markusan

I picked up my routines through reading, practicing yoga and more importantly pilates. Also by putting every piece of gleaned knowledge to the test. By the way the woman i learnt pilates from was a highly qualified ballet instructor.

Management is the key. I have a great physiotherapist. He is about my age...50 and still keen on sport. So he understands that I'm not going to stop. I have hip and lower back problems and he's given me exercises and stretches that keep everything moving. It works for me and I certainly have less pain than I did five years ago.

I start off class with joint mobility, then warm ups, running, sit ups pushups burpees squats, then horseriding stance hand strikes to start groin stretches then into stretches/ These are done in a specific order along modern scientific stretching guidelines. When we're warm and stretched we do kicking techniques to keep the length in the leg hip and back muscles. After that we do sparring then basics and patterns. I always put basics toward the end of the class because they tend to shorten the muscles. If you put them at the start you tend to waste the initial stretches. Also self defence and one step is toward the end of the class for the same reason. always finish with stretches and warmdown. At the start of class I concentrate on stretching antagonist muscles like hamstrings and groin because they work against full extension. At the end of class I stretch agonist muscles like hip flexors, quads and hip rotators because they are the working muscles that get tighter during training. I thinh instructors these days should have some logic behind their training order rather than just follow tradition/ Also I have problems withe basics being done always in the same order. My brain goes to sleep. But that's just me.

I agree with the above. It's all about anaerobic fitness. So when you run put in 75 percent pace sprints upt to abou 200 metres. I do mine around an athletics track. sprint 200, jog 200 sprint 200 jog 200, do as many as you can. Do a couple of sessions like that a week. The same goes for bag work, Always use a clock. Punch the bag as fast as you can for a minute, rest for a minute and repeat. Then take it to two minutes and eventually three etc over time. But keep it so hard and fast that by the end of the period you can't suck enough air. Do the same with kicking. When you start to improve make yourself a circuit of bagwork, sjipping rope, situps, burpees, back to bagwork. Again it has to be all hard fast and explosive and your breathing has to burn. You are trying to lengthen your intense exercise period and shorten your recovery period/ It hurts but it works.

Could you expand on this, I don't see it that way. I've trained with many people over the years who have had little knowledge or no interest in buddhism or spirituality and been very good martial artists.

Etiquette is good in the dojang because it creates a good atmosphere for training. We bow coming in and out of the dojang and I tell students it is a switch. Bowing in switches your brain on to training and bowing out is a signal to relax. Students bow to instructors as they come into class as an alternative to a greeting or a handshake, not as a sign of deference. All our instructors are addressed by their first names by all students. This makes it easier for students to question their instructors, which we insist on, and stops our instructors getting too big a head. All the other etiquette like bowing before sparring shaking hands after etc is for safety and to keep the atmosphere friendly. Everything outside the dojang is casual. First come first served.

Surely it trains your body to run two hours rather than one, which I don't think many people can do. Road racing cyclists aren't competitive unless they're training 100 to 200 ks a day, average three hours plus. The longer distances and times train the large leg muscles to store more fuel and use that stored energy more efficiently. The downside is that it becomes difficult to maintain muscle mass and a healthy fat ratio.

what are smores?

You're right Sam, it is Joon Gun...and Kwang Gye. I still suspect there is more to the move. All the others are attacks, defences or locks. I've been told that the downward pressing block is to press down on the knee of a chambered front kick but I can't imagine what a simultaneous upward pressing block would do. Maybe you're right.

Hey I always brag about my recurring back injury and hip arthritis. I can't complain about my knees anymore because bike riding mostly fixed them up. I manage the back and the hips with lots of stretches I got from a good physio therapist and glucosamine. But a couple of years ago a show on tv put things in perspective for me...some world Karate championships. In the breaking section a guy with NO LEGS, wheeled himself onto the platform in a cut down gi. He lined up in his wheelchair in front of a stack of tiles and put his hands on the arms of the wheelchair he then launched himself up into the air and smashed the tiles on the way down. I don't complain as much anymore.

I believe kung fu is a generic chinese term meaning martial art and applies to most cmas

We have beach training days which is a mix of training followed by a barbecue lunch and a swim if its warm. We also have mountain camps twice a year in winter. Camping out, training during the day, then socialising round the campfire at night. Some of us take mountain bikes and do a bit of exploring. We also have a more formal camping weekend at a school camp with dormitory accommodation. We hire a couple of outdoor education instructors and break the weekend up into sessions. While we take some groups for ma training the outdoor ed instructors take groups for rock climbing, abseiling, rafting, ropes courses etc. At night you have the choice of joining discussion groups or just socialisiing,playing cards, board games charades. the only rule is no television. We structure these activities for people like yourself who have training as their main focus, but also for people who want to get to know the people they train with. I think best asset you can have in mas specially as you head towards blackbelts is some great training partners with whom you can train hard but also have some laughs with. It's alll about balance.

I think if you are going to ask students to keep fit and train hard you have to do the same yourself. The first and most effective way to teach is by example. I am knocking on 50 and find it increasingly hard, psychologically not physically, to maintain my fighting weight. And the more I teach the harder it is because I'm not maintaining as high a heart rate consistently during classes. So I run and ride a bike as much as I can outside classes and that works a treat. To lose weight and maintain a fast metabolism you have to get that heart rate up for 20 minutes plus and throw in some strength and anaerobic work. But at the same time I'd rather be reading a good book or hanging out with my kids. Then again I have a good friend who is big and round...but solid: he trains everyday, trains prison warders for a living and nothing I hit him with budges him an inch or looks like it remotely concerns him. He gets(and deserves) great respect from his students

I don't use meditation specifically for martial arts nor as anything terribly spiritual. I use it as a way to shed baggage and to simplify my life. It does that to your martial arts if you apply it to your training but you can apply it to any aspect of your life. Have you ever had a problem then forgotten about it, and one day when you're out jogging or punching the bag or whatever the answer to your problem just pops into your head? Well meditation is a way to do that but with a bit more certainty and discipline. You ask a question, then sit and give your mind time. Nature hates a vacuum so it tries to fill it with irrelevancies like visions pretty colors etc. once you get past that and create a more consistant space, it eventually gets filled by the answer to your question. Once you've done it for a few years it becomes a very simple process. The only problem is you don't always get the answer you want.

Does anyone know of an on line explanation of the various moves within the patterns. I've been training for years and still do not know the use of the slow palm pressing blocks in Toi Gye

I train in an Itf style where we use our hands and block in a very similar way to Karate. I was very critical of WTF as a sty;e because of their hands-down fighting style till we developed a relationship with a WTF association. Our sparring is very different obviously but I now have great respect for their counter-kicking techniques and their different use of fighting range. I'd love to see a style one day that combines our closer fighting and hand defence with the longer range techniques of WTF. and their multiple kick techniques. I'm not flexible enough these days to adopt those astral kicks

I don't see buddhism as a religion. It has no god, it says people do not have souls and not only does not rely on faith but rejects faith completely. Buddha gave very detailed teachings but said that anyone who followed those teachings should test them first and only adopt them if they worked practically. I think many of the goals we aim for in the martial arts ie, simplification, dropping off of ego, living in the moment, dropping our attachment to destructive emotions are parallel to the ideals of buddhism. There is one big dilemma in "Buddhism" though. The buddha taught that to achieve enlightenment one has to drop off all attachments. Calling oneself a buddhist, or a martial artist, appears to me to be an attachment in itself. I'll have to meditate on that some more.

Could I ask for some clarification of this centre line theory. How does it deal with attacks on the peripheries. eg hooks turning kicks to the head, punches etc to ribs, kidneys, leg sweeps etc.

Wonder if anyone reading this post has done this sort of training long term and had problems with joint calcification, arthritis etc?

Lots of competitive running, football, tennis, squashhelped me with strength and general fitness, co-ordination and attitude to training. Just knowing how to set short, medium and long term goals, knowing some sports science so you know how to train efficiently and having lots of sports to fall back on so you can work them into your leisure and use them as a break from MA training. As an instructor I've found good athletes especially gymnasts a dream to teach. They listen and put the instructions directly into their technique without adding superfluous stuff. And they don't mind a bit of effort and pain. Godd flexibility is also a huge advantage in a ma like TKD.

We spar right from white belt so I like to restrict our techniques in sparring to our style until people get our basics right. For example we do not use leg sweeps locks or throws in TKD sparring. However, in our senior classes almost anything goes and I welcome the introduction of new techniques. In fact we brainstorm them and invite people from other styles to contribute. \ In the lower grades I don't think its fair if one person is sparring by TKD or se t style rules and the other is doing what they like. So thre trick is to talk to the instructor, your sparring partner etc and establish what is acceptable. Most good clubs and instructorswill welcome new techniques in the right setting.

The reason memories of your past came up may be your state of deep relaxation. There is a theory that memories are stored in your muscles as well as your mind, hence people's posture is affected by their life experiences, especially those from childhood. When we really relax those muscles it sometimes triggers past memories. It is the basis of various therapies. I find if I have a negative behavioural pattern I want to break I take the thought of that pattern into meditation. Often I will get a clear memory of the event or period in my life that behaviour stemmed from. doing this a few times can help break negative behaviour patterns. It can also release tensions stored in your muscles for years and even erase the odd facial wrinkle, for the same reason.

Another interpretation is that it is the result of sustained one pointed concentration. Instead of your mind constantly reflecting on itself as well as the activity it just focuses on the activity. It is an excellent condition. It is what we all hope for by training, to be able to train and fight with no ego consciousness, just 100 percent absorbed in the activity. Instead of your mind thinking "this is me training" it thinks "training" or instead of " this is me fighting you" where it is distracted by ego and fear, it just thinks "fighting". Instead of doing the activity you are being the activity. It is the state of no-mind. We practice meditation for the same result. The problem you may encounter now is that if you try hard to replicate that state you will add something else for your mind to think about, another mind state to eliminate before you can get back to no-mind. The answer is to just train. Remenmber...that's how you did it last time.

I forbid all jewelery in my classes because of the obvious safety problems. But If you start worrying that what you wear might make you less of a fighter you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

you have to train, no questions, don't worry which style, just do it.