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Thank you all for your replies! Yep, I plan on continuing training in shotokan - I just wanted something that would complement it. I think I'm gonna go with judo; there's a club fairly near me, so I'll go along and watch sometime soon and see what I think. Thanks again!

Hi, I hope that you could giuve me some advice. At the moment I train in shotokan karate and have done so for about 3 and a half years. I'd like to 'broaden my martial arts horizons' a little and I'm thinking about starting a new martial art. However, I'm not quite sure which would be good one to train in to complement my shotokan training. I was thinking about maybe judo or aikido or some form of chinese martial art, possibly. I know quite a bit about shotokan, but not much about other arts, so please help me in deciding which new martial art to try!! Thanks.

I hope it works out well for you! Let us know how it goes over the next few months or so. Good luck with your new training style!

Hi all this is just a quick poll to find out if most people grade with their own sensei in their own club or if they go somewhere else to grade. I was just curious!! Personally, in the organisation I train with, we go to a regional grading centre and grade with 3 examiners and their assistants - one examiner each for kihon, kumite and kata. The final examiner is for kata and he is also the chief examiner for the whole organisation in the UK and he decides whether a person passes, gets a temporary grade or fails, based on the comments from the other examiners and his own judgement. I was just wondering if the 'going to somewhere else to grade' thing is fairly unusual or not - do most of you grade at your own dojo?

Good luck with your first tournament! Remember, it's OK to be nervous - I'm sure your opponent probably will be too. Stick with the techniques that you know and I'm sure you'll do fine. When your opponent is lying unconcious in a pool of their own blood, then that is the time to stop hitting them... LOL Seriously, though, attack with force, but not too hard - in some competitions you can be warned or even become disqualified for using excessive force, especially to the head. The best person to check with is probably your sensei. He/she should be able to tell you what sort of contact to use and if there are any techniques that you can't do in the comp. Don't forget to let us know how you get on!

When I took my first belt grading, for my orange belt as it is in my organisation, I remember being very nervous!! I had to demonstrate basic blocks to head, chest and groin level, show basic punching (oi-tsuki and gyaku-tsuki) and do front snap kick and chest height roundhouse kick, all shown moving forwards and backwards in appropriate stances. Then we had basic sparring, both head and chest height attacks. We had to block and counterpunch. Then there was the katas (Kihon and Heian Shodan) to finish. We were also expected to know the meaning of some basic karate terms in Japanese too. The actual stuff we had to do might seem 'easy', but I personally think that no gradings are easy and that going from white belt to first coloured belt is one of the most nerve-wracking!! I'm testing for my first dan at the start of December and I don't think that I'm quite as nervous about that as I was when I was taking my first grading, from white to orange belt, even though when I tested for my orange belt I was in a small group and when I take my black I'll be in a room with just me testing at one time and three examiners (plus the parents and friends of those who are also grading for black on the same day! So, no pressure, eh...). Good luck with your first grade Stuart, I hope you do well!

I wouldn't kick walls if I was you... although, having said that, my instructor practises mawashi-geri by turning the light switch on and off!! He claims it gives him good target practise. Keep on practising 'kicking air'. Also, in my dojo, we occasionally practise on each other, wearing body armour, so we can get a bit of a 'feel' for what it's like to kick someone hard. Try using a punch/kick bag too or get someone to hold a kick shield for you, or fasten one to a wall at home if possible.

I've got a question too, on a related theme. I train in shotokan karate and (as far as I know) it doesn't train with weapons. However, some styles use traditional kobudo weapons, such as tonfa, bo, jo, sai. etc etc. Is this linked to the 'split' between Japanese and Okinawan karate? I know a bit about shotokan, but hardly anything about other karate styles, so I'll quote Drunken Monkey and say that "I'm after a history lesson here so feel free to ramble"! Thanks. A.~ 1st kyu Brown belt, Shotokan.

My story is similar, although I don't get paid. However, my sensei does buy me a beer occasionally!! lol. I teach the beginners at my dojo, under the careful supervision of my sensei. I enjoy it and see it as good practise for if I ever open my own club (in the very distant future!). Regarding qualifications, in the organisation that I'm with (the FSK in England) you have to be a minimum of 2nd dan to be a registered instructor. To run your own club with the FSK you have to have an instructors licence and have been passed as fit to teach by the head of the organisation, Aidan Trimble. Just because someone is a second Dan doesn't necessarily make them a good instructor, however I think that the FSK system does at least cut down on the number of people running a dojo who haven't the first idea of how a club should be organised or how to teach. I just wish that there was a governing body who examined potential instructors and made sure they were up to a certain standard before they were allowed to be unleashed on a paying public. In the UK I know of an organisation that will allow you to be an instructor (and have your own club!) with them from 3rd kyu. I think that is worrying, personally. I wouldn't want to train at a club where the club owner was a 3rd kyu! (Not that I'm dissin' 3rd kyu's, it's just that most 3rd kyu's would not be ready to run their own club) I'm a 1st kyu, taking my black belt in a couple of months time, and there is NO WAY I would want to run my own club at the moment and have people coming to me and thinking they were getting responsible karate instruction. Sorry for the very long post , this is one of my 'soapbox' issues in martial arts. Right, I'll shut up now!! Bless you if you've stuck with my rant and read this far!! A.~ 1st kyu Brown belt, Shotokan

Have you only ever seen shotokan fights or fights from other karate styles too? I train in shotokan and I have to say that most of the fights I've seen don't look like a kickboxing match (and, yes, I've seen kickboxing fights too!! ), although there is a bit of a 'limit' to techniques that can be used in karate competitions, both for safety reasons and for practical purposes. That's probably why you think they look like kickboxing, becuase all the bunkai and traditional shotokan stuff, such as the low stances, can't really be used in a competition fight - some of it is designed for streetfighting, really, IMO. A.~ 1st kyu Brown belt.

That's the best sort of sensei to have - one who makes you feel worthwhile and welcome. If only all clubs had a sensei like that then the martial arts world would be a better place! Hope you manage to overcome your fears, mArTiAl_GiRl and find a sensei like your old one. A.~ 1st kyu Brown belt

Hi Darce, do you mean that you don't have freestyle sparring until black belt test, or do you mean that you don't have any sparring/ fighting tests until black? Sorry for the stupid question, I'm having a dense moment. Must be due to one too many blows to the head from when I've sparred with my sensei! lol A.~ 1st kyu Brown belt

Seven weeks of training before what? Is there a grading or something at the end of it? I totally agree that karate takes a lot of time to understand; many years usually! Personally, I think it's a good thing that the club offers 7 weeks of training in the introductory package, as it will probably cut down on the number of people who quit after the first couple of lessons because they haven't instantly turned into Bruce Lee... lol A.~ 1st Kyu Brown Belt

Hi all, I'm new here; this forum looks pretty cool! When I first joined my dojo about 3 or so years ago, a kid who started at the same time as me asked my sensei if he broke boards. My sensei (who is a joiner) looked at him strangely and said "yeah, I use a saw". The kid didn't know what to say after that! I think that by the time a person is technically able to break boards then they have enough wisdom to know that they don't actually need to break them with their hands or feet. However, it still looks cool! A.~ 1st kyu brown belt

Hi all, I'm also new here! Just wanted to say hello. A.~