AngelaG

I think it's more like 3600 reps before it becomes engrained into the "muscle memory"

I'll ask the people I was chatting to about it where they got their information from.

Odd. I was led to believe that shin splints were minute little stress fractures in the shin bone.

Well I will be taking part in a first aid course soon. And I would love to do reiki, but it's finding the time.

My instructor is trained in Reiki and is adept at bringing people around after energetic KOs. He also has modern First Aid training, so I trust that he can handle situations like that competantly. The first time it happened there were several people who knew what to do.

Ah I see. Lot of controversy in the TKD camp. Misallocated funds etc. Too much controversy is not good for the status of the games. Plus I don't think it has that much popularity.

I can't say whether I would have gone down in a stress situation for sure, would adrenaline have kept me going?? I really have no answer to that. My respiration was fine.

Not all Shotokan Practitioners are into sport karate. My club most definitely is not!

I don't understand what you mean? Why shouldn't judo be in the games?

The time I got completely knocked out it was training at a seminar. (First seminar I had ever been to as well). We'd been training all weekend and we were all pretty tired, it was getting towards the end of the day and my partner was a friend. I think he started to relax which made the technique even worse. He caught me dead on GB20 so it was an 'electrical knockout' rather than a hard punching style one. Interestingly (possibly :lol) I find that when I get KOd it actually takes a while for me to go down. It's like my body shuts down bit by bit. The last time I got KOed was my grading because I somehow managed to fall headfirst onto my opponents heel . I got back up to carry on fighting, got back into yoi, he asked me if I was ok, I said yeah.... and then slowly collapsed into a heap on the floor. I find I wake up fairly slowly and am quite woozy for a while, and I have a pounding headache for the rest of the day, I may also feel nauseous. I also find my concentration span will be shot and I find it hard to complete whole sentences. Later on at night I'll often wake up with a racing heart, sweats and an irrational fear such as that someone is in my room. Byt he next day my body is back in synch and I have no more problems.

Well I've never joined in a TKD lesson but I know a few mates that were TKD practioners and like you say they had their guards up. I think Olympic TKD gives the art a bad name. Still, from the sounds of it it may not be in the 2012 Olympics anyway!

I have been accidently knocked out a couple of times, but from a strike to the back of the head (GB 20 to all who are interested in PPs). The second time it happened I was out cold for quite a while, I've had a couple of light KOs as well but although I have gone down to the floor I have still been vaguely conscious. I am very sensitive to Gallbladder Meridian strikes - almost stupidly so.

Because they are morons!

But in many McDojo schools they want it to define. Why else would they state: "This is a Black Belt School for Black Belt Excellence" What's wrong with that? Surely there is nothing wrong in hoping that all your students have the spirit and will to keep fighting on all the way to black belt? Let's be completely realistic here, the majority of the people have the black belt as their goal when they first start their MA. Is there anything wrong with vision? As a 10th Kyu is it wrong to look forward to the day you get your shodan? I'd like to think that all my students are open minded enough that they realise the journey to black belt is more important to than the grading steps along the route. It is a great feeling when you grade as a kyu grade but you need to realise there is still so much to learn before you can really start your MA journey in earnest. I'd like to think that everyone in my school strives for Black Belt excellence. It's better than thinking that some are there because their parents force them to be, or to fill in a bit of time, or because their boyfriend/girlfriend goes etc. I know that there are people there that go for those reasons and that only a small percentage will reach shodan but you have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and train them all in that way!

*shrug* Accidents happen. I remember as a kid I always had scabby knees and elbows. It was part of life. Thank god in those days no one felt the need to wrap us all up in cotton wool - we were allowed to be children. I feel sorry for kids today, the nanny state means that they really don't get the chance to be childlike, and explore the boundaries and learn for themselves. Two shattered arms, a broken toe and numerous smaller injuries as a kid but would I change it? Nope! Then I grew up got into football - dislocated shoulder. Karate - broken ribs and lots of sprains and bruises! It's all a part of life. Life is for living, we get plenty of rest when we're dead!

I guess the most universal form of disability you'll come across in most clubs is asthma. This can range from very mild to almost crippling. I myself have rheumatoid arthritis which can range from very light on a good day, to bare mobility in the middle of a flare up. Nevertheless I am an assistant instructor at my club and have been grading according the 'schedule'. I don't let it hold me back - if I go on a day when I am so flared up my stances are crap and I can't make a fist then I let my instructor know and he trusts me to do as best I can based on these facts. If it happened to be a grading he would take all this into account, because he knows that I do know how to do it, and that I always put in 110% I've also worked with a child with ADHD. It was hard work and he needed a lot of personal attention but MA can be beneficial to these kind of illnesses. The trick is balancing up the needs of one person against the needs of the group as a whole. In a full class situation it would be very hard for me to deal with the normal class and also give someone with ADHD the attentionthey need. Our ethos is that our Karate should be available to everyone. This seems to work in our dojo, but I guess I could see lots of problems with other MAs, such as full contact karate, or jiu-jitsu, judo etc. I know that I would be unsuitable for these as there are days when it would be highly unadvisable for me to be thrown around.

Sounds to me like a joke! If she had killed him she would probably still be in jail for murder, not running her own dojo.

I do it because I love it. I get enormous fulfillment at the end of every session. I love the people I train with there, I love the fitness aspect, I like being in control of my own body, I like having something to do in the evenings instead of spending another mind-numbing evening in front of the box. I have invested a lot of time, money and energy into my Karate, I'm not about to give up now!

My opinion is that people belittle other Martial Arts when they are not so secure in their own style. If you are happy and content and perfectly secure in what you are doing there would be no need to insult other dojo or other style of fighting. Some people look at other styles and point out the weaknesses, other people look at dojo within the same style but start accusing them of being McDojo etc. What they don't seemt o understand is that each art, and each training centre fulfills someones's requirements - if not they would no longer be in business. Everyone has different ways of looking at the same thing so leave them to get on with it. So what if someone got their black belt at a McDojo, it in no way reflects on your hard work within your dojo - all the people who mean something to you (instructor, peers, family) will know how hard you work week in and week out. What someone else does is up to them. I know that something like Aikido was an art I had no interest in, this does not make it a better or worse art than what I study, just different. The same goes for all the diifferent styles, as long as you put 100% in and get enjoyment and fulfillment out of what you do then your MA is doing the trick, nothing else really matters.

I rate mine as great! Superb instruction, lovely fellow students (many of whom I consider close friends now), no *, ask any questions we want, train as much as we want! Superb!

They are fighting for points, in that type of competition punches dont score very well in comparison to kicks. I can (sort of) understand why they don't use their arms if it doesn't score very well (although kind of see it as a cop out) but I still don't understand why they don't keep up their arms to protect their body and head a bit, a kick to the arm is not likely to score - a kick to the head will so why not afford it some protection?

What do you mean by hands up training? Do you mean keeping your guard up? If so there are loads of good reason for this, protecting your face/head should be a primary concern!

I got a tattoo several years ago, well before I started karate. It's of the gargoyle from Bram Stoker's Dracula. I had it done on my shoulder blade. People ask me now if I regret it and I say, "Why should I regret it? It's a prt of me now!". The way I see it, the day that my worst worry is a tattoo on my back, is the day I'm living a rather superb life!! I still may get another one, if I do it is likely to have oriental overtones!

It's probably just because your stomach is empty. Your stomach makes gurgling noises all the time, but when it is empty is echoes around, hence why your stomach rumbles. I find if I drink loads of water I can sometimes hear it sloshing around, especially if I have an empty stomach!

Has anyone ever kiaied when they have a cold and are losing their voice? I did this once and it started off ok but then ended up as a strangled high-pitched squeak. Everyone just looked really shocked for a few seconds and then burst out laughing!