Aodhan

I thought in Asian cultures, White was considered to be the color of mourning and death? Aodhan

True. The biggest thing that makes people freeze in a street situation is when someone whollops them, and they get stunned for a half second saying "HEY!! That HURT!!!" We get that in training, so when we get tagged, we can ignore it and move on. Aodhan

I guess I don't see the difference. If you have a technique that is designed to dislocate a shoulder, you should dislocate the shoulder in practice? That's full force, anything less and you aren't training like you are on the street. Different training philosophies I gues... Aodhan

Close. A KO is generally caused either by progressive damage to the brain (such as many punches to the face), or one blow that causes concussion/trauma to the brain or stem. I'd be very wary of having anyone bounce their head off the floor for any reason. Brain injuries are progressive. It's not like the knuckles that build up calluses and tissue from makiwara boards. Take a look at all the professional athletes that can't compete anymore because of repetitive concussions. Your brain floats in a fluid filled sac in your brain. Anything that causes the head to move forcefully enough makes the brain impact the bones of the skull. This can have effects from nothing all the way up to coma or death. These effects ARE cumulative. Boxers call it being "punchy", or "punch drunk". The brain is the one thing you don't want to mess with. Aodhan P.S. Just as an aside, this is what causes a hangover. Alchohol depresses the level of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which causes the brain to ride lower in the head. This places stress on the brainstem and makes it easier for the brain to hit the skull, which ends up causing the nausea, headaches and dizziness associated with alchohol.

It depends. Are you 210 pounds of muscle, or do you have a lot of jiggly bits? I am 5'11 and about 184 lbs. I am fairly solid, but most height/weight charts tell me I am borderline overweight, and BMI indicies tell me I'm very overweight. Go to the library and check out books on nutrition. Not the fad diets, stay away from anything that is labeled Pritikin, Atkins, Beach anything, or any diet base on a fruit. A healthy diet in proportion to your activity level should produce a fairly lean frame with proportionate weight. Aodhan

That is probably one of the most important things anyone can do before opening any business. It gives you a complete framework from which to operate, you know what your budget is, what you are looking for, etc. As far as the other details, here are a few tips. Pick a spot on a map. Draw a circle with a 3 mile radius. Any martial arts school in that circle is considered to be direct competition. Shop them (Call them like you were a prosective student and find out their pricing structure). Draw another circle with a six mile radius. Any MA school in the second school is considered indirect competition. (Mileage may have changed since I learned it, but it's pretty close.) People generally like to patronize businesses within 3-6 miles of home, unless it's high reputation or specialty. Pick four or five different spots. Consider things like parking, ease of access, foot traffic, surrounding businesses. Watch each location for a day or two, and I mean just sit there for a few hours at each rush time (Am/pm) and midday. If there were businesses there before, see if you can find why they failed. Go to the city hall, or do demographic searches on the net, that will tell you the population density and the median incomes in the area you are considering. This will help you decide what the market will bear in that area. Get advice on negotiating a lease. Be careful you don't get stuck with repairs that aren't covered in the lease, see if there are discounts for year long signings, etc. Find out what insurance you will need and how much it costs. Figure you will run at a loss, so try to have enough capital to operate at a loss for 6 months to a year. You may need to have another job during this time. I'm getting a high school teaching endorsement on my kinesiology degree so I can teach HS while I'm opening my school. I would also look into incorporating. That way you can set it up so your personal assets are protected, in case everything goes south. Aodhan

That's not surprising, and by itself is meaningless. Take the same kyokushin top fighters and put them in a TKD ring under TKD rules and you would see a reversal, the kyokushin would generally fair pretty badly. If you train in and for one style, it's extremely difficult to just jump into another tournament style and do well. Not a knock on any practictioners, pretty much just a simple fact. Aodhan

Hrm..... I think my instructor may have plagiarized a bit... Aodhan

If you do it over and over again, yes, you can easily develop vitamin deficiencies, and other infirmities. However, these fasts won't be repeated for another 15 years (When I become eligible for Master), and if you have proper nutrition, then a three day fast won't hurt you. Many religions advocate a 1 to 3 day fast once a year at high holidays, and it doesn't cause problems unless you are in poor health to start. Aodhan

If that's the case, why train in MA at all? Why not just go out with your friends and start a no holds barred fight club? You'll learn what works, and get toughened at the same time. Aodhan

Offer a 2 week free trial, and work with businesses around you to allow you to put up info boxes, etc. When you have a movie such as "Unleashed", or other MA themed movie, ask at the theater if you can do a demo on the opening or other busy weekend. Take information flyers. Stand outside your school and talk with everyone that walks by. You'll feel awkward at first, but keep at it. Work with local police/child advocacy groups to possibly do self defense seminars. Women's groups (Realtors especially, although there are both men and women) respond really well to this. YMCA, and other similar organizations have summer camps, offer to host a class once or twice a week for the camp. Aodhan

Praise - correct - praise. Ask him to demonstrate the technique, and then praise the way he is doing it, then show how the correct application produces a better result, then praise him again when he does it the correct way. If he keeps at it, then take him aside and give him a polite but firm "Sir, I understand you want to help your son, but the best way to do that is to pay attention in class and get the proper technique first. When you're at home, coaching and working with him is the thing to do." Aodhan

Aodhan is the name I use on stage when I perform with an Irish Dance group at Renaissance Festivals. It's pronounced A yehn, and I believe it means "Child of Fire" or "Lord of Fire" or something burning like that. Aodhan

Google is your friend. http://www.soton.ac.uk/~maa1/chi/taichi/push.htm Aodhan

Master Lee goes with discipline first, then interjects the fun part. However, if we get out of hand, he generally slaps us back down. Aodhan

There's all kinds of myths and legends about the start of various martial arts. A kick is a kick, it's the same technique for a long legged person as it is for a short legged person. It's all in how you apply that kick Aodhan

Druids aren't necessarily barred from using computers. I have a friend who follows a druidic path, and is a network admin. Aodhan

And just imagine the desperation of that first guy who looked under a cow and thought, "I'm gonna tug on them things and drink whatever comes out!" Yeah, I've often thought a lot of our foods came from dares. "Hey, ugh, see that chicken? I dare you to eat the next thing that comes out of it." "Duh, okay." Aodhan

You may be a bit confused on the dynamic part, just judging from the way you described the "stretches". Dynamic stretching is using the normal movements of a sport to stretch out. So, you do repeat front kicks, going from low height to a high height, same thing with stretch kicks (Basically an axe kick without the snap at the end). Pretty much any movement that you do in martial arts can be used for a dynamic stretch. Triceps would probably be best served by cross and upward elbow strikes, hamstrings by stretch and front kicks, obligues by side raises/rotation exercises. There aren't a lot of muscles in the hips themselves, mostly the hipbones serve as anchor points for a lot of tendons. Your hamstrings and quads cross the joint and anchor at various points along the iliac crest (And a bit lower), the abdominals anchor down towards the pubis bone somewhere (I forget exactly where, it's been a while), and your obliques attach along the ribs and the hipbones. Aodhan

One of our school owners just passed her 6th degree test, and has a one year preparation for testing for master. For her project, she has created the "Ultimate Black Belt" test. Over the course of a year, 10 students will do the following: 150 pushups/day 150 situps/day 3 miles walking/running/day. Form 3 times a day 3 2 minute rounds of sparring/day We have to read a self improvement book each month, learn meditation and do that 15 minutes a day, do an environmental project (Such as habitat for humanity, etc.), spend one day blind, one day in a wheelchair, and one day mute. There are some other requirements as well of a more personal nature, as well as group sessions and training. I also found out that we have to do fasts of 3, 6 and 9 days. (The 9 day one is 2 meals the first day, one meal the second, 1 jar baby food the third, three days water only, then reverse the first 3 days.) This should be the most exciting part, we get to design and go through our own rank testing. It's either worth two midterms or a full rank. Since I test for 3rd dan in September, and this testing is July, I am going to apply for special permission to test early. So far, I have the Songahm star (All forms from white through 2nd dan, when laid out on the floor, all the colored belt forms create an 8 pointed star), 5 points necessary in sparring against Master Lee and Mr. Nguyen (4th degree and our sparring teacher), and 4 breaks; 1-speed break of two cinder block type edging stones (Side kicks), 2- 6 to 8 1" pine boards with a palm heel, 3- Double jump front at head level, 4- jump spin outer crescent at about 2 feet above head level. I'm looking to add more to it, anyone have any suggestions? (Anything goes, full contact, grappling, weapons, etc.) Aodhan

Pretty much. I would do it much like a job resume. Instead of listing by jobs, list by dojo. Show the time you were there, and list two-three bullet points of the highlights of your training. Something like: Master Whoozits super duper MA academy June 2002-Aug 2004 - Advanced from third gup to first dan - Assisted with several beginner classes a week - Specialized in jumping up and down on white belts Then later, list your major achievements during your career Major Accomplishments 2004 - Az State champ forms/sparring 2002 - Ranked top 10 world - Forms 2001 - Chosen as black belt of the year, region 20000000 Things like that should make a nice resume. Oh, also don't forget a statement at the top of maybe why you pursue martial arts. Aodhan Edited to add: You can also include other sports in the same manner, i.e. Joseph Zebediah College - Wrestling team 2002-2004 - etc - etc - etc

Well put Sam. We have a student in our school, purple belt, who has some wushu background. He is amazing with aerial techniques, can do the 540's, 720's, side spins, yada yada. I watched him spar in a tournament, where he lost because he kept trying to do his fancy spins. The other sparrers would see this, step back and then step in and punch an instant before his technique would land, and he couldn't understand how the judges couldn't see his points. He also refused my offer to work with him (Including the video tape I made of his match). I figure about 5 or 6 more tourneys of him getting his butt handed to him and he'll come around. So I agree, it is the man more than the art. Aodhan

TKD is a martial art much like any other, it depends on the instructor and their philosphy. With the advent of the Olympics, there has been a mad stampede for WTF sport style sparring, both for safety, and for hopeful parents to shove their kids into another sport to fulfill their missed dreams. (Oops...did I say that out loud? Certainly doesn't represent any parents I know... ) At our school (ATA), we teach a sport style of sparring, but we also do "real life" sparring as well. Still with pads, but a much more contact oriented viewpoint. The ATA is a closed competition (ATA only), but we have some students that go to open tournaments and do rather well. One of our instructors in Colorado made it as an alternate on the Olympic team last time around. It all depends on the school philosopy and what they emphasize. Aodhan

If it is the Songahm forms, then it is ATA related, or the instructor is violating copyright. Aodhan

It's because of the truism, "Perception is reality". Most of the time, all the people see of TKD is movies such as "Best of the Best" or the Olympics/Olympic style sparring. Thus, this is what they look for if they go uninformed out looking for a school. You can also see the same thing in poker (Which I play semi-professionally). People see the WPT and the WSOP on ESPN, and think "Hey, they play those cards and win, I should be able to as well!", and then wonder why they just dropped $300 on the tables. People see something, and think that must be how it all is. How many people if you ask them about grappling will respond "Oh, isn't that the UFC thing?" Aodhan