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Have you ever considered looking for a tai chi instructor, Jack? You strike me as someone who is not bursting with impatience to become the best fighter on the block, and tai chi is the first thing that came to mind when I read your post. You'd probably still need to hit the gym for the physical development you want, but tai chi does have strengthening benefits, and the internal aspects of the art may be just what you're looking for. And as you advance you'd learn the secrets of the self defense principles, which are said to be extremely formidible. With the right teacher I bet you'd be the perfect tai chi student. Anyway, just a thought, good luck!

Stretchy headband might do it, they always slide off but maybe you can find one that works. Or maybe just a regular bandana

That's quite a miserable view of human sexuality. If you had your way you'd condemn people who are physically unable to have children to a life of solitude just to make sure they don't experience sexual pleasure?? Wow...as I'm not planning on offspring I guess I ought to just shoot myself now and get it over with...

I'm a city girl, actually, originally from Chicago. (Where the heck is "Virden"??) And yes, I have my prejudices, but your broad, fond definition of "redneck" doesn't match mine. It's all about the connotations. Rednecks are supposed to be mean scary homophobic guys who wish we still had lynchings, address all women as "get me a beer honey," think alcohol and hunting go hand in hand, and so on. IF this described you, THEN I'd agree you were a redneck. If it described you and you were from the east or west coast, I guess you'd just be a jerk. Anyway, off-topic again. Maybe you're the kinder gentler redneck of the new millenium.

Don't know. I haven't read anything about this, and haven't seen too many profile photographs of old Goju masters. My sensei is quite young, so probably not a good example. His sensei has been studying Goju for decades, no big belly on him. I guess Higaonna Sensei sort of has the type of gut you're describing, but I suspect that's pretty much solid muscle and that's just the way he's built...

Odd as it seems to hear myself say it, I'm on the gun-toting redneck's side 100%

When performing Sanchin kata, all muscles in the body should be tensed, and breathing must be conciously controlled. The movements are slow and fluid, as if there is extreme resistance to your every movement in every direction. To give you an idea of it, the first few movements of the kata is to inhale/exhale fully twice, step into sanchin dachi while doing an inhale/exhale, perform a reverse punch with a full inhale, then retract the fist while exhaling, timing the end of the exhale exactly with the fist returning to position. Muscle tension is maintained during the entire kata. You inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth, very controlled, and at the end of the exhale you finish with a last burst of air, almost like a cough, to fully empty the lungs. Sanchin testing involves another person walking around you while you perform the kata, striking/slapping various muscles to ensure they are tense, some pushing to ensure that your stance is solid and well balanced, etc. I'm no biology expert, and just a beginner in Goju-ryu, but hopefully that gives you a better idea of what the kata is like. From my limited understanding of the risks involved, there are a couple things you could do wrong that would theoretically cause some of the fancy stuff Bitseach was talking about. One is mistaking "controlled breathing" for "restricted breathing." You should not feel like you're not getting enough oxygen. Lightheadedness does happen, admittedly, but I think if it's extreme or happens every time you're probably doing something wrong. The other I've read about is taking the muscle tension thing to an extreme, you don't need to bust out of your gi Hulk-style to perform the kata properly. The goal (remember this is an 8th kyu perception) is to maintain awareness of respiration and all the muscles in the body for the duration of the kata, which really is a considerable feat (breathe, punch, breath, step, shoot! my butt went slack again!). I could see certain types of people mistaking it for a way to showcase their bulging muscles. Anyway, hope that helps. Haven't seen anybody drop dead in my dojo during sanchin practice yet

Are you going to make an indoor or outdoor makiwara, Taikudo-ka? There are instructions for outdoor ones all over the place, but the indoor ones are supposed to be much trickier to get the right strength and resistance. Someday when I have the extra cash I'll probably just buy one. But anyway, you know its purpose is very different from a heavy bag, right? You can't really use it to work on footwork and combinations and such. I just got a double end ball up in the garage, so far I'd say its great for focus and footwork. But after working on it for awhile the other day, my knuckles on both hands were all itchy for hours, which seemed really weird. I think I'm going to wipe the thing down with soap and water before I use it next

I'm curious, in previous discussions of this nature many people have gotten very adamant about teachers having certain qualifications; i.e. nobody should be allowed to teach before sandan, they should have specific certifications and that sort of thing. Nothing like that has been mentioned here. So, if you walked into a dojo where the sensei has all the qualities you guys described, would the rank and certification stuff still be a factor for you?

Good god I'm out of touch with the music scene--I thought I went to The Who's last concert ever more than 10 years ago!

Yikes! That must have been Sanchin. I used to get light-headed when I started practicing it, so I can understand how that could happen to someone. I've read that there's some controversy over that kata as some people believe the breathing and muscle tension used can be damaging to your health over time. If I understand it right, this comes from people mistakenly restricting their breathing instead of carefully controlling it (fine line there, I bet). I took Shotokan classes when I was very young, I wish I could remember more of it so I had a better understanding of the differences between the two styles.

We're expected to wash it if it gets gross, washing machine is just fine. No big deal. We're taught to have respect for it since it's a symbol of our hard work and all, but to remember it's just a piece of cloth, no need to let moss grow on it or freak out if it touches the floor. "Just don't go tying it to the dog or anything" is what Sensei said on the subject.

I'm a Goju-ryu fan. It's the only style I've ever studied so I can't really say it's my favorite, but it sure has become a big part of my life!

Another option from Century is the Powerline, just like the Wavemaster but more padding, and (I'm told) more durable. An extra 60-70 bucks, if I remember right. That's what I have, but I've never used a Wavemaster so I couldn't tell you if it was worth the extra cash.

I think if you're working your butt off for your rank, then in a way you're missing the point of training. I train hard, but my goals have nothing to do with getting new belts. Every once in a while I get an invitation to test and I show up for it, but it's not like an era of my training has ended at that point, it's more like a nice little compliment from my sensei that says he feels I'm improving. In my dojo, my one year of training and three promotions equals a white belt. My next promotion will get me a yellow belt, the only thought I have on that is I'm going to hate trading in my nice comfy supple belt for a stiff new one. I've always liked the idea of a dojo where they didn't bother with the whole belt thing. We all know who the most senior student is, we shouldn't obsess over why there are little kids of questionable skill running around with his rank, everybody gets promoted for different reasons. I think it's fine to give colored belts to the little kids, motivation and all, but I really think adults could get by just fine without them. Whether or not somebody "deserves his rank" is subjective to the point of being an entirely stupid question, so I just don't see the point of advertising the rank with the belt. Sorry this is a bit of a ramble...

Whoo hoo! I'm winning the Gayer than Thou contest by a huge margin

Sure, I'm always happy to go on about my "kids." We have a treeing walker coonhound named Brubeck and a shiba inu named Kai. Also 4 cats: Flanders, Gonzo, Eisen and Loki. All from shelters except the shiba, he came from a breeder.

Thought you might appreciate this one, Sai (if you haven't seen it already). http://www.debsfunpages.com/lettertodog.htm

I've seen those at sporting goods stores and almost picked them up several times, but I figured I might as well wait to see if I ever evolve into the type of karateka who would actually do pushups at home on purpose. Right now, that's just not going to happen. I've been limiting it to 10 or so knuckle pushups per practice, and do the rest on palms or sometimes fingertips. My sensei says it's not just for knucle conditioning, but that it also trains the correct position for punching. Monkeygirl, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're doing knuckle pushups properly you should not be hurting your thumbs?? All the weight should be on the front 2 knuckles, the thumbs shouldn't even be touching the ground.

Well I for one am 70% gay. My dog Brubeck, however, is only 43% gay. Amazing that these things can be calculated so exactly--ain't science somethin'!

One of the recent releases of Netscape was extremely buggy, but I thought that was 6.1, not sure at all. I'd go to Netscape's site and check for updates. I've always been an IE kid myself.

How many cats do you have, Sai? Whiskers is very cute, I have a friend who just melts at the sight of any black & white. I'm also an animal lover, 4 cats & 2 dogs.

Chicken wrists, huh? That's where you curl your hands under and put your weight on the top of your wrist? Yeah, that's a bit beyond my capabilities right now, whenever Sensei starts doing those I get into the position, say "oh good god ow" and go back to knuckles. It's not bad at all, but I've only been training for a year (and only a month on the wood). I don't think you can develop something like arthritis in that short a period of time, presumably the damage builds up over years and years. I think I'll probably do the young & stupid thing now, maybe when I hit thirty or something my common sense will kick back in. I do have a hand squeezer thing, when it comes to long boring teleconferences it's the most useful desk toy I could own. I have a set of iron balls too (not so good on the phone).

Hey Ad, have you ever come across this book Dynamic Strength by Harry Wong? I picked it up a few months ago and haven't done anything with it yet, but it may be of interest to you. The exercises he describes are supposed to provide all the benefits of weight training without any weights or other equipment, with much less risk. It's a very cheap book, too (well geez, try to order it through a real bookstore--the cover price is 6.95 US, used ones are going on Amazon for 10+ and new ones for way more than that, it's not even out of print). http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0865680132/

Just a trade-off, I guess. I want the added strength and hardened joints, but not the long term risk. It's not the pain while doing the pushups that bothers me, it's the fear of what my dexterity will be like 20 years from now. Thanks for your responses!