alsey

welcome to the forums. i pretty much always eat pasta before going to class or a grading (actually, i pretty much always eat pasta whatever i'm doing ), and just drink water. but do what works for you, if gatorade or something helps then drink that. in my experience of gradings, its not really up to you what pace you go at. not sure how they do it at your school, but my gradings are generally just doing what i'm told to do, and giving every little bit 100%. i wouldn't recommend trying to save energy; if your fitness levels aren't up to it then the instructor will see this because either you'll be tired at the end or you won't give it everything at the start. i'd say try your hardest from the beginning, and then you've done your best. you'll probably find in a test you get a little bit more energy and strength that you didn't think you had. also, its your first test so i don't think they'll be too hard on you, though again i don't know how exactly they do things at your school. two and half hours is a long time if you've been doing it for just three months. good luck, let us know how it goes.

there's this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_martial_arts some of the descriptions of each art are pretty extensive, some of them don't have a description yet. this page is pretty good too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styles_of_Chinese_martial_arts

personally i don't believe ki is something, so its not like the midichlorians that mediate the force in star wars rather ki is a way in which the body and mind are used. some people are better at using ki than others. you probably use ki yourself. you don't think of it as ki because its nothing special or amazing to you. most MA teach ki manipulation of some kind; breathing, focus, posture, kiai etc, are all part of it. some people are just very good at using ki, to the extent that others go 'wow dude' and the guy says 'yeah that was awesome ki powers'. then all sorts of stories and legends arise. its nothing out of this world, some people are just very good with it.

no one really agrees on what exactly ki is, so its hard to get anything conclusive on it. you have to define something scientifically before you study it scientifically. personally i think it is a state of mind that influences the body and others' perception of it, and use of the body in certain ways (breathing etc) is required to get into that state of mind. this is something that could be investigated, but a lot of it is psychology which is an inexact science. you won't get black and white answers about it.

yeah, our videos would have awesome fight scenes

i think so too, though my sensei once told me i'm too nice to the beginners its always great though when you get the shy type person starting, and you see their confidence and strength build as they train.

sweet, who were you demoing to? my jujitsu club at uni does demos now and then, usually to the freshers to get them come train with us. we usually have a few guys doing fancy throws and kicks, and that aikido style randori stuff. then they do a few moves with kobudo weapons (everyone digs kobudo weapons). the only thing i've personally done in a demo is run at one of the black belts and get thrown lol

good to hear.

i played drums for like a year, back when i was a grunge kid and wanted to be in a band. music really isn't my thing though (not playing it anyway).

i've been here for just under two months, and i've already learnt a lot. so many different experiences and perspectives, its a great forum. you just can't get that variety in real life, or in any book. congrats on the forum black belt.

http://www.narama.cz/karate/kata.htm watch heian shodan. its easiest to see when he does the three age-ukes and oi-tsukis down the middle. this is how i do it anyway. in the second half of the video he does the kata slowly, its probably better to watch that bit.

sounds really good, i'd definately check them out if they were near me.

they're like seminars, but especially for brown belts to get them ready for shodan.

kata movements are ideal movements. they are techniques performed 'ideally' to convey a principle. naturally you're going to deviate from the ideal in a real fight, but you'll be using the same principle and probably the same technique.

man, where do i start? if you go to the jiu jitsu forum, i wrote a lot of what i would say here in the thread 'throws and groundwork in shotokan?'. about a century ago master itosu decided to teach children karate, but he didn't want them to get injured so he heavily modified the way the art was taught. he changed it from a complete fighting system to a simple strike-block system, and anything that couldn't be changed into a strike or a block was just left unexplained in the kata. the kata are almost entirely grappling and throwing techniques, but these techniques are rarely if ever taught in modern karate. i recommend the book Bunkai-Jutsu by iain abernethy. it should give you a better idea of what kata are about, and how to turn them into effective combat training. kumite has a lot of rules, and limits the competitors to long range striking. so what you see in kumite is kickboxing because that is what works at long range. real combat, which is what karate was designed for, usually starts or ends up at close range. this is the range kata deals with. as i said, most of the kata is grappling and throwing, and you're not allowed to do that in kumite. indeed. that is why the old masters practiced just one or two kata in their entire lifetime. if you believe what they say, each kata is pretty much a martial art in itself. boxers and kickboxers are restricted by similar rules that modern karateka are restricted by. UFC fighters don't practice kata, but some of the techniques they use are in the kata. trips, sweeps, throws, a lot of the clinch stuff, its in the kata in one form or another. practice of kata is not necessary, but it is helpful if you don't have trainers who are highly experienced fighters (as UFC fighters do). don't know how to do a hip throw? look it up in the kata and practice it. the problem is that today most people don't know where to look or what to look for. kata is like a book of techniques and principles. except instead of just reading it, you do it, meaning you gain a better understanding of it and ability to do it. once you've read the book/done the kata, you then practice it with an opponent realistically until you become proficient at it.

so, are there any major differences between san shou and muay thai?

i guess because you've spent way more time doing MA than music?

somehow i've managed to have only seen one rocky film, and i didn't really like it. can't remember which one it was. maybe i should try getting into it.

i did three as well before grading for shodan. one of them i'll never forget, they had this japanese guy (i totally forget his name) and he said like two english words throughout the whole thing. if someone didn't get something, he'd just shout it louder in japanese. he was great though, one of the most motivational guys i've ever had lead a class. most of my courses were spent doing bassai dai, making sure we had all the subtle bits of it right, but we did quite a lot of kumite as well.

good to hear. day 2 was the hardest for me, it should start getting easier soon. that never having a cig again thought foiled my first few attempts at quitting, just remember that never having a cig again is a good thing, and just take each day and hour at a time. keep it up!

that's gonna be nice for linking to when beginners ask about what art/school they should choose.

i was thinking jujitsu, hapkido, and pankration mainly, but yeah, i guess its not a lot really. i didn't know that about shuai chiao, i always thought of that as a grappling and ground fighting thing.

usually i try to sidestep and deflect it away with my hand while countering with a hook kick or roundhouse depending on which side i go. sometimes it works, sometimes not. sometimes i can move in with punches or go for a throw, it all depends on the exact situation the kick is thrown in. i generally prefer to stay at closer than kicking range though.

the katana is the only sword i've actually practiced with, and its great! i think i definately prefer two handed swords, but i'd be interested in trying other types of sword.

update on cloud of sparrows: ninjas have been introduced in it; totally sweet!!!