the beast

Welcome Traymond !

R.I.P. Helio you will be missed

Congrats John !

Welcome aboard Damen , enjoy.

How in the world does that work??? Pick one team but hope the other wins.

For Blackbelt we have a written test , an essay and physical test, for lower belts it' s just the physical part.

Welcome aboard, hope you enjoy.

Although I'm not a big football fan, being from around the burgh I have to go with the Steelers.

Welcome aboard Erin.

It sounds like your coworkers are as compassionate as mine,when I came in after having my nose broken. That was 2 years ago and I still get teased about it.

Try doing your katas as if you are actually fighting an opponent, this should make you do your strikes/ blocks more powerful. Really focus on striking the opponent, but don't sacrifice technique for power you need to find a happy medium. This is also a great workout. I do all my katas this way and believe me it leaves you winded .

Wow thats harsh !! I like it!!!

So far I've been pretty lucky. Other than the normal bumps/ bruises, the only other real injury was a broken nose.

Watched it Yesterday. It was excellent. Its about time somebody put out a movie with realistic karate action.

I fight orthodox, but lately I have been using southpaw.

Moved to the senior division this past August (35+)

This looks great. Can't wait for the US release.

Brilliance Of The Moon (tales of the Otori book three) by Lian Hearn

Never had it never even heard of it before, but hope you feel better soon.

Thanks for the review tallgeese. I have looked through this book at the bookstore and it looked very well put together and informative. Just haven't got it yet.

Once again thanks everyone!

I don't see how a traditional kata can compete with the "xma" gymnastic style, this is why I believe that tournaments should have a seperate division for both traditional and non traditional or "xma". Luckily in my division there isn't too much, but I see it alot in the other divisions and honestly don't think it is fair to have to compete with someone that is doing all this flashy flips and what have you. Like ironsifu I enjoy a good form, one that I can see useful techniques in and flipping in the air in my eyes is not a useful technique.

I couldn't agree more. Don't think of it as throwing the first strike it is a preemptive strike.You need to be able to go from passive to aggressive in a split second because that may be all the time the attacker gives you.

Thank you everybody.

Welcome to the forums, enjoy.