Kaos666

i learned a hard lesson in my first tournament... fight for third place among all of canada... i lead 3 to 1... and get hit smack dab in the face, my opponent cared not for control or technique... it was a followthrough to knock me out cold... it did not... but i wish it had. I swayed and my vision blurred for a minute or two, but i was okey soon and got back into the fight... i was VERY angry and my opponent, VERY VERY angry. all i wanted to do was get back at him... i did, my hardest uro-ken right in between the eyes... the warnings were going on and on... BUT the rest of the fight i was in a frenzy and cared not for defense... i lost the match 5 to 6 the moral is, and my advise, NEVER feel angry in kumite... be free of all emotion, become cold and precise. Attack only on opportunity and remmember: HARD vs SOFT and SOFT vs HARD hope i have been helpful

don't think that all that was said in this thread and on this board as a whole was ignored by me... i heed advice when it is wisely given... as i have said, school is still a month off, and i am thinking hard about this Perphaps i should finilize my view on others perception of me: If i always cared what others thought of me and acted to please their desires... well, quite honestly i would be dead long ago. If i were always fearing that some moron is thinking that i "show off" and that some dolt is making fun of me, i would not have done over half the things that i did in my life... the half that i am proud of, the half that taught me and elevated my experience. Quite simply, i don't care if somebody has nothing better to do but pick on someone else... they have a freedom to ignore it and i am in no way barring that freedom...

never have i expected such negativity in a place like this... i do appologize for confusing kimono and gi... that was my ignorance, and i should have known better... as for spelling... well, if you judge a person by how well he/she can spell a word, ur missing quite a bit the reason i want to train during the school day is because once it starts that is the only opportunity i will have... and i for one what to put in as much time into MA as i possibly can so that i may achieve my goals, and because i want to do it And plz don't worry about my social life... first off, it's my own, second it's fine the way it is. i don't think i ever said i'd teach, i even said i will NOT under any circumstances as for you AngelaG, i do admit i may have been rash and hot-headed, such is my nature... BUT i still hold that if a person wishes to train in uniform in public, that does NOT automatically mean that person is showing off or make a spectical sorry if anyone else felt insulted or offended... i truly did not mean to hurt anyone

Shotokan and Aikido... my long-term goals too i myself will wait until i am worthy of a black belt in Shotokan before i go for Aikido, my sensei recommended that approach

My vote for Shotokan... it's the all-in-one for me personally. The classic shotokan is great for conditioning, and sparring will get you feeling confident in a fight In truth virtually any MA, at a certain level will fit you for self-defense... if you automate your moves, u'll have no worries....

I do some running and jumping, then a full body stretch from neck to toes and then splits for some 5 min, alternating... if possible i'll get a partner to push me down a bit or pull my legs further appart...

By GTA i mean Greater Toronto Area, of course.... and just a name would be fine, i'll find the address myself if need be

i don't know if anyone else does it... but i sometimes tend to block Ura-ken WITH Ura-ken... anyone else does this??

lol, which reminds me, we had karate camp just now and, as a test, our sensei and assistant instructors woke us up at 3am and made us do kata... i'm quite pround to say i did first 5 correctly, Bassai Dai and Jihon... well they are a different story... anywho, the point of this is that if you get woken up in the middle fo the night and are able t do your kata correctly... you know u've got covered...

not at all ramymensa... i hear your advice and that of others and took it into deep consideration. I still have a month till school starts, so i'll be thinking about it till then at any rate. Nothing is done until it's done... i see that you have a strong view on this, BUT consider this: 1. If that is what you think if you see a person in a gi training... then quite frankly you're immature and not worthy of MA 2. I believe i've said i before, but i'll say it again: I am NOT planning to wear my gi to boast or "show off" or to get special attention. My kimano is my training uniform. True, it represents me as a karateka, but how does doing kata or any MA related exercise, even in plain clothes, not show the very same? I do not intend to hide from anyone who i am and what i want to become, niether do i intend to challange anyone with my training. I do not believe that being a martial artist is anything special, it is possible for anyone to become one and achieve mastery with enough dedication to the cause. I take pride in this belief and take pride that i have commited myself to this course. If someone feels threatened or challanged by this, then there is just nothing i can do that they are not willing to do themselves... to accept and to respect. in no way will i try and force any of those around me to commit to the cause i follow, because free will is the only possible gate way to MA... It is also my deepest wish that through my training i may enlighten some people and help them see that which they what but could not. Such is the case with a few ppl here

lol... i was doing it so often my sensei started grading me on how i well i join the katas togehter as a joke, and then gave me the name of my new super long and super stupid kata... can't remmebr it now, i might post it when i ask him about it

thanx for the advice, i see what you are getting at and partially agree... i have to say that will still try and go ahead with this. Cautiously but ever forward. First of all i'll need to talk it over with the principle and certain teachers, and i'll go from there. I'll start off with gi pants and shirt at first and if the atmosphere does not become negative i'll think of wearing full gi with white belt... I wont trey to barge in with ear tearing kia, i'll feel my way through... thanks for the advice and help everyone

hi everyone... can someone give me an address of a MA store in the GTA where i can buy good quility competition/kata kimano (gi)??? thanx

i understand what you are saying... in my mind, kata are indeed movements, with purpose and greater design, but still movements. Later on, i've only reached that stage, kata as a whole become single techniques for focus, concentration and relaxation, combined with improvement of physical body... to begin to understand kata, you need to break it down into basic movements. To try and grasp it all right away may be quite impossible. also, once the basic movements are remmembered then you have to apply knowledge and feeling to the kata... movement with design and determination is what you should have. It also helped me to think of kata as a dance, where your invisible opponents are your partnersh

well, last year two asian dudes where doing sword practice in the park near my house each morning while i was doing my runs... i only looked at them with understanding and respect... once again, what other ppl think is not important to me, unless it is positive feedback or constructive critisism... idiots will be idiots, and if i were to fear them making fun of my training i would not have gone into MA at all. If your only concern is that i will somehow be insulted by morons because of my uniform, then let go of your worries, i've grown over that. My real question, once again, was wether wearing your gi outside the dojo is somehow insulting to teh school or disrespectful to the art...

i have three types of push-ups that i do: 1. Knuckles parallel to my body, shoulder width appart, positioned around end of ribcage along the body. I do these by dropping the shoulders slowly and then rising up to extended arms as fast as possible. The work the arms, especially biceps. 2. Knuckles perpendicular to the body, 1.5 times shoulder width apart, chest level along the body. I do thse my lowering the whole body to just above ground and them rising as fast as possible. Best for chest. 3. Palms forming a diamond directly below the chest. Once again, slowly down, fast up. Works tricep real good. there are also finger push ups, but i can only do around 10 at most on all fingers, around 4 max on 3 fingers... i hope to incorparate these in my workout routine soon though...

for some ppl here, your mindsets are your greatest barriers... watch Vladimir Vasiliev (not sure on spelling)... he's former Russian special forces and the stuff he does is simply amazing. I have two tapes of hima nd went to see him in person, he's for real and the things he does are next to magical

ur still quite novice, so don't sweat it... a few more months of intense training and kata will be embedded in the depth of your brain. All kata are just movements in the end, so practice makes perfect! BUT make sure you do them right, cus it may be hard to fix them later if you memorize the wrong way. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! I myself still forget parts of some kata... even the very first one!! Also i get kata's confused... most embarassing is be doing Bassai dai and finishing it as heian godan... god i felt like such a dork!

i am a proud shotokan karateka... seen other styles, liked them enough to try, but loved shotokan... loved it for the unique classic feel it gave me as for you sparing unprotected, weell that is trule not legal under JKA rules. In our school we need at least sparring gloves... but somethimes if someone forgets the gloves, it is made clear that that is not proper behaviour and that sparring without protection is on their own risk. No gloves, fine you can still spar, but if ur hurt noone is responsible but you. And what do you mean by pressure and "escalatino is really intense"... i understand control, and am grateful for it because it teaches you to control your body. Also, as for the real fighting situations... well, no MA will teach you completely how to handle those... you have to take what you learned and adapt it

i myself think that there is no program that lets you learn certain moves at a certain level, combinations yes, but not individual moves... i'd say just show enthusiasm at learning something and ask for guidence from your sensei or fellow dojo members...

i am not trying to convern anyone to anything... believe or not, i've seen it and that is all i have to say also, i have approached my sensei with this and he flat out told me that yes, i is true. He told me that not only is chi a areal force, it can be made visible...

yeah, i feel like a dork now... i should have specified. I've looked at alot of styles and setteld on wushu. the acrobatic style is really helpful... Also, now that i think about it does anyone know drunken boxing?? i have to say that i am fasinated by it

over my life time i am aiming at mastering, or as close as i can get to mastering: Karate, Aikido, and Kung-Fu... in my mind that would make a fairly rounded MA specialist: Offence & Speed: Karate Deffense & Balance: Aikido That little extra we all crave: Kung-Fu also very interested in Tai-jitsu... anyone take that? how about you...

i guess it reallt depends on your sensei and your own ability and eagerness... i learned empi strikes while still a white belt... they are really not all that special

it is possible... most ppl refuse to accept it because it is not "proven", but you do have usable chi (ki) energy that you can manipulate in a virtually endless variety of ways... it's not magical focus pocus, it's you life energy. and if you want to be so specific, yes chi can be condenced and converted to static energy, electricity rather... don't mistake me for a master or some crazy guy, i've see it with my own eyes... i've seen a master "push" a person from 5 feet away, flat on his back, and deflect puches with thin air! HOWEVER, don't think that because it's there you can right away go off and shoot off hadoken left and right... but remmeber that it is there, if you are worthy and pure and train hard enough, then maybe you'll be just like some of the guys on TV...