Whitefeather

Definately ask your instructor before continuing anything that hurts, especially with a twinging sort of pain in your muscle. If your instructor does not know what to do, or his/her advice does not help, it would probably be good to talk to a sports doctor and get some professional advice. David

If you want to splurge a bit (actually a lot, but who is counting ), check out the benchmade osborne folders. I have used them on occasion (borrowing from friends), and they are flat out the best folders I have ever handled, period. I believe you can get them on ebay for around $100 or so. Also, although not quite as sweet, I have a CRKT m16 with the aluminum handle, and it is very nice too. David

As far as I know, with my professional legal opinion (sarcasm), there is no law against trying out a new dojo and challenging the sensei to a friendly match. I have not done that yet, but someday I might give it a try. David

When you are in your spanish class and the teacher finishes a section by saying "Esta bien?" and you reply "Hi". David

The way it is set up in Shudokan (at least at the school I go to) is you have to be at least 15 or 16 to get shodan (via a tricky belt/half-belt system) and, once you are shodan-ho (ho meaning on probation), no matter your age, you have to go through a one year probation period, during which you basically have to behave yourself and be a good karateka and good person, and then you get your certificate and become an actual shodan. It works pretty well, and I think that is how it should work. When a kid is 10 or whatever and has a shodan (or worse, nidan) in any style, it puts a pit in my stomach. It is that type of thing that gives martial artists in general a bad name. There is simply no way (except in some crazy extraneous situation that I am sure some person will come up with) that a 10-year-old kid is going to be up to the level that a blackbelt (blackbelt being defined as having a firm grasp of all of the basic concepts of one's style and being fully comfortable with the use of those concepts in a defense situation) should be at. David

I think the most intimidating fellow I have ever seen was also the calmest fighter I have ever seen. He would hardly make any noise, and he played really defensive, pulling away any time his opponent tried to close the gap and do a combo. Then, the moment there was a hole, he would explode with speed and fury like I have never seen before, usually wasting whoever he was sparring with. It was awesome, because, once everybody had seen him do a match or two, anybody that stepped into the ring with him was totally intimidated, even though he was as quiet and defensive as could be. He also whupped on (with the same system as above) a couple of dudes that did the whole lots of noise and distraction thing, which was even more funny. David

I have never tried those, but the advertising (ie "space age, composite material", which basically means plastic) smells like a bit of cheap-o. If you want the best set of escrimas out there,, bar none check out Kingfisher woodworks (https://www.kingfisherwoodworks.com). I have played around with my brothers set of escrimas (grade 5, 7/8" diameter) from Kingfisher, and they are incredible beyond words. They are about as light as rattan, but they are insanely hard, way harder than any oak or ash or (gasp) even plastic. When you tap them together, they make a high-pitched clack (which will make your ears ring, trust me), instead of the clunk that oak makes. The quality of the worksmanship is also incredible (the guy uses NO sandpaper, only planes). It is pricey for a set ($100-ish), but it is entirely worth it, and I plan on getting a set sometime soon. David

Great scott, there are a lot of long-timers here! I thought I was somewhat of a long-timer with 11 years. Looking at some of y'all's lists of credentials, I practically feel like a white belt again!! David

Yeah, I think it is called "Marathon," or something snappy like that. I usually use cliff bars when I go mountain biking. There is also the energy-gel type stuff, but that is more for the sugar/electrolyte boost (with no protien), while a clif bar is more for the extended sustained energy. But, what I REALLY want to try is that new energy bar that the Army developed, "Hooah!" I think it is called. If you are looking for good recipes, check out https://www.allrecipes.com. The recipes are user reviewed, so you can kind of get an idea of what you are getting into before you invest too much time. David

Actually, I am not in high school anymore.

I do not know if anyone else has seen Choshin, but I have seen it done at a tournament (actually two) before and it looked absolutely awesome. I just learned it, and it is even more fun to do than it is to watch. Definately my favorite tournament kata.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Oh well...I still have a few more breaks before I have to find a job and go on to college. Hehe, I have, umm, lemme see, uh, like 15 breaks left. Whoopeeeeee. David

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

I (actually we, as it is kinda a Shudokan thing) do the Ay-Yah kia. Supposedly, combined, the two sounds are the loudest a human can make. It sure is funny how the little ones just love kiai-ing, but the moment they hit the teens (or, when teens start), it is like it is totally not cool to kiai. David

Yeah whatever. Picky picky. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6317897528868535161&q=judo+armbar&pl=true Sorry, David

Hey everybody. I was gandering at judo videos, and I stumbled across this one. I am not quite sure what you would call it, maybe a flying armbar. Whatever it is, I declare it officially insanely cool. Enjoy, David

Great holy cow, that is soooo not fair that Arizonians get two week spring breaks. I think I will sue about that one. David

Speaking in generalities, I personally love learning, intrepreting, and perfecting (not that I have ever perfected a kata, but I enjoy the process) katas. I draw the line when katas are created, learned, and practiced for only the purpose of making it look cool for a tournament. I would even be fine with that if it was not left wrapped up in the package of self defense. Emphasis is on the "Created" part, because I do not have a problem with learning a kata and using it for a tournament, I just have a problem with taking the self defense techniques of the kata an leaving them in the gutter for dead, so to speak. So, yes. I do like katas. David

Sohan, that is absolutely correct. Even if somebody already said that, it could not be repeated enough. David

Hey martial arts dudes and dudettes, I know that there are a lot of good quotes out there, so pick your top five or so favorite quotes and post them. Here are my top six: “You are a sick man…In the same way as Sticky Chocolate. Or was Eminem his name?” -One of my brother's insults “When fighting battles with yourself in your head, be wary of winning” -Anonymous "Out of every one hundred men, Ten shouldn't even be there, Eighty are nothing but targets, Nine are real fighters...We are lucky to have them...They make the battle. Ah, but the One, One of them is a Warrior...and He will bring the others back." -Hericletus (circa 500 B.C.) "All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." -Winston Churchill “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity.” -Albert Einstein "Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy." -Albert Einstein Enjoy, and please post your favorite quotes also. David

Right now, I am writing a 6 page research paper, researching for a 10 page paper, getting ready for a spanish exam, and, tommorow, doing calc homework. I had my spring break two weeks ago. Wahhhhhh. Woe is me. David *Disclaimer Actually, my life is not that bad, I just like complaining a lot.

Ya, I watched a couple of episodes here and there. Usually I go to bed extremely confused after watching an episode of Lost. Anywhays, yes, that would be an excellent place to put all of "Those" people. Especially with that big monster. Hehe. Although, I do think that Siberia would deserve a fair consideration too. I mean, heck, they have that great big scary snowman, right? David

Nevermind. I just did a little research, and it does not appear that consuming caffeine right before working out is all that risky. Sorry about that, David

Trust me, you do NOT want to do that. Caffiene does a lot of different things, but one of them is that it raises your heart rate substantially. Combine that with a hard run, and you could have serious problems, anywhere from slight damage that will manifest in many years to dropping dead from an heart attack. I do not have studies to back that up, so take my advice with a grain (or two) of salt, but, as they say, better safe than sorry. David

Yeah, now that you mention that, I remember reading about a study on that. Something to the effect that sweat glands, when activated, release chemicals akin to antibiotics into the blood stream. David