Sam

ok.... hand techqiques.... 2x4 wood block, about 14 inches long with sisal rope wrapped round it. condition all part of my hand [other than fingertips] so foreknuckles, back knuckes, ridge hand, reverse ridge hand, back hand, forearms.

congratulations - hope your training goes well with your redoubled enthusiasm

ah well i think everyone got the idea.

yeah, pulling punches as an ability to PLACE a punch somewehre is fine.... but pulling punches to miss a target as a trainign habbit probably isnt the best.

yeah - grappling doesnt necessitate ground fighting work.... but it is HUGELY helpful.

i guess like most MAs it depends on how you end up traiing..... a lot of the ninjitsu practitioners i have met see it as the be all and end all of MA.... not generalising the art.... just a couple of the people ive seen, quite happy to give ninjitsu a fair opinino when i get to see more of it.

yeah when practiced properly.

i wish someone could post some proof of where this mystical energy comes from.... without using words like"synergy" and phrases like "from within"..... Im not trying to be critical.... but the energy must come from somewhere and just amazingly appear from no werhe - otherwise the universe would probably fall appart.

unless he's just really dense and small , lol

again - depends on how you train in TKD - to address Menjo's point - you can train in TKD and not train for sport - there are dojangs around that practice full contact, and the training system is very similar to that of MT. However i agree teh sport schools of TKD HUGELY outnumber the more SD oriented ones. Now to address y2_sub i agree that TKD is not exactly the same as Karate as karate seems to cover too many variations in style to be a comparative to anything. Secondly - tehre are flashy moves in tkd... but i think we all know [anyone thats done it for long enough] these moves are impractical - as i also say a lot you can learn a lot of things from these moves though.... i dont think anyone in their right mind would attempt a 540 reverse turning kick in a self defense situation. Im sort of sitting in the middle here.... TKD like any MA CAN be effecitve.... however we seem to have become infected with a MASSIVE number of McDojos. Separate from this the general view of non-TKDers of TKD is that it is sport oriented... this isnt true - just like with any MA there are sport oriented schools out there, just in TKD there is a high proportion..... probably because of the Olympics.

and lots of styles of TKD and within those styles a HUGE variation of quality of training.

knew that one..... such a weird move.

i meant how you train in general - as in at the school.... im not talkign about benefitting the art either - just about training in general. Some schools in TKD train for just sport sparring, some train for more traditional areas, and some train in similar styles to MT - not completely the same the same but the parallels are there. I would agree though i have a lot of respect for the way MT trains in general.

glad you enjoyed it - i would recommend trying it all out first.... you never know what you're going to enjoy until you've experienced it - and a lot of people have a bias toward the style they train in.

no - you missed my point slightly...... (a) walking a way does not relate to you beign a spineless underling for the rest of your life.... depends on why you walk away. Also - pacifists saying "violence never solved anything" - should really read a history book

i find tkd very effective.... for me and the way i train. I think we all enjoy and recommend our art.... but yes i also have a lot of respect for shotokan

i think if you read up on it you may actually be able to develop the strength in your fingers to over come this problem....

glad we all agree

"driving a tank" martial art hehe

fair point - but i think he's more talkign about self-defense against a specific situation rather than just for preachers if you see what i mean.... but overall yeah i agree

guess it depends on the situatino, and the opponent. I'd be very wary of when i chose to use high kicks....

yes but sort of puts you in an awkward position when you are attacked.... does counterattack count as defense?

exactly - again its more down to how the MA trains and how the student trains....

some people do heal faster but there isnt a remarkable difference in the body's tolerance to damage. unless your talking about people with certain problems. either way - MA strengthens a lot of the muscles around the jonits that dont usually get built up through normal use.... like your knee joint for example so its less likely that you will damage yourself.

you also have to maturity to supplement your training with other things as well so you advance faster