[Andrew W Scott]

I must emphasise that I may end up doing none of them, I'm just toying up with the idea at the moment. I'm also toying up with the idea of learning how to dance - I've always been a typical male phobic of any dance floor and it would be good to do something about that too.

Anyway, back to the martial arts.

Sleuth:

I wasn't really thinking of it in a "street fighting" way. I can count the number of physical fights I've had in my life on one hand, I'm not the sort of person who generally gets in them. Having said that, of course who wouldn't want to know how to defend themselves against three drunken triads (as long as they don't have guns!) Actually, many years ago a friend of mine who was a black belt in karate told me that the best defence is to run, no matter how many dans are on your black belt.

Discobay

Well I guess you have asked the logical question. Maybe I could do one or two martial art training sessions a week in place of (or even in addition to) my cardio sessions at the gym, just so I get my cardio in but also learn a skill at the same time, and maybe meet some like-minded people. I'm new to Hong Kong but intending to stay for quite a while, so I have to build up a social network all over again from scratch.

At the moment I do 30 mins bike and 20 mins stepper every Tuesday and Thursday and while it helps to keep me fit, I don't particularly get anything else out of it. I was thinking if I could still burn the same amount of calories but also learn something new in the process that would be better than just burning the calories mindlessly (I think I have well and truly mastered the "art" of riding a gym exercise bike and walking up stairs!)

So to specifically answer your question I would tick the following of the options you suggested: (1) master an art (2) improve fitness (3) improve agility. I'd also like to maybe meet some new friends and also make my body more flexible (yeah I know I should do yoga but at the moment I'm feeling it's just too "new age/girly" for me, maybe I'll get over that in a while). Actually, that brings me to another question, if you join Pure Fitness, does that also get you into any Pure Yoga places? Does anyone know? Does it matter whether you join Kinwick or IFC?

Boneco

Actually now you mention it I have heard of Capoeira, and even saw a demonstration of it once on TV. Looks like a real workout. But somehow I don't think it's for me. Yeah I know, I'm saying that from a position of ignorance but while I can watch those Capoeira guys do their thing and certainly appreciate it for what it is, I just can't see myself doing it.

Anybody else any thoughts? Is there anyone who is actually currently practising a martial art in HK? (not that I'm implying you guys aren't)