fallen_milkman

Yeah, juding by the poll, if most fees are under $50 I wouldn't have too much of a problem paying them. $250 sounds a little insane, but I don't know what nidan means, so it might not be as bad as I think.

I noticed this just the other day, when a former Goshin Jutsu student joined our class. His sparring was actually ok, just not considering he'd been learning for 4 years. Well, he would do this same thing. He'd have me on the defensive and then just back off for some reason. And whenever he was on the defensive, he gave ground instead of side-stepping. Those are two things we consider bad habits in my art. The teacher explained that was a bad move, and he just wasn't getting him. So the next time he backed off, I went for it and threw such a flurry of blows and blocked everthing he had, chasing him as he backed away. At a couple of points, he actually turned tail and RAN. Afterwords, as I was out of breath, the sifu explained what happened, and he has been much better about pressing the advantage and side-stepping ever since. Great day of sparring!

Definitely all valid reasons for charging for grading, as long as the money you make from it isn't excessive. And I definitely didn't realize that is the only way the organizations make their money. I figured they were non-profit or something. Thank you all for sharing, and satisfying my interest.

You shouldn't base all your knowledge of a style on one tape you saw. Tai Chi Chuan is an art that deserves respect just like all other styles.

That is interesting that some schools bring in higher ranks to do demonstrations. I can also definitely see charging the student a fee if your organization does, but why do THEY ask for a fee? Shorinryu Sensei, I pay exactly for my lessons what you charge. We buy our own equipment and sow our own belts, so we have no fees. We also don't need to bring in anyone from out of state, since our Grandmaster teaches at our school most of his time.

It is amazing to me that fight clubs have spread like wildfire. They weren't even the point of that book/movie. Even Chuck Palaniuk (the writer) says they weren't the main focus and "could have been about a golf club" and still got his point across.

450 square feet? How far out do your kata go? Our school is probably about that big. About 15ft by 30ft or so. We never have a problem going one, two, or three at a time, and we also have smaller classes. Usually we have around 6-8 at the most.

I was reading another topic and saw that other schools charge for testing, and I was wondering the rationalization for this, from the instructor's point of view, since my school does not charge for grading. Not being rude, just really curious about other schools' fees. I could understand charging for the belt, but what else is included?

Honestly, I'd gauge whether he wants help or not. Certain people pull away from help when they aren't ready for it. If it's not been a severe problem I'd let it lie until he realizes he needs help. However, waiting can be dangerous too. Basically what I am saying is use your best judgement, but don't move late. Better a little early than too late. That is my take, as one who had a bit of an addiction problem. Not as serious as pills, but I did pull myself out of it. I would say be open to your friend, but don't push the wrong ways. Ironically enough, the guy posting on the martial arts board was saved by martial arts! I want to be good, and drugs have no room in being a good martial artist.

First off, I do not consider myself enlightened. I just figured I would give you my take on the matter, just to help you see other sides of things. Personally, when I have a way of life contrary to my friends, I live by example. Not lead, live. I don't berate or argue, I simply explain my way when asked. Most people will come around. Have I seen drastic changes in these people? Not really. Have I seen positive changes, even if they are not as big as I would like? Usually. Patience and acceptance is the key. Honestly, I know how you feel, but stopping friendship with people over such things will not solve them. One friend of mine almost failed out of college from drug use last year. Now admittedly, I am guilty of a few vices myself, but she went far overboard. While some of her friends pushed her away for her behavior, I stood by her and helped her when things got rough. She is now almost completely clean (caffeine and cigarettes are a vast improvement over cocaine and ecstacy, as WELL as caffein and cigarettes), and much happier. So basically, remember them for their good qualities, and remember we are not perfect either. I'd be a lot happier if I stopped drinking, even if I am only a social drinker. If we were all perfect, the world would be a boring place. Self perfection is half the reason I love my martial arts class. Wow. That got long. I'll shut my face now.

Luckily, I have friends who came to the school with me, after I joined! We get together and work forms and self defense drills. Usually, we round it out with some slower speed, unprotected sparring.

Cool article, even for a Non-Christian such as myself. Glad to see not all Christians think turning the cheek refers to taking violence. A slap to the cheek is insult, and the two are very very different. Insult can be abided, violence meant to harm should not be acceptable.

Robocop.

I've only taken one test, for my first rank of white sash, but I think it went really well. First requirement is basic strikes and kicks. No problem. Secon requirement is freeform, which I've never heard of another style doing so I'd better explain. Basically, one person stands at the head of a line of the classmates, facing the next person in line. They bow, and the second person in line throws an attack. The first person defends, and does a counter attack. They bow, and the second person goes to the end of the line. The head of the line goes through the entire line, sometimes twice if there are fewer people in class that day. Three times if only 3 or 4 of us are there. After he goes through everyone, the second person takes their place, and so on until everyone goes. We do this every class. Third requirement is sparring. Two 4 minute rounds for white sash with a small break in between. I, however, tested on a sparring day. I did five 4 minute rounds. Pretty rough. Fourth requirement is our 16 man form. This is the only real part anyone can fail. I, however, do my form 3 or 4 times daily, so no worries. And that was it. Not bad at all. It is the next test I am worried about...one half hour straight sparring, no breaks. No puking, no stopping, no passing out. I hope I make it!

Haha, I was thinking that same thing. Every time that is quoted, it increases. Amazing.

Ok, I guess I shouldn't have said when Da Mo came to China, and should have said when he supposedly came to China. Like Sam said, there is conflicting evidence. One main problem is that A LOT of Chinese writers ascribed their works to historical figures, whether real or legend. Also, after you posted that, I found several more sites, all with different dates. Guess I should have looked around a bit better before posting. My apologies.

Well, then I would recommend learning Long Fist styled forms elsewhere. I know applications for the first two forms, and it's pretty good once you start understanding them.

Congrats! I will be grading in a few months for my second rank. I think I'll be fine, except the half-hour constant sparring. I am not sure I'll make it. I've been pushing extra hard training, but man. A half hour?

Thanks, but realize all martial art histories need to be taken with a grain of salt. I understand kuntao men are even more guilty of embellished histories than other styles. Not that I'm saying Reeders intentionally LIED, but he's dead, and people have probably exaggerated his feats. I mean, beating 7 other masters of silat while blinded? That is a bit much. However, I can pretty much confirm he never lost a fight except that navy boxing match. My teacher has the same record. He's lost only a few boxing matches, never martial arts tournaments.

Tai Chi Chuan is very effective for fighting, but it can take longer to use effectively than other systems initially. Also, breaking boards does not equate to a more effective system. Neither is it true that fighting is all about strength. ALL kung fu styles stress meeting force with the least amount of resistance necessary. And again, wrong about the conditioning. They have no external conditioning like karate or external kung fu systems, but they do have an internal strengthening method.

http://members.cox.net/eharris2/cimac/ Thar ya go! The history section has most of what you'd be looking for.

I pay half that, and I get both kung fu and chi gung. Once I am a higher rank, my teacher could show me some Tai Chi Chuan as well, no extra charge.

Haha, bad description on my part. I should have went into more detail I guess. When we join, we wear no sash. The six month-marker is our first advancement test. If we pass, we go buy a plain black sash, and some white acetate(sp?) fabric. It is basically fake silk. We then sow a 5 inch wide band of white on both ends of the sash. When we make it to yellow sash, we remove the white and replace it with the yellow ends. This goes up through the ranks until master rankings, which replace the entire black sash with a red one.

Yikes. Seems like mine is least traditional, at least for low ranks. We do the test, then the instructors (should be at least 2, maybe 3) discuss it and tell you if you passed or not. At the end of class, everyone bows to the new ranked person first, then we do our normal bow out. You have to sow your own sashes in our school, so he doesn't give you one. You have to go home and attach the new color.

Basically, kuntao is a southern Chinese term for kung fu. However, it's gotten mixed around other countries a lot more than most other traditional styles. It is usually mixed with silat and/or kali. My kuntao style is Chinese/Indonesian, so there is a bit of silat influence. My lineage was brought here by two Chinese men who fought in the war for Indonesian independence from the Dutch. Very combat oriented, and very brutal. Focused on close in fighting, as using the legs to defend against kicks. I think that covers most of the basics. As for chi gung, most of what we do is external conditioning exercises. We do a few internal ones, but they might have been added from another system, since my teacher knows around 4 or 5 other kung fu styles.