Scotty

try ebay? I know I'm a cheap skate, but there is plenty on offer!

lol, I would find a potential girlfriend who did martial arts to be a good thing! Problem being.. my view is slightly biased, having done martial arts myself. When people find out I do martial arts the next question that follows is either -reckon you could take me on then? or -do you know how to kill people? I find that a lot of people can be very ignorant about the whole thing.

it gives you a result??

Name: Alan Scott Titles: none - I have no intention of competiing until after I've got my black belt out of the way! Height: 5'11 Weight: 11 stone Main Style: Freestyle karate Fav Technique: -self defense: side kick -sparring: multiple kicks weapons: -nunchaku -bo staff -bokken

lol, your typical granny with a few pilfered bricks hiding at the bottom of a handbag. It's like an impromptu mace!

I find training in martial arts is one thing. And it's a great thing, which I'm sure is the same for you... or you wouldn't be doing it lol. But hand conditioning sends out totally the wrong signals. It's going to increase the damage you can do with strike... but why would you want this? I can practise my form alone and don't need power, and the only time I would want to use my karate to hit anyone would be in competition. In which case I wouldn't be hitting hard anyways. In a real life self defence situation, if you ended up injuring someone who attacked you, it looks really bad if you have used hand and foot conditioning. I apologise if I caused any offence, but conditioning can only lead to potential problems, and I really don't think it's necessary. After all, the idea of a martial art is to defend, and not to attack.

Well I do freestyle karate, so we don't even have katas! But the form is different to what I have been taught. It makes a refreshing change imo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6oFDymQoo weetabix anyone?

Yeah, it's one hell of a bomb shell to end on! I will be getting the dvd of this film ordered in I think.

Biggest example would be Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do. As he said, attacking to defend. Kung Fu is undoubtable effective, but I think due to its slower learning curve it appears to be less effective against a practitioner of a different style with similar experience. But when learned well enough, I think it is probably the most effective area of martial arts.

http://www.trickstutorials.com/ that's quite an amusing site to look for XMA/wushu style tricks. It's not martial arts, but it sounds like what you're talking about.

To add to that, I would say that training twice a week is actually quite good for a child. But if the situation is really bothering you, you could talk to you teacher about finding a different class.

I would have to say that unless you attack someone else, it's not illegal to be the first one to strike. As an assault can occur when the threat of violence is imposed. So physical contact isn't even needed. Well, that's UK law, it might be different in other countries. Personally, I would always throw the first strike as soon as I became aware that a physical confrontation was imminent. After all, many attackers can be intimidated if they get hit first, it could end the fight without any serious injuries. Just because you hit them first, it doesn't mean you have to do it hard! You can just use a kick to keep them away, or a light punch.

Is that a traditional style of karate used there? It's very disciplined and fast - I like it!

Great article, it gives a good overview of what it's all about.

a mace or flail. apparently they were pretty awesome for bashing up armored knights. i'd imagine they'd be even harder to control than nunchucks though. Yeah, I guess it's pretty hard to get out the way when you're wearing the equivalent of a giant tin can on you! Personally... I wouldn't pick a katana. I'd take the long staff. First because I've used it before so I would have an idea of how to use it, and second because aside from thrown weapons it has the longest range. And it doesn't matter how sharp your sword is if you can't reach me with it!

I may have to use this article to show some people at the next seminar! All credit to author, of course

GET THIS - In my style of karate (Hung Sao Do), our oldest starting student was about 74 I believe. He got his blackbelt by around his late seventies. Now if he can do it, I'm sure being in your twenties isn't a problem!

ouch, a nerd who can beat me up... my bullying days will never be the same I know what you mean though. Sure, we're taught self control and to not abuse our martial arts... but some people do tempt you!

hand and foot conditioning only really suggests to me that the person in question wants to do damage and as such is turning their hands into sledgehammers. Which, also suggests to me that that person must be intending to do harm by their martial arts. Sorry if that causes any offence to anyone, I just find hand conditioning to be a bit vulgar and unnecessary

Yeah, I prefer the staff sequence. The 3 section is also excellent, but the bo staff was more impressive. Good luck in the competition!

I wouldn't say I fear death... as far as I don't always dread that I could die. I think the sooner death is just accepted as something that WILL happen, it becomes silly to fear it. You would live your entire life in fear of something you can't avoid. I don't fear death... I just don't look forward to it.

Last time I had a spot of bother must have been about a year ago now, so I was 15 years old. I was on my bike outside a friends house and chatting with them and two lads came along the street on thei bikes. They passed me without a word, but after they got a little way down the street they throw thei bikes to the ground and come towards us, shouting and swearing. I guess they wanted to take my bike or something or they wouldn't have come over. I told my friends to go into the house and tell their mom (they were both girls) so they went inside. The first guy came towrds me so I took the initiative and kicked him in the stomach. Dropped him easy enough. However the other guy pulled out a knife. Luckily for me, the girls' mom came out then and said she had called the police. So they both got up and left pretty much straight away. As far as physical size goes, I'm a fairly big guy and the two that started the fight weren't so broad. Although aggression should always be avoided, I believe I handled the situation reasonably well, but if it wasn't for the girls' mom calling the police things could have been very bad.

Hey everyone, I found this site while looking for a place to chat about different martial arts. This seems to be the place for it! There's a really good community from what I can see so I hope I will be welcome here. for anyone who is curious, I'm from Newcastle upon Tyne in England, anyone else from around there? Scotty out.

Yeah, you can't really go wrong with either style, as they are tried and tested. But one of my instructors explained that the self defence I am taught was taken from aspects of BJJ, and I know that what I have been taught is useful. So personally, I would choose the BJJ