tommarker

you'll have problems with people thinking their style/teacher/outlook is so superior to others no matter what you do. It's human nature to elevate yourself to the top. Sometimes the only thing you can say is "I'm glad you've found something that works well for you."

Be patient. Don't take it too personally when people don't come back after their first class. It happens.

First off, don't sweat the fact that your friend picked it up faster than you. Some people are just more athletic than others, but that only gets you so far in the martial arts. It sounds like a confidence thing. Think about Ee Dan Ahp Cha Ki (jump scissor front kick) Can you skip? If so, you're halfway there! What some students do while learning this is to throw the first front kick on the ground, and jump and throw the other kick while chambering the previous kick. Don't worry about falling... It's going to happen. I'm a 2nd Dan, and I still will completely miff a jump kick and fall on my butt. You just have to laugh and accept it as part of training.

I think they are called emei, but I could be wrong. Are you sure this isn't it? http://www.wle.com/products/W265.html

I think there are 4 distinct advantages that your average "varsity high school wrestler" has over MOST martial artists: 1. An impressive level of both strength and endurance, especially in relation to their size. 2. They tend to be able to take a lot of pain, and can endure many wrist and elbow locks, especially poorly applied ones. 3. Wrestlers earn their advantage by off-balancing their opponent, and are extremely good at it. 4. Wrestlers have an aggressive forward drive that is very hard to overcome if you're trying to be defensive.

so they DID kick people off horses, but only because of Chinese influence? I'm confused.

The forms aren't done exactly in Shotokan as Funakoshi demonstrates them in his book. As I understand it, Funakoshi's son altered a lot of the kata by making the stances deeper, which affects maai quite a bit I imagine. Look at the Shorin Ryu version of the Pinans and compare them to Heian as performed by Shotokan folks. Quite a few differences right there. It doesn't bother me if forms change over the years if there is a good reason for doing so. I think over the years however, a lot of people have altered the forms to make them look "prettier" and adding applications as an afterthought.

It sounds like he wants functional kama. What's wrong with that? Aside from the fact that investing in a shotgun would be better

I'd like to hear an answer too, as I really want to buy a pair of Shureido sai, but don't want to get a too short or too long pair... With the kind at the store, I can just pick the pair that stick out past the elbow a bit, but with Shureido, I have to order without trying them on

I think the 3rd parties got a really bad rap in the 2000 election with the whole "A Vote for Nader is a Vote for Bush" thing. In reality, if people voted more for their principles instead of the guy they think has the best chance of winning, maybe we could have some surprises. Even if a 3rd party gets 10% of the vote, it has the potential to shake up the next election. I voted Libertarian, and I felt good about the fact that I wasn't having to sell out half of my core beliefs just to vote for "the lesser of two evils" as so many people feel inclined to do. Let's face it, while each group has its hardcore supporters, there were plenty of people who voted for Kerry because he wasn't Bush, and plenty of people who stuck with Bush because they thought he'd be a little less worse than Kerry. I think 3rd parties need to get a few more local offices established. They are getting a good start, but they don't have a good voice out there that Americans recognize and respect yet. Perot, Nader, Ventura... they were all just a little too..... "wacky" for the mainstream to catch on to. I have to say I'm very pleased with how this discussion is going.

i can do three alternating leg front kicks in the same jump. no big deal, but I like it. i'm working on 4, as well as making the last one a roundhouse kick.

i would think that anything that is easily detachable may also detach when you don't want it to

I too have heard it called "folk" for lack of a better term.

OK, back on track... Some differences I've noted between TKD and TSD over the years: push/pull movement of hips seems to be more emphasized in TSD than TKD. TSD stances tend to be deeper and more stable, while TKD tends to have higher stances that emphasize mobility. The 'sine wave' motion is non-existent in TSD (and most TKD, i realize) TKD tends to have more linear motion with circular techniques (moving forward with roundhouses and wheel kicks) where TSD seems to have more circular movements and linear techniques (side step, reverse punch or side kick) but this doesn't always hold true. Junior ranking TKD fighters tend to be a lot faster and more aggressive when they go on the offensive than their TSD counterparts who tend to only throw 1-2 techniques defensively. TKD players tend to develop much harder and faster kicks at an earlier level, where a lot of students are devloping their speed and accuracy at 1st gup. TSD people obviously tend to punch more, use backfists, spinning backfists, spear hands, chops, grabs and sweeps more. A lot of these are purely anecdotal, and I've never taken TKD, but over the years, I've watched the other TKD clubs at our University closely. They do some things that create very powerful students that I've incorporated into my teaching (various kicking drills) and I'm sure that they've taken somethings from us as well.

Tom, please relax a little bit. I know the books, and it's right next to me, and I know all of the wonderful and highly talented people you've listed who probably don't want their names drug into an Internet arguement. When I used the term "outdated" in quotes, I was attempting to indicate that I didn't necessarily think this was true. The truth is, there are a lot of people out there who have spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly where and by what means the forms became what they are today. Those people have mostly searched in vain for dead forms which no one has any written evidence of, and probably could have been better served practicing more. When I say the forms didn't come from China, what I MEAN is that the form, as we know it is not practiced in China. Yes there are forms that look similar to pyung ahn 2 in China, but they aren't the same. I want to be very specific about that. Why? Because for the longest time, it was an accepted fact that Hwang Kee learned all the forms in China. That was the party line. Only recently has the truth become a little more clear. Now we know that the forms were learned from books on Okinawan Karate that Hwang Kee had access to while working for the railroad. And most likely, he probably trained with a few karate people as well along the way. We'll never know for sure, as he has since passed on. I'm not arguing the Chinese/Shaolin roots, I'm merely saying the route of transmission came VIA Okinawa, and I think we're all trying to make sure we're not saying otherwise. This is a touchy subject. However, I really do think we're all saying (more or less) the same thing and I'm neither taking a stand against you or Grandmaster Shin with my opinion. If I offended you, it was not my intent, and I apologize.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over?

that would definetely be a last-resort option, i hope! I can just imagine a bunch of guys squatting in horse stance as the cavalry comes towards them... waiting for them to get in range... then hundreds of guys in the air like a swarm of grasshoppers! We had a competition for the kids at our last tournament to see who could throw the highest jump front kick. There was a 17 year old hitting it at 8 feet. Not bad.

Guys, I think we're officially splitting hairs here. In contemporary usage, when you mention "wushu" to a martial artist, they are going to think of the highly stylized and sanitized Government version of Chinese Martial Arts. Technically it does mean martial arts, that's why they chose the term I think we can all agree that TSD hyungs have a distinctly Chinese influence, regardless of who learned what and where. We're all here to learn new things, and there's no reason to either get defensive about what you've learned, or go after people with "outdated" info. Remember we're all dealing with a lot of hypothetical and theoretical info here. None of us can say for sure how the forms got to the point they are at now, and we have to accept that on some level. Personally, I don't think it matters a whole heck of a lot since the forms have evolved SO much even over the last 50 years that they've taken on their own life within each ryu.

Montana has 2 airports????

I think this is one of those "romantic images" that we have of the martial arts. Perhaps if you were vaulting off a staff at someone with a flying kick, but it seems much more logical to just use that staff or spear to knock them off the horse. From there, you can kick them while they lay on the ground

Do a Google search on Wang Shu Jin. Now that was a large man with good Kung Fu who would have used Bruce Lee for dental floss

I've seen videos of this chimp before; he has an amazingly strong jump spinning wheel kick! I think it is interesting, but I don't particularly care for the chimp being used as a gimmick, though I'm sure he's well taken care of (i hope)

PERFECT! Thanks!

punch your bathroom scale. better do it three or four times, just to make sure you're getting an accurate representation

Try Hard Rain or Rain Fall... both are pretty good. About a hitman in Japan. Great detail and attention to martial arts as well.