My Martial Life

Not much karate related happening today, mostly worked on this site. I did manage to get in some crunches and pushups, and listen to a Jackie Chan movie while typing.
I have been putting a lot of thought into my upcoming testing for my 2nd Dan, and all that it means.
I was a brown belt for a verry long time, whenever asked why I wasn’t interested in testing, I would reply ” An attacker never asks your rank before he attacks”. It wasn’t until after I got my belt that I understood what it meant to me. It got easier to do kata in front of an audience, I could see a bunkai to a move more easily. A million little things were more natural and easier. The funny thing was that this all happened right after I got that belt. I was still me, but my belt that I had EARNED made me realize that I knew what I was doing.
And yet getting that 1st Dan is only the beginning, every kata now has a new layer to be revealed, every bunkai is a little more intracate.
Now I’m testing for Ni Dan, and I need to step up a little more before AND after the test. First degree made me snap into it mentally, now with #2 the body must follow.

This is the first post of what we hope will be a successful site. We want this site to start and facilitate constructive and positive discussions about martial arts. To that end, we will have several other new and exciting sections on this site. As they say… Watch this space
Pete