cheeks

1 - it depends on whether the teacher adapts his martial art towards competition rules.... 2 - theres no such thing as being 'too external or internal' and there is no waty you can critisise a style on that basis 3 - if you have found a local club that does lau gar then give it a go, and see what you think....

same here, in my kung fu class we dont do any kiais...dunno what its like for other styles though....

only 1 black belt in my kwoon, my instructer. me and two others are next with brown belts. (i do Lau Gar Kung Fu)

i think that the hardest bit is the mental aspect, eg from being a high belt in one style, to becoming the beginer in a new style. it is a fairly difficult transition to make. especially if there is a particular technique to do which your new instructer says is useful, but you know a better way from your old style but once you have adapted, then it is easy to be able to change the techniques for each style

the rings are a traditional method, used to condition the wrist and forearms. you wear them while doing the forms

according to a biography, yes he did. he took it very seriously, yet when he taught students he only taught physical techniques.... why is this crucial

i would say go for it just remember you cant throw your karate opponant in sparring, and you cant kick your judo opponant in the head, unfortunately...

without physically watching you do it, there is no way i can give a proper diagnoses on where your technique is going wrong... 1, talk to your doctor, you may have hurt your neck somewhere else and the reverse punch is aggravating your injury 2, talk to your sensei, he is the only person who is able to give you feedback on your technique.

less weight at higher reps, makes your muscles more effiecint, and hence, increase stamina like kaminari said. to get your muscles to 'show more' you need to get rid of any excess flab, by aerobic training (running, cycling, swimming) for 30 mins 3-5 times a week

none of these can give you a complete work out, running improves fitness, but does nothing for upper body.. weight training makes you strong, but wont help you loose weight. you need a combination of aerobic training (run/swim/bike/etc) and strength training (weights/gym/pushups/situps/etc)

good points... - increase fitness - improve cardiovascular - used as part weight loss - works the quadraceps - strengthens the knee joints - low impact on joints - etc, etc.... Bad points... um, dunno.

the problem is that loads of old people and new age hippies take it for its healing benefit very few people get to see or take part in a class that has martial application

That is a real technique, we use it in Lau Gar as part of double punches. also i have seen that block in karate as well, although they use it as a hard block, whereas at Lau Gar we do the relaxed pushing you described

you need to find out which organisation ran the tournement, and then have a look on thier own website - and it may not be the same organisation you are part of. hope this helps

http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2000/02_00/fredericson.htm and another more detailed link if you are interested...there are examples of stretches further down the page.

Where is the pain? if it is on the outside of your knee cap, and hurts when you walk down stairs thaen it could be IT Band Syndrome (see the link) http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?SP=&v=4&UAN=215 the trouble with this sort of injury is that unless it is fully healed, it will keep coming back. and you can not run through it. if you are out on a run and can feel pain then stop imediately, it is not worth the long term damage. as for rehabilitation... i would advise NO running for 2 weeks. when you start up again, start slowly and if you feel pain then quit the session. it will take time....

i have not started to bow at random yet (which is good) but i have a problem with fidgeting. i will be sat on the bus or whatever and then suddenly do a palm block and reverse punch, just cant help it and if something is on the floor, i will step down in to a horse stance or a cross stance to pick it up.

i dont take anything with me, i dont have time to sit down and eat or drink, and like others have said it isnt good to train on a full stomach. i tend to refill with food and drink when i get home again

it depends on the girl i am fighting against... there are some that i have to take it easy, and others where i know i can go a lot harder. and to be honest, thats the same with any student, there are some who fight back and others who apologise if they touch you,. i dont think it is an issue of gender, more like an issue of types of students...

Shorin ryuu, i'd agree, the only Martial Art injury i have got was a knock on the inside of my knee - it was stiff for a couple of weeks... outside Martial Arts, i sprained right ankle playing tennis, damaged IT Band while running and sprained left ankle playing football, in the last 18 months... actually not this time. but when i sprained the left ankle (by playing the cursed sport of foot ball ) i felt it pop, i was scared of what damage i had done...

like aodhan, i would also recomend proper running shoes, you need to go to a specialist running store, or failing that a sports shop. i live in Britain so i can only guess that walmart is a supermarket of somesort, in which case they will have lots of nice trainers, but no proper running shoes. i would suggest that you look in the yellow pages, or whatever the equivalent is over there (big book with a list of local businesses) and a different way of training, just for a change, would be to do it by time, do as many as you can in 60 secs, then rest then repeat. good luck, and remember that the more often you do this (ie week in,week out) the better you will get

you are so lucky... i was playing tennis last week, leapt up to hit the ball and landed on the edge of my foot, my ankle swelled up to three times the size - it turns out i have sprained the ligaments in my ankle which means i cant train or run for 3 weeks... i understand what you are talking about, and i think that it proberbly links to the way you train. if you are determind to keep going through the pain of 250 press ups or whatever, that will follow through to other areas in your life, including injuries. you have that "i will finish this" atitude.

the first thing is that you need to talk to your teacher about this, either before or after the session when you have time to go into some depth... dont worry this sort of crossroads afects many Martial Artists, when they are unsure of the next step. i have also been in a similer situiation to you, being one of the higher ranks means you will be teaching more and 'learning less' i talked to my teacher and we decided that me and another brown belt would take it in turns to help teach and change it around each week... i'll echo what everyone else has said, if you are not enjoying it, if you feel you are being held back, then look elsewhere. if you are not happy inside, you will not be able to focus on your Tai Chi

i agree, fights i most look forward to fighting are new people, both white belts and higher ranks that i have not fought yet... i relish the challenge

the whole point of pulling punches is purely for saftey reasons, if you have a black belt v a white belt, then the chances are the black belt will hurt the white belt which is not always the point of sparring. of course in a street fight, you should not pull your punches, if the fight is on then you should hit as hard as you can untill the threat is gone...