ramymensa

Look at my signature well Shotokan ... love it, live for it ... makes me happy ...it's all I need

With chocolate (the cookies I mean ... ya know ... I'm on a diet in order to gain some weight ... been doing it for 24 years ... doesn't work Well that's another story ...) About the subject here, Monkeygirl, you've said almost everything I could think of, great post ... yeah and long, liked it. I could say Meyou that you should really think of the whole situation. Why do you like the guy? It's the looks (some guys look great in karategi ) are you aready to face all the problems that could arise from this situation, are you perpared to go on with your training as if nothig happened when it's over (I'm not saying it should finish, but sometimes lovestories don't last.) Let me tell you what happened between my best friend a guy in the dojo. As you've already guessed they got into a relationship. It ended in few months and here I was offering shoulders to cry on and good advices. They got in the stage of just friends, but it was quite hard.

Katas make sense when you understand them and get the bunkai. We use to devide some movements and apply them in some series of kihon kumite. The techniques in katas are quite nice and I enjoy the diversity. I like to be inventive and creative in my sparring so it's good to get some cool ideas from katas. It's nice to practice the moves and you'll come to say: wooow. that's nice. I can do this ... and that ...

Well KickChick, not only TKD is bashed here. Karate and the others are reduced to mere sh..t by some folks here Let them be happy with their opinions, although not so nice expressed. We can do something. Stop training in traditional MAs and start "real" MAs , continue our thing, break something from the anger caused by these quarrels in the forum, or just leave the forum, and go somewhere else (I wouldn't do it cause I like here. ) As I've already posted, let's have some respect for each other, OK? When a person spent a good deal of time doing something and believing in it, it's not nice to say they are stupid for chosing the "wrong" MA. There's no perfect style, not even the new ones invented to become more rounded. If there was such a PERFECT style, no one would ever think to come wiht another, cause more perfect than perfect ... doesn't exist. So before throwing the stone, look better on your style's own faults and stop making the others feel miserable and stupid. Peace to all !!!

LightFighterZero, it's your choise and I'm sure you'll make the right one. Shotokan would be good if you are interested in long term results, in perfection of techiniques and controlling your body and mind. It would make you a good martial artista and you'll be able to see the improvements. It also has got a series of techniques good for self defence (yeah, dears, karate is good for self defence too, you should read more and get over the McDojo and traditional MA sucks model. See the dephts and don't judge the book by its cover ). For the moderators: I see an increasing tendency of bashing traditional MA coming from certain members, whose posts are becoming too personal and tend to pure mockery. Perhaps we all should think better before posting something against other styles and remember we are here to learn, not to mock the others. Every style has something good and bad, and those who spend their time in learning them deserve some respect. Thank you. Hope it would get better, like before, because for now the joy of meeting other martial artists and discuss about our common love it's covered with sadeness and anger caused by the continuous "fights", who are mere "quarrels" without the learning aspect we all look for.

Hmm ... addiction ... I did OSU my boss at work. In Romanian Oss means "bone" so imagine his surprise when I replyed with "bone" when he asked me to read an anouncement on the radio. Fortunatelly I said it like a hiss so he was quite confused I still wear tight jeans and of course I'm very frustrated I can't kick properly if needed I turn on and off the light using different high kicks (when nobody can see me ...) get quite angry watching all those movies that are so wrong (my fols said they would throw me off the window if I don't shut up and watch ) and so on . Guess I'm an addict

20 minutes of katas done real slow and real low. and continuously (almost - 20 seconds yame.) Afterwards ... let's have some kumite. Pair up! Change partner. Now use just the legs ... now only the hands ... now both ... change partner ... come on ... move ... At the end situps, pushups, crunches and so on ... Next time ... almost the same Not to mention working with pads ... and doing endless kicks ... ah ... and ashi barai (sweeps) with a resisting parter. Come move your hips ... put him down. Ah you still are able to move your legs ... lets do some drills.

Now that's not OK. Talk to your instrcutor to provide you with REAL instruction, if not leave. It's not right to have a beginner teach the classes, because an orange belt is a beginner. I would accept to have a class run by a brown belt, anything "lower" wouldn't be acceptable. No offence

Never mind the organisations. They are like wolves Get a good sensei and a good dojo and just train. Have fun and progress. Good luck

The karate masters don't sparr because in a great number they are DEAD. A nidan in karate should know something about Itosu, Azato, Motobu, Miyagi (not the idiot from Karate Kid), Matsumara and so on. They didn't sparr but did endless kata sessions. They had few katas depending on the style they used (in Okinawa they had named them first in connection with their home town: Tomari-Te, Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and so on .. hope you know Te means hand ) ... Afterwards they would go and even fight in the streets as Motobu did (and got expelled from some dojos because he forgot something ... Karate ni sen te nashi ... there's no first attack in karata ... remember Ninju Kun and Funakoshi ) Well the guys were great. Some would participate in fighting contests and beat the crap out of the others ... of course traditional MA in useless ... and kata sucks Why? Because some instructors really suck and can't teach right this stuff. Because we have McDojos and don't train how we should train. Because we care about those damn belts and do katas like a ballet ... well not everybody ... Those who stick to their training and take katas seriously are remarkable. And of course it's simple ... you don't like katas ... take another style ... Muay Thai Fighter did this. It's OK. Sometimes in your way you need to change direction. But to mock what was important for you for 12 years it's a little childish. Maybe BB's here in Romania are different ... They all talk fondly of their style ... few moved on, but still respect their first style. In a way it's like a first love. A real gentleman or lady would talk nice of his/her first love (guess ... ) And to end my BIG post ... we've discussed this previously. In contless threads. Guess the new members should really read well before making double threads

It's a pity you have to get thorough this. Now you'll have something to learn and help us teach the newbies never to make such mistakes I'm really sorry you have to face this ... you could stay those darn 6 months (you've signed a contract so make the best from your money) and learn EVRYTHING you can. It doesn't matter if it's pure judo or BJJ. BJJ it's a mixture of other styles thus you'll never have to worry you are doing techniques from other arts Cross training is a good thig so you'll have this chance from the start Learn all you can ... it would help you become a well rounded martial artist. After those 6 months you'll move on to another dojo, if you'd like ... Good luck ... keep us up to date

Good ole Gyaku Tsuki Excelent technique ... very simple and if done right, quite devastating. A good karateka would be able to knock an opponent with this simple move in a split of a secon ... and then sweet dreams. Hip rotation, speed, power, kime ... love it. It's discouraging simple and still effective

Thanks for reminding us in every post you did karate for 12 years A real nidan should have noticed in 12 years of experience that in karate sparring one never pulls the hand in hikite before punchiing. Even yellow belts are taught to make the distinction. In kihon and kata you retreat the hand in hikite, in sparring we are taught to punch without previously pulling the hand back. We are not that stupid

Well ... I've said it somewhere, but I'll tell you the stories: My sensei was in a camp with his students (he's also a teacher at the University) and they were in a bar. Late, night, too much drinking ... The students from Arad were picking a fight (they were many). Those from Timisoara were few and tired ... It got to a fight. Our students (from Timisoara) beat the others because they've had our sensei (godan, 5th degree BB). Imagine !!! The students from Arad were thrown from the bar and the next day they were wonderinghow come the others, few, could beat them so bad. And they started saying those from Timisoara had a blad teacher, very tall (2 meters high) ... it would be ok, but my poor sensei is just 1.70 meters high. So he is quite short But he can kick REALLY high Another instructor in our dojo (shodan 1 degree BB) had a fight with a guy who was picking a fight with her boyfriend. Imagine she was qiote angry and the guy ended in a Coca Cola refrigerator (a kick was enough ..) One of my coleagues got in a fight with 3 "heroes". The ended with broken noses and so on. He had some bruises on the knuckles from punching them in the head.

I'm the best It didn;t guess I'll give it another chance

I like the idea of the best art is what you make of it ... Shotokan and karate in general are badmouthed these days, but they are good. Just think of those guys in Okinawa who became masters. They trained in Shuri Te, Naha Te, Tomari Te, became very good and went on to establish some styles: Gojo Ryu, Wado Ryu, Shotokan, Sh..to Ryu ... They trained in katas and fought guys on the street (Motobu's case). so I guess they were good at self defence too A karateka in a street fight (an advanced one) would be hard to knock, becasue even the blocks are made to inflict pain to the attacker. An "upset" karateka is to be feared. We hit to break, block to break, punch to break (in a normal dojo situation we avoid it, but when a karateka's life is thretened there's no mercy.) I have some coleagues who had to defend themselves and it got nasty (broken noses and so on). One of my coleagues (he is just an orange belt) had to fight with 3 guys in the neighbourhood. He kicked the and punched using basic techniques, but fast and really hard. He got some bruises on the knuckles from punching them in the face ... imagine how nice they looked He didn't use sweeps or other "nasty" things learnt in Shotokan, just kicks and punches. He is an average karateka in our dojo and still was succesful. He is well conditioned (any karateka with at least 2 years of practice and 3-4 training sessions a week would be the same), very fast and relaxed in fighting situations from all the sparring in the dojo. A girl who's shodan (first degree BB) had a fight with a guy and threw him in a Coca-Cola refrigerator (the tall nice ones ). Just a kick and it was over. So train in whatever style and after some years you'd be quite OK. In karate it takes some time to become proficient, but there's no BB in aour comunity who would't resist an attack in the streets. They are ferocious when the get angry.

Waaaaaaaaaaaay to go! Congrats. It's a very important thing to achieve a blue belt in Shotokan Karate. It's a lot of work to this point so again Bravo !

In a good Martial Art, well organised and put together, nothing is useless. Shiwari techniques (guess this is how they are called in some MA) are important because they offer somehing, even if it's just the pleasure of seeing something break from your punch and kick When a martial artist has got to break a board he/she has some things to respect: you don't tap a board ... in order for it to brek one must aim some inches after it (it's a prinicple taught in karate and not just here), one must focus and deliver a proper technique ... so it helpes. Makiwara work, punch bags and so on ... everything has got a place in the training of a martial artist and boards are meant to help in some matters. And let's face it ... it feels so good to see them break

This is quite ridiculous ... We've come AGAIN to the same BS ... MT is the best ... traditional styles are crap ... katas suck ... and so on. The problem is though SERIOUS. Some words are thrown without seconf thoughts, some stupid remarks come just for the sake of writing something. This is an informational forum, I guess and we should act more "professionally". There are some people who log here to LEARN from others, we log in Karate Forums to learn about different styles and what do we get? B.ll S..t. That's what !!! We have some people here who just came in to mock other styles. I think our moderators should do something in this matter Or shall we send these guys to the library to read something?

I don't think Shotokan is a good idea if he's got problems with the feet, because this style is very demanding on the lower part of the body. You could do boxing and try to train when you get the occasion without gloves. Punch the bag barehanded with the first 2 knuckles. You'll learn to do it properly. when it comes to do a MA or not, I guess it's the first answer .. Do .. Maybe other members here could advise you regarding their own styles.

Well the degree MATTERS. Your instructor is OK, I uess and it should be In some Karate schools a shodan (first degree BB) isn't alowed to grade students from 5 kyu to shodan (because the person itself is just a shodan). If it's the case, your instrcutor would grade you until 6 kyu, afterwards having to get a bigger BB Till then ... there's a lot of work to be done and you'll have many things to learn. Good luck and enjoy

Well I guess it depends ... If you are told Hidari Zenkutsu Dachi or Hidari Kamaete then you'll go with the left leg, if it's Migi Zenkutsu Dachi it's the right foot first. In the rest it depends on you. In sparring you'll have to chose your side Ususlly we go to hidari, bu the instructor should give the command ...

Nekoashi ... LOL They are cuuuuuuuuuuuuuute. Guess my dog would like them too

Glad to hear it went OK. I've read the other post and I'm happy for you. It's important to remember the movements of kata as well as possible and to do them correct. Now you can stay home and do them over and over again. You'll do just fine. Congrats and tell us about the exam after you've taken the test

Because we like it, we are addicted and again we like it It doesn't hurt to have an interesting hobby and as long as it mekes you happy why not? Injuries shouldn't be a reason to give up (minor ones, becasue if, God forbin, you get something very serious and could't use a limb or something, things would change.) Let's hope for the best