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I will take the advice and add some stretching to the end of class too. I have been using the pinch the floor technique for side splits. My flexibility is starting off a bit better hamstring wise than you started off. I can touch my toes sitting down and standing up, but barely. Side splits I am a good 16 or so inches off the ground in the middle. I have the book 'Stretching Scientifically' on loan from my brother in law. Seems like a good book but a bit involved. Al

Thanks for the feed back. I was concerned that short legs mean no reach or a hard time kicking to the head. Other Martial arts friends and relatives say in a street fight they wouldn't try many kicks to the head anyway due to how open it leaves you if they counter it effectively. However for Kumite I would think a kick to the head would score some good points. My strong legs have been an advantage for several of the stances as they can easily handle Shiko, Kiba etc Dashi stances for long periods of time. And yes once I get the dang streatching the ham strings worked out I would hate to be on the receiving end of one of my kicks due to my genetically big muscles on my legs. But at times I feel like a dwarf. Al

When I say I don't have time to warm up, I am not referring to before class. I am referring to the mad rush in the morning getting the kids ready for school etc and me into work at a reasonable hour. If it is simpley a matter of doing 1 or so minutes of jumping jacks then fine, I can fit that in, but 10 mins of exercise isn't going to happen in my morning routine. I have found my worst enemy right now is my ham strings. They prevent me from extending my foot high enough on a front kick or side kick. Al

I stand about 5’9” (175cm) tall and I have a very long torso and pretty short legs (27 inch (68cm) inseam). My legs are genetically extremely muscular and strong though. I was wondering if having shorter legs and a long body is a disadvantage in Karate or maybe an advantage? I have been told that being really tall is a disadvantage. Any thoughts? Al P.S. I hate the real long torso as my gi does not look right.

Doesn't this go a bit beyond knocking them out. Ie you are collapsing their wind pipe and will possibly kill them. Al

What does everyone think of the book Karate Ideals? My Sensei recommended I read this, but not to learn Karate I think but to better understand where it came from etc. Al

You could be right about going to the doc, but I spent 1 hole hour practicing my kicks, some in a Kata some on a bag and no pain today. Just sore muscles on my feet and thighs from the exercise. My hips don’t pop btw, but my knees and ankles have always done this. It has never cause me any real discomfort other than when it grosses out the odd person that hears it. LOL you should have seen the face on a Sensei when he tried to correct my posture and my knee popped… he thought he had just broken something but this is just the norm for me. Al

I have come to realize that my flexibility is going to be one of the big issues for my progressing in Karate. More specifically in my legs. I cannot kick very high in a forward kick due to hamstring tightness and side kicks are also limited by my side split ability. I know I need to do streatching to improve this, but how when etc? I am told warm up is important but I don't have time to jog etc before hand. I have been doing straight leg toe touching 3 times a day for a few days trying to streatch out the hamstrings and do successive side split widening by tightening my legs like I am trying to squeeze the floor with my legs as I let them go out further. All in an attempt to get my flexibility so that I can kick higher and properly. Any tips on the fast track to improving this? Al

A good meal replacement weight loss mix is one scoop of Whey Protein powder, 1 cup of water and 1/2 a banana. This mix roughly equals the carbs/protein etc of a meal replacment like Myoplex. Al

btw I procratinated going to the doc and the hip pain has passed. Had a wicked kicking training session on Monday and expected it to come back but nothing other than the usual sore muscles. I feel a bit of soreness when I press on some of the deep tendons near the joint and likely had just badly streatched some of thes and the pain was radiating into the joint. Not that I would recommend not going to the doc like myself but just wanted to let people know that it has gone away. Al

I have been told that Okinawan Shorin-ryu is very applicable to self defense and street fighting, but being that I have limited experience with other forms of Martial Arts I cannot vouch for this. I tend to agree with many posts here... take what you find interesting. Al

This link is to a pretty cool stick man martial arts fighting clip. Worth a look to see. http://www.vickysjokes.com/funny/fight.asp It is not spam I swear. Al

Hello Mark, Well my dojo promotes both kata and kumite. I am to junior to be doing kumite yet though. As mentioned in another post here, I am still a white belt. Allan

Interesting article Mark. I had a talk with Kyoshi at my dojo about this topic of Kata. His strong belief is that Kata creates automatic repsonses where you don't have to think to react etc. Your body will just know what to do. He feels this makes the student a better fighter. There may be other ways of doing this, but for me I enjoy this aspect. I would agree with some of the posts here that maybe some of us have a bit of a masochistic streak in us and enjoy some of the punishment our bodys must undergo to do the traditional training including Katas. I know I enjoy pushing my limits in this respect. I am studying Shorin-Ryu style of Karate btw.

I too found this forum when doing a search for specific information on Karate. I am very new here as well, but enjoy the forums greatly.

I love my dojo as well (Willis Karate Studio in Guelph). The head sensei 8th Dan (Kyoshi) Dr Willis seems to understand Karate on so many levels. Training, practical, fitness, history etc. The other sensei's including several 3rd Dans are also very good. I find it all fascinating and so does my daughter (8yrs old) that is taking it as well. Now if I can just get this hip pain worked out

Thank you for all the tips. I think I will try to see the doctor, after all I can't live on Advil and Tylenol. I just demonstrated a low intensity kick to a co-worker that was into Karate and now I can barely walk again. It will go away in about 20 mins, but I know something is wrong. Thanks

Well I have talked to Kyoshi and he does not seem to be too worried about it. I thought about going to the doc but there are too few of them in this town so will wait and see. The pain seems to be on deep on the inner hips and ratiates inward. Goes away if I don't kick, but gee I have to perfect this stuff before my stripe test. Likely give them a break will be best. Tonight was a good training night. I didn't have to do as many kicks and instead was doing some more advanced training in Goshin-juitsu (sp). Which gave them a rest. Next training day is Sat morning so the 3 day break might help. Thanks

I am relatively new to my Karate training (Shorin-Ryu) at 6 weeks, but am approaching my first belt colour milestone. Up until now the pain I have suffered has been purely from the conditioning and a bit of strain on the tendons on the top of my feet due to the running bare foot. But now I am learing Kihon Gary (front push kick, side kick, back kick and round house) the basic kick semi-kata. I am finding my hips are killing me. After a session at the dojo I can barely walk due to the pain. The pain goes away in several hours until I try to practice my kicks again. I know my flexibility could be better and my technique could be too, but this much pain from it? I am no pain wimp either. No history of joint problems as well. Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks