Ripper

Killer Miller; how do you know MA helped you to improve on other sports? Couldn't it also be the other way around? Because you live in the States I'm guessing you did baseball before you did MA. So maybe baseball helped you in MA?

The place to be is Amsterdam. There you can find the schools where they train guys like Hoost and Bonyaski. Here are some links: https://www.mejirogym.com (founder Jan Plas) chakuriki.info (founder Thom Harinck) https://www.vosproductions.nl (founder Johan Vos)

I seriously doubt that. Most of us start off with martial art when we were quite young. A lot of people here seem to be still at (high) school. I guess a lot of us started because we saw the cool moves on tv, or because we wanted to be tough or be able to defend ourselves. Why did you start? Self discipline, self control, respect, honor or courage is not something solely for martial arts. When you want to become good at soccer you need to have these things too. These things you probably can learn to a certain degree, but it also depends on who you are as a person. It is not something you get just by doing a martial art. There are many other factors involved.

Again a winner of K1 from the Netherlands! Sem Schilt won the finals. After Peter Aerts, Ernesto Hoost and Remy Bonyaski another champ. We must be doing something good.

That's the reason I'm against that knuckle hardening. It's not worth the risk.

The fact that you disagree is obvious. Now I can say; I disagree with you, but that doesn't bring us any further. I would like to know why you disagree. You can also say that a MA is so much more; and I can say it's not. That doesn't bring us any further either. So; why is a MA so much more?

We don't have these oaths. Do you say them out loud every training or so? Sounds to me more like a religious sect. So, please enlighten me, what am I missing here? What does a master return to the art?

My question was and still is; which part of your training teaches you this?

Why is it that as soon as someone does a martial art he/she has to "help the world" and be a "good person"? Which part of your training teaches you this stuff? Just because we kick each other butts we become good persons? Martial arts are just sports like any other. People who play soccer don't go around and say that they help the world. People who do martial arts shouldn't do that either.

And you learn all this by doing martial arts????!!!!!!!!

We don't use the term Master, but I know enough people that have high degrees who are obnoxious, arrogant, and what not. Anyhow, you (or anyone else) are not answering my questions.

The short answer is; I can turn your question round. What if their mental state does not match their though body? You also do boxing. A lot of punches in boxing go to your head. How do you condition your head? Are you hitting your chin to a concrete wall? I think not. Still, you (and others) keep on boxing. Why? Because you learned to deal with your fear and focussed on your techniques and tactics. Not because you conditioned your head (physically).

This makes me wonder. How do you (you; not personally but in general) determine whether someone is a "master"? How can you judge people by their character? Who are you to decide whether someones character is better then the other? And the other things mentioned in earlier posts. What have the things you do for the community to do with a martial art? Those two things have nothing to do with each other. You're training a martial art and not "how to be the best character on earth".

I allways hit carwindows. This way I don't only get hard knuckles but as an extra benefit I can also collect various radio's, cd's, dvd's, etc........

Hmmm..... I wonder how I would see the difference between the black and the white tiger!!

As you say it yourself; it is the fear people have. It helps more to help those people to deal with their fear. So instead of conditioning their bodies, those people should condition their mind. That's much more effective. Maybe you can get a higher level of tolerance, but you will not ever reach a point where you don't have to worry at all about the pain. That's not healthy either. Again, it's better to deal with the fear people have.

The question here should be not how to harden your body but: is it necessary to harden your body. I think not. Why would you need to do that? Look at the risks I mentioned in my previous post. Furthermore you won't get better in your sport, just because your knuckles are harder. It's much better to focus your training on your techniques and tactics.

Not even Makiwara's? O.O No, not even makiwara's! If you do this on a regular basis, you might get injuries that will last the rest of your live. Is that the risk you are willing to take?

Body hardening is the last thing you have to worry about. The only hardening you need is when you're sparring. The brooses you get when sparring and deal with that is good enough. Please don't start hitting wood (or other surfaces) every day or other crap people sometimes come up with.

Therefore it is important you learn one kata very well before you go on to learn the next kata. Don't try to learn all the katas in one week. I also think it is not that important to learn many katas. To me it is more important to learn a few katas well instead of learning many katas a bit.

I use the "Elmar Schmeisser-method". Excellent stuff!

Neither. Just buy a gun.

and in case you missed the last post; practice, practice and practice some more!

When you are a yellow belt you shouldn't be too obstinate, but if you are walking around with these questions you should be able to ask them to your instructor. If he can't give a satisfying answer you can do 2 things. You can think, well I'm just a yellow belt and I probably will comprehend it better when I'm a black belt. Then you train on the way he says. Or you can think, the man is totally ignorant. Then you should quit and find another dojo. That is not being disrespectful, just being sensible.

The ones SS mentioned we also do sometimes. One drill we also do every now and then is the following; Stand in front of each other and make the same techniques, for example gedan barai. If you start with left the other one does too. Hit each other with the outside of the lower arm. Start carefully and build it up slowly. After a few rounds you are pretty sore! You can do this with many other defense techniques.