singularity6

1) Honesty and integrity are always best. 2) If you live in a small/medium sized town with only 2 MA schools, people will find out anyway.

Welcome aboard!

A number of martial arts show ways to restrain someone without injuring them. I'd try to focus on those techniques. The medical professionals I have had contact with (friends, family, etc) all had training provided by their employers. If you're looking for "an excuse" to study another martial art, I say go for it! Aikido, BJJ and judo come to mind.

I tell my students all the time regarding study time: Quality > Quantity

Yep... I can knock this over with my side kicks.

The bag arrived on Friday. It's set up, and I had one good 30 minute workout on it so far. So, here's my initial impression: Unboxing and setup were fairly simple. There are some Velcro flaps that need to be pulled over a ridge on the base (for stability.) That part took a little persuasion, but other than that, no issues. It's almost as tall as I am, so it'll be great to work on almost all my techniques. I threw a large variety of techniques at it, with a fair amount of power in some. My upper body lacks strength, so my punches didn't do too much to it, and the bag holds up well to my round kicks. When it came to my side and spin-side kicks, it moved quite a bit (it was too close to the wall for some, but it might have otherwise fallen over once or twice!) My palm-heel strikes also got it moving pretty good. Overall, I really liked the way it felt when I struck it. The vinyl seemed very tough, yet soft enough to not mess up my bare knuckles too much. Century also did a nice job on the foam - the density and firmness seems just right! I did beat on a Wavemaster XXL at my friends school for a bit, and the Torrent T2 does seem a bit more stable. We have a BOB XXL at my school, and while I like the idea, I do not like beating on it without gloves - the rubber is too hard on my skin. This was my first time going at a bag as intensely as I did, for as long as I did, so I was a little sore yesterday (then I shoveled the foot of snow that fell. Ooof.) At any rate, I will update this tread after a few weeks or a month.

Most churches could use money, and they pride themselves on servicing the community. Some groups might be more exclusive than others, but I think it's worth asking!

Confirmation: It will be here tomorrow morning! I shall pummel and report.

This strategy seems to work best with adults: Calmness! The few times I've been in such a situation as an adult were diffused by me being calm. Don't acknowledge the foul language, or insults. In a normal voice, without finger-pointing, address whichever issue is at hand. Things seem to deescalate quickly once you show that you're not interested in responding to aggression with aggression.

I need to regularly stretch my hips, or else I get injuries, but I've discovered that even slight overstretching is at least as bad.

I think our school pays less than $400 per year to rent at the church (which has a nice view of Lake Michigan) plus whatever the insurance costs.

That's solid advice. Just out of curiosity - Do you feel that yoga could provide the same benefits?

Perhaps I take things a bit literally, but here I go. The very definition of "martial art" to me is "combat art," which encompasses 2 things - fighting, and a stylized structure. I'm pretty sure we can all agree on the fighting part... It's the second where some discussion is usually had. Some folks might say that karate, tae kwon do, kung fu, etc are the true martial arts while boxing, jeet kun do and krav maga are not. To me, it's not the actual style one practices, but how one practices it. Bruce Lee said it best: "Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add what is essentially your own." All artists start out by copying/learning from others. True artists take their knowledge and experience, then add their own personal touch.

The style of iaido I was learning taught both sitting and standing forms. Of course, they also had me doing very advanced waza on days 2 and 3 (things I'd expect wouldn't be taught until at least a year or 2 of training has been completed.)

I've been pretty lucky to be where I am, I feel. But the thought of moving has occurred to me more than once. I don't think I could find a school that is the same as this one. So, if I were to move, I'd likely be taking up a new style of martial art all together. When it comes to testing, I'd ask the next person who tells you to test if they would be willing to conduct it.

I suspect working on both wouldn't be a bad idea. Going for distance will definitely improve your stamina. Sprints should add to your bursts while sparring. Mixing it up will also keep things more interesting for longer. An additional thought: What about adding swimming, as well?

So, I ordered the T2, and it should be here next week! I'll report back after I beat on it for a while.

Sorry for the delayed reply. I wouldn't mind having a makiwara for some purposes. I want something I can whale on with both fist and foot to develop power.

While it's not directly related to the martial arts, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is something that everyone should read. Especially if your job involves interacting with people! I'm reading it now, and I feel that The Four Agreements aligns very well with the 5 tenets of Tae Kwon Do, as well as with many of the other principles taught in any martial art.

This forum is quite large. I wouldn't chalk it up to getting old (at least, not this one.)

Happy birthday!

I also posted about this a while back, with interest in checking it out!

There was a time when my wife and I were the only students in our location. Now, we have maybe 5-6 students showing up regularly, and occasionally we end up with about a dozen (several of our younger black belt students have school sports, new jobs, etc.) Apparently this has been cyclic for as long as our master instructor could remember. He can recall times where students were wait-listing for a spot, and other times of minimal enrollment. Again, I live in a small town, so getting new faces to show up can be tough.

Chi and Qi should have similar pronunciations according to modern pinyin rules. Ki will definitely have a hard k-sound when spoken, but I can't say much about where this variation came from.

The Century Versys V1 seems like it might be a decent bag to train with: Sand-filled base vs. water-filled base would make it much quieter. The V3 looks like it could be an interesting bag if you want to get creative with your training. While the reviews I've read claim they can take a hit, I don't think you'll develop much power hitting those, however. Maybe a kicking shield and a partner would be a way to go? I thought about that, too... but my wife hates holding the shields for me!