DisgruntledGirl

Agreed. He's a good guy. Ive arrived a little early to some classes where he were teaching the teenagers and for some reason he is quite opposite in his methods in that way. Teenagers he doesnt take *ANY* crap from... but adults for some reason he will often let slide a little bit more. I notice even in our class (age 16 or 17 and above) he will "demand" more repect from the older teens than he will from say a 45 year old man.

I dont think I am quite *that* bad (I hope) I'm pretty silent durring the basics part and during kata... if I am given corrections on these I tend to nod in agreement and correct myself the next time.... but for some reason I get a little more audible durring the sparring. I think its just a lot more for my brain to work through and also the fact that someone else is dependant on *you* doing it correctly for them as well as for yourself. While it may often come out as "questioning the sensei" that is never the actual intention of my questions (and I think he gets that)... its just things are going so quickly and the first thing that pops into my head will often be the thing that also pops out of my mouth without editing

ummm (not to be argumentative but) thats pretty much what I said in my conclusion to my post wasnt it?

You know what I mean, the overly arguementative type for no good reason? (Btw I am 28 and "unofficially" a yellow belt, just waiting for the actual strip of material... so I really have zero right/knowledge to argue at this point ) Some instances of what I do: Sensei had a lil situation of two people "sparring" one green belt one blue belt (in a very rehearsed way) with me and I was getting a lil mixed up after turning to face the other "opponent". Sensei: Wrap up with your other arm... Me: You sure??? Sensei: Yes! How do you do it in the Kata? Me: ~next time trying the same move~ Sensei: You are wrapping up with the wrong arm! Me: But... I didnt do it this way last time?? I didnt have a revearse punch to wrap up with??? Sensei: Yes you did. Me: No I didnt! To which I then realised exactly what I was doing and how stupid it was and you could almost see the "oops" on my face. Sensei: It doesnt matter what you did last time. DO IT... Me: this time... right (with a bit of a grin on my face) Next situation, rehearsed 3 point sparring session with another white belt: Sensei: put your back foot out more at a 45 deg angle Me: But, if I do that I'll miss his foot completely! Sensei: DO IT! Me: Right!! What I think was actually happening with the last situation was the guy I was sparring with was kicking "wrong" in order to miss me... so I could never make contact with his leg with my block... later sensei did tell him to kick more to the front instead of to the side... if I woulda just let it all play out I wouldnta had to make myself look so stupid In the end I dont think it ticks off the sensei too much, sometimes I think he may even get a slight kick out of it even if he does wish I'd just listen!!!... I can usually see a little grin behind his sterness when I do stuff like this and I always (eventually) recognise that I was in the wrong... though maybe senseis learn to just accept that there will be some "problem students" and just take it on the chin. Are any of you like this? Though I understand some Senseis are way strict and would not tollerate such behavior (I think mine is quite strict/stern with the teenagers but with the older set (like me)... he lets us slide a bit more) I am trying to just accept things and ask questions later rather than at the moment of what I am confused about... because most of the time it either really didnt matter or will show it self to work itself out without me haveing to do anything anyway.

Well, I passed!!! "90%" Points that were deducted were primarily stuff I knew anyway. Only comment that actually surprised me was that I was told that my kicks during the basics part were primarily a little too low... I actually wanted to kick myself during the exam cus I coulda swore they were too high... but I guess I was just overcompensating after being told often that my kicks do get away from me from time to time and will kick almost jodan when told to kick chudan in class sometimes. Most of the other deductions were for a weak/absent kiai in an appropriate place primarily during the basics and the sparring. I also had a small deduction for looking to the floor too much during the kata instead of straight ahead. All in all I'm pleased. Even if everything else I only did as well as I did I would have gotten a much better score if only i would have kiaied better... something so simple. Anyway, thanks for your support. I can now fully destress

I wouldnt worry too much if I were you. I am also quite unfit and I've just started a little more than 3 months ago. It can be rough at times though, I can almost see the grin on my senseis face when he's killing us because I am pretty much the most unfit person in the class... though he keeps commenting on my "spirit" cus I probably do *try* the hardest even though I dont quite measure up endurancewise. You will be fine. I didnt even do any preparatory training before I went... I went with absolutely not doing anything physical for quite a long time beforhand so good for you for at least doing something now. Though I would see if you can get up to at least 10 "lady" pushups. My sensei allowed me to do lady pushups the first time or two of us doing pushups and after that I made it a point on my own to not do the "lady" types. It seems my sensei will allow some of us females to do lady pushups and some not (cant tell if it is because of rank level or because of just plain physical difficulties/age). I'm rambling now... but if your sensei is anything like mine or many others he will probably not make you do more than you are able to. He will push you far past what you *think* you are able to, but not past what you are actually able to do. Have fun. I'm still having a blast at it.

Thats what I'm thinking it will be close to for me. As of Wednesdays class it will make one day more than a full week. Also after talking to my boss (whos children go where I go) he made it sound like it took them a good few weeks to find out.... though I was really hoping he meant "a few weeks to get their belts" instead of just finding out though.

Ahh ok thanks. Makes it more bearable if you know that there are some at other schools that have to wait too.

Ah, no fair! [edited for lack of me reading things properly the first time] Ah I see.. that would make things a lot easier. I still want to hear from others as to how quickly or not they are told.

Though I am really just starting out, I prefer to wear the gi oddly enough just so I dont have to think about what I am going to wear that night... its already picked out and ready to go. Also because when you go to the gym etc all you see is women trying to outdo each other with how little clothing they can get by with... I like the gi cus I am and everyone else is pretty well covered up. Its also more warm than anything else I own, just putting it on makes me break a sweat, so I'd imagin that that would increase the effectiveness of the workout to some small degree.

As in right after the test or after your next class after the day of the test??? Is your test day almost just like another day at class? Ours seems a little more formal and the Sensei (who is typically a really easy going guy) seems more stern and basically all we do that night is the test and then hurry up and leave so that the next belt rank can then take their test. Does your dojo not have any ties to any affiliations who they might have to send the results to first before you get them?

(sidenote: I am not looking for an answer like "Well you should "know" if you passed should't you?" So, now that that is out of the way ) Question for the Senseis of the group: (Approximately) how long do you wait to give your students their results? Question for Students: How long dose it typically take for your Sensei to let you know if you passed or not? Me? I'm kinda losing my mind over here Tested last week Tuesday and still dont know. Though in all fairness Fridays class was canceled due to Sensei being out sick (well his daughter really moreso than him). Do ya think I might get my results tonight or is this part of the whole disciplin thing?

Will do. Went to class last night. He refused to tell us whether we passed or not yet (which is fine). I'm oddly enough feeling much better though and not quite as doubtfull as I was on Tuesday night and even throughout Wednesday.

omg... THEE most stressfull couple minutes of my life (OK well not really, cus I've had some majorly stressfull moments in my 28 years of life... but still!!!) Anyway, its over. I honestly didnt do as well as I thought I might have. I dont *think* I failed (fingers crossed) though its not 100% outside of the realm of possibility... the major points of what we were being tested on, I think I did fairly "OK".... but there were just SOOOO many little things that I either *know* I messed up on and a couple that I just questioned myself on whether or not what I did was right. Anyway... I s'pose I might keep you posted in this thread when I actually find out if I did or not

Ummmm in about 4 hours and 20 minutes or so I was actually quite fine and not nervous untill a little bit last night but then it really hit me when I woke up this morning, butterflies and all that fun stuff.

Oh sure, I knew that thats what he meant... it just wasnt what I was asking for While I dont know when people are actually "told" if they passed or not, I have witnessed peoples belt "ceremony" type deals during class and if I remember correctly (which I might not since I didnt really know what was going on at the time) they were like litterally weeks and weeks after taking the test... but who knows, maybe they just wernt in class for a while after the test for all I know? Oh thats great! I think its a really good idea. The students can have something on paper telling them what they may need to work on so they almost have a lil checklist to go over when practicing at home. Oh yeah... and my stomach is in ab-so-LUTE knots. More nervous than I thought I'd be

Thanks guys, I semi asked Sensei sorta about this on Friday night... though I wasnt as wordy or specific with him. I basically just asked if we would know that day, before we left, if we had passed or not. And you know he had to mess with me (he likes to do that ) and he said, "yes.. well you should "know" after testing how you did shouldnt you?!" So I clarified and said "Ok, but you dont tell us that day then if we passed or not" and he said "no". I didnt bother to ask when exactly we actually *would* know, but I dont think I am too worried about it... dont think I'll "fail"... just dont know how "good" I'll do though. Oh and for my $0.02 on the report card idea. I'd just be slightly concerned for some people (especially children) when it comes to comparing themselves with others in the class rather than setting their own goals. Though I'd love the idea to know how *I* was doing. So, I guess in general I'm all for it.

I'm currently a White Belt gonna be taking my Yellow Belt (9th kyu) test in a few days (Shindo Jinen Ryu... basically I think its an offshoot of Shotokan). I was really just curious if it is typically shown to you on paper or whatever your actual "grade" (I realise every dojo might be different on this though). In other words do you get to see where you may need some more work (than you even mighta thought) in a certain area or where you seemed to have done well, even if not specifically on paper but maybe even individually told.... or are you generally just told "OK, you pass" or "Sorry, you fail"? TIA

Thank you all for your replys and I will be visiting that website posted by cross (see I got I right... I think) especially for the leg exercises.... The bags of rice also seem to be a good idea, especially for some stretches etc. I test this coming tuesday, wish me luck

Hmm seems to be the general consensus. I'm just not prepared to invest that kinda money right now. Minimum gym membership around here is about $40 a month which I guess isnt really all that bad on its own.. but then a (fairly cheap) personal trainer is another $20 per time... and my karate classes are extremely expensive (almost ashamed to admit those costs). So in general I'd rather not have to shell out more money at this early stage... tryin' to save up money to (eventually) build a house... so sometimes ya gotta prioritize.. the karate classes themselves I consider to be a luxury, though a very worthwhile one. I do see where yall are coming from though.

Hmmm maybe I shoulda specified.... anything you could recommend not requireing Gym equipment/weights? Squats maybe? Lunges (though I think these could potentially do way more harm than good)?

Yeah, kinda what I'm figureing... my sister is apparently "hyperflexible" which leads me to think that I am probably a good candidate for it as well (seeing as I hav dislocated things fairly "frequently" and she hasnt even dislocated anything yet (shes 7 years older than me) but I have similar symptoms that she has described that her doc told her about (lil wrist perculiarities and such)). any recommendations on what I could do to build up strength around say my knees and hip joints especially? Thanks

I 100% agree with blackxpress. If the doc you went to was just a General Practitioner and not a Rheumatologist I'd go see a Rheumatologist If I were you before I did anything drastic.

Have no real advice for you here but as you can see from my first post (Titled "Injuries") Me and you seem to be in a similar boat. The difference being that, your joint problems seem to have been causing you enough grief for enough time that you actually went to a doctor because of them... I have not gone to a doc yet (though I probably should too) so I pretend to be living in blissfull ignorance that "oh my problems cant be all that bad". I will say this... a break might do you some good. Even if you dont stop for the full 4 weeks. Try 2 weeks and see if your joint are feeling any better... sometimes the rest itself might help (I know that because of a long holiday weekend I wont have gone to class for a full week as of this coming wednesday, and my knees are doing remarkably better). Listen to your doc as much as you can. They sometimes do know what they are talking about ( forget that I havent been myself ) even if you dont do the full extendt of what he recommends. Then again... Ive only been doing karate myself for a lil under 3 months.. so what do I know?

Yeah. I'm pretty sure I had my mind made up before even asking but wanted to know if anyone else had experiences similar to mine with the loose joints etc so early in training, and how they went about it. Oh sure sure. I wouldnt rush back into it after anything as serious as a dislocated shoulder.. .my first dislocation I was in a sling for 6 weeks the second for only 3 weeks but in both instances my arm was all but useless for quite some time afterwards. I was just saying that 9th kyu take ~4 months (hopefully 3 for me if I pass the test next week) 8th kyu another 4 months and 7th (green belt for us) ~4 more months (maybe more depending) so all I was really saying was if I get something as serious as a true dislocation in the first or second belt... it may very well be time to quit... but after the third a whole year (at least) would have been put into it and that I'd have to think a lil harder before 100% giving it up without a fight or at least seeing if I *could* get back into it. And I appreciate them all.