chh

How about a gyro ball? That's the only gadget-y training device I have. I think they're around 30 bucks, they do a great job working your hand and forearm muscles. I wouldn't call buying one a "lifestyle decision" as it says on their goofy website, but hey. Most sporting goods stores carry them. http://www.powerballs.com/powerball_benefits.html

The best advice I ever got about running was to slow down. Especially when you're starting out, there's no reason to treat it like a race. I saw one place (running magazine, actually - a good investment of three dollars or whatever, the copy I picked up had lots of articles with tips for frustrated beginners) that said if you're too out of breath to talk to your running partner, then you're going too fast. Focus on increasing the time/distance you can run without breaks, presumably the speed will come later.

I just ran across this site: http://lrnj.com and wanted to post it here to support this guy's project. He's creating an RPG game that teaches you kana and kanji. To complete the current version, which is a prototype of the project, it's necessary to master both katakana and hiragana and be familiar with 200+ kana. It's really a cool little game, still in the works and needs support now, so be sure to register if you like it!

If you talk to your instructor, explain that the training is too much for your knees and that you fear long term damage, you may well find that he/she is perfectly reasonable about it without going all legal on you. If that doesn't go well, your contract may have language in it that gives you a way out in case of an injury. I've only seen one of these contracts, but it had such a section, it got very specific as to what "injury" means and there were lots of restrictions but it's certainly worth checking to see if there's something you can use.

Been there! I sprained my right thumb, and then the left one a few days later, then re-injured both the darn things frequently for weeks and weeks afterwards. Apparently my hands figured out whatever they were doing wrong and cut it out, and now (several months later) I'm finally feeling like they're almost 100% healed. I did wear a thumb splint for a couple of weeks on the right one when it was particularly messed up, really just to remind myself to protect it during practice (and so my fellow students would quit bashing it). That helped. Icy-hot cream loosened it up a little when it was really bugging me, and putting ice on it after a re-injury seemed to do some good.

Check your local library. Mine has a couple of Higaonna Sensei's videos, including the one of him performing all the Goju kata with some bunkai demonstrations for each.

6, I think. Either 5 or 6.

Glad to help! Hope it turns out okay. If gray is preferable, seems like diluted black dye should do the trick? But I guess you don't have much time to experiment for the right shade! I'd wash it several times afterwards if you're planning to actually work out in it, to make sure you don't leave gray sweat puddles all over the floor

If I were you I'd pick up the cheapest white gi I could find and throw it in the tub with some dye. My friends used to dye their clothes all the time back when I was in high school, didn't look like there was anything to it.

Muscle memory is important, but from my experience I think training with a mix of people is very important for self-defense skills. Maybe it's because the only other woman in my dojo is about my size (small). Practicing techniques on each other is very easy. Then I work the same technique on an aggressive guy 100 pounds heavier than me and a foot taller who's been instructed to make it feel like a real attack--oh, it's different! Especially takedowns and groundwork. She and I can pick each other up and place each other on the ground if we want, and we're pretty evenly matched there, a good struggle but not much of a rush. Again, hugely different when a big aggressive guy who's much stronger than me grabs hold of me and wrenches me to the ground. I know it's not real, but my body REALLY doesn't! Suddenly the adrenaline's pumping and I have to keep my brain working while dealing with the annoying emotions that come when someone's seriously trying to get physical control over you. Anyway, I think women-only classes can be useful for getting timid women's feet wet, so to speak, but if they're serious about training and learning self-defense they should get past their hangups about training with men. Just my 2c.

Um, generally speaking, feminists DON'T want to be like men. It's about equality, nothing to do with transgenderism.

Yeah, the web design guys at my company have switched to DreamWeaver and seem to really like it. They used to use MS FrontPage, which produced some incredibly bloated and messy junk, DreamWeaver is definitely a million times cleaner than THAT. By the way, I know a gal with no web design skills/experience who successfully designed a whole site with DreamWeaver, and still doesn't know a thing about HTML.

Personally I think the word "chivalry" is the problem here, because it's dragging too many outdated connotations along with it. I absolutely give up bus seats for the pregnant & the elderly, I hold doors open for people (men & women), I do not hit people who are not a threat to me (men or women), and I offer to help carry items when the person (again, man or woman!) looks overloaded. It's just plain good manners. To me, "chivalry" today is when a guy makes a big show of rushing in front of me to get every door. Or when I'm relieved of a bag that a toddler could carry, or when I'm told not to be silly when I get my wallet out when the check comes, or when a guy leaps out of his seat on the subway and looks offended when I don't take it (honestly, I PREFER to stand on buses and trains, and my legs really are capable of holding me up!). Call me an extreme feminist all you want, but there's a line between being polite and performing a pointed demonstration of power and control. And frankly I don't think it's a particularly fine line.

His style and instructor had nothing to do with it. It's just natural selection in action.

Yup, pretty much all upper body muscles. Personally I've been repeatedly encouraged to focus on my forearm muscles with them. Do you train with nigiri game, Telsun?