SloMo

A Kiyap is a personal thing. It's going to be what it's going to be. You'll feel it when you are doing it correctly.

Ginsu Knives!?!?!? Those things are expensive! How about a food dehydrator?

OK, due to the increase in competition we are being forced to add to our incredible deal!!! We have added a special membership pin! Not enough? Well we'll also throw in the answer guide to the self graded test so you can learn that much faster! Still not enough? Well, for a limited time we are not offering 1st degree black belts, we are offering 2nd degree!!!! That's right, be the envy of your friends and family when you show them 2, count 'em 2 stripes on your belt! Hurry this is a limited time offer!

I can make you a Black Belt in 1/2 day!!!! ANd I only charge $9999.99! For that you will receive: Your DVD showing you the moves you need to take the test. Your self-grading testing sheet. Your genuine black belt. Your ownership papers for the Brooklyn Bridge. A Genuine Rolax watch. And for a small additional charge you will receive an picture ID card, that ceritifes that you have passed the Black Belt certification from Bruce's Oriental Grading University System! That's right! Show your B.O.G.U.S. Certificate with pride! A little over the top?

I love to teach but teachers are way under paid in our society soooooo I love Martial Arts and teaching that makes me happy. My own style!?!?!? I'm having a hard enough time with this one! In all seriousness, I don't think I could come up with enough for my own style. In TKD, when you really study it, there are so many facets that just are not studied. We brought back some very traditional elements that have added whole new areas for us to learn and teach. Also, I figure hundreds of people have spent lifetimes developing the current styles. I think it's our duty to add to them and keep them fresh but I don't really feel like I am anywhere near good enough to tell somebody that I can develope something better. That's just my opinion.

That's great one KF Dude! I don't know about the rest fo you out there but I've ummmmm "slipped" myself on more than one occassion.... although not when the class was completely quiet

I would NEVER disrepect my instructor that way and I ALWAYS listen to EVERYTHING they say with the utmost attention and concentration........ BWAAA HA HA HA HA Sorry, I couldn't keep a straight face any longer. Mostly I'm thankful for the break and just enjoy the moment of rest.

Hmmm, that would have to be my 1st Dan test. I've always been a procastinator and great for starting things but not following them through. Getting my 1st Dan marked a turn around in my own thinking of finishing what I start and dedication. Kinda "Hallmark Momenty" isn't it? Yeck.....

I used to havce that problem with sparring women until my instructor ( who happened to be a woman ) put me up against a woman who basically rode me up and down the dojang. I got over my apprehension with sparring women fairly quickly after that. I see the number of women instructors increasing steadily. I think it's important for women to spar men. I never believed in the "weaker sex" mentallity and we try hard to knock that out of all of our students, male and female. One of our Black Belts was in a tournament where they decided to put the male and females 14-16 in the same group. She was very tenative sparring until the first guy hit her in the face.... big mistake.... she cleaned up after that. We were most proud that she didn't draw back after getting hit but rather did the opposite. There are many gender notions that need to be drummed out of both sexes. I know that I have a lot to learn and un-learn myself.

Ouch, injury huh? what happened? BTW Welcome!

we've done two tournaments and they are a royal pain in the rear! Is it single or double elimination? Have you figured out what divisions you are going to have? Is it just sparring or is breaking or forms going to be aprt of it? How many people do you expect?

I'm still somewhat surprised that we don't have at least one smoker. By the law of averages we should have a couple. We have a couple of smokers in our class ( mostly the newer students ) and one of our Black Belts is a Dr who specializes in lung cancer so she was always talking about the dangers of smoking from a first hand perspective. Nasty stuff.

I can understand your frustration. Teaching kids isn't easy. But we cannot pick and choose our students. If you have kids that do not know there right from left ( and I've had my share of those ) then teach them right from left. You can never tell who is going to love the art and become a great student in the long run and who isn't. Have patience One way to not get frustrated with kids is to make sure you do not have the same expectations for all the kids and to have small directed goals.

oh man, that second one is great!

So what was your most embarressing MA moment? Here's mine. I was a new Black Belt and we went to visit one of our sister schools and practice with them. The school I was training with was small. Maybe 12 students at best. This school was part of the local church and had about 60 students at the time. So I was at the front of the class practicing jump spin crescent kicks. Now, I am lucky in that I was always able to get high in the air and I have long legs which make my kicks look good. So I was asked to come in front of a strange class and demonstrate this kick by my instructor who then proceeded to tell the class how great my kicks are, how they all need to pay attention to what I was doing, how she wishes that everybody could have kicks that looked this nice, etc. Then she looks at me and quietly says "Don't screw up". Did I mention that my instructor has a really wicked sense of humor? Anyway, I get ready, and I start my kick. The world goes into slow motion. I feel myself jumping higher then I can ever remember, I can feel my body rotating around to execute the kick. I'm bringing my leg up to snap around. I can feel that I didn't jump straight up and I am going at an angle. I know that there is no way to recover from this. I know, not suspect, but KNOW that I am going to fall on my butt, if I'm lucky....... by the way, all this went through my mind before I even started to come down. Well, gravity had it's way with me ( as much as I hoping that I would just keep going up and leave this planet all together ) and down I came. hard. at an angle. still spinning. I proceeded to spin my way across the front of the class, arms flailing, until I managed to fall on my butt ( as I predicted ) hard. ( you could hear the oooooo's from the class ) I looked up to see what my instructor was going to say to me and she didn't say a word. She was laughing way to hard for her to say anything for at least 5 minutes. When she finally stopped laughing and composed herself she told the class that she set me up. The lesson here was that you need to learn to work past distractions, and that just because you have a Black Belt doesn't mean you have nothing left to learn. She also picked me for this little demo because she knew I would be a good sport and that I can do the technique well. ( which she had me get back up and do a series of kicks and techniques to prove it ). "Although" she said "he exceeded my expectations for just how bad someone could mess up a kick" I still laugh about it when I think back. My old instructor still ribs me about it when we talk OK, now, let's here some others ( I have more myself )

My only advice would be to just do your best and to put in you best no matter what they throw at you. Most testing the mental. If you couldn't do the physical part they wouldn't be testing you to begin with. Have confidence in yourself, be serious but don't lose your humor either. During my first dan test my instructor told me to do a "Chicken Strike" I had no idea what it was, this was the 2nd day of testing so I was dead tired. So I started moving my head back and forth like I was pecking something with my nose. My instructor knew I didn't know the technique and was curious as to what we would do when asked. Needless to say I was wrong ( go figure ) but I gave the people grading me the best laugh of the test! Good luck!

Welcome, I had a long break in my MA career as well. It sounds like you found a good school.

hmmmm, so far not a single smoker....... interesting

I always like the "Hey what's that over there?" then running technique OK, in all seriousness we teach a lot of kids and a few times a year we have someone come in and teach the kids about avoiding dangerous situations and what to do if a stranger approaches you in a store, etc. I know we teach them valuable skills but I want the kids to learn how to avoid needing the skills we teach. Check with your local police, I think just about all of them are always grateful for the chance to help out kids.

Any TKD person in a real fight who tries to use a butterfly kick isn't fighting very smart. In a street fight you fight to disable your opponent with as little risk to yourself as possible. Of course it's impossible to fight without risk but doing anything that takes your balance off center or turns your back to your opponent is a bad idea. The fancy kicks take skill and hard work, and are fun and look really cool! And you can only practice a side kick to the knee so many times before it gets a little boring. I think some people forget that there are two parts to the phrase Martial Art. Part of something being an art is that some of what you do is a demonstration of skill, not always practical. It reminds me when I saw a great jazz trumpet player in a club in NYC. He could hit this amazing note that wowed the club. It sounded terrible because he was pushing his instrument past what it was designed to do but it still amazed everybody that the note could be attained at all.

Once outside the studio there isn't any reason to listen to anybody ordering you about. You might want to ask the head of the school about this. He/She should be the one teaching the students about what it means to be a leader in the class and what it means outside the class.

It took a couple of tries but it actually wasn't that bad once I made up my mind to do it. It's not that easy a thing to do. Smoking is a sneaky SOB. It get's you physically, mentally and socially! I also signed on to quitnet.com. I got a lot of support from that site to get me over the rough spots.

I wouldn't either. Especially without some reasoning behind it. I do agree though that you really need to get back into class. Each style has nuances that can only be learned from an instructor. Now, books are great for expanding things you already know and for getting new ideas. They are also good for finding things like new ways of training and such.

Something we do in class on the Wavemasters is "1 minute of anything goes!" For 1 minute, do not stop attacking the bag. Hit it from all sides, use kicks, elbows, knees, head, anything! But do not stop for a full minute. You'll be amazed how tired it will get you! It's also a good way of releasing some tension and getting some excess energy out.

A lot of it depends on what kind of orders are being given. I think it's as important to learn to take charge as it is to let someone else take charge. In our school it's usually the lower belts who get tasked with doing things like getting the equipement out, etc. But it's also not uncommon for me to ask a 1st Dan to do it as well. There is some "paying of dues" for the lower ranks but I would never ask somebody to do anything that I woudln't do myself. The more unpleasant the task, the more likely I will do it myself. I'm a independant thinker myself and I always had to know the "why" behind something. It was tough for me to let go of that a little and trust in someone else that they are telling me the right thing. Also, it's not always about belt level. If I ask one of the advanced belts to warm up the class. They can ask me or any of the dan's to do something to help out. For instance, if they see somebody not doing something properly they can ask me to go assist that person. When they do I say "Yes Sir/Maam" and do as they say. So Kieran-Lilith what kind of things are they telling you to do?