Dijita

Ohhhhh yes. I preety much sweat like crazy every class because I always tend to try my hardest with power. I know that we have had many classes where we went through all of our basic techniques... each technique 50 times. No stopping, and no water breaks. It took us about an hour and a half... and by the end of class I could hardly kick above my waist and my entire body felt like Jello. For fight training we also do a lot of shadow boxing which really wears us down. We do 10 rounds, 3 minutes each.... and if we slow down, our instructor will tell us to go harder.

As a girl here are my opinoins: I am in martial arts, more specifically a martial arts that is quiet demanding as far as the contact is conern. We train with quiet a lot of hard contact in class, and in tournements we experience quiet a lot of hard contact. I love it, and I'm not intimidated by it, but I knew what I was getting into when I joined the style that I chose. As far as self defense is concerned... I didn't really join martial for the reason of learning self defense. I am being trained to be a good fighter in class, and if I happen to be able to use it in a real life situation that's a bonus, but it's not the reason I am there. I wanted to join a martial arts that has that "traditional" environment. I want to take it all in, the katas, the focus on basic techniques, the respect. I also liked the idea of realistic contact, and that's why I chose Kyokushin. I find it A LOT of fun, challenging and great for both my focus and my physical self. Oh, and just to add... I prefer to train co-ed. I wouldn't like being segregated with females all the time.

Umm... I find it funny coming from someone like you. Don't get me wrong, I have all the respect in the world for Jackie Chan, but you do know that he is not a fighting martial artist... he'll be the first to admit that. I think it was from the age of 7 he joined a group, almost a travelling martial arts circus if you will. He is first and foremost an entertainer that uses martial arts.

Cowabunga DUDE!!!

Yes, but I can't bend my toe. It is my longest toe, it jams into the end of my shoe. It's more annoying than anything.

You resort to name calling? A warrior? You might like to fight, but you are not a warrior, and you hardly show that you have the martial arts spirit. How in the world is it, that you get into so many fights? I think avoiding a situation that might get you into a fight is the smartest thing to do. Lower your head in respect, raise your eyes high to your goals... to me this is the martial arts spirit.

KICK 'EM IN THE JUNK!

Just to point out. Kicks are great at building distance between your opponent. If you can build the distance, then a TKD fighter could do well because they are strong at the kicks, where striking would be at a disadvantage when there is distance.

I don't have the book in hand, but here is what I remember: - A history of Kyokushin as well as a history on Mas Oyama. - The japanese translations of a lot of our techniques. - Dojo and student etiquette. - A diagram of the different stances used with Japanese translation. - Then it listed all of the Kyu's and the required things you NEED to know for testing for that Kyu, for example the kata's you need to know, the self defense techniques, any written stuff that might be asked, if you are required to do any kumite. I think there was other stuff too, but I'll update this post when I go home tonight and take a look at our book. It's definately a nice thing to have for new students.

Yeah, that's what I got, was the gel stuff. I have to avoid ingesting anti-inflammatory's and Ibuprofen. About 6 months ago I got a stomach bacteria that caused stomach erosions... so the doctor is concerned that anti-inflammatory's can set my stomach off again and put my tummy in a lot of pain.

Here's a stretch that really loosens everything up. If you do this often, I'm sure you will get very flexible. Get a partner, stand up against a wall and put your foot on your partners shoulder (your partner should be crouched down at this point). Do it so that you are doing a kick. If you are doing a side kick, stand in a side kick position. Now get your partner to stand up and tell him to stop when you feel it stretch. Make sure that the foot that is planted on the ground is in the proper position too. Now with your leg stretched, count to 10 and push forward and down at the same time as hard as you can. It should be difficult and you'll feel the stretch quiet a bit. Do this 3 or 4 times, then do it with the other leg. Hehe, when you put your leg down... you should almost feel like you want to stay in a horse stance, so give a few more kicks and you'll feel your hip is a lot more looser now. It works great! I hope this made sense, it's always hard to describe something in writing sometimes.

Awww man.... I went and saw a doctor last night about my toe. He said "Yes you broke it, and of course you can't move it." I said "Why not?" and then he explained to me how the bones fused together so I basicly do not have a joint in my toe anymore . It still hurts, and that bugs me. He said the only thing they can do is go in and do surgery to actually shorten that toe so it's not always jamming into things. He added that he'd only do that as a last resort. Anyways he sent me on my way with a prescription for some anti-inflammatory stuff that's real expensive. Hopefully once the inflammation goes away my toe won't hurt so much. He also wants me to get an x-ray anyways. Lesson learned though.... even with a broken toe, get it checked out sometimes they might actually be able to do something for it. Perhaps if it got set properlly the bones wouldn't have fused together.

I have to eat quiet often too. I suggest eating a lot of fruit. That's what I always carried with me. If you need to have that "full feeling" for a long time after you eat, one of my favorite things to eat is oatmeal. Don't just get that pre made flavored oatmeal though. Get some oats, heat them up in water... then add honey and raisins, or you can add apple slices or whatever.

Hehe, ummm... yeah... I didn't even know it was on our own website. Thanks!

Why so critical? Why couldn't a TKD ever win in a fight? A person who trains in TKD couldn't win in a fight against some drunk guy at the bar (the most common street fight scenario)? I'm proud of my style because we practice realistic contact, but at the same time I'm not one to put down another style. Someone who trains in a style for a very long time will become a decent enough fighter. You may get your * handed to you or you may win a fight in a street scenario... but it's never impossible depending on the style you do. TKD has it's strong points, but like any style also has it's weak points. It's my opinion that TKD isn't the strongest of fighting styles but I don't find it hard to believe that someone trained in TKD won a fight.

I think this is strictly related to Kyokushin, though I could be wrong. Does anyone know a website that shows the eight movements? I want to practice over the long weekand since there are no classes but I don't fully know them all. Thanks!

If there were ever a tournement that was open to different styles, I would love to enter it. I'm glad you all enjoyed the clips.

Beka, those numbers seem a bit unrealistic. Maybe if you were one of those really super skinny people who couldn't lift a small rock, that would make sense. TheDevilAside is right, the number isn't the real important thing. When I was in my best shape back when I was really competitive on my mountain bike, I weighed 130 lbs, was 5'3", and had 10.2% body fat. Now I'm not as lean but still consider myself to be in good shape, and I'm about 135 lbs now. If you feel like you could shed some fat to bring your weight down, you'll need to do a lot of cardio; that is go for loooong bike rides, or looong runs as opposed to short and intense. It should also be a given that you'll need to eat properly. One advice is to cut your carb intake a bit, but don't completely eliminate the carbs (I hate Atkins). With a lower carb intake, your body will use the fat reserves for energy. Hope this helps!

TheDevilAside, I used to skateboard too. I've slowed down a lot since I've joined Kyokushin just because I love class so much and I'd hate to miss class cause my ankle is mucked up. I agree though, skateboarding hurts...

I was always into sports and preety active growing up. I really got into mountain biking for about 8 or 9 years. 4 of those years I was heavily competing in downhill racing. I think the biggest thing that it has helped me with is my fitness level. Other things I can think of, is that it really taught me how to breakfall properly... as I spent a lot of time going over the bars .

That's great that you found a dojo that really interests you. Keep with it, and the rewards will come. Like aefbird said, practice your basic techniques a lot. However, don't just go through the movements as if it is just a basic technique. Try and go through it slow at first and make sure your technique perfectly. For example, for the longest time I used to do a simple punch incorrectly, but I never realized it. I used to punch with my fists square on, so then I kept practing a bit slower to make sure that I'm striking with my first knuckle inline with the rest of my arm. Then I speed it up. Anyways, hope you have fun!

You're going to have a blast!! So don't fret about it too much. Just keep practicing your combos, and the most important thing is try to stay calm during your fight so that your mind is thinking clearly. You'll love it though. I can understand the intimidation though. My sempai wants me to enter a competition at the end of the year that only has an open division. I'll only be 9th kyu by then and will possibly be fighting brown and black belts. But the important thing is, just look at it as an experience. Good luck!

Knockdown, that's very cool. I had no idea that Kyokushin used to incorparte grappling into the style. I am new to Kyokushin but I ended up asking someone who has been in it for awhile. He comfirmed that at his old dojo they used to do a lot of grappling (this was about 1997), but dojos are starting to do less and less of it. You're right about Shihan Bobby Lowe as well. Very cool! On a side note, I got to shake hands with Shihan Bobby Lowe last weekand. Very very nice guy with such a strong aura about him.

Delta1, that is probably one of the best posts I have read. Well said.

Shorinryu Sensei: Chill out eh? You are quick at attacking the person for what he posted. I don't think he is intending to be one of those people who just want to get a black belt and be done with it. I think he has a real situation in which he is struggling to get real experience from someone but lives too far away from anyone. No need to get so negative. Why do you think tournement fighting is a crock? I mean seriously... a good tournement fighter being whipped by a 5 year old girl? That's a bit harsh don't you think? Personally I think you learn A LOT from doing tournements, especially if they are full contact rules. I can practice like crazy in class, and then when it comes to a tournement, it's a great tool to see what has actually been engraved into my mind that will come out naturaly. It gives me an idea of a lot of things I need to focus on in my dojo. Quest33, I feel for you. I know what it's like to live in such a small town where there is nothing near by. I was lucky when I was young because we had someone in our town who happened to be a great Kuk Sool Won instructor. Maybe if you tell us where abouts you are, someone might be able to help you?