Mumsnet Martial Artists

Hello, I want to join!

Going back to Shotokan next week, stopped due to pg (DP wouldnt let me go).

Got to orange belt and LOVED every second - best workout ever. Loved working with the blackbelts too, with contact - if you are lucky enough to land a strike it does wonders for your confidence!

So - it seems I will be able to carry on training whilst pregnant - this is good news cos the club is currently shut for the summer holidays and I'm really missing it already!

I also do the walking down the street thing thinking how I could protect myself.

We once did a "protect yourself from rape" class where the blokes were told to really try to attack us/get us on the floor and we were taught defense techniques. Was fascinating but exhausting! And very strange to be so physically close to someone who wasn't DH!

I do like working with newbies and helping them improve - but I find it really quite frustrating if they don't listen or try to improve. I know it's a lot to take in, but as you all know you have to practise! Because our dojo is part of a general gym, we get quite a few "tourists" who barely even break a sweat when training. But some newbies are great and really watch others to learn how to improve.

Interesting about being registered on a database too. Makes sense. In France we are all registered so that if we're ever in a fight we have to use "appropriate force" because we should know how to neutralise an opponent without destroying him

The other day we did a great training session - 3 against 1....really makes you think about how to react in a street fight situation (we weren't allowed the "run away" option which I would have definately chosen if I could, when faced with 3 1st & 2nd Dan large blokes )

Shodan I am impressed, I am just starting to really catch onto watching for the "tell", particularly from the neck area, iykwim. What a difference it does make in your defense, feels somehow like you have more reaction time?

Sweaty blokes I can tolerate but I do get rather at the (in)frequency with which some folk seem to launder their gi! Certain clinging odors get to me.

Btw, Meglet- you wouldn't like being paired with me then- I am the original sweaty betty. I once asked the doctor what I could do about it, given that I'm not overweight and am very fit, and he looked seriously at me for a while and then suggested I take up swimming instead!

But, if I may say so, sweaty blokes are not as bad as unwashed mitts. I sparred someone once whose mitts smelt like a mix of sick and cheese.....bleugh.

Fluffy re: black belts. In our club all black belts, except for the senior senseis, are graded by our senior senseis at a national grading. The senior senseis (there are three) are graded elsewhere. (I can't remember offhand where, my sensei did tell us in great detail of his latest grading, but I was more focussed on the grim-sounding nature of the whole thing). All black belts, from 1st dan up, are registered with NAKMAS. So there is a national standard there, I guess.

Also, wrt training while pregnant- I mentioned earlier that I trained all the way through my pregnancy. If you don't have any medical issues and your sensei and fellow students are fully aware of your condition and are happy to accommodate you, then training can actually be really good for you- with the appropriate modifications, of course. Certainly I suffered far less with stitch pain, my stomach muscles etc knitted back far faster than the first time and generally I recovered much quicker.

RubberDuck- I also do that imaginary scenario thing too! But so does my friend at karate, and we even have a joke about it -"We could 'ave 'im". Those outside the MA world don't undersatnd at all, do they?

One thing I'm really starting to get the hang of now (which is very useful when sparring fellow students and more especially vicious senseis) is recognising the 'tell'- you know, where you can recognise what's coming your way? For e.g, one sensei, who has a wicked spinning back hook kick, tends to give a sort of little hop on his back foot before spinning. Of course, the newbies are much easier- flailing arms like a bird about to take off sound familiar??

Ah but I'm in a DOM, fluffy. I could do, and did, judo in Paris, here is kickboxing/savate. DH has forbidden me from savate because they have no sense of appropriate contact.

Same here RubberDuck with the teaching requirement...I don't mind teaching them but so dislike sparring with the newbies; teenage boys in particular actually!

rubberduck all the time . We also do knife defence and self defence so I like to think I have a slightly better chance of dealing with an attacker. TBH until I started kickboxing I never knew what it would feel like to be hit or (pretend) attacked, now I know the full force of it and have a rough idea what to do I get spooked thinking how vulnerable I used to be.

Can we also mention sweaty blokes too. I do not like being paired up with someone sweaty.

Good thread. I took up Wado Ryu Karate aged 40 and am now 3rd kyu (first of the 3 brown belts in this style). Currently I have lost a bit of motivation and need to get back to regular training. I miss the toned arms (no bingo wings in karate!).

I agree with those who hate sparring with newbies especially the blokes who don't want to be hit by a woman and take a (gentle) tap as a reason to start flailing around.

rubberduck Totally right about getting used to being hit. Very scary the first few times, and I don't like my nose being hit at all, but makes me feel less vulnerable when I'm out and about as I'd hopefully be able to fight back, or run away faster than most thugs can run.

Agree Meglet- hate fighting newbies. Even women cos I find they don't try to control anything and just panic and lash out. Or moan if you touch them.

One of my pet hates is people wearing jewellery whilst training. I kindly pointed out to a newbie that she shouldn't wear earrings and she said no one should hit her in the head I gently explained that kiminos can get caught easily and it might be someone she's not working with that accidently hits her head. It didn't work.

Mind you, that same white belt, when we gently told her that this was a black belt training session turned up the next week with a black belt . Coach told her she couldn't wear it again

Good news about the training during the first few months - would definately need to avoid all contact. What worries me is that we often work in pairs, and I think I'd be scared of being hit....will worry more when the time comes I think!

I find the worst blokes to fight with are the newbies, they seem to want to prove themselves fighting a woman and try and get heavy handed. I love fighting the black belts as they just block everything I throw at them which winds me up so I get really narky and try and hit / kick them back.... I rarely landed anything on them.

Might be better at it now I have kids, more aggression to get out?

fluffy I managed to train until 20 weeks pregnant and only stopped as my licence ran out. My teacher just let me do whatever I felt comfortable with (certainly NO contact). Everyone else would be doing 30 push ups and I did a couple, lots of gentle pad work too. I loved having my belt tied under my bump.

Good initiative!

I've been doing karate (shotokhan) for 5 years and am currently 1st Dan but going for my 2nd Dan in December.

Also in France Vive but haven't had any trouble finding a karate club! (and in the same place there's also judo, ju jitsu, krav maga, kickboxing....)

Don't have any DC yet but can see that'll I'll have to stop for a while when pregnant. So will be training hard for the 2nd Dan whilst I'm still able!

Our club has very few women, and is full on contact. Sometimes the blokes don't realise their strength, sometimes they're just showing off (especially if they're not black belt - they don't appreciate a woman being better than them!). Protection is most definately needed, even when we're not sparring but just working together.

Question about black belt - I got my 1st Dan in France, where the exam is held by the French Karate Association, and they are the only institution to be able to give you a black belt. Is it the same in the UK? Or can your club give you your black belt? If so, how do you know the standards are the same?

oooh, good idea for a thread.

Kickboxing here, since 1999, although I haven't been in 4 years due to having babies. Funnily enough I was in touch with my teacher at the start of the week as I am going to go back in the Autumn. Roll on shuttle runs, push ups and arm / leg blocks. .

I managed to get to purple belt, only brown and black to go but TBH I don't have the balls to go any further, or the time to train.

We do full contact fighting. I competed a couple of times but never won a fight .