taiji fajin

Kuk Sool tournaments: Forms, techniques, sparring, weapons, self defense, and grappling/sparring. I like the grappling/sparring the most (use to wrestle, and its still in my blood).

Is anyone going? I'm planning on it, but unfortunately I'm running short on the funds and cannot compete. That, and Master Jack Harvey has put me on a list of possible judges, so I need to be ready to do that. Has anyone here judged a ks tournament before? I'd like to hear some tips on how you score, as I've never done it at a large tournament. In the past I've seen they normally give out between 9's and 10's, increments of .1, so here's how I was considering judging it: everyone "starts" with a 10, .1 deducted for each of the following: any missed part of the 5 hyung laws (.1 for each law) form does now flow smoothly, is too rigid and choppy lack of body control lack of solid stance / structure minor mistakes (.2 max)(.2-.3 for large mistakes, .4 max) improper etiquette what about techniques, though? Weapons? Self defense?

I've seen a large school not be a mcdojo (though the instructor wasn't driving around in a benz). The way he pulled it off was this: Sunday: no classes Monday: Open practice for anyone who wanted to come Tuesday-Thursday: Three one our classes (you only go to one class, unless you are registered for more than one), each with 10-15 students. Friday: no classes Saturday: starts out as open to all, then splits up between an open practice for anyone who wants to come, and an advanced practice of about 15-20 students. This way his school has over 100 students, but when he is teaching it is to a small enough group that he can make sure each student get proper instruction.

My laoshi is doing a demonstration soon, and some of the people in it need white martial arts pants (preferably with elastic at the ankles and waist). Does anyone know a good / cheap place to get some? They shouldn't be too heavy, but still decent qualitiy.

So today I was driving, and the guy in front of me stopped. I stopped behind him, and he put his car into reverse. I looked in my rear view mirror to make sure I wouldn't hit anyone by going backwards to give this guy room, and when I looked forward, he was coming at me. I hit the horn, since I didn't have time to get out of the way, but he kept coming and hit me (horn lasted 2-3 seconds, stopped after collision). Considering I was at a dead stop, clearly in view if he looked backwards, and was on the horn to alert him, I don't think I am legally at fault. However, the only person who was around as a witness has a minor mental handicap (not trying to make a joke, and sorry for not knowing the correct PC term), and later someone came out who *may* (though I doubt) have seen it, who was a friend of the other driver. I got the name and phone number of the first person, along with the other driver's name and insurance information. So my question is, do any of you think I might be in trouble if this moron decides to try and lie and say it was my fault? The damage looks minimal, paint and maybe a slight dent, but cars cost a lot to fix the smallest part. I've already had some girl ram into my car on rollerblades while I was stopped at a light (she was avoiding getting hit by a guy on a bike) and take off before I could stop her, so now I have paint damage from that I have to pay for if I want fixed, and I don't want to pay for more for my car, and some for his, simply because he wasn't looking backwards when he should have been.

A black belt is a piece of cloth. By itself, it means nothing. Don't bother with trying to get a certain belt, rather, just try to continually improve yourself.

I have mine programed to laugh when it sees one (in the Fred Voice, of course). Then it orders me a pizza and gives me a back massage.

Every one I've talked to has said its great, but I can't personally say b/c I haven't seen it. I plan on seeing it sometime this week. My guess? If you liked Shaolin Soccer, go see it (oh, and go see God of Cookery).

minor help to detrimental

I like the short staff, because it seems the most likely thing to resemble something I'll be able to grab during a fight. I don't think I'm going to find anything like a jool bohng if I'm attacked on the street, and I don't carry around weapons. For pure fun, I like the staff, then the sword, then jool bohng. This might change after I go to a broadsword camp this summer that I've really been looking forward to.

I know I can't wait to learn how to fly

I've enjoyed making the higher ranked people in my other martial art do their forms over and over and over very slowly (forms are much shorter than taiji forms). Not only do they still get a good workout, but it helps them make sure each punch, kick, block, etc, is perfectly placed, stances and structure are solid, can be done as meditation, etc etc. Not that I only have them do their forms like that, but it is helpful in even non-internal arts. I feel too many people try to fly through their forms and end up with sloppy results.

In Kuk Sool, our grandmaster holds seminars at different schools people can go to, I am looking forward to him coming to my school. In Taiji, my laoshi holds a summer camp I am going to (broadsword, I can't wait. I haven't done any weapons with taiji yet). For general recruitment to my Kuk Sool school, I generally just rely on word of mouth. My students are college students, so there's not really much I can do when almost my entire pool of prospective students goes somewhere else for the summer. Interestingly, though, the students who started Kuk Sool but stopped due to too many university classes tend to come back during the summer, if they are going to be around.

closest thing I've seen was when one of our black belts forgot his belt at home after a trip back there. He decided to wear the only belt he had, a white one, and train with the white belts, get in their line, etc. All the white belts were amazed at how good this new white belt was, while the people who knew him just laughed.

Not now, know any good free ones? I would like to, but the budget has tightened since I got my iPod.

Doing the forms slowly is not just to improve the flow of chi in your body, and they are not merely slowed down versions of the traditional forms. if so . . . . doesn't really apply, b/c the first statements were incorrect. Training in forms is better than nothing at all, but its not enough. That is a very good question. Personally, developing good fighting skills is secondary in my taiji practice (not that I don't work on it).

How do you "train like they will be used"? Do you spare / grapple, and allow joint locks in that? It seems joint locks there would either have to be done slowly (making them a lot easier to get out of) or have a high risk of being pushed too far and hurting someone.

When you think of a joint lock being done in a real fight, do you think it (on average) would be used to break bones, end the fight, etc, or do you think it would more be used to cause pain (and yes, possibly break bones or something else) but more importantly to set up whoever you are fighting so you can strike him? Do you practice it in the way you feel you would most likely use it? How do you train dynamic joint locking? Do you train joint locking counters?

If you just learn the forms, you are correct, it will not teach you how to fight. Just like if I just learned the TKD, KSW, etc forms, I would not know how to fight. Its more than just that (if its taught at a legitimate school). I would be much, MUCH more confident in a fight against one of the many "combative" martial arts teachers I have trained with than my taiji laoshi (not saying "combative" martial arts are not good).

calmness happiness better health better sleeping more energy ability to laugh at almost all movies with fighting in them

Virus? What's a virus? God I love Apple computers.

Not as much as I would like to, but yes, I try to study footwork from other martial arts. It is VERY important to learn good footwork. Hands throw out the strikes (usually, any body part can be a weapon), but the feet are what set everything up. From giving your strikes power, to moving to find the holes in your opponen's defense, to helping your own defense, proper footwork is needed. While some things may be better than others, there is no single "correct" way to do footwork, so it is helpful to look at many martial arts and learn what is best for your body / style. rooting/grounding are very important. That being said, you cannot simply be an unmoving tree the entire time. Knowing how to move is just as important. You need to know how to do BOTH. I forget who said this, but "If you don't have quiet or tranquility, you will never see the miracle of moving." Circular and linear are both needed. I'm sure anyone who has studied m.a. can come up with dozens of cases where each could be used effectively. It all depends on your intent / needs. Good topic . Whenever my instructors go over a new form, moving push-hands, moving techniques, etc, they do them several times, and I pick out different things to focus on each time. One of the things I always play close attention to is the footwork.

How do you expect to see a result if you do not train properly? If you just say, they're just saying a lot of blablas, and don't actually train what they tell you (assuming they even know what they're talking about) you will never see it. Also, not everyone will run into people who can do this. Some of us are very fortunate to ever meet these people, and even more fortunate to have them train us how to do it. I spent almost a decade before I found someone who had these "mystic powers" (your words, not mine), and who has trained me how to do them.

While I'm not sure all the grandmasters and masters of the different arts (kuk sool won, kuk sool do, hapkido, kuk sool won canada, etc) would like it, I think a book detailing all of these break offs and merges / near merges would be very interesting.

. . . . Pride&Poise went, he talks about it in this thread. That's what the whole thread is about. Don't worry about the rankings, P&P, especially teh "sparring." I dislike that form, its all about who has the longest arms, not who could actually win the fight. Anyway, different judges would have given different scores, and what matters is that you had fun, got to hang out with fellow martial artists, and got to see (and hopefully learn from) other people practice.