lilsempai

How far from the top of the nunchaku do you hold them? For most techniques we hold them about half way down but I'm wandering if changing that slightly might help. Ideas anyone?

How about this, there are three kinds of mathematician, those who can count, and those who can't.

I was fourteen when I started teaching - the first kata I taught was to people of the same grade as me (yellow, 8th kyu). I had one child point out that I was the same grade as them. Despite him (he's a general troublemaker) I was respected by the rest of the group because I knew more than they did. Remember that your Sensei knows what she/he is doing and that if you weren't capable of teaching, you wouldn't be

Yes, a small gap. I can pull the bo in closer after finishing the technique. The solution I've found for nunchaku is just to turn my stance so that I'm a bit more square on. Still managing to hit myself though...

Voila! I have a way of avoiding the problem when using the bo... I asked Sensei last night and the adjustment I need to make is to lift my elbow so that I'm not stopping the bo between my arm and my ribs, just against my arm. We have a weapons class tomorrow morning so (with any luck) I'll have a solution for the nunchaku tomorrow. Thank you!

Were you asking me? I'm an assistant instructor, if someone took an interest in training because they saw me bowing then I get a point (or something - new system and I haven't quite got the hang of it) for that week. Maybe 'looking forward' was an overstatemet.

I keep bowing before crossing the road after training - I'm looking forward to someone asking why (it's a zebra crossing), could be difficult to explain...

The faster you are travelling the greater your mass becomes. As you were accelerating your mass would become such that you would collapse into a singularity - a black hole. If you did reach the speed of light you would destroy the universe. Assuming the existence of parallel universes, what would happen to them?

Don't drive, so Wilan Wilon Sma of Zineryt I think these would be cool names for Jedis - you'd never have to fight anyone because you could just introduce yourself and they'd die laughing. Nice one, Les Pinto of Motrin.

Thanks Sauzin, the dojo's closed for a week over easter but I'll ask her again if there's anything I could do to prevent/lessen this as soon as possible. Does anyone mind If I ask if you're dan grades? You seem very knowledgeable of your stances etc. especially compared to me! (I'm a fourth kyu.)

For the most part, in our dojo, the weapons classes have kickboxers in them too (a LOT of kickboxers) - if there are any exceptions to a rule then you have to hope you can find them for yourself because you feel guilty distracting whoever's taking the class from trying to explain cat stance...

You know you're obsessed with the maritial arts when...you can't concentrate or sleep for days if you think of even the tiniest detail of a kata that you aren't 100% sure about. *so...sleepy*

The way we hold the bo means that if you're hitting someone down over the head with the right side of the bo the left side is between your arm and your ribs - hence my problem. The senseis in the dojo I train in most have told us that with weapons you should be aiming to move the weapon as much as possible and yourself as little as possible - we've done excercises sitting on the floor (to restirct movement) and my sudden slowing down has earned me some funny looks!

I made my staff out of an old curtain rail... Not sure about the wood but if by 'one ended' you mean tapered on one end (different styles 2 u, not sure if I'm right here) someone at my dojo suggested using a splice to taper mine when I said I was going to make one, didn't do this myself so I can't reccomend using wood you've bought specifically for making a staff.

Assuming your stances do not change to accomodate the bo or nunchaku - as a rule, in Kokoro Shukokai we pull back the shoulder above the back hand as far back as possible. Assume you start in yoi holding the bo with your left palm facing downward and your right palm facing up. Step forward with your right leg into standard stance (zen-koutsu datchi - I think I spelt that right), while simultaneously striking downward with the right side of the bow so the left side ends up between your arm and your ribs. The problem (if you're female) is that you've just struck upward into your chest. With nunchaku I find I have to sacrifice stance to be able to use them - so painful otherwise!

Does anyone have any advice about how not to hit yourself in the chest in weapons katas? Espesh bo + nunchaku. Most instructors are either male or female and too thin to have a problem!

It sounds a bit like part of your problem is your attitude towards your own ability - your Sensei has probably paired you off with your nightmare because he is the only one who can challenge you/you are the only one who can challenge him.

Er... I know this isn't constructive but before starting Karate I stabbed someone with a biro so hard it drew blood... He leaves me alone now. Still feel bad about it but you can't dwell - the martial arts gave me confidence to argue rather than fight the next time round, I won. Good luck + stuff.

I'd just like to say it's very encouraging to know that dedication to kata really exists... Difficult to see this sometimes when people wave trophies in your face like competition is the true meaning of karate - especially when the person who won said trophies doesn't understand the bunkai of the kata (or it isn't 'cool' enough to admit to knowing)!

I've learnt kata above my grade for almost a year now (in Karate). This is because I started studying a style of Koshin Ki that started with the kata that was equivalent for third kyu in Kokoro Karate. I can tell you that it isn't as great as it sounds - you don't learn as much from the techniques until you learn the bunkai (much more difficult for high-grade kata), so you have to be good enough to prove to your sensei and your fellow students that you haven't bitten off more than you can chew. (I managed this for the most part, but it has caused problems with some higher grades.)