aefibird

I'll keep him and his family in my thoughts and prayers.

Currently my favourite kata is Sochin, although that will probably have changed by next week. I also really like Meikyo, Gankaku and Enpi. My favourite of the Heian kata is H. Yondan.

One way that my instructor gets lower grades to practice their side kick is with a higher grade partner. The partner holds the kickers leg whilst the kicker very slowly performs the kick. The partner then holds the kickers leg out in the correct kick position for a few seconds before the kicker slowly returns their leg to the ground.

You missed an option from the poll... "because my instructor tells me to" :P

We practice basics practically every lesson at my karate club. It is a vital part of training and my instructor always has a chat with new students about the importance of "basic" techniques and the fact that we practice them so much. That's also part of the reason we practice Kihon kata (Taikyoku Shodan) and the Heian kata series so much - if a student can't perform Kihon correctly then they'll take their mistakes through to advanced kata and perform those incorrectly too.

One competition I once entered I went to kick waist height roundhouse and my opponent blocked with her elbow, resulting in a broken big toe for me and a sore elbow for her! Also, when I was grading for my purple belt I had a similar situation. We were practicing basic combinations with a prtner. One side had to do a side thrust kick and the other person had to block and counter-attack. It was my turn to kick and my partner blocked the top of my foot with her elbow. I couldn't bear to put any weight on the injured foot and it swelled up and went black almost immediately. I couldn't believe how much pain I could be in just from someone hitting the top of my foot with their elbow. Somehow I managed to get through the grading, but my foot was sore for ages afterwards. The skin on the top of that foot is now a little harder than the skin on the top of my other foot.

AND Ah the beauty of living of Britain with the NHS. We may knock it but it's comments like this that really bring it home how lucky we are. Aefiebird is in England and therefore has free access to a General Practioner, physiotherapists, radiologists etc. Yes, everytime I have cause to use the NHS I am reminded of how lucky the people of Britain are to have such a fine service. The care and compassion of all the NHS medical staff I have ever come into contact with has be second to none. A big :up: to them all!!

Glad that you are enjoying it!

I'd say to choose something that will complement your Shotokan training and enhance it. Aikido or JuJitsu would be a good choice, as would a weapons art if your club doesn't focus on weapons. Cross-training in another art that is very similar to Shotokan (such as TaeKwonDo) wouldn't be as effective at rounding out your martial arts 'career' as would cross training in a style with a different emphasis. Perhaps before you make a firm decision on what other art to train in, you may wish to have a look at what arts are available in your area and try out a few lessons (more than one lesson) in each. Good luck!

I agree. If you feel that you are learning and developing then you probably have a good instructor. Even if your instructor doesn't know a lot about their art (most assistant instructors start off at coloured belt stage and therefore don't know as much as as an instructor with more experience), if they can teach what they know in an understanding, compassionate and enlightening manner then you're onto a winner with them. I'm the assistant instructor at my club. As a 1st dan I freely admit that I don't know very much compared to my own instructor who is a 5th dan and has been training solidly for the past 30+ years. If I have anyone ask me anything I don't know then I will admit that I don't know and we'll go to Sensei and find out the answer together. However, I hope that the fact that I am willing to admit that my knowledge is lacking in some areas and the fact that I am continuing to always want to grow in my karate training and to learn more every day will be an example to the students that I teach and that they will strive to learn more and think about karate every day as they come up through the coloured belt ranks.

My instructor has trained in kyokushin karate and he always speaks highly of it as a style. I've never had any experience of it, except through discussion with other members on these forums.

I wonder if anyone has ever had the same problem that I've got now? A few weeks (maybe even a couple of months ago) we were doing takedown techniques at my dojo. I was being uke (the person being thrown about like a rag doll ), when I slipped as I was going to the floor and ended up landing on my bent elbow (i.e. landing on the point of it). Ack, all that Aikido and Karate breakfall training and I land on my elbow... It hurt like heck for a few days afterwards, but the pain seemed to go away after a while. However, since then I've been getting regular bouts of pins and needles in my elbow and in that arm, especially in my middle two fingers. I've also been getting pain in my elbow again, as well as pain in my fingers. Should I go to the doctor about it, or will it just go away in time? My elbow is still working and I can use my arm as normal - it's just the pins and needles and the finger pain are 'doing my head in'. It seems like a minor problem to bother my GP about, especially as all GP's in the UK seem to have too many patients to see and not enough time, but what does everyone else think I should do? BTW, I've tried taking Paracetamol (I can't take Ibuprofen or Aspirin as I have asthma), as well as using ice and having long soaks in hot baths, none of which really seem to make any difference.

Congratulations Kicks! Thank you for your imput to the KF community.

Hi Johnny Boy! Welcome to Karate Forums.

Hi Lydia! Welcome to Karate Forums.

Hi pericles! Welcome to Karate Forums. The belts that are displayed under a persons name are an indication of how many posts that person has made on the forums. All newcomers start off at whitebelt - members with lots of posts make it to black!

Hi Missy! Welcome to Karate Forums.

Hi there! Welcome to Karate Forums.

I'd say that between 1 in 100 - 1 in 150 make it to blackbelt in my karate organisation.

I don't smoke and never have done (smoking and asthma don't mix well...), but I do drink alcohol. At my dojo there are people who smoke, people who drink, people who do both and people who do neither. Sensei has never made it an issue that the smokers should quit smoking or those who like a drink should give up alcohol - it's our own personal choice. As Shorinryu Sensei has said, generally the Sensei is there to teach martial arts, not preach about the dangers of alcohol or nicotine.

Good luck with your grading! Try to stay focused on the job at hand and tell yourself that your instructor wouldn't be testing you if he didn't think you were capable of it.

lol, interesting analogy... I personally am not a fan of XMA and wouldn't want to train in it, but...it's each to their own.

Yay! Congrats to everyone who made this KF's best month yet. Let's keep up the great discussions guys!

I had AOL for about 3 months and hated it. Since I switched to Freeserve (now called Wanadoo) I've had no trouble. I wouldn't recommend AOL at all to anyone.

Does this discussion "leaf" anyone "board"? Or do you all think it "wood" be interesting to keep on talking about it? Is that "oak-ay" with everyone on the "boards"? (*groans at all the bad puns*. Sorry for joining in, I couldn't "chop" myself!! )