Just had my first two classes!

[Havoc88]

Hi all!

I just had my first two classes in shotokan karate.

(school is named karate do smaal in Holland, maby someone knows it.)

It was great! My first MA, well I dit half a year Judo when I was 8, now 18, but I felt like I fitted in. My sensei is a 7th dan and has been teaching for over 30 years now.

We did some basic punches and such. Also front kicks. I did pretty well I think, mainly because the other students all trained longer than I did and didn't preform that much better than I. (all white and yellow belts).

Yesterday we did some side kicks. Mann, thats hard! being my first ma I wasn't so flexible in my hips. Really something to work on.

Today I thought, lets go train my side kicks, so I just did a lot of side kicks. It didn't go to well, so I thought, why dont I practice really slow and hold still at the end, where my leg is fully streched. It worked wonderfully, although it was really hard to stay in that streched position.

Bottom line: I already like training in Karate! The controle you aquire through practice is, I think, incredible.

Looking forward towards my next lesson.

greets,

Tom

[MisterRadley]

Pretty cool! Good luck in your training.

[A_Train]

Have fun. I started in MA not long ago, and can't get enough. I love it.

[cathal]

Keep it up you'll be amazed.

[Sohan]

Karate is hard work, but it is a lot of fun and can be very rewarding. Best wishes in your training!

With respect,

Sohan

[Havoc88]

Thanks all!

Am working hard already, rope jumping, streching, running. Hopefully I can get more flexible, but that takes a lot of time, I know. I will train hard!

Tom

[bushido_man96]

Glad to hear you are having fun! Keep up the stretching, and keep strengthening your legs, but don't forget about the upper body, either!

Best of luck in the future!

[wagnerk]

Welcome to the world of Shotokan Karate, I'm a bit bias as that was my first Martial Art

Tell you what, when it comes to kick's let us know how you get on with the side snap kick vs the side thrust kick alot of people that start have fun with these two kicks.

Have fun and enjoy this style.

-Ken

[ninjanurse]

You've been bitten by the bug!!

[Havoc88]

thanks again all!

BM, The reason I mainly strech my lower body is because my legs/hips aren't really flexible. Well, I always thought I wasn't flexible, but when executing a side kick, I can extend my legs so they are horizontal to the floor. Not to bad, but I really want to be able to kick about 20-25 cm higher than I can now. So I think streching and kicking is the way to accomplish that

Up till now, I haven't found my upper body to be to stiff, but if you're willing to tell me why it is still important to strech upperbody please tell me.

Wagnerk, could you explain to me the difference between those two kicks? I do not know all the names yet, and google didn't make me that much wiser.

I will try to explain the kick I was practicing.

You stand in a basic fighting position. left leg forwards, right leg behind. then you bent your left knee and lift it. Then you try to extend it in a linear motion. Hope this makes sense

Ninjanurse, I loved their sting!