mikaveli

Interesting article. I was wondering, if a martial art no longer focuses on fighting or self defence, why are they still referred to as 'Martial Arts'? I don't have much understanding of why someone would want to train in a style that only has a 'Sports' application nowadays! To me, the grade I wear around my waist represents my martial prowess, experience, honour and the respect of the people I train with. However, as someone briefly touched upon, even the non-sports styles often spend years teaching how to execute a perfect punch/kick etc. without preparing the student for applying their knowledge in a defence situation. Are our priorities wrong?

Good article mate. I think I've hit the 'Black Belt Blues' where you get depressed at the thought of all the students who started young enough to be able to do the splits. Also, realising that because you work full-time you don't simply have enough time to train in your style to maintain or improve your techniques much. Or that being a big heavy 'ard geezer is a better asset than years of training. ... and all the injuries that have been acquired over the years after trying to train hard enough to make up for the aforementioned failings now prevent you from training without a large degree of pain in certain exercises (I haven't quit yet though! )

If you want to be able to defend yourself, you need to get used to taking hits. By that, I don't mean that someone has to knock 7 bells out of you every week, but you do need to get to a level where you don't panic, cry etc... Sparring in class, some students are so intimidated by a punch towards the face (without even hitting them) that I can't see how they could defend themselves. Many styles now do not allow any hits to the head, which I think is detrimental to their overall ability.

I agree, the way I was taught, holders of any dan grade should have an excellent prowess in their chosen style. TKD is not the only style that sometimes just views their dan grade as an "end of basic training". It took me 6 years to attain my 1st dan, but when you attend seminars or visit other clubs or in competitions, surely you would want your dan grades to be as good as another clubs dan grades? Holding a black belt isn't a case of just "knowing the moves", you should also have a good amount of experience, physical strength, technical ability and confidence in combat.

I've come across the prior mentioned grade order before, but there are also other prominent Tang Soo (Soo Bahk) Do assoiciations that use the following grade order: White - 10th gup Yellow - 9th gup Orange Tag - 8th gup Orange - 7th gup Green Tag - 6th gup Green - 5th gup Purple - 4th gup Blue - 3rd gup Brown - 2nd gup Red - 1st gup (The there is the probationary period, some sytles issue a black tag, but no grading takes place at this stage) Black - 1st dan, assistant instructor Black - 2nd dan, instructor Black - 3rd dan, senior instructor Black - 4th dan, master (often with red stripe running through centre of belt)

I don't know the totem for Ro Hai but ... Kong San Goon is the Eagle Jin Do is the Crane Ship Soo is the Bear Nihanji is the Horse Chil Sung is the (seven stars of the) Plough Ba Sai is the Cobra Pyung Ahn is the Turtle Hope the helps.

So does that mean an Opel Vectra is better for agressive driving than a Vauxhall Vectra?

What your taught traditionally and you style should always be the same. I use the same basic techniques in very different ways to people of varying degrees of strength, fitness and prowess. I train with another 1st dan in TSD, and he is really easy to beat because he sticks to rigidly to what he has been taught, whereas I use my size and weight more effectively.

I couldn't train if it cost $75 a month. Surely your instructors expenses cannot be that high. At my club, the instructor just charges enough to cover hall and some equipment, so it end up at about $40 roughly.

We've been having a debate in my college as to which martial art is better for self defence or street fighting! The three arts all have their benefits, but I'm interested in what the general opinion is?