Nidan Melbourne

Have you previously injured a joint or muscle? Which do you prefer to use to stabilize the joint/muscle a brace or strapping tape? I have used both previously in the past and alternate between both. I just like to find out what you all prefer or use.

I have suffered from depression for years and I WASN'T allowed to have meds because i was prone to addiction. My psychologist found out i was prone to any form of addiction from not only me (I was seeing them for years before the depression hit) but from also my family, friends and my girlfriend. So didn't want to prescribe medications cause they knew what would happen and that i might overdose to alleviate the pain. Especially since i was suicidal for most of my time with depression (I still suffer from depression as i type this but i have it under control). So what the psychologist prescribed to me was to go exercise and experience new things with my closest family and friends. Which does help greatly. So medications don't always work for those like me who are prone to addiction

Congrats on the great work!

welcome to the forum

Well i did have legal problems when someone attacked me with a knife but i had purposely raised my voice so people around would hear every word that i said so just in case this went to court people would have to be on my side for this. All i said to him before he attacked me was that i have a history of martial arts and i will defend myself & restrain you if you proceed. so he did attack but what i did was block it, removed the knife from his hand and applied a wrist lock. the good thing was that the police were nearby and happened to witness everything. He got charged with attempted assault but no jail time (it was on bail), and he decided to sue me for hurting him (due to the wrist lock) and the judge asked me what i said and did. and the focus was pretty much all on my martial arts training and i could have prevented having to apply a wrist lock. I politely asked the judge if i may demonstrate what happened and what i did when disarming and applying the wrist lock. which the judge agreed, so i also politely asked a 3rd party to be the demonstration partner which ended up being an off-duty judge who happened to come into the court house that day. and he (the off-duty judge) under oath said that there was no lasting pain from the lock or damage to his wrist. But...... the case got thrown out because of the testimonies and what i said to try and prevent any chances of any one getting hurt & of the demonstration in the judges end statement he was happy to know that i tried to prevent anything from occurring.

it will take time to figure out how to practice what you have learnt and whether something feels right or not. so take your time in practicing what you have learnt already. Remember what it felt like in class and what your sensei has told you how your going. use a large mirror if you want to see if something doesn't look right

True. But why are there not that many people using Hapkido as their primary art? probably because not many people are aware of Hapkido or there may not be a school that offers it in their local area. where i live there are no hapkido schools are within' of a 1 hour drive of my house.

it isn't really a norm that most people cross train. But to some they want to learn multiple martial arts so their "primary" martial art can become stronger

you say that the colors don't matter. But i am curious what the colors are

at my school we test students on curriculum every 6 lessons for a 'tag' and to grade for the next belt you need 5 'tags' on your belt. so on average you would have 30 lessons under your belt before you grade. But a lot of students will do a double class instead of the usual one. But nearly all the advanced grades (green belt and above) will do an increased amount of classes to have the competency in all the areas that we test in. But for gradings if you perform quite weakly in areas in the grading you receive a 'G' on the back of your attendance card. the 'G' on the card basically means that area you were weak on at the grading and that you need to work on it a bit more so you have an extra 6 lessons before you get tested on it.

at my old dojo i started teaching the day i received my brown belt (nikyu) so my first class was as a blue belt (Sankyu). I was well entrusted by my sensei to take a group of students on my own as my skill level was considered excellent and that i was able to teach on my own. But depending on the group and the number of instructors available I was on my own but often was with a more senior instructor keeping an eye on me. But as a Shodan now, I am more entrusted to keep an eye on the more inexperienced instructors to ensure everything is correct.

speak to various places. and once you have a good student base the cost of the place won't really matter to you as much. At my school we are using a sports complex 4 days a week (Monday & wednesday 4-9, Friday 4-8, Saturday 8-11) and we have in excess of 150 students

Well ask your sensei about it and he will decide. As for me I moved schools (my sensei made his own school in 2008 and i moved late last year) and i had a hiatus of 4.5 years after attaining my black belt and my sensei decided that i can retain my rank and i was able to grade for my shodan recently

I learn from everyone. My sensei openly says that we shouldn't only take his word as gospel but learn from everyone. I have learnt/learn from my students, people i train with, others from other schools. Even when i teach i learn from my students as they might do something wrong and i realize i do the exact same thing so my technique improves

well at my school ours are on a scale as our cheapest is for 30 lessons that don't have an expiry date (so theoretically you can go to 30 lessons over the course of 4 months or however long you wanted to) all the way up to a black belt membership (unlimited classes, insurance in case of injury, belts, mits & pads, gradings etc for vary amount of time usually 1 - 2 years)

Personally at the schools that i have train/or train at we have a minimum of 6 years of age. But at my old schools Hombu we had a little "mighty mights" class for 3-5 year olds but they were more aimed at fun ways of teaching martial arts

It is totally up to the student. at my old dojo we had a 4th Dan training with us and has been a student of my old sensei since he began training

That makes sense up to a point. But I'm not going to limit my students abilities based on what I can personally do. Some students are going to be faster than me, some have stronger arms, some be able to do more sit-ups, some have greater stamina, etc. That's why I believe in pushing students to do there personal best, not my personal best. I agree with you as I teach juniors 3 days a week and i can't do kicks properly due to having bad knees and hips. But i still am able to teach the kids to kick well. And I have students all the time asking me to teach them more advanced syllabus and they are more than ready to learn it.

Managed to stuff up my knee on monday night now i am out for a few months recovering. But sensei has kindly let me do teaching duties. Few at least i can keep my mind in the game[/u]

Thats what we do at my school. But with a slightly longer grading cycle. As we have we have a grading every 5-6 weeks. which is the same for adults Every 6 lessons you are tested on a certain area and if you are competent enough you get a "tag" on your belt. And you need 5 "tags" to grade.

Thats fantastic!

The only reason ours seem to be so few in comparison to other schools is that for every rank we have you have to prove what you have learnt every few lessons in a different aspect (ie kicks, basics, combos, kata, pre-arranged sparring and sparring). Which means the students have to practise outside of class time or get private classes with someone to pass before they can grade for their next belt

All I can think of is if that student (the Kyu Ranked student) is arrogant or dangerous when they spar and that they have no control over their technique or just have no respect for their partners when engaging in kumite We have a particular advanced kyu (1st kyu) who's exactly that: arrogant, brash, alpha-male type, no respect for partners. It's not that I don't want to spar him, but, every time I do, because he's out to prove he's better than everyone, I must "teach him a lesson" every time. I don't like doing that, and it teaches him nothing in regards to skill. It's becoming tiresome. If it were totally up to me (I'm not the CI), he would sit on 1st kyu / brown belt row until he learns better. It makes things difficult doesn't it? The chief instructor at my school has tried to get him not to be like that but is failing miserably. So we have had to revert to use the running of the gauntlet style format of kumite with him. Fight all the adult senior ranked students in a row, and my CI brings in a few guys who compete at nationals and are ranked highly to fight him. We all do the gauntlet at least once a month and for our troublemaker more

All I can think of is if that student (the Kyu Ranked student) is arrogant or dangerous when they spar and that they have no control over their technique or just have no respect for their partners when engaging in kumite

I'm not trying to have a go at you mate but life has to move on when people die. So does life in the Martial Arts world. So you refusing to grade because your dai-soke wasn't there to promote you, shows that your really refusing to move on and accept that he has moved on to the afterlife. So they wanted to promote you to the rank of kudan and that you had deserved the rank of it and no longer the rank of hachidan. Although i do have to agree with you that you don't have to wear the new belt awarded to you. You have a choice of which belt to wear - either your black belt that you have worn for years or the new one. So there is nothing wrong with you. Sometimes there are by-laws in schools that say that you have to wear your new belt in all classes etc. I often travel between Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney (I live in Australia), and my sensei up in Sydney is an 8th Dan so he is wearing the Red + white segmented belt. But often he will just wear his regular black belt in classes. Also my sensei up in Brisbane (who is also a good friend of mine) that is a 3rd Dan will often wear a blue or red belt (he is a competitor so he wears those two coloured belts for competitions) other than his black belt.