Tiger1962

Congratulations !

Welcome aboard !

Just don't swallow the water and the chlorine probably kills all the germs anyway (I think)

Well you, me and many others would say the one with "snap, crackle & pop" of course. But then again, it depends - once in a blue moon you'll get a judge who scores in favor of their student even if they are less than stellar.

If I was the one judging, I'd rather see a form that is performed without flaws rather than a complicated form that is demonstrated in a so-so way or the moves are not so precise. Now, what I've observed a couple times at tournaments are black belts who do these complicated forms that they obviously have not practiced much and they had scored higher than someone else who did a less fancy form but did it perfectly. My opinion of this is simply: "not all judges judge fairly or accurately." (and that's the most polite way I can word that!!)

These are the reasons I wanna get one - I just like that it's an interactive type of game. You're not just sitting there.

One thing I know about swimming is that any time I sustained an injury either in martial arts or doing another sport, the only physical activity my doctor allows me to do while injured is swimming. It allows you to maintain cardio without putting a strain on your joints & supposedly its good therapy for arthritis and other ailments.

Not a bad idea in my opinion.

We saw the fight last night and after the second round I knew that De La Hoya wasn't going to win this one. I thought he just didn't appear to be as strong as he used to be. That was over fast though !

That would annoy me, however if the teacher was nearby or stepped away for a moment, there's really nothing you can do, unfortunately, except to deal with it. Now, if the instructor was not there for the entire class, then regardless of whatever rank she is, I would have intervened.

On a few occasions there was a much younger student leading class because our instructor could not be there. This student is a higher rank than I. I would not have a problem with this if the student acted responsibly and demonstrated maturity in class and was able to keep order. However, if the student that is teaching is not behaving properly, is goofing off, then he or she is wasting my time and money and I will speak up regardless if this student is a higher rank than I. My instructor has told me (and a couple other adults) that if a senior ranking but younger student is substitute teaching and does not or can not keep order in the class, we are instructed to take over because in our instructor's words "adults rule". There was a few times when the little ones were laughing and joking around and not listening to the teenaged dan teaching class and so I stepped out of line to establish order and they quickly kept quiet. I believe this was because the teen teaching is still relatively inexperienced in running a class and the kids probably saw him as a peer rather than an authority figure. In any case, he was not offended that I intervened but instead glad I did. Again, my instructor is aware of this and approves in advance. To reiterate, I would not have a problem with a younger but senior ranking student substituting a class PROVIDING he/she was mature about it and not wasting our time.

JohnC explained it very well. There's also a sweeping motion attack from left to right (or right to left) of a knife attack. Personally, I think the size of a blade will determine how the attacker holds it - but hey, you never know how their mind works & what their skill level is (as JohnC said) so I wouldn't bet on a certain method. Examples of different attacks that I know of are: Overhead (ice pick) Underhanded Left to right (and reverse) Straight in (from the waist / hip) I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity several years ago to take a knife fighting seminar and the person who taught it knew all the different knife fighting methods - "knives" were his specialty. One of the methods he demonstrated was the Filipino Combat Knife Fighting style - - this was VERY interesting to me and YouTube has plenty examples of this if you wish to see it. If knife defense and fighting are your thing - I recommend taking a look.

I've never done ballistic stretching and honestly this is the first time I'm hearing about it unless I've seen someone else do it and didn't know this was what it was actually called. With my history of injuries it sounds like something I should not attempt anyway. I'll stick to the traditional methods.

I've always been interested in martial arts since I was a young kid but never did anything about it other than watch movies. I was the little kid that was bullied when I was in school, so I always had these scenario's in my head that someday I'd stand up to those idiots. LOL. Also was a crime victim a couple times and from then on I knew I wanted to learn how to defend myself. Fast forward to my adult years & did a complete 360 in my confidence & attitude. I'd been weight training for years and one day got an injury that kept me out of the gym for a long time. In the meanwhile I stumbled across an m.a. school and decided to check it out. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for in a school, however, it suited my needs at the time and I stuck with it for years. Competed in tournaments many times, which I've discovered I actually REALLY LOVE doing. Reached second dan a while ago and although I don't train as often as I use to (for many reasons) I still enjoy it and as does my spouse who is also a martial artist. We hope to learn a couple other styles too, eventually, before we become too old.

Knife drills are part of what I train in and when we were taught them, we were shown several ways to hold the knife; ice pick style - as you call it - being just one way, plus several other ways. It's helpful to know all the possible ways an attacker would hold a knife. In addition, we're shown ways to deflect / defend that knife attack & from each of the different holding patterns. Again these are standard requirement drills and in a real life situation, one would probably modify / add to them. In my opinion, I think the average person would either hold the knife either "ice pick" style or gripping it with the thumb & index finger being the leading fingers and the remaining 3 fingers gripping the handle (this is hard for me to explain - LOL) but I think if you visualize it you'll get it.

I think an instructor should first teach what is required of the style / school /organization that the student is studying. Once meeting the requirements and curriculum, if the instructor then wants to teach things that are not normally part of the particular style, I have absolutely no problem with that, providing the instructor is fully knowledgeable in it and isn't trying to pass himself / herself off as an "expert" in this extra teaching, when he/she is not AND if the student wants to learn it. (meaning - make it optional and not mandatory)

Do you have the Wii Fit? That's the main reason I'm looking to get it. (..well that and the dance game. )

Besides bananas having potassium, Gatorade & other mineral enhanced sports drinks replenishes similar minerals although fresh fruit is a much healthier choice.

Yeah - you got that right !!!

If so, do you like it? Regret the purchase? I'm amazed at all the stuff this thing can do and I'm thinking about getting one.

I did not overeat this year - yay! Happy belated!!!

My husband got a good deal on a DVD player that he had his eye on. Electronics deals seemed to be the way to go this year judging from the lines and crowds at those stores.

My guess would be that either his current instructor permitted him to compete or else did not know he was there competing in his rank from his former school... Different schools have different "rules" - some are very lenient in their rules and others are not or not so much. I think it all depends on the person, if he consistently trains in his former style then I guess he is capable of competing. I assume there was no conflict of interest with his current instructor about him doing this then?

Meanwhile I heard recently or read somewhere recently while researching this --> that glucosamine & chondroitin elevates cholesterol level - - - something I do not need. Sheesh, nothing is safe anymore...

Luckily I only bought a couple bottles so no waste there.