Howdy,

First post :) Recently my lovely Filippino wife and I enrolled in a local Karate school that teaches Shorin Ryu. I'm fat and out of shape, but have been making good progress at getting into shape in recent weeks with 4 days/week of cardio at the gym. Add two 90 minute lessons per week of Shorin Ryu to that routine and I'm already down 10 lbs.

We're excited about learning such a seemingly practical style (high stances, more punching than kicking and a fair emphasis on Jiujitsu)
and benefit from small classes with a high % of classmates who hold a Brown belt or higher. We're always paired off with at least a Brown belt, which accelerates our learning. It's a blast. Anyone else practice Shorin Ryu?

At risk of getting an infraction, I've got to ask. Why mention your wifes ethnicity? Is it an issue? Are you proud? How is it relevant?

Other than that, hi there, glad to see you're enjoying it.

Welcome to Bullshido, hope you get a lot out of training.

Well done, hope you enjoy it & good luck with your fitness goals!

To jugger: It's strange but here you always phrase you're relationships as "Farang" ____ or "Thai" _____ as if you'd have one of each other something. It's so pervasive in the expat culture though, that if you don't say "My Thai gf/bf" no matter what the topic the next question is inevitably their race. It's something I do not enjoy or have gotten used to.

To the Newbie: Welcome to Bullshido. Is there a website or more info on your dojo we can look at? I'd like to see what your school is like. And congrats on the weight loss! I know how hard it can be and how rewarding it is once you start loosing it, and 10 lb's is fantastic, way to go :)

Mmm, "fat and out of shape" and yet he's bagged a "lovely Filipina wife".

Well done sir. I salute you.

*checks airline schedule*

Welcome to Bullshido, enjoy your training and I hope it's an activity that you both enjoy.

At JuggerNoob, his wife's ethnicity has nothing to do with the thread content other than he mentions it, his prerogative however, there's no need to make an issue out of it.

Howdy,

My school or Dojo (I believe that's the more accurate name) is called Northwest Louisiana Martial Arts academy. My Sensei is Jeremy Haas, who holds a 5th degree Black belt in Shorin Ryu. I like his enthusiasm.

As for my lovely Philippino wife, I mentioned her ethnicity because of her love of all things fighting related, LOL. It seems that boxing and Martial arts in general are more popular in her country than here in the U.S., but I'm rambling I suppose.. She surely holds the edge in mental toughness. Now I'm off to the gym for a whopping 23 minutes of cardio. Thanks for all the supportive comments.

I was just curious, no harm intended. WorldWarCheese explained it. Rather interesting.

eggman, mind if I ask you what your starting weight was and where you're at now? How's your diet been? Any further plans for both your body and the martial arts after you get that 6-pack? ;)

And I hope you don't mind but I'm taking the liberty of posting a link to your school's website here for other members, you should also consider making a review of the school later on the Dojo Review section, but make sure you understand the categories and criteria clearly before doing so (save you a lot of trouble).

http://www.nwlamartialarts.com/home.html

Howdy,

WWCheese: Starting weight: 290 lbs (6'0 tall). I'm down to 280 after a month at the gym and a week of Karate. As for diet, I have no specific diet; I'm just watching my sugar intake. I've never met a Pizza i didn't like, though!

Would you mind describing the training you've done and seen in the dojo thusforth? I'm rather curious to see how it stacks up with the Shorin-Ryu Shidokan that I started martial arts with.

Good choice on the wife, by the way. I lived on Guam for five years, and after some of the Filipinas I met there I'd gladly take a chubby one of those over a pair of hot white twins.

Howdy,

So far it's been 1/3 stretching & Calisthenics, 1/3 stances, kicks and punching and 1/3 joint-locks or is it called Jiujitsu?

does your dojo train alive with sparring?

Always wanted to know what Shorin Ryu was like, as that was one of the styles of karate Gichin Funakoshi studied before creating Shotokan.

BTW, welcome to Bullshido :)

Shorin ryu is a soft block, hard counter style. Its heavy on footwork, creating angles, incorporates alive training in sparring where your allowed to kick to the head and groin. We dont do point sparring and prefer to throw combinations. It also has bag and pad work. (atleast in my dojo) Heres a typical class...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbAWp5iApsk The gentleman running the class is my O'sensei Tadashi Yamashita.