aefibird

Yes and yes.

Cool style Orion!

Wow, theadric, that's pretty darn expensive!! Are there any other (cheaper!) schools near you? You're gonna be broke if you stick with that one. At my (WTF) school, kup gradings are £20 (includes training session, grading, belt & certificate). Dan gradings start from £40 (for 1st dan).

Cool!

I could break a board with an egg in my hand..... .....if I was using a kicking technique!!

I've not visited KF or other martial arts forums for a long while (too busy with work!) but I do like using MA forums as I feel that they are great benefit to martial artists. You can 'talk' to people from all over the world and share ideas, learn new things, learn about other styles, become more open minded. All good stuff.

Thing is, though, tattoos are 'cool' right now and a lot of people don't actually think carefully about the size and positioning of their tattoos. e.g peieces that are really small don't look right good on huge muscly arms - a larger piece would be ebtter. Plus, skin changes over time, which can distort tattoo shape. Now please, don't get me wrong - I love tattoos and have a lot of skin art myself. However, people really need to think seriously before getting anything done. If in doubt, draw your design on you with felt tip pen or get a henna tattoo and see how it looks and how well you can live with it before comitting to permanent ink.

At both my karate and my TKD clubs we don't have probationary belts. Students just go from 1st kyu/1st kup to 1st Dan. Writing (of name, symbols etc) is optional in both clubs. Just as an aside: I already hold a dan grade in karate and I'm hoping that I will get to test for my 1st Dan in TKD at some point (probably in the next 12 -18 months if I work really really hard and I'm lucky! lol). Do you think that I should have 2 separate black belts for each martial art? My karate BB is just a plain silk belt with nothing on it. I could understand having a separate belt for TKD if my current BB had kanji on it or whatever, but as it is just plain do you think that wearing the same belt for 2 different styles would be OK? This is a question for the future BTW - I've got to get to TKD 1st Dan standard yet!

At my dojang we do a little weapons work, but it's more seminars and occasional training days, rather than a regular programme. Seminars usually cover long and short staff, nunchaku and kama. We do knife defence work too, but that's part of the regular SD element of class.

In my TKD group (Scorpion, affiliated to BTCB and WTF) you can wear the "diamond" type uniform (like the Hapkido uniform) once you are 3rd Dan or above. However, most of the Dan grades I know just wear a 'regular' dobok. I've only ever seen one person from my org. wearing a "diamond pattern" uniform.

It really getteth my goat when people instantly dismiss WTF because of one bad experience. My TKD dojang is a WTF dojand. It happens to be a good one. I know - I've trained in some grotty ones. I've also trained in ITF and there are good and back dojangs there too. Same as in any martial art - good and bad karate dojos, good and bad boxing gyms, good and bad whatevers. The whole "WTF is fake/useless/no good/unrealistic/inseert derogatory word here" argument really does annoy me (although not quite as much as the ol' Okinawan v Japanese karate argument annoys me). We're all martial artists - what is right for me isn't right for you. There's enough variety in martial arts and enough places to train in martial arts for everyone to have their own little corner of it and be able to do their own thing without insulting others over their choice of art, affiliation, teacher, uniform or whatever.

My favourite is Jaguar.

Good luck Greg! I hope that you and your family stay safe.

Hi SDFlower! Welcome!

Hi Hinx, welcome to the forums!

Hi ja, welcome to the forums!

Hi Richard, welcome!

Excellent post Bill. I'm sure that many people on here would have no problem paying for music, tennis, whatever lessons - or to take exams in them either. Why should MA be any different? If your instructor is great then his services should be rewarded, especially if he is a full-time instructor. Not even dan grades can live on good-will alone...

BTW, younwhagrl, congratulations on your 2nd kup promotion! :up:

I train Basai both at karate (where it's known as Bassai Dai) and TKD. Although I'm not at a level in TKD yet to train in this form, I've seen it performed. At karate we aim for the knee and below. It's more of a "scraping down the leg" type motion rather than a kick. At TKD it's aimed at the ribs and is a proper side kick.

We have a BOB at our dojang. I'd agree with KK's comments: he's good for targeting, but isn't really hard enough for face striking. I'd say that he would make your sparring game better, as it's good for target practice, but you could get the same effect with a heavy hanging bag or a regular freestanding bag. After all, (unless you're very lucky!!) your opponent won't stand there like a BOB but will be moving and counterstriking. it's one way you could use to improve your game, but practising with a live partner is a better option IMO.

lol, me too! I love forms/kata. We use the Palgue patterns at my dojang, but not until a student is 1st kup. Before that we learn the Hyungs.

That's a very interesting post. I do not study TSD, but feel that you have made valid points applicable to many styles. We as martial artists should always be prepared to 'dig deeper' and research the meaning and evolution of our art and the techniques that lie therein. To simply accept without question is to go down the road of the McDojo where style and technique are watered down simply for the sake of belts and money.

Hi, welcome!

I hope that's the end of the situation for you Shotokan Kid. Glad that something is being done about the guy.