monkeygirl

The belt at the side of your name goes up with posts. The more messages you post, the higher belts you will get. (be careful not to post JUST to get your post count up though because you can get in trouble for it) I think it takes 50 posts to get to yellow belt. KarateForums staff can also promote people quicker. However, if you're concerned about matching the belt you hold in your style, I wouldn't be. Most of us recognize that KarateForums belts and MA belts are quite different. For example, I'm a 1st degree BlackBelt in my dojo (still getting used to that!), but on KarateForums I'm a green belt. In my dojo, that's the 4th of 10 belts! But I'm content with it until I manage to post more Hope that answers your question....by the way: Welcome to KarateForums!!!

Even though it has gone away it could return. From my experience it just returns bigger and badder. I thought my hip pain had finally "gone away"...apparently it was just on vacation. It popped THREE times in one stretch last night. Sickening pops, too, not the kind I actually WANT to happen (and yes, there are times when I WANT it to pop). Now that it's NOT hurting, you may actually be able to walk from the car to the doctor's office...take advantage of this and get it checked out. Better safe than sorry, right?

Has anybody heard anything about a new movie called Ballistic with Lucy Liu? Just wondering if it's any good.

sheesh.... no my eyes are hazel (brown & green) I'm like The Vapors lyrics to "Turning Japanese" "I want your colors Your hair is brown Your eyes are hazel And soft as clouds" I love that song

Welcome to the forums! Are you like a Land Shark..? I can definitely understand your position. I'm 15 and in the adult classes...except that I'm 5'1", 96 lbs. and I just got my blackbelt, so there'll be some people who decide that means I'm Superwoman. Any self-defense that I can perform successfully on these people is GOOD STUFF!

Nice job karatemom!! About that jab your opponent scored on you...even though you thought you blocked it, the judges saw otherwise. The important thing to remember is to not have an attitude with the judges for it, or you could get disqualified. I would assume that you behaved yourself, since you managed to continue on and win the match. How did you do in forms, if you competed? I've competed in about 7 tournaments and, most recently, judged one. It was an inner-school tournament as well. Judging is quite difficult, trying to figure out how to score someone and whether or not that score reflects their position with others. You don't want to give the best person a 7.9 when you gave a so-so student an 8.5! Definitely the hardest part of it (especially with the kids) is that someone has to finish last. it's so sad! Congratulations again!!!

Hrm..... did somebody say McDojang? Oh wait, yeah you did. I searched on the web and found a few mentions of IOMASDA, but it was all "iomasda's the best blah blah blah" nothing about what it actually is. There's another school in San Francisco, but that's all I know right now.

In my opinion, low stances are useless except in forms. In forms you use low stances to show flexibility and leg strength. I have only ever seen one person fight in a low stance, and that was a girl who practiced Kung Fu. I was fighting her at a tournament in Harrisburg. She was down by two points, and (trying to freak me out, presumably) she went into one of her low, weird stances. I paused, gave her this "What the...?" look, and kicked her in the gut I win! (3-point matches) Sparring/Point Sparring: To be in a low stance, you pretty much have to stand flat-footed. That and the fact that your legs are bent in half adds up to Zero Mobility. True, it is more difficult to use your back leg, but back leg kicks aren't really a good idea, because you can see them coming a mile away. For normal sparring, front leg is best. Since I'm a kicker, I like to keep my stance short with my knees barely bent at all. I put nearly all of my weight on my back leg. This allows my upper body to be far away from my target while still in kicking range, prevents sweeping of the front leg, and allows super-fast kicks because all stepping is eliminated. You can just bring up your leg and kick out. Self-Defense: You may find that in a street situation someone is pushing you. You could use a deep front balance (standing square with your target, feet diagonal from each other, front knee bent, back leg straight) to prevent pushing. Right after that, though, you want to get out of that stance and attack your agressor. In a street fight you want every advantage you can take, and mobility is one of them. So to summarize: I don't suggest that you handicap yourself with low stances. Perhaps someone else can point out advantages to low stances, but until then, I'm sticking with my short stance.

Welcome to KarateForums! I "stumbled" across this site in early spring looking for a weapons kata...I haven't left since.

Thanks Patrick! My mom's business is pretty small, so she can't really afford $100 a month, but depending on how it all plays out, we'll see. Another question: who provides the artwork (if any is used) for the ads?

So when is this tournament? If it's already happened, how did you do? Remember, rules are: If you mention anything about a tournament/test you'll be in, you HAVE to tell us how it goes!

I have experience with hip pain, and it may or may not be what you're experiencing, so I'll just tell: About 2 years ago, every time I would stretch or kick, I would feel this pain in my inner hip joints. Eventually, I would have to "pop" my hips and it would feel much better. I went to see a physical therapist, and here it turns out my hips were actually dislocating themselves! See, I'm very flexible (as in stretch between two chairs and go hyper-split) because my ligaments are very loose. So, I would go into a split, and then my hips would just kind of fall out of joint and I could go further. Dislocations tend to be pretty painful! Although as far as they go, this wasn't too bad. The rubbing back and forth was going to cause damage in the long run, however, so I hard to start pumping iron. I lifted weights to build muscle to keep my joints together. Muscles doing the ligaments' job so I would have muscle flexibility and not joints popping out everywhere. I'm not quite as flexible as I used to be, but it doesn't matter. I'm in much less pain (even though I still have to pop the hips back in place sometimes) and lifting weights has given me added power...definitely worth it. If this sounds like what you're experiencing, you really need to check it out. There's some technical term for it but I don't remember.

It really depends on where you feel the pain...inner hip, outer hip, muscle soreness or the joint itself. It always helps to see a doctor...y'know, one of those guys who wears a white coat and went to college and knows how to fix you up!

don't be gettin' any ideas now...

Cool idea! My mom has a billing service specifically targeted towards martial arts schools...is that the kind of thing you're talking about?

The only thing about pressure points are that you need to have proper training in them, not just going around sticking your thumbs in people's jaws. CDT training is where you'll find all of that stuff. As ZR440 said, they're difficult to hit exactly without years of training. Plus, for some people they just don't work. Some people have extreme pain resistance and simply won't submit. Likewise, some people are more sensitive and you could damage nerves if you go too hard. The whole point of CDT is that it doesn't leave lasting damage or marks, but like everything else, it must be done in moderation. Therefore, if you're looking for quick self-defense, I suggest going for more common techniques such as blocking and regular strikes that are easier to learn, easier to execute, and easy to control the amount of force. If you still want those pressure points, look into some CDT training, although I hear it's pretty pricey.

Woo my pic is up now, after massive fussing with it to make it the right size and file format BTW, this is one of the very few pictures where I'm not being evil or crazy or generally nasty looking. Actually turned out pretty good

never heard of him...I'll check it out if I can. Thanks! So, if this is your first post, you need to post an intro! What style are you, etc. I'm guessing kickboxing?

I've seen some of these on another link, but they're still funny.

Thanks for the update!

I've heard that "san" is sometimes used for parents...? Such as Mommisan and Daddisan, as a very respectful and loving term for family members, etc. Anyway, that's what Mom tells me and she lived in Okinowa for awhile so I'd tend to believe her

lol thief I can be a pretty bad grammar slammer when I want to be.

hehe....I've had quite a few ppl ask me this. My nickname actually came from my beloved big brother. A few years ago, cartoon network or some other channel was showing reruns of Speed Racer, all day long. Well, one day I was climbing on some furniture and generally being annoying, when my brother said I was acting like Chim-Chim. That Christmas, he gave me something monkey related, and it just kinda stuck. Christmases and birthdays have been filled with monkeys. When it came time to choose a screenname for the first time, monkeygirl seemed only natural. My love of monkeys is known world-wide, thanks to the Internet Anyone noticed the sudden popularity of monkeys? I take credit for that So, to summarize: my nickname (like every other weird thing in my life) came from my brother

Welcome to the forums!

My bro has an ironman gi...likes it a lot, gives a good snap. Actually helped him win at a tournament! I've never had a middleweight, but I think it would feel too light. I'm very used to my heavyweight century gi. I started with a lightweight and it feels nice and airy, but the heavyweight is far superior. Especially if you're like me and don't grow much. I find that as the gi ages, it gets softer and more comfortable. However, it is still Century and therefore has the tendency to occasionally be a piece of crap. I once had my heavyweight gi pants fall apart in a month or two. I put my leg through the pantleg and the whole seam ripped out.