returning_wave

although Im obviously biased Id recommend Karate. Altohugh from what Ive heard TKD is also a good bet. Jsut make sure you get somewhere which doesnt break boards: conditioned hands are for life and are, i would imagine, a great hinderence to a succesful musician good luck in both fields!

Our top brass dont compete, I think its disrespectful to them or somehting to compete with the lower ranks. (ie they're afraid theyll lose ) but our older shodan/nidan go agaisnt each other. some of the fights are brutal- probably another reason why they dont often happen. The younger black belts are usually lumped in with us browns, and its kinda fun to beat the ones who should be about 7th kyu and were rushed through cos they payed enough money.

hmm tough question. Heres my 2¢: I would put forward that the status of a martial artist is not to do with a numebr of lessons or state of technical proficiency, but a mindset. Once you break through the wall of self-doubt and become committed. It happened for me about 5th kyu- i just found myself really getting into it and its stayed that way. If you get really into the mindset at 10th kyu you are still a martial artist, I dont think you have to be a master to be an MA: you dont have to play for England to be a rugby player.

agreed. I have a friend who practises Shaolin and although the names make it appear religious his instructor insists they are 'designed for fighting not worship' (his words). Im sorry but I dont agree. Our instructor is forever telling us moves are 'just ceremonial' or 'a ready stance' or some similar get out clause, but, having studied applications for these (such as the so called 'spiratual' move at the start of Kanku-dai) I have applied the moves to good effect both in the dojo and on the very odd occasion outside.

Thanks guys I have Demuras book and I have Murakami's book on order at WHSmith so glad I made the right choice!

Karate, in my opinion at least, is the most complete of the martial arts, if practised to the full extent of the original. However, different modern western styles stress different parts of the syllabus, for example shotokan tends to emphasise striking over grappling and floor fighting.

internal politics has torn my style apart since our national head & deputy were deposed and a power struggle and money grabbign frenzy has been left in their place. Generally I deal with it by staying out of it. I really dispise the politics tho because it means we are beign trained to be better than other clubs so we look good, not trainign to make us better fighters.

From doing research into pressure point martial arts, I have come across two major schools of teaching: the old chinese energy channels teaching, which friend of mine does at his shotokan dojo, and swears by, and the scientific study of anatomical weaknesses. As a scientific person with no time for religion of any kind I would tend towards the latter but Im interested in what you all think. Which way do you think about martial arts? is the lower abdomen a mystical energy centre or just the human centre of gravity?

I had a friend who practised kendo for a while. he didnt enjoy it, and quit, but from what he said there are clubs who will provide armor (although to buy it is very expensive) and weapons, altohugh a bokken is not that expensive. http://www.playwell.co.uk From what i hear, its sword strikes and parries - a little like fencing with swings and contact. But just a laymans view.

hmm... people i admire... well myself... no, seriously: Iain Abernethy for openign my eyes to kata's true purpose, Sensei Simon Oliver for his wisdom and for being a generally great guy. In historical terms, Choki Motubo and Matsumura spring to mind.

I know there are sai kata but I cant find details of them anywhere. Does anyone know where they're availble as vids/books/downloadable mpgs etc? I train myslef with sai, not as part of my dojo so i dont have an instructor who knows them. Any ideas?

Not neccesarily. I have found in training agaisnt ready and (very) unco-operative opponents that disarmign someone with a firearm is not as difficult as disarmign a knife-weilding opponent. Even when my partner knew what I was goign to do I manged to get my finger in behind the trigger before he could fire. Obviously Im not makign light of firearms here but the finality and fatality often attributed to them in martial arts is a little overstated.

In our club our instructor doesnt put you in for a grading if you're gonna fail it and to be frank I wish he was a little more selective - the girls at our club grade however crap they are, whereas we are expected to earn our gradings, as we should be. Our gradings tend to be an acknowledgement of time spent rather than knowledge gained. Therefore as a club we dont pay much attention to belts among ourselves and train as equals.

our unofficial moto is 'on my signal, unleash hell!' so you can guess our instructors film preference

As with so many things, I think a mixture of everything is best. Immediate full-contact can send white belts fleeing in terror before theyve had a chance to learn, and it expects an immediate level of competence which is difficult at first. However semi/no contact, altohugh useful for training can be dangerous to successful application: a story to ilustrate: A fight broke out once at a semi-contact kumite tournament, and no-one was injured, not even those at the mercy of the black belts, because they were all so conditioned to pulling punches.

Someone above me said Kata is karate. I dont believe any statement is more ture in karate training. Every kata is the lifes work of a master, and every tiny movement has a combat application on the street. They are far from a religous dance, and, studied correctly, even one kata will make you a feared fighter. If you find yourself disillusioned with karate kata, I reccomend the work of Iain Abernethy http://www.iainabernethy.com, who opened my eyes.