chh

Check out this older thread, it has some good info and links. http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2052

I know what you mean. My sensei has been asked to do single-session 'self defense for women' classes a couple times, I know he's uncomfortable with them because he's afraid of causing false self-confidence. They spend an hour practicing defenses against 4 or 5 attacks and feel empowered. It's hard to know if they understand that sure, these moves are good to know, but if you get attacked the chances that your attacker will use the "right" attack (the one you know a defense to!) and that you'll be able to overcome the panic response and think fast enough to actually use the defense are virtually nil. So, Sensei looks at classes like this more like a demo to attract new students to the dojo, and explains several times that one class could never be enough. Although, like an ongoing once-a-week SD class? That could be a good thing, not to get into shape or become a fighter but to get used to the very simple things that can paralyze people with fear in an attack. Someone coming at you fast, invading your personal space, grabbing your wrists...and then the defense part, deflecting, striking at the face, becoming comfortable with inflicting damage. Particularly for women it's not unusual to have never struck another human being in their entire lives, doing so would just never come naturally. Really I think it's a good idea. A night for the regular students to focus on self-defense (and teaching skills, as you're doing) and for outsiders to learn whatever they can, and of course it's another way to bring in new students. The average person probably thinks training hard 4/5/more times a week is a bit nutty, that doesn't mean they can't learn anything!

If you haven't already, what I'd recommend doing is visiting each of these schools, talking to the instructor, & watching a class. THEN decide. You might read all about Shotokan & decide that's the way you want to go, then sign up and find that the instructor is a jerk that doesn't know his history and the class schedule is all wrong for you or something like that. Not all Shotokan schools are equal, and that's true of any martial art. I too would tend towards recommending Shotokan or Hapkido from what you've said, but then you might visit the TKD place and discover it's a great school rich in history and tradition and will offer everything you're looking for and more. Every school is unique, there's no way to determine which one you're going to fit into based solely on the style!

Are you in the San Diego area? I study Goju ryu, and from what you've said it might be a very good match for you. The dojo where my sensei trained is in Carlsbad, if that's close to you I'd definitely recommend checking it out & can send you more info.

I just played for the first time this weekend as part of our dojo's Winter Training. We played Capture the Bucket on a thickly wooded hill, you had to find the other team's bucket & get it back to your own to win. I can't say I enjoyed it too much, would definitely try it again but no more rental equipment for me! The no-fog stuff didn't do anything so I couldn't see a thing, so I didn't notice when a part broke off my gun adn the balls started dropping harmlessly out the side...I figured that out right as I was lying in perfect cover in the underbrush and the guy who SHOULD have been dead finally managed to hit me in the neck. It was worth it tho, cause after he got me and the other guy I was with he stood up to gloat, and another teammate of ours popped out of the brush and nailed him right between the eyes.

I have them in my garage, not Century brand but probably about the same thing. They weren't particularly cheap, I covered half of a small 2-car garage and it cost me well over $100. Got em at Home Depot, hopefully Century's are cheaper. They do not seem to slide much although it's hard to tell in that space. I have noticed that although I work out in my garage very seldom the edges are looking pretty worn, and there are various small tears here and there, the stuff is pretty soft. We have a wooden training floor at my dojo, the floor is less than a year old and the surface shows significant wear, I'd imagine puzzle mats would be in complete tatters by now.

Personally, I think you need to look for a different dojo, even if you have to look outside your immediate area. I'm not passing judgement on your current school, it just doesn't sound like where you as an individual should be. You seem to be more than a little interested in the history and traditional aspects of karate, and it sounds like your current instructor simply has nothing to offer in those areas. I suppose you could pick a style, get some books/vids and memorize the movements of each kata in that style. You almost certainly won't be able to fully learn and understand them without a teacher, and when you them teach them to others I would bet anything you'd be teaching something very different from the originals. You think people get uppity about someone teaching made-up kata, wait til they see you claiming to teach a traditional style with the kata all mutated. Just my opinion. Good luck finding what you're looking for!

Yeah, thanks largely to your review I didn't get a custom size as they believed the canned size 3 would fit me well. Funny, one of the reasons I got it was that I wanted the longer jacket, but I guess I'm so used to the short jackets it looks positively bizarre in the mirror. I feel like I'm wearing a giant smock. Will be training in it tonight, I suspect I'll be so happy that I can lift my arms without my jacket pulling out of my belt I'll forget how weird it seems.

I just bought a Satori gi (http://www.satori-gi.com), 12 oz cotton traditional cut. It was 109 dollars (that's for the smallest size they have, price goes up with size) and the jacket is supposed to be mid-thigh but it's a little longer than that on me. I like that it comes with 3/4 length sleeves & pants so you don't have to get them hemmed up. I haven't actually trained in it yet, it's cut to allow for shrinkage so you have to wash/dry it several times before it will fit and I keep forgetting to take it out of the washer

Too lazy to write a response of my own, but this brought a recent Michael Moore article to mind I figured I'd post for kicks... http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2002-10-25

I agree that it's probably nothing, but it wouldn't hurt to get checked out by a doc anyway. Particularly considering the diet you described I'd ask for a complete blood workup, make sure your not anemic, that can certainly affect your period. It's always a good idea to have those numbers for a baseline anyway. If you've picked up on your training at all that can contribute as well, can't remember but I thought you started formally teaching classes recently, maybe going in more often? When I started training I went 3 months with no period then got two FULL periods per month for two months in a row. Any change in diet & exercise can definitely affect your cycle.

I'd be for legalizing & regulating it. Demonizing it certainly hasn't done anyone any good, unless you count the people who are in the business of smuggling it in, cutting junk into it to increase its bulk and selling it indiscriminately on the streets for enormous profit. I don't buy the "gateway drug" concept, last I looked (which I admit was a long time ago!) there is no real evidence to support this theory. From personal experience, the kids I knew who did hard stuff (coke, heroin etc) were interested in that sort of thing from the beginning; yes, they happened to get their hands on pot first because that's generally easiest, but it was not pot that led them to the other substances. And also from personal experience, if I had kids I would honestly be more worried about the unknown additives in their hallucinogenics than the base drugs themselves. Whether it's as benign as a 100 dollar bag of lawn clippings, or as dangerous as weed or acid laced with rat poison, by making the drug illicit you give the drug dealer license to make his own rules. I agree with Doug that it would be ludicrous and WAY too ironic for the gov't to rake in all that cash from taxing pot, but I don't see another way to regulate the purity and potency. At least regulation would make it a little safer, and they could pretend to funnel the $$ into drug education and prevention programs, right? And alcohol hasn't always been legal. You'd think we'd have learned something from prohibition. While re-legalizing it clearly didn't solve all our problems, I don't know of any good that came from making it illegal (not counting all the great movies )? Token disclaimer to ward off the flames that will come regardless: I'm not saying I think pot's a wonderful thing that everybody should use. I knew plenty of those stoners 'unknown' was describing that toked up first thing in the morning and spent all their time in an oblivious daze. This comes down to the concept of moderation, though, too much of anything is a bad thing. It would be like banning twinkies because people eat too many of them, become obese and take up more than their fair share of insurance claims with their health problems. Anyway, enough. Just my 2c.

I can't stand the boredom of the treadmill either, but I do enjoy running outside on trails. If you have access to a swimming pool that always really good. Oh, and I find racquetball great for working on cardio and agility, and since it's a fun game it doesn't seem like a workout at all!

Anybody ever heard of The Lawrence Arms? Punk, I guess.

In Goju-ryu karate there's a traditional training implement called nigiri-game (I think that may literally mean "gripping jars") just for that, they're big ceramic jars with a lip at the top you grip with your fingertips. One way to train with them is to practice your stances while holding them out to the sides, i.e. stepping across the floor in zenkutsu-dachi. As your grip improves you can add sand to increase the challenge. Hand conditioning in my dojo includes basic gripping exercises (open your hands fully, clench them into fists as tight as you can, repeat 30 or so times, can be done slowly or very fast), makiwara work, and fingertip pushups. I've heard of conditioning your hands by thrusting them into buckets full of rice/beans/gravel/whatever, don't know anything about that method. That's all I can think of!

As part of our usual warm-ups at my dojo we lay on our backs and do chin-to-chest lifts, 30 or more done slowly without letting your head rest between lifts. Sensei constantly reminds us to keep the solar plexus as tight as possible the entire time, and based on the way my body feels by the time I get to 30 or 40 I'm guessing this is a great way to strengthen that area. You can greatly intensify the exercise by striking your solar plexus with your fists as your chin reaches your chest, very good conditioning. We also regularly pair up and exchange punches or kicks to the solar plexus. From dictionary.com:

Hmm...not much besides Walgreens pharmacy recently, but after consulting last year's xmas shopping list: drsfostersmith.com (pet supplies), Lands' End, travelocity (if that counts as a store), Amazon, justflowers.com, luckypet.com, burtsbees.com, bitsandpieces.com, probably others but who can keep track. I guess I'd better leave out where I got my boyfriend's gift

If you're gonna make your own, you oughtta know those power stones are called "chi-shi"

On that subject, hopefully everybody with a cable modem connection knows that they need firewall software along with their anti-virus program. I use Black Ice Defender, seems to work great (even though a large percentage of the activity it freaks out about is normal interaction between the boxes in our home network, but that's probably something I could fix by tweaking the settings). I guess XP comes with its own firewall software now, haven't had much experience with that.

Surely someone with more specific knowledge will jump in here, but it sounds to me like your basic hematoma. They happen when due to an injury blood leaks out of the vessels, pools under the skin and clots there, basically a simple contusion (bruise) gone bad. They can last for a while, I know in some cases they do need a doc's attention because they need to be drained. My boyfriend has one near his knee that he says has been there for years, but it doesn't bother him at all so he hasn't had a doctor look at it. If it's been there for 4 years and you have no idea how it happened, personally I'd get it checked out just to make sure it's not something different. Especially since you're a martial artist I'd guess it probably is just an old injury, but what do I know Hope this helps!

Thanks for the review, that's very helpful!

Yeah, push-up position but with the elbows on the floor, forearms flat, usually with the hands clasped but I don't think that's important. Hold for 45 seconds (or 30, or 60, depending on how hard it is for you), rest, repeat for a set of 3 or so. Make sure your hips don't sink or rise, don't let your back arch, your whole body should be straight.

I find the plank thing (both what KC described and the side version) pretty easy as well, I've always been curious about that since I'm not exactly above average in the strength department. When I've taken classes at the health club, I'd guess something like 3/4 of the students are unable to hold the plank position for 30 seconds, so clearly your average person finds it difficult. But even back when I first started karate and was too weak to do a single pushup, I could hold a plank position for 60 seconds with no real trouble. Kind of weird that it's possible to have limbs like cooked pasta and solid core strength at the same time.

Wow, thanks for the info--I'm glad I asked! On Satori's site they say their standard gi is 15 oz, and that they've recently begun offering a 12 oz version recommended for young/small people and beginners. Based on that I figured 12 must be pretty light, now I'm not sure I want one even that heavy. I liked the sound of them because their traditional gis come with 3/4 sleeves & pants, so I wouldn't have to get them hemmed up, plus a couple other tailoring details that are supposed to make them very comfortable. Anybody have any experience with Satori?

Would a 15 oz gi be considered heavy, or medium?? I'm considering purchasing a Satori gi, they come in 12 or 15 oz. The two gi I have now are medium-weight but I have no idea how many ounces so I can't really compare