ninjanurse

Train hard and train your students hard! Often a tree is judged by the fruit it bears.

Because of my MOS I received more hand-to-hand combat after basic training (Army MP). During basic it was pretty....basic. Mostly dis-arming & disabling. Bayonet was just stab, stab, stab!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Congratulations!

I couldn't find a current thread about this subject so we're good! I got started when I was 15 at a community center. Took Judo with some friends for a few months until the instructor moved . The only other thing available was Tang Soo Do.....my friends hated it, I was hooked!

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My sentiments exactly. I also agree with Sparkey though--it is not a holy object but it should be respected. And....I have used my belt as a training tool in the past.

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I was the first in my family to study. Then my husband took it up, then the kids.

Nice article. Your rank is an obligation and along with it comes more responsibility. That's how we grow!

Welcome!

Welcome!!!

Welcome!

I do not like my students to wear shoes for kicking practice until they have learned proper foot shape, as some shoes affect the flexibility of the ankle and toes. They also keep them from learning to use the muscles in the foot/toes to adjust their balance and grip the floor. I do, however, think that occasional training in shoes is good practice for those same reasons. Afterall they won't have time to take of their shoes when someone attacks them on the street.

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You can buy packets of tuna or protein powder mixes with no carbs.

And...self defense is more than physical.

I agree. Respect their art, their culture, their humanity, but do not worship or blindly follow.

I see everyone's point. But remember that a real fight is unpredictable and you can never train for all scenarios so why not use as many training methods and tools as possible to cover you bases? As far as "resistance" goes, we learn to counter every technique. So it makes sense to me to train against the counters as you never know who your opponent will be. Judo/JJ randori is a good example. A simple increase in the resistance changes everything and a good partner will allow his resistance to ebb and flow based on his feeling of security, i.e., "Just how hard to I want to fall anyway?" It is beneficial to both partners and allows for both good experience and lessons learned

Mastery takes a lifetime...Black Belt is just a step along the way. Who is to say how long one's personal journey should take? Time is not a reflection of quality, quality is a reflection of time.

Welcome!

Welcome...and good luck!!!

Wow...a loaded question for sure!! I would have to say that it all depends on what you want out of your experience. If you are looking for speed/sparring skills you may want to find a school that leans toward sport-you'll get a lot of sparring in class; if you are looking for a general experience you may want a more traditional school. As with any style there are good and bad out there and you have to be discerning. High prices and lots of belts are not necessarily indicative of a McDojo but do warrant further investigation. I say go and watch several classes at each school-especially higher belt levels-and you'll get a feel for the quality of the instruction (and of course the students too).