Goldtooth

I'd do what my instructor told me to do. I personally feel that wearing headgear encourages lazy striking, and for the wearer to get hit in the head more. I am not your instructor, however, and i dont have the blueprint for your particular training regimen.

Wise ninjas use judo or taekwondo in battle; the traditional fighting styles of ninjas for thousands of years...

Sometimes in the martial arts, like any other discipline, you may learn from an individual of tremendous skill, capacity to teach, and predigree. In addition to paying someone to help you learn, you are paying for their particular accomplishments, what they add. In cases like this, you should evaluate the impact of a top level, grade-a, 'known in their field' type of guy on your training. Ask yourself if you learn a front thrust kick from one of Dan Inosanto's intructors if you would benefit any more or less by learning it from Sensei Joe Bagofdoughnuts who charges next to nothing. Additional factors in high matriculation fees are dojo overhead, and....whatever additional excuses that particular instructos offer. You cant argue with hi monthly rates from dojos located on prime real estate (but you can investigate whether the same thing can be found taught in a less expensive area). If you cant readily identify what drives up a price for studying at acertain school, it should definately raise any eyebrow. Speaking for myself, i live in an area where 200 bucks a month is what the market will bear for Kung Fu and Ju Jitsu. Hence, I elect to drive to Savanannah (45 miles, miles, 40 minutes) and save 160 bucks a month rather than practice locally. I feel i get more value this way.

I've been struggling with ankle injuries over my lifetime, and they seem to get progressively worse, and take longer to heal. For non martial arts applications, i can get away with your basic lace up stirrup type brace, but cant find a suitable setup for the mat. The main problem is that all of the braces ive tried have reduced the amount of friction between my feet (i wear two) and the mat to a degree where im sliding across it, which has applied to all types of mats. Im curious if any of you have experienced the same dillema, or if any of you have found an effective solution. If, by chance, some of you have taken the 'martial arts shoes' approach to this, and adopted one that you feel addresses the issue, then i would also love to take a look at what you have to say, and specifically what shoes have served you best. Im thirty now, and need a proactive method to increase the longevity of my ankles, so i can count on kicking around the mat for forty or so more years:) Your feedback is greatly appreciated. GT