singularity6

It's funny how no one is really happy, isn't it? I think it's amusing that people think that teachers "get summers off." I've had so much going on this summer between work projects and family that it didn't feel like I had "time off." It was just time spent doing things that weren't in the classroom. There was more time for me to get my workouts in, however. I will miss that!

Which part of WI? I'm about an hour from the WI/MI border, and a couple hours from Green Bay. Winters aren't so bad. I actually moved to the UP to avoid the summer heat in Detroit. Summers in the UP are far more tolerable (we rarely see 90F, and 80's are far less frequent.)

Keep on kicking, sir!

Tradition is part of the human condition; people don't usually like change.There is a tug of war of sorts with tradition and change. Very good points to consider singularity6 Martial arts is no exception to the complexities of tradition and changing with the times. Tradition is usually trying to hold on to things that are good things or habits; passed on from one generation to the next. Change is inevitable but too quickly is just as bad as stuck too deeply in tradition. The Chinese deal with this in, how will the decisions today (change) effect the future generations. Change for today might be a temporary good but bad in the future; very difficult to reverse once set in motion. Thank you, sir. Recently, the Shaolin Monastery in China has been rather progressive about trying to flow with the times. Not only have they embraced digital technology, they're branching out, making "kung fu reviews" similar to the Cirque du Soleil. Granted, that's not "traditional martial arts," it is something that could potentially generate more public interest. Change sucks. Most people will fight it, but the fight is a reaction we must overcome.

Today is our first day back to school. Getting to this point has actually been rather stressful. I've had lots of irons in the fire, and tending to them all challenging. Two weeks ago, someone else found a bunch of irons in another fire and gave them to me (I shall spare you all the details.) At any rate, I kept my head up, made sure I found time to train, and I persevered. So... here's to a wonderful Fall!

Thank you, sir!

A couple thoughts: 1. Could your device be malfunctioning? 2. A friend of mine went on a serious weight loss campaign. He was about 5'4" and weighted over 200lb. The first 50lb came off easy - diet, walking, cycling... did the trick! He fluctuated for quite some time after that, very much the same way you described, and with great frustration. He then added resistance training - specifically targeting the glutes and upper legs (he did work other muscles, too...) These large muscles require a lot more calories to maintain. This was key to his continued progress. Apologies if this isn't new.

My hips are almost all the way better. I still feel strange sensations in the specific muscle that was causing issues when I do something "new." Starting slow, I only did front kicks. Then I started trying very controlled side and round kicks. Now I'm back to doing all my spin kicks (each time I graduated, to the next step, I'd get that sensation) and I'm finally starting my jumping kicks. While doing a workout at home, I tried pushing the height of my side kicks. Before I started PT, my side kicks might come up to my chest level. Now, they're approaching throat level. Maybe I should get injured more often! ;-p

How would you build confidence in a student?While I've not taught any martial arts classes, I've been successfully teaching math at colleges for over 10 years. Sometimes it's through examples (see, I make mistakes, too!) Sitting down with students and having 1-1 discussions also helps, along with a number of other things. My approach usually depends on the student, and me meeting them where they're at.

That's the point though. China consistently scores better on global rankings using this teaching method. In fact the Shanghai school district itself is producing students of a higher caliber than those found in most of Europe, the US and other Western countries. East Asian teaching methods clearly have the edge on what we're used to over here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment#Results They've got to be doing something right? I think there is some misunderstanding on the "no child left behind" part of this teaching model. Rather than forcing kids through the grades and subject matter, if anything it asks that the teacher slows down and really makes sure everyone understands what is being taught and teaches it in smaller steps. Over here, when the kids reach the end of the 5th grade, they automatically go into 6th grade and start on 6th grade material whether or not they fully understand. In the Shanghai model, the idea is that they don't begin looking at say fractions or algebra or even multiplication until everyone has a thorough grasp on addition. If you read the articles linked in the original post, some of the Western teachers were surprised at how slow the Shanghai students seemed to cover a topic. In the West we'd have our kids on more "advanced" topics already but in the Shanghai model there is a focus on making sure that the basics are fully understood. To bring this back to Karate, you'd have your students nail their kihon and Taikyoku kata first and really understand the moves inside and out, before moving on to more advanced material. You'd have them practice Taikyoku Shodan, and would really want them to have a solid understanding of 1 block, 1 attack and 1 stance before thinking about introducing further material. This foundation is slower to build but is more thorough, and as a result, stronger. When it comes to education as a whole, most Asian countries have it ingrained in their culture. The might move on as groups, but the kids also study night and day. Many children in the US never even bring homework home. They are given time to do "homework" during class. That being said, this Shanghai approach may work quite well if the students were to train a lot outside of class. As far as "No Child Left Behind" is concerned, I could explain were the hangup is, but that's getting political. Feel free to PM me, if you're interested in hearing what I have to say.

As they used to say in WoW: Ding!

Any good teacher would recognize if someone had self-esteem issues, and would attempt to address it. A traditional martial with a GOOD instructor would be a GREAT place for someone with lower self esteem. Being nervous when performing in front of people (testings, for example) or sparring is completely human. I'd be worried if students, especially new ones, were not nervous. Any instructor who's worth their salt will know how to respond, and help these students through. After all, how many martial arts schools advertise "build confidence" anyway?

Then how can bullying be explained away, as bigger children dominating smaller ones?When most people who lack any training fight, they tend to flail their limbs. A lot of energy is wasted. Larger, stronger people may still inflict damage, but there is no thought behind it. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. One of the "toughest kids" in my high school might be around 5'4" or 5'6" tall. His sheer aggression gave him his edge, and he wasn't afraid to use a well-placed sucker punch. He used one on my brother at a party once, and split my brother's lip open pretty good. My brother was much bigger and stronger than the bully, and was also a well-trained wrestler (second in the state for our high school back in 1999.) Had this been a "fair match" with some rules followed, my brother certainly would have prevailed. At any rate, a number of traits can be used to explain the hows and whys of bullying. I don't think intelligence is at the top of that list.

That was a really cool video, thanks for sharing! The sparring and training both look intense.

Welcome, Douwe! Glad to have ya!

Very interesting thread! I suffer from chronic instability (though it's more of a genetic thing.) It's not fun. It's mostly my shoulders that pop out, so I need to regularly do strength training for the rotator cuff muscles in order to participate in martial arts. I can tell that my hips can dislocate if I really want them to, but that joint is inherently more stable than the shoulder (and I have significantly more muscle in my legs/hip region than I do in my upper body, and always have.) While my hip joint is not stable, the tendons, ligaments and muscles surrounding the hip won't let me do the splits. In fact, I doubt I'll ever get to the point to where I can do the splits (and if I do manage to do them, I'd probably stay in that position...) About the video: the gentleman's flexibility is very impressive. He's likely to have issues later in life, however. Most people do not train as hard as he must be training for too long. Once they're done competing, they lose the muscles that support the joints. Their tendons and ligaments lack the strength to support the joints, and they'll have chronic instability.

Agreed! I was thinking "NCLB" as well.

I was bullied quite a bit growing up. I had next to no instinctive abilities when it came to fighting. Looking back, neither did most of the kids I grew up with (including the ones who beat me up... they were just bigger and stronger.) Aggression may be instinctive, but it's not an ability.

Looking outside Asian martial arts, you'll notice boxers will switch stances up. Switching stances is more of a suggestion, then a hard-fast rule. I'm still fairly new at sparring. When I first started, my heart rate went through the roof, and I really couldn't do much. My instructors worked with me on breathing, and paying attention to the stance. At first, me switching stances was was very much a conscious effort. Now it's a bit more of a reflex, so I feel there's a lesson in awareness of your opponent build in here. Another thought: Most people are right handed, so their stances will favor their right side. Switching to the left will (hopefully) force the opponent into a less comfortable position. It's all about you maintaining balance and control while taking it away from your opponent.

I'm sure my technique and flow are off (I've not sparred much, as I'm still fairly new at this.) But I definitely need to get my butt in better shape!

So I sparred for the first time in a while in class (had a 6 month break, and was recovering from a hip injury.) It was quite interesting. I learned that I lost whatever edge I had before the break, and as I'm only a green belt, I did not have a lot of experience sparring, anyway. Yesterday's class was black belt-heavy. 4 black belts, 2 green belts and a yellow belt were all that attended. So, the color belts rotated among the black belts. As I should be testing for 5th geup soon, they went a little harder on me than before. Each of my opponents had distinctively different fighting styles. My first opponent is a very balanced fighter. He'll encroach on you slowly and then unleash. He regularly knocks me upside the head with spinning back fists, hook kicks, or just drills me in the face with basic punches (I've gotten pretty good at blocking with my face!) The second guy I fought is like fighting a fortress. He's purely defensive, doesn't move much, but he's really hard to get a hit on him. I'm not sure if he treats green belts any different than black belts... Every time I spar with him, my matches have always ended with me in a choke-hold on the ground. Finally, I sparred the youngest of the black belts who were present that day (ripe old age of 22) and he was by far the most aggressive. He tends to charge in on most people with a flurry of punches and kicks, and he gets close. We went at it for a few bouts over a few minutes, and each time I found myself to be quite overwhelmed. And in one case, in another choke hold on the floor. Yesterday was the first day where I sparred with multiple opponents in one day. The contrast of fighting styles was extremely useful. I made lots of mistakes, and it's in those mistakes where the learning happens! I got pretty wound up, and in some occasions, let fear take over. I also ran out of gas pretty quickly, which shows that I need to work more on my stamina.

Congrats, man!

Did you watch the video? She turned up at the gym for sparring pretending to be a beginner when she was in fact a MT champ. The guys spar lightly with her then she switches it on and shows what she can do. It isn't even remotely relevant to the discussion we had here. This is an open discussion, what doesn't seem relevant to one person doesn't mean it isn't to another.I see this video as relevant to this discussion, therefore it works for me. The males in this video, most definitely changed their opinion of women fighters after this encounter. The way the male was taunting the girl wasn't right, she turned the tables on him and looked slightly humiliated, something he deserved. The girl is clearly a superior fighter than the males and by no means bigger, isn't that biologically relevant enough? (Happy to see you back in the discussion, mushybees) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- mushybees Yellow Belt Joined: 16 Nov 2014 Posts: 78 Location: UK Styles: Wado ryu (Wado-kai) PostPosted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 5:53 am I carry no demons. In every other way apart from physical makeup women are the equal of men and surpass them in others. In some species the female is larger and stronger than the male. Denying biology isn't being a feminist. It's clear we don't agree on this subject so with the utmost respect I'll bow out I wasn't going to chime in on this discussion, as I didn't think it's worth discussing (the 2+2 = 5 bit by Mushybees made a lot of sense to me.) But actual logic is being ignored. This video is ridiculous, and does nothing for the argument at hand.. It's not even a cherry picked. It's completely staged. This is Reality TV, at best. The internet can be a wonderful resource, but you've really gotta be able to vet the source, and distinguish fantasy and reality (and no, Reality TV is not reality.) In response to the bold: This came across as "I'm right and you're wrong. If you don't like it, don't participate." This doesn't feel like it fits the "martial arts way."

Yes!! This pretty much sums it up.

I've been doing leg lifts in 4 different directions (recommended by my physical therapist.) Just 20'ish a day in each direction 3 or 4 days a week has helped A LOT!