dragonwarrior_keltyr

I haven't tested for a dan ranking yet, but I did fail my first blue belt exam. I got into the mindset of "everyone else my rank is grading, so I have to as well" and naturally failed. It taught me a lesson, and I slowed down and graded only when I felt I was ready.

I actually find this offensive. Why must we as women stifle our creativity or desires about what we have in our cars etc, just to avoid "the evil man." This pattern of thought - that we must subdue ourselves to avoid becoming victims - is wrong and (I would add) induces into women (and men) an attitude of subservience. I understand that women are targeted based upon our gender, and that unfortunately we must be more aware of our surroundings than men, but I refuse to treat myself like a victim. Now, I'm a tomboy, but if I want to wear a slinky shirt, I am going to wear it. To say clothing, or something in our cars "makes us victims," is closely related to victim blaming. You are basically saying that because a women has female "foo-foo" in her car, she is asking to be targeted. That is wrong and very offensive. Women should be aware yes, because it is an unfortunate statistic that more attacks happen to women by men, but that does not mean women are to blame. You are stating with your wording that "feminine" (and I use the word loosely) things equal victims' things. That is not the case. If I were looking for someone to rape, I wouldn't be hanging around the car with the NRA stickers on it. This isn't about blame, it's about thinking from the mindset of a predator and trying to learn to be safer. It is not "wrong" to leave your front door unlocked while you sleep, but it's not smart either. Leaving the front door open and a bumper sticker are entirely different ball games. One is common sense - protecting your home. The other is a matter of aesthetics. I have worked with people who've suffered from abuse as well as being a survivor myself and I can guarantee you two things one, the people who rape are not strangers and two, it doesn't matter what a person is/isn't wearing or what type ornaments they have on /in their cars - those things are inconsequential in the mind of a sexual predictor.

I know that we've had a few returning black belts at my dojo. They keep their belt, but often they take some of the beginner classes to catch up. I think the only snag would be if you wanted to grade for your 2 dan right away.

I actually find this offensive. Why must we as women stifle our creativity or desires about what we have in our cars etc, just to avoid "the evil man." This pattern of thought - that we must subdue ourselves to avoid becoming victims - is wrong and (I would add) induces into women (and men) an attitude of subservience. I understand that women are targeted based upon our gender, and that unfortunately we must be more aware of our surroundings than men, but I refuse to treat myself like a victim. Now, I'm a tomboy, but if I want to wear a slinky shirt, I am going to wear it. To say clothing, or something in our cars "makes us victims," is closely related to victim blaming. You are basically saying that because a women has female "foo-foo" in her car, she is asking to be targeted. That is wrong and very offensive. Women should be aware yes, because it is an unfortunate statistic that more attacks happen to women by men, but that does not mean women are to blame. You are stating with your wording that "feminine" (and I use the word loosely) things equal victims' things. That is not the case.

For me, I'm under five feet and 110 pounds. I'm small and "vulnerable." So for me, I think doing anything I need to get away is what I'd do. I'm an easy target, and I can be overpowered. It's an unfortunate fact of being small - someone can out-muscle me. Overall, I think that size plays a factor. If a 300lb guy attacks me, I would be more likely to use as much force as possible because of the size difference. Whereas, someone who is more my height, I wouldn't see the need to use as much force because they aren't as physically imposing. Perhaps, that isn't a good attitude, but that's just how I react.

Personally I don't care too much about what belt I am as long as I know I"m improving, but I find I want to have my brown belt (grading soon) because it shows my progress to others. If I say I have (only) a purple then people don't believe I've made progress. I foudn in my old dojo that I was happy to go a year between gradings, but the Sensei as well as other students looked down on me for not grading. Overall, I think it can help those who need goals/reminders and children, and it is nice to see your progress, and others by their belt colours. But remember just because someone is an orange belt doesn't mean they aren't very good. I had to do one step sparring with an orange belt yesterday and I was surprised to see that his skills were equal to mine... just a reminder

I'm a bit late to the party but here goes. - get my brown belt or at least be brown belt level skill wise by the end of the year - train more than 2x per week.

I think there is a certain amount of respect due to senior belts/the sensei. They have (hopefully) achieved their rank for a reason and I give them the respect a teacher deserves. Namely, I pay attention in class, and am willing to be corrected etc, however, outside the dojo or when not in class I see no problem with being familiar/friends with any of the higher belts.

I got funny looks the other day in KFC. When they called my order I stood up, bowed and said "osu" before getting my food.

Kangeiko as in "winter training"? Were you hanging your sweaty gi outside to freeze after every class and doing your training outside? That's what I've heard of from people who have don kangeiko in Japan. Kangeiko here is awesome because it's 70 degrees right now We did ours inside which is great seeing as it's been -30C outside lately . But they were really intense training sessions.

This week we had Kangeiko at our dojo at 6am every morning. It's been a great week and I've felt a lot of improvement in my techniques. Has anyone else participated?

Another girl checking in.

My mom got the weighted expansion, so when I do the boxing I put those on and it slows me down enough - well okay, not quite, but makes it closer.

I ran into that difficulty when I started university. There wasn't a Shotokan school in the city. I tried a different style of karate, but it wasn't what I wanted or needed. I ended up getting a punching bag and training at home. This year I am taking a judo class at University. I would see what is around and see how busy you are. A physical sport or martial art of some kind is a nice way to relieve stress. As for what kind of martial art...I forget what kind you said you did, but I'd go for something complimentary as opposed to supplementary. I went for judo because it's more grappling whereas karate that I'd done for years previous what punches/blocks etc so the two will hopefully compliment each other without making me relearn/unlearn any old training.

Since I cannot make it to a dojo, I've taken to training at home. I do kata and basics, but I want to do more bag work. I remember often at the dojo warming up with a combination on a punching bag ie) backfist followed by reverse punch. However, I forget most of the combos we did. It doesn't need to be fancy, but what suggestions do you have. Or other drills I could use my bag for. I did Shotokan karate and am a purple belt. My bag is a wavemaster.