monkeygirl

Thank you for your replies! I'll definitely try these. However, if I remember correctly, he had me pinned in such a way that I couldn't really bridge. Now that I know what my next move should be, though, the little bridge that I can do might be sufficient. Thanks again!

KoreanTiger30: If you wanted to post the image that you put in the photo album, you'd do it like this: http://www.karateforums.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=196 The important part is to include the http:// to the beginning of the address, not just the www. Otherwise it won't work.

Welcome to the forums!

I'm gonna move this to Humor before somebody reads the thread title and takes it the wrong way

5'2" 98 lbs. I've peaked at 102 lbs, but I can never keep it on Most people would be happy to not be able to gain weight, but for me it just means I'm falling down more in sparring

I thought so at first too, that he's doing the whole Rush Hour/Shanghai Noon thing. I saw it over the weekend with some friends. The storyline begins pretty corny, and before long you see Chow Yun Fat's extensive use of wires, i.e. breaking the laws of physics. Later, they do explain that he can do this because of mystical powers, whatever...so at least they try to explain it, rather than pass it off as real like in some other movies Kar (Seann William Scott) is arguably the best darned character in the whole movie (I say arguably because the monkey was pretty cool). His character develops nicely, and his action scenes were pretty good...he looked like he knew what he was doing, for the most part. Plus, he's a good actor, which is always nice. My major complaint was of the character Jade, a.k.a. "Bad Girl". I'm not sure how much MA training/experience she has, but in almost all of her fight scenes, the camera was really close-up so you couldn't actually see the technique. There were a few times when you could see her doing moves, but they were fairly simple ones On to Chow Yun Fat himself (his character had no name): everything was ok, fight scenes were cool, blah blah blah. I'm not a big fan of wires, so I had to steel myself every time he would do something outrageous...like the Cocoa Puffs scene where he does an impossibly low backbend, then WHILE HE'S DOWN THERE, steers himself around before standing up. Hard to explain, but maybe that's because it's not possible!! Although I will admit there were some scenes when the wires were used as they should be: to make awesome fight scenes! My Worst Character award goes to: "Mista Funktastic". What was up with that guy? I just wanted to punch him in the face and laugh as he cried his funktastic tears. So while I did have some complaints about "Bad Girl" and her fight scenes, the overall story was pretty good. The action was pretty good, there wasn't too much and not too little either. The ending was definitely the best of any MA movie I've ever seen. So would I recommend this movie? Yes, but with a warning: beware of wires. They may tick you off

My style of TKD occasionally does some ground sparring. Because we don't train in it heavily, I'm not too familiar with all of the grappling terminology, so I'll try to explain in Lehman's terms. I keep getting trapped in what I think is a sideways mount. Basically it's me flat on my back, with my partner laying on top of my torso, perpindicular to my position. This is almost exactly what's happening: http://flores-soryu-karate.com/Grap16.jpg Except that my partner is a little lower on my body, so that my hips are trapped. Is there any way I can get out of this? I've tried and struggled but can't seem to break free...it pretty much ends the fight. (picture origin: http://flores-soryu-karate.com)

You'll have to excuse my highly Americanized spelling of these kata names; I never see them written down. I'm going for phonetic spellings I've probably spent the most time working on K-Beck, simply because it's the 1st dan kata, and I've had my black belt longer than any other belt. It's not my favorite though. There's a tie for that : Pinyon 5 (red belt--3rd kyu) Chung-Mu (1st brown--1st kyu) I love them because they're complex, difficult, flashy and powerful. Pinyon 5 starts off slow, with power moves, then switches into a high-speed series of movements. A lot of people tend to make this kata look sloppy, so I take extra pride in doing it correctly with proper form and sharp movements. Chung-Mu is a nice, advanced kata. It's best done with a lot of attitude and a really ticked off expression on your face, like this:

Check out this thread: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5430 Your case seems to be more serious, but the basic theories still apply. When people don't understand something, they will often attack it rather than understand it. That's just the kind of people they are: closed-minded. The important thing to remember is that they (your anti-karateka friends) really don't know what they're talking about. People like them can make us think and truly reconsider the things we believe in and think we understand. You sound like you love your style, so don't let these people take that away from you. Instead, let them remind you of why you're training, and why your style is incredible and perfect for you (but only if it is). That may have sounded kinda corny, but after hearing all of that negative stuff, I figured you could use some positive

Well, today my family did a ton of gardening since it's supposed to rain all of next week. So I was spinning the garden tools like a bo I'm sure the passing traffic enjoyed my tosses

OK, let's get back to the original question:

Welcome to the forums, Omega-X!

When I first started training I was naturally flexible...also naturally muscle-less. As I've grown older and the intensity of my training has increased, I've had to start working harder to keep my flexibility by stretching at home. An important thing to remember about stretching: It's good to stretch every day, BUT NOT INTENSIVELY!! Limit your heavy stretching to 3 times a week, and spread those times out over the week (i.e. Monday Tuesday Wednesday = Bad, Monday Wednesday Friday = Good ). The other days of the week should be simple, light stretching...no "progress" should be made as far as pushing yourself further into a split, unless it just comes naturally without any pain. Even then, I'd suggest backing off just a little from your furthest stretch to give the muscles a chance to recuperate. If your MA classes (3 times a week) are stretching intensively (for 30 mins or more), then you can count that as your 3 times a week. Ideally, I like to stretch every morning when I'm already nice and relaxed. It doesn't always happen though Sometimes I'll stretch before bed, too. This thread provides quite a few links to other stretching threads http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=6186 You should be able to find some useful information there.

Have you tried dropping back to the beginner's classes (if they have them)? That way you could work your way through the gup ranks one-by-one instead of trying to take them all on at once.

Welcome to the forums! Make sure you stop by our Introductions forum and introduce yourself! As for the image, is this what you're looking for? http://www.stuaff.niu.edu/ocr/taekwondo/jdk1.jpg I'm not familiar with Ji Do Kwan so I'm not sure if that's the right pic

I go to a Tae Kwon Do school. We count in (loose) Korean, some of our blocks are in korean, and a few of our katas. For the most part we speak English. We don't even use the "Sensei" or "Sah Bum Nihm" titles, it's just "Instructor", "Assistant Instructor", etc. Yet my instructor calls me "Tammy-san" He has a different name that he likes to call each leadership team member by, and that's mine

I find that if you enter the room when you first come on the boards, somebody will see that the room isn't empty and join. Think about it, people scroll down and see it empty and think "nobody's in there so I won't go in".

What benedictbm said

My dojo has fairly limited changing areas...a small bathroom for the students, a medium-size room (leadership team office/storage room...dual functioning ) for leadership team, and Instructors change in the Instructor office. So technically, I would have plenty of changing room, but I never have the occasion to. The only time I ever change at the dojo is if I just came from somewhere that I had to wear street clothes, or if I was going to someplace directly after being at the dojo. That's it. I voted for "just the pants" because there will be times that we go to the grocery store on the way home...I usually take off my gi top to go inside, but if it's cold I might leave it on. I've never had the nerve to wear my black belt to the grocery store Plus, who wants to get produce on your belt?

Welcome back!

Welcome to the forums, ronpo!

The coolest thing happened tonight! At the end of my class, my instructor called me up to the front of the class, put his hand on my shoulder and said: "It's not every day you get to turn 16, so if [karate mom] can get up here without burning the dojo down..." everybody started singing happy birthday as the karate mom brought up a strawberry cheesecake with 16 candles on it I felt so loved Then one of my friends (whose mother brought up the cheesecake) gave me a monkey figure. Monkeys and cheesecake...they know me too well!!

I am incapable of using chopsticks. They just completely baffle me. So forks are good When forks were originally brought to Europe, the Catholic Church rejected them, saying that only a person's God-given hands were worthy of touching food. Then the Pope/King/Somebody actually tried a fork, and decided they weren't so bad after all At least, that's what I heard

I voted for kama, but bo comes in a close second. I used to really hate the bo, but now that I'm getting better at it, it's not so bad

Those bands aren't punk rock, they are pop punk! Why did I just KNOW I shouldn't have called them that??