aefibird

Try and cut down on running a little and see if it improves. If not, go and see a doctor. Your knees are important, especially to a martial artist and you need to take good care of them. Also, check with your instructor that you are performing techniques correctly. Sometimes changing the way you perform a stance or a kick (for example) can work wonders for aching knee joints.

...although when you're recieving a pounding from Sensei or another senior student it can feel like an exercise in survival sometimes!!

I would say that a back flip couldn't be of much use in a real fight, but they're still fun to do and watch! I used to be able to do them when I was younger (when I was at school and train in gymnastics) but I haven't done one for such a long time that if I tried one now I'd probably just end up on my rear end and look stupid....

I'd choose water, although powerade/gatorade/lucozade type drinks can be useful, especially for endurace events.

I'm moving this to the health and fitness forum.

Free classes? That's great! Glad you're enjoying the training. Welcome back to the world of Martial Arts.

On my karate rank certificates we have Kanji, a tiger and the logo for my association. Sorry, I don't know why some rank certificates would use peacocks!

I only know 3 Korean Patterns (Taegeuk 1, 2 & 3) but out of those Taegeuk 3 (Sam Jang) is my favourite. Out of Japanese forms (kata) my favourites are Nijushiho, Jion, Jitte and Rohai. Bassai Sho gets an honourable mention (it works well as both an empty hand and a weapon form too).

Are you going brawler? If so, have fun! Where is it held?

Yes, cross training is great and can be done for many reasons. Not everyone will be a UFC fighter, but crosstraining can help with competition fighting, SD skills, self-confidence or even just done to have fun! The MAs that I train in suit me and I continue to train in them because I enjoy them, which is a major reason for training in anything, for most people.

I've done both hard and soft training, but I generally train in hard style at the moment.

Sounds like a great deal! Enjoy Aikido - I loved my time in Aikdio - and it would suit your karate training well.

Good luck Marc! I'm sure that you will pass with flying clours. If you have any pics of your test (and of you with your new belt!!) then it would be good to see them.

Great pics! Glad you three had a good time.

Glad you like it! MADAD, the best best thing for you to do would probably be to go along and watch a couple of classes - see what you think. You'll never really now unless you go along to watch and then try a class. Good luck!

How often are the seminars?

I think that a couple of month's training won't do you any harm. You'll enjoy it and get to learn about another system at the same time. Go for it!

Good luck for when you attempt to break that brick! I'm sure you'll do it.

Yery true. One steps and the like can be really useful for teaching distance, timing, correct technique etc etc but they can also create bad habits in students. Personally, I like one-steps and think they can be useful in the right context, but shouldn't be seen as a good way of drilling effective SD techniques.

I'd say my most powerful kicks are spinning back kick and left rear leg round kick.

Congratulations!

We train in kata with our eyes closed and it is difficult at first. It is amazing how much your body relies on seeing certain 'landmarks' in order to be able to remember a kata. Changing direction or performing a mirror kata can work well too. it gets you thinking a bit more and stops you just going through the motions of a kata. We've done some eyes closed excercises at Wing Chun too. Sifu encourages us to try and do Chi Sau (sticking hands) with our eyes closed to improve sensitivity training. I like it and think it is a good idea.

Congratulations Mr Mike!

My kiai's are loud but that's because I have a big mouth... We generally go with the short-but-powerful approach to kiai-ing in my dojo. We have to kiai in set places in kata, but otherwise student's are allowed to kiai whenever they like (although not excessively or stupidly). Training for competition kata is different for training traditional kata IMO, therefore kiai's are just another one of the changes made in order for judges to sit up and take notice. After all, if yours is the 15th Bassai that they've seen so far that morning then they're gonna be on the look-out for something a bit different. I don't agree with all of the changes made for competitions but I can see why people do so.

Good luck to anyone from KF who is going!