scottnshelly

My favorite trick is telling the class that we'll only do a light workout and then making them all do thousands of pushups!

I got interested because my dad was a Black Belt. He refused to teach me or take me to class until i was 6 because of a lack of attention span. For my sixth birthday, he started teaching me. We lived far away from his school by the time i was 6, so he taught me at home. He taped my yellow belt test and mailed it to his instructor who watched it and gave me a yellow belt. For orange and up we made the journey. Now we live even farther, but i still managed to get up to 2nd Dan in that school by keeping up with the criteria and going back for the test. There are lots of schools in this area, so i also have a Shodan in American Tae Kwon Do (for lack of better term) here in town. So, back to the question, i got started because of my dad, i continued because of the lessons that i learned and it helped me all through school. I stay in it because i feel the obligation to give what i have been given. plus it's fun.

I've just finished reading the Book of Five Rings; what a wonderful read. Throughout the book he say things like: "It is very difficult to attain this by merely reading this book, but you will soon understand with a little instruction. " and "It is impossible to write about this in detail. " my question is, are there any strategy schools out there any where that do teach this Way in detail? I'm sure that most of it has changed by now, but i would be interested in learning Musashi's Way, even if it was just reading more about it. thanks.

I haven't been around a makiwara since i was about 8 at a 'Chang Hon Tae Kwon Do' class. it was just posted on a brick wall. i've never heard that it was supposed to give way to a punch. i always just thought of it as a conditioning tool. i know it felt bad, but the 'instructor' there required everyone to punch it so many times before class, even the children. am i the only one that was ignorant on this topic?

i'm also confused about only having 15 minutes. do you only teach each color belt at different times? seems like a waste. please elaborate RavenX

from what i understand, Tae Kwon Do wasn't given a title until the '50's. but the moves were derived from japanese and okinawan moves a long long time ago by farmers and fishermen. i'm sure someone can come and correct me on this i have always found it hard to believe that someone could kick somone one off of a running horse. the only way that i would think that would be possible would be if the horse had no legs and the rider had no arms. i know it's possible to kick above your head, but you really can't get much power that high.

Century used to sell a target that had a little number dial thing in it. the harder you hit, the more the number thing spun. it was very similar to a tire pressure guage. i checked thier website and didn't see it. my instructor used to have one though. really neat.

The Karate Dojo by Peter Urban has a couple good stories. Not sure if it is online anywhere though.

I studied in a Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do class for a couple years. The way that I understood it was that Moo Duk Kwan was a different branch or style (for lack of better word right now) of Tae Kwon Do. I don't think it's so much of a philosophy, although they did stress a lot of ethics and morals. I never once heard the words Soo Bahk Do come up from any of the Masters, Instructors or students that i studied under. Perhaps someone could shine some more light on this subject...

8 years for Moo Duk Kwan. I started at 6, got 1st Poom at 14, then 2nd Dan at age 16.

Agreed, however, i don't think that anyone, especially a Black Belt, should be making comments about others in the class. Drunken Monkey was saying that she'd be even meaner. I think that the original poster may have had an attitude, but that doesnt mean that the Black Belt should be calling names.

well, the parents wanted thier kids in the class for whatever reason. if their kid got a letter, or in this case a ticket, informing them that thier kid was unruly in class and won't be allowed back until they sign this ticket, then the parent disciplines the kid and sends them back. they paid for the month, so they would just be out that much money if thier kid got expelled. expulsion was never the goal though. we knew that would get the parents involved. exactley, expulsion was never our goal, but if it had to be done to improve the rest of the class... good point. i don't think anyone really wants to expell, or even punish, a student.

Well, we had a relatively small seating area, most of the building was the workout area. Also, being from a small southern town, we don't mind watching others' kids and helping out the community. I don't know about where you're from, but around here, it's very common.

Thanks a lot Shorinryu Sensei, Karate Kid and everyone else. Over the weekend, i saw my neighbor getting beat up by her ex-husband. i went to break it up, but he ran off when he realized that there was a witness. I was really tempted to chase after him and really whoop the tar out of him, but for some reason i didn't. i just called the cops. i wasn't scared of him or intimidated by him, i guess i just didn't want to persue a fight that badly. so i guess i answered my own question over the weekend, eh? for now, i'll just keep on keepin on and hopefully the need will never arise, but if it does, i'll be prepared.

In a Martial Arts school that i taught at for a while, most of the parents dropped their kids off and came back later. It was a lot easier for the kids to mess around without their parents their. so if a kid was being unruly in class, we would write him or her a 'ticket' that had to be signed and brought back by the parent. During the class, we would say 'okay, billy, you get a ticket after class'. that would usually straighten them up for the class. if not, they would be asked to sit out while the rest of the class did something fun. after class we would write them up their ticket and not allow them to workout with us again until it had been returned with a parents' signature. that usually worked with ours.

Thanks again for the advice Shorinryu Sensei. I don't mean to sound like i'm turning down your input. I'm past the 'invisible' stage that everyone goes through after a little training. But i feel i'm at a stand-still in my training. i know how to defend myself against someone from my class, or in a ring, but i would like to make my self-defense skills more broad. I like the bar idea. I might try that, with a baby though, it's hard to get out more than once a month. Also, as far as your statement " I know a couple of very good tournament fighters that have gotten their butts handed to them by people with little or no formal training in any sort of fighting art. " i wouldn't mind taking a slight beating as long as i benefitted from it. I have lost many fights in the ring and have sparred/grappled with the best. For my Junior Black belt test, i sparred with my two Instructors and their Instructor. He went all out on me, tore my Gi off and everything. Then i grappled with one of my Instructors full on. I know a good whooping when i get one. thanks again

Thanks for everyone's responses. I don't think that i'll go picking a fight, but perhaps i won't turn down the next one that arises. I've not seen many street fights and i think that knowing what to expect from a street fight would help one with his/her self-defense training. From what i've noticed, someone creates a style of fighting, then then start learning how to defend against it. It only works if you come across someone fighting the same style, usually. If one can train for a fight against a regular untrained average joe, then he/she would have an advantage. Is this the general concensus, or am i crazy?

I left competions all together for many reasons. a series of letdowns at national level, getting a 'real job', moving out away from my parents, politics, i quit doing forms/katas, and i got into competitions really seriously and i don't believe that competitions should be your driving force for studying the Arts. I had to take a break from them to get back to the roots.

The system is driven by schools. There are schools that really push their students to sign up and compete in the NBL. some may even require it. They, therefore, have a strong knowledge of what the judges want to see and teach that to their students. Also, these schools with so many competitors get to have their Black Belts be on a judging panel. If there are 200 students from one school competing and 50 judges from the same school, chances are, a competitor will have a judge from the same school at least once. I hate to say it, but i think that sometimes these types of schools can be biased. Besides that, it's intimidating to be standing around your ring, getting ready, seeing the other competitors and their coaches, then the coach go sit down and become a judge. You just know right then that you got some tough competition.

I was a member of the NBL for two or three years in my youth. Not sure of the fees. the tournaments are usually run fairly descent. It works like so: Local MA's put on tournaments in their area and the NBL sanctions it and gives it a 'rank'. The larger the tournament, the higher the ranking it will get. Each place that you get in a local tournament gets you a set number of points depending on the rank of the tournament. for example: if you go to a small tournament and place 1st, you might get 8 points. if you go to a larger tournament and place 1st you might get 15 points. the more tournaments you go to, the more points you accumulate. if you accumulate enough, you qualify to go to the Super Grands World Games. I went to Niagra Falls, Las Vegas and Savannah, GA. Fun, but a lot of politics. It's hard to place if you're from a school that doesn't have a lot of members, especially judges.

It was not a 'requirement' in my class, but was an expectation of me when i reached 2nd Brown (equivelant to T-Black in TKD). In such a small class - 20-30 students - it was beneficial to the class to have an upper-belt assisting. Occasionally the Instructor would call me the night before and tell me that he wasn't going to make it and he wanted me to teach. Not because he was lazy, but in order for me to have the added responsibility. This helped me grow tremendously.

I really like this quote. What you said made a lot of sense and i got a lot of info from your post. i always appreciate it when someone gives me an educated opinion or good piece of advice, rather than commenting on what others have said. Thanks.

I was hoping that no one would try to analyze my statements and completely look over my question. I was only trying to give an example. i was not trying to make any claims of superior arts. my was only please forgive me if you thought that i was trying to say that Aikido was superior in anyway to your style.

I've heard that Bruce Lee often fought to upkeep his skills. Also, while reading the Book of Five Rings, in the Water Book there was a passage that said "from time to time raising your hand in combat" Most Instructors teach that one should never fight unless it is absolutley necessary. i have never been in a streetfight, but often fantasize about it in order to get a better perception on self-defense. my question is, how many MA's fight and how often? is it immoral to fight when it is avoidable, or should one occasionally fight?

These are about the two most opposite styles ever. i never would have guessed anyone would have combined them. you made it sound like you just study the two seperate styles though, not really combining them, right?