alsey

never tried that, usually because there's not enough room in the shower. it might work, but ideally you want to warm up by using the muscles and getting the blood flowing, then stretching them. i usually do a load of squat jumps and push ups and stuff before stretching.

wow that's hardcore. though if a school told me that i'd actually find it quite encouraging.

i disagree about israel, though i wouldn't call india middle eastern. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_east

i think aikido is softer, and its japanese. hapkido is korean.

i think i would prefer to go to the ground against a considerably bigger opponent. try and draw an attack and then use their size against them in a throw, or just go for the double leg.

i have incorporated a lot of my jujitsu training into my shotokan training. a lot of the time i'll be using a jujitsu concept when practicing a shotokan technique, or a shotokan concept when practicing a jujitsu technique. i can certainly tell the difference between the two though. sometimes i'll even use kendo principles when sparring, although the physical technique will be completely different.

YEAH!! saw dragonforce with edguy in february (edguy rock btw). jeff loomis from nevermore is the god of solos though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCZKYoaOBBc (the blonde guy is jeff)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqnxhuEuzLw&mode=related&search=

i've always thought with consoles, you have to base it on what games you want to play rather than the actual system. the actual differences in graphics and controllers and stuff aren't worth worrying about IMO. i've always been a PC fanboy, but for consoles i always chose nintendo because of mortal kombat. so decide what you want to play first, then buy the console that has most of those games on it.

i actually prefer hakama to standard gi pants. i love the loose feel, and they make me look like a samurai plus you get all that ventilation. in kendo, they are worn primarily because of tradition, but we do full contact sparring in them and they don't get in the way or anything. when i practice at home i often wear them for kata, even shotokan kata.

sorry, i meant its ridiculous that the shukokai sensei wouldn't let him back. training without lots of other kids can have advantages as well, mainly less distraction from training, but you have to decide what's best, i don't really know anything about kids

i actually quite like all the coloured belts, its the other end of the system that i'm not so sure about. when you're a beginner, getting to the next grade is motivating and gives you a sense of achievement. compare it to academia again: the coloured belts are like your grades/years in school, you pass tests and then go onto the next one. then maybe you go to college/university, this is like getting a black belt, then you do postgrad stuff and eventually get your PhD, this is like maybe 5th dan or something. but then it stops, there are no more grades, you are qualified in whatever field you studied and then you try to learn something no one else has learned before. there doesn't seem to be any equivalent of this in the dan system (i may be wrong, i'm not very high up after all), you just keep learning what your master learned, which is what his master learned, which is what his master learned etc. breaking away from the system and going on your own seems to be the only way of doing something new. i occasionally asked the chief instructor at my dojo if we could try something a little different, but the answer was always no. why not? 'because that's the way we do things'. to be fair i was just a lowly nidan, but had i been a godan or whatever i don't think the answer would be much different. i guess i just don't want to see traditonal MA be reduced to copying. copying isn't art.

for me, the most annoying thing about the belt system is that belts have become ranks within a particular style and they don't really mean anything to anyone else anymore. if you change style or school your grade often counts for nothing. the other thing in the article which i really agreed with is that there is no 'graduation' in most MA, especially those that use dan grades. you just keep learning and learning what people have been learning for years without question. there doesn't seem to be any way to improve the system. sure you can write a book, i have read some amazing karate books written recently, but its rare to find an organisation that would dare to incorporate some of those changes. MA is a science in my view: you have theories, you try them out and if they don't work then you try to find a better theory. in most sciences you get your PhD then start contributing to the community and adding new knowledge, in MA there doesn't seem to be any way of doing this other than breaking away from your current organisation and starting your own. personally i'd love to see a system where there is a point that you stop getting ranks and become equal to everyone else. make things a bit more open instead of the almost feudal structure we have now. maybe 5th dan as the author of the article suggested. at that point does one really need grades to be encouraged to keep training? seriously, i stopped needing that when i was a purple belt. and maybe, instead of getting another grade for doing the same things other people did, get like the equivalent of a nobel prize for doing something new. this idea has problems of course, i havn't thought about it thoroughly.

that's just ridiculous. are there any other dojos around with kids classes or something?

my friend just mailed me this link: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/07/23/how-long-until-black-belt/ its an article about the belt system which so many of us are part of. it starts off by asking 'how long until i get my black belt?' but it actually goes quite deep (maybe too deep) into the hierarchy of MA, and how MA progresses or does not progress. its pretty pessimistic, but i kind of agree with some of it. in my relatively short MA career i've encountered problems where i couldn't do certain things or was told certain things were wrong just because someone of higher rank says so, or because that's what's been done for years. thoughts?

wow, didn't see that one coming! thanks

in philosophy they're completely different, but i think a lot of techniques are found in both styles.

i got my shotokan black belt after four years if i remember right, which was just going to the gradings at standard times and not failing any of them. in kendo i got it in less than three years, but the kendo kyu system is a bit random. the first grade i was ever given was ikkyu.

i've heard escrima sticks being called 'rattans', is that a correct term?

go for it, i'm sure you'll love it. as others have said, its very difficult to learn things effectively from a video, especially if you don't have anyone else to practice with. videos aren't bad if at some point you can get proper teaching, but on their own they're not really good enough.

i know the feeling. i don't do it so much now, but before i had a car i cycled in every type of weather to the dojo. i was the only one who would walk into the dojo already sweating, and sometimes wet.

i've had my wrist grabbed in a real fight, but we had already started hitting eachother by that time. its probably not that common compared to other grabs, but common enough that its a good idea to know how to deal with it.

good point. to me weapons kata are just like empty-hand kata; its a recording of combat principles and techniques. in kendo we do kata, and when we spar we use a lot of the techniques found in the kata. i agree with you though, if you want to create a system you need to start with actual fighting to see what works, and then formulate a kata from that.

no karate style uses brute force alone, for any style technique is more important than brute strength. the okinawan styles tend to be more circular i think, but i'm not sure exactly what you're looking for.

i don't really kiai when doing point sparring. kiai is like a huge release when you deliver a technique with all your strength, you should feel like you could knock a house down when you do it. this isn't really a good idea in point sparring because you don't want to really hit people. my advice to beginners has always been to concentrate on breathing correctly and executing the technique correctly. with practice kiai will come by itself. i don't actually like the way its often taught, 9 out of 10 kiais i hear in a dojo are forced and artificial. to answer your question, i would guess you're taught to kiai all the time because that's what your school or style teaches. its on the syllabus or whatever. the instructors understand kiai quite well now so they don't need to be told when and when not to do it.

try searching for taijutsu, or if you can't find anything you might want to try japanese jujitsu which i believe has a lot of similar techniques. i happened to watch UFC 2 last night, and in the middle of it they were showing a bit of each of the arts that were used in it. the stuff the ninja guy was doing was basically what we do in jujitsu.