Rateh

These days I go on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday I'm there for 2 hours, I teach in one and train in the other. On Thursday I'm there for an hour and teach. Once a month I have a private lesson. And once a month I have a 3 hour class.

I've had some toenail problems, though not for that reason. When I had my toenail removed by a doctor, I had to wear a bandaid over it with some very strong antibiotics for like....3 days i think it was? After that i was free to not put anything on it. It kind of grows a hardish skin to protect it before the nail grows back. You might get an ingrown toenail from it growing back though, so watch for redness, swelling, and pain from the side of your toe. Also you are at a higher risk for getting a fungus.

I have wondered this myself. I do remember at one time hearing of a school owner in california whos previous instructors sued him and won.

...Automatically a good instructor ...able to "beat up" anyone and win every fight ...a master of their art ...no longer in need of a teacher ...someone who never makes mistakes

I know that sparring has always been a struggle for me. As an instructor though, I use that to better teach my students. Basically I approach sparring in a way I wish that it had been introduced to me. I'm still not great, but I have seen success with my students.

I wonder though if the people who don't continue training after a move, would be the same people who would quit before dan grade?

I have used a variety of methods over the years to teach a side kick, almost all have emphasized the differences between the two. One thing I like to do is demonstrate using the side kick at a very close distance. If one tries to use a round kick or a round/side kick chamber then the kick is ineffective. But if one utilizes a correct side kick chamber, one can effectively kick the opponent away from them.

We do a drill to work on both falling and jump away side kicks (obviously these would be only effective under certain rule sets), but it does force a student to do a quick and effective chamber. Basically one student gets into a side facing fighting stance, and the other student holds the kick shield against their shoulder. The student holding will then press the shield against the kickers shoulder and then keep plowing on like a train. The kicker must then jump in the air and side kick the target hard enough to stop the attacker for the jump away side kick. For the falling side kick they must fall to the floor, again kicking the shield hard enough to stop the opponent. This kick necessitates a quick correctly executed chamber in order to strike the target hard enough to stop them, with the little space they have to do so. This drill is generally started at the blue or red belt level.

I don't think if you leave a school and then reach dan at a different one, that you would count in the "didn't make it" group. You are right that there are more possibilities of things happening if it is a shorter time to dan. I think expectations and requirements will dictate how long it takes the average person in the school to make dan rank, and thus have an effect on how many people make it.

Today I taught the beginner class (ages 8+ with 1 year and less of training). I started by having the students do kicks moving backwards like I explained in an earlier post. This time they did front, round, and hook kicks. Then we got out the kick shields. Last time I had them work with kick shields someone got hurt because they weren't holding it well. So I spent a few minutes explaining how to hold it and checked everyone before they started. A kid still got a hurt because after I had checked he started holding his bag too high and got a rebound into the face. I took them through step behind side kicks, and spin back kicks against the kick shields. Both of these kicks have chambers that can be challenging for students to start and end the kick in. I was quite impressed with the students as they have gotten a lot better at these two kicks. After that I split the class up and had them work on their rank form, and I passed off some of the students. (That means that they did their form well enough to pass their next test, so they get a stripe on their belt to signify that). Since they had been working very hard and I was happy with their focus and discipline throughout the class, we ended by playing chimbara. Basically every student gets a padded sword, they spread out, I say go, and they attack each other. We didn't have enough swords though, so I gave two students "ninja stars" which are basically circles of foam to throw at the others.

I've always heard that 4 or 5 out of 100 reach 1st degree. If it was 1 out of 10,000 then there would be no 1st degrees in the organization I train in, as we have less than 1,000 students. I think the numbers vary with how good the instruction is, what the expectations are, and what the requirements are for 1st degree, 2nd degree, etc. I have also heard that the percentage of students that reach 2nd degree after 1st degree is about equal to the percentage of students that reach 1st degree. So 4-5% reach 1st degree, and then 4-5% of those that reach 1st reach 2nd.

IMHO it's entirely his decision. I'm sure he has dealt with prejudice before. He's his own man, and as such I don't think its your place to say one way or the other. If he wants to train in MA I don't think his sexual orientation should have anything to do with it.

Welcome back!

I had an instructor (back when I was younger and more naive) who years earlier had been kicked from his organization where he earned his rank, due to behavior. He had the certificate and the belt though, and I never thought to question his certification. I was only after I had a new instructor that I found out about this. The organization officially removed him of his rank, but they did not take back his certificate or belt.

I think ones ability to talk while doing a form has a lot to do with ones ability to multitask. I can talk while doing a form I learned that very class, because I multitask most of my day. As far as performance anxiety because of who is watching you, I agree that could make a difference for some people. Think about what your doing, don't worry about the results till after the test is over.

If you've given them your wrist, you've given them one of your weapons. A wrist escape is getting that weapon back so that you can use it or run away.

Congrats! Promotions are one of my favorite parts of training. Whether it's me or another getting promoted. Its a new beginning, a step forward, progress toward a personal goal, shedding of the old you...like becoming a butterfly.

I personally don't think wrists are grabbed much in a fight. I do agree that they can lead into learning other joint manipulations though. Our grab escapes (wrist, collar, headlock, etc) probably average 2 moves each. We practice against resisting opponents. The techniques learned in these grab escapes probably won't be used exactly like they are learned. They do lead into our knife defenses however. A strong emphasis is placed on learning principles from the grab escapes, that can be used in other situations. I think this is a good use of wrist grabs.

Went over spinning crescent & swing kicks, as well as shuffle axe kicks. Then went over basic hand combinations and kick combinations. Followed up with sparring combinations. Then I taught the students how to have a domino effect for demonstrations, as well as kiahing as a way of queuing students for demos as well. Afterword I split them into groups of 5 and had them create their own short demonstration utilizing their basic kicks and hand techniques.

Congratulations!

Saturday - Three hour pre-testing class for black belt candidates We spent most of the time going over our forms, and I asked LOTS of detail questons. We also went over the "new" or as my instructors like to say "evolved" versions of some of our knife self defense. They were "evolved" to make them simpler by being more similar to other self defense movements we use, as well as being more practical. Another "evolution" was that instead of throwing down the knife rather than handing it to the other person (apparently someone once handed a knife back to an attacker, because they were used to doing that in their self defense practice, so it was changed to throw it down when passing it). Anyways it was "evolved" yet again on saturday, from throwing it down (that might cause a similar issue) to standing there in a fighting stance 6 feet from the person and staring them down for 5 seconds. Of course that always caused me to start to giggle, then my partner would grin. I don't think that would go over to well at the actual test. We also threw our vote in over minor areas of form differences between the three schools that attended the class. Now it's up to Shihan (head of utah) to notify the Kwanjangnims (heads of schools) of the new "official" way of doing things. All in all a great learning session, I've got pages of notes!

I had two molars removed once. And another time 3 wisdom teeth and another molar. Both times under IV sedation. Different doctors. Both times I woke up with a "wow your done already" feeling. I took the pain medications they gave me for one full day both times, then not again except an Advil here and there for mild pain. The only problem I had was keeping the area clean, they gave me a syringe for that though and it worked perfectly. I missed work for two days, the day of the extraction and then the next day (but I really could have gone in if I wanted to...). In fact I distinctly remember having some sort of karate event 2 or 3 days after the last time, and it didn't effect me one bit.

Patience is easy (or easier) when there is a valid reason involved. It is much more challenging when there is no valid reason, or the reason is unknown. I think what you are struggling with is not the right attitude, but knowing WHY things are the way they are. Wanting answers is not a bad attitude, its how you deal with it that can cause issue.

Welcome to the Forums

My opinions and focus have changed many times in the last 12 years. For one, I was 12 when I started training. At the time I just loved training, I didn't know why. Now looking back, I know I loved the challenge, the structure, and learning something new. I still love those things. After 4 years of training, I became an instructor, and since then I have focused on learning and practicing to become the best instructor I can be. Up until about 2 years ago that was my main focus. I actually tested for my black belt as part of my instruction goals, not really as a personal goal toward my own training. After about 5 years of training, I went through a period of about a year where I wasn't feeling particularly challenged by the traditional material, and started focusing more on XMA training. I wasn't very good at it tbh. About a year ago I started to enjoy the fitness aspect of training more. Nowadays I'm very interested in the self defense aspects of training. Unfortunately the school I am currently training in, doesn't focus on self defense as much as I would like. After I earn my 1st degree in this style in september, I will have a 2 year wait till I can test for my second. I intend on adding a second style to my training after september. For a while I was interested in grappling, but I couldn't afford any of the schools in my area. Since then my interest has dwindled. I have come to believe that fighting on the ground isn't a very good idea. Nor do I believe that it 90% of fights end up on the ground, like I had been told. I've never been very good at sparring, and I worked very hard at being at an acceptable level to test for my black belt. Since then I have felt that point sparring isn't necessarily very effective for self defense, so I don't feel the need to get very good at it, good enough for testing is good enough for me.