tommarker

Ok, here's the deal.. I *want* a set of YELLOW sparring gear (the dipped foam kind) but I'm having problem finding stuff outside of white, black, red and blue. Mostly because I'm tired of my gear walking away, and if I have a bright set of yellow gear it will be hard for someone to "Accidently" bag mine instead of theirs. Plus I have a crazy theory that colors like yellow catch the eyes of judges Anyone have any suggstions? I'll even ship overseas if necessary.

http://www.turtlepress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=56 I don't have this particular video, but I have another video by Dr. Kim named "ultimate kicking drills" which is well done.

Has anyone read the book "Five Years, One Kata"? I'd be interested in hearing opinions on it...

I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.

do you train solely for competition? i.e. you don't practice "illegal" techniques, or you practice defensive postures that would lead to injury but prevent points from being "Technically" scored. If that is true, I'd say you're more "athletic" than "Artistic" but it also sounds like this particular person has a stick up their butt on the issue.

Good luck with that... Competent people at the airport is always a bonus. Not that we have too many terrorists in Missoula...

I don't know about that, but I suppose it is possible. From what I've heard, a lot of guys went 6 nights a week. Basics, Forms and Sparring. It was a pretty spartan curriculum and they were some tough guys.

Yes, it would have to be a STURDY pen, especially for locks. If you're just looking to spear someone in the throat, I'm sure a bic pen will get you through the moment I saw a good picture in my Kubaton book this morning that I wanted to share. When restraining from behind, come in like you're going to do a rear headlock choke, but instead, come in underneath their arm instead of over the shoulder. plant the kubaton tip first into the pectoral muscle on the opposite side. use your opposite hand to reinforce and press down and in. I believe the word is "OW!" I think the kubaton is on the list of banned items, but one of those 2AA Maglites isn't. Just about the perfect size and is perfectly utilitarian.

An interesting trivia bit: Chuck Norris failed his first Dan test in Tang Soo Do. I don't say this to disparage Mr. Norris at all, just pointing out that he was among the early group of Americans to test in front of Hwang Kee and he definetely had to earn it!

Excellent advice, thanks!!

Running in the morning really does ramp up your metabolism, and from what I understands boosts fat burning (the logic being you haven't eaten anything in a few hours, and therefore only have fat on hand to burn)

Also keep in mind, many high ranking Masters have created their own forms that have evolved from their conception to their final version. What you know about karate now will hopefully be different than 20 years from now, and you may want to revise things. Shimabuku when originally teaching kusanku no sai had kept the kicks from kusanku, but later took them out stating that from what he'd learned of the sai since creating the form, he felt the kicks weren't logical.

old thread: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=15427&start=20

Trying to bring the kata discussion back over here... Many systems require making up your own kata. I believe this can be an excellent tool for determining a person's understanding of and comfort with their art (And to a large degree, their level of creativity.) The challenge is making a kata which will stand the test of time. Not everyone is a Bushi Matsumura Will your kata be the next Kusanku? Do you want it to be?? - Will your form have a deeper meaning than athleticism? If not, does it pretend to? - What theories are you encompassing (unless you're just trying to show off ) - What level of proficiency will be required to perform this form? - Is the form a series of simple moves in complicated patterns or a set of complicated moves in simple patterns? Which is harder? - Are there "repetitions" in your form, or "variations on a theme"? - Do the motions have more than one valid interpretation? - Did they when you created it? Or was it a happy accident?

There are subgroups in every art who feel their respective arts are too complicated and pare things down to the "essential" techniques. So let's say we pare down TKD to a few techniques that are taught at some level in all schools: front snap kick reverse punch knee strike palm strike head butt elbow strike ridge hand side kick knife hand Sounds good to me. But the problem is that this stuff is the root of TKD/karate and is ignored by many other people because it's boring. There's a reason when these groups sit down and write down those long lists of training requirements or oaths that "practice basic techniques all the time" or "repeatedly practice basics" is stated. Basics are what makes up traditional TKD. So that part of your statement confuses me. Maybe you meant olympic tournament stuff.

it's basically like saying "i do karate"

In today's litigious society, that is probably a very WISE policy to enact as a studio owner. Without getting into the ethics/morality of picking fights... what you could get away with a generation ago is very different than these days.

That doesn't sound like a very fun situation, and it's not always something that the students will fully understand (or in some cases, notice.) There are nice ways to leave an organization, and not-so-nice ways. The best thing you can do is be graceful in the process and not trash the organization you are leaving, and hope the organization pays you the same courtesy. There will always be people who just don't understand, but you sometimes have to make the best decision for you and your studio. Not an enviable siutation...

Just to follow up... In our club, we always spar to the level of the least proficient person, meaning that a Sam Dan will spar a white belt differently than they would a fellow Sam Dan, but we're constantly pushing them to go a little harder. I might spar two red belts very differently, depending on their level of confidence and ability. But I won't spar easy with someone just "because they're a girl." My training partner up to black belt was a woman, and we spent about 4 years knocking each other senseless to the point that our instructor would just sit back and grin when visiting instructors who'd never seen us together would watch us. I always knew that she could take whatever I threw at her, and viceversa.. I remember the one time I "went easy" on her, and she punched me right in the face

I find it amusing that the first person to admit this dark truth was a woman. I'd imagine this has more to do with it than being afraid to "hurt" a woman. Once you've had a female yondan crack a rib with her sidekick, you don't really care anymore what's underneath the gi... you want to hit back As long as everyone is sparring under the same rules, and both parties are willingly doing it, then you shouldn't have any problem with sparring women with contact. Would you be offended if a stronger male wouldn't hit you because he thought YOU couldn't take it? Would it slow down your training for the big guys to use kid gloves with you? If you don't train 100% with your woman partners, you are ripping them off. The guy who tries to mug her in the parking garage won't have any problems with chivalry... at least have the grace to prepare her for that.

For reasons I won't delve into, many of the senior rank in my club can recall that my nickname was once "nipple boy"

Just out of curiousity, how many pounds are in a stone? Is this a common measure in the UK? I've dropped 30 pounds in the last 2 years, with a bulk of it coming off in the first year. Running the mornings helped, a little extra walking during the day, cutting out as much soda as possible, drinking lots of water all helped. But the big thing was portion control and limiting snacks. A lot of times, you just have to ask yourself "do i want to eat this because I'm hungry, or because I'm bored?" Good luck!

As I said, we're a college club, so we drink after gradings, especially Dan gradings. Actually, pretty much any get together includes beer and whiskey. But we also take care of each other, drive each other home, let them crash on the couch, walk people home, etc. Obnoxious behaviour is usually frowned upon. Avoid drinking games with senior yudanja and kodanja unless your liver is about 20 years more experienced than you are... And it's not a beer belly, it's a Chi reserve.

Shureido sai are at the top of my Christmas list.

An old manual that has been scanned in: http://www.yawara.com/Yawast1.html