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I get the impression that many TKD dojos push their students through ranks quickly, so that they can charge for more testings. They seem to pump out black belts that still have very little knowledge. Kids are given black belts and there's no way that those kids have been training long enough to pick up on things that only time can give them. I know a small town where there are four TKD dojos. I do think that way back when TKD was less commercialized it was probably better. I will agree that there probably are some good training halls out there for TKD, but that there are even more run by people too interested in money.

What does hanshi mean?

I was talking to a friend who trains TKD and their class was getting visited by a 9th degree black belt. He was in the Vietnam war. Also, he was a cop in asia and at one point got an ice pick through his leg. Does anybody know who this guy is and if he's really any good?

I've been away from the boards for a while and now there seem to be kyokushin members that I've never seen before. Could I have a round of introductions? Where are you all from? How long have you been training? Thanks!

What types of bricks do you use for breaking?

The end of my grade 11 year I felt so much anger towards my school and towards the town it was in. Sometimes you do just grow out of being angry. I just tried to make sure I didn't act on my anger. No system is perfect and he's probably heard some of the questions you're going to ask. He's probably been asked the questions a lot more rudely than you'll pose them. Sometimes I do question some of the things my Sensei tells me and I do ask him about things. Actually, the next time I see him in class I have a few questions...

Usually six hours a week divided into three classes. I'm about 1000 clicks away from where I usually train though, so I've missed the last last class and am going to miss three more. I'm hoping to check out a dojo in Banff though...

You wouldn't think practicing sparring would help to fight better on the street? Odd.

There's two kinds of pacifism: Absolute---if you were going to kill them they wouldn't raise a hand to stop you. Partial---they will use violence in self-defense. Not in war or anything like that, but one on one confrontation.

I need to learn sanchin kata. I can't seem to remember any of it except that there's one turn and massive amounts of blocks and punches...

Crotch? Do they really say crotch??

There can't be much power to a kick at that height.

I have no clue what started me in karate. I definatly didn't put as much thought into it as you are assuming I did. It just seemed like a fun thing to do and some of the parents remarked that it was a really good atmosphere to train in (good people, etc.). The spiritual part of it does appeal to me though.

Um....I don't think so.

Can someone elaborate even more on that? What kind of sensitivity are you talking about?

I like that answer.

I have heard that when doing karate or any okinawan based martial arts it is better to be shorter, because the people who developed the style were shorter than most of us are. That's just what I heard though, I'm not bringing down the tall people.

That's the kind of testee (is that even a word?) I am. I get way too nervous. Maybe next time I'll chill out a little more. Here's hoping. But I have to say, it doesn't help when you have to spar with your Sensei...

You can kind of tell that they all train together. If you see a few of their sample videos you can spot a few of the same moves. Manny Brown's video on the Bilang site is pretty cool as well.

We test about three times a year, but because our Sensei has a full-time job outside of karate the times in between can be a bit irregular at times. I try to make sure I ask, or know that he wants me to test, before I test. It would be unfortunate to test and fail.

I have heard that kyokushin, judo and boxing would make the ultimate fighter. And I think the spelling you're looking for is recipe.

Doesn't a loud kiai show spirit? Isn't short and loud the way to go? BTW, I do agree that long kiais are just annoying!

An advantage of being left handed is... you're good at math.

Scientists have discovered that things like intelligence and anger levels are heavily linked with genetics. Some things are nature, some nurture, some both.

I now will combine my two favortite activities into one super activity that will take over the world! I will call it, Martial Hacking!