scottnshelly

It depends on the tournament. I have been to some - NBL - that divide the competitions into Soft Traditional, Hard Traditional, Open, weapons, etc. then there are some smaller ones that has everyone competing against each other. Some of the local ones in my area don't really have any XMA competitors. good luck though if they don't divide it up.

Make her stop coming. but seriously, maybe talk to her. i know that being that much younger can make it difficult to talk to her. if you're not comfortable with that, talk to her daugher (your alleged friend) and ask if her mom is on meth or something.

I can agree with this, but it's when you get those that learn the latter and claim to know the former is when you get people wriled up. I was watching a thing on the TV once, maybe TBS, soluting Martial Artists. Sinbad (the comedian) came out and starting talking about being a Black Belt and his master. Then he revealed that his "master" was Billy Blanks. that got me all upset. i know that billy blanks isn't XMA, but it's similar, you see where i'm going with this? Maybe a good analogy would be a lawyer who went through law school getting upset because someone was just learning the big words and saying that he was a lawyer. okay, that was a bad analogy, i admit. i'm rambling, so i'll quit. sorry

tommarker Not really an attempt at humor. I know it wasn't Moo Duk Kwan; I have also studied it. I would've recognize the name. i actually have a 2nd Dan in Moo Duk Kwan Very inferior art, that Moo Duk Kwan. good for competitions The style that i studied was an effective art, but the styles that were taught for competitions were very inferior. Those classes that teach one to not punch to the head and just stand toe to toe doing round houses all day are a joke to me. It's hard for one to learn a serious Martial Art, then go to a tournament that limits you as much as the WTF and USTU do. No offense meant for any Moo Duk Kwan stylists, i guess my attach should have been more toward the USTU and WTF.

I don't believe in limiting one's self to only one style. With that being said, i agree that one needs a strong understanding of the "basics" before learning a lot of other styles. If each class starts out the same, with learning and practicing blocks, stances, strikes, ect and a workout, it would be beneficial; if they teach you the basic fundamentals of each respective style i think it would be a good thing. You could get the best of both worlds (or multiple worlds). Some styles have strikes, blocks, throws, etc that are superior to others'. If each instructor only teaches you the fancy moves from their style, you would be missing out on a lot.

The class that attended the longest wasn't an old style like Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do or anything. we just called it Tae Kwon Do, but it was very Americanized. We didn't have any lineage or anything, so we learned from a variety of different styles. i don't claim to be trained in Judo, or Kung Fu, but i know how to do a Judo throw and maybe a Kung Fu kick or two. My instructor was skilled in a variety of styles, but wasn't one of those Dan traders or lowly ranked students. He just learned from a lot of different instructors. We would often have other instructors from other styles come in and give demonstrations and teach us a few things. so i don't consider what i learned a hodge-podge style, but it's not a very ancient style either. just the stuff that works best.

i admit, i haven't read this entire thread, but wanted to through this into the pile. at one school that i taught at, the school shirt featured a yin-yang with red and blue colors because it was primarily Korean-based. A couple of the students weren't allowed to wear the shirts to their Catholic schools becuase of the yin-yang.

i've never been able to do the splits, never needed to. but as far as your legs hurting, Superfoot Bill Wallace teaches that when stretching, you should just jump right up after a stretch. for instance, when sitting down and strecting your legs into the splits (not standing) when you're done, you should put your hands behind you and pull your self backwards allowing your legs to come together. then rest for a couple seconds before standing.

i think it's an example of setting one's goals high. it may be possible, but not probable. it wouldn't have the same effect if you instructor said that the goal of the kick was cause a slight discomfort in the opponent. similar to the backfist. your goal is to knock a hole in the opponent's temple, but its not very probable.

i've been reading on this forum for a couple weeks and i've seen a lot of people bashing combined styles. I was just wondering if this pertains to everyone that tells his/her students that there are superior moves from a variety of different styles and then teaches them, or if this is only against those that try to put a label on what they are teaching. for instance, i've been to classes that will teach a superior Aikido throw. although no one in the class is certified in Aikido, we recognize that some of their stuff is superior. there are also those that will put a label and teach say three or four different styles combined. i hope this is clear enough to understand. let me know if not and i'll try to elaborate.

this crap is the reason that i left large tournaments. it's impossible to win against someone who does a back flip in thier routine when at least three of the judges are under 30. if you can get lucky enough to have a couple of real masters judging your ring, you stand a chance with a real form/kata/poomse. and they try to use it in fighting too, standing on their hands and kicking. you can't hit them back when their on thier hands because then you don't know which side is below the belt. i think a sweep would do nicely, but the judges frown on it. i hate the XMA! it's a disgrace. it's probably like televangelists are to preachers.

wherebouts in oklahoma are you from?

Although the plot wasn't that great, i really enjoyed 'legend of the drunken master' with jackie chan

This thread looks interesting, so i'm going to stick my nose in! i've only worn one belt that wasn't Century, and it was a decorative Black Belt. I only buy Century for three main reasons: Quality Price Ease of access (it's about an hour drive to their warehouse) i've never seen a belt bleed. as far as it being dirty, if i can't shake it off, it's part of the belt as far as i'm concerned. i'm not worried about someone saying 'hey, looks like your belt is a little dirty' i'll say 'yea, i worked out hard' i was taught the non-washing method, but i'm not saying that washing your belt is a bad thing. like sapper6 said, there are those that purposely try to wear their belts down. i've seen 16 year olds with gray frayed belts, they looked like the took a sander to it. it was jet black in the middle and back, but the ends were frayed. and yet another time that i went off of the topic, sorry

I think Martial Artists should not wear camoflouge or pink belts. it's usually kids that i see wearing those, but you know that an adult had to have given it to them.

You might be a Martial Artist if: you don your clothes using punches and kicks. you are constantly imagining how to counter any strike thrown your way, even when the other guy is just trying to shake your hand your family keeps asking if you are 'still rassling' you have great self-discipline (had to end it on a serious note, sorry)

In my opinion, there should be no reason to be nervous at all. you should feel comfortable with what you are doing. You have been practicing for all these years, right? i do know from experience though that it can be a little stressful though. just relax, and remember that you know what you're doing and you aren't going to be asked to do anything that you don't know or haven't practiced before.

I smoke and drink occasionally. it doesn't affect me, becuase i work out enough to compensate for it. now i do more cardio to make up for it. I was really wondering more about the morality part of it. do you think it's immoral?

One class that i attended for a long time stressed to the students not smoking or drinking, ever. I know that smoking can be bad for your health, and it's bad to come to class drunk, but what does everyone else think about drinking and smoking? should a Martial Artist never drink or smoke, or is it okay outside of class?

i also don't like to judge a book by it's cover, however, judging by this website, i'd say it's mostly crap. i don't want to offend anyone, but i mean i've never heard of the ant, grasshopper or donkey being an influence for any martial art. and watch the little moving images of them demonstrating some one-steps on the page titled 'animal fighting'. they look ridiculous, especially the tiger. just my opinion.

I would say in an actual decent school, not counting those that leave within the first month, probably 1 in 80 to 1 in 100. i've seen some McDojo's that will promote very early, like Shorinryu Sensei said. Also, seems that a school that gives out a lot of Black Belts too early tend to have those that leave right after getting their first Dan. They have it in their head that Black Belt is the destination, not the begininng.

It is a pretty interesting book into the psycological parts of the mind. it's definately not an instruction book on hypnosys or controlling other people, but it gives you an idea on some the above topics. it also describes a lot about the ancient and modern Ninja. It explains how and why the Ninja uses mind ploys. it gives several (can't remember exactly how many) different attacks - i.e. anger, seduction, sympathy. gives tips on how to avoid cons. also touches on the zodiak signs and hours it's a lot better than the Ashida Kim book with a similar title. definately a recommended book

it's really not as hard as people make it out to be. it was a requirement for a belt test at a school i attended.

i've worn some Martial Arts shirts out before. never gotten any rude remarks about it other than the typical idiot redneck 'hey kung fu master' i don't know about a full out bow in public, but certainly when meeting an Instructor or student in public when we shake there's a slight bendature at the waist. unnoticable to the untrained eye.

I've seen a similar situation. A family of a mother, father and about 6 kids came into my instructor's class one night to watch. the father was walking with a cane. I noticed how he kept pulling people aside and talking to them. he finally caught me and starting bragging about his martial training in the military. he said that he learned a form of TKD and refused to test for black belt because he would've had to register his hands as weapons! we all kinda laughed at him. his family stayed for a long time and actually excelled. he unfortunatley only critisized them and the rest of the class from the sidelines. everynight he'd have some new crazy story about how he is so skilled with his walking cane and could kill people with his lilttle finger. I guess this type of thing happens a lot.