Hi from Sunny UK! (no seriously its not raining!)

[SuperFLY]

Hi guys,

Randomly found the site when pottering around on the interwebz looking at various martial arts bits and pieces. Had a bit of a read and it looks like there's a load of info on here so I thought I should sign up and say hi

Names Dave, I'm 29 from South East UK. I train in Shotokan Karate and Aikido. I am currently 1st kyu in Karate training for black and have been practicing Aikido for just a few months now.

The short story of my experience is I used to train Shotokan when I was very young. In fact by the time I was 12 I was 1st kyu training for a junior black belt. Unfortunately due to being an immature kid (getting bored of it) and an injury at a tournament where I hurt my back I gave it up. I've always been very interested in martial arts and always intended to start again but it wasn't until Last November a leaflet hit the mat advertising Shotokan Karate classes at my local school gym. In all honesty I was thinking of trying another martial art but I thought I would give it a go again hoping there was still some knowledge in my mind knocking about.

I turn up in my trackies and get pointed down the end with the low grades. We warm up and start doing some basic techniques; straight afterwards sensei tells me to move up to the higher end. Sensei said to me its obvious I still remember the techniques so he'll evaluate what level I'm at and we'll go from there. After a around 3-4 weeks I order my gi and sensei awards me 4th kyu

3 weeks later I grade (normally 3 months at least between gradings) and am awarded 3rd kyu!

I was complimented on my technique; the comment my sensei made was 'i was one of 2 of the group singled out as being good' still got it!!

I have since graded every 3 months including my 1st kyu grading which I was told normally they'd recommend a 6 month wait between that grading.

I'm REALLY enjoying doing it again and really immersing myself into the art. I was invited to this years tournament in March but I didnt feel ready then, next year I think I'll take part in Kata and Kumite.


In the middle of all this one of my friends mentioned he was interested in taking up a martial art but didnt want to do karate. in his town there was an aikido class and being another Japanese art I thought it would be a good contrast for me and also help in my bunkai so I thought why not..

At this stage we are just polishing up all the main 1st form techniques and will probably taking taking our 1st grading soon. (hopefully)

Apart from that I do like to keep fit but am quite lazy (which doing martial arts again has really helped with) but I do try and get down the gym a couple of times a week along with my training so that does me pretty well.

I have a real interest in all other martial arts and perhaps in a year or so once I have my black belt I may look into sampling another but for the moment I really need to focus on my Karate training with Aikido as a sideline.

So err yeh.. that's me really as far as my interest in martial arts goes. Hope to soak up some of the info on here

 

[stickarts]

Welcome to MT!

 

[Sukerkin]

Welcome aboard, SuperFly; always a pleasure to see another face from Blighty show up at the door .

 

[Jenna]

Hello Dave, 29 Weather good here too: cloudy with a chance of meatballs, or maybe that should be smoky with a chance of petrol bombs. Seriously though, we hope you stick around. Karate and Aikido eh? A combination of hard and soft is a difficult balance to achieve. Unless you eat enough Cadbury's Chocolate Eclairs

 

[SuperFLY]

Karate and Aikido eh? A combination of hard and soft is a difficult balance to achieve. Unless you eat enough Cadbury's Chocolate Eclairs

mmmmmmmmm Eclairs....

My Karate sensei was actually really interested in me started to do it as he used to train with a 5th dan aikidoka and a few weeks ago he actually asked me to come up with a couple of techniques to show the class as general self defence techniques. So off I went thinking how I could apply some of the techniques I'd been learning into more of a defence from attack rather than 'the catch' that I've been learning with.

Went quite well I went through some basic 'get out of a grip' movements and adapted a kotegaeshi technique to deflect an incoming attack, take the uke's stance and complete a shortened technique to incapacitate them. worked really well heh.

Also demonstrated a shihonage on my normal sparring partner (a guy thats like 6'4" and about 20st - vs me 5'8" and under 12st) and completely floored him without any effort much to the amusement of my sensei heh

I do keep getting told off for using long stances in Aikido though.. keep falling back to my old Karate postures but im getting better

 

[Yondanchris]

Welcome to MT!

 

[Jenna]

Also demonstrated a shihonage on my normal sparring partner (a guy thats like 6'4" and about 20st - vs me 5'8" and under 12st) and completely floored him without any effort much to the amusement of my sensei

Well I find (as someone of um.. modest stature) that Aikido is a great leveller in these matters. I have never studied Okinawan styles in any detail and but to my untrained eye they have always appeared a little staccato and certainly with an aura of rigidity in their execution. I think this does fortunately make learning move somewhat more apace. Whilst you can pick up Aikido no less quickly, to be able to work your Aikido at the same proficiency (as opposed to the same kyu) as you can in your Karate can sometimes take a disproportionately long time and so do not be frustrated with any progress you make even if it seems slower than you had hoped. All progress is progress, and it seems you have found a niche as bringer of the Way of Harmony to your Karate class Looking forward to hearing some more of your experiences. Welcome to MT again and good luck.

 

[seasoned]

Welcome to MT, Dave.

 

[OKenpo942]

Welcome to MT.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

Hello Dave, welcome to MT!