Shotokan-kez

Hey well done you, those throphies look cool!

Its great when grown-ups can pluck up the courage to go back to school. Some are affraid cos things are done differently from when they were at school all those years ago. I left school 15 years ago and didnt come away with any special qualifications to speak of so it's all new to me. I even find Ryans school work hard to understand sometimes lol. Don't rush french fri, study hard cos you may regret it! How old are you when you can officially leave school in America? Here it's 15/16 but there is the option to go on to college and uni. I think it should be made compulsary to stay in school until you are 18.

Errm i loved the movie! Even got the sequals, although they don't go any where near the first one.

Hi guys i wanted to share this with you all because i am very excited and rather proud My youngest lad has just started nursery so i decided to take a step up myself and get some more education. I haven't worked or studied for 11 years due to looking after my boys and i decided that i wanted to do something for me. I'm doing a course at college called adult numeracy and its a basic course to get me up to a level so i can get a qualification in maths. In september i will then be taking English, maths and history. It was my first class today and it was scary, the more the sums got bigger and the more numbers that were there got me more frustrated, but when the teacher showed me how to work them out i did ok and i started to feel better. So here i am...on the road to getting a good education at nearly 30! Just goes to show its never too late! Kez x

Kempo karate is right i think. So many different styles, techniques ect. It's a good thing that your looking at different styles, but i think it's a shame you seem to be losing faith a little in your karate. Funny really i can't imagine myself doing anything else. So are you thinking of cross training or giving up karate all together to try a different style?

Well i'm surprised i didn't see this post before....i'm so glad you have decided to change your lifestyle, i did with smoking....yeah sorry guys i have to mention it again lol It's great that you have had the courage and will power to do this and my hat goes off to you. I know cigarettes and pot are different but they are both still classed as a drug and addictive. I knew a guy that had been smoking pot since he was 13 he is now 32 and trying desperatly to get off it, so well done you!

Luckily my cat keeps away from the stairs with the kids up and down them all the time. My wrist isn't as sore now, just got a big bruise. Just thought it was a very strange injury to happen.

That was quite a good fight. I watched the ufc for the first time at my mates on saturday night and i really enjoyed it. Although i was shocked on how violent it was and how much blood was shed! Do women fight in the ufc?

My sensei has three different venue's, shame that the best one is too far for me to get to without a car. But on the whole it's a great set-up and has a variety on which classes to attend so i like that.

Talk about silly little niggling injuries! Tonight i was stood leaning against the brick wall in the dojo with my hands behind my back. If you look at your wrist, on the oppasite side of the bottom of your thumb there is a tiny little bone. Well somehow i don't know how, i kinda pushed myself away from the wall and hurt that bone, it is now very sore and a little swollen, i'm even finding it difficult to type because it's rubbing against my desk. Do you guys know where im reffering to? It's difficult to explain It's annoyed me because i wasn't sparring or anything, just standing there! The wall did it!!!

Thanks for all that info guys. I never get pain when i do either of the exercises but i just wanted to get things clarified on what i heard. When we do the leg lifts in class the instructor always says to lift the head slightly, but doing it that way i find more difficult.

Just wondering i heard that when you lie on your back and lift you legs off the ground a little and hold them there that it can be bad for you? I can't remember the reason that this person said but he did say it's not very good for you because it puts to much strain on your body. I have always done this exercise because i think it strengthens my tummy muscles (which are very good). Also the other one he didnt reccommend are half sit up's. Just lifting your head and top half of the body but not doing a complete sit-up. I think the leg lifts concentrate and the bottom half of your tummy and the sit-ups at the top. The only thing i have a little difficulty with is getting comfortable while lying on your back. Any idea's on this guys? Kez x

I do agree with you all guys. I could mention it to sensei, it seems on a monday night no-one misbehaves because it's the chief instructor and he is strict and can be a little scary when he shouts (well to the kids anyway). He doesn't take any naughtyness at all and his lesson is generally quite small. It's wednesdays that seems to be a little harder because the assistant instructor seems to let the kids get away with more. I agree that it should be age as well as rank, i thought that's how it should be but it doesn't seem to be the case with us.

Hey, congratulations! It's so worth all the hard work, and when you get good comments like that from the instructor it's even better.

I have to admit the kids don't get away with messing around, when they do, they do get told off for it, but the silence doesn't last long lol. I also have to admit that my own son is guilty of it sometimes, until he see's me glaring at him with a mean look lol

Not saying a word!

Hi guys. I know we have had many threads about this before, but something is bothering me in class and i thought i would share it. We have mixed classes, which normally i don't mind to much as long as the kids behave. On the whole they do but there are a small minority that don't. When we line up in class they all push and shove to get to the end of the line. For example, i'm 1st kyu so i would be at the end near the black belts, The other 1st kyu kids race like mad to get the closest And then they also race so they can be next to their friends in the line. Of course the problem with that is that all you can hear are giggles and whispering during the warm-up. Then they pair up together and all they do is mess around. I remember once a 10 yr old black belt was on one side of me and her friend a 1st kyu was on the other side of me, and they were talking to each other with me in the middle. In the end i just said to the 1st kyu, do you wanna swap places or what?!?!? The 10 yr old black belt is good at her karate, don't get me wrong i'm not disputing that. I did watch her take her shodan grading and she well deserved it. But her behaviour in the dojo is sometimes wrong, her silliness and laughing isn't setting a very good example to the lower grades. We have an awful lot of beginners at the moment and i don't think it's very good for them. She was told off quite a lot on wednesday night for fooling around, which i was pleased about. Do i sound like i'm going overboard or over reacting? I just find it hard enough being only 1 of 2 adults in the class as it is. Anyway just wanted to get this off my chest, cheers for listening! Kez x

I think i would follow the curriculum. Your sensei will be able to see from how you perform, you never know he may just say that you can take the next test! Especially if you can do all these things, if he thinks you are good enough to qualify then he may just say you can grade without you having to ask.

The computer wore tennis shoes??

I loved these two movies, as well as shanghai noon and shanghai knights, chan and wilson make a great double act!

I know the topic is snow, but what is the thunder storms like in the us?

There has been heaps and heaps of snow in some parts of the uk, but none where i am My kids were upset when we saw on the news that we were getting 15cm of snow and we didnt get any. Just as well really, we live at the top of a really steep hill!

I have seen these clips before and i think they are brilliant. They are on my 30th birthday list (as well as a new gi)

Unfortuantly we don't do a lot of sparring as we don;t have many students. When we do spar there isn't much competetion for any of us so he doesn't get a lot of it in really. I do spar with him at home sometimes and he is quite good, he just needs to inprove on his movement, speed and relax with it a little because he is too ridgid.

This is a big problem in our dojo, lack of adults but lots of children. We do sometimes spar on a monday night and i find that hard because i am the only adult, i often just tap the kids on the head, it gives them an idea that they need to keep their guard up. Generally they tend to try all sorts on you and come at you at 50mph thowing a million and one punches and silly kicks lol. It's a difficult one i know, but when i spar with the kids i tend to take it as a bit of fun and get more serious when im sparring with a grown up. It must have been harder for you because it was testing and had to be serious. Despite everything you have probably taught this kid a lot, keeping on her guard and blocking, it's all part of the training. I think it's quite sweet and respectful the way you acted and i think other people will see that.