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So what about the title Shihan? I've read that this title is given to 5th dans, but I got the impression it is not synonmous with 5th dan. If that's true, who awards the title, and what is the proper usage?? I was researching a dojo in a town a little ways from here, and noticed that the teachers appear to refer to themselves as Shihan . Prior to that I thought it was like what hobbitbob referred to as "a one-way form of a address."

My friend and I used to watch the original episodes on PBS more than 10 years ago when we were in high school. They must have been before the ones shown on Comedy Central now, Ryan and Colin were not around back then. The newer ones have never matched up to the old ones for me. My favorites were John Sessions (or something like that) and Tony Slattery, I've seen Tony pop up in movies now and again. Ooh, and Jonathon Pryce, he's been in quite a few recent flicks as well. I wonder what become of Clive?

In our dojo you have to sign a 6 month contract when you start up, but it actually doesn't have any language binding you or the school to anything in terms of attending and paying for classes. I believe Sensei uses it as a way to instill a sense of commitment in his students, trying to make the student understand that joining a dojo is not like signing up for pottery classes, it is not something that should be done lightly. So, in a way it's meaningless, but then again I think it's kind of cool. My boyfriend's kung fu school has a pretty scary contract, you get reduced prices for longer contracts but if you quit they'll continue to merrily deduct the fees from your checking account for the length of the contract. Seemed like a big honking red flag to me, but it appears to be a perfectly respectable school...

Well, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu does sound much cooler than Brazilian Judo, obviously somebody in the family must have a knack for marketing so maybe it's as simple as that. Thanks for the info!

While you're on the subject, could you guys explain the differences between Jiu-Jitsu and BJJ (I think somebody else asked that too), and also what the relationship is between the Gracies and BJJ? It seems like the latter two are always mentioned together. Did the Gracies coin the style, so to speak, or just a flavor of it? I often think of cross-training in a grappling art, we do work on it in my dojo but not often enough. I don't think the mats get broken out more than once every few weeks. I really enjoy it and feel like I have a little natural ability to get control of people on the ground (it helps that generally my opponents are equally unskilled at groundwork, of course) but I haven't practiced any of the various locks and holds we've learned enough to be able to use them effectively, I know I'd never be able to pull one off in a real situation at this point.

How did this get to be an argument about equality?? It's a freaking chat group, you guys talk like you're being denied a country club membership. Sometimes women just want to talk to women, just like sometimes men just want to talk to men. Using the menstruation post example, it's not like we want to keep the fact that we menstruate a secret, but maybe we'd like to have a conversation about it without people making giggly jokes or suggesting that the subject is lewd and should not be discussed. What on earth is the problem with that?

Our classes are all 90 minutes, not unusual for them to go a little long. The kids' classes are only an hour. Warm-up excercises cover at least the first 10-15 minutes, sometimes as much as 30. Then we work on basics for a bit, after that it's whatever Sensei has chosen to have us work on. I'd be okay with 2 hour classes except they're all in the evening, and having dinner at 8:30/9 is about as late as I can accept. I wouldn't care for 45 minute classes, but I guess it would be different if they were broken down like some schools (a kata class, a basics class, a sparring class, etc).

I learned how to crochet a couple years ago, that's the only crafty thing I can do. I've done a few afghans, but mainly make cat toys. All the cats I know get a new one for xmas every year, and most of their owners report that they are played with more often and longer than any other toy.

Well, they're certainly tasty with BBQ sauce.

I hate cooking. During my "bachelorette" years my specialty was ramen noodles with butter and a slice of Kraft american cheese melted over it. Or for something more exotic, uncooked firm tofu dipped in BBQ sauce (sweet baby ray's hot & spicy rules!). That was more when I lived in an apartment where I developed a compromise with the roaches in which they got control of the kitchen, I got a little better after getting out of there. Anyway, now I've got the boyfriend who loves to cook, these days I'll chop veggies for him, start the rice, cook pasta etc but that's about it. Dick will be happy to know it's my job to clean the kitchen, I figure it's only fair. But I did cook cornish hens once, and they were perfectly edible...I think I just followed the instructions in my New Basics cookbook. A pain in the butt, of course, as all cooking is to me, but it didn't seem overly difficult?

Hey Doktor, it cost me 8 bucks at the local dry cleaners to have them hem up my sleeves to exactly where I wanted them. Even better if you have a friend with a sewing machine. Even if it would be somehow inappropriate to bring them up to 3/4 length, there should be no issue with bringing them up far enough so you don't have to roll them up, that used to drive me crazy!

I don't know if true for everybody but when my boyfriend diets he looses very quickly in the beginning, especially the first couple of weeks, and it evens out after that. He started a well-rounded diet in January and blew through like 20 pounds in the first month, since then it's been much more moderate (I don't know exactly, maybe 4-6 pounds a month). I know all weight you loose is not simply fat, there's also retained water and different kinds of fat, I think the most recently stored goes first, maybe KickChick or somebody can offer more scientific details on that. Anyway, from my experience, I'd say you're doing fine!

I think that's one of the cool things about tai chi, that most people don't know a thing about it. I've never seen a tai chi master in action, but from what I understand it would be kind of like attacking an aikido master, you're probably not even going to be able to touch him. Each time you attack him he'll either return the energy of your attack back on you (the guy I took a few classes from often said your attacker is always the one to decide how badly he will be hurt) or give you a little assistance in flying right past him. I love karate, but I would love to study tai chi for real someday.

Don't you go through an awful lot of t-shirts if you tear them every time you practice a throw?? I understand why it would be good to train in street clothes now and again for the reasons you outlined, but it seems kind of impractical on a regular basis.

Funny you should mention it, this Thursday will be one year of karate training for me. I marked it in my calendar last year and was pleasantly surprised to see it this week. I was having so much trouble getting into shape when I started I figured it would be a miracle if I made it this long, so, yay for me!

I never had a problem with my gi, but I bought a second one after getting tired of washing the one three times a week. Same brand and size but somehow it doesn't fit right, the jacket rides up when I raise my arms and the pants are all weird, sometimes I feel like I waste a quarter of my training time trying to tug everything into place. Next time I have some extra cash I was thinking about getting one of those Satori gis someone posted about here, the extra gusseting sounds great. I always take my gis in to get the sleeves and legs hemmed up so I don't have to roll them up, by the way. And I never thought of buttons on the jacket, mine hangs wide open quite often so I just always wear a sports bra.

We used to get stuff like that all the time at our old dojo, which was on a pretty busy street, people (mostly kids but not always) would stop at the window to literally heckle us. We actually got mooned once, right in the middle of practice.

Hmm...I thought it was more common in other karate styles to chamber the hand at about the base of the ribs. That's one of the few things I remember from when I took Shotokan as a little kid, and a couple people that have come to our dojo with previous training in karate have had a lot of trouble remebering that high chamber. That's about all I have to base it on, though, haven't really observed other styles/schools. Shotokan is supposed to be especially big on low stances, isn't it? I just figured that Miyagi Sensei is the one who created Gekisai dai ichi & ni, and those make use of zenkutsu dachi, which is low, and also sachin & hanzenkutsu dachi, which are not. Presumably you should be able to tell by looking at the Shotokan kata whether low stances were used, as those were the same kata Funakoshi practiced. But of course "low" is subjective. All very interesting stuff...

You can believe in nothing, but that makes you agnostic, not atheist. I don't believe there is a god, I don't believe there is not a god, I'm cool with not knowing either way. According to my dad, agnostic = "wishy-washy." That's me! But, the atheists I do know are not on some sort of anti-god crusade, is that what you mean by being a "strict" atheist? They wouldn't stop using the calendar any more than they'd stop handling American money or insist on coming to work Christmas day. I've never met anyone like what you're suggesting...

We've never called it moto dachi, but I took a quick peek on the web and that sure looks like hanzenkutsu dachi to me, the first few hits I got were shi-to ryu. Just different terminology maybe. I just commented on that because it's not like there's a general karate front stance that used to be that high and was lowered over the years, the art has always had both. I was more interested in the position of their hands in this picture. They're obviously in a basic stance, not a natural fighting stance, but compared to what I've been taught their chambered fists look pretty low and extended forward. We're trained to chamber the fist almost up at chest level, pulled back a bit further. My lineage sort of goes back to Miyagi Chojun, I wonder if that's an exaggeration of the original stance that has occurred. Will have to pay more attention to that in other pics...

Well, that was fairly non-sensical. Are these crippled fighters of yours modern day enslaved gladiators forced to fight against their will?? Then goodness yes, I'm against that too. I'm not even sure what "theory" you were attempting to discredit. And no, I don't much care for violence, despite that being irrelevant to the mistreatment of animals for sport. I hope I at least answered your questions about dobermans! There's a ton of info on the web if you're really interested, they're beautiful dogs.

Dobies were bred for police/military work and guarding. It is not true that they "go crazy." They are known to be extremely intelligent, loyal, energetic and trustworthy. They do tend to be protective of their family, and there are traces of undesireable traits (shyness and viciousness) which crop up occassionally that breeders are working to eliminate from the breed, apparently very successfully. When I say they 'crop up', I mean that sometimes a dog is bred which has these traits, not that they pop up in dogs who have previously displayed good temperment. Only dedicated responsible breeders should attempt breeding, and they are not a dog for first time owners or even many experienced owners. The two guys "beating the living daylights out of each other" are doing so out of their own free will, and if this is not true then I would have a problem with that as well. They will probably not fight to the bloody death, either, or be constantly tormented to ensure they become as mean and anti-social as possible, or live their short lives out caged in miserable conditions only to be killed if for some reason they can no longer fight. Really, I don't even see the comparison.

That seems so bizarre to me but it's really common. I visit a pets forum regularly, and more than once some moron has come in saying he bought an 8 week old pit bull pup, needs to make it more aggressive, and wants to know something stupid like whether putting hot sauce on its food will help. Where do people come up with these psycho ideas?? I'm sure your friend will succeed, and when the poor dog maims him or one of his family members it will be killed, and everyone will shake their heads and blame the breed. And then he'll get a new puppy. So many people are arguing over who should be allowed to adopt human children, don't even get me started on this....

I've never seen that picture, pretty cool. But their stance is really no different from today's hanzenkutsu-dachi (short front stance)?

And, rottweilers and pits are sweet, wonderful loving dogs when they're raised properly. I get so angry hearing about idiots training them to be aggressive because they think it's cool, then dumping them at the shelter when (surprise!) they become dangerous.