singularity6

My understanding is that kicking (or stomping) someone while they're on the ground can be considered deadly. Winding up for a hard kick to the head or ribs while someone is laying down is rather brutal. And I agree with many others... a well-placed round kick can drop an opponent rather quickly, and it doesn't have to be high.

My experience with aikido was a short one - 4 months long, but I was enamored by it. Yoshokai Aikido (centered in Ann Arbor, MI; I practiced it at Wayne State University in Detroit) seemed that it could be quite effective in practical application. This was over 10 years ago, but I do recall some of the basic ideas. The techniques I'm currently in my hapkido class are very similar to the aikido I learned back then.

Welcome aboard!

This is my first time reading up on this post. Thanks, LLEARNER for sharing your experiences. Some of us are luckier than others... Life tends to throw us some curve balls. Regardless of age and previous experiences, these will continue to shape us. Keep those spirits high! You're an inspiration to us all!

I've seen the Meijin gis recommend quite a few times. I'd like to try one, if I've never seen one in person. I'm so difficult to fit for clothing (gis included), and I hate buying stuff sight unseen. I wish there was a section at a place like Dick's Sporting Goods that had racks of gis (good gis), equipment, etc. There's way too much online leap of faith equipment and uniform buying in MA. I'm 5'10" tall, and just under 190lb (pushing about 2 months ago, which is the biggest I've been.) I've always been "thin" or "average" build. I'd say that the size would fit me even if I were 210lb. They definitely have a little room. Having half-sizes is also useful, and they will mix/match pant and kimono sizes, if needed! Ultimately, I prefer the fit and quality to Century by a lot.

I watched The Accountant (with Ben Afleck) with my wife a couple weeks ago, and thought I should recommend it here. If you're not familiar, it involves an accountant by the name of Chris Wolf who is on the high-functioning side of the autism spectrum, and moonlights as a bit of a vigilante/rogue super hero. It is an action flick, so some suspension of disbelief is required. Overall, I found it to be a very entertaining movie, and it shines the spotlight on autism, which the general public could use some more awareness on.

There's a big difference between resisting during sparring and resisting while the teacher's teaching/demonstrating. A profound difference. And the teacher shouldn't be using much force while demonstrating. The point of demonstrating isn't to hurt the student nor is it to show the class the teacher's technique doesn't work. That's what sparring is for. It's like a science class (I'm a science teacher, so I have to go there)... The demonstration and practicing the taught material without resistance are the lecture portion. Sparring is the lab. You prove and disprove in the lab, not during the lecture. What if the person has been in many labs and lectures beforehand?Science is continually being updated, or is it not so when someone is wearing a white lab coat? The ego problem can be with the teacher just as much as it can be with the student. As one person will eat what is served to them while others will send it back, due to its low quality in one area or another. If I had one martial art teacher, then everything is cut and dry, with who is to blame; in my case, having many teachers, with not one incident with most, how is it that the younger the teacher is the more problems arise? Simply a lack of experience and social skills on the teacher's part. That should be teaching kids and not adults due to not knowing how to deal with people that have real life experiences "Under their belt" Ultimately, if you feel that this school isn't working out for you, then leave it. I try to use this analogy whenever I feel things aren't flowing right at work or elsewhere: "If all I see is headlights, then maybe I'm in the wrong lane." Sometimes I'm in the correct lane, but that could mean I'm on the wrong road. Find a new road to travel on (if you really feel these instructors are inferior, leave and maybe open your own school?) I've had to switch lanes, and I've had to switch roads many times throughout my life, and sometimes I'd need to swallow my pride when reaching those points. My experiences in martial arts indicate that instructors will ask you to assist in the demonstration if they're confident that you know what's going to happen. Some acting may be required. I've always felt that it was a privilege and an honor to assist in a demonstration. My TKD days were about 18 years ago; alot of water has passed under the bridge since then.Lots of level headed advice here, thanks! Level headed hasn't always been my strong point. Levelheadedness isn't necessarily my strong point when under pressure. It's something I've been thinking about a lot, and working on. Changing ones mindset as an adult is tough!

There's a big difference between resisting during sparring and resisting while the teacher's teaching/demonstrating. A profound difference. And the teacher shouldn't be using much force while demonstrating. The point of demonstrating isn't to hurt the student nor is it to show the class the teacher's technique doesn't work. That's what sparring is for. It's like a science class (I'm a science teacher, so I have to go there)... The demonstration and practicing the taught material without resistance are the lecture portion. Sparring is the lab. You prove and disprove in the lab, not during the lecture. What if the person has been in many labs and lectures beforehand?Science is continually being updated, or is it not so when someone is wearing a white lab coat? The ego problem can be with the teacher just as much as it can be with the student. As one person will eat what is served to them while others will send it back, due to its low quality in one area or another. If I had one martial art teacher, then everything is cut and dry, with who is to blame; in my case, having many teachers, with not one incident with most, how is it that the younger the teacher is the more problems arise? Simply a lack of experience and social skills on the teacher's part. That should be teaching kids and not adults due to not knowing how to deal with people that have real life experiences "Under their belt" Ultimately, if you feel that this school isn't working out for you, then leave it. I try to use this analogy whenever I feel things aren't flowing right at work or elsewhere: "If all I see is headlights, then maybe I'm in the wrong lane." Sometimes I'm in the correct lane, but that could mean I'm on the wrong road. Find a new road to travel on (if you really feel these instructors are inferior, leave and maybe open your own school?) I've had to switch lanes, and I've had to switch roads many times throughout my life, and sometimes I'd need to swallow my pride when reaching those points. My experiences in martial arts indicate that instructors will ask you to assist in the demonstration if they're confident that you know what's going to happen. Some acting may be required. I've always felt that it was a privilege and an honor to assist in a demonstration.

When I moved to where I live now, I had a choice between 2 styles: Jidokwan Taekwondo/Hapkido, or Uechi Ryu Karate. The karate school was about 10 minutes closer to me, but was more expensive. After meeting with each instructor, I ended up choosing the taekwondo. Over the past 2 years, I realized I had made the correct choice. Our school focuses on self defense (to the point of ignoring point-sparring, unless someone is interested in training for a tournament.) Ultimately, you'll need to do some research in each of the schools before making a decision. Even then, it might take some time before you realize if you chose correctly!

The previous experience you had should also tell you the value of demonstration for those who are learning for the first time. Utilizing your previous knowledge on the street is a good thing. Utilizing it while the instructor is trying to demonstrate a technique can be disrespectful and counterproductive to the class as a whole. I try to arrive to class with an empty cup, and let the instructors fill it. Not all techniques work on everyone, perhaps my self and the bald guy in the video, is doing more good, by not cooperating blindly, to techniques that are easily countered that belong on a road that leads nowhere.Show or demonstrate both sides attacking and defending, styles or CI's that don't teach both, only have 50% of my respect. Is your cup half full or half empty? When I go to class, I try to go with an empty cup. Using the stances I learned in aikido, kendo or iaido are simply not helpful when it comes to my taekwondo - structurally and mechanically, they are different. When in taekwondo, I do taekwondo. Now when ti comes to real life... I'm the realist: http://imgur.com/gallery/ula3w

I used to worry about things like this a lot, and I probably still do. But I try not to. I'm in martial arts for myself. I'm competing with myself alone.

This recently happened in my school, though the separation happened on amicable terms. This is also a pretty old phenomenon (for example, how many different styles of taekwondo, karate, or kung fu are there?) Schools splinter off all the time, and I think this is healthy for martial arts. It's even better if they come together on occasion to teach each other. I don't only see this in martial arts. In academia, universities do not typically hire their own PhD students as professors, as that's considered academic inbreeding. The idea is to learn something, and take your ideas and training elsewhere . This prevents stagnation in the university, and generally promotes a healthier research/teaching environment. Granted, it would be a mess for martial arts if we operated in this way, but what if we did?

Our school is quite small, and is run by the master instructor himself. He rents space for training (a church gym with a tile floor in Gladstone, MI and a basketball court in a rec house in Gwynn, MI.) Many of the students and their families are quite involved, so a fair amount of grunt-work gets done by volunteers. He's not teaching martial arts to make money, however. He's doing it because he loves it, and he feels it's something people should learn because it will improve their lives on so many levels.

I've read that some taekwondo schools offer franchise oportunities to their blue belts... Earn a blue belt (which is typically about a year or a year-plus training) and then split off to open your own school. How's that for nonsense?

Our second-highest ranking member from our school recently broke off to start his own school. He was talking about getting certified in Haidong Gumdo so he could teach it. It sounded neat, but I'm not sure how one can become certified to teach it in short order. Like any other martial art, it seems like it should take at least several years to reach the level to where you can teach.

It looked like this thread could use an update. As many of you probably read, the re-branding happened last month! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Taekwondo

Ranking in martial arts is something I ponder frequently. It's certainly much easier to keep track of. People tend to associate white and yellow with lower ranks, while blue, red and black are higher. My friend sometimes teaches at his school, but since it's fairly large, with a lot of students who come in at various times, he frequently finds himself not knowing who's there, but the belt tells him roughly where each student's skill level is. All a good thing. But as Americans, I feel we get too hung up on benchmarks. Ideally, I'd like to see a school where everyone wears the same belt until they've mastered the basics, at which point they are awarded a black belt. This would be ideal at my school, in my opinion. Testing is infrequent, as we are very small. If you can't make it to a testing, you wait until the next one (I've been 6th geup for a year now because life has gotten in the way of multiple testings - work, travel, injury.) It'd be nice to move on and learn the next form, and some more techniques! Regardless, I will do as I am told in the class, as that's the martial arts way. Now when it comes to age and ranking, I definitely agree that younger students should not hold the same ranking as adults. Hell, even 18 seems like it might be too young for some!

Being in Taekwondo, we call it a kyhap or kihap. Our school isn't big on this. We primarily only kyhap during forms or during 3-step/1-step sparring (to let our partners know we're ready.) The manner in which we do it is personal. Some of the students (mostly younger students, or students who started at our school at a young age) scream a horrendous battle cry. Some people say "HAP!" and I'll grunt out a "HUH" or "HAH," mostly depending on how I'm feeling.

I dunno if any of you can tell at this point, but I'm reading through some old threads that seemed interesting. Ultimately, I'd pick the school that resonated with me most on a personal level. Some styles may be less "authentic" than others, but that's not always a big deal. If the people teaching at the school had any real martial arts training, and know how to teach, you'll learn something. As far as "ninjutsu" is concerned, I don't think there really is an ancient, authentic art. I think a lot of people worked really hard at integrating standard tactical training with some real martial arts with parkour and some flashy stuff found on TV to create a new art. Does it look fun? Do you really care about its origins? What do you really want out of the journey you're about to embark on?

Hopefully helpful to others who may have this question in the future: I love my Meijin Tropical karate gi. The fabric is outstanding. At 5'10", 190lb, the size 5 fits perfectly with no alterations. I did get some shrinking (washed cold each time, line-dried) but nothing beyond what should be expected from 100% cotton that wasn't pre-shrunk.

As I've stated elsewhere, my aikido, iaido and kendo gis all came from E-Bogu, and I've been satisfied with each. I've never liked the cut of Century's karate gi (I've had different ones.) My two current uniforms came from Meijin. I have a Meijin Tropical (medium weight) and a Meijin Champion (heavy weight.) Both are outstanding in quality, features and cut in my opinion.

I'm a sweaty dude, and I have trashed countless undershirts and t-shirts over the years. I've since moved to CertainDri antiperspirant. It's pretty heavy-duty, and might be a little harsh for some... but I haven't had any issues with pit-stains ever since the switch. I use it in conjunction with a non-antiperspirant deodarant, as it is unscented.

What uniform wouldn't be stuffy when it's 30C?

Might be a little late... but this could help others in the future: My aikido gi is from E-Bogu, and it seems to be pretty well-made. My iaido gi and kendo gi are from the same company, and I'm happy with those as well. I can only assume their judo gi would be of similar quality.

I haven't had the pleasure of actually observing Wing Chun before. I shall watch some videos and report back!