mindsedgeblade

Sounds like a good practice drill - exactly what any basketball team does.

Fear... Maybe my first head instructor, just a bit. Not that the man himself gave any reason, as I knew he had perfect control and was perfectly friendly outside the studio. But to look at him, you knew he could squash you like a grape. He'd been through a lot of fights, and done a lot of damage- and survived just as much. I have a LOT of respect for him, and wish I had spoken to him more. Now. Haha, not a chance. At the new school, there's plenty of ego to go around, and the instructor has less control, but the only fear response I get is nearly being run over by a car or bus on the way in. I may not always feel they deserve my respect, but I always give it. That's nothing the school or people could ever hope to accomplish- that's ME.

That's how my old school worked. If a newly tested black belt was able to stay on they would teach all the new students through their first test. I think it worked really well, though it could get tiresome for a new black belt to teach white belt techniques until someone else took over. Usually about 2-3 years.

Anything but the Proforce... That 5 oz material is nearly transparent when it gets wet, and overall feels like a lightweight pajama set. I don't know about you, but I'd rather people not see what color shorts I have on under my uniform. Not sure how the Century lightweght student and 8 oz student compare for weight. I had the 8oz "contact" pants and 8oz "student" jacket, and finally tore the pants a month or two back- after 5 years. Even after the pants tore, they were better than the Proforce ultra-lightweight. I think the Century lightweight student may be 6ox, while the proforce is 4 or 5. Believe it or not, I've found heavier uniforms to be cooler. They don't cling like the ultra-lightweight, so you still get some airflow.

Friv.com has a lot of silly little games.

Start with a scouring pad. The green kitchen things should take off any light surface rust. Steel wool (Brillo or SOS pads) will take off deeper stuff. And some kind of oil is a must. Gun oil, or honing oil, or even a light machine/drill oil is better than nothing. Though I imagine there are specific oils out there for bladed weapons. What's the handle of that "Buster" sword made of? Lead is fairly easy to work with, but it could burn or melt whatever else is in there. Plus it won't look very nice and is extremely soft. Old timers worked with lead all the time- as body filler, shot, fishing weights, paint, etc., etc. Just don't eat it and you should be fine.

Sounds like egg drop soup to the extreme.

I'm with you there... He loves to do that, or while we're standing at attention to bow out. In my opinion, there's no place for kiddie philosophy in an adult class. Yet the instructor's views don't seem to go any deeper than a six year old could grasp. I'd love to hear the real history, use and application of a movement or form. Just sick of the same old party-line cliched crap that could get you killed.

I doubt you could tell the difference, or enough to attribute it to anything besides personal taste. It's little things like length of the arms compared to length of the torso.

Awesome!

Depends on the age LOL From gross motor skills to fine, and just as importantly, the knowledge not to EAT the small pieces. Building blocks for toddlers, then duplos (the big lego blocks), then lincoln logs, then tinker toys and legos and K'Nex and finally erector set. I still play with legos, but I've moved on to bigger erector sets LOL. Full size cars and ships and houses. Some of those Lego Technic and K'Nex connections were a royal pain, and not at all suitable for kids I think that will be the best part of having kids... finding the joy of simple wooden blocks again.

And from the SI article, he's already bought out Pride and K1.

I'm interested, but I bet it's way more than I could afford.

Run a good anti-virus program before you do anything else.

Meh. Just a studio looking to cash in on the 3D fad with another remake. I liked the cartoons, but doubt this will be much good.

Those are fairly close to the WTSDA rules. Except they don't permit sweeps or hand techniques to the head or groin kicks. Stop-point sparring is really absurd to me, which is why I doubt I'll bother competing. Striking area is extremely limited, and contact is barely there, so what can you learn? In fact, I heard one of our younger "adult" guys tapped an opponent at his last tournament, and the opponent dropped and forfeited the match. Here I thought over-acting was just for soccer

Great self control, yes. But he should never have let the punk get a hold on him. Having someone that far inside MY space would push my limits, but the first time he put a hand on me, he'd be on the floor bleeding. As far as I know, that would be completely inside my right to defend myself, and the first time he put a hand on me, I could call it assault. I would have been MUCH more comfortable two steps farther away from that corner, but it would also make it harder to defend his actions. If it does go to court, someone would ask why he didn't just go inside and lock the door. No matter that the punk could have destroyed the bike or smashed the window. It's really aggravating how often we're just supposed to allow this kind of nonsense to happen.

That sounds familiar... I'm sure we've all long since learned how to make a fist, and how to hit with the first two knuckles. Well, last week I was driving my gf to work and we got into a fight. Rather than take my anger out on her, I did basically the same thing. Hit the two weak knuckles on the horn button on my steering wheel. I have the dubious benefit of prior stupidity, so it didn't do any real damage to me or the truck. She on the other hand, did the same thing several months prior, and her hand was sore for weeks.

It's probably not him personally (or his school). A lot of places are using a third party to collect fees. Educational Funding Company wear I train. They suck hugely.

It's easy, really. I didn't practice, didn't "set my distance" by touching it a dozen times, didn't do any silly breathing excersises, didn't visualize breaking it. All you need is one good technique. Piece of cake. Just reach out and hit it!

I stopped by AWMA in northeast philly today to try to save myself shipping charges and check out some uniforms. I've been looking for a heavier pair of pants, since I tore my black ones, and hate the ultra-lightweight white ones I got at the new school. My goodness, it's a royal pain to find what I was looking for there. Tons of full uniforms in all different varieties, but the pants are pretty limited and all jumbled together. I debated for a while over the only pair of 8oz blend "Contact" pants I found, and a 12oz cotton "Karate" pant. Brought the "Karate" pants home, and found I could put three of me in them!! I figured 100% cotton would shrink a bit, but not that much! My new silly light pants are a 5. I thought I'd be okay going up one size to allow for shrinking, but these things feel four sizes too big. There's over 12" of extra material in the waist, and I could easily pass for a kendoka wearing them because they puff out so much in the legs I like the material, so I'll be returning them next week for a 4 probably... http://www.awma.com/index.cfm/action/productdetail/product_id/11670.htm

Well, I did it. I made 1st gup. Now I have to wear a super bright red and blue half belt instead of my comfortable dark red one. I'm disappointed in my forms- I got lost once in each of my higher forms. I was sweating bullets putting everything into them, but that common place where one form can easily transition to another bit me. One steps, sparring, basics, even "self defense" went well enough. I kept running out of room for line drills because I had a really short girl behind me and a wall of loose pads and mats beside me. So I was continually adjusting my stance or pulling kicks short. We did a low spinning wheel kick into a high spinning hook kick and I clobbered a mat that was sticking out. That didn't feel so good. Then jump double front kick into a forward roll. My hammy! Breaking was interesting. Had a few white belts attempt a simple side kick. Two made it and two didn't. Not really required for their rank anyway. One little kid was pulling a movie stunt, flying side kick and pushing off the board into the air, but couldn't get the break. Had one lady surprise herself when she whipped right through hers. I'm proud of her . The other red belt testing clobbered his board(s) at an angle and sent bits flying straight at me. I got up there and one instructor was telling me a jump spin back kick and the other a standing spin back kick. They decided on the standing kick. I saw that everyone else was pulling too short on kicks, so I stepped in close. I smashed the two boards and hit the holders in the chest, pushing them back. Maybe a bit too close Not too bad for a first break. No different than powering through the heavy bag. Probably could have done four boards.

I caught part of the UFC "Fight for the Troops" last night. (It's two weeks old so no spoilers) I saw the Barry-Beltran fight, and had the same reaction as the OP. "Really!?" The announcers kept blabbing about Barry's kickboxing experience, but he barely threw any strikes, except for that eye gouge and beating Beltran's leg to a pulp. And Beltran's "dirty boxing" consisted entirely of pinning Barry to the fence. No effectual strikes or takedowns. I don't know anything about those two fighters, but I'd rather watch our two 11yo BBs slug it out than two out of shape goons dance around and hug it out. I hope the other matchups were better than that. http://www.ufc.com/event/fight-for-the-troops-2#/fight/Pat-Barry-Joey-Beltran

LOL My test got rescheduled to this thursday. I was busy all day and never got the notice, so I got there and the place was locked up tight.

Haha, where are you? I'm testing today in south philly. And I just shoveled 14" of snow from my driveway.