Ironberg

Good grief. The first one was funny - the second one merely shocking. Here's mine: Two guy's walk into a bar - the third one ducked.

Never heard of him. Interesting... What era was he around.

In a word: yes. Will everyone find it: no!

If I had a means of getting there, I would.

Amen. In addition, there's plenty of legit TKD schools that go unnoticed, partially because of the illegitimacy of their counterparts shaming them. However, I still dunno if it's a good idea or not. Time will tell.

As far as I can tell, it's a kick where you fall on the palms of your hands and send both of your feet at your target. Your body sends the kicks at an angle, so you've got to kick in such a manner as to allow you to recover quickly enough to so that you end up on all fours instead of on your gut. There seems to be a bit of handstand strength involved with this kick.

I dunno - I've been hit sometimes while airborn, and I personally don't think that you should be doing airborn techniques unless you can handle the chaos that surrounds the possibility of getting hit. Sure, in the past I would sometimes get cleaned doing something like that - but less and less nowdays - even with a good front kick. You never know something can help unless you prove it through repitition and growth (just a thought). Still, I dunno...

I see your point, but I don't know anyone who has this under their belt. Sometimes, I get so close, yet so far. It seems that I have the most trouble with becomming parallel with the floor, but once that happens, I forsee problems with recovery. This kinda reminds me of my difficulty with the monkey kick. It's a cool kick, but my upper body isn't used to supporting my entire weight, and I'm just too tall to do hand-stands.

Yo, dude. Givin' your rugby and football background - you quite possibly don't need any martial arts. Just kidding. I believe martial arts has something to offer to everybody. Good luck choosing your art.

I can't flip, but I've been known to flip out and go postal in sparring. Welcome to the forums!

Hey, great stuff! Looking forward to your posts.

Whaddup? Welcome.

Though I'm not a kickboxer (no gym), I sometimes jump in sparring situations or free fighting to confuse, or initiate some brute force in my kicks or punches. In the ring, do you guys ever hop into a kick, or leep into the air to hammer something down?

You are still a young person. A week isn't going to change anything - sometimes patience can really be helpful in matters like this.

It's slightly acrobatic. By "neokarate" definition (see website), a butterfly kick is where you twist strongly and elevate your body parallel to floor with your legs bent like you are doing a two-footed scorpion kick. I've only been able to pull this one off a couple times on the trampoline. On the ground I can to only seem to pull off traditional jumping moves from TKD (jump spin hook, all tornado kicks, jump split kicks, etc.) So who's pulled it off? Any advice, or prerequisites?

Perhaps it's just the idea that the gal won't think anything less of you because you are passinate about Martial Arts, but actually like you better because that's who you are. It's kinda like the gal doesn't have to play football to like the guy who's very good at it. In the case of martial arts, it's just kinda assuring to be friends with a gal who also likes martial arts for the simple reason that she does it herself. It's a common bond that way. I sure hope what I just contributed isn't off-topic. It was more directed at Rich2k3.

LOL!

Our dojang has the same kind of feeling. Except that it can get rather serious during class. Some times my instructor gives up on the "low contact" rule in sparring when I'm facing an equal peer [ "ooF" "You okay?" "yeah" . Instructor wanders somewhere to help someone with their kata].

How would the juijutsu version be practiced without breaking your partner's arm?

You got the name right - except finding a school on Capeoria is exceedingly difficult as it is a very difficult art to master, and hasn't been widely accepted. Capeoria is highly acrobatic. Pure self defense skills will probably be sacrificed for the sake of flash - but some people want that. I'm not saying Capeoria people are incapable of defending themselves, or find it difficult to acquire self defense skils - but it is definately no Krav Maga. Look around and if you find a good Capeoria school then more power to you. There are times I wish I had one that wasn't a few states away from me.

Say what you want about the "reversal of roles" WW - personally, I find it very difficult to find any ladies who are interesting in things like Karate. One gal I had a keen interest in - it never worked out because her family seemed to make it virtually impossible to ask her out. Today, she is getting better and better at her art. I found it amusing to see her kicking some 19 yr. old dude's butt at gym in sparring - even though the guy was initially holding back (she's 16). She was kicking him in the head and all - I was laughing so hard inside that I almost got a mouthful of knuckles from my younger sparring partner.

Hey! I hope that it's given you more than that. You don't need to do the splits to be a good martial artists, or a good fighter, or a good person. Nothin' personal, and I'm not prying or anything - I'm perhaps just a bit religious about it.

I'm going to take the happy medium on this one. If your girlfriend needs some space, you should give it to her. It may or may not be personal about you - just don't let it discourage you as long as you did nothing to warrent it. Personally, if I were in your shoes I wouldn't want to hear it either. "So what are we gonna do" (line of Sinbad from "First Kid")?

Thanx for the replies. Sometimes I am forced to mix things up for the simple reason that my legs have different strengths (my left is more cordinated and technical, the right is more brute force). Does anyone else have this problem with cross-dominance with different sides within a vast array of techs?

Commonly, in boxing, it is seen that right-handers lead with the left, and southpaws with the right. The philosophy is pretty foolproof that you train your jabs to be the face-softeners of the harder punches. In Tae Kwon Do, or Karate, I've noticed a some good things comming into play with a bit of boxing in the mix. I've noticed that I am able to be more deceptive, land bigger blows, or be more of a nuisance when me (being right-handed) leads with the left. I've noticed this working well at tournaments at times. My question is: does anyone else sometimes mix things up a little? In TKD it is common to switch stances quite often in a match. True, my right hand can still jab better than my left, but then my left punches are not as strong. Normally I see myself as a kicker, but when I face opponents about as tall as myself, I tend to punch more often.