neclos

I think it's a good start before actually sparring against multiple opponents. I've sparred against three a few times. That wears me down pretty quick (if I don't just grab and lock one of them and use him as a shield ).

I think yes means either descendant or parent and no means neither (no connection whatsoever). Considering my TKD has Pinan (Heian in Karate), no connection seems unlikely. TKD and Karate must be connected at some point, not necessarily descendant or parent, more like adopt. I think an X is more appropriate. Born from two different sources, at some point interact, and then go their separate ways.

I think 2 years sounds okay, not too fast, not too slow. It all depends on how he performs. My teacher usually tells his students when it's time for them to test (meaning, my teacher thinks they are ready to test and pretty certain they can pass). Each person takes a different amount of time for getting to the same belt. As for myself, it took me 3 years to get to brown from green with him. It took me 2.5 years to get to green stripe long time ago (I changed school). So... all in all, I've been studying for about 7 years and I'm still not black belt yet. Part of the reason is... even though my teacher said I'm ready, I turned down his offers to test for a few weeks until I feel I'm really ready (I set a higher standard for myself). So, my point is... don't worry too much about the belt. I usually ask this to myself: do I feel proud with the belt I'm wearing now (as in, are my skills good enough for me to have this rank)? Having a lower belt but higher skills feels a lot better than the reverse.

I trained in WTF long ago. I had to move, so I joined traditional TKD (my instructor doesn't follow WTF or ITF or anything else). Both styles tell me to keep my hands up during sparring. I got this bad habit of keeping my hands down, but so far I still manage to block and counter incoming attacks with my hands down. Maybe I just need someone to 'remind' me with a tap to the face or something. Sadly, the two best fighters in the dojo only come once in a while (not even once every 3 months). My instructor says he will spar me once he gets new equipments, looking forward to that.

Spent two years practicing to get my right and left front splits (right was better). ...7-year hiatus... Spent six months to get back my right front split, a few more weeks after that for my left. Then about six more months to get my side split with toes pointing up. Lastly six more months to get my side split with toes pointing forward (like real side kicks). Oh, I don't practice doing splits outside my twice/thrice-a-week class.

I prefer my $5 dobok. Thin and not well-made, but it serves its purpose. Maybe when I have money I'll buy better ones.

You can't get flexibility right away, unless you're naturally flexible. I find doing rising kicks to the front and side helps. Other people may have different methods. Just be patient. You'll get there eventually.

I only do the workouts in class. Anyway, I do rising front and side kicks for flexibility. Then, super-slow front/side/round kicks (without dropping the leg to the ground) for control/balance... and increasing the speed as I go. Lastly, extending the leg for high front/side/round kick and holding it there for 20 seconds. That's pretty much my warm-up session. Oh, and sometimes I do bunny hops or duck walk around a basketball court.

Hm, I just found another version of bassai. o_O Looks similar, with a lot of differences... For instance, instead of two blocks in the beginning, it looks like they use spear-hand attack. But the side kick is to the knee. ^_^ Supposedly, this is shorin-ryu. Anyway, I still like my teacher's version, love the extra kicks.

I think it all depends on which interpretation you want to follow (or your teacher follows). I'm guessing this is the kick after the grab? I've seen videos and pictures of shotokan's bassai kicking to the knee. My teacher's version (taekwondo) has the kick to the knee, followed by solar plexus, and ends with a flying side kick. Then again, he hasn't taught me the form yet. I learned it myself by watching the black belts doing it. ^_^

Just agreeing that you just focus on improve rather than compare. I'm 26, started TKD at 15 (with a gap of no training at 17-24). I'm one of the flexible ones now, even more than the black belts (but they got the advantage of more experience than me). If I see someone with a better skill than me, I'm making his skill as a goal. Not to be competitive or anything, but just as a motivation to improve.

I've seen even more silly ones from my seniors when I was on lower grade... which rewarded me a lot of pushups for smirking. I find that I'll just do whatever works. Though most of the time I'm more like the "hap" in kihap.

You don't need to be able to do splits to kick head high. Though with splits, you can kick head high without telegraphing that you're about to do so. KarateChick06, I usually do the same stretches like you posted with >90 degree angle and push my whole body forward (not just touching my toes). I find that stretches me more and keeps my spine straight. Keeping the spine straight seems to help me a lot in things that require more flex. There are two ways to do middle split: toes pointing up (heels touching the ground) or toes pointing forward (whole foot touching the ground). I find the first one easier to do, so you might want to try that as your first goal before trying for the second type. Not sure about why your hips hurt, though. Too tense, maybe? Or incorrect posture? When I first got middle split all the way down, I used to face a bit to the right (split to the right is my best one). It hurt when I tried to push my body back to face forward. Don't know if this is the same case or not. Now I follow my own rule of keeping my spine straight and do both types of middle split easily without going to the left or to the right. And 6 months to do the split, that's great. It took me the same amount to do split to the right. About two more years to do split to the left and two more to do middle.

Well, they complement each other. Those kicks stretch my legs => splits better. Better splits => kick higher. In the end, I think being able to do splits is just a result of a lot of practice. And you know what a lot of practice can do to your kicks. Man, this is like talking about chicken and eggs.

Sounds similar to jump split kick I think, where you jump and do front kicks (to two different directions) with both legs at the same time... but I've never seen this "Buffy kick" done except in movies. Somersault? We're thinking of two different moves, but then again, I don't watch Buffy, so I could be wrong...