aefibird

This may sound a bit of a dumb question... but here it is anyway. How can you change the links in KF signatures so that it just says (for example) Bob's Website rather than https://www.bobswebsite.co.uk (or whatever)? I know that some of you have links that say things like My Site, rather than having the full URL - whats the coding to do that, please? Thanks!

What's branding like in comparison to tattooing? More or less painful? Body modification does rock!! (although removing piercings for training becomes time consuming when you get too many.. lol)

Try practicing spiining round on your own without actually performing a technique, just to try and get your footwork and balance better. If you can increase the speed at which you move your head to try and keep looking at your target then that will help too. Practice regularly with a partner if possible.

Attacking the bicep is a good technique if you can hit it right! It really makes your opponents arm numb and can give you that bit of an extra advantage to 'get in there'. We usually attack with knife hand strike, but hammer fist also works pretty well. It's a handy move to pull off for comps.

I'd pick front kick, especially to somewhere painful like the groin! Kicking to the knees and shins is also effective too..

Is the martial art that you're doing now your first choice of MA? Or did you have to pick another art? Eg, because of distance to first choice MA school, previous injury, lack of good clubs in your area etc etc Karate was my first choice and I feel very lucky to have joined such a good club with a well-respected and very experienced instructor. As an 'additional' MA, Aikido was my second choice. I was looking for a Judo or BJJ club but there are none in my area. I also didn't really want to go to the Aikido club that I do go to because the instructor is a friend of mine and I thought it might harm our friendship. Plus, it's miles away from where I live! However, I gave it a go and it seems to be working out fine and I now totally love Aikido. I'd still like to try Judo or BJJ, though.

Good post Ramymensa. Trying to overcome your fears and not be consumed by them is a key to attaining happiness and fulfilment in life.

Ooops, I posted that before I saw there was a very similar thread by Treebranch a few posts down.

Are there any supplements and excercies anyone can reommend for my bad knee? I injured it about 5-6 years ago in a horse-riding accident but it's been getting a lot more painful the past couple of months. 2 hours of training in nothing but kicking techniques last night didn't do it any favours either I've been to see my GP about it and he's put me on a waiting list to see a consultant surgeon, but with the length of NHS waiting lists I'll be about 90 by the time I get to see anyone...

Get well soon Andy! I've been told that a broken collar bone is one of the quickest healing bones in the body - not that it's much of a comfort if you actually have a broken collar bone... Hope it heals up soon. Take it easy and get plenty of rest!

Eeeyah, I feel for you, I really do. My horse is a big clumsy-footed old thing and he's stood on my toes more times that I care to remember. After he broke every toe on my right foot by stepping on it I decided to get a pair of steep toe capped riding boots... I'm a bit unlucky with my toes. I tend to injure them a lot. I've caught my toe in the sleeve of someone's gi before when sparring and the last competition I went to I had to retire injured due to breaking my left big toe in the kumite (she blocked with her elbow. eeee, that was painful!) I hope your toe gets better soon Budderfly. Lots of ice and lots of rest!! Good luck with the demonstration too.

Well, there's an Eastern Region AMA karate tournament coming up in South Shields at the end of the month. There's also on scheduled for Nottingham in August. If you find out about anymore small comps then if you could let me know, please!! I'm trying to find a few little tournaments for a couple of the kids in my low-grades class to enter.

Ah, whatever, I'm not fussy!!! (doesn't even have to be in UK£ either, can't ya tell I'm desparate for some cash?? *sigh* There's never enough month left at the end of the money...)

That's a Hollywood myth. I dunno if this is true either, but I've been told that if you're above a certain Dan grade in Japan you have to register with the police.

Wow, your Sensei must think a lot of you to pick you for a big comp, especially if it will be your first ever comp! If you get the chance, then see if you can go to a few other competitions before hand. This will help you to see what competition set up is like (lots of all-day waiting about for 5 minutes of action ) and give you a chance to try your hand at kata and kumite in a competition environment before you go to the big tourney. As for your kata, as Ramymensa said, you MUST MUST MUST know the katas that you're going to perform. Remember too, if you get past the first round you might have to know 2 or more kata for both weapons and empty hand categories. Only go with kata that you are confident with and know 'inside out'. For competitions you have to 'over learn' your kata because you'll probably be nervous when you actually stand up in the comp to perform it. The kata should come as second nature to you. It doesn't have to be the fanciest, flashiest kata in the world to be a category winner, either. When I was a 5th kyu I entered a kata competition and won it with Heian Sandan. A couple of the other competitors (we were all kyu grades) did black belt kata - you could see that they wern't comfortable with it and had only picked that particular kata to try and impress the judges with their knowledge of kata. As for kumite, keep on practicing and try and get some heavy bag work in if possible. If you do a lot of aearobic fitness work and streching that will also help your sparring. Try and work on areas where you know you have a weakness (eg if you favour one leg for kicking with, try and work the other leg). Regarding who you'll be up against - the best person to ask about that is your sensei. There is different organisation of categorties for different events. The first competition I went to the ladies section were all grouped together - kyu and dan grades all in one category. The next comp I went to was totally different with different categories for different kyu grades (eg, 10, 9 & 8 kyu together; 7, 6,& 5 kyu together; 4, 3, 2 & 1 kyu together and another category for dan grades). As for going to the tourney... I'd LOVE to! Anyone got a few thousand pounds they'd like to donate to me so I can go????

We have a solid wooden floor in my dojo, but we stull practice sweeps; you just have to be careful. We have a couple of small mats that we get out occasionally, but they're old and falling apart so we only get them out of we're practicing sweep techniques at full speed and power. Generally we just use the wooden floor to practice on, even when doing freestyle sparring. Yeah, if you can grab or attack your opponent with your hands as you're performing the sweep it really helps. If you're forcing their shoulders away from you and their swept leg (or legs!) is coming towards you then they're gonna end up on their @rse.

Congratulations to you and your son! What a great achievement!!

Some forthcoming UK competitions... EKKA competition, Sunday 18th April, Ipswich. AMA Eastern region competition, Nottingham, coming up in August. AMA Northeastern Open Karate competition, South Shields, 25th April. NAKMAS Open Championships, 2nd May, Salisbury United Styles Association Open Championships, 16th May, Dudley Northern Open Classic Championships, 9th May, Warrington KUGB National Championships, National Indoor Arena, 24th April. These are ones I've found out about recently. If anyone knows of any more please let us all know!!

Well, if you only want to do small tournaments then go for it, but if you get bitten by the 'competition bug' then you're gonna have to significantly increase your training, 'cos a once a week lesson is't really going to be enough. Go along a watch a few comps, see what you think to the whole set up. Could you imagine yourself doing what they're doing? Could you imagine yourself winning?? If yes, then go for it! Good luck and let us know how you get on. Remember, that there's more to karate than just competing, though.

I usually tend to sweep with a broom... sorry, couldn't resist that one! Well, I dunno if all Shotokan dojo's do this but in mine we do a lot of sweeping, tripping and throwing techniques (its one of my Sensei's favourites). We do loads of different types of sweeps, both with front leg and back leg. General target is by the ankle but we also do 'behind the knee' sweeps. We practice sweeping stationary targets (a good way of guarunteeing a stationary target is to grab your opponents other leg if they're trying to kick you. If they've got one leg held up in the air then they're not gonna be going very far without your say-so!) and we also practice against a moving target. The position of the foot is different depending on the sweep, but I like 'hooking' sweeping techniques where I use the back of my foot and ankle to make the sweep. I've also seen Sensei demonstrate 'hand' sweeping techniques, where you sweep the person off their feet using your hands and arms. It's a good technique for if you're on the floor or crouching and they're standing. It's also fun to practice, 'cos it's something a bit different.

Yep, that's why I train in the Blitz gi on a regular basis - I can't cope with training in thin gi's now!! Except for if it ever gets unbearably hot in my dojo, like it did last summer in which case we usually just wear very lightweight gi's or tshirt and tracksuit bottoms.

Does anyone share their dojo space with another martial arts club? If so, how do you get on together? My Aikido club may be moving to another venue and hold classes in a hall that a TKD club already uses. We'd be using the place straight after them.

I have 3 Blitz Silver Tournament gi's that I wear for regular training and a thinner Playwell gi for when it is summer. I also have a Japanese Tokaido that I keep for competitions and a Hayashi and a Kamikaze, but I don't tend to wear them as much.

I pay £3 per lesson for Karate and £4 per lesson for Aikido. Membership of the FSK (for karate) is £15 per year, same for the NAF (Aikido).

Oh really? And all this time I've been thinking that TKD was Korean and a completely separate martial art from karate. Silly old me... (as a BTW, I agree with Rich_2k3's point about Kempo, it's not as popular in the UK as it is in the US.)