KarateGeorge

Congrats!

Welcome!

Welcome to the forums! I'm not from NYC, so I can't help you there, but good luck on your search for a new school.

I was at the gym and they had "Wheel of Fortune" playing on one of the TVs that night, so I saw it when it happened. I was only half paying attention, so I almost had to do a double take to the screen when that happened.

That's pretty much my approach as well.

In my own training, I've found plyometric exercises targeting legs for kicks and arms/upper torso for punches to be helpful as well. Though you may not be performing the specific techniques of a kick, punch, etc., you are still working on building the "explosive" power of the muscle groups used by those techniques.

Well done and congratulations!!!!

Well put post, and as tallgeese said, many advanced techniques are just more advanced versions of the basic techniques. For example, ask a black belt to perform anything off the white belt curriculum, such as a punch, kick, getting into a certain stance, or a kata. Ask a yellow belt to perform the exact same things. The yellow belt is no longer a white belt, so that means they've learned all those techniques and should be able to perform them equally as well, right? Not exactly. Even though that yellow belt has learned the techniques, the black belt has put in much more time and training and has refined the techniques, gaining power, speed, strength and improved form in the techniques. Why do we practice advanced techniques if we'll rarely actually use them then? My opinion is that its a matter of setting the bar when training. If we train with a much higher standard, then when we have to put our skills to use either in a tournament or in the unfortunate situation of having to truly defend ourselves, then those basic techniques are so much simpler to complete.

Welcome to the forums! Can you clarify your question? There certainly may be someone here who can help answer your questions, but we would need to know what they are first.

Welcome James!

Congrats, that's awesome!

Thanks for sharing that. It was a very touching story. If only we could all have the courage, grace and dignity of that young lady.

Congratulations evergrey!

Welcome!

My school follows the same philosophy. Once a student is eligible for a new rank, prior to testing, we always hold a pre-test with them, where a black belt takes the student to the side during class and one-on-one goes over everything they're required to know at their rank, have them demonstrate the techniques, ask them questions, etc. In short, prior to testing them, we test them. If they're not where they should be for their rank, we won't test them and tell them we'll try again the next month. However, if they show they sufficiently know their stuff then we schedule a test time. That way their test day is really about them showing off what they've learned to the testing board and any friends and family in attendance. A student at my school should never fail a test for lack of knowledge. The only way they should fail is because they either weren't giving it their all on test day or they just give up during the test.

Welcome to the forums, Wastelander!

Congrats! I too help with the instruction of a kid's class. It's definitely both a fun and rewarding opportunity for you. Teaching others is a great way to teach yourself! Enjoy this next step in your training!

Welcome mentzerfan!

Welcome to KF!

Welcome Jason!

Good luck! Don't forget to take a deep breath, relax, and remember your training. Your instructor wouldn't spring it on you like that if they didn't think you weren't ready for it. Let us know how it goes!

Congratulations!

Very true, Sperki. The skill sets are very different between the two, but there is still quite a bit of similarity in how they are to be approached. In either case, its about taking pushing our limits and as you stated, testing ourselves both physically and mentally, as well as being sufficiently dedicated to put in the required training over extended periods of time.

Yeah, I know what you mean, Sperki. Everything I've read about a full marathon is that it's far, far tougher. Not only are you effectively depleting all of your body's energy stores, but the physical punishment on the body from continuous running as greater. I definitely don't expect the full marathon to be a piece of cake, but that's why I want to do it. In a way, I guess its a mindset I adopted when I started martial arts: "If it were easy, everybody would do it."

Welcome Chris!