Zaine

I was lucky to find an Okinawan school really. Shotokan and TKD rule the are I'm moving to, which happens to be the are I grew up and first took Martial Arts in. My family new a guy from church who trained under Al Gagne (who trained under James Coffman who trained under Fusei Kise and so forth). He mentioned starting a school so my family got into it.

Congrats!

It was taught to me that most times people who rush in to help strangers generally have confidence in their bodies enough to believe that they can save the stranger. This seems true to me. How many people think "I would help but I can't?" I think that most people do instinctively shy away from danger as a survival instinct. I think the thing that separates a hero from everybody else is that they go against this instinct to survive long enough to make a difference in somebodies life.

Nothing like a good meal to finish off a hectic tournament schedule!

Upon looking for a new style to thrust myself into I began looking at Martial Arts directories for the area. I am interested in doing something that is more the opposite of the bulk of my training and so, having spent the last 10 years doing Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu, I have recently desired to start softer styles of Martial Arts. To this extent I have started to train with a Longfist/Mantis guy who has taught me a lot of cool stuff and has really helped me grow not only in the softer style but also in Shorin Ryu which, for those who don't know much about Shorin Ryu, has roots in Shaolin Kung Fu as it is. On to the main bulk of my dilemma. As I am moving to Texas in January, I started looking through directories and noticed that Texas is absolutely dominated by Karate. I mean almost across the board. Now, this is not to say that there was no Kung Fu on the list and I'm sure that there are hundred of unlisted schools but the amount of karate being taught is overwhelming! I know that there are programs that allow me to buy their DVDs and film myself doing their program but, while I'm sure that I could do that and learn a system with some success, I prefer classroom settings. Anyway, my question is this: Has anyone else run into this? That is to say, is your area dominated by a certain kind of Martial Art or is it fairly mixed between Karate and Kung Fu?

Congrats on your second place finish and the new way to spring from an attack!

Super solid post. I agree 100%

1. Start in a new system 2. Ideally test twice 3. Get more in shape 4. Have some new weapon proficiency under my belt Those seem like some good MA resolutions. Gonna kill it.

I agree with the sentiment of evergrey. For me, women, just as much as men, know what they're getting into and should be ready to be hit hard. the OP's sensei is wrong in the sense that getting hit as hard as possible is something that will happen on the street and by not allowing his students to do that he's hurting the education of every woman that steps inside of that dojo.

I'd go alternate weeks unless you take karate more than once a week, in which case I would do both every week.

Welcome the the KF community!

I think this depends on the manufacturer. I would imagine 7 would be the correct answer but I prefer cord so I don't have as much experience with chain as others might.

Legitimacy is everything sometimes. What faster way is there to sound legit when you're first starting up?

I feel like this watering down is going to be an indefinite event regardless of Karate's inclusion in the Olympics. In this case I think that this inclusion will bring more people to karate. There's always going to be dojos at an increasing rate transferring their practices over but I think else dojos will do this regardless of the Olympics. Luckily there will always be traditional dojos who teach traditional karate and not sport karate.

What, why? Also, where did you read this?

Seconded

Hopefully this will transpire.

You're probably right. Like I said, it's been awhile since I've read the article.

I read an article some time ago about developing speed with strikes. The writer of the article equated speed to something called white tendons. Apparently to work these you should continually move. The more tired you are the more you rely on white tendons to do the work and therefore you build speed.

This has not been my experience. Is that a McDojo price? I haven't come across a single karate dojo anywhere I have lived (except garage dojos) that charges less than $100 a month, McDojo or not, and other martial arts change that average. If I account for judo schools then the average drops because you can find that for $30-$60 a month (when it isn't a free program), and if I account for BJJ or MMA gyms then the average rises because I have seen that anywhere from $100 to $250 a month. I can't say that I've seen this but to be fair it's been awhile since I've gone to an official dojo. That being said I think I was being charged 25 when I lived in Texas for the place I went to. Other place charged 60.

I don't know what's funnier, the fact that Seagal clearly didn't understand the joke, or that if he does it he doesn't want anyone around.

Yes, that's Shotokan.

Not excluded at all. If that how you wanna train the by all means do so. Just make sure you're working on speed while you do so if you're worried about it hampering on your agility. The weighted wrist and ankle band would give the same effect. The only thing is that you have to be more careful using those as you might be more prone to injury.

This has not been my experience. Is that a McDojo price?

That's a common timeline for schools who aren't McDojos. It's normal to be concerned about the training your getting and it's good that your doing the research and asking for outside opinions. It sounds like you have a pretty solid school there.