms/kata has to imagine actually doing that technique against an opponent - and also imagine what the outcome would be.

Well... like I've said before (and others on these forums have said as well), the style isn't as important as the club and the instructor. Both TKD and Karate are very similar in many respects, but are different in others. Both styles have dojos or dojangs that have a big emphasis on competition fighting, whilst other TKD and Karate clubs are very big on traditional teaching and training. However... if you get an instructor who isn't really qualified to teach or who is lacking in knowledge (as many instructors are), then it doesn't matter which style you are training in as you will never really learn anything anyway. When you go to visit the TKD school and the Karate school, have a look at the students, especially the higher grades. Do they look competent? Do the blackbelts look worth of their grade? Does the instructor seem friendly and approachable? Does the instructor seem to know what he's doing and know his Martial Art 'inside out'? If both clubs seem decent, then try out a few lessons in each and decide which club you could see yourself training with on a regular basis. Could you see yourself sticking with that school for years to come? If so, it's the one for you and that's miles more important about which MA is the 'best'.

You can buy female-specific gi's (mostly they're Judo gi's, though), that are cut slightly differently and have ties or velcro or press-studs(poppers) in strategic places to stop the gi flying open and causing embarassment. However, they're very expensive to buy. I've never had one, as they're hard to come by in the UK. I got round the problem of my gi flapping open by sewing an extra tie onto it, about 4-5inches above the regular side ties. If you're interested in a female-specific gi, then I know that Adidas make a women's judo gi. I'm not sure about other manufacturers.

Hi Tyler! Welcome to Karate Forums - it's good to have you here.