Aodhan

Longest I've driven on a regular basis is 35 minutes. My current dojangh is about 10-15 minutes by car. Oh, and I don't have to travel to train with a high rank, my current school owners are a Master (6th degree) with about 8 months to go to Senior Master, and our other is a 6th degree Master Candidate (She should be getting her Master at Worlds next June.) Aodhan

Repetition, repetition, repetition. The fastest nerve impulse in the body is the reflex. Like yanking your hand away from pain, the kick your knee gives when the doc taps it, etc. The more you practice a punch/kick/whatever, the more the nerve pathway gets "used" to the motion, and the nerve impulse will eventually "channel" along the most efficient pathway. (Not sure I'm explaining it exactly correctly, it's been a long time since my anatomical kinesiology classes, but it's pretty close.) This will result in a faster response time from the nerves, and a faster technique. Aodhan

Where in the knee is the pain? If it is interior (Kind of inside middle of the knee), then it is probably a ligament thing, and I would have an orthopod take a look, you shouldn't be having pain there. If it is more towards the surface of the skin/outside of the knee, then it is tendon/muscle in origin, and will go away once they get used to being stretched. Ligaments connect bone to bone, and are like the springs in old click pens. If you stretch them out, you can never quite get them back. (Which is why people with chronic dislocations of the shoulder get them stapled, the ligaments have stretched out). Tendons connect muscle to bone, and while they don't stretch much, they and the muscle will eventually stretch out. Oh, and this just occurred to me, IIRC, ligaments don't have many nerve connections, so the pain is probably going to be muscular/tendon in origin. Aodhan

Injury induced arthritis is a direct result of what you do to your joints. It is not hereditary. Improper technique, repetitive motion, and acute injury can all cause minute or large scale cartilidge damage which results in cartilidge loss and bone on bone contact. Inflammatory arthirits (rhuematoid) can be hereditary and/or brought on by infection or other medical condition. The inflammation causes cartilidge death and deformity which results in bone on bone contact and/or deformed joints. But is it actually arthritis? I was under the impression that the calcification/cartlilage breakdown, etc. were not in the arthritis classification. (Of course, most of my medical training comes from the emergency side of things rather than the long term side, so I could be misinformed.) Arthritis is a degenerative type thing, and while the injury caused inflammation could be termed degenerative, the doc that did our training differentiated between the two (Unfortunately it was long enough ago that I don't remember the lectures) Aodhan

I'll chime in on agreeing. We do it for testing high ranks, and the only way to do it is to try and get them in a line, NEVER let one get to your back, and cripple/move on as far as tactics. If you try and "spar" them or straight up fight, you WILL lose in the end, unless they are just completely incompetent. I'd move forward, attack the nearest one with the most immediately crippling strike I can think of. Even if he recovers in 20-30 seconds, that should give you enough time to put down the 2nd attacker completely, and then return to the first if necessary. Aodhan

I voted yes, but with a caveat. I think the curriculum should be standardized WITHIN an organization. So, if I'm in a WTF school in Colorado, and I move to Arkansas, I know that I will be learning the same things if I go to a WTF school. I don't necessarily agree that all styles should learn the exact same thing as every other, otherwise why have ITI, ITF, WTF, TAGB, ATA, etc etc.? Aodhan

It depends on the rules for sparring in the tournaments. I can address the TKD vs Karate aspect. TKD is going to place more emphasis on the kicks, and less on the hand techniques and sweeps/takedowns. A lot of TKD practitioners (Unless they have trained in karate or supplemented their training) will probably be a little bit slower in close, since TKD doesn't emphasize a lot of in close sparring, at least from an ATA perspective. It was that way in the WTF when I was in it, but that was quite a few years ago. Also, TKD will tend to be a bit more fluid, with more stance movement, which will be both an advantage and disadvantage for you. Disadvantage in that you're trying to locate a constantly moving target (Although some karate styles do this as well), advantage, because there is more time where your opponents center of gravity is shifting. What I would do, is go to a local ATA or WTF school, explain the situation, and see if they would let you come in and spar in their sparring classes. You'd have to adhere to their rules, but it would at least get you some experience in the differences. Aodhan

That's a good analogy too! Nice comparison, war. Aodhan

Octagon (Chuck Norris) got me into martial arts, but my favorites are: Unleashed - Jet Li - Amazing fight choreography Best of the Best (part 1) - Again, amazing fight choreography, and a decent storyline Dragon - No reason, just think it's fun Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon - Tiamak and Vanity (Grrroowwwll!!) - Absolute cheesy camp, but it's so much fun. (Sho NUFF!!) Although, I have been known to watch just about any martial arts themed movie. Aodhan

Which style do you have? I have the curved bar (Looks like an old recurve bow) that has straps at the ends, and have considered the one with the leg extensions that you ratchet back (More support). Anyone else have any machines they prefer? Aodhan

A few threads in the Korean section, and ones that pop up here have gotten me thinking. Everyone debates which art is better, which people should study, and people often get pretty heated in defending their art. By taking the stance that your art is the best, and that all others are not worth it, then you are inherently limiting your growth and potential in martial arts. If you close your mind to new possibilities in different arts, then you can potentially miss out on something that could improve your own art. I look at it this way. Martial arts is like a picture. Theres lots of different pictures, and you may like one, or two, or more, but you've always got your favorite. That is your primary martial art. Everything else that you add (Weapons, grappling, striking, joint locks, etc) is like adding matting and framing to the picture. You can take the basic picture and enhance it in several different ways. The basic picture is the same, and the additions improve it according to every persons personal taste. I am in the ATA, and I am perfectly happy with TKD. I feel that it gives me most everything I need to defend myself. I am also starting to pick up groundfighting, because I don't think the ATA goes far enough in that aspect. I don't, however, close my mind and say that "Well, I've never seen savate, so it must be no good". Doing so stunts my potential growth. Attitudes of certain practitioners are a different matter, but we won't go there much. :D So, the next time you either hear someone bashing, or start to bash yourself, stop and think if there is anything that you can learn or take from what you are bashing to make your own arts stronger. Aodhan

Okay, that's good to know. It wasn't that way when I was in it (quite a few years ago), good to know they've standardized. Thanks!! Aodhan

You'd almost have to make it open, otherwise you run the risk of the qualifying tournaments losing some very good people. You get some schmuck that has the tournament of several lifetimes and qualifies over some guy that had a cold that day and could barely walk. And yeah, you'd have to limit the techniques, which already starts to delineate a watered down tourney. Aodhan

Shotokan was my first art, I trained about 18 months in it, but never took a belt test. WTF I was a brown belt when I stopped, and ATA I am a 2nd, about a year away from 3rd degree. I took a lot of arts (Shotokan, Kenpo, WTF TKD, ITF TKD, another generic Karate style) for a year or two each before I came to the ATA. Aodhan

Not true as far as the ATA is concerned. As far as I know, WTF and ITF don't dictate which set of forms you should use (Pal gue, tae guk, etc). ATA does. The Songahm style of forms is copyrighted by the ATA, and to teach them, you must be certified by the ATA. This is done to keep standards high, and the same no matter where you go. Also, the ATA teacher certification process teaches you HOW to teach. It has class management skills, organization, class planning, etc etc. You don't pass the certifications? You don't get to teach independently. WTF and ITF, as soon as you have the rank, you can go open a school. Also, the ATA has standards in place to keep ATA schools from opening on top of one another. WTF/ITF if you open a school, there is nothing to keep another instructor from opening across the street. Which would you rather have? A governing organization that sets standards and enforces them for quality instruction, or one that lets any 2nd degree with some bucks open a school? Aodhan

Yep. One of the few good quotes from the movie "Bloodsport" was this: "Kumite is for the fighters, not the people who read newspapers" Aodhan

Heh. I won't touch the first, as for the second- Pointed tips with a teflon coating will go through most kevlar vests. Also, most police are being trained in knife defense as it has been found out that a knife will go through the fibers of a vest as well. Aodhan

Kenpo is a fairly good striking art. A lot of kenpo schools tend to train on the more rigorous side of things, which may go along with the BJJ style as well. I studied Kenpo for about a year before moving away prevented me continuing in it. Aodhan

Heh, in a few years, my friend. I want to be a 3rd degree before I open my school, and I am also going to start coaching an AAU TKD team as well. The ATA is starting to offer "Olympic sparring" camps for our youngers, I'm hoping that we start to offer it in our schools in the future as well. I've always wanted to coach, it's why I'm also getting my K-12 teaching endorsement to go with my degree, so I can coach cross country or swimming at the high school level. Aodhan

While the ATA doesn't define "quality of instruction", I think they do the best at keeping instruction standards high. I won't delineate (again) the certification process, but it usually takes a couple years, and then the certification to teach is only good for 3 years. At the end of those 3 years, you have to recertify, which includes assessment of all lower rank material, emphasizing teaching techniques and methods, etc etc. Personally, I think ALL organizations (ATA included) should send people out from their respective HQ's to randomly monitor instruction on site for a week at least once a year, but that will probably never happen. Aodhan

lol, i'll send her the link. Thanks, War, you're all heart. Aodhan

To choose a martial art, should be like choosing a car. You pick out several that appeal to you, and go test drive them. Same for MA, pick several styles and go take a week or two of lessons. Most schools will offer up to 30 days free. As far as contracts, they are not just a club to keep people in the school, although they can be misused in that sense. A contract allows an instructor to budget, forecast expenses/income, several other vital business related items. It's when a person is held to a contract despite injuries, moving/other, and there is no buyout option or release clauses. Oh, and contracts also help prevent the "Well, little timmy didn't like class this week so we're never coming again" syndrome. Can you run a school without contracts? Sure, there are lots that do. However, it makes running a school a much easier proposition. It's like a stick...it's all in how you apply it. :D Aodhan

That varies from school to school, and I know a lot of local schools that are NOT ATA that also use 2-4 year contracts. And I would beg to differ on the self defense. Yes, our tournament sparring is a very "tag" oriented type of sparring, but we also teach street style sparring, ground fighting, joint locks, release maneuvers, etc. It's going to vary from school to school, just as any other art will. Aodhan

Not only no, but....well, I won't go there. I'm thinking of having it framed, actually. I think it would look cool on the wall of my office in my (future) school. Aodhan

Care to elaborate on this statement? Most of the bricks I ever used/seen used were standard patio blocks purchased off the shelf from the local home improvement store. Nothing special about that. These types of "bricks" are poured concrete, they are not made vertically vs. horizontally. Bricks for breaking are made differently, IIRC. They look like regular bricks (Rectangular and solid), but have a different consistency than building bricks. Blocks, such as you get at home depot, etc. are not bricks, and I think that is where the confusion is. Concrete in any form has a lot of air trapped in it, and is inherently more brittle due to that, plus there are very few blocks that are as short as a building brick, which also makes a difference in how easy it is to break. The longer a block, the easier it is to break. Aodhan