aefibird

lol

I'd suggest Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Kickboxing or Boxing with BJJ or JuJitsu for grappling.

I'd recommend Boxing, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jujitsu or Muay Thai to you as the best form of fighting defence. Possibly Kyokushin Karate also. However, do you only want to do MA to defend yourself or to be able to eventually get back at those who are attacking you now? I know that you say that you only want to defend yourself, but make sure that you're not subconciously out for revenge. It's important to really think of and consider the reasons why you want to train in MA before taking one up. I'd go and have a look and see what was available in my area, if I were you, before making any firm decisions about what MA you want to do. If you know someone who trains in Martial Arts and can recommed a club, then even better! Good luck in your search. Please go and inform someone about those who are attacking you - it will greatly help your situation if someone else knows.

Hi 1st Kyu, welcome to the forums!

Milk is the best thing for combating chillis but I prefer beer... Water doesn't help.

*hangs head in shame* gah, & I was sure we'd won that one. Why couldn't Zinedine Zidane's mother have only had girls???? Oh well, we can still win. COME ON ENGLAND!

Well, unlike most people on this forum, I pay for each lesson, instead of paying monthly. My Karate classes cost £3 each and Aikido is £3.50 per class.

This is a bit of an odd question, and probably a diffucult one to give a good answer to, but here goes anyway... How do you rate your own martial arts abilities? If you could measure them on a scale from 0-10 where would you place yourself? If 0 was the worst martial artist who ever lived and 10 was an absolute martial arts master. Obviously, most of us want to get to that 'perfect 10' stage, but not all of us manage it. Where on the scale are you now and where do you see yourself to be in a year? 5 years? 10 years time?

I like the idea of having black belts from other styles there. I think it would help to keep the testing fair. Plus, they might be able to spot things that the other blackbelts might not necessarily see.

So, what do all the English karateka think will happen with the future of English karate? I'd be interested to hear from KUGB members what they think about the whole situatuion with JKA England. Also, what about the EKGB? Does it have a good future, or it it likely to split?

What kind of car do you drive? Doesn't matter if you own it or if it belongs to your mum & dad or whoever. I drive a Ford Fiesta. My dad & I are also doing up an original VW Beetle, although its seeming to take forever. It'll be another 20 years time by the time we get it finished at this rate. Also, what car would you own if you could afford it? I'd have a Jaguar.

GrrrArg, I'm with ya there! I love cars but hate motorsports - a bit odd I suppose.

Oh, I forgot to mention Rush Hour & Rush Hour 2. I'm not a big fan of Chris Tucker, but Jackie Chan ROCKS! I also love Dogma. Alan Rickman's Metatron is one of the greatest movie characters avout. Ya just gotta love it!

BritNoob, I have a knee injury in my right knee that sounds like yours. I injured my knee a few years ago when horseriding and it's never been right since. It clicks when I walk and does the popping thing (like yours does) when I bend it. My kneecap is wearing away & I've got cartilage probelms too. I'm currently having physio on it. My physiotherapist tuts at me for training in martial arts, but I'm sure that's more to do with the fact that she doesn't fully understand what we actually do - she probably thinks we're ninjas and spend all our time scaling walls and dropping on peoiple by surprise! lol:lol: I find that really hot water helps my knee, eg having a good long soak in the bath with help it. I also have a neoprene knee strap that I use for MA, which I find helps to support it and means it doesn't creak so much when I train. Apart from that, I have to be careful with Kibadatchi (horse-riding stance) and also when doing certain kicks. As long as you train carefully and sensibly then you'll probably be OK if your knees have always clicked. If a good warm-up seems to help the problem then make sure you always warm up and cool down after every session. I'd go and see your doctor about it if it gets worse or if you're worried about it, though (free medical treatment on the NHS - there are some benefits to living in the UK! lol). Tell your sensei about your knee problem too. He or she should be sympatheic to it and understand that there's maybe techniques you can't do as effectively as if you had 2 working knees. PM me if you want any more info!

KotegashiNeo, do you know if Gladiator gi's are available overseas or just in the US/Canada? Thanks!

One further thing I'd say about sparring gear is to get the best you can afford. Cheap stuff is just that - cheap. It's usually poor quality and doesn't tend to last as long, especially if you use it on a regular basis. I wouldn't always recommend buying stuff over the internet either, unless you've had that brand before. Sometimes sizing can be vastly different from one company to another. For example, I have a blue pair of handguards by Blitz that are a small. I also have a red pair of hand guards by Meijin which are a large, yet both pairs are exactly the same physical size even though the label sizes are different. It's better if you can try the stuff on in a shop and assess it yourself before purchase. I agree with luckykboxer about the mouthguard. If you don't wear a full-face head guard then gum shields are an excellent idea to wear. The cheapie ones are usually rubbish and don't fit properly. It's worth spending the extra money on one with gel inserts or buying a made-to-measure gum shield from your dentist. It really is worth the extra money for the increase in quality and protection.

Today I went to a karate course and travelled in a car with 3 kids. One of the kids spent the whole 2 hour-long journey trying to convince me that Kindergarten Cop is the best movie ever (I still don't believe it!). So... which is your favourite movie? Or which ones do you like the most if you can't pick 1 fave. My favourites are Shawshank Redemption, Shrek, Richard III (the one with Ian McKellan), Blues Brothers, and Withnail & I.

Wow, that stuff sounds great Beka! I looooove spicy food so much, I try to make all my food spicy in some way. Nando's Piri-Piri extra hot sauce is pretty good stuff, as is lots and lots of fresh chillis! *drool*

They probably don't care either way as long as the students turn up and the £££ keeps rolling in...

Tekken and Mortal Kombat are my faves, although I always thought Streetfighter was OK too.

warlock, I'm sure that anyone who went out with you would definately NOT be an idiot! You seem like a great guy.

Cool, thanks! Is it a simple as going to Tesco and buying a ready-made cheesecake?? lol, just kiddin'

If it continues then go see a doctor about it - better to be safe than sorry! I hope the pain clears up soon.

Yes, but different people need different amounts of sleep to function properly. Margaret Thatcher (ex-British Prime Minister for those who don't know of her!) once famously claimed that she only needed 4 hours sleep per night. Me, I need as much as possible. I'm a 20th Dan in sleeping - if it was an Olympic sport I'd be the gold medal winner for Britain. It doesn't mean I'm lazy - my body just needs lots of sleep. The average is about 7-8 hours. The key with sleep is consistency and quality. Cat-napping can really mess up your system - it's better to try and have a good block of sleep at night (or in the day if you work shifts). Regular sleep times are important too, eg, always going to bed at about 11:00pm, rather than being in bed for 9:30pm one evening but staying up until 1:00am the next night.

I work with children who have Special Needs, a lot of whom who have dyspraxia (a co-ordination difficulty disorder) and we concentrate a lot on shoulder girdle & posture exercises. These can improve co-ordination, motor skills, balance etc. I agree with Davantalus about juggling. It's a great way to try and improve co-ordination. Also, try using a gym ball (those big inflatable balls that look like an over-size beach ball). Practice sitting on it and excercising with it. Just as an aside, we rigorously train all our new staff who work with dyspraxic children. One of the intro excercises we use is to get them to sit on a gym ball whilst copying out the Greek alphabet from an OverHead Projector onto a piece of paper using their 'wrong' hand (the one they don't normally write with). Doing that gives a bit of a feel for what day to day life and classroom situations are like for a dyspraxic child.