KarateGirl1387

I think wearing nice fitting pants (not necessarily spandex, but maybe track pants?) and a shirt that's not too loose or baggy would suffice. As for learning other tricks, try doing a 540 or a butterfly twist if you're up to the challenge

I would suggest doing stretches like you see dancers doing. Lean up against a bar or whatever's comfortable for you and have someone hold your leg up as far as it will go. You can also turn to the side and have them raise your leg up as you're doing a round kick or side kick. We do this every day in class and it really helps with flexibility. Hope this helps!

Does anyone have any recommendations for some good exercises that work the lower abs? I've been doing great working on my upper abs with crunches and such, but now I need something to balance that out

Yeah, alcohol can really cause you to pack on the pounds if you're not too careful. It's absorbed almost immediately into the bloodstream and can slow down your metabolism. Last year I was afraid of gaining the "Freshmen 15" when I started my first year of college (luckily I didn't gain an ounce), but then someone told me it's mostly caused by drinking, which I don't do, and not due to lack of exercise and eating more.

It's really no biggie They'll typically give you anesthesia to put you down, stick a tube down your throat, remove your teeth, and then you'll wake up kind of groggy. I had mine out when I was 16 during the summer and my instructor told me to wait at least 3 days or so before coming back to class.

Hey Coco! What's your diet look like? It could possibly be that you're not eating enough carbohydrates. Your body likes to be "lazy" and likes to digest carbs before it goes in for the fat because they're easier to break down. I've talked to some people at college who have decided to go on one of those 'no/low carb' diets and a lot of them have felt very lethargic and tired because of this.

Being a small fighter (I'm only 5'2" and 115 lbs.), I've found that when I'm sparring against the 6'2" guys at my school it's best to tire them out and then go in for the kill. Since I obviously don't have the power they have behind all of my strikes, I have my endurance and flexibility to make up for that. Keep moving around, stay light on your feet, and avoiding their attempts until they get tired. Hope this helps!

Nope, I've never experienced any racism at my school. Our instructors are really cool and I gotta believe that we're all just really focused on the sport itself that the issue of race doesn't even cross our minds...at least that's how it is with me. Goju_boi, to answer your question, I think it depends upon which college you're/will be attending. The martial arts clubs we have at my school don't charge anything for classes, but I do believe they have a graduation fee. As for martial arts classes being part of the school curriculum (i.e: gym classes), I guess in a way, you're paying for them, lol. Hope this helped!

Wow, way to quote '1984,' SeenThatAgain! One of my fav books! I think the main reason why schools don't teach self-defense against other women is because most of the time the attacker is going to be male. (Assaults, rape, etc.) But the way i see it, if you kick someone in the groin, it doesn't matter what gender they are, it's gonna hurt!

I get annoyed when people (especially total strangers that I serve at work) find out I do karate and then totally assume that I must be ridiculously good at it just because I'm Korean. ("Wow, it must be in your blood!" ) Don't get me wrong, I think I'm great at it, but I'm not super-spectacular, Matrix-esque at it. And being Asian doesn't automatically make you a person who's born with the "martial arts gene." Oy, some people...

Ahahaha! Wow, who would've thought a carrot could be considered as a weapon?? I agree that does sound like something out of Monty Python, lol.

Our school curriculum actually has us required to learn at least 1 form using the bo staff, so I guess that one was a given for me, hehe. (Plus, the bo is the most versatile weapon and I really like working with it!) After watching my instructors and some of the junior kids working with kamas I decided I wanted to learn those, too.

I really like the "crunch punches" we do at my school on workout nights! Basically we have our hand pads on, a partner kneeling above us with 2 focus pads for us to hit, and each time we come up from our crunches we have to jab-cross the focus pads.

Wow, you're quite the tall one, parkerlineage! Almost as tall as our former president at the college I attend...I believe he was about 6'8-9ish. Anyways, I would suggest keep doing "straddle" stretches (on the floor open your legs as far apart as you can and stretch down the middle, to each side, etc.). Another good stretch is having someone hold your leg up as far as it'll go while you lean back against a bar or whatever's convenient for support, kind of like you see dancers do, and just keep holding your splits and going down a bit more each time you do them, but doing so carefully, seeing as how you don't want to injure yourself. I think the main thing is to keep stretching daily because flexibility is one of those things that's very easy to lose if you don't keep on top of things. I've been dancing since I was 4 years old and just doing a lot of leg stretches and high kicks helped me achieve good flexibility, though I can't do my straddle splits as well as I used to

A couple of fun games we do with the kids at our school are: Dice Toss - (I have no clue where the instructors got this thing), but it's a hat box-sized squishy die with "Crunches," "Push-Ups," "Pull-Ups," "Tell a Joke," etc. on each of the sides. Someone rolls the die and say it lands on "Push-Ups," then the instructor will tell the class to do 30 push-ups. You get the idea Two other games we do with the kids (they don't really have names) are setting up a huge stack of pads and having them do run-jump side kicks over it and landing onto the soft gym mat on the other side. We also have them do run-jump side kicks while one of us holds a Wavemaster in place.

Yeah, like everyone else has said, just keep it professional and the PDA to a minimum. My instructor's wife is one of the students and you wouldn't even know they were married, let alone "involved" with each other at all, if you stepped into class.

Haha, very nice! I always think it's entertaining to watch cats. I worked at my local Humane Society a few years ago and I was put in charge of the Cat Room and it was always sweet to watch the little kitties grapple with each other. Needless to say, I took copious notes during that time

Yeah, I agree with MizuRyu. I think the sidekick is probably the most powerful kick you can execute, it's kind of like kicking like a donkey or a mule.

Hmmm, that's a tricky question. To put it kind of simply, I guess I see it as like 'American Idol': they cut the people who they think don't have the talent to make it as a singer and take on the ones during auditions who have potential...and no one gets sued...but upset and emotional: yes, lol. Sorry for the bad analogy but it was the best I could put it

Our schools work with the bo staff mostly, but we also have students that work with kamas, nunchaku, sais, and various types of swords. I work with the bo and I'm starting to learn some moves with kamas.

Wow, thank you for all the replies! In response to ladyj: yes, our instructors are always telling us to kick/punch/etc. through the pad whenever we're doing pad drills; it just seems like my best hasn't been good enough lately and I think I've figured out what's wrong. I used to go to karate 5-6 times a week when I was in high school, but now that I've started college (I'll be going into my sophomore year this fall) I haven't been able to hit the gym or attend the Taekwondo Club we have as much as I'd like to. (I only came home on breaks during the year and went to karate during that time.) Now that it's summer and I'm able to go back...well, I guess it's starting to show. It hurts to do the splits and I've lost a bit of my flexibility *Sigh* It's also just really frustrating that I'm short/small and don't have a lot of weight behind me to throw into my strikes.

I agree. Point sparring is very subjective and even the slightest movement forward of your opponent's head while you're punching at them can make it look like head contact. (Plus, the judges are watching from different angles so perspectives are another thing to take into consideration.) As mentioned above, it all depends upon the rules of the tourney you're at. The ones I've competed at in Minnesota don't allow head contact.

It all depends upon what your form is (weapons, open-hand, tricking, etc.) and how fast you'll be moving. (Sorry to kind of regurgitate what you just said, lordtariel, lol) I personally like to go with the techno-ish music when I do my forms (preferably DDR music) because it's upbeat and won't bore the audience to death. There's this one required form our school(s) practice called Chi-yu (not sure of the spelling) to the music "Exodus," which is painfully slow but a beautiful score nonetheless, and the judges always seem to have this really sleepy look about their faces whenever I see someone perform that in competition, lol.

Yeah, I agree. I think dating should be kept to a minimum around the dojo, both students and instructors. I dated this one guy from my school when I was 16 and he turned out to be a total jerk and things between us were just awkward after that. Though I did hit significantly harder in sparring class, lol

Does anyone have any good tips on how I could execute my kicks and punches harder? (Particularly in sparring and when doing pad drills.) I'm 5'2" and 115 lbs. and I lift from time to time, but not as often as I'd like to, though I know you don't need to be the strongest person in order to hit hard. This has been bothering me for awhile, considering the fact I'll be receiving my black belt soon and whenever I feel like I'm hitting my hardest, my instructor just tells me that I need to hit a lot harder.