italian_guy

Twice a week for karate (I do double class each day I go) and twice for JKD. That's the maximum that my working schedule allows me.

Congratulations!!!

Hi, welcome to KF. 28 years makes a long journey. Osu!

Welcome to KF. I think this is a good forum because people here is very respectful and friendly.

Welcome to KF. Of all those art what do you teach?

Provided it is a different organization (if not I don't see why they do not let you wear your BB). I would start back where they think I should start as a sign of respect and diligence. In your skills you are a black belt already... if you continue to perform as a black belt I think you'll soon regain the BB status also in the new dojo.

Welcome to the forums.

6 for the kids class, 14 for the adults.

I don't think that even that is disrespectful. If you have problems in your school and you can't solve them you have the right to leave, life is yours and you are paying for your lessons.

I think that, as long as you have the stamina, attaking is easier then defending, since I'm a beginner I prefer to attack.

I do some Yang but my love is with Chen style. I thank everyone for welcoming me. Excuse me if I'm curious. Why do you prefer Chen? I started a topic some time ago in the comparative style section and I would like to have a comparison between the two styles.

Are you scared with those results? If I had this outcome I would do very many turnements. Scared of what? Scared of not to perform well or scared to be injured. Since you mention also kata your fear is not to perform well I suppose. I think that you should learn that even if you not perform 100% your standard turnement is always a good experience. Just don't be stress too much on the performance or the outcome. Think about it as a way to spar (or to compare) with people outside your school... do not think to the trophy. This is my 2 eurocents anyhow.

Congratulations!

Time depends on school, usually it takes 4-5 years to get to BB (done a poll about that http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=11875&start=0 ) this if you start from no experience, ordinary training, no special natural gift. Given this condition brown belt in one year seem definitly suspect....

I started MA at the age of 42 now almost 44. I agree that even if many performance parameter worsen with age (speed, power, flexibility etc.) much of this can be recovered with training. I have notice relevant increment in speed and flexibility since when I started. An additional benefit that comes with age is that we have less performance stress then the younger people... they want to become better in less time, they compare one another and get frustrated if they do not perform well. We have learnt that we need to compare only to ourself and this relives a lot of stress.

If one minute of meditation before class is not sufficient use the time when you dress to clear the mind. We don't do meditation at the beginning. (sometimes we do it at the end) I use the time when I'm putting my gi on to clear my mind and the periods shortly before the start of the class. I know sometimes is not that easy to free the mind from the problems outside the dojo, but it is important to realize that without focus the performance worsen a lot.

Welcome to KF Kara

Hi Tom, Welcome!!

Welcome to KF. Which style of Tai chi chuan are you studying?

Hello Jane, welcome to KF

I train about 7 hours a week in my MA classes (karate and JKD) not much time to train at home (but sometimes I do some little training).

I agree with GhostlySykanRyu on this one, fragmentation is mostly due to political issues (everybody wants to be the boss). As long as the keep the syllabus of the style intact I would not bother. I think XMA is mostly a USA product. In my part of Italy I don't know any XMA school. Even traditionally oriented flashy MA (like wushu) are not very widespread here. I don't think they have a lot room for market share expansion since they are reserved for very few athletically gifted people while TMA is almost for anybody. I think this is the real streght of TMA. This point alone would lead us to a huge discussion. About MMA they are not necessarily modern martial arts (unless by MMA you explicitly mean Modern Martial Art while I mean Mixed Martial Arts) there are also traditional MMA like JJJ very well established and very traditional. The balance of tradition and innovation is delicate. If you do a modern MA like JKD you just keep the principles and add whatever elements of the various MA you like. For example under the label JKD I'm learning the basics of kickboxing with some Muay Thai kicks elbows and knees plus wing chun elements (sensitivity training) plus kali escrima stick fighting techniques etc (Inosanto method). If you do a traditional martial arts the points of innovation can be in general training like a more modern speed, power or flexibility training, added to a traditional curriculum, but in this case I see that in order to keep the tradition it is better not to touch the main elements like the katas or the body mechanics of the basics.

I tend to agree with what you said Shotochem. When I spar I mostly use the tecniques that I can do better. But on the other hand I know I should develop other techniques where I'm not so good otherwise I'll never grow up as a MAist. For example I cannot kick jodan level and also my chudan kicks are not very fast, during sparring I never try to kick high, but during my practice I try to improve my flexibility in order to be able (some day) to kick jodan. As I said we need to train hard and be patient, results come slowly but I'm sure they will come.

This happens to me all the time... since I'm not very athletic, I have only a limited time to train ( 7 hrs a week I'm doing now and this is my possible maximum), and not very young (almost 44); and sometimes I'm unhappy with my own performance. My opinion is that on one hand we should continue to train hard and on the other hand we need to have patience. In the past I saw that sometimes results come gradually but most of the time they come suddently. Things just suddently turn-on at a certain moment. Just my two eurocents.

Yeah, but generally, science classes won't make you do your math wrong and tend to badmouth your math teacher about how ignorant he is for thinking that 10-2=8 and not 7 like they teach in science class.Just don't worry about what they say about each other make your own judgement and if they are both good, and you like both art then cross-train unless they make your life impossible, only in this case you must choose and (if both are at the same level and you like both arts the same way) is better to discart the one with the biggest mouth.