hello I'm new here! :)

[Mattyj]

Hi all,
I just signed up today. It looks like there is tons of great information and knowledge to be found here.

A bit about me - I am very new to martial arts - I just started in April of this year. I signed up for a women's self defense class and once it ended I knew I had to learn more! I take a women's mixed martial arts class that includes techniques from jujitsu, aikido and judo. I haven't missed a single class in 7 months - I think I'm addicted.

[Tant01]

Awesome! Welcome aboard... Always great to (virtually) see new faces here!

Looking forward to reading more from you!

[Mattyj]

Thank you! I look forward to being here.

[Hardball]

Welcome aboard. (belated) How is the training going?

[Mattyj]

Welcome aboard. (belated) How is the training going?

very well, thank you! I was asked to help assist the women's self-defense course ( eek!) and along with my other classes, so I am at the dojo 4-5 times a week now. Which makes me very happy. I'm still very much a newbie, but I am working as hard as I can.

[Hardball]

Some schools require X number of teaching hours for advanced rank, thus I guess you can consider yourself working on a promotion. Train hard and keep in touch!! What is your current rank and what style do you train in?

[JadeDragon]

Welcome Matty. I'm Mark. I am look forward to hearing more about you and your training in future posts.

[Tom Yum]

Welcome Matty.

Glad to have you hear! Surf freely and ask questions - this is a good learning environment.

[Mattyj]

Some schools require X number of teaching hours for advanced rank, thus I guess you can consider yourself working on a promotion. Train hard and keep in touch!! What is your current rank and what style do you train in?

Hardball, I was not aware of that! I had zero exposure to any sort of martial arts (aside from mma on tv) up until 9 months ago. I have much to learn about everything!!

I currently train in judo, jujitsu, and a bit of aikido, and then advanced self defense (i don't know - is that the offical name?). We have a very small women's class at our dojo - usually 3-5 people show up to class. Depending on who shows up, who is hurt, etc, we go back and forth between learning different things. As of late we have been doing a lot of judo training. We have a hard time having enough people - there's only 2000 people in our town. It looks as though I may have to join the men's judo class here pretty soon, just so I will have people to train with. I am very fortunate though - both of my instructors will stay after classes for as long as necessary to give extra help. They may be getting sick of me

As for rank - I only have my yellow belt for judo, and then our instructor has a belt system for the advanced self defense. He just tested me for my orange belt in that. Is it common for a dojo to have a belt system for self defense? I tried to read up on the subject but couldn't find much.

Wow - i just wrote a novel...sorry. :x

Thank you all for the warm welcome. This seems a very knowledgable place.

[Hardball]

Well, I am glad you are enjoying what you are doing. Just keep training and don't worry about the small classes. Martial arts is more like a marathon not a sprint. Just keep showing up every day and you will reap the rewards of good practice sessions. I'm sure other members here will jump in with some good advice and maybe you can bond with some of our female members by posting an intro in the womans forum. Best of luck and stay in touch.

[Tom Yum]

Keep us posted, Mattyj

[triks]

Hi,
I am new to this forum. I am from india and am very much interested in various topics of this forum. I hope, i will learn a lot from your experiences.

[Hardball]

Hi,
I am new to this forum. I am from india and am very much interested in various topics of this forum. I hope, i will learn a lot from your experiences.

Welcome to the forum. Tell us something about yourself such as your style, rank and how long you have been training. Again welcome.