Sibylla

I'm not sure what "pressing the issue" means. I couldn't care less if the instructors spar, and I want to study Taekwondo. In the end the skill level of the black belts in the class is not really my problem nor should I let it be my concern. For whatever reason, there is this group of adolescent black belts. Obviously they've been there at least a few years in order to be 2nd and 3rd dans, and only now is there a slow building up of lower colored belts in the adult classes. What I surmise is that there must have been a block of time when few new people were joining the club. Perhaps it coincides with the start of the great recession. Whatever the case, my wife and I are green belts now, and we need to focus on our own training. By the sound of your posts, the quality of the dan rank is already seriously affecting your training..no one can train in a vacuum. Some people take "own training" way to literally. You need good training partners and to be a good training partner.

For kickboxing I use: - Always: Thai boxing gloves 12oz, thai shin pads, mouthguard. - Sometimes: Headgear (boxing type, leather) Torso protector (TKD) FMA: - Helmet, protective poncho, elbow and underarmprotector, gloves - Sometimes: Helmet, gloves

I don't think earplugs will help. You have several options, don't spar, spar with headgear, ask your partners to not hit so hard to the head, or change schools. Depends on how much you value your hearing. Imo there is no embarrassement in wearing headgear because of an ear injury.

I don't understand how some people place titles and rank above experience. There is no rationality in it, which means it's a matter of belief/faith of some sorts.

I would look for another place to spar. Even if it ment another style. Kickboxing could be suitable. At least from what I've experienced the instructors will spar and they have no problem doing so with people from TKD or karate. Pressing the issue in you current TKD dojo can cause you problems. It sounds to me that you and your wife really want to train there so why rock the boat.

If people are interested and ask questions, I discuss my training with them. When it comes to work, I prefer being open about it, for instance because sometimes I have bruises and I want to avoid speculations around that. Regarding what people understand or don't understand..well some will have their (negative) opinions regardless. I'm not going to give them an extra reason by being lofty or evasive about my activities.

If it doesn't come naturally decide to do it anyway. Think through it before sparring and decide for instance to do one or two ushiro geri, and/or this or that punches. I'm not sure if sparring ever is natural, to get something out of it you need a plan. If you just go with it tends to fall in quality.

Nope. Martial arts is no more noble than any other activity. I'm very much in line with what is said in the article here, and in some of the comments: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2010/03/04/your-karate-practice-is-not-noble/ In my of experience, people who claim some kind of nobility due to what they practice and/or rank, very often turn out to be if not very immature, hypocrites and not very nice people at all.

It's pompousness and lies. I don't want to be associated with martial artists that believe stuff like that.

Martialart: Thank you for explaining further. People are different in what works for them. But I don't think time limits for rank says that much. In my previous system training two times a year could be interpreted as a full year of training by the head instructor. And he gave out dan rank as he pleased and no one above in the organization would question it. That didn't mean that there weren't good students and instructors in the system. But in my country it wasn't and as a student you would be wasting a lot of your time and never get beyond a certain point unless you were prepared to train for instance in Japan. This was not something that beginners would be informed of.

First of all, I'm not sure that you can bring nobility into settings were such things goes on. The leadership decides what is and what isn't. Secondly, with time, I believe what you bring in will open a cleft or difference between you and the others. And if you're the minority, don't expect anyone to follow your lead. To illustrate, I trained for years in a very credible Japanese art with a highly ranked head instructor. But for instance, he ranked people in the way you describe. One student, who couldn't do the basics at all, was promoted to shodan and then promptly opened up his own dojo for kids. The head instructor then said to me "omg, he has opened a dojo. I have to learn him something now..". That student, and the rest that was promoted in that way, would pick on, bully and portray themselves as leaders due to their rank, even if (or perhaps because) weren't any good. What I'm saying, with time, your training situation will get to you. And if it doesn't, the rest of the students try to get to you because you're different.

Quit when you want to. Don't do what a previous semi retired head instructor of mine did, become more and more flaky, blame the students and destroy the dojo before you leave.

One of the articles "Are you a deadly weapon" dates to the august 2007 issue, but the rest of the cover doesn't match yours. So either BB Magazine have different covers around the world at the same time, or that pic is a mock up/fake.

You'll find it here somewhere: http://books.google.com/books/serial/qtoDAAAAMBAJ?rview=1

Jeffrey: To keep the adult I think it's the same as with the beginners, but just more. You have to know them enough to cater to some of their needs, especially if they have trained for a while. Far from all adults are mainly rank driven, they may be interested in competition, judging, instructing, organizing events, demoteams etc. If all they are left with is mediocre (?) exercise and rank, maybe they'll reach a point where they look at other options. For instance local gyms or other dojo that are more in line with their interests and needs, and not to forget their busy time schedule. One club I trained in managed to lose about every adult that wasn't an instructor (including me), and all they offered was basically the same lesson over and over plus some (dubious) low rank. Just a little bit of work in regards of gradings, education of instructors etc could have turned it around. It was a shame because there certainly was people who were capable of doing that work in the club, but the leadership didn't want any changes.

Imho the term Mcdojo doesn't always relate to money or to how long it takes to rank. Different arts have different standards, and some costs more money than others. Getting a BB after 2 or 10 years says nothing in itself. Also, you can very well find McDojos within otherwise respected styles, where the dojo basically is driven by corruption and types of abuse. For instance where an instructor gives advantages to "friends" in form of rank and other qualifications (travels to competition abroad that other people in the dojo are more qualified for), chasing women, beating up students, etc, etc, etc. Dojo where this happen may be a shotokan, kendo, judo, or whatever respected style. The strongest indicator of Mcdojo to me is: - huge and unexplainable inconsistency in rank skills (see above) - erratic, weird instructor behavior, claims about superpowers , "preaching", etc. Quality of instruction can actually be ok in some McDojo, but if the place is run in a corrupt manner, whether it's money or other motivation behind, it's still a McDojo to me.

My own school is very socially inclusive, and we seem to keep a lot of the people who start. I think the main reasons for that is a) inclusive environment b) quality of instruction. c) Being visible To elaborate on point a), my school has instructors that originally comes from another country, and the same goes for a lot of the students. We also have a growing percentage of women. I think that in itself contributes to getting and keeping students, an environment that isn't very homogenous is easier to "fit into" than for instance joining a club filled with white middle aged men. If your group of students is homogenous to start with, it takes more leadership to make it open for other people. A "boys club" going to the pub and patting themselves on the back, is only inculsive to some. What matters the most imo is what goes on in class. Are beginners and "the odd ones", like women, or people who don't share your cultural background, fully welcome in class? Do you for instance make an effort to learn their name, say hello when they arrive, monitor their training properly so if anything goes on, you know about it? b) I've trained with many highly ranked instructors. But not all are equipped to instruct, and/are just too flaky to instruct on a regular basis. This will negatively reflect upon enrollment but also on how many advanced students who quit. But this seems difficult to do somethimg about. I actually asked an isntructor in my new club whether he and the head instructor would be expected to run the club for the long haul and instruct regularily. He wasn't shocked about the question.. c) Be out there. If the local TKD club is in the newspaper and have demos, so should you.

Weapons training together with unarmed combat is cool if the instructor knows what they are doing. It's pretty rare though, to find karate instructors that have rank in it. You don't have to carry around a real weapon for it to be useful, you can use something you carry on yourself..like an umbrella, a pen, handbag etc. Imho somewhat experienced karateka already knows a lot of stuff that can be translated to weapons use.

Do you by any chance have flat feet? I had horrible feet cramps when I started in Shotokan, especially while holding stances and not so much while moving. It went away after a while. I attributed it to my flat feet getting used to something new. Imho I would probably mention it to the instructor, and ask him whether it's ok for you to discreetly stretch and losen them up from time to time during training.

I would argue that traditionally (in Japan) a black belt ment some grasp and understanding of the basics. It didn't make you an expert or master. For some reason though, in the West, it at one point and especially to the public, it started to mean master/expert. Which made those arts that stuck to the Japanese model sometimes look bad. And which also made some arts give out black belts on different basis than skills, because of the percieved desirability of the rank. To summarize, black belts can have greatly varying meaning. Imho one of the few arts that have some consistency and where the black belt can be said to mean master, is BJJ. From what I understand it takes at least ten years of consistent training. But it doesn't mean that your special anymore than someone working consistently at something for a long time is "special".

None of the places where I train are especially rank orientated. One club is centered around kick/thaiboxing/MMA, while the other is FMA/kickboxing/MMA. Both places, maybe especially the latter, have students with considerable experience from traditional arts. The "vibe" of those clubs is different from the more traditional dojos I've been in, people are more training and learning motivated I guess. It's a shame though that some traditional dojos do such a good job of getting rid of students that don't fit the whole rank crazy system. They could be a great resource.

Maybe in fields such as ufologi (is that even a word?), conspiracy theories, and alternative health. Because whatever people on those fields come up with, it's difficult to rationally verify. As it's difficult to verify the claims of some martial artists, and hold them accountable for it. Maybe the real lesson in MA is to experience all the crapola some come up with and the mechanisms that make some accept that crapola as having some truth and value.

I agree with White Owl. This (the hugging and stuff) will do you no good. You have to consider your dojo mates, and what it can stir up.

I've recieved the Fairtex BGV1 and I just love them. They are snug but I can use wraps with them. And they feel much lighter on than the previous pair. Maybe not the best for raw beginners, or hard sparring/heavy hitters though, since they aren't big pillows. I didn't believe that the gloves could make such a big difference, it's much better with these ones.

Great job on deflecting what could have been a hint of jealousy there from the black belt...