Elky

The heavyweight gis don't stick to your body when you sweat so you have more freedom of movement in them. I use a 16oz karate gi which is admittedly a little excessive for karate, but it's lasted me well, hasn't shrunk in the wash too much and makes me look a little more intimidating than my skinny frame warrants

I've noticed recently that, on the whole, I'm about the same standard as other people my grade, better than the lower grades, and generally worse than the higher grades. I think that's a good indication that I'm exactly where I should be.

Shotokan - yori ashi gyaku tsuki (lunging rear hand punch) - it's almost a karate trademark and very distinctive.

Well, lufbrajames, is your priority learning lots of kicks? What do you want to gain from your martial art? From your post it sounds like you want to learn whatever will teach you the most kicks, in which case taekwondo is a good way to go. Edit - in my humble opinion, the shotokan style is better for just about everything than taekwondo (I'm not just being antagonistic, I genuinely think that is true), but if it's just variety of kicks that you're after, then nothing beats TKD

This is exactly where "person not art" comes into play. Sometimes you might have to just accept that discression is the better part of valor and high-tail it. If some nutter who's spent his whole life fighting asks you if you think you're tough, there's a time to say "no sir, I think you're plenty tougher than me!" and keep your nose intact rather than your dignity.

Most people go for Bassai Dai. I know I'm going to.

There's billions of videos of them on youtube

I like ushiro geri. It's actually pretty difficult to block, so if the person doesn't have good "tai sabaki" then you can crack them good! Apart from that, a lunging gyakuzuki is a pretty fair bet.

Ha ha ha ha! I didn't even notice I'd been promoted! I really should pay more attention!

I'm voting "contacts" too. They've worked fine for me for years.

I'm mediocre. I have no "natural" talent, I'm lanky, long-limbed and of light build. I have a slight hip deformity that means I can't physically perform certain kicks perfectly and I have a terrible memory so it takes a while to learn stuff. On the other hand, I've been training for quite a long time and so have reasonable technique. I'm stronger than I look as I have some muscle on my light frame. I'm also quite good at mentally cataloguing techniques for future use so I can pull weird stuff out of the bag more frequently than many. On the whole, I average as "OK".

Since the purpose of capoeira is to make you look cool and impress girls then it is very practical indeed! As far as I can tell, much like, say, aikido, it takes quite some time to be able to use it to its full potential though. It's less likely to make you look cool and impress the ladies when you're floudering on the floor and landing on your head.

Shotokan Karate You punch things. Sometimes you kick them. Occasionally you hit things with other bits of yourself. It's great fun.

Dude, whatever martial art you practice, you'll hear people badmouth it. There is no ultimate martial art. Shotokan works for me. Either you enjoy training it and therefore are willing to put the training in to make it work for you or you don't enjoy it and would prefer to train something else. This is the only question you face. The old "shotokan isn't designed for fighting" argument is a common one and it winds me up no end. It's a martial art! Of course it's designed for fighting! Edit: as the chap above said - jiujutsu or judo are a great complement to karate - if you get the chance to cross train then go for it!

Kata are long strings of techniques performed in succession. e.g. this is a kata: Kumite is sparring (literally, "meeting of hands") - fighting practice

It's not a bad thing by any means! It just makes a bit of a mockery of the term "martial arts" if she isn't displaying martial spirit or martial techniques. If she called herself a gymnast, we'd all be applauding her - she is, after all, very physically impressive. If I enjoyed ballroom dancing, I'm sure everyone would be very happy for me, but if I posted a video of it saying "Look at me doing karate" then you'd all be quite within your rights to give me a panning!

At the cinema? Um... I think it was "The Last King of Scotland" which is well worth seeing. On DVD, I watched Kitano Takeshi's "Zatoichi" again last night. I liked it much more the second time round when the tap dancing numbers weren't such a shock!

I thoroughly dislike watching Chloe Bruce. Her leg-waggling antics (while hugely impressive from a physiological point of view) just leave me cold. Where's the *umph!*? Where the sense that she's kicking at an enemy who's trying to hurt her? Where's the aggressive fighting spirit? This is purely my opinion, but I feel the same way about seeing Ms Bruce that I do about XMA performances - the novelty wears off quickly and, in the end, it's not karate. And don't get me started on musical kata...

Take karate and judo!

Buffy the vampire slayer used it a lot too! I still wouldn't recommend using it on the living!

(names added) Then you've got all the other variations - tobi geri, ushiro mawashi geri, kakato geri, nami ashi geri (the one from tekki shodan)

It's not used very much in shotokan at all. It appears in the odd kata every now and then (e.g. bassai dai) but to be honest, it's not the world's most useful kick, you're not really missing out if you don't learn it. It only works if you're Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Well done! Good decision - wishing you the best of luck!

Find another style of kung fu?

I don't underestimate kyokushin - I just said it looks like sloppy Goju ryu with more kicking (which it does). Doesn't mean they can't fight - they undoubtedly can!