Rateh

Left then right, thats the way I was taught. Same with going from attention to ready stance and back, always left then right. When I show kids though I do them both right to left, so that they can mirror me.

Hmmm.... I expect that most students will quit before they reach black belt level. Some instructors I've talked with have a hard time with this, they don't want to give their all to people who might not be there in a month or a year. I take a different approach. I give the best I can to each of my students, making sure that even if they do quit, which most of them will, they will still gain a lot from the experiance. They will still be able to look back in a few years and think man, I learned a lot at karate. Whether its mental or physical training they take with them, I hope they take something, regardless of how long or how short they are with me.

Cool. Just fyi its two words. Heian Yondan.

I own a heavyweight gi, but I still prefer the light weight ones.

What happens when someone reaches 4th degree in the roman numerals system? O.o

Personally I would think that orange would stand out the most, but would probably be easier to defend against then as well. I prefer black gear, it seems to skuff less. White gear and other light colors seem to get more skuff marks on them and look bad after only a short period of time.

Nice work!

"Do you know what your doing?" When he's attempting to kick a target about 3 feet over his head with a jump spinning kick... "I don't think you'll hit it..." At a tournament while practicing for our divisions. "Man, were both going to loose"

Mine says "honor, respect, discipline, integrity" on one side in japanese in gold. The other side says the name of the style and my first initial and last name, also in gold. My instructor chose the embroidery.

At our school kids start sparring after 4-6 months, adults sooner if they choose.

My weaknesses... My endurance is shot. I'm not very good at sparring, can last maybe 30-45 seconds before I have to kneel down and gasp for air. I hesitate way too much. I don't handle stressful situations well, I'm more likely to freak out then give a good responce. I have no upper body strength. I'm short and skinny. I can't see what happens in sparring...I watch and try and all I see is arms and legs flying, I can never figure out who made a point on whom. Even if I DO figure that out, I wouldn't know what technique they did that scored. I have difficulty teaching outside of the basic curriculum. I'm legally blind without my glasses. My strengths... I'm a natural at almost every technique I've learned. I pick up on kata very easily. I have an eye for what is a correct technique and what is not. I notice the littlest details. I'm good at teaching, especially beginner students. My kicks are very good. I'm a natural on the ground. I know pressure points intuitivly.

It took me 7 years, but I trained in various styles due to moving cities as a teenager.

I called him sensei. He was a shihan but we never refered to him as such, within the dojo everyone called him sensei.

Hmm... I have had a MA instructor who actually WAS a professor. Not in MA but in some other field where people actually get a phd in it.

Hmmmm Well, I did try training at this traditional shotokan place late last year, and I enjoyed it but didn't have the time to continue. They train on Mon and Wed, and I could attend just the monday ones... Also there is a judo club in the area that I've looked into joining. They train on Tue and Thur, and again I could only make one night. They focus on both the throws and the groundwork, so that would be what I want. That answers the question of learning new things, which will be great. However that won't help me advance to second degree. Ofc I could always aim for a second degree in one or the other, but it takes a good 4-6 years in both styles to earn first degree, and thats with more regular training than once a week :S. Ofc if I train at shotokan on mondays, and judo on tuesdays, and then I teach at least one class a week at the dojo I gained my first degree in, maybe I can still advance at some point...

When I was a kid I would beg my mother whenever we would go on a trip to look at all the dojos in the area. She never let me because there wasn't time. Now that I'm grown the only time I leave town is to visit my family for holidays, and dojos are closed at that time. I find it very disapointing. If I had the means I'd love to just travel around visting dojos. I'd learn all sorts of new ways to train and teach and organize a school and class. I'd learn many new techniques and different ways of doing the same techniques. I'd meet a ton of other martial arts enthusiasts.... Darn I wish I could do that O.o

I tested for my 1st Degree nearly three years ago. I've been teaching martial arts for 6 years now. Training for 10. I want to gain my second degree, but I'm finding it nearly impossible. In our dojo (well, it shut down in October but its supposed to open again in 3 months) there is no real training after attaining first degree. All of the black belts are instructors. I've been promised a number of times that there will be a black belt only class starting. It never has. In the regular adult classes there are few students and only beginner level techniques are gone over. (the reason for a small adult class and retention is another story). I asked my instructor what I need to do to test for 2nd degree. He said I need to create 5 different weapon forms with 5 different weapons. I asked him when we would work on said weapons, would it be in the black belt class or private lessons? He said we wouldn't, that I had to learn it on my own time. I have a small amount of knowledge of techniques for bo, kama and nunchuku. I don't know anything from any other weapons. I've tried learning through dvd's but its not working, there's not enough room in my small livingroom to really practice anything with weapons. Also it turns out the chuks I purchased are too large for me, and I can't seem to find any that would be my size. (I'm an adult woman but I wear size medium in kids gloves and I'm built with long legs and shorter torso...which means my arms aren't exactly long...). (Currently the chuks I own are 12 inch long, with about a 4.5 inch attatchment and around 1 inch thick. I find it difficult to grasp both sticks in my hand at the same time while moving them. Also when I do a figure eight they nearly hit my face. And thats with me holding onto them right near where the chain attatches and my arm almost completely straight. From what I can find, I need chuks that are around 9-10 inches long, with 2-3 inch attatchment, and less than 1 inch thick. I've found one pair like that online but they are $30 something for single chuks, and I know my instructor wouldn't settle for anything less than a double chuk form.) I don't know what to do. I've looked into other schools but I can't seem to find any that offer what I'm looking for. I want a school that teaches traditional Japanese stances and kata, extensive groundfighting, throws and joint locks, traditional and fancy weapons, and that won't take me too many years to advance as I'm planning on moving from vegas in about 3 years. Though they also would have to not regularly advance students at such a quick pace with no prior experience. I also want a place that would let me teach, that I agreed with their rank advancements, and that I think prepares students to defend themselves. Yes, I want a LOT from a martial arts school. Not too surprisingly, I'm not finding it. My school DOES have all that, except that the instructor doesn't teach everything he knows, and this is what leaves me as a 1st degree atm. I don't think its because he wants to keep the knowledge to himself, I think its because we already have a lot of classes and he feels overwelmed with adding any more. Also you have to have the student base to have the extra classes. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them. Mostly I am just frusterated. I want to own my own dojo, and give my students everything there is to offer in martial arts, and I cannot do that if I can't gain the training myself that I need, or get to a more advance rank than 1st degree. Also if anyone knows a place to buy chuks that would be my size, please let me know. Sorry for the rambling...I'm just a bit exasperated.

I am also going back to school (though after only a 4 year leave of absense), in my class there are two adult men who are at least 50 years old. The minimum age that you must attend school till is different depending on the state. Some say 16, some 18, probably some 17. I live in vegas where our drop out rate is like 6% because you can make a lot of money with little education here.

It could be considered that I quit on the eve of my black belt test. I was a brown belt for four years, attending classes 4 to 6 days a week, and teaching 5 days a week. My instructor kept telling me he'd test me soon, every few months he'd tell me he would test me in a couple months. He told the parents that I was a "black belt who hadn't tested yet". When I decided to compete he made me compete in the black belt devisions. I finally got fed up with waiting and left. I came back when he sold the school to one of the higher ranking students. The higher ranking student believes that the instructors reason was selfishness...I was paying him to teach his classes, once I tested for black belt I would have no more monthly fees. The new school owner tested me a few months after he purchased the school.

When holding a kicking shield, brace your arm across the top, don't hold onto that flimsy little handle they put there. Also, don't hold it in front of your face.

A lot of students straigten their gi's out of nervousness. Once when I was testing a 7 year old for his rank, all throught the test he kept straightening his gi. Not because it was messed up, but because he was nervous. I'm guessing from what you just said you compete in tkd circuits only. In that case the bowing might be slightly different, I'm not sure. What I said applies to open circuits, where in most cases a judge doesn't know the form that is being presented. They just judge on technique, you could make up the form on the spot for all they know.

Lol, thats how I teach the stepping roundhouse sometimes. I think in tkd its called a turning kick. If kids keep getting the basic movements incorrect, sometimes I make them practice the kick without extending the leg. So they too are "kicking without kicking". Its a great way to get basic movements down before learning the actual kick. Oh, and I tried the twisting kick with the side kick. I can do it kinda, but it's very sloppy. Ofc I didn't stretch out first and that might help. O.o

Bow to the previous opponent as they are leaving the ring, bow when you enter the ring, bow when you reach the judges before announcing who you are, bow when they say to begin, bow when they give your scores and you leave, and bow to the next opponent when they enter the ring. Thats...6 bows I believe. Alternately you could bow to EVERY judge when you first approch them, which would mean the six bows, plus an extra for every extra judge. So if there are three judges that would be eight bows total. Five judges would give you ten bows.

Lots of good opinions so far, thanks guys. Haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do yet, but still plenty of time to make a decision. And bushido, because of the way the program is set up with six week sessions, I had to give the ranks the same day of the test. I couldn't waste an entire day of training for promotions. I couldn't give them at the next training because then that would mean that students HAD to sign up for the next session to get their rank from the one before, and thats not fair.

Even doing them properly as blackxpress said, it always hurts my lower back a lot. I never choose to do leg lifts, only ever do them if the karate instructor has us do it. It's supposed to help with stomach muscles, but my stomach muscles never hurt, only my lower back hurts a lot.