Nick_sam

thanks for the replies! unfortunately i dont really have time in the week to do yoga (martial arts take up a lot of time as it is!) and was wondering if anyone could suggest some movements / stretches / exercises i can do in my bedroom?? thanks again

what do all these exercises entail? how do you do all of them?? (excuse the ignorance!)

having started karate (shotokan) recently, i have realised that i am unable to comfortably do a lot of the warm up stretches at the beginning of the class (sitting on the floor, legs wide apart and leaning forward for example) as well as any sort of kick that is to the side. i find that i end up hurting my pelvis / hips (where the thigh meets the body!! sorry bad anatomy!) and am unable to raise them very far. it feels like there is some something blocking me from moving my legs that far up. if it helps, am also unable to properly sit cross legged - my knees wont properly rest down as they should. does anybody have any ideas how i can improve flexability here? thanks

but it goes the other way round too.. i find that girls are a lot more aggressive and less forgiving than guys, not counting physical strength. having just started karate, one class i went to had a long free sparring section to it, where we had a few minutes with someone then changed. when i was sparring with a guy, they could see i didnt know what i was doing so they helped me along and suggested what i could do, how to hold my guard, etc. they didnt let me get a hit in edgways, tho, but they still took into account i was (and still am!) a complete begginner. when i sparred against the girls (everyone i was against was at least red belt) they didnt give me any help, and when they made a strike it was as if they had something to prove. so i think it works both ways really in terms of gender equality in martial arts. as for myself getting a stike in.. well i cant really aim for the chest can i? especially if she hasnt got a chestguard on (and i cant really check can i!!) so that leaves me with fewer options too. and this little factor doesnt make the subject of grappling any easier too. i'll have no problem admitting that some of these girls were stronger than me, but there is the subject of modern etiquette that we have been brought up with that has to be taken into account when commenting on guys going easy on girls. a hand on the chest, inner thigh, groin, etc, can be a bit of a delicate subject - of course depending on the person, but nonetheless this has to be taken into account.

yes, a deciding factor in my taking up karate and which place i go to is whether i can fit it into my week and it doesnt clash with aikido. that really narrows down the choices! but i think that the aikido would do wonders for karate and vice versa. its like seeing the other side of the coin. "I am already familiar with some techniques which exist in our katas"... that intrigues me. can you enlighten me as to what move exists in which kata?? linking the two arts is kinda what i am after!

go and train in aikido.. at least give it a go. karate and aikido are very very different, yet they do hold a lot of similarities. i find that karate would help with the aikido and aikido helps you really understand how the body works in terms of its mechanics, balance and movement. i love aikido and it will always be my first art. where is the club your friend runs? and what shotokan club do you go to (if you dont mind my asking!)??

many thanks.. can you tell me any more about this place? tried googling kawasoe and couldnt find anything about his london dojo.. interesting what you said about them both starting and ending at the same point. somehow i can see that makes sense

which shotokan do you do, killer miller?? i notice you're jka (the shotokan i'm looking at is also jka). how does yours compare to goju...? thanks, didnt know there were two different types of shotokan that were apparently so different!!

i'm with whitefeather. my girlfriend is a black belt in karate and i think its great. yes, i do feel somewhat the need to keep up with her (tho i know i definately cant!), but that for me really is not an issue at all nor is it something i worry about. i actually really admire her for it. it all depends on who you are and the people you mix with. martial arts is just something that you do, and if someone wants to make an issue of it, thats their choice. i mean, people even say to me, someone with less than a year's martial arts experience "so you can kick my butt then.." i can assure you, we're all in a similar boat. and if someone does feel threatened (without valid reason) and gets hostile by the fact that someone of the opposite sex is a martial artist, then thats their problem and not worth a response.

i went to a karate class on tuesday. this was the first one i had ever been to, although i do have experience in aikido. towards the end of the session the white belts were told to do some free sparring against the black. i happened to be opposite a girl (black belt) who couldnt have been more than about 14 or 15, myself being 22 and a good head and shoulders higher than her. even tho i dont doubt for a second she could hold her own against me (as i have no striking experience for starters!!) i found myself unable to properly strike her. its merely out of principle, which is totally understandable. even when in aikido the sensei demonstrates a move on me i cannot do anything full force, be it a punch, chop, grab, etc, because he is definately in his 70's or above. he is 8th dan and strong but one has a sense of principles ingrained into them from an early age and striking a girl or an elderly person just seems wrong. this is nothing to do with underestimating the other person, its to do with how you are bought up to act towards others. yes a dojo is a different story, but the conventional etiquette is still there.

i'm not particularly un-flexible. there are just a few things i cannot do which are a hinderance. the first is i cannot sit cross legged properly. my legs just dont want to go down and rest on eachother, the knees stay raised a few inches up in the air. the other is also a sittling problem. if i sit on the floor with my legs outstretched infront of me i find it difficult to sit up straight without wanting to lean back or getting tired. is there anything i can do to remedy these problems?

aikido is good for the brain. i have been doing it since june 2005 and have found that you learn a lot about moving, ie, the way things work and it gets you thinking. as for the exercise factor: since it's done in partners, its as physical as the person you're doing it with. admittedly sometimes i find it a bit slow, but thats the nature of the art and IN THEORY it could be a flawless system - then again most are! i do the aikikai style and am thinking of taking up karate too (its something completely different and more physical too. i think one could compliment the other!) i wouldnt worry too much on the exercise aspect of the art you do. if you're not getting enough exercise then just run or swim. what you learn in the arts goes a lot deeper than that.

hi there, i was wondering what the differences are between shotokan and goju ryu schools of karate? i already do aikido and feel like i'd like to do something completely different as well! i know that shotokan is quite linear and fairly low (correct me if i'm wrong!), but know nothing about goju ryu. i took a class in shotokan last night and really enjoyed it any advice on this would be greatly appreciated

hey, i practice at the budokwai in london. the sensei is absolutely brilliant - ive been to a couple of other classes elsewhere and they just dont compare. we do generally practice with the other ranks so it really isnt an issue and some of the advanced students still wear a white belt. we have a blue and a green belt in our class but apart from that they're either white or black. i dont really think our sensei sees it as being that important (afterall the belt is just a piece of cloth!) but i was just curious - its nice to know afterall, isnt it!

hi all.. i've been doing aikido since june 2005 now and i am beginning to think about grading. there doesnt seem to be a great deal of mention of grading in aikido and i have been led to believe there isnt really a particular system for this. does anyone have an opinion / advice / experiece in this matter??