TKDLadyInSC

Can't say I think very highly of it. 'See the hunter as he sneaks up on his prey. The innocent deer has no idea he is being stalked by the Mighty Camoflauged Kicker.' But on a more serious note, I feel part of the reason martial artists are not taken seriously is things like this. What next? Tye-Dyed belts? I can see me now introducing myself: "Hi, I'm a 3rd degree polka dot belt" This kind of thing isn't the only reason we are not taken seriously, but it doesn't help. Back to topic Our system is: White, Yellow, Green, Snr Green, Blue, Snr Blue, Purple, Snr Purple, Red, Snr Red, Probationary 1st Degree BB, Decided 1st Degree BB, Snr 1st Degree BB, up to third degree. After that we don't have the probationary & Decided.

Two reasons why I think it's a round kick. #1 The knee is hyperextended. You don't normally get this with a side kick. If he keeps this up, he will lose the ability to kick like that as quickly as he got it. Not good for the knee. #2 The thigh is still, but the lower leg was in motion at time of the picture, which is why that part of the leg is blurred. This tells me he pointed the knee and brought the shin around. It also tells me he wasn't just holding the kick out there at that height. I know about the blurring because I take a lot of photos at our tournaments and demos. Its amazing even when I use 800 speed film, to see a photo where the body is in perfect focus, but the leg is a complete blur because it's moving so fast.

I had them very bad when I was younger (10,11,12). Tried for years everything over the counter, didn't work. Went to the doctor. Found out my body could not fight the virus that causes them. He put an acid type chemical on them. 30 days later, all gone. I would go to the doctor. In martial arts, you will be using your hands in different ways. May irritate the warts. But Definitely Don't Let It Stop You!!!

I am not an instructor, but in sparring lower ranks in class, I spar like I was their next belt level, whatever they will test for next. This helps bring them up to that level. Little is to be learned by either person by one kicking the other's butt, except in the case where an attitude adjustment is neccesary. I learn something from all of my opponents, lower or higher rank.

Chon Ji

The color of your belt not only represents physical ability, but also maturity and understanding of the art. You sort of alluded to this later in your post, but I wanted to bring this to the forefront. There is an understanding that only comes with extensive training and repetition. I see white belts who come in and know everything. But only when they have matured and get close to black belt do they realize they know nothing when you look at the larger picture.

We practice releases and maybe once a month work situations where someone has you down on the ground. You can punch and kick on the ground just as well as standing because it takes balance out of the equation although you lose some power. But, I would prefer not to go to the ground (we women don't like to get dirt on our clothes ). If someone attacked me with the true intent to harm me, I would do a low side kick to the side of the knee. A 10 yr old can produce enough power there to tear ligaments and all kinds of other bad stuff. Then the only ground fight is the attacker fighting to figure out how he will stand and walk. At this point I walk away.

Has anyone seen the guy on espn2 in the creative breaking competitions? He buts his finger through the side of an unopened soda can.

Ow ! I feel your pain. Got kicked in the shin once. Dropped me. Hurt for quite a while. Finally got better after couple weeks. I don't know how those Muay Thai fighters do it .

So the martial part is taken away. Improve the art part. Excersize your mind. I just had knee surgery. It has been a month since I have been able to kick and i'm going nuts. But I am working the mental attributes in the mean time. To be a martial artist you must have physical, mental, & ki training. The person who practices only physical is just a fighter. The person who practices only mental is just a scholar. The person who practices only ki is just a philosopher. The person who practices all is truly a warrior.

TKDLadyInSC Tae Kwon Do is my style. I am a Lady. I live in South Carolina.

Here is what my orthopaedist told me: There is no proof it works, & there is no proof it doesn't work. Try it. I tried it and it didn't do anything for me (knee problems). He said it's 50/50 with his patients. Some swear by it, and others, nothing.

Good luck with that granmasterchen!

Karate Kid, Try this one, my physical therapist just started me on it. Get one of those large inflated excersize balls. Lie on your back with your knees brought up at a 90 degree angle. Put your heels on the ball. your shins will be parrallel to the floor. Dig your heels down into the ball (contracts hamstrings) while pulling your knees up towards your chest(contracts quadriceps). By working both of these at the same time, I can see how this will probably increase the speed of chambering and retracting kicks. PS Would be a good idea to see a doctor. Better safe than sorry.

We use rebreakable boards in testing. They are more consistant that real wood. You can take 2 pieces of the same type wood, the exact same size and one be easy, the other be impossible. Depends on knots in the wood, how dry it is, etc. Rebreakables are good for about 200 breaks before they start getting easier. And there are different ones for different age levels. Now when we have board break clinic or demos we use real wood because it is fun to break. Rebreakables do generally require a little more accuracy. if you don't hit it center, it's not breaking. Real wood, you have a little more room for error due to the grains. I like using both. Never tried concrete.

Dragonias, Better to get it checked and fixed now than to wait. I have had these problems since I was about 15 yrs old, but ignored it until now. Now i'm 28 and just had surgery. If I had done this earlier I might have prevented some of the further damage. By waiting, I have one spot that the cartlidge is gone and I am down to bone on bone. Might could have kept it from getting that bad. RJOTweet, Sorry about the confusion. Definitely consult a doctor. Mine is an orthopaedist specializing in sports medicine. That is important. Generally they are more willing to do what needs to be done to get you back to martial arts, or whatever your activity is. I went through a few orthopaedists before I found this one. Some told me to quit TKD, some told me this is how your knees are and there is nothing you can do about this. My current one said this is what is wrong, we can't cure it, but we can make it a lot better.

And my parents wondered what happened to all of our pets!!! Just kidding!

Weighted kicks ! Bad Bad News. Think of it like this (but don't do this)! Take your dog Scruffy. tie a rope around Scruffy's waist. Leave 5' of rope loose. Pick up the rope and throw it. Nothing happens. Scruffy just looks at you like you're an idiot. Now tie a 10 lb weight to the other end of the rope. Thow the rope. Bye Bye Scruffy. Same thing happens to your knees. Bye Bye knees. And believe me, knees are important. I am 28 yrs old and just had knee surgery 5 days ago. I thought TKD was tough, rehab is horrible . Save your knees. Pain is no fun. Like many people said, do slow motion kicks, builds muscles. Do ab work. Strong abs allow you to chamber and retract your kicks faster. If you wanted to do some kind of weighted kick, you would need to figure out a way to attatch the weights to your thighs. This seems a lot safer and would help tone muscles too.

Think of it like this (but don't do this)! Take your dog Scruffy. tie a rope around Scruffy's waist. Leave 5' of rope loose. Pick up the rope and throw it. Nothing happens. Scruffy just looks at you like you're an idiot. Now tie a 10 lb weight to the other end of the rope. Thow the rope. Bye Bye Scruffy. Same thing happens to your knees. Bye Bye knees. And believe me, knees are important. I am 28 yrs old and have to have knee surgery next week. Save your knees. Pain is no fun. Like many people said, do slow motion kicks, builds muscles. Do ab work. Strong abs allow you to chamber and retract your kicks faster. If you wanted to do some kind of weighted kick, you would need to figure out a way to attatch the weights to your thighs. This seems a lot safer and would help tone muscles too.

Yes, I've already spoken with my instructor about that and he said yes. My doctor told my if it was just the scope that it would be a lot quicker recovery.

#1 SEE YOUR DOCTOR!!! Get a full physical. Can't hurt. #2 Talk to your instructor. Be honest. I can guarantee you will not be the first person in his class to have had this problem and you won't be the last. I remember when I first started my goal was to make it through class. That was it! Not to be able to do a 540 jump spin kick. Just to survive that day's class without having to step out. That was 2 1/2 years ago. The other day in class our instructor had us do each form starting at white belt and 20 jumping jacks, pushups, situps & squats between each form all the way up to your form. When you reached your form, you started over until the highest ranking student finished. I ended up doing 12 forms. That was 240 jumping jacks, pushups, situps & squats. I thought I was going to die!!! I was so sore the next day. But I did it. Now when I started I could do about 10% of that. I still have a long way to go. I'm having knee surgery in a couple of weeks. By the time i'm through with rehab, I may be back to the white belt state. Don't give up. If the doctor finds a problem, go tell the instructor. Most will work around it. Good Luck

I am having my knee scoped & a lateral release (they snip a little into the ligaments holding the kneecap in place to let it rise some and relieve rubbing and pressure) on April 16th. Just wondering in any other martial artists have had this same surgery? My doctor told me it would be 6 weeks before I am completely back. Will have to excersize the mental aspect of the art and work some upper body in the meantime.

As in unchanged.

I would be wary of someone who advertises that he will test you for your black belt in 1 week. Even if you studied martial arts for 50 years. Black belt isn't just about skills. It's about character, honor, integrity. You can't know these things about someone in that short period of time. Even a serial killer can pretend to be sane for a week. The rest of his sight sounded great until I found that part.