aefibird

Do you ever get songs/tunes stuck in your head that you just can't stop humming or singing? I've got one of those "earworms" right now: Tony Christie's "(Is This The Way To) Amarillo". The kids where I work keep singing it too - I think it's stuck in more heads than just mine!!

I love lots of music, but metal, rock and punk are my faves. I'm listening to God Forbid as I type. My favourite group of all time, however, are Queen. RIP Freddie Mercury!

I don't just have a room to keep clean... I have to tidy my whole house! Arrgh, nightmare! lol, j/k. I tend to *try* and put things away as soon as I have finished with them, that way it won't build up into a huge mess. I see it as better to spend a couple of minutes tidying every day than do it once every so often and have to spend ages on it when I could be doing something I enjoy. I vacuum and dust on a regular basis (I have asthma and dust makes it worse) but I do tend to put off washing up. I don't own a dishwasher, but as soon as I can afford to get one I'm gonna. I hate washing up dishes sooooo much.

I'm looking forward to it, although I have some reservations after Episode I and Episode II. I though they were quite poor quality (esp. Episode I) compared to the older trilogy. Still, I love Sci-Fi, so I'll be there watching Episode III when it is released.

I don't like hunting for sport (actually, I'm totally against it) but I can see why people would go hunting for food. I don't have a problem with that at all. I've actually been on a mini hunting expedition with Masai in the bush in Tanzania. That was fun, epsecially as I got to spend the day with tall, hunky men. *ahem* I think I'll stop talking about that now... The only hunting that I've done in the UK is 'hunting' for a free parking space at the mall or 'hunting' for a manned checkout at Tesco on Saturdays. To the manager of Tesco, Wath-upon-Dearne, - get some more Saturday staff!!

Glad to hear it!

We'll have to start a support group... Coffe Snobs Anonymous....

From what I've seen, Splashing Hands is often taught in conjunction with other Chinese MA such as Tai Chi, Xing Yi, Bagua etc etc.

For me - it depends on the strike I'm about to perform (or receive). Typically, Kiba feel 'weak and unbalanced' when striking to (or receiving a direct strike from) the front. There is nothing behind to stabilise the outgoing (or receive the incoming force of the incoming) strike. That's probably why most people find Shiko more 'stable'. However, when performing a technique to the side, Kiba is hugely more stable. For example, try a 'full throttle' Jun Tsuki in both Kiba and Shiko and watch what happens. Alternatively - here are a couple of drills to help you 'feel' the difference. 1) Block an incoming Tsuki whilst steping in and to the left (at 45°) into Zenkutsu Dachi (your opponent should finish to your right and 'inside' your Zenkustu. Your counter strike is a Left Tsuki from Shiko Dachi into the liver of your opponent. In other words - 'snap' from Zekutsu into Shiko whilst delivering the strike. Trust me - your opponent is down an out. 2) Next try the same drill with Kiba. Since the strike is delivered from your front (but at a 45° angle to your opponent) - you will find that you have far less power and far less stability. 3) Next - do the same drill. Finish in Shiko Dachi with a left Kake Uchi (also known as a good ole fashioned 'left hook' ) to your opponents kidneys (hitting him in the back). Since the force of the blow is coming from the side - Shiko does a good job of supporting the blow - but doesn't carry the strike through quite so well as.... 4) Same as No. 3 - this time in Kiba Dachi. Remember - these drills will only work if you 'snap' into your Kiba/Shiko with correct hip movement (the strike and hip movement snaping into it's target and 'locking' together at the point of impact). This is another example of how 'the application decides the stance that one chooses in a confrontation - the stance does not decide the application'. Hope this helps , have fun trying out the drills and remember to ask your opponent for feedback on the force of the strikes. -V- I've done drills like that before but I still prefer Shiko to Kiba. Just a bit of persona preference I guess.

We do similar things in my dojo too. We tend to train in kata most lessons, so the higher grades in a class are constanly getting practice of Kihon/Taikyoku and the Heian kata. We often have a "kata blast" where we start from Kihon kata, work through the Heian series and onto other kata. If beginners/lower grades want to stay up and train in kata they don't know then they are welcome. We go through kata non stop, one after the other until we have run through the all the ones trained in in my dojo or until we get to a kata that no-one knows or only one person knows (depending on who is in the class at the time). It's a great way to practice and train and it means that we're always going over "lower grade kata" so that we practice and learn something new from it on a regular basis.

I'm going to move this to the Sport forum. Chado, I'd be interested in seeing your photo - even if your Sensei and Elvis Stoicko are 'just standing there.' Good luck to you for the competition - let us know how you get on!

It probably would throw off some people, but a good fighter should practice off both left and right lead. Being left-handed *might* make a difference in the execution of some techniques, which also may give left-handers a slight advantage. I'm primarily right-handed, but learned to use my left hand when I was a teenager after breaking my wrist in several places. I still prefer to play pool left-handed.

I'm going to move this to the Getting Started in Martial Arts forum as I feel that this topic would help any beginners to MA who are browsing there. My reasons for starting MA: 1) It looked (and still is!) fun 2) A friend of mine had recently started 3) I always wanted to train but was never allowed to as a child 4) I was determined to start training as an adult because of the reason given in 3) 5) I wanted to be able to learn self-defence 6) I wanted to start something new and karate looked more appealing than aerobics or yoga classes. Those reasons applied when I started my initial MA (karate). I chiose to start other martial arts because I wanted to learn more about other styles and I thought that learning a different MA would help and complelment my karate training.

The thing it as well, it's ok practicing weapon defence but a lot of attacks will be with improvised weapons. While there will always be pre-meditated attacks with weapons (such as a mugging or break-in) there will also be the situations where one guy in a bar thinks that someone else is looking 'funny' at him and tries to take a chunk out of his head with an ashtray or chair. Practicing with 'regular' weapons is good (we do a regular 'knife-defense' session at my karate school) but you also need to think about attacks and defenses with less common weapons and everyday objects. It always reminds me of the Monty Python sketch "How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana" - not quite that sort of everyday weapon, but the principle is the same. My karate club holds a freestyle self-defence and 'fight club' night on Thursdays and we regularly borrow equipment from the bar downstairs (we're in a room above a pub) to use in our training - pool cues, pool balls, ashtrays (clean!) and the like. They thought it was odd at first, but they're used to us nutters upstairs now...

If you do decide to take up MA when you get to university then if this bully knows about it, he may back down. He may be picking on you because you have shown weakness to him up to now - you've let him get away with it. If he sees that you are able to stand up to yourself by taking MA, he may reveal himself to be a coward and back down. Also, go and see a staff member at university. Have a quiet word with them and tell them about your situation as soon as you get there - before anything happens with this guy. That way they are aware of the history between you two and the fact that he has a record of harassing you. Then the staff can 'keep an eye out' for you and make sure that he doesn't start on you again when you are at uni. As you are a new student, they may also be able to pair you up with a an older 'buddy' who has been there a few years. That way you'd have someone to see if you did have any hassle from the bully and it would be better for you to talk to someone of similar age to you than it would to go to the university staff. If you are serious about taking martial arts, then it doesn't really matter what style you take - having a good instructor is more important. As you're going to a university, they'll probably have more MA clubs than a regular non-university town. Plus, they may have special "uni students only" clubs. Find out all the MA styles that are on offer at your university and go along and try out a couple of lessons at each until you find something that you are happy with. Good luck with your situation.

But only if you pay enough $$$/£££ for it!! :D

I train at MA two schools, both of which teach more than one MA. I don't pay per month, although I could do if I wanted to at my Wing Chun/TCC Academy. However, as I can only go twice a week to that club, it would actually work out more expensive for me to pay per month (the monthly fee works out that students attend a minimum of 3 classes a week in any of the arts taught at the Academy). For my Karate school, the fee is £3 per lesson (but I don't pay any more as I'm the assistant instructor. My kobudo lessons are also free). FSD/Fight Club at this school is £2 per class. I pay £7 per class for Wing Chun and £6 for Tai Chi. Membership fees at the Karate school are £5 per year and are £10 a year at Wing Chun.

:lol: That's a great image!!

karatekid, how easy/hard was it for students at your TSD school to get a cho dan bo belt? By "get" I mean literally buy rather than process of earning one... It's just that I've never seen a dark blue belt for sale on any MA website that I've been on that is based in the UK - or for sale in any UK MA shop either. Did your school have to specially order dark blue belts or are they commonly on sale in the USA?

You can be a 'champion' without ever getting into the ring or stepping on the competition mat. Being a champion is having the right attitude, having dedication to training and being willing to work hard and constantly strive for perfection.

Yes! I totally agree! I hate that too. Pairing up with someone who isn't prepared to hit me or to train realistically isn't helping me at all - someone who tries to mug me or rape me won't show me that courtesy, so getting used to being a little 'roughed up' in the dojo will help me if I ever need to use my martial arts training. Plus, I can give as good (and sometimes better!) than I get...

My karate school has: white orange yellow red green purple purple & 1 white stripe brown brown & 1 white stripe brown & 2 white stripes black (no stripes to denote dan grade) personally, I'd like us to ditch all the stripe belts, as I feel that we have too many grades. Our kobudo training doesn't involve ranking. In my Wing Chun school we have 4 sash colours: red, green, brown and black. There are 2 levels within each sash, except black. However, most people don't wear their sashes, except on a grading day or when we have a special guest instructor. I also train in Tai Chi but we don't have grades in that.

Unfortunately, you can only select one response for a poll.

As I woman, I can speak with experience when I say that getting hit in the chest (especially the nipples) and the groin definately hurts. However, the chest is not usually a viable target and I'd say that opponents are more likely to strike to other areas, rather than the chest. I have a ladies chest protector for sparring, but it is so unwieldly and uncomfortable to wear that I seldom wear it, unless I'm in a competition where it is required by the rules.

Very true. Personally, I think that video/DVD courses for beginners are a total waste of time and money. However, for experienced martial artists who wish to supplement their training in the dojo with training at home, a video can be useful. I have couple of karate DVDs that I watch because they give me useful hints and tips and also contain videos of kata. The sweeps and throws section on one of the DVDs is particularly useful. However, I certainly wouldn't recommend that a beginner learn karate from either of the DVDs, as they'd be more harm than good.