Bluetulipx

If I am struggling with proper form and power on a side kick then I go back to basics. If it is supposed to be mid level side kick then I start back down at the shin and make sure that the angle of my foot is correct and the power can 'explode' out as mentioned by other people. I then build it back up to the correct height. I am not quite sure what your issue is though and whether that would help or not.

Congratulations

Thank you for your comments. It is good to know that other people have experienced a few blocks from time to time also.

Samuel, I have noticed that you are in Derbyshire and are planning to train in Aikido. What neck of the woods of Derbyshire do you hail from? I live in Derby and train in Aikido in Long Eaton, but our club has national courses in Derby. Also, I noticed your comment about ikkyo being more painful than nikkyo. I have not found that to be the case. Ikkyo is an 'arm pin' and the attacker will end up lying on the floor with their arm stretched out. Nikkyo is a 'wrist turn in' and this can bring on a lot of pain if not done correctly. Anyway, good luck with both of your styles.

Good luck KarateK. Hope to see you at the Seni show some time. Maybe next year?

After struggling with my yellow belt syndrome (see separate post), I also have had a psychological block about any grading higher than a green belt. I think what happened is that I was a green belt in America and then came over to England and when I had to start back at yellow tag in TKD, I zoomed through the ranks and wore myself out to get back to green belt (other people may not think this is zooming ... but for me it was). It took a year as a green belt until I finally was able to feel ready for my next grading. Each time I tried to do the pattern Won Hyo I found myself struggling then 1 day I did it and it was so straightforward that I wondered what all the fuss had been about. I think perhaps it was also related to the fact that I have moved 10 times and had 13 contract jobs in 2 1/2 years since I have moved back to England and it is possible that my mind refused to let me go higher in the ranks, because I was so disoriented. Anyway, after all of that I finally managed to go for my blue tag at the end of June and I was successful. Now that I have it I feel like I've moved to the next level of TKD. It has made me very happy.

Thanks everyone for your comments. Sometimes I find that if I write things down it makes me feel better about them. I appreciate your kind words.

I have tried to train in 1 martial art more than twice a week, but it really doesn't seem to fit my personality for some reason. I currently train in Tae Kwon Do, Aikido & Kick Boxing. TKD & KB are very complimentary to each other and Aikido is very different. I find that by thinking ... oh, I only have TKD once a week so I must go to that lesson, or knowing that Aikido is on a Tuesday and Friday that somehow it keeps me motivated to go. As everyone else has stated, it depends on how you feel about it. I know that doing different styles works well for me.

Much as I love the martial arts and love the fact that it is in my life, I had a moment recently where I just could not cope with being a yellow belt any more ... I started the martial arts about 7 years ago when I was living in Rockville, MD, USA. My very first TKD instructor was a wonderful person and I trained with him for a short time before he had to have a back operation and the building we trained in was pulled down. With this instructor I achieved a yellow belt. Now that I had actually started on my road with the martial arts, I moved to a new club and trained and got up to green belt. I was supposed to test for my next belt before I left but I didn't quite feel ready. Anyway, obviously at that club I went through the yellow belt phase. I then moved to England and started looking for TKD again. In America, I was in TKD WTF but I could not find a club to join so started TKD ITF. I then had to start again at yellow tag and go through the yellow belt experience again ... While I was doing this, I also started Aikido. This is very interesting and very different from TKD and I am currently an orange belt and will be looking at testing for my green belt shortly, but obviously, I had the yellow belt here as well. I also started kick boxing to help with my kicks and punches for TKD, but discovered they had their own ranking system and I am a yellow belt again ... However, next week on Thursday, I am grading for my orange belt so all going well I will then be able to remove my yellow belt and put it away. Finally, on this board, I noticed ... I'm a yellow belt ... LOL I think that's enough yellow belts for a while

I have been doing the martial arts for nearly 7 years and sometimes I get worse cramps than others when I have my period. I also do 3 different martial arts. Sometimes, when my cramps are severe and I am at work, I think it would help if I could bend over as the pain is extreme and nothing can help (best I can relate to is when I had food poisoning on one occasion and the feeling was similar). Anyway, much as I like the advice that exercise does help, I'm afraid in my case ... NOTHING, BUT NOTHING martial arts related is going to make it better and there is NO CHANCE that I can attempt to do tae kwon do, kick boxing or aikido ... as I find it hard enough to stand up. Lucky for me though, it's not that painful every month, but I do not know that there is a solution to this one other than sitting it out.

Birmingham NEC.

KarateK, I caught the train from Derby (£13-ish return), Seni ticket for the weekend (£12.50 I think) and hotel was £73 (I think) for the night. Hotel was the official Seni hotel and you could see the NEC from there. It was a five minute walk next to the lake. I was by myself (although many people expressed an interest in attending next year) and I did meet up with 3 TKD instructors and my KB instructor while I was there. The hotel staff were great. I gave my suitcase to the hotel staff and then went off to the show. On the Sunday, I left my suitcase there and picked it up after the show. On the Saturday night, I grabbed my freebie martial arts magazines from the show and a PC magazine (because that's another one of my interests) and wandered to the bar. I then chilled out drinking a glass of wine or two ... so if anyone saw a woman hanging out by herself ... chilling ... that was probably me! LOL I didn't feel like I had to be there with anyone because I was just enjoying the atmosphere (or was it the wine???) Definitely recommend it, I will go for at least one day next year, maybe the whole weekend again. However, next year, there are a few people who may (or may not) go with me!

Fairfax, VA ... brings back a memory or two ... I used to live in Arlington, VA, Washington, DC and Rockville, MD but now I'm back in England ... and just for a change it is raining ... LOL I used to attend TKD in Rockville MD and it was very good exercise. I then came back to England and took up Aikido and then last year took up Kick Boxing. I now do all three. I find that they are all good for very different reasons. The kickboxing really is a good workout. I know that if I can just get through our intense warm up then I will be able to make it through the rest of the class! Kickboxing helps my TKD as well because it builds the muscle so that I can punch for longer, rather than just hit once and then drop my arms. Seriously though, I have a great crowd at mine and it gives me exactly what I am looking for -- kicking and punching. I would try it, especially if it's a freebie at your gym ... what's to lose?

Yes, I went to the Seni Show. I had a really good time. I've just been to London and Birmingham and then a visit to the family, so I haven't been back on here in a couple of weeks. I decided that I was going to the Seni Show and then I booked a ticket and a hotel. I didn't even plan to go with anyone, but I was hoping that I would see people I knew. On the Saturday, I saw three of my TKD instructors and I stayed with them. We had a good time seeing lots of different events. As I was standing with three of my instructors, my Kick Boxing instructor walked by. It was interesting and I introduced them to each other. I also saw some ladies from my kickboxing class later that evening. On Sunday, I was wondering if I was going to enjoy myself as I had been lucky enough to see so many people that I knew on the Saturday. However, while Saturday was a good day, there were not as many events. On Sunday, there was a lot going on and I wandered from event to event and the next thing I knew it was 5:30 pm and I was reluctant to leave! There were less people on Sunday and so it was easier to move about and get a snack from the restaurant, but there were more events - so it was great There were so many things that I enjoyed, I will not even start to list them here ... in case I forget some !!! I had a wonderful weekend and will be going again next year.

Thank you. The article was very interesting.

I don't know the names of the people, but yep, I watch the show! I find it truly bizarre that two ex-spouses are so close to each other and both families seem okay with it, but apart from that I think the show is great. I am a sci-fi fan.

Thank you Orion. I think that was a nice edit that you made to your previous comment. I also now realize what your motives were when you made that statement and I realize I had read it perhaps in a way that was not intended. I, too, have been known to make comments and then later realize that a little tweeking to the wording makes a whole lot of difference.

Please let's not make comments like '... it's a woman thing that you have something you like doing without her ...'. What a load of rubbish. This comment is very disrespectful to women. I could make stereotypical statements about men, but I won't because they will not be true. There are different types of men and there are different types of women. I am a woman and I do not watch soaps all day. There are some men that love watching soaps. I think this is more of a personality issue.

Wow. I need to borrow you. I cannot tell you how many guys play the 'not being real' game on me ... and I just think ... 'dude, don't bother ...' (that's the nice version anyway). How nice to see this information being written by a guy

KarateK, I study kickboxing in Derby at a local sports centre. There are opportunities to train many times each week but I just try to focus on twice a week when I can (I also have tkd once a week and aikido twice a week). I too have had problems with my knees. When I was younger I had severe problems and then when I moved to America they disappeared! After a while, I realized that I needed a 'heat' treatment and in D.C. the sun shone 90 - 100 degrees in the summer and that took care of my problem. Now that I am back in England (and the weather has been so cold for so long) I have been looking at alternative options. This in turn has made me so happy that I can kick it adds to the training each time I do it. I am not sure what your problem with your knee is, but have you looked at alternative options? Anyway, if you cannot resolve your knee problems, then I think that boxing would be a very good option. My only hope is that in boxing, you have options that are similar to kickboxing and that is lots of exercise and controlled punches against pads and a grading system so that a black belt (or whatever the system of grading is in boxing) doesn't come over and try to knock you out on day one! Best of luck with whatever you decide to choose.

I contemplated doing boxing, but after reviewing my options, I decided to do kickboxing. One of the main reasons was that I was not sure I would be able to keep my arms going all that time, as is required for total dedication to boxing. Instead I do kickboxing and for me this seems to work out well. I know that a lot of people knock kickboxing, but it's very good aerobic exercise and the kicking part also helps my tae kwon do. For the boxing, when I was in America, studying WTF TKD, the emphasis was on kicks not punches, so when I came to England and started studying ITF TKD most people could knock me out because I wasn't used to using my arms as much. LOL Anyway, the main reason I started this was to help with my punches, hooks, jabs, etc. and I am finding that it is working out very well. I thought it would be straight forward to learn the different techniques, but when I put them into combinations and drills I find that it requires a lot of concentration. In our club, we are also very lucky because we have Neville Brown (former British Middleweight boxing champion) who trains a class once a month. He will hold the pads and call out techniques and each student responds accordingly (one student at a time through the class of course). I think this adds to the interest in the club. Also, on Sunday 9th April, 2006, we are again lucky enough to have a course (we have two courses a year) and this one will include: Paul Taylor (World Kickboxing champion and world Thai-Boxing champion), Tommy Thompson - Senior ABA boxing coach and Neville Brown. I have a personality that likes a bit of variety, and so this helps my boxing abilities very well.

Thanks KarateK, you have motivated me to book my advanced weekend ticket and also my hotel room. All set now. I shall review the events and decide what I want to visit now

I am thinking about going to Seni 2006 as well. I would like to see all of it but am not sure how I might get there at the moment. I am looking into train options. I think it would be a wonderful event to attend and it would be interesting to see other martial arts from all areas. I am a fellow female and just at the beginning of my martial arts lifetime path - hopefully anyway.

I am sure it would be no surprise to people to see that I voted TKD and Aikido! I think they are great together. I would not be able to do one martial art many times a week as some other people do. My martial arts is hopefully going to last a lifetime and as such I need variety. TKD and Aikido are so different that they are exactly what I have been looking for (oh, and the kickboxing as well, but that was not on the vote).

Maybe it is because I am a woman, but I believe that the most important issue here is communication with your instructor. Why don't you ask your instructor what he/she would like to be called. I have found (inside and outside of the martial arts) that each place and each person has their own way of doing things. An example being, in TKD I call my instructor Sir, in Aikido my instructor is his first name (his request), and in Kick Boxing, I think it is their first names when chatting privately, but in class, I hold my hand up and ask a question -- without a title (so to be honest I am not 100% sure on that one, but will ask them next time). The most important thing for me, is my respect for the people that are my instructors and to be able to communicate to them as well.