DLopez

Seeing as this is a martial arts board, I wouldn't find it surprising that some, or even most, haven't heard of Formula One or Michael Schumacher, so I have to agree that Rich_2k3's tone was a uncalled for. I happen to follow motorsports quite avidly but didn't know Schumacher took judo as a kid. Interesting! Not to hijack the thread, but IMO, the reason Formula One doesn't get much coverage in the US is they only have one race (Indianapolis) in the states. In contrast, CART and IRL get far more coverage and fan following with less powerful cars, because they race in the US. And of course, NASCAR has all the open-wheeled racing leagues sucking their exhaust when it comes to coverage and fan following. I'd say NHRA is a close 2nd to NASCAR though, but different kind of racing. (Top Fuel is awesome!!) Frankly, I prefer NASCAR because the open-wheel leagues have gotten so technical that the cars almost don't need drivers - they could be driven by remote control! Aerodynamic downforce, electronic fuel management, forced induction... NASCAR doesn't use any of that. It's racing the way it should be! Sorry for hijacking the thread, but racing is my 2nd favorite hobby after my martial arts!

We practice weapons training once a week - usually Saturday morning. Once a month our instructor does include one of the weekdays for weapons training. Those classes are all weapons training, usually lasting about 1 to 1.5 hours, and we're not allowed to practice any of our forms or open-handed techniques during that time. Since our school is only two years old, we don't have any 'homegrown' blackbelts yet, so no one has progressed past the long staff and long sword yet. I must admit, I really look forward to weapons classes!

It sounds like a hyperextension to me too. I'm surprised your instructor is letting you "snap" your roundhouse kick when not hitting a kicking bag, as there is nothing to prevent you from hyperextending your knee when you do that. I would take it easy on your knee for a couple days to see if the pain goes away, and then change my technique when just shadow kicking - use a kicking bag if you're gonna kick full speed! Hope you heal up quickly.

There's a time for that, but the real-life scenarios should come way later after you've practiced the techniques over and over, correcting and refining the techniques so they become automatic, and not something you have to think about. Another thing to think about, some techniques are so brutal and debilitating that practicing them full force would risk serious injury to the 'attacker'. I've seen techniques applied by masters with such lightning quick precision, it's amazing. They make it look easy, but it's taken them years and years of practice to become that good. I may not be good enough with my techniques yet to apply them in a real life fight yet, but that doesn't mean the techniques are worthless. It just means I still have a ways to go before I am ready to use them effectively. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Well, I understand there are 24 different traditional Korean Royal Court weapons in the curriculum of Kuk Sool Won plus Buddhist and family weaponry. I don't know what all of them are, but here is a short list of the ones I do know about: 1. Sword: short, middle, long, single or double, straight or inverted 2. Staff: short, middle, long, single or double 3. Jool Bong 4. Spear 5. Cane 6. Rope 7. Fan 8. Bow and Arrow We don't start weapons training until brown belt typically, so I am just starting to learn the staff and sword techniques. I really look forward to weapons training night - it's easily my most favorite part of Kuk Sool Won training! No luck finding a weapons demo video online yet, but still searching!

Yes, Kuk Sool is very varied. That's what I like about it. The one thing this video doesn't show is any of the weapons taught in Kuk Sool, but it is still pretty impressive. I'll try to find some weapons videos. BTW - did you notice the demonstrator's low stances? That is very typical for Kuk Sool Won. We concentrate very much on that while training because it strengthens the legs, which is a good thing, especially with kicks! And as you can see, it becomes second nature to just do it like he was in the video! I was watching the videos of you in the early posts, and you've got pretty good technique for only a few months of training! Some people are just naturals (lucky dog!!). It took me about 4 months to get the jumping spin kick (Dia Doh Rah Chaki in Korean) down well enough before I would think of showing it to anyone!!

Kuk Sool Won demo I found this link of a Kuk Sool Won demo on the web, and while I don't personally know the participants, the forms and techniques are identical at all Kuk Sool Won schools around the world. The form demonstrated is Ki Cho Hyung, the very first form you must learn before you get promoted to yellow belt, followed by numerous joint lock and throwing techniques. His assistants are also demonstrating quite good falling technique, I might add! Then some basic board breaking. Hope you like it!

It's an educated guess (maybe a WAG), but I would say the speed is the source of the power. It's the exact same principle behind speed breaks when breaking boards.

It's fascinating to see how other parts of the world have develped their own distinct styles of 'martial arts'! This one looks very interesting indeed!

Ahhh... I wouldn't worry about those issue at this point in your training. Becoming flexible takes time. Don't measure yourself against others, rather, measure your progress against yourself. In Kuk Sool Won, we have the "Two P's" that we must constantly remind ourselves as to what it takes to become a good martial artist - Patience and Perseverence! Don't be in such a hurry, but stick with it, even though it feels painful now. Slowly, your body will begin to change and after a while you will become much more flexible.

Absolutely! Pain is your body's way of letting you know it isn't right. You might have your instructor check your technique to see why it is so painful to kick. A little stinging is normal, but any more than that means something is wrong - either with your technique or in your foot. What kind of kick is it, or is it all of them? Where is the pain, at the spot of contact or somewhere else? Listen to your body!

I think I'd like that format too! Do you know how they pair up the contestants? Is rank matching necessary or do they throw the lower rank, colored belts to the wolves against Dahn Bo Nyms, Jo Kyo Nyms, Kyo Sah Nyms etc?

We don't allow our joint lock/throwing techniques during sparring, only kicking and punching techniques. We dedicate the other days of our training to practicing our joint lock/throwing techniques - as well as the falling techniques. I don't know about everyone else, but I really am glad we spend more time on our techniques and falling than sparring, because those are the most difficult things to master (for me at least). Our techniques make your body just crumple like a sack of potatos when the pressure points are attacked, and that's going slow! I can imagine how easily someone could be injured if we tried those during sparring.

I don't believe the fan forms in KSW are taught until well after 1st black belt, but they are very beautiful forms. In fact, I'd say all of KSW forms are beautiful, especially when women perform them. KSW forms flow with grace when done correctly, and women just have that advantage of flowing gracefully over us rigid men! I wouldn't know where to direct you to learn just fan forms though.

Kuk Sool Won teaches all of the weapons already mentioned, and others I'm sure I don't know about yet! I have just started learning the long staff (bong) and the long sword basic techniques. We have a 'rule' during our staff spinning drills, if anyone drops their staff, the whole class must drop and do 10 pushups. Man, some days us beginners probably do 100 pushups at least! But I love it!

I have just started learning basic long sword techniques in Kuk Sool Won. Even though we are just drilling over and over and over from a kneeling position unsheathing the sword, the front strike, and then re-sheathing the sword, it is quite obvious after the first few minutes why the repetition is so necessary for even the basics. Your arms begin to burn and feel heavy as lead! We are conditioning our bodies, and that probably more than anything is prerequisite to the more advanced techniques we will learn later. We also spend a GREAT deal of time on weapons etiquette: How to carry your weapon, how to give a weapon to someone else, how to receive a weapon from someone else... The long sword is a fascinating skill to learn!

In our school, sparring night is held once a week. It is light contact, with the face, back of the head, and below the belt area being off limits. Sparring gear is padded head, hand, and foot gear. We use the point scoring format used in KSW tournaments, where a kick to the side of the head is worth 2 points, everything else (punch to top or side of head, kick/punch to torso) is 1 point. All of us that partake in sparring (it isn't mandatory) really look forward to it. We get pretty lively, as it's a nice break to actually go up against a real person! It seems like each week, we all have some new combos to try out against each other as we try to counter the moves put on us the previous week, so we really push each other to improve. There are about 4 of us that are pretty evenly matched, and each week one of us seems to be just quicker or more accurate and ends up winning the most round-robin matches. We make the winner keep sparring - there's no rest so whoever wins the most matches has really earned it!!

Nope. More disinformation. Fortunately, there's easy access to the untwisted version of KSW's history: Kuk Sool Won Click on the 'History' link to learn about KSW's ancient roots and how Grand Master Suh founded KSW in 1961. The notion that KSW is using techniques from TKD and other martial arts is silly once you realize that all Korean martial arts draw from the same pool of ancient martial arts. So in actuality, TKD is no different than KSW in that regard. But probably the most glaring omission by Michigan regarding KSW, is that Kuk Sool Won is recognized by the Korean government as a governing body of martial arts in Korea, which is quite an honor for "one man picking and choosing what techniques from TKD" to rip off as Michigan alludes. But, if your mind is already closed, all the facts in the world probably can't change your prejudices. I particularly like this quote from the WKSA website:

Yep. Sage advice, Tommarker!

Ya, almost as bad as bragging about triple aerial kicking prowess. You tell me which is worse,... feeling good about your accomplishments, or feeling good by disrespecting and ridiculing others? Hmm....

More funny stuff! "A cursory glance" would be more accurate. From the things you've posted, it's painfully clear you have zero knowledge of any other martial art except for maybe your own TKD, while trying to sound like an expert on all of them. Is that the only way you can pump up your TKD, by disrespecting and ridiculing all others with shallow and ignorant, not to mention just plain wrong, prejudices? You mentioned the "Way or Path of Life", yet your posts are devoid of that spirit. I'm disapointed to conclude that if that's the attitude you teach at your dojo, then you are a very poor representative of TKD.

Lessee, must end in "Do"... must only wear white dobahk... You've got quite a thoughtful list of criteria as to what constitutes a martial art. I guess every martial art has their "Eum" to go with the "Yang".

How good is your Korean? Do you know what Kuk Sool Won translates into from Korean? Surely someone who's into the "purity" of their martial art has taken the time to study the language behind it, no? Silly Korean Government. KSW isn't a martial art... only if it ends in "Do" is it a martial art. Their recognition of KSW as one of the governing bodies of Korean martial arts seems pretty silly now that you've enlightened me. The nerve that they didn't even bother to consult you about your "rule"! BTW - this martial art you are knocking, Sun Hang Do ends in "Do". It must be legit! I've read some silly nonsense before, but Michigan, you have given me the most laughs in a long while! Thanks!

Michigan, I think you have a double-standard going here. I think you would (understandibly) be quite upset if someone called your favorite martial art "Tae Kwan Daycare" or "take one's dough", yet you have no problem putting down another martial art simply based on what you see on a website, with no personal experience whatsoever involved in the forumulation of your opinion? Now I cannot claim to be a martial arts historian, but it's quite clear from what little I have learned, that TKD is not a pure, original martial art either, so it seems odd that that's one of the criteria you use to judge whether a martial art is of any value. BTW - in another thread, you mentioned that KSW was not really a martial art, but a "fighting style" instead. I don't know what "fighting style" means, but did you know that Kuk Sool Won is recognized by the Korean government as one of the Official Governing Bodies of Martial Arts in Korea? KSW is a martial art no more and no less than TKD. To be precise, KSW is a "system" of martial arts. IOW, you don't have to take TKD and Hapkido to learn features of one that the other doesn't teach. I hope this little bit of info helps dispel some misconceptions you may have of "other" martial arts besides the one you practice. Dean

Favorite kicks in sparring: ahn dah ree cha ki, & bah gaht dah ree cha ki (really quick 2-point getters!) Favorite sparring punches: hweh juhn gahk gwuhn, & yuk soo doh Favorite techniques (so far!): ahp eue bohk soo #3, #5, & joong geup sohn mohk soo #1, #6 Favorite form: joong geup hyung (won gold at 2003 KSW World Championships with it!), & goh geup hyung.