tufrthanu

Many taekwondo schools list themselves as karate schools due to the historic link to karate and the popularity of it over the years. My school is Bloomington Karate Center and they are one of the top TKD/HKD schools in the upper midwest.

I've used them extensively. I have neuropathy and so they are a must. Certain brands are really good like Discipline. One thing you have to look at is what the surface of the place where you are working out is. If it's a puzzle mat or anything porous, a thick carpet, or spongy you will need to find shoes with limited texture on the bottom. Otherwise standard traction will do. I currently work out on a combination of thin carpet, cement, a canvas covered padded mat, and a regular boxing ring and my disciplines work well. Pine tree also works well if you need less of a tread. The problem with wearing regular shoes like soccer shoes is they aren't designed for use indoors. Do they make marks? Tear up the floor? whats it feel like to get hit with the edge? the toe? Most MA shoes you cant kick with the toe as they have a very thin sole. But this makes it good for other kicks. A regular shoe has too many edges and supported areas to be good for sparring. And lets not forget that most of the places you will be getting into fights you won't be barefoot...nor should you be, so its good practice and many martial artists recommend it.

Macho makes a terrific gi I am still using ones i got when I first started training 9 years ago...and I'm a sweater! Also as to fit especially with heavyweight gi's I have found out the hard way that preshrinking them before you alter them is the way to get them to fit right.

The kick mentioned in my original post should not angle upward. If they do it different its a different kick. Any book or dvd or instructor will teach it the same way. Now they may have a modified version but then its no longer the original kick.

Do a lot of research. You already know what you want: a self defense oriented non sport school. Now you have to look at martial arts that come under those categories. Realize though that some arts/schools even if they are geared toward something else can help you get what what you are looking for. I will list a few types of martial arts so that you can maybe look them up and see what you like. Also I would like to add that being close to where you live is an element but should be weighted with everything else otherwise you may end up at a school you don't like. Also in the end I think school trumps style. A good school/instructor can make up for a lot. Self Defense Arts: Hapkido Traditional TKD Traditional Karate Tang Soo Do Hwa Rang Do Krav Maga Systema Japanese Jujitsu Some Judo Some Aikido Jeet Kune Do Escrima Some Kung Fu Sport Arts: Olympic TKD Some Judo Boxing Savate Brazilian Jujitsu Sport Karate Wushu Muay Thai Hope this helps!

I guess I should rephrase bushidoman in most Tae Kwon Do schools and Hapkido schools an upward angled round kick is specifically described as bad technique in regard to a traditional round kick. Now there may be places that do it especially if its an eclectic school and there may be benefits to it but I was solely speaking to the way it is taught as proper form for that kick.

Joe I also have seen versions that strike downwards and I can see how that would be beneficial especially if you could keep your velocity and power consistent or increasing throughout the entire kick.

Well I explained the two kicks in the first post I'm not sure why there should be confusion and someone posted a couple videos of them later in the thread. To Joe's point though I've always heard that in the traditional version of a round kick you should NOT go upwards at a diagonal as that is bad technique. Not bad technique for that particular kick but bad technique in general. However, having said that it does seem that many of the mawashi geri/hybrid round kicks do go upwards at a 45 degree angle or so although whether that is from intent to bypass the elbow or just because its quicker and more easily accessible through body mechanics I don't know. I have personally never had a problem with hitting the elbow however from sparring my instructor I did learn that if your opponent does the round kick with the ball of their foot many of the blocks that can stop a round kick with the instep fail to so in this instance due to the extended penetration.

Macho, Tiger Mats, Tuttle Press, some stuff by Century, Everlast, Tapout.

The reasoning for bring the knee to the front is its easier to mask the kick. Will they do a front kick or a round kick and it is a modification of the original kick, however, I think that is a minor point in the overall mechanics of the kick and I'm more interested in the tactical discussions of the kicks than the technical discussion of how to perform them. I think you will find if you pivot quickly enough that you can still generate significant power with the modified kick while minimizing the telegraphing that occurs with the older style one that you posted. As far as the mawashi geri v. traditional round kick discussion that I was originally trying to get to with this thread I do agree tony that there are different opportunities. Offensively your hands seem to be closer to your opponent with mawashi geri and so I would assume its easier to follow with hand strike, the down side being that your give your opponent a virtually open target while you are kicking. WIth traditional round kick you probably can't get your hand strikes off in combination as quickly but the torso is more securely out of the way.

I don't know Joe the first kick demonstrated in the Korean video looks exactly the same as the one in the video with the girl to me and that is the kick that I am referring to as the traditional one in regards to this discussion. The starting stance is different, one from a front stance one from a fighting stance, but those are easily changed and the execution is identical.

Sojo I can concur that the mawashi geri can be hard if you've never trained it. My hips do not like that kick at all and one instructor that I have worked with to quicken my kicks has me doing a hybrid version of it, halfway between mawashi geri and a front snap kick. The other one on the the other hand seems extremely natural to me.

The soreness and tightness are somewhat similar to what you would feel from a buildup of lactic acid in a muscle after the first workout or two of a muscle building program. There isn't really any pain such as would be present in an injury. At least I don't consider it to be such. Also at this point I strongly believe it is the dynamic flexibility and not the strength. I have the strength in my legs such that if I lean on a support structure I can do a very slow side kick that is past my current range of flexibility; i.e., I can kick to a height where I feel a strong stretch in the back of the hamstring but can't kick to that height as a normal and comfortable range of motion.

Yes Sojo those are the different kicks that I am speaking of.

Well perhaps you can answer this for me then. The flexibility that I am really trying to develop is that used in the round/side kick for taekwondo and hapkido. This involves the base leg hamstring. Strangely enough even though the legs and hips are in similar positions I can kick head high without much difficulty or stretch on the hamstring using my kicking leg, as long as I do dynamic leg lifts, however when I try to do the round and side kicks with the opposite leg the first legs hamstrings don't seem stretched very well. When I try to do the back leg lift demonstrated on that website and through Kurz's book I get a lot of stretch in the base leg hamstring. Should I be getting this? Doing 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps morning and night of the front and back leg lifts should produce greater flexibility in the base leg hamstring correct? Also I noticed after yesterdays stretch using this method my hamstring during dynamic back lifts this morning was somewhat sore and extremely tight...is this good or bad? Could be indication that it's finally getting the proper workout or that its being worked too hard not sure? Thanks.

Yes I have Tom Kurz's book unfortunately some of those exercises are difficult for me to perform and having seen a demo tape of one of his seminars I can speak to the fact that sometimes he does not do what he is describing that he's doing. I will check out the links and stuff you have provided though. It's just frustrating to stretch out dynamically or through pnf and then a few hours later be just as tight as I was before.

I was just wondering what people thought of these two kicks both as kicks themselves and tactically. Note: this topic does not include discussion of the Muay Thai style straight leg round kick. Thank you. Difference between the two kicks that I have noticed: Mawashi Geri: Base foot toes are pointed 90 degrees from opponent, torso is bent so that the front faces the opponent, essentially kick is a front kick while bent to the side, requires flexibility in groin/hamstrings. Traditional Round Kick: Base foot toes pointed 180 degrees from opponent, torso faces side on and leans directly away from opponent, kick is much more similar to high side kick in final position, requires flexibility almost exclusively in hamstrings. I personally have problems performing mawashi geri and my styles tend to use the traditional round kick which is what I use. It appears mawashi geri might be a quicker launching kick; whereas, the traditional round kick seems to be tactically safer due to the torso being more distant from opponent and not facing front on. What do you guys think?

I suppose this question is for stretching experts. Preferably people familiar with dynamic and pnf style stretching. I am overweight so I find some stretching routines difficult but I've recently come across some stretching routines via youtube from ElasticSteel. They seem to work ok but within hours my legs/hamstrings are completely tight again. This happens independent of what style of stretching I do. Is there something in general that I am not doing to make sure that once I get my legs stretched out to a certain point they maintain that flexibility so that I am able to kick relatively cold? Thanks. P.S. I'm a relatively advanced martial artist and have read and practiced quite a few stretching techniques so any help will be enlightening.

I don't know Ive personally not had great luck with Century...their products as a whole seem like a mass market lowest prices deal. They are kind of like the McDonalds of the martial arts world. To your question although you already purchased one I once saw an ad or article in Black Belt Magazine for a stretch machine Joe Lewis was endorsing that could do pretty much every stretch you could think of not just the splits. That might be an option. I can't recall the name if anyone has more info on it though please post.

Well I'm considerably overweight myself. Luckily I have big knee joints. But even with them being used to supporting my weight with the legs stretched out like that its putting a lot of weight on the knees. I would say the biggest thing is how you were born, what is your weight both now and throughout your life, and have you had any injuries to them. Also it may perhaps be from having his legs locked out/hyperextended. Perhaps you can be more specific about where he is getting the pain? Also it could be related to age as well. Luckily there are a couple of stretches that mimic the bent over straddle split. One is a Seated Split which I'm sure your familiar with. Another is where you lay with your back on the floor and your butt up against a wall and let your legs hang thereby letting gravity stretch them. Alternatively you can do dynamic stretching like leg raises that will work the groin. Instead of raising the leg straight to the front you raise it to the side. Just make sure that the toes still point upward like in a front kick or you will get hip pain from your trochanter. Theres some links for a guy that does elastisteel stretching around this site somewhere which hits some of the same areas however I think those stretches along with another one of Thomas Kurzs would probably put the pressure back on the knee and so not be suitable.

I'm not sure the knees can be strengthened. Perhaps changing the stretch he is doing would be the safest course.

Wire, I see those jigsaw mats on tv at the NASKA tourneys a lot. It makes me wonder how they don't have lots of sprains and things. Especially with some of the more exotic forms competitions they have going. I often wondered how sweat was handled on a wooden dojo floor. Besides the slippage I would think the floor would need to be cleaned every day? to prevent warping or discoloration?

He just has to know which one looks good to him. Satin, Silk, with embroidery, without embroidery, tassels, ribbons, bells, whistles. How about just a simple cotton one with your name on it? they are all equally good and in the end it doesn't really matter.

I think you did miss the point if you think I'm not helping by quoting pat morita. In case you were wondering the advice from the quote is this...it doesn't matter. Pick out any one you want.

You miss the point.