singularity6

All excellent posts, here. Thank you! I found this to also be quite helpful. The breakdown is nice for those who're new to the technique: What do you all think about this?

I feel that cross-training in any two distinctively different styles can be beneficial. It's always nice to expand your horizons!

Drilling basic techniques is essential. In this light, I do see one-steps as being very important. One of the issues I have with them, however, is that if you're paired off with someone who's significantly higher in rank (I'm still only 6th geup,) you often end up getting fire hosed with information. Many times I was taught a technique by my instructor, practiced it twice, then I get to sit there and listen to a black belt spout off for several minutes about all the neat things you can do, all while forgetting what I was supposed to be practicing. (Sorry... rant over... moving on!) We start sparring once we get a yellow belt, and we only spar with black belts in the beginning. There are no tournament rules in our school, so the training we get will most likely work on the street, if needed. They start off slow, leading us a bit. On occasion, they'll step it up and make us really work for it. Overall, I feel they do a nice job.

Welcome to the forum!

Happy birthday, sir!

That's tragic. I hope this young lady has a full and speedy recovery! Thank you for the thoughtful post.

Ultimately, that's what educators need to do. If you don't meet your students where they're at, you won't have any students! Children might be more out of shape these days, but if you get them while they're younger and still have a faster metabolism, they'll bet in shape faster. Losing weight and gaining muscle becomes more challenging as you age, and I'm finding this out the hard way!

Whenever any of those listed in the quote above take the well being of their student body out of the equation, that is when competition is NOT ok. The student body suffers in the short and the long of it all. When the Governing Bodies, the MA school's, and/or the Sensei's put their emphasis over their own Student Body in the hopes of attracting new students, no matter what, that is not ok. When the Student Body is no more important than the money and/or fame, effectiveness is threatened. Imho!! As a rule of thumb, when trying to make most decisions at the college where I teach, we ask this question: "Will this be better for the students?" Without students, you have no organization!

I've been having similar experiences with low kicks, tenseness, and then improvement. It feels pretty good when you break out of a plateau! Keep it up!

Competitiveness can be a great thing, as it drives innovation and ingenuity (especially when combined with ability and curiosity!) It is, in my opinion, necessary for doctors to be competitive, but the situation you presented seemed quite inappropriate. Unfortunately, doctors are people, too. Sounds like your PCP has a bit of a God Complex going on! Regarding your condition: Best wishes sir. Keep kicking!

I think all of the kids in our TKD school will claim that McDonald's is their favorite place to eat. With obesity as high as it is now, it's amazing more hasn't been done by the fast food places, or to the fast food places (through regulation) to ensure that nutritional needs are met, while caloric intake is moderated.

The phsyical fitness of people has been in significant decline. There are many factors at play: Obesity in children has went up 10 fold in the past few decades. The American diet - heavily processed foods, fast food and excessive intake has taken its toll (and spread to many other countries.) Phys Ed programs are among the first to be cut from our schools, and our youth athletic programs turned into these crazy "pay-to-play" programs (soccer cost my parents probably $100 or $150 for both my brother and me to play. Uniforms were included. What's the cost now? Several hundred dollars per season in some places!) I'd say there will be a difference!

Lots of great advice, here! What rank are you? I don't think people are expected to have a lot of power during their earlier belts. It does develop over time. While the exercises I shared should be safe for anyone to do (provided they're somewhat careful,) your instructors and senior students should definitely be consulted!

It sounds like you have a fairly progressive school! I'm not one to question the instructors on the floor, and I have had conversations with both the CIs and the MI outside of the class. "You're just a green belt" has been brought up during these conversations. Part of the reason for this is that my CIs are relatively new, and the MI doesn't want dissent sewn, which I can understand. I know that while what happens in my school isn't ubiquitous, it's also not unique. Again, we are discouraged to challenge the instructor. We are not discouraged from asking questions, however. It seems like you are seeing my point when it comes to the language and the "adaptation" of the Asian culture. Personally, I'm quite eager to learn about other cultures, and even immerse myself in them for a time - but only if they're done properly!

On the flip-side of what I said: We do call these things we practice Martial ARTS!

Man, I wish I had the money to drop on a Japanese-made gi. I'm currently using Meijin's Tropical and their Champion gis. Both are great, but I think I like the Tropical best (lighter weight, great fabric!) If I had the money, I'd probably invest in a Seishin gi... They're made in Sweden, which isn't Japan, but still... Sweden!

Historically speaking, I think people have always wanted faster results. It's really easy to look upon a master of any skill and say "hey, s/he makes that look really easy!" We then promptly get discouraged when we find out what it really takes!

If you're just starting out, I'd highly recommend stretching daily to improve your flexibility. You'll also need to work on strengthening your hips. I had weak hips, and was prone to injury (that cursed round kick!) I was doing one-legged leg lifts in all 4 directions (laying down position) and simple bridges daily for about 2 months. Now I'm working on kicking drills at home a few times per week. Jesse Enkamp has some decent videos about improving your kicks and flexibility that I've found helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L02E71aHbs

Ooof... that sounds rough! I suspect I'll be getting surgery on my shoulders at some point. I'm not looking forward to it.

Welcome to the forum! Have you did an internet search for schools in that vicinity? While users of this forum come from all parts of the world, Google might prove to be a more effective way to answer your question!

It depends. I teach at a free school. We don't charge for anything. Some of the kids even get their uniforms provided for them because they can't afford them. We still have eight belts for kids before Shodan because it serves as a good motivational tool and keeps them coming. And we don't want them coming for the money (we don't get any money). We want them to keep coming because we want them to learn karate and have a positive place to come and get some exercise and get some good influences and learn to work towards and achieve goals. There are benefits to the belts system beyond just getting more money. The problem is that people abuse it to get more money and it gives the whole thing a bad rep. We pay $25/month to train. Testings are free, and the colored belts are awarded to the students (by awarded, they are GIVEN to the student by our master instructor.) While I'd be fine with having one belt all the way through, many people do like the idea of being promoted... it helps with motivation!

I've made several posts in other areas that pretty much address this, too. To reiterate: The student is always to obey and never question the instructor! Every martial art seems to preach the idea that "one needs to be like water - flow; adapt!" Yet the very structure of the teaching is "It's always been done this way!" I teach math for a living... my job is to break something that others find complicated down into something that's easier to digest. Like anyone else, I frequently see the rest of the world through a lens that's shaped by my profession. It's quite difficult for me to not question the instructor, or try to "find a better way to teach." An example would be our tornado kick... it's a crescent kick followed immediately by a spinning jumping crescent kick with the same leg. That gets introduced to us at 6th geup in our school. Interestingly enough, that gets introduced at the same time as the crescent kick. To me, it would make a lot more sense to break this down... Maybe teach the crescent kick, and maybe a spinning jumping crescent kick separately in one rank, and stitch them together in the next? Nope... It's always been done this way! Lesson learned on my end. When it comes to cultural traditions, I'm kind of at a loss. Our CIs are American through and through. We live in a rural area that has a relatively homogeneous population (95% white, 80% Christian,) yet when in the school, they attempt to use Korean to count, to issue commands (pronunciation is probably way off.) Class starts off with a Buddhist-style meditation. We wear a traditional karate gi (Tang Soo Do influence?) and bow in, bow out etc. None of this has any place in the UP's daily culture! I'm not even sure I'm doing a proper bow. I learned to bow from a Japanese friend years ago, but is that appropriate in a Korean dojang? We even have Korean characters on our uniforms, and embroidered on our Black Belts belts! I don't think anyone but our master instructor can read them. I think Bruce Lee had something going when it came to his creation of Jeet Kun Do. When writing Game of Death, he deliberately had practitioners of specific martial arts wearing uniforms inspired by their traditional martial art. He wore a yellow jump suit, swearing off allegiance to any one martial art. While I might be practicing a form of Tae Kwon Do, and while I enjoy putting on the uniform, I often wonder if it's necessary. I'm American, as are my CIs and Master Instructor. None of us speak Korean outside the few words we use for class, and none of us practice Buddhism. What's the point of including such practices in our school? Does it really have meaning? Or are we simply vacuously going through motions?

You certainly have set the bar high for yourself singularity6 congrats for that A few suggestions: Practice your kicks in a swimming pool. Practice your kicks on a sandy beach. Pick up a very small trampoline to bounce on. Practice hoping on one foot and one foot squats. Reduce your weight if you have any to give up. Practice your kicks with someone that can do what you want to do! Thank you, sir! I've worked on sandy beaches a little this summer, and it's something I'd like to do more often in the future. One-foot squats certainly would help, but it seems that squats in general aggravate the knee. I suspect there'll be some PT involved in the not-too-distant future.

That probably depends on who's running the school, and the style. I've seen some kung fu practitioners (in China!) wear uniforms that look very much like a karate gi. Many westerners lump anything "Asian" into an "Asian" category - I've been to dojos that have artwork from China, and to dojangs with Japanese writing, and not Korean. To some, "it all looks the same." The bit about shoes is interesting, to me. I would not have considered that, even though I know that kung fu practitioners wear shoes! Would you be able to recommend a brand?

Ultimately, the issue here is that the use of the word "moderation" is very subjective (see my concluding statement.) I do have some personal guidelines that I like to follow, however. When it comes to diet, I found Alton Brown's video to be very reasonable: Now exercise is a bit more complicated. I'd say exercising daily is a good thing, but we need to listen to our bodies. If I'm overly sore, really tired or ill, I take it easy, and I don't feel bad about it. Since everyone is different, either due to genetic makeup, overall physical health, or due to some chronic conditions, moderation will vary! I might be able to drink 3 or 4 cups of coffee and feel fine, but someone else might suffer ill effects from just one cup.