octopic

People have BB tests less than 5 hours? My first degree test was about 9 hours long, most of it outside, in Texas, in August. I know that some styles don't do that for testing, and while mine was particularly rough, it just goes to show the absurdity of 6-year-old black belts.

Shaolin Kempo takes material from all over the place. A lot of it is from Kajukenbo (which is a combination of karate, judo, kenpo, shaolin temple boxing), added into that is some five animal kung fu, and chin-na. Basically if it works, we'll incorporate it into our style. With a good instructor, it is a great self defense system. However, there are some schools out there that have watered down the system a lot. The key is to check out the school and see what they're doing. Master Pearlswig is from the Villari lineage, though, I don't know when he left the organization. My advice would be to go check the school out and see what they're all about. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions about the style and I shall do my best to answer them.

I did some market analysis of the martial arts industry a few months ago for a business plan I was putting together. If you PM me your e-mail address, I'll send you that section of the document.

You could order the Villari video set (http://www.villari.com/). While I don't recommend using videos as a primary training method, they can help you remember material you may have forgotten.

The Villari system is primarily focused on teaching effective self-defense. While some people do compete in tournaments, that is not the focus of the teaching. If that is your primary goal, you may want to look elsewhere. If you have any questions about the Villari system or the organization, feel free to PM me and I will try to answer your questions.

Personally, I've never met anyone who has used the videos as anything more than a supplement to in-class training. My guess is that the vast majority of the purchasers of the videos are current (or former) students at his schools. It may not be how the video's are marketed, but that is what they're being used for most of the time.

Sorry, but I don't believe you. Unless you started training before you could walk, it would be difficult to make 5th by 21. Please PM me your name, your instructor's name, and the organization you're with so that I can verify it.

This is a wonderful sign. Not that many instructors will encourage you to check out the competition.

With your knee injury, it is critical that you discuss this with your instructor. While training is not supposed to be easy, it shouldn't run you the risk of doing permanent harm to yourself. If the instructor does not seem willing to work with you as to what your physical limitations are, then it might not be the best place for you. I have knee issues myself (though I've managed to avoid surgery so far) and I can tell you that Karate training can be very hard on the knees. Good luck, and I hope it works out for you.

Hell no I am not joking. A martial arts teacher has to have credibility. A martial arts teacher must be able to demonstrate what he expects. An overweight teacher is no example to students at all. A martial artist who is worth their salt, wont have any extra fat at all. They should be at the peak of their physical fitness. One would never expect to see an overweight Miss Universe nor an overweight martial artist. They are as compatible as chalk and cheese Following your logic, you can't be short and be a basketball coach. Some of the best coaches in basketball history have been short (e.g. Pete Carril). While it certainly helps if someone can demonstrate everything they expect, it is not always required. Would you say that someone who was a great instructor who was then paralyzed shouldn't teach anymore? (I'm not saying that being overweight and being paralyzed are the same thing) Would I personally be suspicious of an overweight martial artist? Sure, but that doesn't mean that they aren't a great teacher.

In case anyone out there is curious, Mr. Hall has offered to let me teach two nights a week at his school Loudoun Academy of Martial Arts. Classes will be on Tuesday and Thursdays, and the first class will be tonight!

One of the key things is to work on your breathing. There is a temptation among many martials artists to try and breathe on every strike. This will only slow you down. Work on being able to deliver several strikes per breath. You will also need to hold back on the power on the initial strikes and only kiai on the last strike. I hope this helps.

Here are the three most important things (in order): 1) The instructor 2) The instructor 3) The instructor Find someone you can work with, who you think you can learn from. It won't matter if it is a great style if the instructor is horrible. Go visit schools in your area and see how the instructor interacts with the students. Decide if their teaching methods would work for you. After going to see a few schools you'll start to see the different ways that people teach, and you'll get a better idea of what type of teacher you want. While style is important down the line, the best thing you can do starting out is to find an instructor who you will enjoy working with who can give you good training in the basics. Where do you live? Maybe some other people on this board can suggest some schools for you to check out.

At most of the schools I've seen, it seems like the majority of new students arrive through word of mouth, but I was wondering what people on here thought. If you can, I'd love to see what percentage of your new students you get through the following sources: 1) Word of mouth 2) School/Organization website 3) Phone book 4) Drive-by (e.g. someone sees your school while in your area for another purpose) 5) Promotion (direct mail, fliers, newspaper ads) 6) Other (please specify) I think this data would be useful to the people on this board who are trying to build/expand their programs. Thanks!

Mr. Hall, I've sent you a PM with more information about me. Thanks for your offer of help.

Greetings all. Here's the situation. I just moved to a new area (Northern Virginia) and am looking for a place to do some teaching. Do to my other responsibilities I can't run a school fulltime, but I still want to do some teaching. The nearest school to me that teaches my style (Shaolin Kempo Karate) is a forty minute drive away and I'm the same rank as the chief instructor there. I'm continuing to study my style by visiting master instructors every few months. I really enjoy teaching, and both me and my instructors feel that it would be a good way to help keep me current on my material. So far, I've tried talking to local rec centers, gyms, and to existing dojos, but I haven't had any luck finding space. I was wondering if anyone on this board has been through this process and had any pointers that might be helpful in my search. Thanks.

There is a dojo in my city that does a lot of advertising via posters and leaflets. They will basically leave a pile of their ads in any establishment that will let them. Now, I don't have a problem with a dojo doing advertising. It is, after all, a business, and they do need to make money. The problem I have is that they'll put up posters and leave leaflets in stores right next to other dojos. Personally, I think that this is disrespectful. I would tend to think that one dojo should not do that kind of advertising in the same shopping center as another dojo. The reason for this post is that I want to see what people on here think. Am I totally off base? Thanks.