Spirit At Choice

Welcome aboard!!!

Definitely just RELAX. If she's going out with you, you know she likes you. Don't worry about what others think. It's like when the sensei walks by and you mess up because you were thinking about him watching you instead of thinking about what you were doing.

And welcome!

Could be runner's knee. Are they creaky when you bend and unbend them? Ice, anti-inflammatories and taking off any extra weight will help loads if it's just runner's knee. If you are not aligning your knee over your toes when you bend, the only way to fix that is proper alignment. Definitely watch your rotation on kicks, but also make sure your knee is going the same direction as your toes in all stances.

Great advice! Lurking is definitely the way to go. Sometimes I find a LOT I want to discuss, and other times I just read and learn. Definitely search on topics before you post a new item. Uniform care, belt mythology and other topics have been done to death, so there's already REALLY good information on them in older posts. Glad to have you!

Superior Martial Arts (https://www.superiormartialarts.com) has fans, books AND videos. Enjoy!

Anybody can sue for any reason. You absolutely can ask for attorney's fees in a counter suit. Facts are, though, that even if you have it in your contract that they agree not to sue, they CAN, because that's the kind of system we have set up. The good new is, if you cover your bases, you will likely win any suit that gets tossed your way, and the language in the contract will discourage any suits.

I think acrobatics may be a good avenue for you. You might also check into circus training. They often have summer camps that will teach you a lot in a minimal amount of time; and it's all the coolest stuff. But I must agree with Use of Force: please learn under an instructor. There is *so* much more to it than first appears. Best wishes!!! I hope you have lots of fun!!!

Nah. He gives me the hee-bee-dee-bee-jee-bees, Maurice. I think I'll trust that. The more I think about my conversation with him, the more I think he was playing me. I'm confident he was lying about the MA stuff, so now I'm questioning everything else he told me.I don't have time for holding his hand through How To Be Honest In A Relationship lessons. I have kids, a job, school and an intense hobby. He'll have to find another teacher.

Yes, it is an education! I've learned loads here. Welcome!

I'm sure I've seen some Canucks here... So where are you all, eh? PS- Welcome!

Welcome to the boards. The FAQ tell you how many posts you need for the belts. I think 25 posts gets you a yellow belt, and 100 gets you an orange, etc.

Welcome!!!

Two funny stories... A white belt was performing a kata when an unaware instructor was walking past, and she let loose with a loud "Hai!!!" right in his unsuspecting ear. He jumped, and stammered, "Yeah, well, 'Hi' back." It was pretty funny. And We have a few girls in our class of white belts who I suspect are there for reasons other than that they have a passion for martial arts. (Maybe mom or dad made them come?) They often give embarrassed, barely vocalized kiais, or they just roll their eyes and say "kiai" instead. One gal realized after executing a punch in Kata One that she'd forgotten to kiai, so a split second after punching she said, "Ooops!" and it looked like that was her kiai. Without missing a beat, our sensei said, "'Ooops' is not a kiai!"

I didn't mean it literally. My (minimal) exposure to martial arts indicated that even a skilled fighter would have difficulty getting promoted if (s)he were a hothead or immature, etc. My sensei once remarked that in higher rank tests (I'm a noob) they try to stress out the candidates, and that anger, tears or defeatism is an automatic failure. I think I'm going to trust my gut on this and lose his number. Maybe he was just trying to impress me, but I still think there's something a little 'off' about the guy. Too bad, though. He was articulate and well mannered. Very charming.

I met a guy (I don't really know him from Adam) who I wouldn't mind seeing again. But he raised a few red flags with me that will have me walking away if I can't clear them up next time I talk to/see him. First, he says he does "Kung Fu," but he doesn't seem to be able to talk about it except to brag about his sparring victories. I thought there were different styles of Kung Fu, so I asked him what his style of Kung Fu is and he just said, "It's a martial art, just like karate." (Well, duh!) Second, he seems to be egotistical. He talked about "intuiting" moves he never learned, because he had such an awesome teacher. It seemed a little weird, and a little obnoxious. But we just met. Maybe he was nervous-- trying to impress me. Whatever. He gave me his number and I could call him or not. But I get this niggling feeling he's lying about his martial arts experience. Can any Kung Fu practitioners tell me how I can *know* if this guy is a liar or just a nervous nellie? Shouldn't he be able to name a style of Kung Fu? Don't black belts in Kung Fu styles get the Ego beaten out of them (figuratively) before they'd be awarded a black belt? I mean, not many styles will hand an egomaniac a black belt.

Welcome aboard!!!

I'm a white belt and I entered a kata tournament. I signed up for a weapons kata in addition, thinking it would be fun even though I knew I wouldn't really be at a competetive level. I think you should go for it if they have a division for you. Even if you don't feel at a competitive level it's good experience!

Hearty welcome!

Welcome!

Hey there! Welcome.

Welcome to the forums! Nice to meet you.

Thanks to all. Man Thing, I looked up the Bao Way. I will look at that further. If I'm going to learn from a DVD I may as well keep it in the Cuong Nhu family. Sub Grappler, "VERY busy" was in response to carrying a weapon. With my lifestyle of go-go-go, I would eventually relegate a weapon to my glove box. Part of what keeps me busy is that I train daily. It sure does take a fair chunk of time! Fenris-Wolf, you are kind to acknowlege my strides. It is one of those things that is hard to admit, primarily because I don't want my past bad experiences to define me. Those experiences have lost their hold on my daily life, but under stress old patterns re-emerge. That's why I feel the need to reinforce and reinforce and reinforce the SD training. Neurologically speaking, I have "hard wired" neural pathways that were forged in childhood. (We all do-- just some of us were raised in a way that forged healthy stress coping!) Stress responses travel those pre-determined pathways naturally (for me that means dissociating, "blacking out," compliance). So (as a neuropsychiatrist once explained to me) I have to "re-wire" my brain by creating new neural pathways. If I stop using the old neural pathways, they will disappear, just like an unused path will soon succumb to local flora and disappear.

Welcome to the fora!

Glad to have you. Enjoy the boards!