Shotokan-kez

I have to admit the karate kid movies are brilliant, I have the whole collection on DVD and was gutted to hear Pat Mortitia (forgot spelling) died. I also love Kickboxer with Van damme, the other 3 sequels are not half as good. Bloodsport is another good one, they should do more sequels of that. I recently watched Unleashed with Jet Li, That was fab! And last but not least I would do anything to meet Jackie Chan. Who rocks your boat?

I like to train to rock music from bands like Whitesnake, Meatloaf, Marrilion ect.

i'm pretty new to the site but already Sohan intrigues me. You seem like a very interesting person and gives lots of sound advice. I also like the fact that you always say 'respectfully' at the end of your messages. Respect is a big thing in the world of martial arts. Kez

Hello there everyone. I do shotokan at present and i'm not far off black belt grading. I am very tempted to start training in muay thai but it looks scary. That probably sounds very sad and lame considering my rank in karate but karate isn't full contact and i am a big wimp really lol. I have seen some pictures on master skens website and the moves look frightening that they do, i have had injuries in karate before but i wouldn't want to be put out for good. I soooooo want to do this but somethings holding me back and i think it's the safety issue. Can anyone reasure me, before i make the commitment? Thanks guys. Kez

Thanks for the lovely welcome everyone. I was so glad i came accross this site. I rant on about my karate training all the time to my friends, i take it very passionately and seriously but sometimes they just dont seem to want to listen. Tut lol. But on here i feel right at home and can't stop posting lol

What is Creatine?

Well i have seen Jean Claude Van Damme take one in his gut from a great height in the film Kickboxer. How realistic is that do you think? Can someone really take that?

yeah i'm 3rd kyu, i'm going for 2nd kyu which is a white stripe on the brown belt. My association is ssk shikata shotokan. How did you find bassai dai? I love that kata, but sometimes i get it confused with the moves in heian godan. I have just learnt Jitte but don't know any others yet, do you?

There is a young lad in my karate club who gained his black belt in december. I was talking to him in training last night and asked him how much his belt was. When he told me £60 i nearly fell to the floor. I spend £5 on my belts at the most and they are all cotton and made by Blitz. He said he ordered his from Camae (i think thats how to spell it). I think it's madness spending so much but to be honest after training for so many years i think it's well deserved.

Wow buckeye sounds intense. In the old club i trained at we did a lot of fitness stuff before and after the lesson but we never used medicine balls before. Thanks for that info. Keep training hard.!

Thanks david, i will visit my gp as he has an open surgery every morning.

I do shotokan too, isnt it funny how our belts are different. What belt are you on now? I am grading for brown white stripe at the end of this month. It'll be six months then before i can get my next one after that.

What are medicine balls for exactly? I have always wondered.

Hi there. Years ago as a kid i trained in shotokan and got to purple belt with a white stripe. I gave it up for 10 years and then went to my local Shukokai karate club. I did take one grading and i skipped from white belt to yellow with a score of 51/60. Unfortuantly because of being so advanced in Shotokan i didn't feel that i was reaching my full potential. I decided to go back to my old club and sensei accpeted me back on my own belt, i am now brown belt. My son is 9 and he is yellow belt. Shukokai is cool but i had to do what was best. Good look in your training.

Thanks a lot for that i am taking heed of all advice. I have been training tonight and luckily had no cramp at all but unfortunatly i think i have damaged the tendons in my foot and around my ankle, it's very painful. I managed to get through the lesson but now i am limping and can't turn my foot round in circles. Really don't need this right now as i have a grading on friday next week.

When i train the adults and kids train together and sometimes i do find this a nuiscence because they can mess around sometimes. On the whole the instructor keeps them in place and he doesn't allow them to grade unless they are ready or good enough, so i guess i'm lucky really. I agree with the rest of the advice you have been given, you need to check out other clubs and maybe look for an adult class. Good luck to you i hope it works out. Kez

Right, so when you say purplex2 and brown x3 are they tabs? What style do you do hun? Kez

Thanks for that, yes "no pain, no gain". Does spring to mind! My instuctor thought it was funny when this happened to me (we train in a relaxed atmosphere). Just was concerned cos im a brown belt now and would have thought i would have gotten over this by now. Thanks for the advice, i do like bananas so will get plenty in i think. Kez

My sensei is 5th Dan and he has been training for 25 years. I really look up to him and have the uppermost respect for him. I Have a book on martial arts and in that it says that from 5th dan in Shotokan an instructor can chose weather to wear a red and white belt. My instructor disregarded this and shook his head. He has been wearing his black belt since he gained it, it's all worn but i like that, that really symbolises how long they have been training.

I am in aggreement with Jay. I suffer with anxiety and my throat often feels strange and tight and it's scary, sometimes i feel like i can't breath. Take deep breaths and try to take your mind of it. Hope you feel better soon! Kez

Hello everyone. I'm a pretty fit 28 year old. I train in Karate three times a week for two hours, and i even cycle two and from the lessons. I am only 8 stone 12lbs and im about 5ft 2. My gp said i am a good wieght for my height. The thing is when we do leg stretches i got terrible cramp in my thighs, your partner holds your leg on his/her shoulder and slowly lifts it as far as you can take it. When i do my kicks fast, especially round kick and front kick i don't feel a thing and i execute them well, but that stretching teqnique just kills with cramp. Can anyone make any suggestions on how to make it go away? Cheers Kez

Hey there. Arnica is great, i use it on my kids bruises and sprains. I get pain a lot in my stomach and often in both sides of my ribs, i ignore it really and assume it's muscular because it's been going on a long time i suspect if it was serious something would have happened by now. I tend to use hot water bottle, heat spray like deep heat or anti-imflammatorys they are very good. Hope you feel better soon. Kez

I am a 29 and female, and i am wanting to be stronger as far as arm muscles go. I do shotokan and stretching and long stances are important so my legs are quite strong. But like you i can't do a pull up either, and i can only manged 8 push ups!! Yes sad! Maybe shokei is right, weight training in a gym. Good luck with that.

Hi all has anyone ever trained or heard of Shikata Shotokan? This is the style i train in. Our grading system has stripes on the belts. Purple and white stripe, brown one white stripe and brown two white stripes. Does anyone else do a style that has these? We don't have a blue belt either. I did train in Shukokai for a short while but they had white tabs on the ends of the brown belt. It'll be interesting to hear how drifferent styles have different belt systems.

I do Shotokan. White Kihon Kata, orange heian shodan, red heian needan, yellow heian sandan, green heian yondan, purple heian godan, purple and white tekki shodan, brown, brown 1 stripe, brown 2 stripes bassai dai. Then all the other katas such as jion, empi, hangestu, ganku dai, jitte. There are 26 katas in total in shotokan, i am currantly doing bassai dai and have just learnt jitte.