Ann-Marie

I found myself in a situation a few years back whilst walking home from the pub with a few friends. As we turned a corner we were contronted with two people attacking a young lad. They were beating him to a pulp - no joke - he had blood pouring from his eye socket, temple, nose, mouth and other random cuts. His friend was desparately trying to get him away. There were lots of bystanders who looked absolutely dumbfounded (bystander effect I think it's called). My initial feeling was complete shock at the state of the guy and I just yelled "THAT'S ENOUGH". Apparently i was quite aggressive with it. It had an IMMEDIATE effect and the agressors backed off instantly. some guys in the crowd moved in to put a barrier between the attackers and victim and the victims friend pulled him away to get help. With hindsight it probably wasn't the best of reactions that i had as they could quite easily have turned on me. I got the biggest telling off from my friends and some stopped speaking to me (no loss there in my opinion). My point is, is that yelling something sharp and load at them made them stop in their tracks - but these people were working on full fight emotion and had lost control. A martial artist, who had learnt to detach themselves from the fight and flight mechanism, may have enough mental control to consider the request and respond with a no - it might not work in that situation. It would be difficult to test in a dojo as martial artists are conditioned to obey commands.

cheers guys - i guess i've just got to keep going. I've put myself forward for various things that are out of my comfort zone to help improve my confidence. any more hints, tips and words of advice are more than useful. I will let you know how it's going Ann-Marie

Well it does kind of depend - doesn't it? Depends on how hard you train in your sessions.... ... combining activities - that would be interesting

Hello all, I recently failed my shodan in Kendal. I didn't just fail it - I failed it miserably! It's not that I don't have the ability but i just couldn't get a grip when it came to the grading. I really lost my bottle and nothing went right. My sensei who stayed to watch said "watching you was like watching another person - and not in a good way". It was all going really well in the training before hand and felt quite confident, but when my name was called I just crumbled and all my energy disappeared. To be honest I have never felt like that before and now i'm disappointed in myself and feel like a big let down. Moving past that and looking towards November (my next grading) I am now worried that i'll crumble again. it was so unpredictable and feel stuck in a rut. I've increased the number of lessons i attend so that I know the grading syllabus inside out but am dreading it... Any advice or past experiences that anyone would like to share? Ann-Marie

Just a thought - have you tried the karate union of great britain? found at https://www.kugb.org if you don't know anyting about them they are a large organisation with instructors varying from 2nd Dan to 8th Dan. They hold various competitions and courses and there is plenty of history and paraphenalia to get your teeth stuck into. There won't be a shortage of people who take karate very seriously either so it might suit you more (absolutely no disrespect to your previous instructors and clubs). As for keeping your grade - well that be would up to the instructor and would depend on a few things like compatibility and recognition. I took a year and half out due to my work life overtaking everything and I started back with the same organisation but a different club. I had to start as a white belt but within about three months I was back to my 1st kyu grade and didn't have to retake.

I took two years off and felt just like you did. I got bullied into going by my boyfriend and I thank him for it now (at the time I could have cursed him!) I went to a new club in the same organisation and just explained my situation. The sensei put me in with the red belts at first and then as my fitness improved along with my memory and technique he moved me up - it only took a few weeks to get back to my 1st kyu grade. Getting karate fit was the hardest and it's something that i'm still getting to grips with (i've been back a year). You'll regret not giving it a go and you'll have nothing to lose by going back. I found the wanting to go back a lot more agonising than actually getting back into it! Good luck!

MA's are studied for different reasons and motivations and if your school's motivations fit with your values then the supplier/consumer relationship will flourish. You have to evaluate this in all walks of life and continually do so. If I was in your situation i'd ask myself a few questions - "do i feel like a sausage in sausage factory?" , "am I getting what I want out of this?" and "do I feel satisfied with this" If the answer is no i'd give my sensei an opportunity to hear my views and then if nothing improves then i'd pack it in. There are plenty of schools that have a good business model that centres around making money through good tuition and building a good reputation. This is all about your study and your training.

I tore the ligaments between my lower floating ribs in a car accident in december 2005 - it still hurts occassionaly now if i sit in a car on long journeys. I find, like bushido man says, that strengthening exercises around the core help to keep my whole midsection stable - hurt like nothing else at first though and it took ages to realise that the exercises were helping. make a point of telling your sparring partner not to touch the ribs and if they do give them a jab back to let them now how you feel!

Practice is the word! You lot are brilliant - thanks for the really positive advice. I'll approach my Sensei over picking a couple of combos and working with them - we've done lots in class so there shouldn't be a problem choosing something to suit me. Thanks to you all Ann-Marie

Hello, This is my first post and would like to ask everyone if they know of anything that can help me with my freestyle? Lets just say that I am not a natural fighter! I'm fine with ippon and jyu ippon but with freestyle - I completely lose it. My brain literally shuts off and I come out not having much clue as to what happened. I've won some small stuff as a lower grade but now i'm going in for my Dan grading I'm having trouble assessing the opponent and getting my distance correct. I did take a break for over a year with a job that took over my life and I feel really rubbish. I've been training again for over a year but still feel like i'll never get that confidence and ability back again... Any advice?