ramymensa

I have some back problems and the wheelbarrow would only make by back hurt more because it bends exagerrated (the person who's keeping me by the legs is always keeping me higher than by back would like). So if I want something similar I just do pushups with feet put on a bench. I can still benefit from the effort and have the back in a more natural position. I can't count the times I was dropped knees and toes down by a coleagu who just couldn't hold my legs

Looked at your site, seen some posts .. You've been checked out Welcome to KF and may you have a pleasant stay

I'd say stick to normal loose clothing and don't wear the gi outside the dojo. I've done some training sessions with a coleague in some public areas and we were stared at without the gi Imagine the circus with the karategi and the belts. You don't need anything to psyche up. You want to train extra time at school, do it. If not, stick to the dojo training. Try to have a sport hall for some minutes. Otherwise stick to the "normal" things and don't single yourself out. I know you're enthusiastic (I was and still am), but don't forget to have a life aside MA. And being seen while kicking and doing katas (dressed normally or worse in the pijamas) is the "right" thing in order to get renowned as the "weirdo" who's doing karate. Maybe in your social life it's best to be more discreet.(remember Coco's problems, all because he was innocent enough to think people are good and mind their own business. Well they don't.) Do you want to train more? Get more hours in the dojo and even join another club. In the rest of the time try to be a normal teenager (?) and socialize.

I tend not to rush into ranks and it's kinda impossible since my sensei is very hard headed for this, we can dream of becoming shodans after 6-7 years of training. Not because he is bad or we suck, but because his expectations are very high (as related to what we can do). So ranks are or shouldn't be that important. Still .. the rank means more than we would want. In our dojo certain techniques are "reserved" for higher ranks. When doing kihon students get more techniques in the combination as their ranks is higher. White belts do 1 or 2 techniques per combination and the others 3-4 or even 5 and more. The thing is many would like to do the "cool" stuff, but are not alowed still. I have coleagues that trained for as long or even longer than I had and they are low ranks or not ranked. Sensei won't push them to grade and they say they are not interested in the belts. Sounds OK. BUT let me confess no one in that situation would get a high rank, even though they've been training so much they could become brownies. They lack all the qualities needed in order to pass the exam (and God knows they're killing us with them. Very intense exams .. pushing you to the limit for every rank). I've noticed their technique is not OK and I have to show a lot of things and correct them, though we're equal in tenure or they were in the dojo when I wasn't even thinking of it. It's not a rule of thumb but for some this lack of interest in rank is also a lack in interest in training (sometimes at an unconscious level). There's nothing more motivating than the aproach of a belt exam (a serious one as it is in our dojo). I've been training like nuts just to survive them and at this time my "superior" minded coleagues just went through the motions in a cruising speed. They were relexed. I was horrified and pushed to the limit. Contests do the same. It's not importat the medal and stuff (we all know the judges can be biased sometimes). But getting there is the idea. We are not alowed to compete until sensei thinks we are OK. I refused to compete and was kinda happy when he pushed me. Not to mention I trained twice as hard as the others in my class. And some coleagues trained relaxed, as I do when trying to recover from a "training spree". The times I prepared for rank tests and competitions helped my pitch higher as they did for many others. Those who stayed uninterested in the rank are now being taught by us, they are aware we are better and deserve the place in the hierarchy. Don't rush into the belts, but don't let them go by. You have deserved to test, do it and go forward .. to new techniques and a place well deserved. I'm not vain, still I feel darn well when asked to help teaching and demonstrating and being put in the front line. I've worked hard for my rank and the respect of my peers. Respect is earned by hard work and in my dojo hard work means you get to wear a darker belt.

Heavy weight karategi (I feel great in it, though it's rigid) .. PLAIN white. The only coloured thing is the producre's patch. I thought of removing it too, but maybe that would be too drastic. We don't have school patches on dogis as we tend to be traditional to an extreme Seen at a tourney some kids with a big patch on the back. They were adverising for "Diamond Sugar". Let me tell you I thought it was hilarious. Logos and patches can be placed on Tshirts and sport costumes, but the dogi .. well at least not in our dojo and federation

In our dojo Taikyoku shodan is taught as a means to familiarize newbies with the whole idea of a kata. Afterwards we get to Heian Shodan. I've seen it work (the Taikyoku Shodan preparing them for the other katas), as in Heian Shodan there's that tettsui (many have problems with that), not to mention Shuto Uke in Kokutsu Dachi is not their favourite thing So we teach them Taikyoku Shodan and they have the kata for the test (9th Kyu - white belt). After the 3-5 months needed to test they had plenty time to realise what this Kata thing is and have a basis for the advanced stuff. I'm not saying it's the way to do stuff ... it just worked in our dojo

WASH THE BELT! And the problem is because the coloures are not best quality. Had belts that wouldn't leave stains and only one that left a trace Wash the thing and DRESS UP FOR HOME AFTER FINISHING THE TRAINING. Stop wearing the karategi on the streets. You remember what happened before, not to mention I find it of a very bad taste. I don't wear my pijama on the streets and a karategi is very similar And as for the belt ... change it. Try to find one that doesn't stain the gi. I guess they're a bit expensive ... but they can be found. I had some belts with silk covering. They never left marks.

Sometimes you can't stop some feelings, even if your conscience tells you they're not worth the effort. You've got to burn all the pain and reborn. And unfortunatelly nobody can help you against .. you I remember when I parted ways with my ex I was feeling miserable though I was aware it was the best way, he was a jerk sometimes and I shouldn't care. Still I felt awful. I didn't want to go out and I had a friend who would take me and drag me outside. I knew what he was doing and thanked him for caring so much for a grumpy miserable girl So live ... try to get into many activities and think about what happened. Don't blame yourself and always remember the break up HAD a reason. Think fondly of the good times, realistically about what went wrong and remember life is ahead of you. Don't pull yourself from the society and make sure you've got some good persons by your side ... I wish you all the best .. And trust me true love can be found. I have a glimpse of it. And hope it's the real thing. And a minute of love is better than a lifetime without it

What a pitty since Tess of the D'Arbervilles is a great book. Seems like Hardy wasn't too suitable for the screen

Thank you (my favourite) girls I'm doing my best to keep up the good level of KF by writing as cautiously as possible. Unfortunatelly I'm not always perfect

Glad you're OK, Coco and that the guys are off. But still, pleasa considerr changing clothes before going home .. you wouldn't get into troubles that easy

I'm a poor girl so I'd take the million. i'd know how to use it and make more of the money. And then I'd go to the moon

I've been drinking milk for all my life. I'm addicted to it I drink half a litre and even a litre daily and I've never had anything broken although I had 2 accidents and very big concussions. I drink the milk from a friend of ours who's got cows and it's all natural and fatty. I've never had problems with digesting it and if so I'd go for the one who has less fat. I'd recomend dairy products too, of course if they don't give digestive problems.

For many dojos the spiritual side is reduced a lot. In my club for instance we don't meditate (mokuso) neither do we recite dojo and ninju kun (the limited time). So we just get there and train. Still we are told countlessly we are not supposed to pick fights and similar stuff. Religion has got nothing to MA (or shouldn't) though many ceremonies look alike

Well ... I've given my hard worked BB for this? NICE. I come to work like a normal person, log into the forums, see the thread and come to see who's the member of the month. And find congratulations for my own person . WOW. THANK you all for the nice words. I'm enjoying every minute of my daily stay in the forums. Love the place .. love the people.

Wow. Now that's Shotokan I love the article and many things there are so true. I feel the need to train for all the reasons stated before, not just to become a fighter, though I know I've become a bit like that too. MA training is the best thing in my life regarding a certain activity and I'm still counting the benefits

I've heard about rolling it on your shins ...

You were wearing your gi again outdoors, didn't you? WHY? Try to blend in and don't get any attention. Still you do it. Fight them if the itch is so profound. And then be ready to fight again and again with more and more attackers and eventually get shot or stabbed. You are looking for trouble and you'll get more than you can carry. I know I sound harsh and I INTEND IT. Get real and try to avoid conflict as much a possible. In a bad neighbourhood being a Ninja Turtle can bring you ONLY problems. I hope I'll hear only good news from you. Keep a low profile, change routes, clothes and stay out of trouble.

I'd say it would be a real workout just to get there

I'll probably start a flame war and it isn't my intention, really. Still I think you should learn the proper names and spelling. If you work in computer business you've got to learn the terms, if you are in music or medicine, you must memorize some names. Why should it be different in MA? There are few words .. maybe 100 we must know in order to understant what we are talking about. It's not THAT much I've had the opportunity to work with some foreign guys. We worked in English and only I could understant something .. They were trying to explain a technique in many words, thinking we didn't know the Japanese word. When we told them to name them, they were appaled to see we really knew the stuff and we could understand what they wanted from us. Tell me Mawashi Geri and I'll know it, tell me roundhouse kick and I'll ask you if you want me to kick around the house But we weren't talking about it. Sorry for the off topic rant

101 Dalmations (yeah I know ... I liked Cruella ... well Glenn Close. Fantastic role), The Last Samurai (hate Cruise, loved the film and his play), American Beauty, La Vitta e Bella (fantastic film about a different kind of courage and bravery), Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun ... I'll think more about the subject and eventually fill in some more titles.

Red Triangle Student ... there's no need to take anything personal. We are here to enjoy the conversation and learn something more. Please let us know how is the rotation working for you since you've received so much advice. Have the instructor with you and try to do the rotation so you gain effectiveness without any pain. It's one of the most difficult things to perform and after you discover the perfect way for you to do it you realize it's not that hard. Still you need to be helped and corrected. Took me some hours to really rotate in a way that added speed and strenght but still didn't harm me.

I'd go with the others, Matt. Use the protection if you feel you need it and I think nobody would have any issues with it. I'd better have other give me funny looks than get kicked in the head and having all sorts of side effects. Your sensei should be OK with it .. talk to him.

It's kizami not kizame And Zuki not Tsuki. When you are reffering to the hand as a body part it's Tsuki. When reffering to the technique (with another word together with it as kizami and gyaku) it turns into Zuki. The same with Geri (mae, yoko, mawashi GERI), but Keri, when speaking about the leg and without any word to accompany it. I'm b..chy .. l know, but since you got to the correct spelling ... About the tension in the thigh area when twisting ... I used to feel it too, because I was rotating the hip too much and almost always forgot to go forward a bit. There are 2 moves ... the hip rotation and something we call translation .. you lean more on the leading leg bringing the hips even more in front. I really don't know how to explain it so you can understand ... my English is so poor

That was plain unbehaved from her. I should find some nice persons there and they'd help you. And as it has been said before, if you feel they're all against you, seek another place. As for being well looking ... they're envious. As long as you don't knock them down with the perfume and don't paint their gis with the colours from your makeup, I really don't know what their problem is, really. I'd rather work with a person that seems too taken care of than one whos dirty and stinky. I don't wear make up, but I sometimes show up dressed a bit more nicely than it's expected for a trip to the gym. I wear a discreet perfume and I am always picked by the instructors to demonstrate something that requires close contact. So just do your styff. Let them know you are for real and they'll eventually stop being obnoxious.