Aodhan

Ryokeen- What style of TKD do you practice? Aodhan

Hey all- I live in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and have been interested in learning more about accupressure and accupuncture. Anyone know of a reputable practitioner in the area, or how to go about finding one? Aodhan

From what I know of accupressure and point strikes, there are strikes that can cause serious disruption of body functions. Is that a valid statement? I've always been interested in accupressure/puncture, but I don't know how to go about finding a reputable practitioner of it. And I reread your post, and you can do some serious damage with strikes to the pelvis/lower abdomen, I just disagreed with the "pee yourself to death" part of it. :D Aodhan

Hey, the good things last. Aodhan

I'd still disagree- a kid under 16 is not going to be able to defend himself against a grown man- period. As far as not watering down the martial art, you dont notice because the style has already been watered down from so many teenagers/kids in the past who have already recieved their black belts. Well, if you use that as a basis, I know a lot of black belts that wouldn't qualify either. We have a 2nd degree in our school that is 5'2, and he is pretty weight appropriate. Someone 6'3, 270 that is fairly muscular is going to pose a huge problem for him. While I don't think that a 7 or 8 year old should be a black belt, I don't see a problem with early teens and up being black belts. Aodhan

Go to a doctor. The shoulder joint isn't really a joint in the traditional sense, it's mostly held together by ligaments and muscles rather than bone structure. It sounds like you've done something to the rotator cuff, and that will either not heal or heal badly without intervention. Shoulders can be nasty, lingering injuries. Get a sports doc to check it out. Aodhan

How often do you change your shoes? Especially if you tend toward the heavier side of things, the padding in running shoes breaks down at a pretty fast rate. I used to change mine every few hundred miles when I was in cross country (50+ miles a week, changed shoes about every 6 or so). Also, go to a reputable running store and have them evaluate your gait, you may be pronating or supinating which places more stress on your knees. There are shoes designed for that type of gait. I've also heard a lot of people that have had good success with chondroitin, you might discuss that with your doc as well. Aodhan

If you want an amazing difference, try putting a 15 lb weight on your back. I was to the point where I was doing 210 pushups in 3 sets of 70. I added a 15 lb dumbell, and immediately couldn't do more than 35-40ish. Aodhan

I work from 7-4 Monday through Friday. When I get home I generally do some kind of a weight workout or aerobic workout. I usually get to the dojangh about 6:30-7:00, and am there usually at least 2 hours. So, 10+ hrs a week at the dojangh, and 5+ hours at home. Aodhan

I think your instructor is having you on. The kidneys don't process enough urine for you to lose enough water volume fast enough to kill you. Aodhan

Most of those are due to interruption of the heart rhythm. There is a certain point in the electrical discharge/recharge cycle of the heart where the heart is vulnerable, and a direct impact to the chest at that point MAY cause a fatal arrhythmia (Although it is treatable if gotten to quick enough with a defibrillator). It causes death in a few baseball players each year. It's somewhat rare, but it does happen. Aodhan

That makes sense. -Adam That's the way it is in our school as well. You can come in to our dojangh and your rank will be honored, but you will not be able to test higher until you can demonstrate all lower rank material up to your current rank. Which poses an interesting question, I know Mike Chat (XMA creator) did the 4th degree form when he tested into the ATA as a 4th degree, did they make him learn all the forms first as well? Aodhan

Go to as many schools that offer 2 or more weeks free as you can. Try them all, and find what appeals to you the most. That's the best way to find an art that you will end up training in consistently. As far as your requirements go, almost any art will be good for self defense and practical. Don't worry about what people say about ATA, WTF, ITF, and their tournament sparring. Tournament sparring is much different than street sparring, and most schools will instruct you in both. As far as your criteria, kenpo, hwarang do, TKD, muay thai all seem like viable first options. Aodhan

Yep. Americans and British tend to have some of the largest personal spaces around. If I remember correctly from some of my classes, most Americans tend to define a 6' circle around them as their personal space, and inside of 3' as their "intimate" space. Latins and Asians are much much closer, although Latins have much more tendency towards contact than do Asians. Aodhan

Yep, I've got one of the oars. See? We're a small school trying to grow. I don't want to get rich off of Taekwondo, I just want to have the school run in the black. Our problem is staffing; we need to open afternoon classes, but I don't have an instructor available because we all have day jobs. Catch-22 sort of thing. Perseverance is the key. Balrog, sir, you know I'd come instruct for you in a second if you didn't live in Texas. Ever think of moving to Colorado? :D Aodhan

I'm hoping its the first. I'm taking vitamins, resting, and doing deep breathing exercises. Most of the reason people get colds is it hurts to breathe deep, so they don't do it, and your lungs get stagnant. (Not the best term for it, but it's the simplest one). Thanks for the thoughts, too. It's already much better than it was last week, although I slept wrong last night and it hurt like the dickens this morning for a while. Aodhan

Just a thought. Is there any way that your Master stateside could come to Korea for the testing? That way you would be testing in Korea (Which is really cool in and of itself), and you would still be testing in front of your "regular" Master. Aodhan

I suggest crunches in every conceivable position. No? (heheheh) Walk a lot, watch videos, maybe just volunteer/work the desk at the dojangh. If you completely lose contact with it for a month or so, then it's really hard to start going back again. Maybe you could coordinate the Christmas party at the dojangh, or do somehting like that? Easy, keeps you in the studio, and takes something off the instructor's/owners agenda. Aodhan

I understand what you mean, Tangsoo. When I judge my students, I have to be really careful to just judge on what I see and not what they do in class. I haven't had anyone accuse me of racism yet, although I've had a couple accusations of favoritism. My favorite was "You're just biased towards him because he's a redhead!!" Aodhan

I'm going to have to look into some of this guy's training. Every time I turn around on here someone is providing a link to this site... Aodhan

That's the Americanism creeping in. The US Open circuit is rewarding the "flash" more and more. I know they separate the forms into traditional and creative, but I wish they'd separate the scoring more as well. Also, when I am in a tournament, I spend every minute I'm not sparring watching my potential opponents. Almost every single one of that kid's shots started out with a switch step, front kick with the rear leg (We call it a #2 front kick) followed by a jump reverse hook kick. If I saw that twice, every time he switched, I'd let him throw the front kick, back out from the hook and come in right behind it. Aodhan

I've done it. As a fairly new 1st dan, I was sparring at an extracurricular type get together at our dojangh on a sunday. My opponenet kicked me in the crotch, we stopped, he apologized. About a minute later, he did it again, no apology. Another minute, another kick, no apology. In our style, we don't use hands to the face, and I got pissed, and when we resumed sparring, I popped him in the mouth (Not too hard) and walked off the floor. Aodhan

Talk to your instructors and see if you can still come once a month or something as well. If they're that good, it's always good to get some time in with them now and again. Aodhan

Make sure you let us know how you do on the test!! Aodhan