AngelaG

"Sweeping" a rooted opponent can still be useful for a distraction technique. If you take a pop at someone's ankle it forces their attention down there, which may well leave you with an opening elsewhere!

If a belt is only there to keep your trousers up, or to keep your gi top closed, what does it matter if you wash it or not? We have an unwritten rule at our club. At Shodan you wear the normal cotton black belts, at nidan you might get a nicer one, and by sandan if you want somthing embroidered on it (such as your name) go ahead. Therefore someone could have been training for years and could still have a brand spanking new belt as they keep upgrading it. I don't wash my belts (apart from my first white belt). This is not because of any old myths circulating around, it is mainly because they take ages to dry and can look add after a wash - also they would have to be washed separately from the gi and I train to much to have my belt drying. However, in the situation of it starting to smell I would have no problems with bunging it on a gentle wash in the washing machine. I don't see this as disrespectful - it's a piece of material. I wouldn't however bung my sensei in the washing machine. that would be disrespectful.

I suspect numbers will go up, remember 20-30 years ago it wasn't the done thing for young ladies to do martial arts. Also take into consideration that if a woman wants babies she has to take a longer break. It is always hard for women who also want families to juggle a full time business and their home lives - If that business is their own the pressure will increase. Still - one day I hope to own my own dojo. We shall see!

Yes there is. Unfortunately they are unwieldy, bulky and uncomfortable. Strange, the men's versions are a delight to wear at all times. I even wear mine to work just in case. I didn't think the men's ones were confortable but the female ones are like big nappies. And everyone knows that women don't want to wear anything that makes their butts look bigger!

I find if coming in with a really powerful kick, or using a finishing technique that it particularly brutal I tend to come out with something that sounds like "TSAA"

When I was at school I was kneed in the groin, and it floored me. I couldn't breathe and I just crumpled in a ball on the floor. I couldn't even cry. So yeah, it does hurt. But I think the chances of getting hit are less as the angle has to be up and in. A straight kick to the pubis will hurt but not as much as a rising kick.

Yes there is. Unfortunately they are unwieldy, bulky and uncomfortable. I choose not to wear one, but then again I rarely do sports style kumite.

I respond quite well to some and I don't respond to others. We have a guy in our club who is a non-responder - he is a teenager and he has shot up in height recently. My instructor has a theory that once he starts growing upwards and starts filling out a bit that he may start responding - but for now... nothing!

A heavy bag is most useful when you have someone behind it or it'll give a completely false sense of power

i study ed parker system, and i wanted to combine it with dim mak. can you describe the right techniqes for using pressure points and how to apply pressure, speed, etc. That's quite a subject there, and something that will take a lot of training. Unfortunately you cannot hope to pick it up on a forum thread. A

Alright Dan? Long time no see (or read). How's the training going? Been out to see RS recently? (BTW what's with the beard? ) Take care! Maybe see you around soon! Angela

I have said this before, but I still don't understand why the Olympic TKD practitioners don't still keep their hands up. It could help guard against a kick, even if the opponent is unlikely to throw a punch.

Check to see if the instructors are police checked, and if someone holds a valid first aid certificate!

Sounds like a (badly written) hoax article to me.

I heard something about misappropriated funds etc. and therefore TKD in the next Olympics is looking a bit dodgy. I fully admit that it is all just gossip and rumour though, so don't ask me to back up my source .

Keep karate OUT of the Olympics! JMHO!

You can’t believe in both science and mysticism at the same time. They’re metaphysical opposites. And you are one that seems to be threatened, JMHO. Sorry that's not true, of course you can - or otherwise religious people could never be scientists! I'm not threatened - I don't come on here and jump down someone's throat unasked because they choose to describe it in one way or the other. Each to their own - it doesn't matter to you or me how someone else chooses to think of their art!

I’m expressing my opinion. I never said that you can’t. I’m not and I don't see why you insist that I am. Well I believe in science and you believe in mysticism. LOL Or BOTH as I said! Please read the actual sentence you quoted... it wasn't exactly a hard, overly long sentemce! And I don't insist that you are threatened by it, but IMO you are... because any post on anything that comes from the slightly more oriental thinking side you weigh in with your opinions, and yet freely admit that you haven't even bothered to look into it, do any research, or any way back up your bold statements by education and experience. If you look into it and still consider it * then fair enough. I can accept that. But speaking as a though one is a voice of experience when they have not tried to experience anything is IMO misleading to the people that seek advice. And I felt your original response to someone else's genuine reply was hostile in the extreme and unwarranted. If people want to give a TCM approach then IMO is as valid as any other response, as long as it is a genuine desire to help the OP. Breathing is considered important by many from a MWM point of view, and considered important by others from a TCM point of view. Either way it is important, and finding a way that it clicks in your mind so that you do it properly and don't waste your training time, or worst case scenario injure yourself, is the more important part. Whether that be by MWM or TCM, or a silly rhyme that helps you remember the sequence is not important, all that is important is that it is done. There will be people on the board that can help with all sides. That is the great thing in posting on such a huge community as this! JMHO of course! Angela

Because one explanation gives a truer understanding of how and why something works and the other explanation doesn’t. And who appointed you the explantion police? I still don't see why you seem so threatened by it? As far as I am concerned they both make absolute sense, but that's because I look into TCM. Keep an open mind!

OR Modern medicine Or Ancient Chinese witch doctoring. The method is the same, different explanation as to why it works though. So what does it matter which way people choose to describe it? It's their choice, and whatever helps people remember to do the technique is a good thing. Why are you so scared about people using the oriental explanations? Is it just because you don't understand them? It's a personal choice - no one tells people using MWM terms that they should use TCM, so why do people think it's acceptable the other way around?

100% agreement! I hate it when instructors try to make their classes seem better by dissing other styles. Especially when the insults aren't even based in reality. I do shotokan. We hit air and we hit pads. Both are important aspects in training.

Just wear it. By the time you've started to sweat a little it will have started to calm down a little. We are all used to seeing someone walking in with a new gi for the first time, no one will care. It just looks like you left the hangers in.

Thta's the kind of one I have (don't use it, hate the damn thing). You can also get one's that are like bras with cups that go in.

Why not look around at other schools in your area? There's usually a large range of choice around. What kind of thing do you want to do? What failed to impress you about your friend's school?

I want to do some Iaido practice but because I have bad fingers I currently find it too painful with my current bokken. Does anyone know of a firm that does a lighter weight bokken - so that I don't have to look like an idiot with a little baby bokken? AG