I know kung fu

[babs]

I have my first tourney in April, a local open. Apparently it's divided by belt and then by weight class, so at least fights should be fair

Bit apprehensive, but with the amount of sparring we do at the moment it shouldn't be too bad.

I'm also in the midst of being assessed for my 9th Gup, so hopefully within a few weeks I can replace my (now grubby) white belt with a spangly yellow one

[Jaxon]

http://www.bullshido.net/

Specializing in dealing with ridiculous claims of "death touch" practitioners and black belt by mail courses, but also a great forum for general martial arts discussion.

[MattyD]

FINALLY my Tai Chi group has advanced to the heady heights of the Long Yang form (damn they're slow learners) and some decent Pushing Hands (Tai Chi sparring). The Ba Gua is coming along nicely too.

I wish there was more emphasis on body conditioning though, particularly the flexability side. One of my hamstrings is still quite tight after I tore it a few years ago, and I still can't twist myself into a full Lotus position when I do zazen. Anyone got any pointers on these?

[babs]

Quick bump up.

How's everyone doing, still training hard? My first tourney was called off, and there's nothing immediate lined up either. I'm not bothered in all honesty, I'm really enjoying the rest of what we do.

I passed my 9th Gup grading a few weeks back, the mighty ranks of yellow belt Forms are starting to get interesting now, especially the ones I'll need for my next, next belt.

Did anyone else go to SENI a couple of weeks back? What a cracking show, there was loads of Tai Chi exhibitors and displays, Matty would have approved. For me the highlight was watching the Silver Dragons display team - they were the best on show and are all from Tang Soo Do which added extra pride . SENI Pics if anyone's interested are here.

[fragmast3r]

been away for yonks,

yep im still doing my karate, up 2 green belt now, wow that was a hard grading just over 2 hours over karate then 30 minutes of sparring 3 x 3minute rounds with 3 different instructors.

went to seni, awesome experience, watched a kick boxing tournament while there.

did you see the shikes (sp) at the very end on display, how that guy didnt get his hand cut off when he tried to stop the melon rolling off his stomach....

recently took up kick boxing which im totaly loving.

karate 3 times a week and kick boxing 2 times a week,

any1 else doing anything still or recently took summut up?

[babs]

Took my 8th Gup grading on Sunday and passed - orange belt now. Finally up past the basic forms, lots more interesting stuff to learn now. I nearly passed out a couple of times during the grading, but I'm so pleased with myself for having made it through.

We had a physical, lots of basics up and down the hall by the count, forms (3 of them), self-defence (Ho Sin Sool), one-step sparring, terminology and knowledge test at the bench and finally the breaks.

I only wish I could train as often as you frag

[Jimmyzilla]

BUMP! Everyone still training??

I started Aikido tonight and thought it was great! It's a lot of good fun and way different to Kickboxing and they don't clash which is great! kb tuesday wednesday friday and aikido on thursday saturday! The only problem is that i'm usually still sore from kickboxing....lucky aikido isn't too intensive :P

[MO2J]

Slightly different from the normal 'striking' arts but I do Brazilian Jiujitsu, which is basically the sort of grappling you see in Mixed Martial Arts events like the UFC. It's a lot of fun, very exhausting and a great way to vent off various stresses that have built up during the course of the week (same as any martial art in that respect I guess). You could probably find a better explanation of it on Wikipedia. We integrate some other grappling styles and Judo as well, which I would like to pursue seperatley at some point.

[babs]

Am going for 7th Gup in a few weeks time, can't wait.

We've had some real beastings of lessons lately, my knuckles are still healing weeks after a focus mitt session - but I love it all.

Then we're off up to Manchester on the 28th for the British EMTF (our new federation) championships.

I've always liked the look of BJJ and aikido. I'd love a go at Hapkido though

[stormbreak]

I used to do Choi Kwang Do, did it for around 2 years before I stopped going.

I am really interested in going Muay Thai, I have a few friends who go, and I would love to join them.

[mr ooops]

well, whos still doing what then? anyone else started anything since the last post?

had to make a choice, couldnt keep up the training on both karate and kickboxing so had to make a a hard decision stop one or the other. In the end i stuck with the kickboxing, training twice a week now, want to do more but hey got to balance my hobbies with the wife and kids so not to bad.


been to watch a couple of kick boxing tournaments, and have started to add some other stuff to my training ie jogging, weights, bit of yoga (stop sniggering at the back) as Id like to enter a kickboxing tournament at the end of this year.

anyone going to seni this year, may the 19th/20th i think, but being held in london not birmingham.

enough rambling

regards
jason

[MattyD]

I'm still really enjoying my Tai Chi. I've actually started learning the Meo Tao(sp?) AKA Katana - the Chinese version of the Katana is the same except it doesn't have a hilt, but the wooden swords (bo-ken) we use have them and the art is exactly the same.

The story goes that the master who founded my school, took a Katana from a killed Japanese officer during the battle of Manchuria, and trained his unit to fight with them in the jungles there, where low visibility put the rifle-wielding Japanese at a disadvantage

I'm not exactly Joe Musashi yet but I'm getting there

[wicky]

dunno if iposted already or not, but i used to do judo. I practiced for 18 years and I had to give it up due to injury.

I miss fighting. it's real tough after so many years to give something up

[DCharlie]

i might have posted, but perhaps not -
i did Bushido Kempo Ju Jitsu for 8 years, stopped as i got involved in Rugby and football.

A shame - i really loved it and was one belt from Black at 17.

[DCharlie]

one question that lapse martial artists might be able to help with - when i was actively in training , i was incredibly flexible. The usually routing of hooking your right foot behind a training partners head and having them stand up whilst you touched your head to each knee in turn was easy to do.

However, within a year or so of stopping training, all that good work was lost.

Did anyone manage to retain the flexibility? Is it as simple as just retraining or am i going to cause myself a bit of damage (bear in mind it's 15+ years since i did any training)

... perhaps i should just join somewhere here?