Elky

That's kinda what it's like. It's not painful - it just feels weird.

I disagree with you in regards to the sloppy kickboxing - in my experience kickboxing looks like sloppy karate. I see what you mean about modifying techniques for sparring. I think it happens less than you think though.

As opposed to muay thai where they attack you with taekwondo techniques, or judo where they attack you with kung fu techniques... Most styles train primarily against their own style, it's a matter of pragmatism most of the time, since all of your class are learning karate, chances are they're gonna attack karate style.

Old video is old. BJJ versus everything has been done to death. It had a good purpose of pointing out how few people used to train against opponents trying to drag them to the floor. People know that now. I'm starting to suspect that shotokan *is* a simplified karate as compared to okinawan styles, however it underwent something of a renaissence under the Japanese and makes up in brute force what it lacks in subtlety. In this way it has become a useful martial art in its own right (as have the other Japanese styles - Wado, Goju, Shito and all the Kyokushin-based styles). Whereas Okinawan karate may have taught vital point striking and rudimentary grappling, the Japanese have judo for grappling and karate for striking.

I'd advise not hitting a punching bag or a brick with it then. I must confess, I'd never heard of that move before, but with a bit of googling it seems to be a block with the web of the thumb between the thumb and forefinger. Its application is likely to be a grabbing technique or a strike to the throat.

This guy does some quite good karate applications videos http://uk.youtube.com/user/karatascosaintemarg

As a beginner, you're not learning karate. You're learning how long your arms are, how to move in relation to a partner; you're strengthening your arms and legs and preparing your body to learn karate, but you're not learning it yet. Once you start moving from a free stance, it'll feel more like "proper karate" and you'll feel more confident about hitting real people.

Very nice bit of handywork there! You should be proud!

Sometimes proximity can be a very good deciding factor. The closer the school, the more likely you are to train on days when you don't really feel like it. In the end, the best thing to do is simply to try them all out though, and go with the one that "feels" the best to you.

I seem to remember that wikipedia has an entry on shukokai and it's quite a well established style. Check it out there.

It's a very cheesy web site, but that might just be because it's a professional school and that kind of cheese maximises recruitment. I'm not used to thinking in dollars, but assuming $40 is about 20 quid, then £20 per month isn't bad at all. If you're training twice a week, that's £2.50 (roughly $5) per session which is very reasonable. The different gi for Judo and Taekwondo is also not a danger sign. TKD uses lightweight gi's that weigh you down less and allow flexible movement while Judo gi are sturdy and have reinforcements sewn into the areas where the suit is often grabbed. A judo gi would sweat you to death in a TKD lesson and a TKD gi would be torn to shreds in a judo lesson. In the end, you're going to be the best judge of whether the class provides hard training and is pushing you as much as you want to be pushed.

Check out all the schools and train at the one that seems to suit you the best. I train in shotokan and really enjoy it but I've always fancied having a go at kyokushin for the high level of physical conditioning they practice. And, yes, be wary of 8th and 9th dans! Especially if they're fairly young (by which I mean 40-odd years old). 8th and 9th dans are usually people who've made a pioneering contribution to karate. People like Hirokazu Kanazawa, Steve Arneil, Taiji Kase, Keinosuke Enoeda etc If someone's claiming that kind of rank, they need some mighty credentials to back it up!

Anything that takes a lifetime to master can't be that useful! Most people need to learn fighting techniques while they're still alive enough to use them!

You'd leave an otherwise good teacher just because he was vocal about his dislike of TKD? In my experience, that'd leave a very small pool of karate instructors to choose from!To the OP: I think when my instructor has described kicks as being like TKD he means they're "flicky" - sort of light and snappy. This may be a misconception, but I reckon that's probably what he means.

It's Korean karate ("tang soo do" is literally the Okinawan lettering of "kara te do" pronounced in Korean). It's not especially distinguishable from other martial arts. It's a typical striking art. It looks a bit like Wado Ryu performed a bit wrong.