sindian

Heh, yeah. It was definitely humbling.

I actually went to a Jhoon Rhee school for a while. It may just have been my school, but my instructors were very knowledgeable and very skilled in their own right. Most of them were ranked nationally. I though the experience was pretty well rounded actually. We did a lot of forms, sparring, weapons, self-defense, and fitness training. We actually got into the spiritual aspects of martial arts (e.g. meditation) as well. We had a lot of seminars where the top martial artists (not just tkd guys) would come in and teach us. Plus, many of our instructors had experience in other arts, so I received some kickboxing, judo, and ju-jitsu training. The dojo atmosphere was good too. The instructors were all cool, but they were pretty strict disciplinarians. You really didn’t want to mess around in class lest ye incur the wrath of the instructor. The school was actually somewhat traditional for a McDojo. The commands were in Korean. We learned the meaning behind the forms, etc. Plus, Jhoon Rhee is a monster. At our belt tests, he would challenge all the students to a pushup contest. He would beat every single person in the dojo. Then, the man would do an extra hundred pushups. Ridiculous. Just my perspective.

Yes, but board breaking does teach a few valuable lessons.

Welcome back, Mantra Locust. I'm coming back after about a 4 year break too. It's definitely good to be back. I'm slowly relearning all the forms and getting my sparring rhythm back. It's going to take a while to get back into figthing shape though.

Your instructor is doing you a serious disservice if he keeps pairing you up with the same person. Have you talked to your instructor about this at all? Are the other kids in the class significantly larger than you or something? I'm just wondering what his reasoning is. Maybe he's not even aware of the issue.

Yea, the kid got his belt. He actually did pretty well fighting aginst the instructor, considering that the guy's a monster. The kid broke down for a second, but he kept on figthing. Plus, he did decently well in the other matches if i recall.

Do you guys/gals who spar with below the belt contact wear any padding on your legs?

I agree with Warp Spider. It depends on the distance. I think kicks can be very effective. Though, I follow up all my kicks with hand techniques. Plus, knees are damn effective. Well, so are elbows...

If you're really worried, I'd recommend talking to a doctor or a fitness trainer.

For my black belt test, we did both one on one and two on one. I don't remember how many matches I had to do, but it was quite a few. The sparring is full contact, but we wear pads. It's a bit of a hazing process, since we have to fight some of the instructors. There's one instructor in particular that's just plain mean. He made this one kid cry at his test. He seriously smacked that kid around. It was painful to watch. Most of the other instructors will smack you around a bit, but not to that degree.

We allow strikes to the face. We generally don't kick below the belt though. We don't throw knees or elbows either. Contact is basically up to the particpants.

My brother and I started martial arts at the same time. He was 4 and I was 6. We would always end up sparring together, and I would straight murder him. I mean, I was a lot bigger than him. Sometimes, the instructor would pair us together. Other times, I would pick him as my partner, since I was way too much of a wimp to fight anyone else. I was really afraid of getting hit. I think my dad talked to my instructor or something. After that, I never sparred with my brother again until he was 13 and we both had black belts. Now, the kid's taller than me and he's actually really good. I've still got 20 lbs. on him, so I can usually beat him. The matches are very close now though. We actually try to avoid sparring each other though. He's the only person that I will spar full contact. When I say full contact, I mean we try to kill each other. It's no holds barred. When I fight full contact w/ other kids, I don't fight nearly as hard. My brother and I are usually pretty bruised after our matches. It’s funny we always start off sparring light contact, and it just devolves into this deathmatch. I guess we’ve got a lot of issues that we work by pummeling each other. Anyway, my advice to you would be to talk to your instructor or get your parents to do so. Your brother's never going to get good if he keeps sparring you. I'm glad my dad talked to my instructor. Otherwise, I’d still be too scared to spar anyone else. Plus, you need to spar other people too, so you can get a feel for other people’s fighting styles. Plus, you can probably get some wins against other people. TJS, I think those sparring rules are pretty reasonable, considering Coco is only a yellow belt. The rules will likely get less restrictive as she advances. TJS, are groin kicks fair game when you spar or just kicks to the legs?

I think even doing sport MA training will improve your self defense skills somehwat. You at least learn how to hit. It would obviously be better if your instructor trained you for self defense situations. Many of the self defense tactics are too dangerous for sport. You might want to take up some grappling too.

Strecthcing, Jumping jacks, joggng, pushups, situps, move around a bit, some half-speed light shadow sparring, etc.

Heh. I'm coming back from a 4 year break now. I quit training when I went off to college. I went to our school's tkd club meetings a few times, but I wasn't overly impressed with them. Then, I just got busy with school and other activities. When I finally decided to get back into MA training, I wrecked my knee playing football. Now that my knee is mostly fixed and I'm out of school, I'm back to training. I don't plan on taking such an extended break again. I've actually forgotten a lot of my forms. I thought I would never be able to forget them after doing them for so long. (I started when I was 6.) It's funny. I can only do the first half of two dozen forms. I only remember two in entirety. It's especially sad, since I used to teach these forms to other kids. At least, my sparring rhythm is slowly coming back. When I was training seriously, I would take breaks every once in a while for a week or so. Sometimes, I would just feel I needed a break. I think periodic breaks help get your focus back. Sometimes, you just get sick of training. Plus, your body can use the rest at times.

Thanks a lot, WhiteShark. I definitely plan on giving muay thai a try (after I condition my legs some more and get back into figthing shape).

I thought one of my instructors was a total * when he first started teaching classes at our do-jang. Everyone, for the most part, hated him. He was actually a pretty nice guy when you got to know him. He just demanded a lot from his students. He didn't have much patience for kids who didn't give their all. He was very serious about his art. He didn't want to waste time on students who weren't. I respect him for that. He's definitely one of the best instructors I've had. Since he demanded more than other instructors, I had to step up my game to meet his expectations.

I need to practice kicking the bag more? I'm sorry. I don't really understand your comment. I injured my knee playing football. I also tend to hit the heavy bag a lot, and I have pretty powerful kicks.

Parrying the side kick is a good tactic. If you can get around the kick, that's also good. I'd fake a blitz or something to draw her kick out. Then, blitz in hard. If you time it right, she won't be able to get that second kick out. If you don't, you'll take a side kick to the gut. You'll get it after some practice.

Hmm, I never really used board breaking for training purposes. I'd do either pad work or hit around on the heavy bag. Board breaking is usually a demo type thing. I mean, breaking definitely has its uses. It teaches you how to kick through a target. It also helps with aim and concentration. Overall though, I'd say hitting a bag or some pads is probably a beter way to spend your training time.

I remember one of my instructors telling me about this martial arts demonstration he attended. They had 6 year olds breaking multiple boards at a time with all sorts of techniques. Apparently, their school had baked the boards overnight and scored them with a knife. I wish I was there. I bet it was pretty amusing.

I had reconstructive knee surgery after tearing my ACLs and MCLs. My knee's seems ok. I've been getting back into the martial arts recently. I'm doing sort of a mix of tae kown do, kickboxing, and ju-jitsu. My instructor's a practical guy. Muat Thai interests me as an art, but I worry that I might injure my knee. It seems like a pretty rough sport. I don't really know that much about it though, so I could be wrong.

Heh, great timing. I was going to start this thread a week ago. I ripped the hell out of my ACL and MCLs playing football. I had reconstructive surgery (the patella graft one) a year ago, and I'm slowly getting back into tae kwon do now. My advice to you is to do weight training. It hurts like hell after knee surgery, but it's important. The best exercises, according to my physical therapist, are the leg press, leg extension, and leg curl. Do some squats, leg raises, and calf raises if you have time. My doctor didn't want me to do the leg extensions for a while after my surgery though, so be careful. I'd also get on the treadmill or the stair climber. Don't forget to keep stretching. Also, keep wearing your knee brace for a while. I still wear mine just to be safe. Also, take it easy in class. Train hard, but listen to your body. Now for my question. Is anyone who had reconstructive knee surgery sparring competitively now? The sparring used to be my favorite part. I’m sparring some in class now, but I’m being super careful.

Thanks. I'll give the speed rope a try.

Since you're doing ITF forms, this link might be helpful: http://www.itf-information.com/patterns.htm We did ITF forms, but also some non-ITF/non-WTF forms too.