Zorbasan

as above, going for the 2nd kyu this weekend. should be all ok i rekon. also giving a demonstration in TKD breaking at the end of it cos its the schools 10 year birthday.

i dont think i could fight with hands down. not only would i feel exposed but surely it would affect balance as well?

i wouldnt recomend wearing a karate gi for jiu jitsu anyway, you will probably find it gets ripped to shreds. you probably want to get a good JJ gi that is designed for the grappling

i think asking permission is a bit of the wrong term to use. the question should be "should i inform my instructor that i am going to train in another art" has he indicated his stance on cross training in the past. in one of my previous schools, my instructor said the school forbade cross training as they felt it was an insult to bow to another instructor. which, in my book, is crap. i knew of a few students that went behind the schools back and studied other arts (which i also noticed in their sparring, but the instructor didnt, which shows the close mindedness even more) if they have shown that they dont condone cross training, then i probably wouldnt tell them, in fact, i would actually look for a school that promotes it, but thats another matter all together. basically, its your life and you can choose to learn what you wish, its not really their business

i have learnt much from the differences. there was quite a few years break between me finishing up with TKD and starting up with shotokan. i feel like i have learned a lot more from my study of karate than i did with TKD, and i have embraced the differeces of the arts. however, my point was that there are many techniques that are extremely similar and on occasion i revert to a habitual movement that was ingraine in me from the 13 years of training in one art. but i am a much better martial artist now than i was before i started shotokan and will continually endeavour to improve.

not missing the point at all. the ITF style of TKD has its roots in shotokan karate, therefore it is quite obvious that they would be very similar. the fact that i still have a TKD wrist position every now and then doesnt mean i have missed any point at all.

Hey Guys, didnt exactly know what section to put this in so i figured id stick it here. came across an old video of me doing a flying side kick at some demonstration probably 10 years ago. my mate did all the sounds and slow mos and stuff

i think there is core attack that a move was designed for. but there are also many other things that a technique can be used on. take a gedan barai for example. most obvious use is to block a low attack with it. but it can be used as a strike or a disengage.

and there are plenty of non boxers that do have the same condition. i beleive its parkinsons. Michael J fox has it and i dont recall him getting his head punched in.

i think you might also find that a lot of blocks are very similar, despite the difference in style. the other thing is that 1 style may have multiple ways to block the technique, so you have the same problem even tho you only do 1 style. there are 2 reasons to block, the first and most important being to stop getting hit, the second is to open the opponent up for the counter. the blcok you do will be dependant on the way you intend to counter. no point in traping a front kick if i want to counter with a reverse punch. and no point in blocking the front kick with a cross block if i want to sweep.

having not posted on this forum for a while i decided to come back and have a look. its probably been atleast 6 - 8 months. anyways, im going for my 2nd kyu in shotokan next week and have also started combat hapkido. gotta love MA

i dont think the rivalry is between 2 specific arts. i think you will find that its "any school with a close minded instructor" vs any other art. the problem is these people beleive that their style is the ultimate and that all other styles pale in comparison. this happened to me when i was doing TKD they would kick people out if they found them to train in another style. when i started karate (which my school is very much in favour of cross training and doesnt beleive their art to be the best, esp since the sensei is > 2nd dan BB in 4 styles) and i decided that i might go back to a different tkd school i was told by 1 that i had to quit my karate and concentrate 100% on my tkd.

having gone from TKD (itf style) to shotokan karate i have found that they are almost identical. not only are the stances/techniques pretty much the same, with the exception of smoe details, even a lot of the kata mix in with what they taught at TKD. 4 years in and i still have the fact that im doing something TKD way pointed out. damn 15 year habits.

most martial arts are measured by the grade, the belt colour is arbitrary.

i watched this recently and thought it was quite good. the people may not have been evenly matched (as mentioned the weight difference between the wushu guy and the boxer) but i would say it was a good average on the people that do the art. how many little chinese dudes do western boxing and how many bulky guys would do kung fu? the whole point wasnt this style is better, it was to compare them, which it did well.

nice article, well written. as a martial artists, i would like to be proficient in all facets, but as it stands, striking is the only one i have trained extensivley in. i think all MA should have basic knowledge, unless you are only after plastic metal trophys

definitely it will change your attitude, but its up to you to decide how it changes you some people become very arrogant when they become proficient at MA, thinking they are better than everyone else and start picking fights etc.

it was pretty intense grading, sensei worked us hard. i was knackered by the end of basics. i also stuffed my first attempt at the "kata of choice" which is pretty stupid since i picked it. only thing is, up till now, we have only done kihon and the heains shodan nidan sandan and yondan shodan is the warm up kata, so we cant pick that yondan is the grade kata, so we cant pick that. and san dan and ni dan are the two kata i always mix with each other. thankfully i got it right the second (and sudden death, stuff a kata twice and you fail) time. the rest of it i rekon i did pretty well tho i rekon my stances could have been better. bring on 4th kyu

well done!

well done!

wooooo um..... gee i wasnt expecting this. um, id like to thank patrick and all the staff here at karate forums, my senpain jiffy for backing up my sometimes out there ideas, my sensei for all the training. and most of all, my fellow posters, you make this all possible THANK YOU ALL *SNIFF*

i remember one break i did, was a flying side kick at some demonstration. i think the guys set up too close to the people i was jumping over cos i broke the boards easily and continued thru them to kick one of the holders in the stomach

you should always get a free lesson when thinking of joining a club, if not 2 dont sign anything until you know you are going to stay. and dont buy a branded gi until you know you are going to say. some clubs wil use a standard gi, so buying one of them isnt as much of a problem cos you could use it at other clubs and welcome to the forums

yes, but all those simple things are in the kata right from the begining. so all those kata repititions will have helped in the basic techniques.

i have seen a lot of people coming out of self defence classes thinking they are indestructable. i dont think i said it was a complete waste of time, because learning the stuff is great, so long as you practice it. while a basic self defence course might help people get out of some situations, they wont be able to get out of as many as some one more experienced will be able to. the problem is, the people that i have seen do self defence classes will not realise where the cut off point is and could end up getting themselves and others hurt if they get in over their head. if you look at anything that requires some sort of licence to do, electricians, plumbers, builders etc they are all long drawn out courses. sure you can do a quick afternoon of a DIY lighting course or something, but i wouldnt want said person to wire my house up.