BritNoob

What do you actually do with them though? What muscles would they work? Great links for the books, Rich. Ta!

I like to try and exercise as much as I can at home between Karate training and I was wondering what exercises are best that don't require equipment. I currently do push-ups, sit-ups and squats, any suggestions/tips?

Yeah I bought them aefibird, they're so much more comfortable. I'm well chuffed.

No-one took a look then? :/

That's exactly how I feel! I used to spend nearly all my free time playing video games. Now I'm disgusted with myself for wasting so much time of my youth. I wish I'd taken the jump and started Karate 10 years ago.

It's awesome

I want to build mass but I don't want to get flabby round the waist which is the only place I normally put it on. I'm skinny everywhere else. What foods do you recommend I eat plenty of to gain maximum protein?

So elastic/cord is what I'm after? What about these Blitz ones? http://www.blitzsport.com/karate/whtpants.htm

When you say you need to eat lots to gain mass, what kind of foods should you eat lots of? Does that mean I should eat lots of fatty bad foods or just eat twice as much good food as I would normally?

Thanks guys. I had another lesson where the gi was distracting me and taking my focus away from learning. I have to stop doing what I'm doing to keep pulling them up and tying them. I've found medium weight elastic ones, will these look odd if I wear them with a heavy weight top?

We practiced it from my very first lesson and try to do it at the end of every training session. I'm glad a few people have posted defending Goju.

What is the best way to do sit-ups or crunches? Legs flat on the ground? Knees up? Legs off the ground? Arms behind the head? I'm finding that when i do sit ups (especially on a hard gym floor) the bones on my lower back hurt because my weight is on them. Because I'm skinny I can really feel it on the bottom of the spine. Is this poor technique or jsut unavoidable due to my lack of bodyfat?

Some great advice guys, thank you!

I study Goju and this kind of stuff scares the sh*t out of me

I've only been wearing my gi for a month or so and ever since I got it I've found the bottoms off putting and a real distraction during training. They just don't seem to fit right. It's a Blitz heavy gi and the bottoms are done up by looping the 2 side strings through the holes and tying them at the front. However they are way too wide for me so i have to pulll them very tight (which has already split the seam once so i had to sew it up) and I frequently have to check them during training as they begin to gradually slip. It's not just this either, they don't fit very well all round. I'd like to pull thenm up a little higher but the crotch is too tight (even though the rest of them is really baggy). I was wondering if there was a different type of gi bottom I could buy. It may be a silly question I guess but are there other styles eg like tracksuit or jogging bottoms where there is elastic. Even if this isn't possible then i'd still like to buy a second pair (that hopefully fit better). Because of my skinny tall build I need long trousers that are also small around the waist. I've lost weight around my stomach since i started training too so i'm only like 34 inches at the most. I thik my current gi is a 175 if that means anything to you guys? Is there a good place in the UK that I could pick up a decent set of Gi bottoms or do you need to buy the whole gi at once? Thanks in advance for any help.

I used to use Photoshop to create my webcomic before my tennis elbow set in. You can view it at http://www.razazulu.com/gbh I'd love to see what you think of it. It contains violence and swearing so it's for the more mature forum members

I've always had weak nails and I've had both big toe nails operated on because they were ingrown. Last night during training another student brushed past my foot (very slight contact) and my toe nail started to bleed where it had been pulled up (his toe must have caught under my nail slightly). While I was sorting it out I missed 5 minutes of valuable warm-up time, but more importantly than that I am now a little anxious about something more serious happening. If I was to get a more forceful knock to them I'm worried they could easily be badly split. What can I do to help prevent this? Would drinking far more milk help strengthen them int he long term? Is it worth wearing plasters on both big toes every time i train to prevent them getting caught or snagged? I have tried to keep them cut as short as possible as well so it's not like they were very long. The incident last night was nothing and doesn't hurt at all now but I see it as kind of a wake up call. I need to do more to protect them or strengthen them. Tips?

I'm a beginner in Goju Ryu and I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on the style.

I study it. I only started 10/11 weeks ago and it's my only experience of martial arts so I can't compare it to other styles all I can do is tell you my impressions of it. We learn a lot of self defence, locks, pressure points, things like that. Body conditioning is recommended and I think the higher grades do it but I have yet to try it. There is a seperate class for it, although basics like press ups on your knuckles on hard gym floors is common. Sanchin is very important. We practice the kata and the stance every time we train. The breathing is very important but the whole kata takes years to learn. Because I am still a white belt I don't know much about the advance techniques but I have really enjoyed my training so far. I highly recommend it.

I started at 25 a couple months ago. We have a few girls at our dojo. Best of luck

Yeah I was going to stick it by the TV

That's very useful, great stuff.

I don't think the woman comes with it though......I'll have to check that

This is what I was thinking of getting.... http://www.bestpriceontv.com/images/orbitrek.jpg Thoughts?

I'm trying to learn the basic japanese terms I need for my yellow belt but I'm finding that even if i learn the words I often don't know the correct pronunciation. Even if the word is frequently said in the dojo it can be hard to pick up exactly how it should be said because of regional accents or the speed it is said. Using numbers as an example i have noticed that they often sound very different to how they are written. Does anyone know any sites that show pronunciation and not just how they are written or can anyone give me any tips? I know alot of words but 3/4 of them I've never heard spoken or if i did I wasn't aware of them at the time.