aefibird

Sheesh, tell me about it... When I was living in Ghana for a while, I once took a minibus ride from Accra (the capital city in the south of the country) up to Wa, which is in the north of the country near Burkina Faso. This old minibus was so ancient it must have been considered a worn out wreck before Henry Ford was a lad. How it managed to get us up there on the 2-day cross-country journey was nothing short of a miracle. Plus, the bus was crammed full with people and chickens and all sorts of other assorted items (anyone who has ever travelled in Africa will know exactly what I mean). By the time I got to Wa I felt, looked and smelled like a resurrected corpse...

I wonder if that person ever got anyone from KF to sign up for the documentory? :? The Karate Kid films are excellent - totally cheesy but totally brilliant with it. You gotta love em!

Great article KillerMiller.

Some equipment websites... Playwell Blitz Meijin Karate Depot Karate Kid Cracked Finger Budo Stuff

Hi! Welcome to Karate Forums, and welcome to the world of Martial Arts as well! Glad you're enjoying your training.

Firstly, welcome to Karate Forums! Well, all of the martial arts listed will help you to get fit and learn self defence. It more depends on exactly what you're looking for in a martial art as to which would be best for you. For example, if the thought of grappling and ground work leaves you cold, then JuJitsu or Judo wouldn't be your thing, where as a primarily striking art might be better. If you think you'd be more into 'modern' martial arts and don't wish to have all the traditional stuff (such as katas and forms) then Karate or TaeKwonDo probably would't be for you either - Kickboxing or Muay Thai would be a better choice. The best thing for you to do would be to check out all the martial arts clubs in your area and go watch a lesson or two at each - probably even try lessons out at each place too. That way you'll be able to see exactly what it is each place offers and you'll also be able to make price comparisons between places too. Remember, the most expensive instruction isn't necessarily the best. Good luck in your search for a martial art; I hope you find one you enjoy!

Thanks! have fun!! Which bit of the UK are you originally from? Good luck with your tourney and the belt test too!

I often wish I'd started years before I did. :-/

The heavy gi's that I wear most often are Blitz brand Silver Tournament. The trading name of the company is Japan Martial Arts. I also have a (very expensive, but worth it) Tokaido gi. Those are both heavy weight gi's. The more expensively priced Adidas karate gi's are supposed to be good, although I've heard bad reports about their cheaply priced ones. Apparantly the cheap Adidas ones have a tendancy to rip and tear.

Firstly, welcome to Karate Forums! Well, I'd suggest something like Kenpo (or Kempo, as it is often spelt) or a self defence system such as Krav Maga, which tends to be able to be learned in a relatively short period of time. If you're more into stand up fighting and striking, then Muay Thai would be a good choice, with Brazillian Ju Jitsu for if you're more into grappling ang ground work. I'd also sugest that you check out which styles are available in your area - there's no point in firmly deciding that you want to study Krav Maga, only to find out that your nearest school is 150miles away... Good luck in your search!

Definate groan material there delta1 Some 'oldies-but-goodies' there too!

SS, all I can say is... OWWWWW!!!!

Amazingly enough it comes along much better when I've had a beer or three (or more...). That way my head feels like it is in one place and my limbs feel 'teleported' to a spot about 14 feet away from the rest of my body. Makes walking interesting...

I'm 25 and I have been training in Shotokan 5 years. I train 5 times a week at the dojo, as well as at home. I've been the club assistant instructor for about a year and a half now.

Well, I'm not actually from Rotherham itself, but from a crummy little village a few miles away. :-/ Actually, Rotherham's not that bad. I'm sure I can think of worse places if you give me long enough to think about it. On another note... There's a Leeds-based karate association called the West Yorkshire Karate Association. It's a loose grouping of small clubs of different karate styles (although, it's mostly Shotokan) in the Leeds/Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield areas. I've only ever heard good reports about them; you might wanna check it out if you're looking for MA training in Leeds. If I can get a telephone number or website address for you I will. I'll ask my Sensei when I next see him.

Great! Hope you enjoy it there and have good training.

Sorry, never heard of it. Is it only for Shotokan, or all karate styles?

Well, I'm quite used to that anyway. We do a lot of drills in my karate class. My instructor is very hot on learning the basics perfectly, so we go over them again...and again...and again....and maybe a few thousand times more just in case we didn't get it the first million times Not that there's anything wrong with that - good basics are vital in any martial art. A lot of outside study is encouraged in my Shotokan school, so I'm used to that too. My instructor always says that we're paying to learn karate and for him to teach and guide us - we're not paying him to think for us. We have to do that ourselves (with out of class research and study etc etc). I was more enquiring about what people thought about the website and also about stuff like the lineage of the Sifu and just generally what feeling they got about the club. Still, a website is put out on behalf of the club - they're not gonna declare that they're rubbish martial artists who don't know the first thing about Wing Chun, they want to entice students in, no scare them off. I suppose I'll have to wait for my freebie trial to find out, which is a week on Tuesday. The main factor putting me off is the price. It's so steep compared to my own MA clubs and also compared to other clubs in the South Yorkshire area. There are other MA schools in my region that have purpose built studios, like this club, but their prices aren't as high as Akhtars (Wing Chun is the cheapest classes that Akhtar's do BTW - the price goes up to £8.50 for an hour & a half for TKD or kickboxing, which certainly makes it the most expensive school that I know of in the South Yorkshire area.) Anyway, thanks for your responses guys.

Akhtars Martial Arts Academy Well, I've recently been searching for a style to train is, as I have had to give up Aikido - it looks as though my instructor has had to permanently give up his club. I've done a lot of research of clubs and styles in my area and one name that I keep popping up against is Akhtars MA Academy. They have a very good reputation in my local area. Although they offer training in TKD, Kickboxing and Tai Chi, it would be their Wing Chun classes that I'd be interested in. Although I know a very little bit about WC as a style, I know almost nothing about lineage, heritage etc. The WC instructor at this school is a student of Master Samuel Kwok, who is a student (I think) of Ip Chun and Ip Ching. Can someone have a quick glance at the club website & tell me what you think of it please? Does it look like a decent club? Has anyone ever heard of it before? One drawback about it is they only have one training session per week for beginners and lower grades. The training is for an hour and 1/2 and is a bit pricey, costing £7 per session (which is more than double what I pay for karate and classes are 2 hours long and is £3 more than what I paid for 2 hour length classes in Akido.) I've been invited to go and have a free trial lesson, which I've said I will. Even if I don't like the club - hey, it's free! Hope someone can tell me what they think of the club. Thanks.

Shodan - 1st dan blackbelt. I got my 1st Dan in December 2003, so I'm still a newbie blackbelt. Still got lots to learn!

Hey, there's nothing wrong with being an 8th kyu! We all had to start as a beginner! Yep, go along and watch RTStudent - it will be good support for him and it will be interesting for you to see what a Dan grading is like. When is the grading?

Definately an "Oh my God" moment.

I started karate because a friend got me into it. I continued with karate because I believe it is an effective self defence and training system. I also continue with it because I enjoy it!! I started Aikido because I wanted something to complement my karate training. I was looking for a judo club, but I can't find a decent one in my area. I don't particularly believe that these are the 'best' martial arts in the world (I don't think a person could say that about any art, actually) - I just believe that they are the best for me at the present. There may be other arts that I get into in the future, who knows? If I stick with them, then it is likely that they will be the best arts for me at that time.

How many times per week does your $25 pay for?

Rotten, have you always trained on your own, or did you used to belong to a school? Just curious!