singularity6

A Killing Art by Alex Gillis is a great resource that everyone interested in the history of TKD should check out. The upshot: The founders of TKD had black belts in Shotokan Karate. They received notariety in their skill while applying it during the Korean and Vietnam wars (it was used to "kill communists!") When trying to sell it to the Korean military, the founders pitched it as an ancient Korean art. They changed some things up a bit (execution of some techniques, adding some techniques, and added several, more complicated kicks.) Modern day WTF doesn't relect the Japanese influence as much as Tang Soo Do. I haven't had much exposure to ITF, so I cannot speak with any confidence about it. Ultimately, it seems that all of the Asian martial arts have had influence over one another through the years, and I expect that will change, as travel and communication are easier now more than ever.

I'm lucky enough to have a friend who's Japanese, and speaks natively. If you don't have a resource like that, maybe try YouTube?

I have a full time job and I'm married, but no kids, yet. Class is only 2 nights (4 hours) per week for us, as it's a small school in a small town. The apartment I live in has limited space - I cannot really do any of my forms in full. That being said, I do try to get a workout in at least 3 days aside from class nights. My workout includes many non-martial arts related exorcises like hikes in the woods, push ups, sit ups, pull ups, PT exercises (rotator cuff exorcises, leg lifts for my hips,) stretches. The martial arts activities I'm able to do in my limited space are my punches and blocks (with weights) and kicking in place. If I don't do a hike, my total workout with stretching is about an hour'ish. The hikes are typically about 4 miles, and they take me just over an hour of additional time.

There were a few big changes I've made in my life - and they were for the better! Regularly eating salads, or not eating huge portions of pasta, or not eating an entire pizza in a sitting were all difficult changes I had to make, but I made them, and feel better for it. I've also kicked a nasty Mountain Dew habit (years ago) and regulated my sleep schedule to fit what people would consider to be "a normal" pattern. Of all these, the sleep pattern took the longest - it was probably about 2 years of effort.

The book "America's Generations: In The Workplace, Marketplace, And Living Room (2017)" by Chuck Underwood is a good resource for just about anyone to read. Chuck Underwood came to my college for a startup day a couple years ago to talk about the differences in generations (basically, talking about this book.) Most of the folks in the room were from the Boomer's or (like me) Gen X. We also had a few Millennials. I found this information to be rather enlightening. A big take-away for me: You can talk about how each generation is better or worse than another, but overall, each one is just as capable as the others. The important thing is communication. Teaching at a community college puts me in contact with people from all walks of life. I could complain about "how useless" the younger students are. But that would be quite counter-productive. These students need particular skills that older folks might take for granted. It is my (our) job to help them learn those skills (even though I teach math, and these skills aren't "math.") It's not easy, and I can't reach every student in just on semester. We all (student/teacher employee/employer, child/parent) need to pitch in and work together. Communication and cooperation are key!

My apologies - I'm neither very experienced, nor do I practice "karate," but I do have an opinion on the topic: Kata, or forms alone might not be enough for self defense situations. My limited experience in tournaments has shown me that most people do their forms by simply going through the motions. I frequently wonder if that's because many aren't trained about the applications of the forms. If you're trained to understand what the form is defending against, or attacking, then yes, I do feel it will help prepare you for self defense (and make your form look that much better!) There is also a relaxation-component in the forms that's important (for me, at least.) Getting up in front of a group of people to do your forms can be a bit on the nerve-wracking side. This puts you in a flight-or-fight situation. Being able to execute your form fluidly, with the appropriate power and finesse while you have a bit of adrenaline going does prepare you for a conflict situation - in order to have control of your body, you must have control of your mind, which means you must be breathing! That being said, I feel that you do need to spar in order to really be prepared. And you should always try to spar with someone who'll push you.

This is an interesting question. I wouldn't dismiss a martial artist who's never used their craft on the street, or in a ring as "fake." On some level, "art" is the key part of "martial art." I would venture to say that studying any martial art for a couple years would give you a significant advantage over the average person on the street. You may not come out of the scuffle unscathed, but that's never been the goal, as far as I could tell. I'd love to teach martial arts once I've ranked up some. Hopefully I'll never need to use it, and hopefully my students won't hold that against me. On the flip side, real experience certainly does add some credibility. The master instructor of my school was a sheriff deputy, and eventually a detective before he retired from law enforcement. He's had to use his training many times over (mostly hand-to-hand - sometimes multiple opponents, and on 3 occasions, he had to deal with knives.) His stories certainly sell the product! The upshot: No, I don't feel that an instructor needs to offer "proof by trial" in order to be deemed legit. Sharing those experiences, if you've lived them, could certainly help your credibility, though.

My wife is from Syria. People frequently ask her "Where are you from" as soon as she speaks. They do not know her at all, yet have no shame in asking imediately. I teach math for a living. People imediately respond with "Oh, I hate math," "That's my worst subject... I can barely add!" or "Hey, you're smart... you figure out the tip." My overall experience says that most people suck, even if they don't mean to.

I haven't developed a style, yet. I still get too wound up to do anything effective after about 30 seconds.

They have one of those "see how hard you can punch!" games at a local bar. A coworker of mine was bragging that he breaks the record every time he plays. Another coworker pointed out that the game gets a hard-reset every night. That made my day.

Make it out of oak or ironwood, and miss a dodge or block.

Welcome, sir!

Mmmmm. Coffee.

Recognizing generational differences is extremely important for communication's sake. It's really easy to fall into the superiority mindset ("these young kids" or "you're just too old to understand") which is not helpful in any way. I've said this before: Martial arts almost always have some teaching about water - being fluid and adapting, yet they seem to forget about those teachings in situations like this.

I had that a couple times. The most recent bout was in June. I had just returned to TKD (6 month break, almost no training during that time.) Our second class was a heavy leg day - 1.5 hours of kicks. I decided to do a brisk 3.5 mile hike (some decent hills) the day after. My legs were pretty useless for 2 days, and still sore after 4.

I want one! My birthday's coming up in a couple of months. ;-p

My wife and I went to our friends cabin in Northern Wisconsin. They actually have 2 cabins next door to each other. It was a wonderful trip, which involved plenty of amazing food, good beer and great company. While on this trip, I managed to go through my forms in a clearing in the woods, chop some wood with an 8lb maul, canoe, kayak, and a decently long hike. Physically, we did a lot, yet it was still relaxing (that might have something to do with beers and live music around a camp fire each night.) This was one of the better vacations that I've been on in quite some time!

I suspect the motions in your school's forms come more from your master instructor than they do from tradition. Forms seem to be fairly personal, to me. Everyone's body is relatively unique, and a combination of how they move, and what they perceive as proper (or just appealing) will impact the way things are taught. I think solid evidence of this exists if you watch your forms done on YouTube from different schools. At least, when it comes to the forms I do, I see tremendous variety.

I've been strangely unmoved by extreme strength or flexibility. Overall, I find having excessive amounts of either to be impractical, and a good way to set yourself up for many problems later in life. Most people will not do what it takes to maintain either of those extremes, and will end up suffering. Some anecdotal examples: Football players, swimmers and gymnasts - Many of the high school football players I went to high school with got pretty muscular. Now they're just fat. Gymnasts and swimmers tend to have hyper-mobility in their shoulders, as they work hard to gain the extra flexibility, but lose the muscle tone after a year or 2 of not training.

Good guard? I just block with my face. Strangely, I seem to block 100% of the time when doing so!

Every generation is the "me me generation." Each generation has its idiosyncrasies, and each generation has its positive traits. Just because they're different, doesn't mean they're less than the others.

"Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending." Apply this to your techniques. To your forms. To your attitude - everything. ~Yamamoto Tsunetomo

We wear a patch that looks similar to my avatar (except it's all red.) Our master instructor is quite the artist, and he's developed a neat image to be embroidered on the back of jackets and uniforms, if folks want it, but it's expensive to have done. My wife paid to have it put on a heavyweight gi for me (I use it primarily for testing.) Other than that, we're pretty plain.

Our classes tend to be rather "traditional." *Traditional "karate gi" for Tae Kwon Do *Emphasis on static stretching in the beginning (not a huge fan of that...) *Our stances are lower than a lot of other tae kwon do schools Outside of class, I use what I learned during PT and online along with what I learn in class while training. I also research new exercises to do, as well. Mixing up cardio with resistance training is hugely important. Modern day technology also allows for more diverse exercises (exercise balls, resistance bands, etc.)

What's going on in Texas is terrible (Sierra Leone also got hit really hard, and not much news coverage.) I'm making donations to help the relief effort. Every little bit helps! Amazon will double donations (up to $1mil total.) There are other easy ways to donate, too!