TheDevilAside

Yeap, I'm with MTFreak. I actually did a search for Iron Face Kung Fu on google a couple of months back, but didn't find any results. Well, you came off as a well-educated, "worldly" kind of guy, so I figured you were probably training at an underground, Buddhist temple in an ancient, secretive martial art passed down from generation to generation to generation. But uh.. I get it now :/

I should really start taking advantage of the full-contact sparring my school offers after class.

going off on a tangent... hey I just bought the chronology from Borders yesterday! They're good, right?

It's not a matter of toughening them up, you just need to get used to it.

...he said he'd be able to handle himself better in a fight than before. After 9 months of training, I wouldn't consider that such a radical assumption.

It varies from state to state. Just search for 'knife laws' or something in google, that's what I did.

I like the books.. the movies are awful.

lol!

Those are killer!

Yeap, martial arts helped me a bunch. I was kind of lazy (still am) before I started martial arts.. but MA helped me get off my donkey and do the things I've always wanted to do such as paintballing and rock climbing (FUN!!!). It also inspired me to start lifting weights.. and don't even get me started about my abs Though that is due to the weight lifting/calisthenics I do on my own, at home. Inductive reasoning

Obviously neither of you have experienced American Kenpo ...ah I love the things I can get away with, as long as there's a smiley face at the end. Well, yes, congratulations to KK, I was wish there was a school nearby, it'd be neat to see how hard they train.

..don't provoke the lion.

I wouldn't be calling you a "newb" Welcome to the forums!

NOoOoOoOoOoOoOo!!!

Aw crap, looks like I've been laid off. We already went through this. Kenpo is adaptable, we train to kill (hehe, cool), to beat them to a bloody pulp, to knock out, or to tickle...?! I'm tired, I apologize for the nonsensical (that a word?) nature of this post. Yes. Uhm, as full as a glass can get. Rules depend. The after-class sparring class is pretty much whatever you want with gear. Some of the higher belts train with no gear and go at each other pretty forecfully. No strikes to the throat. No hitting while the opponent's down. Uhm, I haven't gone to those in a while, I'd have to refresh my memory. But yes, some of us do spar full contact.. only those who are willing. Ever gotten into a fight before? Just curious. Y'know.. have you "tested" your style? Pfft.. but you're right, this thread was pretty interesting.

Never experienced it myself. But our head instructor's told us stories of it. He wears the Parker Kenpo crest on his jacket, and many times people have bowed as a sign of respect, one time it was even a guy at a hot dog stand, heh. I've come across a lot of people that disrespect other arts/schools and make theirs out to be the ultimate. But I have come to the conclusion that this is not true for the majority.

Hm.. to explain Ki... It's like the force in Star Wars. It's just an energy that floats around in the Universe and those few Jedi can tap into it and manipulate it. Some people think it's a force that links the universe together and something we share with everyone, just few people are aware of it. In fact, I think a lot of people even believe that Ki is the force of life(your spirit, you could say). As it is viewed in Eastern culture, it has no connection to a supreme being, it is something that channels through you from the universe, or it is harnessed from within. Sure, you can say God gave us souls that hold that energy and he intended for us to tap into that. That's peachy. Maybe that's what Christ used to turn water into wine

https://www.maschools.com is a good one if you're in the US. I'm not really sure what the difference between Chinese Kenpo and American Kenpo is, you might want to start a "Chinese vs. American Kenpo" thread.

Yes it is, she moved a while back. Would talking on the phone help any? I used to have her cell number, but I traded in my cellphone for another because of technical issues and lost my phonebook, I guess I'd have to ask again. I don't really know her parents that well, but they're divorced and her mother doesn't really care about anything, neither does her father. Thanks for the advice, everyone. I think I'll just slowly ease her into it, and before she realizes what's going on she'll be a black belt Alright, well, I'll ask her for her cellphone number and talk then. Graci.

I was talking to a pretty close friend of mine, via AIM, and she confided in me about how much she hates high school, how she's so jealous of all of the popular, good looking, talented kids and she's planning on switching schools. And, in general, she's not too happy with herself and life. She's sort of sinister (unless you get to know her, she's a really sweet girl), doesn't think too highly of herself (without reason, actually), and very unconfident. Anyway, after she explained everything to me, I asked her what she likes to do. And she said she used to like singing, but she's given up on that, and now she doesn't like to do anything anymore. So I asked her what she would like to do, and she said, ironically enough, martial arts. So I looked around for schools in her area and found a few good ones, gave her the websites, explained to her what taking a class is like, and asked her if she wanted to fill out any of the contact sheets. Now, at first she was slightly reluctant. She's basically scared of trying new things and she's out of shape (not over weight, just not exactly fit, either) and I guess she has this misconception that you have to be a lean, mean fighting machine before you can practice a martial art. Also, she said she gets frusturated with herself when she's not the best at something, and ends up quitting because of that. I tried explaining to her what it was really all about, and that the instructors aren't here to put you on the spotlight or make your life miserable, that they're there to help you. But the more I tried explaining it to her, the more defensive she became. I wasn't pressuring her, I just gave her the URL to the contact form and told her she should sleep over it and fill it out when she thinks she's ready. Well, then she fed me the "you just don't understand" line and then, inconveniently, my damn cable connection went out... So, anyone know how I could get her to atleast try a class out? She said she wanted to take martial arts, she just seems too scared to want to try anything new. I don't understand how the mind of 17 year old girls work, and hers baffles me even more. Thank you in advance

1.Butting with the head. 2. Eye gouging of any kind. 3. Biting. 4. Hair pulling. 5. Fish hooking. 6. Groin attacks of any kind. 7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent. 8. Small joint manipulation. 9. Striking to the spine or the back of the head. 10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow. 11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea. 12. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh. 13. Grabbing the clavicle. 14. Kicking the head of a grounded opponent. 15. Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent. 16. Stomping a grounded opponent. 17. Kicking to the kidney with the heel. 18. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck. 19. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area. 20. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent. 21. Spitting at an opponent. 22. Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent. 23. Holding the ropes or the fence. 24. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area. Those rules don't apply for a fight in a school, bar or mall. But those are the kinds of fights that we train for. #6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19 (could be off a flight of steps, bushes, etc.), 20, 24 (taunting works miracles) are especially good methods to end a street fight quickly and we do train to do these things.

What will and won't work for inside of a ring with a set of rules, yes. Believe it or not, K1/UFC does favor particular styles due to its rules and setting.

I've never been that exhausted or pushed in my martial arts training. Ah wait, yes I was, once. We were doing light contact sparring with no gear (but that turned into full contact with the guy I was sparring.. sort of an agreement we have ) and I attempted to roundhouse him to the ribs, but he managed to block my foot with his elbow (I think.. that's what it felt like) and he must've hit a nerve or something because I could hardly walk on that foot. But I just ignored the pain and kept fighting like normal. However, after that I had to lighten up a bit, and man it hurt when I got home. What was going through my head? "I can't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he hurt me"

Aaaawww man they all beat me to it :[ But, yeap, what everyone else said. And R/D/F is a type of outline or can be used as a method of taking notes. RDF stands for Reasons/Details/Facts. 'Nother question, how do you fight? Are you aggressive? Do you fight as if you're trying to drive the opponent into the wall? Are do you fight defensively? My problem used to be that I was too defensive, because I didn't actually want to hurt the other person, heh. Sometimes I would even apologize if I hit them a little bit hard See, I'm one of those "sleeping lions", I really don't like to fight very much unless I'm provoked. If it's just a friendly sparring match, I always hold back.. not just in power but I miss out in opportunities. I can only really only fight well if I'm angry and have a reason to seriously harm the other person. I've gotten over that mostly, though, except when I spar women... sorry.

Wouldn't scratching the itch be a relief? Anyway, my point was I was never a fan of Kata's, and never wanted to learn one because I found them fascinating or fun to do. I made my point as to why I wanted to learn a new kata. Now, as I was typing that, I realized that very few people would be able to recognize what I meant if I were to say "short form 2", so I excluded it. But hey, I guess I'll go with that. When I was a white belt I wanted to learn Short Form 2 because it was beautiful in that symmetrical sort of way, it was interesting (had a lot of variety) and was short and sweet.