First, any man that will attack a woman is probably a coward. If the woman appears a bit too confident and will probably put up a fight, the coward won't attack her. They're easier targets out there. Second, anything she takes that makes her feel more powerful as a person and that will shine through enough that everyone will see it immediately when in her presence. Being afraid is more likely to get you attacked than being confident. Personally, I'm not great advocate for Karate (I'm a Muay Thai person), but I am an advocate for studying martial arts in general. Increasing your personal confidence goes a very long way.
On the plus side though, through many years of training it may be possible to obtain a black belt and become a true Karate master, similar to this guy. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMmeZX-nyAY&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]YouTube - Owned : Karate Back Flip FUNNY[/ame]
Whatever you want to call a man that attacks a woman, be it coward, mugger, or rapist - it doesn't change the fact that it happens every second of everyday. A woman is far more likely to be attacked by a man than a woman, that's a simple fact. I don't care how confident a woman thinks she may be, put a 200 lb man with I'll intentions in front of her and things change in a hurry. To me, it's like paying the same price for bottom shelf burger and a filet. If she's going to take the time to learn a martial art, don't choose the ground beef of martial arts when it's the same price (time and money) as a filet.
I meant to say "ill" intentions but my phone autocorrected it, sorry about that. Herk, if you go on the ufcs website you can check out marines sparring with MMA guys.
There seems to be a lot of opinions as to whether Karate is a decent 'sport' or not. I can't say because I know nothing about it, but I hope to see how far I can go. My mum and sister have signed up too. Can't wait til I see my mum in action, hehe.
Cowards, muggers and rapists are generally cowards who pray on the weak. They look for people they can control with very little effort. They do not want a fight! I repeat, THEY DO NOT WANT A FIGHT! You simply have to give enough resistance to make their efforts not worth the work. I've known muggers in my lifetime and all of them are looking for people who will simply give them whatever they want. They are not looking for someone that'll resist. Rape is about power. Which is why a rapist would not want to attack someone they percieve to actually be powerful. They don't want to be overpowered! That completely defeats the point of raping someone! Studying anything that boosts your confidence will remove you from the target list. Being able to put up enough resistance to deter a mugger or rapist is enough. Karate will make anyone stronger and tougher. Even if you believe it's not effective, they WILL absolutely be physically stronger and tougher than without it. Clearly you don't like Karate, but you can at least respect it? Do you actually study a martial art at all? If so, I find it rather odd you would so readily dismiss Karate as worthless. I think Lyoto Machida would completely disagree with you regarding the effectiveness of Karate in actual combat. The guy is an actual MMA champion.
I wrestled for years and have coached wrestling, if you want to consider that a martial art, and have studied BJJ for 6 years at Relson Gracies academy in Columbus, OH. I also boxed from the ages 16-18 but 2 broken hands killed that. I can respect anyone who wants to better themselves, but Karate is the wrong way to go about it. I have a hard time respecting the art if Karate because of the common sense flaws in the system that Karate teachers pawn to students as effective techniques in a real world scenario. Machida is a horrible example BTW. You failed to mention he is also a black belt in BJJ and a Brazil and South American sumo champion. He's also trained at Black House for years with some of the best MT, BJJ, and wrestling specialists and trainers in the world like Jose Aldo, the Nogueiras, Anderson Silva, Souza, Munoz, Dos Santos, and Barreto. If youre trying to sell me on the validity of Karate in MMA, don't bother. I can easily name hundreds of MT, BJJ, and wrestling background fighters who have won a title in MMA to your Lyoto Machida reference.
I do consider wrestling a martial art. It's a disciple for certain. I honestly don't disagree with you regarding just how effective it will be against another fighter. What I disagree with is that the average joe dude on the street would be able to beat a skilled woman Karate black belt. Simply training for combat puts you at a huge advantage against someone who is not trained. I have zero love for Taekwondo, but I can certainly acknowledge they would probably beat the average dude on the street. I don't like Machida, but he does use Karate in his fighting scheme, and is effective with it... and I hate his fighting style! I just can't deny the guy gets wins. And as a MT trained person, I can tell you his MT is absolutely horrible. He didn't learn anything at all if he trained in it. His strikes are definitely Karate based (in regards to the kicks) or just terrible MT. Just to add a bit of clarity... do you think a trained Karate fighter to be no better than a regular guy on the street?
I do Taekwondo, and even I'm not so sure some of them would - particularly the olympic trained ones. Training a martial art as a sport teaches you some terrible habits. Because of the rules, you are taught to punch and kick so you don't hurt the other guy, which is colossaly stupid. These habits can be corrected with lots of bag work and hard sparring, though. When trained as a fighting style, it's a very powerful striking art.
Against a out of shape, normal everyday person who's never been in a fight, sure, Karate has it's advantages. But in all fairness, so would something like gymnastics - through a increase in stamina and strength, agility, flexibility, and confidence...but for my money, if I'm going to take the time to truly try and learn the art of combat, Karate is a poor choice in the spectrum of combative sports.
Well Machida who is a specialist in Karate beat Couture who is a specialist in Wrestling with a nice karate kid kick to the chin. In fact any martial art is better than wrestling like ju jitsu, tae kwon do, kung fu, judo, etc.. Wrestling should be sent back to the WWF but the UFC gets many fans who are wrestling enthusiasts so it makes sense business wise.
Machida is a black belt in BJJ, Karate, and world class in sumo. Randy is a mixed martial artist who came from a wrestling background, who should have retired years ago. Great logic there. And saying anything is better than wrestling is beyond naive and just downright stupid. There have been more champions in major MMA promotions come from a wrestling background than any other discipline, that's a fact.
All I know about Karate is that blocks won't work until you're a level 20 ninja. Learn to strike hard and fast, and forget about complicated moves in real life.
He's extremely talented, there is no denying that. His style can lead to some very boring fights though for the fans. Ill tell ya, if Machida gets the next shot at Jon Jones, Machida is going to be in for a world of hurt.
Instructor says I am ready to move up to yellow belt, so I should be graded next month. Whooo you cannot imagine how happy I am!!!!
I'm just amazed I am starting to pick it up. We did about five rounds of first and second kata today and I actually followed along. (*)(*)(*)(*)ing brilliant. I am so stoked right now!
That's something I always forget. But I am able to take a few deep breaths and make it last. I can pace myself so I don't need to breathe as often. They do tell us to breathe though but I find I am breathing too much!
I boxed in high school. Because I was NIS in the Navy, I went through the USMC ACT & CCCT programs. Then I went through UCW. After I got out, I took karate, Northern & Southern styles of Kung Fu, and Jiu Jitsu. Karate is just fine. If you're not experienced in fighting, any martial is just fine and dandy. It's not like you're going to go out next week and kick the ass of the bully you knew in high school. So whatever you take, that will improve. Will karate make you the best possible fighter? Hell, I don't even know what style of karate you're taking! But it's all good. Enjoy it! Now if they have you hitting the danm makawara boards (which I hated!) and you don't like it, there are tons of fighting styles ot there. If you want something to help you develop confidence, athleticism, grace etc... I would strongly suggest looking at external styles of kung fu (like the animal forms in the old tv show) and then maybe even an internal style (like Tai Chi). They're very cool, very fun, they can be very effective against someone who has not been trained and I think more than any form I can think of, they focus on giving you peace and humor. Those are good things! Also the forms (like the katas you're about to learn) are more fun. Oh, and when it comes time to actually fight someone? Talk your way out of it. 99% of the time, people who aren't out to prove their manhood can mange this. The other 1%? Do what you need to do and do not hesitate or even think. Just my two cents.
