italian_guy

Which one do you like best? I think no.2 is the best, number 1's plot is too simple and too obvious, number 3 is my second best.

Welcome to the forums and good luck for your club search. Glad you're from good old 1961 like me. BTW what's blue collar?

Welcome to KF

Actually kickboxing was the only martial art I did where men were the majority. In my karate class and in my TCC class we have more women then men.

In my old kickboxing class we were 7-8 to 16 peoples (depending on the period) mostly guys lets say 75% guys, 25% guls... the addendance was ok for the size of the room. The instructor was quite strict, no joking, no talking exept to ask question to the instructor. You did not do drills in pair (or sparring ok not for you if it was the first time but what about the others?)? This may be strange but probably this lessons was special... sometimes we also did bag work session.

If it is kickboxing you can wear either short or long kickboxing pants and a vest or shirt without sleeves... you should expect an intense workout and going throu the early basics with an instructor. Anyhow from the description you made for the art you wanted to do I think your best choice would be Sanda which is chinese kickboxing with some kung fu elements in it (so you can learn chi-na). Anyway if you like your present school keep it and have fun!!

In my class there is no intermediate test... in my son's class (Shotokan) there are double colored belts (his next test should be for white/yellow belt) but this depends on the school not on the system.

I think groin shot should be practice if you do self defence applications, however you should wear a cup!

Just two considerations... I agree with those that tells you to test and then help your friend with the test, also because if this test is somehow harder then the others if you do the test now, she can then benefit from your experience. Second consideration you have to ask yourself if you were in her situation and she was in your what do you think it would happen?

I would like to review some books and DVD I recently bought

Welcome to KF.

Welcome to Karate forum and best wishes for your belt test.

Welcome to KF and welcome back to martial arts

Welcome to KF.

He is not 50 he's even older I don't remember if he was born in 45' or in 40'.

What about Ralph Macchio?

...for reality based mixed martial arts optimized for self-defence my pick would be JKD/Kali escrima combo... so called Inosanto method... JKD is a mix of striking and grappling (more striking) and Kali is mostly weapons... Kali teaches you how to use anything (also flexible objects like towels) as a weapon and that can be very useful in a practical self-defence situation. Check https://www.inosanto.com for the school closer to your location.

I would like to raccomend an okinawan karate style, my favorite is GoJu ryu but also shorin ryu is a quite complete system, we have kicks, punches strikes, grappling, ground fighting, locks...

I think you have the right attitude... and from the karate style you choose I think you started to tackle the problem in the HARD WAY

Congratulations from another yellow belt (since June).

Yup, we are taught the exact same thing. DT This is also something I have learnt from a JKD instructor....

Mostly chest and shoulder.

I practice katas and tai chi chuan forms in my mind often, physical practice I do only when I'm home alone.

I started for fitness and fun, ... and I'm still there for these reasons. Unfortunately I started late (almost 42) if I would have started earlier I would have tried the competition side but now it's too late. Anyway MAs are a lot of fun and this is the reason why I cross train mostly because in this way I can fill my week with MA lessons.

Hi, I was wandering if someone uses lateral guard (Bill Wallace style) during sparring.