Jinxx0r

yes, I get that all the time too (well, I used to, I corrected it) and it is stressed in my art. All I know is after I corrected that tendancy, a lot of my lower back soreness went away when doing my hyungs. I also know, from my own experience, that my balance is better throughout my forms when I keep my back straight. It's the little things that kill, hehe.

grinding in you knee could mean a tear of the meniscus cartilage. You should see a doctor about that. Cartilage doesn't heal well on its own and sometimes requires surgery. Talk to a doctor. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/meniscusinjuries1/a/meniscus.htm (for more info)

To expand what JaseP said in #2. We also use it to remind us that we're never done/complete. As he said, black is an end color. With midnight blue, you're always reminded that you're trying to obtain perfection but that you never can really reach it. Also for each "degree" (E dan, Sam Dan, etc) the stripes are white. They are white to remind you to have a beginners mind when training (back to your white belt days). In the same note for the gup colors in Soo Bahk Do, all belt stripes are midnight blue... to always remind you of what you're trying to obtain. In my dojang it's a strict traditional format and there are very specific do bok guidelines for every level. I think this is a cool concept. Soo Bahk.

In Soo Bahk Do we line up in rank order, senior ranks to the far right, moving left by senority. We have 3 flags on the wall: the american flag, the korean flag and the federation flag. Sa Bom Nim comes to the front of the class. With everyone facing the flags, the senior most student calls out the commands (in order): Cha Ryut (come to attention stance) Ku Ki Bay Ray (salute the flags, in the US we salute the American flag, by placing your right hand over your heart) Ba Ro (return to attention stance) Myuk Nym (close your eyes, 15-30 second silent meditation, prepare yourself mentally for class) Ba Ro (return to attention stance) Sa Bom Nim Kay Kyung Yet (bow to master instructor) Then you start class, usually with a 5 minute warmup, led by the senior most student. At the end of class, we line up and go through the same cadence.

F = M*A Force equals mass times acceleration... A guy who is smaller, but fast can hit just as hard as a guy who is big but slow (which is the force side of the equation). You can't really train or improve for speed, it's genetic... but you can get stronger (or basically strong enough). You can improve on your speed up to a point, but your fast twitch muscles and how many you have are genetic (which is why we all can't run the 100 in 9.7 seconds or throw 95 MPH fastballs). Like they say in sports, you can't teach speed. I would rather have speed than power. *shrugs* JMHO O, and I thought the video was pretty cool...

I hate catching an elbow block to the shin... ouch...

Personally, I love hand techniques the most, but my favorite kick is probably front leg inside/outside crescent kick... since you can do that one quick enough to not completely telegraph it.

In our dojang, when we're free sparring, if you make hard contact, you stop, bow, make sure they are alright, then continue (if they can). It's to show mutual respect in our dojang. In my dojang we're encouraged to make controlled contact. It's the only way you build up true power and distance control... at least that's what I'm told... I'm still working on it. hehe.

I like this way of thinking about the belt system and agree with you on it. Oh, and Angela, I checked out your site (in your sig), I like the katas and the one steps. Very cool. They need to add more kata videos though

great post. I never thought of it that way.

LOL http://zattevrienden.realroot.be/depanneren.htm

I wouldn't recommend sparring with it, but PVC is pretty strong. It does wobble a little with the sand in it (if you try to use it too fast), but not that much. As I said before, I wouldn't recommend using it for fast technique as you could hurt your shoulders. It will build good wrist/forearms and shoulders. If you use it slow, when you switch to a normal staff your technique is MUCH faster and noticable stronger.

When you're sick, it's actually a really bad time to train. If you tax your body too much you will make yourself worse! Some good advice already, talk to your instructor as I'm sure he/she doesn't want to be sick either. I don't go to my class when I'm sick... like other said, it's just inconsiderate to others to pass your germs along.

This is what I did... get a 6' piece of 1" diameter PVC tubing. Fill it with sand, cap and seal both ends. Now you have a weighted Bo to work with (in Soo Bahk Do they call it a bong... which for some reason is always met with a chuckle ) I use it all the time through my hyungs.. just make sure you do things slowly as you can really torque some of your shoulder muscles if you try to execute techniques too quickly.

I would think a bo... as you can use a broom or a mop stick if you had too and they're basically everywhere. A gun may be nice, but there are very few states with conceal/carry laws...

no, but consistently teaching that the belt is not the end goal, but only a sybolic measure would be appropriate. I don't think a lot of people realize this. My instructor tells us this all the time. The way he has us think about it is like this: getting to cho dan is like going through high school. You learn a good set of basics (well, at least some of us ). You wouldn't finish high school and be qualified to be the CEO of microsoft. No, you continue your learning to the next level (like college), and then the level after that (graduate school), and so on. So many people think that when you get to cho dan it's over, when really, you've got the basics... like finishing high school. All you've done is shown a proficiency in the core curriculum. JMHO

You need to ease into a new exercise routine. Jumping in and trying to keep up like this, if you haven't excercised in awhile, will do more harm than good. Checkout the health, training and fitness section of the site for ideas on how to improve your fitness levels.

what's an energetic KO?

no, worst I've ever had was a broken nose in high school... which was many, many years ago.

I've never had a really big embarassing moment yet... just the little brainfarts you get once in awhile like doing line drills and blanking out on basic techniques or getting lost in a form because you mind wandered. I guess that's embarassing enough though...

LOL, I love this thread! I don't know how many times I catch myself bowing to someone. I catch myself thinking "Did I just bow to her???" I also find myself thinking "Ok, if the cashier loses his mind and attacks, what do you do..."

This is a better explanation of the area that is probably causing you the problem (as this is the most common area of the injury) http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/inflamtibtensheath.htm it's on that same page, but there are a bunch of links that you may miss this one.

I used to get this all the time. Basically the muscle in the front, tibialis anterior, is underdeveloped. It's basically the muscle that pulls your foot upward. A couple of things you can do to help recovery and development. 1) RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). 2) sports massage of the underdeveloped muscle. This site explains it pretty well: http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/shinsplints.htm 3) Toe tapping excercise. Sit in a chair, barefoot, and tap the ground gently with your big toe. Figure out your fatigue point and repeat on both sides. This will help build this muscle. 4) Sit in a chair and draw each letter of the alphabet with your big toe (as if it were a crayon ). Do the whole alphabet, with each foot, each day. Sounds funny, but works. I did all of this over a couple of weeks to rehab my tibialis anterior muscle to allow me to run without pain. This is one of the most annoying "injuries" to have.

1) Aikido 2) Jeet Kune Do 3) Kick Boxing 4) Vale Tudo (never heard of this one before) 5) Boxing 6) Kendo Interesting...

everyone has to make money somehow... and there's a sucker born every minute. Ya know, most mcdojo instructors teach you an invaluable lesson which I bet a lot of people on this site have learned... hehe.