Aodhan

This is true for Japanese arts, I believe the proper Korean term for them is ssangh jeol bangh. Aodhan

I know Mr. Mendes, and I'm pretty sure the information is accurate. I'll open it later and confirm it, but there are one steps for white through green belt. Aodhan

Well if she was a Master in the ATA, she was already a 6th degree, more likely Senior/Chief Master by now, but I don't recognize the name. Aodhan

As far as moving from belt to belt, don't worry too much about how much time it takes. Master the techniques first, which I almost guarantee will take more time than you normally have in between belts. If you are on the block system, then you don't have to learn both, you just need to learn the material for the block you are on. Your instructor should have sheets outlining the form, but again, I wouldn't try too much learning of the form on your own. That will lead to bad habits that you have to correct later. Go to class, and work on perfecting what you learn in the class first, and the rest of it will come. You can look on the net, there are a few ATA sites that post the moves. Oh, and welcome back!! You'll find that there are a few ATA'ers on here. I'm a 2nd degree instructor, Balrog is a 5th degree school owner, MasterH was a....4th? degree, and there are a few others here as well. Where do you take lessons? Aodhan

It might help if you quoted the post you were referring to? This is getting to be a long thread, and most people won't search through every post to find out what you are referring to. Aodhan

I've heard the argument that to believe in chi/ki (However your style spells it) is to not believe in a supreme deity. I don't buy it, for this reason. As I understand it, chi is your inner life force, that you can get in touch with, manipulate, etc. To me that suggests a soul as well. I don't want to delve into the religious aspects of it, but I've never seen how getting in better touch with yourself is to disbelieve in a deity. Aodhan

The scandinavian countries have mandatory (or at least they used to) firearm training by age 12. They also have some of the lowest gun accident/murder rates in the world. Interestingly enough, they also don't restrict age for alcohol. You can go straight from the baby bottle to the vodka bottle. They also have some of the lowest alcoholism rates as well. Something to think about. Aodhan

If I get into a street fight, then it becomes him or me. I'll use anything I can, knees, elbows, biting, crotch grabbing/kicking (his not mine), trash cans, bottles, whatever is around. I will meet his threat level with a slightly higher threat level. My objective is to be the last one standing at the end. Aodhan

yea but dont u think camo is getting there? When Grandmaster H.U. Lee (Creator of the Songahm system) created the belt/form structure for our style, he assigned a philosophy for each one. Songahm is "Pine Tree and Rock", and the belt structure reflects the growth of a pine tree. Camo belt (6th kyu/gup) is the first level in our system where students start to free spar (As opposed to simple one step combinations with a partner). The philosophy behind the belt is "The sapling is hidden amongst the taller pines and must now begin to fight its way upwards". The hidden in the forest suggests the camo belt, and the fight its way upwards reflects the free sparring aspects. Every belt has a meaning, it wasn't just picked arbitrarily at random to annoy people. Aodhan

True,... but the color belt system is more on the order of 150 years old, borrowed from Judo... To me it doesn't make sense to use belts that are outside of convention. You get problems in open tournaments, when people change styles (due to relocation, etc), or when people are trying to investigate the system to join. It leads to confusion and doesn't change the fact that the more belts there are in a system, the more oppurtunity exists to charge additional money for tests... and hence be labeled a "McDojo." This is both real and perceived... Keep in mind that most systems traditionally use a gup or kyu system for advancement in the color belts and they typically work their way backward from 10... If you have a different color belt for each of these ranks... fine. But if you not only have those ranks but add stripes to the belts to further create testing oppurtunities, the school is most definitely a McDojo,... even if they offer good instruction. Overt commericalism needs to be balanced by the teaching of the art... The best scenario is when the commerical aspects of the school are transparent to the instruction. Correct, sir. However, martial arts in general are thousands of years old, and the belt system is 150 years old. Barely a generation and a half. What I was trying to say, is most schools out there do follow the 9th-1st gup/kyu system. What does it matter if all belts are different shades of blue, or pink, or whatever? It just points at where they are in their system. I wouldn't mind seeing a standard belt system either, but doubt that will ever happen. We use stripes on the belt to indicate knowledge of material within a testing cycle (Blocks/kicks = 1 stripe, form, 2nd stripe, etc) but we don't charge a testing for each one. We only charge for rank testings or midterms once you get to recommended black rank and above. Heh... one of my friends was in a local school (Other than my own, he didn't want to take TKD again), and he had 15 different testings in a 12 month period, at $50+ each time. He hasn't been back. Aodhan

Good luck, be safe, and pop in if you get a chance!! Aodhan

Derecho- Where in Colorado? What school/style? (I'm from Co originally) Aodhan

Personally? I'd set limits at 2.5. Academics is the most important thing. Your not going to team practice with school afterwards, you're going to school. There's a reason that sports are called extracurricular activities. Maybe you can talk to the science teacher? Aodhan

Don't know. I kind of dodged the system a bit, and called HQ to find out. Told them I need to order new uniforms (Which is true), and if it had been done, and it hadn't as of Monday. I'll give another couple weeks before I call again. I can check on the website too, and I've been doing that daily. Aodhan

'Actually, there are a LOT of introvert positions out there, unfortunately, most of them might require some more education. Things such as statisticians, actuaries, histology, tons of night hospital positions, many laboratory positions, heck even pool cleaning most of the time. Oh, almost forgot. You could also do something from home such as medical billing as well. Aodhan

Subdivision of ATA? Do you mean STF or WTTU? Or are you part of another federation? Oh, and what style of forms are you using? Aodhan

National Personal Training Institute - Personal Trainer Program AZ - Phoenix Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine & Acupuncture (PIHMA) - Phoenix Rainstar University Acupuncture Program - Scottsdale Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine & Health Sciences - Tempe Southwest Institute of Healing Arts - Tempe Well, lets see, take out any not in the Phx area, take out Apollo and Bryman (Apollo is one of those med secretary, dental asst, all type of medical flunky schools, they also run University of Phoenix, same for Bryman). Take out the massage schools for the same reason, and that narrows the list considerably. I've looked a couple, but does anyone have any experience with these schools either in Phx or elsewhere? Oh, and thanks, shogeri! Aodhan

And they can do the same to you. Ever walk up towards someone, and you meet their eyes, and you both dodge the same way? twice? That's because the eyes start to move in the direction you are going to dodge, and the natural inclination is for you to follow. So if their eyes go right, yours go left, and you both move in the same direction. It's the same thing in sparring, etc. The eyes are the easiest thing to fake with. I personally look towards the lower border of the ribcage or towards the belly button. For most people, that's where their center of gravity is, and that is the hardest part of the body to fake with, because if you move it any significant amount, then your body has to move or you are off balance. Aodhan

I would talk with your instructor, your mom, a good coach at your school, and outline a training program. Let them know your goals, and what you are willing to do (Have a more specific thought than "anything"), and a timeline that you would like to follow. Look on the web, and note when some of the bigger tournaments in your style are, and if you can afford to go and either watch/compete. Videotape everything, yourself included. Watching video is a great way to pick apart your own form. If you can, get all the videos you can from past Worlds, Olympics, Nationals, etc etc. in your style. Study the moves, everything. If you can manage it, get videotape of your current opponents at tournaments. If they progress as you do, they will be your most likely opponents down the line. Pick a day a week where you do nothing (Such as Sunday, it sounds like you have a religious background), and also pick some things to do each week that are not MA related. Once or twice a year, take a complete break for a couple weeks. Don't train very much, relax, vacation, swim, whatever. Just don't do MA for a couple weeks. That will help keep it fresh. Be prepared for the tough times. There are times when you won't feel at all like going to the dojangh, there will be times when you just "won't get it", times when you are off your game and get absolutely waxed at a tourney. You will forget your form at a tourney. If you're ready for it, you can just learn from it and keep going. Keep a diary. There are a lot of times I've been stuck with something, and gone back and looked at stuff I've written, and things will click. Also, find a good friend that will support you, and share your thoughts, doubts, etc. with him/her. It will make it easier as well. Keep us posted! Aodhan

I don't know, I wasn't at Worlds (Even though I qualified) when he did his testing. Oh, and the SSI seminars are a thing of the past, they've moved to a much better structure for instructor training. I think they did away with SSI in.....2001 ish? Aodhan

Aaron- Yes, it is important for you to take breaks from working muscles. Muscles NEED 24-72 hours to recover from really intensive workouts. The ache you feel after a workout is lactic acid that has pooled in the muscles, and that takes time to work its way out of the tissue. 2nd - You have a long time in the MA. I'm not trying in any way to dampen your enthusiasm, but it's sounding a little more like an obsession, and those don't usually last. Even top level bodybuilders and other athletes aren't training 40 hours a week. That is just too much stress on the body with little recovery time. Also, if you work too much, you can induce a condition (I forget the name) where your muscles stop recovering and basically eat themselves, and you start losing connective/vital tissue such as intestines, blood vessels, etc. However, you know your body best, and if you are thriving on this, more power to you! I would go to a nutritionist, explain what you are doing as far as training, and work out a good diet and supplementation plan. Especially considering how much training you are doing and planning on doing you will need to pay very close attention to nutrition. Dreams and aspirations are great, but you want to be able to enjoy them when you get there, too. Aodhan

CDC? Center for Disease Control? Do you have a link? Aodhan

Good grief, no. You guys have snow up there. Anything under 70 degrees Fahrenheit isn't fit for human beings to live in. Ever think about moving to Texas?? I'd love to have you in my school. Yeah, I've thought about it, but I'd rather be up to my ears in snow than hoping the latest hurricane doesn't blow me away... See, if it's hot, there are only so many clothes you can take off. Below freezing? Just add another layer. There are some possibilities I'm considering though...I'll drop you a line when it gets closer. Aodhan

Lets see... 9 color belt forms 5 BB level forms Single and double ssangh jeol bangh (Nunchaku) Single and double bangh mangh ee (Escrima) Mid and long range jangh bangh (Bo staff) Ssangh Nat (Kama) Jee pangh ee (Cane) Sam dang bangh (3 sectional staff) (Did I miss any?) So that would be...23 total forms, with the BB forms being 81+ moves each. Yeah, I'd be about ready for CPR too!! Aodhan

No to mean, once I get my blackbelt that means I'll be able to really study the arts, becuase Iw on't have to worry about that next test, or what not. I can go back and look at the moves and forms and stances. The real hard part is getting ready for regionals then nationals then maybe a worlds? All in my plans. Heh. Hate to tell you, but once you get to black, there are still new forms, weapons, testings, etc. They are just more spaced out is all. Concentrate hard on the basics, and all the rest will fall in line, even the regionals, nationals and worlds. Good luck! Aodhan