tommarker

Ice and rest is about all you can do, if I'm not mistaken. If you go to the doctor and describe what happened, they will probably say "Yeah, don't do that for awhile." Let it heal.

That's something I've always wondered. The Chinese arts that have like, 108 weapons, how often do they really practice all 108?

I did the exact thing sunday night. Completely whiffed the heavy bag with a spinning back kick. Sounds like a hyperextension to me.

Get used to it

Red J, That was really long, but a great read. Thanks for sharing!

I think you need to at least be a 6th dan... at least that's what I've heard. Maybe by then, all the competition will have died off.

foam nunchaku and kendo gear. now that could be a hell of a class!

If you're not doing this already, try it for about a month and see how your training improves. Pick up a small, durable notebook, something that you can slip in your bag and carry everywhere you go. Also, it would help to keep a pen with the notebook. After class, take a few minutes to write down important tips your instructor gives you, things you worked on, etc. If you taught someone, write about that. This is the easy part, just recording what you're doing in class. The other stuff is more interesting. This should be your thoughts about martial arts in general. What do you think about the forms? What are your thoughts on application? Why is a certain form important? You may also want to use the notebook to brainstorm different ideas and flesh them out on paper before subjecting your students to them. For example, if I want to teach a certain concept, I'll often think of some drills to do empty-handed to get everyone used to the motion, then explain it to them, and if needed, let them work with partners. If I'm feeling especially daring, I'll let them try to spar with it and test their ability. Write down your goals, what is important to you, what you want to improve, etc. Occasionally, look back at the journal and see if you're meeting your expectations.

I've seen first gup/kyu conduct a better class than some 4th dan. I recently had a guy mention to me that he didn't want to train under anything less than a 5th Dan, because he was a 4th. What if there was a 4th, 3rd, or even, god forbid, a lowly nidan out there who could show him things? It would completely crush his universe. If a 2nd dan can teach him things, maybe it means his 4th dan is worthless, etc. Train with someone who has something to teach you. Paradoxically, you may not be able to figure out if it was worthwhile until you've trained under someone else.

Try doing Saifa. Repeatedly Do it 100 times in one day. Seriously

I had PRK instead of LASIK. For my eyes it was the better choice. Everything went incredibly well, I think. As for soreness, the first 24-48 hours afterwards were the worst. Since PRK is a surface altering process, they put a healing contact lens over that you wear for the next 3 days while your epithelium grows back. The right eye was extremely puffy, while the left had hardly any puffiness at all. For the first week after the proceudre, I was sensitive to light, and looking at the computer, watching tv was out of the question for the first few days. I went in with 20/200 vision, and am at 20/25® and 20/30(l) and it is still improving as it heals.

Doesn't anyone else keep a journal of what they are learning, teaching, and ideas for classes? Or am I a nut?

That's the funny thing about nunchaku too. They are such a wildly popular weapon, which is probably where there is so much fluff out there.. The students want it, and the teachers give it to em whether they understand it or not. The people who know what they are doing tend to be the last people asked on the subject. Probably because they are doing very "boring" things Flashy nunchaku is one of my guilty pleasures... I know it is silly and impractical, but it's fun, and I try to keep the distinction between real and flash clear.

Ok, you're just trying to pick a fight here Andrew. First off, I think we can all agree that in traditional nunchaku, you hold the rod 1" from the bottom when in forward grip. Granted, you won't get many wrist rolls off from this position, so if that's what you're interested in doing, you will obviously have to make changes. Just as long as you understand you sacrifice power and reach to do so. That aside, I still think the clips show poor positioning at times, even for flashy stuff. I think he could be a lot better by solidifying his catches and positioning a bit, especially as he speeds up. I've noticed that whenever I blow a techique and the nunchaku go flying across the room, I can usually attribute it to sloppiness on my part. You shouldn't be content with grabbing them "just anywhere" whether you are using them in a traditional manner or in a performance. You are still working to perfect a skill, despite any difference in the objective. In that respect, even though he can do some impressive technique, that doesn't mean he can't clean up his basics and improve everything else.

I'm sorry, but a year on the Heian kata really isn't long enough, unless you have some sort of similar previous training. Just because you have some atheltic prowess and can emulate what you see doesn't necessarily mean you should be blowing through all of the forms. I can physically go through the motions of most forms, but there's more to it than just that. IMHO, you'll probably just get bored with Tekki as well, and even faster than the heians.. They are not 'exciting' kata in terms of performance, and rarely does anyone practice them with the frequency needed to get anything out of them.

Breathe is up there... we actually rejected it for the last demo in favor of Firestarter! Right now, I'm seriously leaning towards choosing "Weapons of Mass Distraction" by Crystal Method Thanks for the suggestions so far! All great ones... we're on the same page!

Hey guys, I'd appreciate your help in a little musical brainstorm. Our club is putting on a demo at our upcoming Regional Championship, and we are looking to win for the third time in a row! The hardest part, it always seems, is picking the music. So, I thought I'd appeal to the youth here and get some good ideas. We're mostly looking for something with a very hard, driving sound. But without too much annoying techno electronica going on in the background. suggestions using ESPN's Jock Jams or the Mortal Kombat soundtrack will be openly mocked!!! We're looking for something fairly unique, something the judges haven't heard a million times and that another group probably won't pick. Our previous music was Prodigy's "Firestarter" and the remix of Elvis' "Little Less Conversation." Thanks all, Tom

He is a self-learned guy, from what I gather. For some reason, I admire him in the sense that he's not pretending to be doing anything martial... he just has fun. It does make you wonder, however, what he could do with the proper instructor. His biggest problem, IMHO, even for flashy stuff is that he needs to keep everything a lot tighter. That would make a huge difference, and I could make some more judgements from there. He was probably a drum major in a previous life.

knee raises standing from choonbee jaseh quickly raise your knee to your chest and bring it back down (without touching the ground) try these in sets of 20. isometrics kicks basically, doing the kick in slow motion. once you reach full extension, hold it out for a few seconds, then retract and set it back down. machine gun kicks with your knee already cocked up, do about 10 kicks with the same foot without setting it down. i like to do this with round house kick. you can do them all to the same level, or low, mid, and high. squats squats build explosive power. wall sit a good finisher. basically put your back against the wall and "sit" in your imaginary chair. hold as long as you can.

Thought some of you might be interested in this page: http://doubledna.com/nunchuck/ He used to have a tripod hosted page for a long time, it's nice to see he's still updating things. If you're looking for the flashy stuff, his is a good page to start.

sounds like you have already made up your mind to me.

As I understand it, Shimabuku learned Nunchaku from Shinken Taira or Ryusho Sakagami, but was asked not to teach it due to its hoodlum reputation. A few Isshin-ryu schools today still perform this form, using different names for it. I've heard it named simply "sakagami" but on isshinryu sites, they refer to a form called "kiken no ki" and some say the form I'm doing is a variant of "maezato no nunchaku" Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and perhaps know the form? I was shown it a long time ago, and I have an unclear section in my notes. This book is the same form, but calls it "nunchaku kata".. rather unhelpful. http://wackett.enc.org/~tmarker/1.jpg http://wackett.enc.org/~tmarker/2.jpg any help would be greatly appreciated

Not so much a poll, but for those of you who do both empty handed techniques and weapons in the same school, how much time do you take to practice weapons? Some schools seem to have one or two classes a month dedicated to weapons, others do a little bit in each class, and some are probably very sporadic: only practicing them once in awhile or for several classes in a row and then not for a bit. Do you practice the basics, or do you spend more time on kata? Do you practice a lot of techniques that aren't in your forms? Bunkai? In our class, we tend to be somewhat sporadic. We may spend a month focusing on a certain weapon, and then set it aside for a bit (with the assumption that you are working on it out of class.) I'd say we spend about half the time working on basic techniques, then the other half practicing forms.

Thursday's class was 1.5 hours of sparring. However, I just had laser surgery on my eyes, and need to wait another month or so before sparring again. Last thing I need is some overeager brown belt throwing my investment down the toilet. So I spent the time in the back with one of our black belt candidates, going over Sip Soo and Naihanchi Cho Dan. It was good in that I hardly ever get a chance to teach the more advanced forms.. Most of our students are at the Pyung Ahn/Bassai level. Good times.

I think it's a test, in some ways. To teach kids, you have to really like teaching. It teaches you how to look out for your students (more likely to be careful with kids than adults) teaches you how to deal with class issues (discipline, answering constant questions, bathroom breaks) etc. On the other hand, some people might have their junior instructors only teach the kids class because the level of instruction is "not as important" and they just need a really fresh young body to wear out the rugrats.