White Warlock

if the sides are hurting, and you don't feel the knees are 'loose,' then it's likely a bit of tendonitis, and you'll need to be a little more patient with them. spend more time warming up and stretching, but don't overstress the knees. you may also want to work on exercises to strengthen your buttocks and thighs. As i indicated in a different thread, a weakening of both directly impacts the exertions you pose on your knees. I gather both may be getting a tad weak, and thus you're 'leading' with your knees, rather than your hips. Oh, and ibuprofen. my thoughts

Which reminds me of a personal experience. I had a student i was only starting to instruct. He informed he had joined a club at the local college. Rather than make disparaging remarks, i joined him at the club. It was a substandard club with substandard teaching, but it was free... and thus i did not interfere with my student's participation in it. Instead, we discussed our experiences after every class and i pointed out fallacies and corrected him on some techniques. My goal was to develop the student, not to dictate to him who he should associate with, or where he should study. And with my approach, i learned a few things too... like how i was soooo much better than those guys at the club.

i'll have to agree with muaythaiboxer, especially if you have some form of contract. Let him be the one to breach the contract. Personally, i think your instructor is 'making' an excuse to prevent you from learning outside of his dojo. Seriously, the link here is so miniscule it's rather obvious he's splitting hairs. I would say, if he's made it abundantly clear you are not to study with these people again, then continue studying at both places. He's not your father, and certainly not your master. As an adult you are to be treated as one. He presented the information to you. What you do with that information is entirely up to you. That said, even our inputs should not be construed as directives, merely opinions.

yes

Buy more than one (you have one already, right?). Park them in different locations. no transporting of your weapon required. Just ask your instructor to secure it.

Aye, a trip is about causing their center of balance to move (hips/torso), while their base (feet/legs) remains fixed. Strength is not an effective way to make it all work, for the strength you utilize will force you to be off-balance or unable to utilize your own feet to assist in a trip and thus you'll be too busy ensuring your own balance. There are three 'basic' principles for takedown. Replace, displace, and disrupt. Replace is to replace their center with yourself, or an object, thus allowing you to pivot the person around a foriegn center. Displace is to displace their base with yourself, or an object, thus allowing you to guide the center down (as there is no longer a base). Disrupt is to disrupt the center/base (a vertical dependency) by moving the center while preventing the base from moving, usually by posing yourself, or an object, as an obstacle that keeps the base from traveling with, or following, the center.

lol, i'll send her the link.

When it comes to cameras, stick with the companies that have always been good at them, such as Nokia, Canon, etc. Also, whatever you spend, that's what you get. In this case you can be reasonably sure that quality of product is directly dependent on how much you spend. Unless you get it on sale, in which case it's how much you 'would have' spent, if not for the sale.

I believe us older folks could effectively argue age discrimination here. then again, why bother...

well stated Tengu

excellent.

aye... blocks, bricks, dimensions. Our discussion was about bricks, as Aodhan indicated. Either way, making such is not hard. However, doing it at-home is an issue and one should actually purchase the 'prepared' bricks from a brickmaker, an established business, not some guy working out of his garage who looked up a how-to on google.

I hope everyone reads this part twice. It is a very important point that is often lost in the miasma of cultural transplantation so typical of martial art schools.

Pull what off? my leg

Interesting. This, as i understand it, would be an exception, and an unnecessary risk on your part. All bricks are not made the same (as my previous story illustrated), and thus you are subjecting yourself to a rather dangerous variable.

Krav maga has throws. It has a little of everything. As previously stated, it is not a system, per se... but a collection of applications.

Hi, do you buy them directly from Home Depot or something?

Incredible, i didn't realize tkd had so many arts, or is it a hydra-type thing? Ok, since you seem to want to not understand, I meant head of "my" style (Guess that's a better word than art), the ATA. Yes, TKD is similar across the board, but there are differences in each style, I was giving the way it is in mine. Aodhan Hehe, i was being facetious mainly because i've seen at least 10 tkd schools indicating they have a grandmaster teaching. As far as i know there are only 3 major associations, with ATA being one of them, so to find that many tkd grandmasters gives me the impression there are many more 'heads' per body (or style).

A few more things to consider: Some people have their own engines and are able to push themselves to excell. But, they are few and far between. Most need to be encouraged, which is where coaches and trainers come in. They help to push people to go beyond their own private limitations. Therefore, if you enter a school that has a teacher who is relaxed in training, that's likely the level of effort you'll put into your studies. If, however, he is intense, you will either match that intensity, or walk out. As noted earlier, not everyone is into 'intense.' The vast majority of people cannot afford medical coverage, time off from work, an injury that could take them out of the running for an athletic scholarship, etc. It is only a few people who can 'afford' the risk of injury that such sporting events present. I'm not rich, so i opt out of such things. The injuries i've obtained over the years have cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, time from work, and lost opportunities. It took me awhile, but i finally realized i simply could not afford that degree of intensity in my training (in fact, even with medical insurance, i have spent over a year battling the insurance company to 'authorize' my doctor's recommendation for surgery on my knee.) There are very few programs available out there for martial artists to 'maintain their training.' Unlike Olympic athletes, who can be sponsored and can participate in government-run Olympic training camps, martial artists really don't have such pristine luxuries. There's very little out there in the form of support for us. If we're not independently wealthy, we're really just taking 'risks' with our future, or our family's future. Note something else. A large percentage of competitors in such events came from an Olympic, or university, wrestling background. They had the opportunity to develop their skills while being 'sponsored.' How many of you can claim such ... luxury?

When you watch the people competing in the UFC, and then make the erroneous assumption MMA fighting is superior to all other types of fighting, it is because you are looking at a select event, with prime conditioned athletes pounding on each other under a set of very clearly defined rules. These guys are in excellent shape, which is a far cry from where the vast majority of persons stand. Even 'without' some degree of training, these people would be formidable. C'mon... seriously folks. You cannot possibly make the comparison of 'highly conditioned athletes' against 'moderately conditioned traditional practitioners.' That is, after all, the comparison. A second argument repeatedly presented is that MMA-type practitioners are better because of conditioning. This may be the case, but it is not the material studied as much as the conditioning presented. It is due to the TMAs being 'relaxed' for the larger market. Not everyone is a competition junkie, or an olympic-level athlete. Martial arts, both traditional and otherwise, cater to different body types and different levels of intensity. Yet, there are the more 'traditional' TMAs that are very much into olympic-level athleticism and conditioning, but these are not nearly as common as the 'after-work,' 'after-school' oriented TMA schools. So, it's not the material, it's the intensity of training and the conditioning of the practitioner. As to the UFC, it is not the definer of who is best, definitely not. The style of conflict found in the UFC has been adjusted, modified, to accommodate the rules and restrictions imposed. The champions of such events are olympic-level athletes that have learned what 'works' in the ring, and have tossed out what is not applicable in the ring. That does not make them better than an olympic-level athlete who has studied a TMA intensively. It only makes them, "in the limelight."

Aye, bricks used for breaking are also specially prepared. As the wood, which is cut against the grain, the bricks are made vertically, rather than horizontally, so that they layer 'vertically,' thus allowing them to break cleanly and easily when struck while laying horizontally. As well, the mix of concrete used to make a brick is too light in water, and thus the brick is more brittle. The gentleman i mentioned earlier in this thread told me of a disturbing scene once, when he had gone to Mexico. He was putting on a demonstration there and had ordered bricks made according to his instructions (light on water, vertical, etc) from a local brickmaker. When it came to the demonstration, he opted to open the show by breaking a brick with his head. To his dismay, the brick did not break. In his delirious anger, he struck the brick and it broke. Inside were nails. As he recovered in the hospital with a fractured skull and a concussion, he found out that it was 'customary' to build bricks in that area of Mexico... with nails. For nails reinforce the bricks, yet are an inexpensive addition. After that incident, he learned to 'bring his own bricks.'

Clearly it depends on what State or country you are in, but laws generally don't legalize violence, they only provide a means for you to present justification for your use of it. I.e., you could be arrested for defending yourself against an assailant, not hurting him one bit, and getting the tar beat out of you in the process. As long as you committed assault, whether initiated or not, there is argument for arrest. As to helping that person, you didn't indicate whether you are helping A or B. I gather you meant helping B. Well, if the person attacking (A) is full-capable of significantly hurting B, then you may be warranted in intervening. There's always the possibility an argument could be presented that it was 2-on-1, if you intervene. The ugly thing to realize is that 'witnesses' determine events, not the other way around. I.e., although the scene may have played out one way, if witnesses say otherwise, that's what it will be recorded as...

Incredible, i didn't realize tkd had so many arts, or is it a hydra-type thing?

Well then, they should interview some Olympic champions.