vertigo

I have heard of this superstition, but in my dojo, I think its just more of a joke... "Don't wash your belt or else! ;)" I have never washed my belt though... never seen a reason to. I've thought about running my belt through a dryer though, to break it in a little bit more.. but I probably won't... it'll get broken in eventually.

Congrats pineapple!

my first response when someone says this is: "name martial arts that were designed specifically for war". No offense, taku, but I have to agree with this. (as far as I know): Ever since martial arts have been practiced, there have still been far far more effective ways of killing people and waging war. Spears, swords, knives, guns, tanks, bombs, the list goes on. Going way back to the original question (since I haven't spouted off on this one yet): Once again, everything is relative. What do you define a warrior as? (From what I've seen, there is no single definition.. can't quite say I'm shocked ) I'd have to say thinking about what/who a warrior is in this day and age, the first thing that comes to my mind is intelligence. A warrior must be of high intelligence and character, able to make a smart decision on a moments notice, and (as we train in MA) able to back up a decision involving a physical altercation (fight, etc.) with that knowledge we have acquired throughout the years (for most of you... I'm not there yet ) I just use the MA example because I felt like answering it towards martial artists.. There are plenty of warriors out there who have never trained a day in martial arts: by standing up for what is right. That's another key to being a "warrior" (in my definition: and knowing what to stand up for traces back to the intelligence I talked about in the previous paragraph). May we continue to do try to do right and have courage!

I'd have to agree.. explore all other options possible. If all those fail, well then... (or something like that) ahh.. I love it when other people can finish my posts for me One way or the other, best of luck to you.

Very nice post, AnonymousOne. I agree with pretty much all of your points, it sounds like you have outlined a tough kata regimen, one I'd be hard pressed to find time for with my schedule , but still I'd have to agree that if you went through all of those ideas, you would really know your kata well, inside and out. It is still a little tough for me to think about putting 3 years into kata, after 6 months of training.. but I know, eventually as those months turn into years, this will make sense... to start really grasping the idea of kata. Hear hear!

Welcome to KF

Wow. Very nice post, AnonymousOne. I'd have to agree with you, running definitely can't hurt your karate. I started running about a month ago with some friends, and while it's tough, it also feels good, over time, getting stronger and faster, and increasing that distance

that matrix ping pong was hilarious the sand art was rather impressive also! wonder how much practice it took to be able to do that...

Sorry to hear about your sensei .. Hopefully he gets better soon; just keep your hopes up And don't worry about what you wrote on your card, I'm terrible with that too... I'm sure your sensei appreciates it no matter what you wrote: it's the thought that counts.

This does not surprise me much

I am very happy where I am right now.. surrounded by good, experienced people; and am challenged to work and succeed... what more can I ask for?

Congrats on coming back, and good luck!

^ ouch. I'll take the "or something"

I'd much rather have water before, during (although I don't think I've ever had anything to drink during training), and after training... Simply better for my system, it seems like to me. Gatorade and powerade are good, but if I'm really worn out after karate (like today! ), I'd much rather drink a gallon of water (not all at once ) Red bull! Sheesh.. I had that once. Crazy stuff; one seems to give me a ton of energy.. I wonder what two would do to me

I'm sure such strikes exist, though I've never been taught them (which doesn't surprise me too much at my level).. I also have to agree with scottnshelly a bit. It seems like, generally speaking, it'd be a risky attack, because it fully commits you to the attack (not unlike a strong side thrust is a powerful attack, but it takes so much more time compared to a front snap kick [or pretty much anything else]) This is a shot in the dark, since I don't know the application of the kata, but does Bassai Dai have a "2 hand strike"? If you've seen the kata, I think you know what part I'm talking about.

Belts with labels? Hmm.. these I have never seen! agreed! Mine finally is starting to get broken in.. I was getting tired of a cardboard like reaction/feel to my belt

Welcome to the forums

Heian Nidan

No problems there.. I already signed up for my next tournament in a month Now I just need to get my kata down better

Sounds kinda simplistic.. to the point where it might actually work.. I doubt it'd work more than once though, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work on high belts...

A good point.. there is no way you will know what your opponent would do, so how can you think what you will? I have to agree with some of the other points above... a solar plexus strike would be reasonable, just knock their wind out... I also strongly agree with staying away from a potentially lethal strike (i.e. neck). If this is in school, the odds of a fight hitting life or death intensity are as close to zero as possible.. there will always be people/teachers/security around to break it up if it would even remotely approach this point. If you found yourself in a school fight, I'd say stick to attacks that deal out non-permanent damage (i.e. solar plexus, knocks wind out)

nice...

I think I am generally motto-less, but I kind of like my sig

umm.. I have no clue! I don't cross it in the back.. that's about as technical as I could get as far as explaining it on here

Let's see... I'd have to go with the end of July. "what? that's not a holiday!" sure it is.. turned out that most of my cousins and I have near the same birthday (maybe a two week span) in the end of July/beginning of August. So we get together at a lake and go tubing on the lake, jet ski, swim, big family gettogether... its a lot of fun