Jack

Well, today is my birthday! 15 today. I've got a punchbag and am expecting some other stuff later when the post gets working again. I've been out to a gig and had a great time, just thought I should let you lot know Peace

Well, this is how it goes in my Tae kwon do school: White (begin with this anyway) Yellow Yellow with Green Tab Green Green with Blue Tab Blue Blue with Brown Tab Brown Brown with Black Tab Black belt Each grading is 3 months apart up until blue belt. After one has achieved blue belt, each grading is six months apart. However, the black belt testings are only held once a year so it depends on when you get your brown belt as to when you can go for Black Belt. 34-43 months, looking at 3 years, probably a little more until Black Belt. After that its 2 years for 2nd dan, 3 years for 3rd dan etc.

Having a TV channel dedicated to Martial arts would be EXTREMELY cool, but I'm happy with the popularity otherwise as it is. I don't know, I just feel that if nearly everyone in the world studied martial arts they would lose a lot of their honour and mystery, and special feeling about em

My knee pain isn't caused by this, I think its caused by growing pain. I can't run because it hurts far too much. In your case I'd suggest seeing a doctor. As for exercises, I wouldnt try anything before you consult a sports med or doctor, but in my case I use an exercise bike for cardio, along with running squats and horseriding stance punches.

Normally from Upright stance, basically feet close together with back foot turned slightly outwards. However we often do kicks from Front and Back stance, more often in patterns than Sparring however

Roundhouse, Slipstep Side Kick, Jab Cross Hook

I only get to go to one Taekwondo lesson a week, so I train solo twice a week, along with strength exercises three times a week. I guess you just have to keep in the mindset to improve and continue on with your training. Watch a martial arts movie, or read an MA magazine or website, whatever it takes to get you feeling in the mood to continue training. If you stick through this patch of time but keep training then it will truely pay off somewhere down the road. For my solo sessions I tend to do something like this: Warmup (Exercise bike for 5 minutes) Stretch All Patterns twice - first time slow, second time fast Shadow boxing 20 minutes on Exercise bike However I'll vary it. The Shadow boxing is sometime changed to dedicated kick practicing, or more pattern practice, etc. You can take the person out of a martial art, but you cannot take the martial art out of a person. Best of luck

Ad I see what you mean. The belt itself does not mean anything, but you do get belts the longer you've been training. And if you've been training longer theres a good possibility of being deteremined so that those high belts do actually train hard and smart and constantly, and the fact they get a belt is just a "sideaffect" of this. Actually its all that time and effort in training

Well at my school, our Black Belts always seem to get an upper hand over the ones that havn't been training as long, but this is not due to the belt they wear its due to the hard training and patience they've put into the martial arts. Although a green belt friend of mine did manage to get a black belt into the wall (Green belt had just doubled over in pain from a kick and was probly a tad pissed off for a few seconds there) but the black belt did get out of it I don't think black belts are invulnerable, I just think that the ones at our club tend to own the lower grades at sparring

Bon - I seriously doubt students in a Karate School will go and really attack someone for dissing their system. Hmmm go for sparring not a real fight. Angus - let us know what happens

Thanks to everyone for all of the great responses, they're all greatly appreciated! Now then, combinations for laying in is fine, but how do you actually move into them while firing these shots? Do you tend to take step by step forwards in normal fighting stance, or more a sort of run into them while punching?

Perhaps biking? You can always do lots of fast powerful punches from Horseriding stance, that is sure as hell good cardio as well Squatting leg thrusts are good too

ooh, well have fun and get back to us, and let us know how it went!

now, I am know I am not Kickchick, but I have not heard of those. If its a vitamin you probably already get some of it in your diet, so I wouldn't worry.

Great advice Doug, thanks. I'll try it out next time I spar.

I tried dropping into full lotus and meditating in school once while everyone was talking. The noise seemed to leave, probably because everybody stopped talking and stared at me. It was the effect I desired

I don't excactly meditate, I personally just listen to some relaxing oriental music and breath deep, sometimes while stretching. It may not technically be meditation but it does a great job and keeping me chilled and happy

Doug, in Tae Kwon Do our punches are the same as you describe. Not sure on the Palm heel strike since I am not at that level yet, but I have done them before, I just cant remember if the arm is fully straightened or left slightly bent.

It varies. I suppose just some form of head block or a duck. Then you could do a variety of things. Personally I'd probably knee them in the groin or stomach which would double em over, then elbow strike to their neck. But then again, I might just take a step back or to the side to avoid the blow. A lot of it goes down to reflexes.

Hey there all. A few weeks ago I went to my club's full-day training venue where all of the instructor's were present, and about 50 students. It was great and we covered forms, sparring, even dabbled in some Jiu Jutsu knife-defence and it was all great fun. But what intrigued me was the gauntlet we had to run; We would have one minute spar after one minute spar against all of the Black belts and instructors, about 10 in total. What I noticed was how amazing some of these black belts were at really laying into you and when they did I could hardly do anything to defend myself. It was the same with a lot of the students at my level and a fair few highers. They simply could not defend against these skillful "lay-in"s. I really want to know how to properly lay into my opponent, not just a load of weak punches. Any advice on how to lay into your opponent, and how to escape if your opponents starts laying into you? thanks Jack

All sorts of reasons really. I think that Weight lifting probably speeds up the metabolism and you body probably starts sending out all sorts of hormones and messengers. I just did weights, I don't feel that wired or tired really. I just feel refreshed (arms a bit weak now tho heh)

I think he means an unskilled possibly drunken swing. Personally, I'd either dodge and weave it, or take a step back, then counter attack. Or mabye try and get him into an armlock.

Ad its in the philosophy section now

Wow, Aiki, some great info there! Thanks lots... watch the double posts tho Moobrack, no problem. Glad I could help

Well my meditation technique is pretty simple Breathe in, count the number 1 in your head, breathe out, count the number 2 in your head, carry on concentrating only on the breathing until you reach 10. Do this, say, 5-10 times Then Breathe in, breathe out 1, breathe in, breathe out 2, etc. until 10. Do this 5-10 times Then breathe in for 2 seconds, hold the breath for 4 seconds, and breathe out for 8 seconds. Do this a couple of times before returning to the technique before this. Now, while breathing like this, start visualising. Hope you find this one useful. By the way this is just about the only technique I know, I could do with some more myself. Thanks Now then, your second question. Personally, I think yes. OK I'm going to use the analogy of a car. You can train your body, much like you can get new parts for a car. You can really get your car some expensive gear; Tyres, engines, etc. much like you can weighttrain and practice your physical skills. But the car cannot run without petrol, much like the Human body can't run without the brain. You have to have your petrol running smoothly to the engine, and you need your mind smoothly running thoughts and processes to the body to run it properly. Some people train just their body and physically they're amazing, but in competition they lose their edge because they havn't trained themselves mentally for the fight - they need to visualise and learn how to make every move be meaningful and at its maximun potential. So yes, I think being in touch with your inner self is very important in the martial arts!