monkeygirl

Welcome to the forums!

Good luck everyone!

My TKD school goes like this: White Yellow Orange Green Blue Purple Red 2nd Brown 1st Brown Jr. Black (kids only) Black I included kyu in my karateforums signature before I got my black belt. So it would look like this: "2nd Degree Brown Belt (2nd kyu) in Modern-American Tae Kwon Do" Like Sai said, it's a much more effective way of stating rank than telling someone the color of your belt (if you even have colored belts). It's sort of like talking to a student who's in his fourth year of college. You ask him if he's excited to be graduating soon...then you find out he's studying to become a doctor, and still has four more years of school left. So it's sort of like that.

<--- grinning like a fool, completely oblivious

There are some products out there specifically meant for the yellow stains that white t-shirts tend to get on the armpits. I think they would probably work for your gi, too. Once you've gotten rid of the existing yellow stains, you need to prevent futher ones. I heard that the yellow stains happen when your clothes go into the dryer...the sweat marks scorch in the heat of the dryer and leave behind yellowish-brownish-orange. Also leaves the fabric feeling nice and stiff (eww). "Why," you ask "does the sweat scorch in the dryer? I thought my detergent cleaned it out!" Well, I think ordinary detergents are meant for the dirtiness of the non-active person. If you get really stinky or sweaty, then you use a pre-treater. SO, treat those sweat spots before they get a chance to scorch in the dryer!

Might be spring break prices..?

Hmm betcha can't guess which I am I had a goof Monday night. I was point sparring my big brother who scares the crap out of me. Every time I came in his range, he ended up knocking me down. I was trying all sorts of things, but he just kept knocking me down with different attacks. Not necessarily scoring on me, but I was still falling waayyy too much! It got to the point where I expected to fall! So, I came in for a roundhouse kick, pulled it off and set it down. My brother actually did nothing this time to knock me down, but since I was expecting to fall, I simply leaned forward and toppled over headfirst. So it went like this: Front-leg roundhouse to brother. Set kick down. Double over and topple forward face-first. Such lovely coordination, eh? Since we were point-sparring, the head judge stopped the match, asked for the judge's call: "Tammy, uh.... fell down." How embarrassing!

From my understanding, Aspartame is only in diet soft drinks, and not all diet sodas have the Aspartame. Diet Rite (by the people that make RC Cola) uses a new sweetener called Splenda...it's a low-calorie, carb-free sweetener that is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar. It's processed or something. Tastes much better than that saccharine/aspartame taste. Also, if you're worried about aspartame causing cancer, the highest risk is when it's used under high temperature, like baking. That's also why Splenda is great, it can be baked. Although, I'd still be worried about Aspartame no matter what the temperature. Ramymensa: good to see another optimistic soul! I agree that a trial-and-error sort of thing will probably happen, but isn't that just life? People go through many different kinds of one thing before settling on one kind or nothing at all....banks, food, sports, colors, technology, jobs, accuntants, music, etc. It's only natural that martial arts fit in there, too.

Coke offers PowerAde, tea, Dasani water, and Fruitopia as well as Coke. A dojo could choose to put nothing but water in the machine, if they wished. If Coke reaches their goal, they will become a national sponsor of NAPMA...maybe that means their conferences will be a little cheaper

True, it would be very similar to cheerleading/aerobics competitions. But I don't think that's a bad thing...those are each rising in popularity. Also, with Black Belt TV around, ESPN might feel more pressure to include more martial arts in their programming. Maybe they'll include less jumproping competitions Also, Coca-Cola is doing a major program with NAPMA right now, where all NAPMA schools can get Coke machines in their dojos. Coke has some sort of goal as to how many cases of product they want to sell. If they reach that goal, they will know what a huge market they have in martial artists. From there, I believe they're going to use commercials that market towards the martial artist, in order to reach schools/artists beyond NAPMA's grasp. I'm not too clear on details, as I only heard a quick run-down from my instructor.

Good point, craknek. There's the original question again: where do we go from here? MA has such a huge popularity right now, can it only go downhill? My sincere hope is that MA become as common as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, you name it. I hope that people order martial arts fights (of all disciplines) on Pay-Per-View, not just UFC fights. Perhaps they alread do, I'm not familiar with PPV. I want to see MA have a "season" like other sports...practiced all year long, but competition having a television season. I want to see a competition on NBC every week, like Monday Night Football. I want to see College Leagues! I think it would be incredible to have the sport aspect of martial arts be just as common as other televised sports. Unfortunately, that means calling martial arts "sports" instead of ways of life. It would be hard to keep them seperate. For example: my school does many things that aren't used in competition, that aren't measured in any tournament. Still we keep them because that's part of the art. Will professional martial artists be reduced to doing nothing but competitive training; i.e. breaking, point sparring, forms, tournament self-defense, etc.? Or will we see more kinds of competition springing up, to encompass the whole of martial arts training? It would be difficult, but where there's a will there's a way, right?

A new MA TV show is starting soon. It was originally supposed to be called "The Bounty Hunter". It's about a martial arts instructor who teaches teens. The general gist of it is that he's been falsely accused of a crime in China (methinks), so he fled to America to take over a martial arts school from his mentor. Corny plot, but could be good. Day: Sunday, March 30th Time: 9:00 Eastern (an hour long) Channel: The WB From what I can tell, it's supposed to air every Sunday at 9 pm. This puts it in direct competition with Alias...not a good place to be in. So, everyone, try to check out this show if you're interested, and give it some support! I know I'll at least be taping it.

Well, even Black Belt Magazine had a picture of Frank Shamrock one time...muscle-bound man in a pose I know Century carries Billy Jack kicking jeans. Not sure what's so special about them...guess they're just made like gi pants but with denim. I know that Wal-Mart carries Jordache Stretch jeans for women/juniors. Not so sure if they have them for men. Anyway, the point of these jeans is that they can be skin tight but you can still walk in them. I find them to be great kicking pants. Because if I can't kick in them, I don't want them

In MA entertainment, you can't watch TV for an hour without seeing SOMETHING. Think of all the shows: Alias, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and others. Plus then there's commercials...PowerAde, women's deodorant, even men's hair replacement commercials (when the men bow, you can see their full head of hair)! Heck, my Health textbook for school has a picture of a blackbelt in white gi doing a sidekick (nice form, too)...it's under Stress Management Martial Arts are everywhere you turn. The face of MA movies seem to be changing into more comedy-based (Shanghai Noon/Knights, other Jackie Chan films, plus a new one with that guy from "Dude, Where's My Car?") films... the "buddy movies" seem to very popular right now. I haven't seen a Bruce Lee style "betrayal of the Shaolin Temple" or "going to a tournament held by evil people" movie in a long time. MA is even going to be in television (more so than now, anyway)...I have heard rumors of a show called "The Black Sash" about a Mr. Miyagi-type Sensei teaching his students moral values as well as butt-whooping skills. Unfortunately, the show has been given a terrible time slot: Sundays @ 9:00 on the WB. (Starts Sunday, March 30th!) That means it's goin directly head-to-head with Alias. This is silly, because the WB tried to run Angel on the same time slot, but then switched it to Wendesday. At least I have a VCR! Finally, there's Black Belt TV. This should get a major boom in the MA industry. That's entertainment-wise, anyway.

I'm in the chat room now (9:18 AM Eastern) I might be idling in there so you won't be able to see me...but I'm there.

We have had several over the years. We don't really have many black belts, though. More common are the people who have failed their BB test. I really haven't seen many quitters in my time, but those I have seen have been younger...although I did see a 40-year-old man quit after getting his black belt. Don't really know why he quit, though. A lot of times, we have parents who fully expect their child to pull out after black belt, because they think that's "the end". "Finishing" the martial arts is one of the most ridiculous concepts I've ever heard Then again, you also have the "jacks of all trades": people who do activities for around 5 years/until satisfied, then move on to the next one. To them, MA isn't a way of life, it's just another skill they've achieved, another thing to tell their buddies. It's a good way to be well-rounded, but you know how the saying goes: "Jack of all trades, master of none". I agree that staying for 6 months would be a good idea...would probably encourage the black belts to stay around even longer once they understand what Black Belt training is like. However, it does sound like one of the "evil contracts" everyone hates I'm curious to hear how that would be enforced. As far as my school having requirements...at my school, if you leave for a period of at least 3 months and come back, you lose a belt. This also goes for black belts (unless the black belt can come back without missing a beat). Once the person gets up to speed again, they can have their belt back...no test is involved for black belts, not sure about under belts. This is a new rule; we haven't had to use it yet.

I know of a dojo that teaches many different styles, and they are all seperate classes. This dojo even has several of the classes going on at once, in different sections of the building, somewhere around 6 at once. But that's a very large dojo with a huge student base that can handle it. Each class has its own, seperate expert instructor, so it's not one man trying to teach them all.

Definitely something I didn't know. I had no idea there was any symbolism to folding the flag.

Well, congratulations! Things seem to be going quite well for you!

What kind of band are you? Wouldn't want to suggest a name like Pink Bunnies if you're horrorcore or something. Although it might be an interesting ironic twist I always think it's cool to have some twist on the members' names. Try spelling something using their initials...filling in the blanks if you have to.

Avoiding the situation isn't going to help anymore, as you've seen. So, you have to face it, but that doesn't mean fighting: talk it over with him. I wouldn't suggest going to his house. If this guy has a quick temper, he might not like the idea of you coming over, and might lose it. In which case, you can obviously take him, but that's not the point. A physical fight is most likely going to lead to more feelings of resentment and bitterness. He may fear you, but he'll just find other ways to make life difficult. You need to resolve the situation. Go to a nice, public place, like the cafeteria at lunchtime. Explain to him your lack of guilt (that is, if you're innocent), and try to defuse the situation. Find out what's really bugging him, and try to work it out. If push comes to shove (no pun intended), you may have to end up fighting. If the other guy resorts to violence, there's nothing you can do about it! But you can try to avoid it altogether. Good luck.

Welcome (back) to the forums! You may want to check out the Website forum to get updated on any technical changes.

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome to the forums! Are you a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? (wild guess)

I moved this to Grappling since that's what it's talking about