KarateGeorge

Most important, before signing up, watch a class or two, maybe more if you can. The best way to determine the quality of the instruction is to see it firsthand. Krav Maga is one of the "hot" fighting arts right now, so a lot of people want to get in on the action...its best to make sure that the instructor you're going to be learning from actually knows what they're doing.

Welcome to KF!

Toptomcat is right. Rather than try to work from the ground up, take a look at what others have already done. Also, opposing ideas don't necessarily mean contradictions. It comes to striking a balance between them. In your example, there's a time for rigidity and a time for fluidity. There's a time to be on the offensive and a time to be on the defensive. There's a time to conserve energy, and a time to explode into rapid bursts of attack. Yin/yang and all. Just a thought....

There's an epic battle going on in the depths of the Pacific: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/07/local/la-me-shark7-2010mar07 There's one word to describe this....AWESOME!!!

I'm highly dependent on my contacts. My vision is even worse than the -8. Like joesteph, I wear rigid gas permeable lenses, and without them, I'm effectively blind. I take them out when sparring and such, where there's a risk of contact, just because I don't want to risk losing them. Even as bad as my vision is, I can still see the shape of a gloved fist coming towards me, so its a workable solution. No, I won't be able to read the logo of the manufacturer on the glove, but who cares, I can tell it's about ready to punch me and block it or move out of its way. By no means should you let poor vision stop you from training. If I can make it work with a -12, and a condition that makes my contacts fall out extremely easily because of my changing corneas, you can too. Just be patient with it, know that it can be an inconvenience, but it doesn't have to be the end of your training.

Excellent! Keep up the good work!

Yesterday: 4 mile run abs

Congrats!

Solid post. Though there is technically no legal grounding regarding one's martial arts rank. However, judges and juries are made of people, and if it becomes known, any prosecuting attorney would most certainly bring it up during trial. Even if the defense objects and the "evidence" is dismissed, it would be likely that the jury's judgement would be colored by their perceptions of what a black belt means, either correctly or incorrectly, and could play a role in their final decision on the verdict. So, though legally, one holding a rank of black belt has no bearing, in reality, it can still affect the verdict once all is said and done.

Great responses everybody! Definitely good advice. There's not really much I can add that hasn't already been said. But I will say this: When working to lose weight, always remember, the weight didn't appear over night, it won't disappear overnight. With proper diet and exercise, you'll be amazed at how quickly you can shed those pounds, but at the same time, it is still a process and will take time. A healthy weight loss rate is generally considered to be no more than a few pounds a week. Just be patient and stick to your goals, you'll get there. Lastly, for any exercise program you begin, always try to find things you enjoy. The best way to stick with it is to be doing something you're having fun doing. The best way to ensure you won't stick with something very long is to do something you hate doing.

I wouldn't beat yourself up too much over it. It was your first tournament, and you went in not really knowing what the rules were, and as a yellow belt, you're still new to the whole world of martial arts. Take it as a learning experience, and that way, should you decide to comopete in another tournament, you can go to it better prepared. Different tournaments may have different rules, so always make sure you understand the ground rules of the tournament you are going to be attending and what is considered fair contact and unfair contact, etc.

Yeah, I think the others have pretty well covered the differences. I think they're definitely a good compliment to each other and would give you a well rounded combination to work from in developing your own skill set. Best of luck!

Congrats!

Great article. Thank you! I think ultimately, like anything we consume, it comes down to moderation. I've been working with a couple of friends lately trying to help them improve their diet and exercise habits to get in better shape. There are a lot of things I thought were just common sense about how to eat properly. I really kind of figured that for the most part people know if what they're eating is a healthy diet or not, that a lot of basics just comes down to common sense. Now granted, I understand that there really is a lot to knowing proper diets, people devote entire careers to that kind of thing, but I still figured that there were certain things that people grasped at a basic level. My sample size was by no means a representative or scientific sample, as it was just kind of a personal little query of maybe a dozen or so friends and acquaintences, but I was surprised at the lack of a grasp on basic dietary and exercise knowledge. Not only did several of them not have any significant clue as to what a moderately healthy diet consists of, but they didn't even know where to begin on the process. The same went for exercise, as several of them really didn't have any clue as to what to do for even basic exercise. They knew they didn't eat healthy and they knew they weren't getting exercise, they just didn't know how to go about even starting to improve their habits. It was definitely an eye opener for me. Even though most of us are not doctors or dieticians, many of us do have at least a basic understanding of healthy eating, but there are a lot of people who really just don't know how.

I find it really quite funny that almost every new black belt at my school at some point in that first month or so after becoming a black belt will manage to "accidentally" be late to class by about 5 minutes so that the entire class has to stop and bow to them.

Very true indeed! One thing about teaching martial arts, is that really anyone can go buy a black belt and open their own school claiming to be a master, and even if they are legitimately a black belt in their chosen art, it doesn't mean they're capable of effectively teaching it and passing on their knowledge. Its always best to check a place out and make sure that you know what you're getting for your money before handing it over to them. "The proof is in the pudding", "Let the buyer beware"...and any other such cliche you can think of!

Actually, I don't feel that way, and I agree with your point about how the sport was introduced to improve the skills of those practicing the arts. That's historical fact. I do feel though, that over time, many of the "sport" schools have watered down their art so that its not as effective a means of combat as it once was. That's not to say that everyone in the sport arts aren't fully capable of applying their arts in a real world self-defense scenario. I just think that a lot of sport-oriented schools have lost sight of the true purpose behind the sport side of the training as being an effective training tool to prepare one better rather than for the sake of just putting another trophy on their shelves. There are two main benefits to competing that I see: First is the opportunity to put one's skills against new people. Second, is the added incentive of having reason to train harder to prepare for the competition. Outside of that, there's nothing that I can't get from regular training that I would get from a tournament. With appropriate safety precautions, I can and do fight at harder contact levels when sparring, rather than just light point sparring, and when doing grappling, I can and do with fully resisting opponents. There's a place for the "sport" side of martial arts and I think it can be a valuable training tool. Its just that in my experience, many schools that focus on the sport have stopped teaching the application of how to translate it to real life back in the training. Competition is a tool, but it needs to be balanced with the rest of one's training.

Thats a generic statement for pretty much every single martial art in the world. EVERYONE trains to end the fight quickly and I have yet to see a system that doesnt. True, that didn't come out the way I meant it to. What I meant by that is that in my prior experience with Wing Chun, there was a lot more focus on effective street fighting applications, with a lot of techniques that focused on breaking joints or maiming the opponent. Granted, it could have been my instructor at the time and not the style, as he's my only experience with Wing Chun, but he spent a lot of time trying to help us transfer our training from the class to the streets. No, its NOT true of every single martial art either. Not all martial arts are combative arts, but they still fall under the umbrella of "martial arts." Some systems are more sport oriented rather than street, and some systems are more philosophical and about honing the mind. To name a few examples: TKD and Judo, can be taught as effective forms of self defense, but they're also very sport oriented styles, and so a lot of schools focus on training for a tournament more time preparing for tournaments than teaching the self-defense side of the art. Tactics and strategies in a tournament are not the same as they would be with someone trying to mug you. Wushu, is more of the art side of martial arts. Tai Chi is an internal art, with minimal combat training. There's nothing wrong with those types of training styles either, it all depends on what you're wanting to get from your training. Different people have different goals.

Wing Chun focuses a lot on quickly and efficiently ending a fight. Kicks are not used as much as some other styles, though they do see some use, and are generally kept lower, below the waist. If you're looking for something that you could continue to practice easily as you age, I'd see Wing Chun as compatible with that. Since we tend to lose some flexibility and endurance as we get older, I think this can be a good art to choose. As for Kempo, you'd have to ask someone else. I've not studied Kempo, so I can't really provide any useful insight there.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Congrats!

I try to train everything equally on both sides as much as possible. For the most part, I'm actually relatively capable of doing most techniques from either left or right. There are a couple of techniques that are a little harder for me to do from one side vs. the other, but for the most part, I can switch back and forth for most any technique without much problem.

Yes, plyometrics are great for building that speed. You want to build those fast twitch muscles. So look for ways to incorporate some plyometrics into your training if you haven't already.

Yesterday: 3.25 mile run