granmasterchen

yep it's a martial art

fights didn't last long you have to remember one thing, when we fight today in tournaments or on the streets, we fight to beat the person through endurance and pain....not to kill them. in a real life fight where life or death are the only two outcomes, you end the fight quickly, you break out your deadliest techniques, no endurance needed, the fight is real short, who ever is the fastest with the best skill wins in a matter of seconds or mili-seconds. the same thing goes with the swords, they didn't fight to see who was better and challenge each other to blocks and points and light contact, the went in for the kill very quick, you don't want to give your opponent the chance to attack you, so you quickly go for the kill, fastest and most skilled wins, in these scenarios strenght isn't as important, endurance isn't as important....it's all about your skill and speed, you hit the right spot (especially with a katana) and the fight is over, the end. hope this helps, sorry for the length

my suggestion would be the tonfa....it's usually the hardest weapon to get training on these days out of the 3 that you listed, next would be the sai....it is still uncommon though...lastly would be the bo....everyone and their cousin does the bo these days.....so you can always pick up that skill later on from just about anyone....while tonfa and sai are a little harder to come by with good instruction. just my point of view

getting drunk is usually not a good thing for martial arts.... ideally you want to keep a clear calm mind and a level of control....and alcohol has a tendancy to effect that.

I pay $20 a month for my lessons testing is $20 from white -yellow $30 yellow-purple $40 purple-green $50 green-brown $60 brown-black and so forth my instructor has raised his prices since I started, but the student gets to pay whatever the amount was when he/she started in his class we have 2 classes a week at school #1 1hr 30 min each school #2 and #3 each have 2 classes a week each being an hour and half each, and the student is able to attend each school.

Has anyone heard of a korean kicking kata???? or any kata that may be known for its kicking? in my style, moodukkwon taekwondo we do: basic forms 1-3 pyn ahn 1-5 bassai nihanchi 1-3 then this korean kicking kata....that I can't seem to find anywhere..... can anyone help me out here?

if performed correctly katas can be a great way to work out!

ummmm..........what does that link have to do with ki???? it reminds me of a science book geared towards 3rd graders.

thank you all for your responses and the pms....I will check out each and everyone of them. I have already checked out the links that have been sent to me, and again I thank you very much!

didn't know that. But I am a big fan of Ray Park's I bet the movie will be good, hopefully....

Not sure exactly where we will be living....havent gotten a house or anything, just the assignment. When we get there, we will live in military temporary housing until we find a place, usually they give us roughly 2 wks to find a place. as far as style, i've studied many, so i'm not too picky. Im not much of a fan of the tkd styles that are similar to olympic format or have the taeguk palgue forms....grrr.....I like the karate forms, and I also like the kung fu aspects. So Im a fan of all karates, tangsoodos, aikidos, and kungfus.....i dont think i want to do any grappling either. So, honestly I will check out any place that is good regardless of style....but of course i like the standup striking arts pretty well....but not kick boxing or muay thai.....I like something that has forms, and stuff.....lol who knows, i dont know what I want....just curious on what is good in the area.

Well, I personnally.....feel that receiving a black belt in one years time is ludacris...but that's me.....I also feel that gaining any type of advanced rank in that time frame just as crazy, whether it is red or brown. I come from a school that only tests once or twice a year.....we only have 6 colors, white, yellow, purple, green, brown and black.....so in my style, after one year you have only started to touch on the intermediate ranks.....on average we would test once a year for each rank above purple just to show the amount of time it took to really "LEARN" the techniques.....you all know what i'm saying...so i'll just be quite and reiterate the point that I don't think it's right to get that rank in one years time.

I just found out that my next assignment will take me to Denver. Is anyone knowledgeable of the area to tell me what martial arts are offered in the area.... I know there will be many...BUT is there anyone here that has studied at a good dojo or club or dojang or what not, or with a good instructor in Denver that can let me know what I should look for..... I think it would be cool to meet someone from the forums when I go to my new assignment.....interesting..... so let me know if anyone has studied there, what not to go to, bad instructors and good ones and so forth....

there are many schools in korea, and japan that are just like those in the states....mcdojos...... BUT, it is POSSIBLE to gain the rank of first dan in a style if you train hard everyday with a good instructor, which is more possible in the orient than it is in the states..... many people think that black belt is the top rung of the ladder.....but they forget the first lesson that any true black belt will tell you when you ask.......black belt is only the beginning.....it is only the start.....I have often heard that it is referred to as starting over with your white belt....others say that the black belt only shows that you have finally started the martial arts....also referring to the white belt....black belt is the start the beginning.....after that is when you truely start to learn the art. hope that helps some

I agree in a huge amount....modernized tkd is all about fighting in a controlled atmosphere....not like the older schools.

yes, but not since I was 22 but there were numerous occations which I used my skills up to that age. My home town was plagued with lots of gangs and such. I never had to use my skills when in the military except for a couple fights in basic training. But as many have said before, with the more knowledge and skill you possess, the easier it is to get yourself out of a situation where you would have to use your skills.

I think the title of master is something that true masters wont or don't accept it is a title that is granted by others when refering to that individual

my signature break would be 8 bricks each 3 inches thick stacked up, that's two feet of concrete with an elbow strike the only break i haven't done yet is with my head....still not 100% mentally ready yet

for example: he "could" be a 4th degree in a style....let's say shotokan karate.... with the knowledge that he gained from shotokan he could simply have went to another karate school and quickly tested for black belt in that style....let's face it, if you reach that level of competency in a one style and you go to a new style that is VERY similar, you could quickly get the rank of 1st degree as well. many styles like shotokan are similar to other forms of karate, think of how many different styles of karate there are to choose from. Also, tangsoodo is very similar as well. Then you have the whole aspect of TKD to look at, ITF and WTF, along with all the new variations that have been created in the US, if he had an instructor that taught several styles he could have quickly received these blackbelt ranks due to the fact that he not only had familiarity in his instructor's corriculum but also the fact that he knew the instructor, after all the years that it would have taken to reach that level of 4th degree he could then basically be given the ranks by his instructor since they are most likely friends at that point.....again we come back to the question of the instructor that gives out this rank, he could be running several mcdojos or the student could just have this rank in several styles that are very similar.....but to have a black belt rank in several styles that are very different is something else entirely....if he was to say that he holds the rank of black belt in kung fu, karate, kuksoolwon, aikido and judo.....well that would be VERY hard to believe....especially at the age of 25.....

it's possible, depending on the styles....many factors can apply

once you have trained many years in fighting you should be aware of the concept of "telegraphing", the ability to know what technique an opponent is going to throw by body language and movements. The abiliy to tell if a person is trained in the arts comes from the same concept of telegraphing, by viewing a person and watching their body movements you can tell how that person can hold their own in a fight, it is not a guaranteed 100%, but generally speaking you can watch the amount of pressure that the place on each step, whether they step hard or gracefully, how perceptive they appear to be by looking at their surroundings, how confident they are compared to a normal unskilled person that will show fear regardless due to lack of experience, there are many factors and ways to tell how trained someone is, yet this also leads to another ability by learning how to mask your skill and give the appearance that you are a normal person with little to no skill, simply by making your movements look unprofessional or graceful, hope this helps clear up this small misunderstanding, and I hope that this is what the author was implying in his post.

ninjas relied on stealth for their attacks of assassination, they learned martial arts of the time, but they relied on the skill of sneaking up to the enemy and killing them without the enemy knowing their presence. Yet they trained martial arts in case they were cornered and threatened with capture or death, they had to be able to fight their way out of the enemy stronghold if their true identity and motives were detected.

the strikes that you referred to are pretty self explanatory, the are basically named after the area of the hand used to make the strike, example: fingertips, knife edge is the side of the hand located next to the pinky finger down to the wrist that large "meaty" section, like the old school movies of the "chop", bottom edge of the palm is simply the bottom edge of the palm when used in a palm strike where the wrist is bent at a 90 degree angle and the attack is thrust at the opponent, and so on, I think you get the idea as far as the strikes are concerned. as far as iron palm ask away, but seriously you should start training in the martial arts under the supervision of a master before trying to pursue the art of the iron palm, if you are training in the wrong way you will end up breaking bones and seriously hurting yourself, the iron palm is one of many advanced techniques of the martial arts, you should get a good foundation of the basics before approaching such matters.

it all depends on the instructor, not the style. and there are places where people of different styles get together and train together, you just have to be fortunate enough to find those people.

there are more advanced ways, but they can also be very dangerous, follow your sifu and make sure that he knows that you want to pursue more advanced training methods....i posted several things on similar topics in past posts, i believe they were in the chinese martial arts section or in the internal arts section.