Taikudo-ka

The javelin, archery... [ This Message was edited by: Taikudo-ka on 2002-07-24 02:10 ]

At 15 you're unlikely to bulk up like Arnie or Van Damme. Weights will make some difference, mainly in keeping you trim and cut, and building some muscle, but you won't see optimum results until you reach final physical maturity, generally around late teens, early twenties for guys.

Standard measures are just that. Some arbitrary standard which is not necessarily tailored to your build at all. If your full of muscle, the average "weight/height" chart will say that you're overweight, assuming that the extra mass is fat. If it's not, then don't worry. Let the mirror tell the story, not the scales.

I always used to wonder why I was skinny and could seemingly eat "whatever I wanted" while everyone else bulked up around me. Then I found that most people's idea of "whatever they want" was a little different from mine, and that my idea of "a full meal" constituted a snack to them. Look at the traditional Japanese diet. THAT's what you eat to not get fat. THAT's the sort of quantity to you eat to not get big, and still eat "whatever you want". Westerners just eat too damn much, then whinge and moan about it later. (Yet still insist on 1kg steaks, eating a litre of ice cream at a time, or guzzling 1 litre Cokes and Fantas). Lets look at your diet: Breakfast : 2cups of tea + 2 toast with butter on Lunch :Chicken burger in two toast, with a ver small portion of lightly salted chips and three chicken nuggets Dinner : 4 minced beef tortios, within the three meals i would normally drink robinsons beverage drinks with the odd ready and salted packet of crisps. Right. Ditch the crisps. Drink water, not flavored drinks. Have "a beef tortio" for dinner, i.e. one, or maybe two. Fill up on salad. Or steamed vegetables. Ditch the chicken nuggets and other greasy processed deep fried stuff. Have a salad sandwich for lunch, or a vegetarian pasta, not a piece of frickin' fried chicken. Eat bread if you're still hungry, preferably whole meal, not whatever your idea of a "small serve of chips" is. Or fruit. And more salad. Have fruit for breakfast sometimes. Toast, cereal, all these things are good. You can even have a few whole eggs and whatnot, just not six at a time, every day. I've yet to meet a person who's "genetic build" was not, on closer inspection, obviously determined by diet and exercise, regardless of how fat, thin, muscled or flabby they were.

Well traces of cannabis were found in Bruce's stomach when his body was autopsied. The cannabis was in no way responsible for his death. Bruce was at a friend's, had a headache and probably asked for an "aspirin" or something. He was given a new prescription only pain killer instead, which hadn't been prescribed for Bruce. His death was caused by an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients in the pain killer, which caused his brain to swell. It was all a tragic accident really, and a good lesson in why you should never take someone elses prescription drugs. Evidence does indicate that Bruce probably consumed cannabis at some stage. (Around when he dies, not back in college). It is equally unlikely that he downed an ounce a week on a regular basis, or was constantly spliffing up at home, because his wife knew nothing of it, and was shocked at the autopsy finding. However, as far as determining cause of death, the autopsy concluded that the cannabis was "of no more significance than a cup of tea", i.e irrelevant to the question.

I could probably kick about 5 1/2 feet, a little below head height, or my head height in a low stance. Roundhouse or hook kick I get the highest. I can flick my leg up like a front kick above my head, but it lacks all power at a target because I can't get the thrust part right. Just brushes lightly in its way up... In sparring I don't kick much. Prefer to use my hands. In a real fight I would kick low attacking vulnerable spots, and I know if I did some of these things sparring I would really hurt my partner.

Hey guys, if you haven't noticed already, Zakiru is just a huge troll. He'll make any ridiculous claim he thinks will get up your goat, even if it contradicts something he's said earlier. He posts brief generalizations which are never backed up with any evidence or logic, and twists them to keep up the charade. You cannot debate reasonably with him. Personally, I think you should just send Debi Purcell to deal with him.

Well, that clapper was crapper, as far as I'm concerned... Not enough give on a wall makes a lousy target. Besides, I broke it anyway, with the tiny screws that hold the spring ripping clean out of the wood. I started another thread more on making makiwara, any ideas/problems people have had when constructing the thing, etc. However its been moved to this. If anyone has interesting plans, found the best type of wood, etc, let us all know. If you hate the whole idea of the makiwara, please move on, nothing to say here that hasn't already been said.

Does anyone use a makiwara that they built themselves, traditional style. I'm currently building a traditional cedar wood makiwara, complete with real rolled straw and rope pad. The pad is already done - suprisingly that was the cheapest and easiest part. I also have material to make a foam and vinyl pad. I'm still finishing off the shape of the wood, filing away to get the desired flex (and hide all the rough saw marks still left). It is going to mount on a wooden platform using a metal bracket, because I have no yard to bury a post in. I've built a bracket but I'm not sure how durable it will prove once in action... Anyone else got any good/bad makiwara stories.

A bad one.

I can confirm from personal experience that going without sex for years on end does absolutely nothing positive for the male of the species...

Gogen Yamaguchi seemed to cope fine with a long flowing mane... Hakimachi (headband) might do the trick, as it'll hold the front down as well. Or just grow the front long enough to pull back in a ponytail. I used to have long hair but it was no good for attracting women, so I cut it short. Now I have it shaved all over. Also no good for attracting women, but sooo easy to maintain. Plus it's the ultimate self defense haircut, giving nothing for an opponent to grab.

Interesting point... I think birds are more like monkeys than dogs though... they're generally all different species and genetically incompatible. Humans and gorillas are genetically very close, but not capable of cross-breeding. Dogs, on the other hand, are largely a product of selective human breeding. They all have the same genetic structure, but they've been segregated and forcibly bred for specific appearance, size, etc. But underneath they are all the same species of dog. The "mutt" just represents some vague mix that doesn't match the "accepted" breeds. Humans have much the same charateristic, where the various "races" we can identify are nothing more than cosmetic dressing on the same species. The only reason we don't notice MORE variation in the human race is because no-one is specifically breeding people into freaks With birds that have been bred specifically, like laying hens or types of ducks, you can end up with "mongrels", particularly if they escape into the wild. However, most animals, like birds, won't mate with other birds that seem too different. They're quite "racist" in their views. Dogs (and rabbits) seem an exception - they'll go anything, happily producing mongrels. [ This Message was edited by: Taikudo-ka on 2002-07-21 06:35 ]

Note to above - I havn't played any RPGs for a years, except a few Call of Cthulu games about 4 years ago. I have been working on my own set of rules, for about 10 years... Simple, fast, flexible and realistic... not easy to combine. Hey Eye of the Tiger, hows that for geeky. But then, you might have found some of the old manuals, like Unearthed Arcana (AD&D) very interesting. Lots of weapons, arms, armor, historically accurate descriptions of all this stuff, information on warfare and combat strategies, plenty of pictures of said weapons in action, often in the hands of questionably clad and well endowed young women. Violence, mayhem, hideous monsters, fantastic weapons and nubile maidens. What more could you ask for? Anyway, there was also "Oriental Adventures". Nothing stops you having a "far east" campaign with ninjas, samurai, amazing unarmed combat, plots to assasinate the daimyo, renegade ronin, etc.

I was hugely into RPGs when young, particularly then original Dungeons and Dragons, and later the first edition AD&D rules. (Not the rubbish that's published now, which is virtually a different game.) I used to spend more time reading books than actually playing. Anyway, those who had a bad experience, I'm sorry to hear about it. The game can actually be incredibly fun and challenging, and of course the best DMs hardly never even use the dice or bother much with the rules, just wing a fantastic story and encourage good roleplaying and storytelling from the players. Unfortunately, I've almost never seen a game I didn't participate in that I thought was any good. In fact I've almost never seen anyone else play it properly... and I've been suckered into a few terrible games myself - it only takes one bad egg to turn everything into a nightmare. Hint - If the DM thinks its somehow "him vs the players", if the players think its "them vs the others", if anyone thinks "they" have to "win", if any player tries to be a "rule lawyer", particularly if they argue with the DM, or if the DM is a rules lawyer who slays players on whim and inflicts them with every bad game mechanic ever devised, then you are NOT playing the game properly. Hint 2 - Computer RPGs are nothing like true person to person RPGs. In fact, they are not really RPGs at all. Monkey Island or the Sierra adventures were closer to RPGs, even though they lacked mechanics (stats), combat, or the ability to make your own character, they were playing a role in a story with plot advancement, puzzles, etc.

Hehe Don't worry... most people are not dropping dead from spider bites over here. Funnel webs live in the ground and generally don't bother people. Unless you're out in the bush you won't see that many spiders anyway. Maybe a huntsman will come inside occasionally, but they are harmless. Big and furry, but harmless.

The "flying punch" I refer to is just anything thrown while stepping/leaping in. Basically a street-wise version of the basic step/lunge punch we were discussing. I just wanted to show an opportunity where a long range attack might be useful in a "real" situation, something G95 insisted didn't exist.

I really hate the idea of "kata for tournaments" and worrying about whether your kata will score highly, or even, worst of all, MODIFYING the kata just to make it score higher. The "best" kata is not always the highest scoring tournament favorite - see Motobu and Naihanchi. I actually want to learn kata that contain combat moves, not tournament flash. Anyway, as others have said, each to their own. I imagine if you want tournament effective kata you couldn't go wrong with JKA style Shotokan, as it's kind of an "industry standard", so to speak. OTOH, Shi-To Ryu has about 50 katas - pretty much everything from the original shuri-te, naha-te and tomari-te has found its way in, so you'll have a good choice.

OK, you're walking down the street and you see a guy struggling with a young girl. He starts to drag her down into a dark alleyway. You realize that she is your sister! Do you: 1. Walk calmy up to the guy, say "hey, come on buddy!" and put up your guard while circling around him? 2. Run in as fast as possible and launch a flying punch at his head before he even realizes what is going on?

I am water. I am the calm lake, the crashing wave, the tsunami, crushing like an army, the black clouds that form, the eye of the storm, I transform, hot like steam, push the locomotive, cause I've got torque when I talk, and my tongue, stings like ice, rings like hail in your ear as you stumble, crumble, under the force I've become... master the elements, drown fire dissolve metal erode earth and harness air to my power I devour mountains harder than concrete move with the hurricane I'm hot and cold Hard and soft You've already lost, this battle, cause I rattle your though, 120 different lessons I was taught... You should know that the liquid, is quick, should you try to mess with me I blend with the blows, then blind you see, like spit in your eye, ha ha, I fly, but the irony is, without me you die.... "Liquid Freestyle"

You're not nuts, just enthusiastic. The energy (obsession, you call it) that you feel is what people use to excel in a field, and become truly great. Without that obsession, everything just becomes work, a grind. With it, working or training for 12 hours straight becomes easy - its fun and what you want to do so you don't notice how much effort you're putting in. Modern society, with its emphasis on crushing excess productivity and innovation, calls this "obsession" and suggest that you "get a life"... An "obsession" indicates that you've already found something that makes life worthwhile... People WITHOUT a life have to sit around in bars and clubs waiting for someone else to bring it to them, or entertain them... Think about it a minute.

Haha Well you know the entire Jedi order is ripped directly from ancient Japan, down to the clothes they wear (dogis, haori, kimono, etc), the "force" (ki), even Yoda's strange grammer is adapted from the Japanese language. What else? Calling the teacher "master", the whole apprentice, padawan, master heirarchy (white belt, black belt shodan, shihan), ancient densho (the jedi archives), the light/dark yin/yang thing, and of course the whole idea of linking spiritual development and cultivation of "the force" with amazing combat and athletic skills. The Jedi lightsaber duels have become more like eastern martial arts as the series progressed. When we see the Jedi order at its peak in Ep. 1 & 2 it's very much a high tech Shaolin Temple. We even see Yoda teaching a karate/kendo style class with a bunch of kids.

Well, children are a responsibility, NOT a right. I don't think its a persons right to demand children, and if they're not willing to "do what it takes", someone should just hand them over. If you're demanding the "right" to adopt, who's "right" are you talking about. Your own? What gives you the right to demand children as though they were health care vouchers or voting rights? I'm sorry, but children are not voting rights to be dispensed equally to all, without regard to race, or the color of your eyes. They're not something to whinge about - "Its not fair, I want one too". If you are worried for even one minute about "your" right, "your" freedom, you probably are not ready for the responsibility of raising children. It is not a vocation that allows much in the way of selfishness... The focus should always be on "how can I provide the best possible environment for this child" even if it means sacrificing a good portion of your own life. I don't see much of this going on. All I see is another symptom of the "I want it All, and I want it Now!" disease which is slowly destroying civilization.

Hey, do you know what the kata James Luk performed was? That was one impressive kata... who says karate doesn't have ground fighting?

Your roundhouse covers one end of the ring to the other?!? You really must be a troll. Oh, you mean with the step and all. I think I know the side thrust kick you mean.... (goes to check) yeah, about 7-8 ft... (This is where you step forward with the back foot first, right? Then launch from there, using the momentum of the first step to increase power.)