Kicks

I'm not surprised that duct tape held up so firmly...it's what holding my truck together!

damn lizard!

Many schools around here consider their 4th Dans as Masters, but at the dojang I go to we don't consider someone Master until 5th Dan. Once you become a Cho Dan Bo (probational black belt) you are responsible for relearning all the white belt requirements plus your own, and have to assit in their instructions. At 1st Dan you relearn all the requirements for the orange and yellow belts and assits in their instructions, plus 1st dan requirements. 2nd dans are responsible for the green and blue belts requirements plus the 2nd dan requirements. 3rd dans are responsible for both levels of purple belts requirements plus their own requirements.. 4th dans are responsible for both level of red belts, the Cho Dan Bo belts and their own requirements. Therefore it takes till you're a 5th Dan to have gone completely through the curriculum twice and be able to 'master' it.

The best place to hit someone is in the dojang. Heck, some of the things I do to my 16 year old son could land me in jail outside the dojang.

The advice 'The Saint' gave you about using a 45 degree (angle) attack is very good advice. I use that all the time in Olympic sparring, and I teach my students to use it especially when fighting someone taller than them. I use it in what I call a fade-away. Let's say I'm in an closed stance, my right leg back and my opponent's right leg is back. I'll give a forward feint (fake) then quickly push off with my right leg on a 45 degree angle to the left, while at the same time chambering my left leg. I'll throw a roundhoue kick with the left leg and do the fade-away.... land right leg far enough away from my opponent so that I am outside his kicking range. Sometimes I won't fade-away and I'll throw a double kick; left leg round followed quickly with right leg round before I even land on the ground. Another technique would be to skip in with a fake backhand to the head and throw side kick when his hands go up to block the backfist.

5'11" 170 lbs brown hair, brown eyes, most of my teeth would like to shed about 10 lbs and replace with lean mass.

It takes about 3 years to obtain black belt if you pass every color belt test and get all your class time requirements and assistant instructor time in. After you get 1st dan you have to wait 2 years before starting to test for 2nd dan. Then wait 3 years before starting your test for 3rd dan. Then 4 years before starting your 4th dan test, and another 5 years before starting 5th dan tests.

My son and I recently tested for 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and Hapkodo. You can see a listing of our requirements and some photos at http://www.livaudaisnet.com/mafit/test/mafit4dan.htm All black belt rank tests are done in 4 parts. We test every two months, with final parts only being held twice a year (June and December). It takes about 3 years to obtain black belt if you pass every color belt test and get all your class time requirements and assistant instructor time in. After you get 1st dan you have to wait 2 years before starting to test for 2nd dan. Then wait 3 years before starting your test for 3rd dan. Then 4 years before starting your 4th dan test, and another 5 years before starting 5th dan tests. In summary (and this is the short list) at each belt test (color and black) you are required to demostrait forms, sparring combinations, hapkido combinations, 1 step sparring combinations, free style sparring, board breaking, and martial arts knowledge.

We're members of the USTU (United States Tae Kwon Do Union) and the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union). Their Olympic Style sparring competitions are modified WTF rules. AAU also does point sparring. The USTU forms (poomse, kata) are the Taegurks. In AAU competition you can do either the Taegueks, Palgwe, (WTF) or Hyungs (ITF). USTU: http://www.ustu.com/ AAU: http://www.aautaekwondo.org/

Yes, congrats to Romania! We watched last night and as always, were very impressed and amazed at the skills of this wonderful, young athletes. Romania also always sends the CUTEST girls! I can't wait till they're on a box of Wheaties.

Toooo Funny .... YOU WIN !

Geez, the sacrifices some people have to make in the name of their art.

Sure, check out http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Stage/7308/balducci.html

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We have an 8 week semester with 7 weeks of test requirements and 1 week of review. Each week the student learns a different sparring combination and Hapkido combination for their belt rank. Typical Class for color belts Mon - Thur, Sat: 1 hour 1. Warm Ups, head to toe 2. Kicking & punching drills; serves as aggresive warm up and technique practice 3. Sparring combination instruction and practice 4. Hapkido combination instruction and practice 5. Forms practice End with either 1 step sparring or breaking practice Wednesday night has a black belt class that replaces item 5 with sparring (WTF Olympic style). We'll usually fight 5 - 8 three minute rounds. Fridays are focused more on sparring. The color belts will still do their requirements portion of the class but spend more time at the end of class developing sparring skills. I teach a sparring class on Fridays for advanced junior ranks. I focus on footwork and advanced combinations for tournament sparring. I'll also go over competition strategy. Sometimes we'll do focus pad drills, blast-master or heavy bag drills, speed drills, or endurance drills. We'll spend about 20 - 30 minutes sparring. The class immediatelty after mine is run by our Master instructor and it is a sparring class also, but for all ranks. Mostly advanced ranks and black belts attend. We do the warm ups, a lot of kicking drills, focus pad drills, and blast master drills. We'll then spar for the next 45 minutes. The late class Friday night is a body toughing class. They beat each other up with sticks.

By all means..wear that cup whenever sparring. I was once hit with a back kick that came in low. I felt a stabbing pain in the pubic region, not in the groin itself. I hit the ground and was down a couple of minutes. I got up and finished the round. I even had another round after that. When class was over I took the cup out my supported and saw it was broken in half! The injury caused scar tissue to develop. With all the criss-crossing of ligaments in that area it has been an aggravation for several years now. I feel pain whenever trying to work my lower abs. Physical therapy has help some, but there is still residual pain. Also, I've seen girls get kicked between the legs and go down hard. I make no claims to having cornered the market on pain!

Have you ever pulled a prank on your students? Once I had some young students who were "know it alls". So I challenged them to use their martial arts discipline and power to float off the ground. They said that it was impossible. So, using the Balducci Levitation method made popular by David Blaine, I levitated right in front of them. That kept them humble for a while.

That's why God created teenage sons. When my master instructor looks my way I poke Ross in the ribs and he gets 'volenteered'.

I've been a guest instructor at a local gym to teach some MA techniques to the cardio-kickboxing class. The women wear lose fitting shorts and tops. By the end of the class I knew what color undies everyone wore. On a serious note... I have been asked to teach a self defense class at my office. I'll have a room full of women who work for the company and wives of the men who work there. How do I tactfully suggest they wear the proper attire? I really don't want to know what color panties my boss's wife wears!

monkeygirl, well did you see my post on the Embarassing MA Momemts" thread? That exact thing happened to me. I was leading the class in warm ups when I did a front kick and my wife's undies came flying out!!!

Seafood Gumbo, boiled seafood (crabs, shrimp, crawfish). Red beans and rice, fried chicken and smashed potatos. Ice cream. But when in training it's a whole different menu.

OK, one last question..I think. Does size matter? I'm just under 6', and my son is about 5' . What size Bo should we be using for the quick, agile techniques used in competitions and demostrations. We already have a large selection of hardwood staffs at our dojang for use in self defense purposes.

I hate when that happens!

Can you dye the strings black?

I know that sai can have a chrome finish. As far as the steel, I'm not sure but I think it mat be similiar to guns where a blueing agent is applied. I don't think they use paint. It would chip when striking another sai or staff.