tommarker

treat them like equals and give them every chance in the world to learn. We had a 4th gup woman completely wipe the mat with a visiting Sam Dan who was trying to patronize her skills. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know she was a 4th Dan in Ishhin Ryu and had started over in TSD from white belt.

none of the above.

it took me hours of practice before i could even wrap a dagger handle in a half-assed fashion. keep trying, and expect it to take months

Homemade Martial Arts Training Equipment : A Do-It-Yourself Guide by Michael Janich both texts are available via Amazon, $16.07 and $14.00 respectively.

Fireka, Save a few pennies and purchase Yang Jwing-ming's book Analysis of Shaolin Chin Na: Instructor's Manual for All Martial Styles. You'll want it further down the road anyway, trust me In the beginning, Dr. Yang gives some excellent exercises for strengthening the hands and wrists. Strong hands are especially helpful in joint locking, but the benefits apply to strikers as well. I am not in favor generally of repeatedly banging your hands against hard objects in order to build large calcium deposits. I do perform this myself from time to time, but more as a check on my form and focus than as a toughening exercise. So I wouldn't suggest a makiwara, IMHO. A heavy bag is far better. If you have a basement, I would consider hanging a heavy bag. Between that and the exercises in the above book, you'll be set. I don't know how to make one, but Michael Janich has a book out there on how to make your own training equipment... I'll see if I can dig up that resource.

Good luck, bro... Let us know what you decide on.

the wrapping is extremely difficult, and often very important to the integrity of the handle. a professional will charge around $150 to perform this service, because it is difficult, time-consuming, and hard on the hands. Tsukamaki is an art unto itself, but here is a series diagrams if you want to try: http://pages.prodigy.net/tlbuck/tsuka/tsuka.htm

Jack is correct. Drink water, and cut out soda as much as you can.

are you working yourself to exhaustion on your pushups? or are you working until you're tired? I mean, do them until you absolutely cannot push yourself back up. then, let your knees hit the ground and do modified or "girlie" pushups until you can't do those anymore either. If you have a weak link in the equation (wrists, forearms, triceps, back, chest) that should tell you, and you may need to focus on that.

In the future, maybe you should ask the question you want answered for the sake of everyone involved. Keep in mind that the term "a good sword" is extremely subjective, and some will say that a good sword is a couple hundred years old, and way out of most people's price ranges. Some people might think the swords with the plastic dragon heads are really good That's why you have to specify what you want it for. An iai practice sword is very different from one used to cut, which is VERY different from just about anything sold in any martial arts catalog. If you don't want to slice tatami mats, then you can get away with a "cheaper" sword. I wouldn't rely on it for anything where your life hangs in the balance though. Here... these guys know what they are talking about far more than me. http://www.swordforum.com/

sharks... LOL "but I didn't know this style had groundfighting??"

If someone out of no-where jumped on my teacher and got him to the ground, I would like to think I would make some sort of effort to assist him.

Or tonfa, nunchaku, rope, short stick. All of these are perfectly valid, and many other weapons have principles which can carry over into these 4.

what do you want to do with the sword? It would probably be okay for practicing basic cuts, as long as you were (obviously) careful with the weapon. I would not attempt to make any sort of test cutting, tameshigiri, or any contact with any hard object. This would considerably more dangerous than any sort of drills. Listen to Doug... One doesn't get to 2nd Dan in Kuk Sul Won without learning a little bit about the sword. I would personally buy a bokken or suburito and practice with that for awhile, and leave the sword from your parents on the wall as a sentimental gift. If you want a good sword, put away a few bucks every month for a couple years and buy the time you can afford to spend $2500-$3000 on a quality sword (http://www.bugei.com/ for example) then you may be ready to use it

http://www.karatedo.co.jp/shureido/kobudo/sh_kobu.html http://www.karateshorinkan.com/store/c000002.htm Shureido brand. High quality, and I can't imagine needing another pair for a long time.

what makes you so qualified to judge my judgement?

I know plenty of fat old men who whip on skinny 18 year old prime-of-their-life dojo princesses on a regular basis Physical appearance is a poor indicator of martial arts knowledge.

I agree... Couldn't you be working a little harder? Zhongwhen zenme shou "yellow pages"?

Bigguy, Are you looking for Kungfu as a pursuit of martial arts or as a way to lose weight? If it is the first, go for it and you will lose weight as a bonus. In addition, you will hopefully learn to manage your larger frame far more efficiently than most skinny folk. This will carry over as you lose weight. If you're looking at it from a pure aerobic workout perspective, it won't work alone. You'll need to combine stuff like proper diet and additional exercise as well if you want real results to occur. Truth is, I gained weight in my first year of MA, and not in a good way. 2 hours of class late at night wore me out, and i usually ended up eating even more to "compensate" for it.. Truth be told, I was overcompensating. But would I worry about being too heavy? Nope. Everyone has their challenges, and yours are your own. Others will have knee problems, poor coordination, arthritis, etc. Being aware, working around them and overcoming them is part of the essence of martial arts. Good luck.

between this and the Emin Boztepe thing being rehashed, you CMA people need to get out and train more

old-school answer of the day find a brick wall. stand in front of it. punch at it. if you hit it too hard, back off a bit.

it doesn't concern you?

stances

nothing worse than hearing the follow phrase from a girl on a date... "My boyfriend's a BLACK BELT, and he'll kick your ass!"

out of curiousity, are there restrictions on martial arts equipment in england? weapons seem to be frowned on over there, and I was wondering what happens when you get pulled over, and have a staff in your car, or a sword and nunchaku in the boot?