monkeygirl

Thanks for the words of encouragement

Until you get your left side "up to speed", so to speak, you can try practicing techniques twice as much on your left side as your right side. So if you do 10 roundhouse kicks with your right leg, you should do 20 with your left. That way you still keep your right side sharp and don't end up switching dominant sides Once you get equally good with both sides (something I'm sure we would all envy), practice them in equal amounts.

Generally, your instructor should know how the local tournaments are run, and whether or not they want a presentation. If you're going to a tournament in unfamiliar territory, find a judge or someone who is running the tournament and ask them what they consider to be proper etiquette and procedure. They should take no offense at this as long as you do it respectfully (e.g. don't interrupt), and you will fare much better for asking. Consider the alternative: not asking, not knowing, and making a fool of yourself! Every tournament I've gone to has involved presentations, but then I'm TKD and it could be a style difference. Presentation generally inolves four things: 1. Your name 2. Your school 3. Your kata 4. Asking permission Some people will expand this to where it's practically a speech: 1. Name 2. School 3. Name of Instructor 4. Style 5. Mentioning rank 6. How many years they have been practicing their particular MA 7. Name of kata 8. (If weapons kata, ask judges to examine weapons) 9. Permission to begin. Quite long. The tournament presentation that I use goes like this (with lots of energy and a good amount of volume...it's important to wake the judges up and get their attention in my style ): "Judges! My name is [name] and I proudly represent [dojo] and the National Black Belt Club. The kata I will be performing is [kata]. With your permission, may I please step back and begin? Thank you judges" If I'm at a multi-style tournament, I will include "my style is Tae Kwon Do." Whatever you do, don't give a 15 minute speech

With any spinning kicks, such as wheel kicks, straight in back kicks, back hook kicks, back crescents, etc. it's usually helpful to turn your heel first. Basically, this just involves taking your front foot and twisting it (and your hips) to where the heel is pointed toward your target. The foot is going to turn in the same direction your body will spin. From there, continue to spin your upper body and deliver whatever kick it is, in your case, a wheel kick. Hope that helps!

Fight with confidence. Make the other person fight YOUR fight. Intimidating and frustrating them is an excellent tactic. It can make them forget their training and fight wild, letting you pick them apart.

He was trying to say "whatever your name is"...

Yeah, I'm going to try to swim in Florida next week...if it doesn't rain too much. I talked to the director of the program, and the swim test goes something like this: 300 yards (3 laps) freestyle stroke 200 yards breaststroke ?00 yards freestyle & breaststroke (don't remember how many she said) Tread water for 5 minutes. So it might be a bit of a stretch for me, but I'll push through The main reason I'm doing this is because a friend of mine is taking the class but didn't want to take it alone. I am gonna try my darndest or he'll make fun of me for six weeks

So far, so good...just stay respectful. I am moving this to the Karate forum.

Welcome to the forums! Don't be shy, participate in some of those discussions

I hope to give her some competition

I'm getting ready to take a Life Saving class at the YMCA, in order to become a lifeguard and get CPR certification, all that good stuff. I was just wondering, are any of you or have any of you ever been lifeguards? Before we can begin training, we have to go through a swimming test. I have no idea what's involved in this test...probably treading water, doing laps, etc. Anyway, I'd like to get some idea of what might be involved. So, if you can remember, what did you have to do to swim? I'm not a super swimmer, but I'm fairly strong. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll pass the swim test, but I might as well try. Your input/suggestions will be appreciated

To quote Mario: Heeeeeeeere we go! I think I'm doomed for the rest of the game anyway, since I'm going on vacation next week. Maybe I'll hop on here at my Grandma's though...we'll see

This thread has degenerated into semantics. Remember that conversation should be kept constructive, and respect towards other members and their styles must be kept.

Nunchaku can be good to start with, because you can get padded ones! If you've never used weapons before, padded nunchaku would be a good way to get used to a weapon. They're also pretty easy to use. Bo staff is less forgiving. I've cracked myself in the head more than once during an unfamiliar kata. I have no experience with sai or tonfa to be able to tell you anything conclusive. Kama's are my favorite weapons. Most of the movements that are done (besides the rolls) closely resemble empty-hand strikes such as punches, rising blocks, down blocks, sudo stances, etc. Plus, I don't think I've ever hit my head with them...not that I remember, anyway

I have to agree...when you said "Games" it sounded a lot like video games. Now I understand that you meant some sort of competition/contest. As far as a lot of your questions go, it would be helpful to know where you're from. As far as I know, you shouldn't be required to be a member of any federation, especially since your style seems to be fairly different.

Black belts in my dojo get to wear whatever the heck they want, as long as it's a gi. With that in mind, my mom gave me a pair of white pants, and purple top for Christmas... We have other blackbelts who wear combinations of black, blue, red and white. I'm the only purple though. It's just another color, but I feel strange wearing it, like I won't be taken seriously. For that reason, I generally only wear it on kids' nights I think it's a neat color and everything, it just kinda weirds me out.

Welcome to the forums, Dave!

There's no way we would make a 3 year old spar or teach him/her how to hurt someone. We teach them things like how to throw a punch or kick, and then we have a talk about only using them in class. We do that for about 5 minutes, and then after that it's mostly games. Instead of playing Duck Duck Goose, it's Ninja Ninja Dragon. Red Light, Green Light becomes Ninja Freeze. We mostly teach focus, attention, respect, good behavior, so that they will be ready for real MA some day. The most important thing, though, is just to have fun. The closest we ever come to self-defense is teaching kids how to scream for help. We have Leadership Team become "attackers"...they sneak up on the kids. The kids then have to turn around and shout "STOP!" as loud as they can. Since that can make them sound like brats instead of kids in need of help, we also teach them to yell "You're not my Daddy/Mommy!" But that's as far as it goes.

Maybe you can try the buddy system...if you have a friend from class who lives near where you do, they could go home with you. Maybe you could even convince your parents to try taking MA with you. That's how I got my ride when I started

Remember to please be respectful and not bash other styles. The original intent of this thread was to find out whether or not Reality Fighting could be considered a Martial Art. Please don't turn it into a bashing of Traditional MAs, or any other MA for that matter. Thanks

I have had that "clicking" problem with crescent kicks, too. Because of the motion of the kick, it can sometimes cause the joint to rub together and "click". Try experimenting (soft and slow) with different angles of kicking. You may have to kick slightly lower or higher in order to put your hip into a position where it won't click. However, I don't really know if that's the problem, so it might not be the solution, either. As far as the ripping sensation, that could be muscular. You should see a doctor on both the clicking and the ripping. When I had that problem, they sent me into physical therapy to gain muscle. So I got less pain and more power! Not a bad exchange

Like BonnyBoy said, Cardio! Do lots of running, jumping rope, sprinting, etc. when you train outside of class. Gaining endurance now will make training and testing much easier later on. While you're in class, do everything to the fullest. If your school emphasizes low stances, go as low as you can. Hit bags as hard and fast as you can. Do the best that you can, in the way you're supposed to Basically, treat every night like it's testing night, and you have to be perfect and sharp. Endurance is one of the most important things you can have as a martial artist. That hard work will really pay off during long bouts of fighting.

Amen, Kensai. My dojo had a self-defense class last fall that I helped to teach. We were working on a ground technique (attacker is inside defender's guard, defender does basic scissors defense), and had the students pair off together to work on it. One such pair of students consisted of two big guys. When I say big, I mean pretty darn burly...probably upwards of 200 pounds each. I came over to them to see how they were coming with the technique, and one of them claimed that the technique couldn't possibly work for a smaller person. I decided to demonstrate on the guy who made the comment. I had him flat on his back in 5 seconds The best part of it...I don't even weigh half as much as he did. Grappling is definitely important for anyone to learn, especially women, as Kensai said. For one thing, if an attacker has me in a mount position, and is pinning my arms, hand striking isn't much of an option. Knees are out of the question too, since they'll only hit his back, with minimal power. However, ground fighting/grappling techniques can get me out of the situation.

Since he seems to be shy and hasn't posted the results of the test, I will do that for him... He'll be needing to change his signature, because he passed!!! Congratulations!!!! :D

We gotta use those extra three days this month!