spinninggumby

Welcome! Your creativity is a fresh of breath air. Er... breath of fresh air. Wow, I really need to get more sleep this week.

Yup, that's where he gets all his acrobatic maneuvers and kicks. His peer and childhood training partner Sammo loves the jumping double drop kick, which is supposedly a hapkido-specific maneuver but who am I to argue. I am not very informed about hapkido but I have heard that it is one of the most well-rounded styles out there, catering to practical application as well as the so-called 'appeal' of a martial art that everyone looks for.

Hmmm, I dunno if I trained for 12 hours a day, I wouldn't have any time to work to support myself or to receive higher education or pursue other interests Anyways I feel that 3 hours of intense (or perhaps not so intense if you are having an easy day) concentrated and goal-oriented training is plenty for each day. I have heard of 5-6 hours per day but definitely not 10-12. Even the Beijing Wushu team does about 6-7 hours (some which involves internal and meditation-oriented training, it's not all gung ho and full physical/kinetic energy) per day and they are notorious for their suicidal regimens. _________________ 'Conviction is a luxury for those on the sidelines' William Parcher, 'A BEAUTIFUL MIND' [ This Message was edited by: spinninggumby on 2002-07-30 19:46 ]

I can do Chinese, a little Japanese, Spanish, some Korean, but that's it Uh, dunno how that is relevant, but I haven't been posting much lately so just thought I'd up my count a little.

Hello! Taekwondo and kung fu are also my two arts of choice. From your name, I am guessing that you may also have an interest in tai-chi? Oh well, I could be wrong, hehe

My friend's uncle visited him from China yesterday and he had a photo of him and Jet Li hangin out. I guess he knew the guy before he became famous and sometimes he plays badminton or mahjong with him.

I think that my knowledge of kung fu complements my knowledge of WTF tkd perfectly. Kung fu involves many circular hand motions and integrated handwork while tkd focuses on legwork and stepping. Even though there is overlapping (i.e. kung fu includes kicking, forms, weapons, etc.), it shouldn't matter because after one has a foundation in one art, they should be able to adapt and distinguish and use their own discretion. I studied traditional kung fu and a little bit of modern wushu before moving on to WTF taekwondo and I have no regrets

I dunno, I find it weird that Bruce Lee would say that, considering that his foundation was in Wing Chun (before he started experimenting and expanding and creating his own philosophy) and Wing Chun was founded by a woman.

Yea but the question is, did these political figures begin their study in martial arts AFTER they were elected into position, or were they already known for their prowess before the people made their choice?

Hello Larry:) Welcome. You will be a great addition to the legions of Shotokan people here hehehe

I began studying Aikido when I was around six years old but when I got to high school, I quit b/c of distractions. After high school, I started training in traditional kung fu but I found that I wanted something a bit more acrobatic and demonstrative and formy, plus I felt like I was moving up too fast and I wanted to refine all of my basics, so I switched to a WTF taekwondo school. I also took modern wushu for a quarter but I could not afford to train at two m/a schools at once so I left the wushu/taiji academy to stay with taekwondo. Right now, I experiment and try to do fight choreograpy and demonstrations with my brother and some friends while sticking and refining my tkd. Although at first I was much more into the self-defense aspect of martial arts, my interest as turned more towards the side of scientific training, kinesiology, body mechanics, and health. I'm trying to incorporate my interest in this area with my academics and right now I'm trying to go for my degree in athletic training at Washington State University.

Hi there, and good luck with wing chun I always hear great things about it. Peace:-D

I guess if you are talking about pure strength (as in the potential to exert absolute brute force), then genetically yes men come endowed with more muscle fibers and mass so if when you say 'stronger' you mean 'pure brute strength' stronger, then yes men are stronger. But my point is that if you are referring to or including other aspects of athleticism, then it is a different story. Women often show superiority in both flexibility and aerobic capacity as well as enjoying the benefits of having a lighter and smaller frame, and in my line of training, these benefits suit me to a tee. Which is why I stated that in some ways, it would be easier for me to excel in my athletics if I were a girl/woman,

Yea, back when I was still training at a traditional kung fu kwoon, we always emphasized stances that went as low as possible in order to condition the legs. In real or practical self-defense/combat situations, your stances would obviously be a bit higher and not so defined, but your stability would be that much stronger due to the everyday training that you had received. The idea behind practical combat training is to push yourself and make yourself go through a harder and more sweat-inducing time than you ever would in the chance that you actually came upon a real life situation, so that when it actually happens, it will be cake (or hopefully, LOL).

My herooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :razz: :lol:

Actually, the mental capacity deficit that so many people are referring to for women (i.e. breaking down and crying when under pressure, etc.) has a lot to do with upbringing and sociological factors rather than biological. Society conditions men and women in different ways so that as we grow up, we act and learn actions which will earn us acceptance of high or worthy status, or at the very least, acceptance into the mold. Men act more macho and hide their feelings (even though they may FEEL like just breaking down and throwing a tantrum or crying) because they are taught to act that way to be regarded as a 'man'. For women, they are taught that in order to be 'womanly' they must be free to exhibit feelings and not so much to compress any thoughts or emotions. This is a process that is hard to stop, reverse, or even slow down and understand unless people make a strong effort to constantly educate themselves on how this phenomenon works. Social conditioning determines the main obvious differences between men and women more than ANYTHING else. Sure men may have naturally more muscle mass to work with (advantage via quantity not quality of each individual muscle fiber), but contrary to what the quiz says I always had read that women have a slightly higher aerobic capacity. Additionally, muscle mass doesn't really have as much correlation with pure power as one would think. Look at Bruce Lee. He did not have a vast quantity of muscle fibers, yet he refined and toned what he had until they were capable of exhibiting the explosiveness and raw strength that he was so known for. And I don't know the biological or clinical backing behind this but I have also read that women are naturally more flexible. In my line of martial arts which involves extreme flexibility, acrobatics, and a smaller frame, technically it would suit me much better to be a woman, and sometimes (although not too seriously), I joke that things would be so much easier if I was one. In fact, if I were to start martial arts over at the beginning of my life, and base everything on what martial arts I am interested in and this martial arts would be my entire life, I think I would choose to be female. But this is just my personal opinion and two cents on the difference of the sexes in a highly specific niche (martial arts). Examining everything else would take me well into next year. _________________ Power can accomplish a lot of things. But no amount of power can force another soul to return your love. [ This Message was edited by: spinninggumby on 2002-07-05 14:49 ]

Don't mean to diss on the UFC further either but I have recorded footage of very very fake fighting on the part of the winning fighter/contestant. It's not even that hard to spot amidst all the punching, but if your VCR has a slow-motion option then the scandal becomes apparent and painfully obvious.

Just thought I'd bump this thread a bit higher on the list b/c I just recently read my friend's copy of Electronic Gaming Monthly (the best console gaming magazine IMHO :bawling:

I know very little (I've read bits here and there in articles) about Xing Yi (Hsing-i?), but if you want a perhaps somewhat Hollywood-ized version of the art you can rent The One with Jet Li, and you can see the style somewhat portrayed or used by the evil Jet. I'm not exactly positive but I'm kind of sure that every style is exaggerated or glorified for the sake of being photogenic or appealing in movies. From what I saw, even though it is an internal art, the focus is still efficiency, explosive power, and perhaps operates on a straight-line type ideology? Once again, you are better off looking elsewhere for information besides me, haha. _________________ Power can accomplish a lot of things. But no amount of power can force another soul to return your love. [ This Message was edited by: spinninggumby on 2002-07-03 20:32 ]

Jackie or Van Damme does Coke? I was under the impression that every famous male star did Coke sometime during his career (or at least a rumor was started). Sorry, that was of bad taste. But anyways yea..hehehe

But Kickchick, what if I am short and slender (i.e. beanpole wimp. 5'8-5'9)?? What art is right for me?? You didn't cover all the bases :bawling: Just messin with ya LOL

Glad to hear that you are doing so well, Rodan! Keep up the awesome work and you can always rely on us (and me) for support when you need it, as I often need encouragement as well, hehehe.

Welcome

Welcome Phrosty:) hehehe Sorry I made stupid jokes like that sometimes. Glad to have you around.

Yea my friends and I rented GTA3 one night and we had an above-average time. However, to me and to most people I know, it is just a game and there is nothing really special about it. There are worse titles I can think of. The Mortal Kombat series are a group of fighting games which encourage players to tap in specific controller and button patterns at the end of each match so that they can rip out the hearts or decapitate or dismember or finish off their opponent in an extremely gory fashion. After a while, the whole thing seemed cartoonish, but no sane person or kid would ever mistake this game for promoting violence. However, there are certain things to think about, such as...if these games will cause 1 out of every 10,000 kids in America to go on a shooting rampage, is it worth the effort to ban them? hmmmm...maybe we can get into that some other time