aefibird

Hi kung-fu kid! Welcome to Karate Forums. I hope that you find a Martial Art you like.

I like my Tokaido Japanese-cut gi. However, I also own a very nice Karate Kid "Kata Master" gi - daft name, but a good quality gi, which I keep especially for tournaments, gradings, special seminars, demos etc etc etc. My every day dojo gi is a Blitz red label karate gi. It's also good enough to be used for grappling.

Im a girl and I do Kung Fu... However, I'm the only female at my Wing Chun class. It doesn't bother me, though - if I ever got into a situation where I'd need to use my SD skills then it'd most likely be against a guy anyway. Plus, I prefer training with the blokes. It's funny when a woman can hit harder than they can! :lol:

Probably "karate" (generic, most non-MAists haven't heard of the famous styles), along with "Kung Fu" (again, most non-MAists haven't heard of the types of KF) and TaeKwon Do. If non-Martial Artists have heard of specific styles, then it's likely to be Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do, thanks to a certain B. Lee....

Thankfully I've never had to use any of my MA training in a SD/streetfight situation - and I hope I never will. My Wing Chun club also teaches TKD, Kickboxing, Kali and Tai Chi and we sometimes have 'inter-style' bouts between the various club members, with interesting results. However, I've not participated in any of them yet because I don't feel that my Wing Chun/TCC is sufficiently good enough yet.

Can anyone tell me a little about the differences between the various styles of TCC? How much difference is there between (for example) Chen and Yang styles or Yang and Sun styles? Are the forms within TCC all similar or does it depend on the style and/or the teacher? Just for additional info, I train in Chen style with Grandmaster Kongjie Gou and Master Shabir Akhtar. If you train in TCC. which style do you train in and how long have you been studying Tai Chi Chu'an?

I saw it last weekend - I really like it. My favourite parts were the fight scene in the bamboo forest and then end bit in the snow.

Good video Kicks! Me too!!

Nick, what do you have to do for your first test in your Wing Chun club? We have informal gradings in my school, but they're only as part of everyday training - you keep training and Sifu just tells you at the end class that you've gone up a grade. There's no formal testing and you don't actually 'know' you're being tested - you just move up a level when Sifu thinks that you're ready. Actually, I went up a grade at Wing Chun on Tuesday - I'm now red sash, level 2! Woo hoo, no longer a beginner!! :D

Interesting thought - I'll have to do a bit of reseach into that. We have a famous (In England anyway!!) Morris Team in the village where I live. One of the chief guys in the team goes to the same pub as me, so I'll have to ask him.

Congrats Kev! Keep up the good work!

Try practicng kicking using resistance bands/elastics. If you can learn to kick quickly with a resistance band around your leg, then you'll be even faster without it! I agree with wtKempostudent - stretching and flexibility are important. When I first started karate it was my lack of flexibility (I'm as naturaly flexible as a brick! ) that held me back at first. Since I began karate, stretching is the one area that I've tried to practice on a regular basis. Being more flexible has really helped my kicking speed.

Sorry, I don't know. I've seen the tiger symbol used, but not with the half-moon.

Glad to hear you can practice more often! Don't worry about only being able to go 4 times a week - if you practice a little at home every day then you'll improve much faster than if you only train in the dojo. Good luck with your training! I train in karate 4 times a week, teach once or twice a week (alternate weeks Saturday class!) and train at home when I'm not in the dojo. I also try and find time to fit in some kobudo training as well as Wing Chun and Tai Chi Chu'an practice as well.

I know someone who went, but I've not heard too much about the actual event, other than the medals table.

Yes, I know of someone who had her name in Chinese characters tattooed on her arm. She later found out that what the tattooist had mistakenly tattooed actually meant "prostitute".

Buy a green gi....

I'd say that the majority of folks on here will train in either a form or karate or TKD, as they seem to the the most popular arts in most areas of the globe.

Congratulations to you Matt! Keep up the good work!

Wow, that's great! It's always a pleasure of mine to see how much the karate beginner kids that I teach grow - both mentally and physically. Wathcing their achievements and being proud of them is a great feeling! One of my most surprising MA moments came last night at Wing Chun when I was told by Sifu that he was promoting me to the next level. I was totally surprised and it was very unexpected. So, I'm now red sash level 2!

Where do I sign up?!!

What next? Anyone for Martial Synchronised Swimming?

The first grading in my karate association isn't very dificult at all. Generally, people pass - although I've know a couple of failures, mostly due to very bad nerves and forgetting everything. There's a pre-selection of sorts, but not an official pre-selection test.

Welcome back to Karate Forums! Good to have you back. Get well soon! BTW, if you ever hear of any MA competitions in the Yorkshire area, then if you'd let me know I'd be truly grateful! I keep looking for details of comps, but I've not managed to find many forthcoming ones yet. :-/

Hi KiiiOUCH! Welcome to Karate Forums. Good to have you on board!