crash

when I first started my goal was to reach blackbelt, (as I'm sure everyones is). and it gave me something to strive for, something to keep practicing harder and harder for. once I reached it,( 3 years later) I realized I didnt need a piece of cloth to keep me going, I was going to continue for me, not for something that was tied around my waist, so I havent tested since receiveing my first blackbelt. does that meen I havent learned anything in the last 12 years?, no..it just meens I continue for myself, not for reward....I think that sometimes the testing for stripes is there as a goal for blackbelts just as higher belts are the goal for beginners. somtimes ppl need something to strive for, something to keep them interested. does that make sense?. plus its a good way for dojo's to continue test fees for ppl who have reached there blackbelt program.

my wife goes to the gym and does cardio and hits the weight machines with me 5 days a week,but as far as martial arts I'm the only one.

kickchick the cruise sounds like its going to be a lot of fun, when I was younger, single and had more time a lot of us from the dojo (25 or so ppl at times) would get together and hit the beaches in fla. at least twice a month. its great to have a dojo thats that close knit.

Go with the hard styles first, go to tournaments, have fun, get your black belt, and dont worry, sooner or later aikido will come to you.

I've been involved in the martial arts for about 15 years,(10 of those being primarily tsd). it took me about 4 years to reach the rank of blackbelt , I have'nt tested since then so I cant say how long it would have taken to get each degree after that.

parents, they can be an instructors worst nightmare, for the most part they usually have their children there to honestly learn an art and are usually very understanding and eager to learn and help out as much as possible themselves, but I've also seen both extremes of the spectrum with parents, one is the parent who is overly competitive and thinks his/her child is and must always be the greatest competiter, athlete,etc.. and just cant understand if you say the child is doing any wrong whatsoever,any wrong is always from bad instruction. and there is always nothing wrong with their childs attitude. and then theres the other end of the spectrum, the parent who only thinks of the dojo as a baby sitting service, somewhere they can drop their child off for an hour or so every day, whether the child wants to be there or not, I've seen some children with no desire at all in being there in which case this is just as harmful as the previous ex,..in that it takes up time and attention that could and should be given to the ones who are there to learn.

I agree with kickchick, I use a combo of both weight training and conditioning, there are results that can be obtained from one that cant be gotten from the other and so forth. all in all I think that things like this depend entirely on the individual, what his/her preferences are and what their individual goals are. to each his own so to speak, but not something to tell others they deffinately should not be doing.

excellent advice, the biggest mistake made when performing this kick is being 3/4 of the way into the kick before actually seeing the target.

if your computer is capable of burning dvd's, you can buy an adapter from places such as circuit city, best buy's..etc... that will allow you to connect your v.c.r or camcorder to your comp. through a usb port and burn any tape on to dvd. these adapters usually come with some sweet editing software also, so you can add music, effects and such, you can actually make a pretty cool movie.

I think its good to start sparring at about the four to six month mark, or around the rank of yellow belt, by then you have an understanding of the basic punches and kicks, but more importantly you have an understanding of control and form, you know to try to achieve proper posture and technique so your not out there just throwing out inefective "trash" which can lead to bad habits later on.

kicking high looks good and is helpful in forms competition, it can even be effective in point fighting, but in an actual self-defence situation kicking to the head is the last thing I would recomend because of the many drawbacks listed by the others in the posts above, plus in an actual situation you have to remember if something dont work theres no ref. there to stop the fight if you end up on the ground.

creatine has been on the market for a good 10 years and its now known that the loading phase is not necessary, true, someone on the loading phase will gain faster than someone whos not for the firs two weeks, but at the four week mark both ppl will be equil, this is a tested fact. creatine has some good points for its use but gaining of mass alone is not one of them because while using creatine you may get bigger but it is only water retention within the muscle and after coming off you will quickly lose the water. creatine is good for working out but should be cycled and it still takes time and a lot of hard work to build actual mass.

I just recently found this site and thought it looked like a nice place to visit, and hope to participate in some of the conversations. I've been involved in the martial arts for about 15 years, with the majority of that being tang soo do but dabbling in and out of aikido for the past 5 years or so.