Slydermv

Come on. Yoda vs. Dooku... best fight scene ever! It's Yoda man! Second best.... when R2D2 is outside the Anakin's fighter in the third movie and the droids are crawling all over it.... then he shocks them... hehehe. Still kinda wish they did the fight scene's like the original ones though...

Along with being a good practitioner, alot of this self defence stuff comes with common sence. I train mainly for health, and the sport aspect of TKD, but I also understand that in a self defence situation, some of my training could be effecive. I can kick pretty hard and am alot quicker on my feet then I used to be. I also understand that one kick or punch is not gonna knock someone out a majority of the time... and that fact that real fights are very agressive and very violent, and since I've never be in one, that is a huge strike against me. It is more of the way you train, rather then the style you train in. This is why boxers, wrestlers, and other similar arts are so strong. It is not a superiour art, but a superiour way of training. They always are taking shots, and know how to keep up a defence if getting pounded on. I think if you want to learn to fight, you have to get hit. period. Even in point sparring. If you don't know what a shot to the head feels like, when you first recieve one you're going to be in big trouble.

Well, I don't know, but I can suggest a few things... In my school if you show up to class a bit early there's a bit of room in the back of the dojang where you can warm up on your own, with a bag to kick and punch. I try to hit the bag, or jog around a bit, or whatever to get the blood flowing. You might wanna try warming up on your own a bit ten minutes before class if there's space. I hate stretching cold. I'm not naturally flexable so I need be warmed up a bit or else my range of motion is real bad. I have a long way to go. If you can't do it on your own, I would talk to him. From what I know, it's easy to get injured if you're not streched properly. Since you're in ballet, I'm assuming your range of motion is better then mine so it might not be as bad. But I know if I'm not warm and stretched it hurts to kick over my waist level... ...and you must be kicking people in the head already if you have ballet under your belt...

We have a loose routine in our gym. First we run for a few minutes to get warm, stretch, then... well every class is different after that. Depending on who's in the class, and how sadistic my Master feels, we train. Sometimes, he warms us up and then just talks to us for 45 minutes... There is no set way in which we do things...

For normal kicks i sound like "Sahhhhh" When we practice power kicking it change to a two part thing something like 'HaSahhhh" Don't know where those sounds came from either.... hehe

I've seen this first hand. A friend of mine, a brown belt in Issin Ryu Karate did one of the wickedest forms I've ever seen... in an open tourney, held by a TKD school. No one even came close to his intensity, and he didn't even medal. I'd use caution....

Well when we spar at our school, differnet belt levels spar all the time. I'm a 4th gup, and I've sparred 10th gup to black belts. With sparring, at least in our school, there are some rules that aren't spoken but there. 1. When faced with someone we out class we don;t kill them. We move around, make em work, and try out techniques we may be perfecting. We don't let them win by any means, but we try to challange them without discouraging them. 2. Some people in our school want to fight hard, some want to jump around and point spar a bit, no head shots etc. You'll get to know who's who after a while. For example when me and a pre black belt friend of mine spar, we go all out (within reason), cause we like the experiance and don't mind taking a shot , and won't get mad if one smokes the other. Other people aren't like this, so we kinda just go at a level they are comfortable with. I would assume these common sence rules are in place in most sparring environs.... however, you do get on occasion a cowboy who has to prove he's hot ish against lower belts... (the machismo Ahodan is talking about)

"Thanks for the insight.... the point I was trying to make was that regardless of the colour of the belt, wheather it be pink, green, camo or leapord print... don't make the mistake of underestimating that person cause they may train harder then you... I'll try to make my posts clearer. Though I was unaware that red belts fade (I don't have one yet... hehe)... that was not the point I was trying to make. Point taken... I think I might be alright though. That McDonalds explination was very helpful, and though I have a ten belt system in my school (no camo though... damn...) it is leg for what I want. Slyder aka thread hijacker!

Define outrageous fees... I figured with belt testing fees and yearly fees, if I go to 4 classes a week it costs $5.76 Canadian a class There's a thread about fees in general, and i noticed I was on the high end... but that dosen't seem outrageous to me...

I'm relatively new to internet boards, so McDojo is a new word for me. I always assumed it meant a place where you pay a crap load of money and learn nothing. Which is worst then the other word you are talking about.... cause even though you learn nothing, you still at least got a couple dollars in your pocket. I hope that my own dojang is a commercial martial arts school. I believe I pay reasonable testing fees, and have noticed an appreciable increase in skill level. I know what I do is not for "the street", as we are a olympic style school, and I enjoy it for the sport. i also understand, that with common sence my skill can be applyed in a self defence manner if necessary, so -hopefully- I wouldn't get my teeth knock out if that were the case. So... the fat instructor with no skill and no testing fees is ------------ the instructor with testing fees and no skill is McDojo... My understanding at least... As for the other forum... I check there on occasion as well, but I find constant flaming and sacarsam by some (not all) of the regular posters precludes any intellegent discusssion, especially when TKD comes into a post. I guess I'm at least not doing Ninjitsu... hehehhe

I don't know.... just because a person is making a profit from teaching, dosen't mean they run a McDojo. I mean... you have to be able to eat and put a roof over your head. Your job is your job. I don't work for free, would you? Making a little extra cash can't be a bad thing. If poor instruction comes along with it... I can see your meaning. I live in a smaller community (150,000) and our city hasn't been graced by a chain school, so maybe my understandings and fears are different then most peoples, but I would really hate for the peson browsing over these boards to see... "10 belts and testing fees are McDojo!!!1!!!" when they might skip out on a school with quality instruction. I don't know... in my area.... the schools that charge about $80-$100/month are quality and the other that charge less are garbage... But that what it usually comes down to when board debates are finished... it depends on the person, the area and what you're looking for. And if I was skilled enough to run my own school... My belts would go like this: white, yellow w/ orange strip green w/ brown strip blue w/ purple strip leopard print black

A red belt should never turn pink,... belts aren't suppoed to be washed. If they appear tattered, it should be because of training, and not the spin and fluff cycle of the dryer... That's what I meant... a red belt that turned pink with ware... hence it's not a McDojo school and he can hand you your rear.... I don't know where the washed comment came from... I made no comment about the washing of the belt. EternalRage: "5 or less colors with stripes for all the inbetween rankings is alright. 10 different colors is pushing it." What's the difference between 5 belts with 5 stripes (ten rankings) and 10 different colour belts? And belts are cool IMO... I have ten in my school... they are a good motivational technique... and though I do pay for testing, those prices along with my monthly fees end up being the same as prices at other schools in my area. There's alot of talk of schools that charge money are sellouts. Well if your teachers career is teaching martial arts... he has to make some kind of profit... so, do belt testing fees make a McDojo... no do belts? no But they are symptoms from what I've read on this board and others. With no martial arts experiance... how can you tell if you're in a McDojo?... you might still sweat, but you learn nothing of martial arts...

Sweet forms tips. Also, know your form so well that you can do it in your sleep. You'll have less of a chance of having a blackout when you do it in front of judges. Sparring... the biggest thing is not to get flustered and try to keep your cool. Use simple techniques that you know (many olympic matches are won by turning kicks)... rather then more advanced ones where you may leave yourself open. As for breaking.... remember showmanship. Yell loud... and distroy that board. Breaking is more then just hitting the board with your technique. It your preparation before hand, the breaking motion, and the movements after. Show you have complete control over your body.

Our instructor is a little bit younger so alot of the tradition and bowing and terms aren't used other then calling him master or sir. He just stresses to the higher belt students to lead by example. When the lower belts see you act in a respectful mannor, they follow. He dosen't have any specific rules per se, more of a general pay attention and don't screw around, you're here to train attitude. I've been out in a social setting with him and a few other on one or two occasions, and he tells everyone to call him by his first name, but I can't do it... it's wierd.... heh.