singularity6

Sparring is an interesting beast. I stared only about a year and a half ago. I get fairly wound up, and wear myself out pretty fast, still. At my school, lower ranked students will only spar with black belts or instructors for a few reasons - ability to not get hit/take a hit, control, and a tendency to not react as harshly when they do get hit. Even with knowing that, I still find myself apologizing if I hit whomever I'm sparring with. I also find myself shying away from aggressive attacks, even though I know the strikes being tossed my way are not likely to hurt (too much.) As far as gender, any woman I might go against in my class would be a beast and would wipe the floor with me!

Heh, I remember my first day! There was quite a bit of talking... and you could tell it was a script. I've been rethinking how our first days go in the math classes I teach. Having gone through the first day in TKD has helped with this. Over the years, I've begun to equate orientation sessions in any organization as "fire hose sessions." There's a tendency to blast people with information. Since it comes in such volume, and so fast, very little gets retained. In my classes, at least, I plan to break things up just a little.

Although you are most likely right I can not think of a worse reason to give grade. You either have earned it or you haven't. Not having enough of a certain grade is no reason to promote. Heh, I suppose the same logic could then be used to demote. "Hey, we need more yellow belts. You there! I'm demoting you by 2! Get your old belt!"

I bowed at the door of my friend's school. Apparently that wasn't where I should bow... They had a line drawn on the outside of the mats where you're supposed to bow. I have mixed feelings about dojo traditions. Bowing is big in Asian cultures, but nearly non-existent in most western countries. We also seem to take time to learn a few words and phrases in the language of our style's origin. Overall, it seems like we vacuously adopt parts of culture without fully understanding the meanings of what we're adopting, or if we're doing any of this correctly. This begs the question: Are we really honoring anything if we don't fully understand what it is that we are attempting to do? Or could it be taken as an insult? Please note: I've never had an instructor from the MA's country of origin. In many of the styles that I've trained, neither has the instructor!

Welcome!

So there's no conditioning for the wrists by hitting heavy bags with gloves on? I'm not sure I fully understand what it is that you're asking. Hitting the bag with gloves (and wraps) early on will definitely help. If something is weak, you need to support it, right? Well, the gloves and wraps provide that support. As you train, your wrists and fists will strengthen, and be able to handle the impact with less and less support over time. I thought you mean hitting the bag with ONLY wraps Eventually, yes... I'd start with gloves + wraps, then remove supports until I'm able to go for a period of time without any gloves, or wraps.

That video looks like it was staged.

I greatly reduced my carb intake. If what you mentioned in the original post have been part of your regular diet, you might want to consider having a couple cheat-days during the month. Have a couple beers on a Friday or Saturday night. Maybe weekend coffee can have cream? If you flat-out remove all that from your regular diet, you'll likely break down and binge. Just my two-cents!

^^ This, too!

So there's no conditioning for the wrists by hitting heavy bags with gloves on? I'm not sure I fully understand what it is that you're asking. Hitting the bag with gloves (and wraps) early on will definitely help. If something is weak, you need to support it, right? Well, the gloves and wraps provide that support. As you train, your wrists and fists will strengthen, and be able to handle the impact with less and less support over time.

I had a hard time responding to this post... The way I read it was Sensei8 was asking about the actual logic of what we say on a regular basis. It's frequently ignored that we say something, then immediately negate whatever it is that we said, yet no one really pays attention or cares. We also tend to abuse double-negatives.

Yes. There are several other things you can do to help condition your wrists. Two ways you may consider: Push ups on your knuckles are the easiest. It'll be uncomfortable, at first. Keep trying to do a few every day, and eventually you'll be able to do as many as you like. You should probably be doing this already, and continue to do so, as part of your regular training routine. A more challenging way would be hitting a heavy bag with properly-wrapped wrists (probably some gloves at first, too.) I'd strongly recommend that you have someone that knows how to wrap their wrists show you how to do it, and inspect your first few attempts. Get some bag gloves for some extra padding, and work on your punches. Exhibit some control at first, as you're still not without risk, even with wraps and gloves. Work your way up to where you can hit the bag with power for several minutes. You can eventually loose the gloves, then the wraps. Your fists and wrists will toughen up... but it take time. Trying to rush it will cause injury!

Your instructor didn't do that for you?

Congrats!

Yes it definitely is awkward doing stances that small, I find there is some value in them though. Will you always have deep stances when attacked? Nope. Our fighting stances are more natural. There is a bit of a disconnect between our forms and application.

Oh, I'd bring a white belt, and I'd ask ahead of time. I would not want to spar with anyone who I haven't trained with for at least a while, nor would I say "but our way is better." I have visited my friend's school a couple times, but there was obviously someone there who could vouch that I wasn't a total jerk.

I went to my buddy's school a couple times, and they taught me Taegeuk Il Jang. I showed them all the forms I knew at the time - Pal Gwe Il Jang through Saa Jang (I've since learned Oh Jang.) There are substantial differences. When I showed them Saa Jang, the instructor who was present said that it reminded him of his third black belt form. Learning the Taegeuk form was a bit strange - the walking stances felt really shallow. They kept correcting me, as I was trying to go into deeper stances, as allmost all of our stances so far are a deep front or back stance (Saa Jang has a bit of variation with standing knife hand strikes, and low blocks in a horse stance.)

I'm in Lansing, MI for a conference. Shortly after I got off the freeway, I passed a martial arts school. Then the thought hit me... Maybe they'd welcome a guest for a day! From now on, I'll bring my uniform when I travel to places (especially larger cities that might have schools to choose from!) I think it'd be neat to check out other schools, even if it's just a day. Has anyone been able to visit other schools on a drop-in basis?

I've had my glasses knocked off my face in class, and I've eaten a few heels, too. I have yet to receive a bruise above the shoulders from taking a hit while sparring! Fortunately, they have us lower belts sparring with black belts only, unless we do wear protective gear.

I've been working at getting my kicks higher. Starting martial arts at an older age has definitely provided me with many challenges! I agree 100% that not being able to kick to the head isn't so bad. It probably isn't practical in self-defense situations, and I do not plan to participate in tournaments. My master instructor even said that he doesn't really expect me to kick super high, considering my starting-age. I do want to get my round and hook kicks to about head level simply for personal reasons (and not to prove anyone wrong... just prove it to myself.) That being said, I do realize that there may be some unforeseen physical limitations that I'll have to deal with. As I always say, I'll burn that bridge while I'm on it.

In the TKD that I have done, by not allowing hand strikes to the head, we avoid the match becoming a boxing match. While kicks can be much stronger, it takes considerably more skill to get good at scoring with head kicks, and they won't usually come in with the frequency that hand techniques to the head would. I get why some have banned it based on explanations but for me I still say I'd rather get clocked by a fist than by a kick. In all the time I kickboxed as a kid I never once got knocked out by a punch but got my bell rung by two kicks. I get what you're saying, but for me I just don't get it, but I haven't been in the tournament circuit since I was a young man so maybe things have changed. I'm sure gear has changed over the years but the thing I also always found a bit funny is that the hands had pillows on them and the feet had very thin padding with no padding on the bottom. This was Kick Boxing of course. This always made me laugh a little to myself because the hands are covered with a good deal of padding, obviously based on weight classes, so much so that you had to basically put everything behind the punch to actually effect much less knock someone out but the feet are all but unprotected. Based on my personal experience, eating a heel hurts 100 times worse than eating a fluffy pillow and it makes you wonder why you're looking up at everyone and why your head feels like it's in a vise with a spike piercing your temples and base of your skull. I understand the reasons but based on my personal experience this rule is backwards if you're worried about knockouts. Knockouts are not good, but I don't think those are all we should be concerned about. Your brain will jiggle a bit each time you get knocked in the head, be it a fist, foot or anything else. Neither boxers nor football players take kicks to the head. Many of them may never be knocked out while training or competing, but both groups frequently suffer from CTE. Please don't take this as me saying we should allow kicks to the head over punches. Personally, allowing full contact to the head is a bad idea, unless you want your egg scrambled.

I really can't wait until we buy a house. My apartment has almost no room to train. If the house we buy doesn't have enough space for a dojo, I will build one on top of the garage.

It's about 40 minutes long. The first 5 minutes or so are kinda pointless. https://www.patreon.com/posts/14475999 Enjoy!

As Sensei8 says, "The Proof is on the floor." If someone says they have credentials, and can prove it, then I believe them.

Yes. They all probably truly do want unification, so long as the others are going to do things their way Yeah, if you look into the history of TKD, specifically, it pretty much started out fragmented. I'm happy with the style I'm learning, and if/when I visit other schools, I'll be happy to learn what they're willing to teach me. Maybe hoping that others have that mindset is all we can do with that art.