isshinryu5toforever

Strictly Karate, Street Fighter (think Sonny Chiba, not JCVD) and Fighter in the Wind as long as you ignore the glaring historical inaccuracy.

@ JJN, I'm sure you don't let them see your frustration, but the fact that it exists may change things in a small way. Some people pick up on it, some don't. I'm a middle school English teacher in South Korea right now, trust me, I know frustration haha. The best teachers I know, school or otherwise, don't get frustrated. As impossible as that sounds, they just don't. Their patience goes on for days and then some. They're kind of like saints. No idea how they do it some days.

It would help if you mentioned which college you attend. I know a few of the area ones, and I know if a lot of them are associated with anyone, and what their general reputation is. If I don't, my former coaches certainly do. If you don't want to post something like that here, PM me.

@ joesteph, about the Isshinryu black belt, I'm guessing that was his personal philosophy. I don't think I've heard many other Issinryu students discuss things in that manner. As far as myself, I'm a kicker. My favorite kick is a front leg side kick to the midsection. It's called a cut kick in Taekwondo. If you can time it right, you can jam someone's kick, and take them off their feet in the process.

I'll echo what everyone else said, and say you should just train. I didn't for a while, because of your aforementioned reasons, and I got the itch to hit something haha. I don't think you'll regret training. Also, is $60 a lot? Everyplace I've been lately is charging significantly more.

I always wear a white, heavyweight do-gi to Karate. The funny thing is, my instructor encouraged me to buy something that's not strictly white. Usually, it's the younger students begging to wear the "cool red gi that guy in the video game wears!" For TKD, I wear an Adidas Grandmaster (their branding, not mine haha) dobok. During team practices in university, we would wear dobok pants and t-shirts, but that's because we did everything from TKD basics to plyometrics, so it was nice to wear something a little less traditional.

I like to take a step approach to things. It works from beginners through the advanced ranks. For the basics, it's teaching them the basic punch from a relaxed position first, then moving them into a stance, then getting them moving in the stance. Depending on who is in the group, that can take a whole class. Same with kicks, relaxed position first, then into a stance, then moving while kicking last. Take it one technique at a time. I generally take things apart as much as possible to make the chunks more digestible. Same thing with kata. You do have the visual all-stars (I was one growing up), who can watch a whole kata once or twice and reproduce it. Those people can sometimes get bored, but I challenge them to make everything perfect while everyone else is still learning. They can go through the motions, but they aren't always clean. This works for building basic combinations until people get more comfortable as well. To take a TKD example, you can start someone with a fast kick. Throw only fast kick moving down the floor. Then add a roundhouse after the fast kick, so it's fast-kick, roundhouse. Then add a double. You have fast kick, round house, double. Then add another fast kick to the end. Fast kick, round house, double, fast kick. It's a good way to introduce people to the idea of throwing more than one kick when you spar. I guess, in a basic fashion I break everything down to digestible pieces as I said before, but the way I teach it varies by age, ability, etc.

@ JiuJitsuNation: Some people just aren't wired the same for physical activity. You have to take a slower, more methodical approach. Show them a single part of what you want them to do, have them repeat it until they're reasonably certain of it, and then add the next part. It may take longer, and it may seem frustrating, but once this type of person has a technique, they'll remember it a lot longer than the people who can see and repeat and move on. They don't tend to practice as much, and often forget things sooner than those that have to work harder. If you get frustrated, and it comes through in the way you're trying to teach them, that might affect their performance as well. Patience is probably the biggest part of teaching.

If it's just for training, then the cloth stuff should be fine depending on the rules of your school. Ask your instructor to see what he wants you to buy. I know some schools require their students to buy all the same gear in the same color. I'm a fan of the cloth equipment, because it's washable as long as you don't put it on a high spin cycle, it's cheap, so you can replace it easily when it starts to wear, and it's durable, so it should last quite some time anyways. Now, if you're using this equipment for point fighting competitions, then you need to see what the rules are. General point fighting, those gloves with fingers might not jive with their rules, you'll need more traditional foam gloves that keep your fingers together. JKA has their own rules. They have specific gloves you need to get, but I don't believe you need foot gear. To be safest, and not waste any money, ask your instructor what he suggests.

I think the biggest question would be, what kind of competition/training are you going to be using this stuff for? I don't have a lot of experience with gloves that have separate fingers like that. If you're grappling, I'd have to believe there are better gloves out there. If you're striking, then there are definitely better gloves out there. As far as the shin guards go, I actually like the old-school cloth ones. Easy to clean, they still protect you, and they're much cheaper. As far as the mouth guard is concerned, it's one I like.

It depends completely on your goals. If you just want to retain your current level of flexibility, then active stretches (motion stretches like straight leg kicks) before class and static stretches (gym class stretches) after would probably be fine. If you want to improve your flexibility then finding a good stretching routine you like that includes static and active stretches, and doing it twice a day would probably be a place to start.

I suggest looking at what is offered by your university. I'm not sure where in New York you're going, but I know that Columbia and NYU offer several clubs. I went to NYU. You could take this as an opportunity to branch out into a different style while practicing on your own. I'd say perfect what you know, learn a few things from someone else, and when you go home, you can start adding to your current style. That's what I did, and I liked it quite a bit.

You might get more answers if you post in the Korean Martial Arts forum, as Tang Soo Do is generally accepted as a Korean MA no matter its roots.

I mediate pretty regularly. I meditate after every workout for 5-10 minutes. If it's been a particularly long day, I generally concentrate on the idea that I'm wiping away the bad energy from the day and taking in the good. If it's been a good day, I generally try to go with the Tibetan Buddhist idea of no-mindedness. Concentration on nothing at all. It's a good mental challenge, because you'll always think about something.

Despite the differing opinions, I think we have to examine the weight that is put on being a black belt. In the west, being a black belt seems to hold some mysticism. That's why Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi what kind of belt he has in the first movie. He thinks being a black belt makes you some sort of ultimate master. In East Asia, it's far different. EVERYONE in South Korea seems to be a first dan. It takes you about a year, two if you're a slow learner, three if you're a kid. They don't make a bit fuss over it. Your instructor tests you first, then you go to the Kukkiwon, you pass their 10 minute exam, and boom, you're a newly minted first dan. There's not a lot of elation though, because the rank doesn't mean that much to them. 4th dan and up, well you take a written test, a theory test, a judge/coach test, and you do 2 v 1 and 3 v 1 sparring, much more comprehensive. Those are the ranks they respect. I think our answers about whether children should be allowed to be black belts stem mostly from our emotional and psychological attachment to what "rank" means. In South Korea, they have a much more age-based hierarchy. A new Judoka (Yudo here) that's 35 will probably get more respect than an 8-year-old brown belt. I think we tend to associate rank with respect, when that simply isn't the case. My pastor certainly has my respect, but he'll never be a black belt. There are also adult black belts who will likely never have my respect until they grow up. So, if a kid knows the syllabus, sure make him a black belt, but he has to earn respect.

I'm not looking forward to this at all. I might watch it on the net or something, but I doubt I'll put money in the studio's pocket. It might only be $10, but it's my $10, and the studio doesn't need it for a movie that shouldn't even be called a remake. Jackie Chan will provide some great acrobatic stuff, and some comedy as well, but it's hard to defile, I mean remake a classic and have the reception be anything better than lukewarm.

My fiance loves to watch all three full extended version Lord of the Rings films over three consecutive days. We can't do that this year, because we are going to be in Taiwan, but we did it last year. No kids around: Bad Santa, Die Hard Kids around: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Muppet Christmas Carol

Take into consideration everything that's been said here, and call your sensei. It does sound like you have an internal conflict of sorts happening, so ask the person who can settle it for you. We all seek approval from our teachers, you're just seeking a true affirmation. If he affirms you, and allows you to test, you then have to figure out whether you truly feel comfortable testing. From the doubt in your heart though, I'd say that you should stay at 2nd kyu for a little bit longer.

Yudo (Judo) is big in that area as well. The quality of Korean Judo is pretty high, but their style is a bit unorthodox, and you'll have to learn the Korean names for the throws. If you're interested in continuing Hapkido, shouldn't be too difficult. Taekwondo in Korea is mainly for children, but you should be able to find at least a few schools with larger adult programs. Gwangju is a fairly large city, so you might want to tap the foreigner population in the area. At least a few of them probably do martial arts. I'm living in Seoul now, and I was living in Gwangju in Gyeonggi province, so not down south. Wish I could be of more assistance.

I actually prefer to go to the inside. As long as you can keep the pressure on them from the inside, their weapons can be checked. As long as you continue hitting them, you can drive them straight backwards. It'll actually be to the side for them, so you can end a fight quickly. The outside is a great place to be there, especially with their back toward you.

Pressure points are something to be studied and known, but almost anyone you talk to will tell you, it doesn't matter what part of you I hit, if I hit you hard enough, you're going down. I think I've heard it several times from several different masters. Basically, rely on your technique, your power, and your timing to do the work.

When I was younger I did things the "old school" way using Chishi and Nigiri Kame, but those can be expensive. For forearm strength now, I hold 10 pound dumbells by the weight end instead of the handle and do shoulder raises, it works on many parts of your arm.

It's not as much of an obscure martial art as a lost one. It did have roots in Korea, it was fairly widely practiced at one time, but it no longer exists in it's original form. It is definitely a ploy to connect current martial arts in Korea to earlier ones in a bid for patriotism. They use the old game to justify the rules for TKD as well. 1 point was awarded for a body kick, 2 for a head kick, and a win was given if one player knocked down the other with a kick to the top knot. This is just one of the many political issues in Korean MAs.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Its principles can be applied to many things in life. Especially the martial arts. Large scale tactics and trickery can be scaled down to one on one confrontations. It's a very complete guide for strategy.

The right kind of weight training will work as injury prevention as well. The strength benefits you get directly contribute to you being more durable. That may be one of the largest benefits. Strength is good, but only if you can use it. Injury prevention, you can always use.