aefibird

Yes, I wear their Red Diamond label gi a lot. It's a good heavy gi for general training. It also looks nice for competitions. Another MA website that's good if you're in the UK is Karate Kid. I've found that they have faster shipping than Blitz and their customer services are first class. They also have a free MA club listing.

I tend to look at the centre of the chest, just a little below the neck.

I'd suggest that you wait - January isn't far away. At least you'll have an extra month to practice and also you'll not 'spoil' your friendship by testing without your friend. If you wait you'll make your friend happy, but if you test you'll beat yourself up about it and feel guilty that you didn't wait for her. I know that it's only a belt... but it is nice to have a buddy to test with. A friend of mine and I did that - we waited to test with each other for each of our belt tests, and did so right up to out 1st Dan test. We're hoping to be able to take out 2nd Dan together too. Good luck with whatever you decide to do! Good luck with your red belt test too, for whenever you decide to take it.

Well, I'm crazy too. I practice at work, or if I'm waiting for a bus or train, or even if I'm just walking along a street. I tend to stick to practicing hand techniques, although I've been known to run through kata and kicks in the toilets at work... Lately we've been learning a new kata at my karate school and it has this twisty hand combo in it. Guess what I've been using to push open doors with... Even if I don't physically practice, I'll run through techniques and combos in my head, especially if I'm in a boring meeting.

I agree. It's good to try different things, especially in the dojo/dojang/gym/wherever. It's the ideal place to try differences in stance, guard etc when sparring. If you try something new and it doesn't work then fair enough. However, if you try something new and it works for you then that's a bonus!

aefibird, I bought some of these MA shoes a while back, and I'm very satisfied with them. I think they look rather smart too. Mooto Wings Half-chaps?? You know, it really chaps my a... er, I mean, I hate it when I don't know what something is! Aren't chaps those leather "outer" pants cowboys wore? Are half-chaps more like shorts? (Can't help with the snow either.) Thanks for the link! Yes those shoes do look really cool. As for half-chaps... "Chaps" are the leather or suede thingies that cowboys wear to cover their trousers. Half-chaps are the same, but are only worn between the ankle and the knee.See Picture They stop the part that is in closest contact with the saddle (your inner calves) from being rubbed - they save wear on jodhpurs and help keep your legs warm in freezing cold British winters!! lol

Congratulations Wap! Have you got any pics to share with us??

I don't know much about shampoo. I tend to buy shampoo for coloured hair, as I dye my hair. I heard that shampoo for dyed hair has more conditioning agents in it than 'regular' shampoo, so it doesn't make the hair colour fade as quickly. I presume shampoo for thick hair does stop it for going frizzy. Anyway, just buy whichever brand you prefer - as long as it gets your hair clean!!

Good luck!

June1 and DesertBeagle, good luck to you both for your gradings! Look confident and you'll probably feel more confident too. Don't worry if you make a mistake - keep going. Chances are, they may not even have noticed it. If you do make a mistake and then subsequently beat your chest, wail in anguish and declare yourself to be the worst karateka in the world then the grading panel will probably think less of you than if you keep going and try and act like nothing wrong happened! Bit of an exaggeration there, but I think you get what I mean... Make sure you get a good nights sleep beforehand and drink plenty of water and have a good breakfast on the day of your test. When I was testing for my 9th kyu there was a girl there who fainted - she hadn't eaten because she was so nervous and she didn't have the energy to make it through the training session beforehand and then the grading afterwards. Try to keep calm and relax! I know....easy advice to give, difficult to take. I was always a nervous wreck at my karate gradings, but they were never as bad as I'd hyped them up in my mind to be. Not even the "dreaded blackbelt test" was as bad as I thought it was going to be once I got into it.

I don't train in Kempo or Kenpo, but I like reading the posts by guys that do. There's some good and informative stuff been posted by the Kenpo people on KF - long may it continue. There's a Kenpo club about 30 miles away from where I live...does that count????

I agree - it looks like a posed photo to me too. My karate style has a strong Shotokan-base, but we don't fight like that (no, not even in "tippy-tappy" point sparring... ). The stance we generally use at my club sounds similar to the one that Angela described in an earlier post.

Good luck! Glad to hear you're going to try and train every day - let us know how you get on!

Sorry to hear that Akira13. I hope that you manage to find a new MA club that you like.

I'll go with that!! My actual "list to Santa" is much more modest - a new pair of MA shoes, a new pair of half-chaps (y'wear them when you go horseriding) and a pile of CDs. Oh. And SNOW. I love snow, but we hardly ever get any in my corner of the world.

Good luck for when you take your test!

I hear ya Beka! I think that "deep down I'm a katana master" too! I also like bladed weapons - I'm a bit of a sword freak.

I agree with Mu Ryuk. There's no harm in you checking out the new school. However, if the new school is only better because it's closer then I personally don't think that's enough of a reason to switch. You have to take into other factors, such as price, contracts and (most important IMO) the quality of the instruction. A similar situation has occurred to me, actually. A new Wing Chun school has opened up that is only half the distance for me to travel than I do to my current school. However, I've not gone to look at the school, even though their prices are cheaper, because I'm very satisfied with my current WC club. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

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

Congrats Patrick! Let's keep up the good work guys - and keep KF as the best MA forum on the net!

Cogratulations Angela!

I agree with Batt. Stick to what you know - it's better to do what you know really well than struggle through something you only half-know and do it below par. Good luck with the show!

Congratulations on your first place! I hope that you enjoyed yourself. Are you planning on entering any more tourneys?

I hope that your demo went well! I'd like to see a vid of it, if possible.

Just bought myself a Tai Chi sword.