karatekid1975

Thanks Red J I had to take a short break from MA do to a knee injury, so I had a lot of time to think (still am, actually). I may start a new thread in the Korean forum about what I'm thinking about. We'll see. But thanks for your advice

Your welcome

Can a rattan bo LOOK like bamboo or shaped like it? It must be made of something else, then. It's pretty heavy, and it takes a good beating. Just curious.

LOL. Seriously, I'm a kata/forms/breaking geek, so I take myself, a little luck, my uniform, a bo (if I do a bo kata), and my required boards (if I do breaking). The tournies I've been to provided food, water, ect. So I take a little cash also. But most of the time (last two tournies, that is), I've been working (judging, coaching, ect), so I would have to take my awareness, too.

I have a bamboo bo. I don't know if it's REAL bamboo, but it's very durable (sp?), and can handle hard hitting during bo drills with partners. It's the only one I ever owned. So maybe others can help you with the wooden ones.

I learned how to use a Kubotan from my instructor (Jujitsu). See if you can ask your instructor if he/she can teach you. Because hitting the pressure points (striking) with it takes practice.

Good thread. I do have to say if I didn't get into MA, I'd probably be like your friends. I don't know if you guys ever heard of the band Shinedown. They have a song called "Save Me." It's about a drug addict that lives in a hallway of some building, homeless, ect. Everytime I hear that song, I am thankful that I did not end up like that. I don't know if I ever would have gotten to that point, but the song just makes me realize how lucky I was to NOT end up like that. 80% of the reason why is MA. I can sit back and look at the old me (before MA), and me now .... BIG difference.

shotokanwarrior, good post. My toughts exactly.

In your info, you study TKD. Some TKD schools do that stuff. Or you can do Extreme Martial Arts or Wushu. I like to try some of the tricks (I learned a couple), but I'm getting to old for that (bum knees and hip). Good luck to ya, tho.

Good post, kihonkai I get to the point where I wanna quit, but I think you're right. I make too many excuses and I don't try hard enough at those times (sometimes I'm too hard on myself also). I think I will print your post and hang it on my wall. Anyways, I started MA in Oct 2000 (at age 24). I started for self defense. But it became addicting (other than the times above ).

I am both in an art that's not tourny friendly (jujitsu) and one that is (TKD). My jujitsu instructor is really good. He teaches privately. I don't think any less of him. He knows his stuff. He is a very smart man when it comes to ANY style he studied (three, I believe). In TKD, my master instructor did compete when he was younger, but there's no trophies hanging out in the dojang. Their probably in his house somewhere. Do I care? Nope. As long as the training is good.

I started for self defense. But it's leaning toward the mental side (character building, making me who I am today, ect) as the years go on. But I still like the self defense stuff. As far as "spiritual" side? I have never been in an art that went in depth with the stuff, so I'm pretty new at that other than meditating here and there.

We had a few leave to train in other arts. Myself included (I'm not a BB yet), but I came back. I still cross-train though. Our high drop out rate right now is green belt. Well not that high, but there's a couple that I haven't seen in a while. We also had a couple BB's leave for some odd reason, then return. Their reason for leaving? That, I don't know. But then again, I don't poke my nose in their business. I just train.

My dojang is WTF. We also have to keep our guard up. For one, there's a lot of "head hunters" in my dojang (me included). Plus the instructors will TELL you to keep your guard up. Well, if you don't, you ARE going to get clobbered. The only time I drop my hands is when I spar the little ones (or younger ones) in my class. Specially the ones who need coaching in sparring. I'll GIVE them a target by dropping one hand, and show them how to "read" that target and take it. Once they get better, I stop doing it. Then I tell them to keep their guard up. If they don't, I'll give them a light tap on the head to show them that they are "open." Most learn. Some don't.

I don't know why, but the only reason I can think of is that my school is kinda expensive (it is and it's not). In this area, you get what you pay for, but my dojang is expensive. But then again, it's the only decent place around. Except where my friend teaches, but it's an hour away (she owns a sister school).

We don't compete in jujitsu (we are a very small club, and what we do is illegal in tournies). But in most arts I have seen or studied, one to three months is ok to compete.

Let me know if there is one. I hate the gear ....

I'm in a belt system with both arts, but I had a cool idea. Well it kinda came from your post. You guys wear polo shirts, so how about colored stripes on your colar or opposite of your patch. You don't have to have a lot of them, just a few colors (white, green, brown, black ... what we have in jujitsu). Just enough to show where you are. There are these iron on stripes they have for belts that you can use for your shirts. That would work, I think. Just an idea for ya.

Good thread. I was thinking about going back to training after a knee injury. But it's only been two weeks, maybe three. So I think I'll ride it out for a bit longer. Thanks to marie curie for starting this thread. I got good advice as well. If anyone has anything else to share, let us know.

Ya know, I thought about this when I saw this before (in another thread, and I didn't respond). I was attacked at 9 years old. I was attacked by a guy roughly 190 pounds, maybe slightly more, in his mid to late 30's. I was a small girl for my age. I do not think I could have fought this guy off, even if I had training at the time. I did put up a good fight (my dad taught me how to fight some), but I lost. I don't see how a BB at 9 years old can fight off a guy that is 3 times her age, mostly muscle, but she wears a BB. Just think about it .... I've been there (except the BB part, but I did try to fight back). It's very emotional for me. I wouldn't award no one that young with a BB. BUT I would teach them good self defense skills to get away, if possible. BUT after my training, I was attacked again, and won (I was an adult by then, but a beginner in MA ... go figure).

Technique. My friend who has great technique. She is a much higher rank them me, and has beautiful technique. I strive to be like her (I'm a forms and technique geek). Plus I want to also learn good self defense (my jujisu instructor does that. He is also a great martial artist). Both together, I got what I need to keep motivated (I just wish my stinkin knee would heal ... gggrrrr).

huh? Who's that?

Wow! Good thread. I'm about to get into running (actually biking first) when my knee heals. So I will take this to heart. Specially Heidi's advice. Thanks bud.

TSD is similar to Shotokan in many ways. But my old dojang was a mix of styles. It wasn't just TSD (except for the forms). We learned a bit of Thai boxing, Jujitsu, and Hapkido. It also depended on who taught and what their experience was. It was cool. Other than forms training, we got bits of a lot of stuff. Kept it fresh every class. Anyways, Shotokan and TSD do the same forms, with slight differences here and there. But I enjoyed both. I learned a lot from both (eventhough I did Shotokan for a short time). The same with Judo. I did it with a TKD dojang (Judo was part of the curriculum) and seperate (but the instructor stopped teaching ). Now I do Jujitsu (on top of TKD ... crosstraining). My judo training helps in some ways in Jujitsu, but it totally throws me off in other ways. It helps me with grappling, but for some reason, the throws are somewhat different (I get totally confused LOL). Sorry. I went into a big ramble again. Just read my second paragraph if you wish (to answer your question) LOL.

I agree,but she can be ignorant that way. I wasn't bashing anything, and I didn't curse. She doesn't know of this site so she won't put any rude things on here. No, I meant me. I didn't want to curse on KF (I hate bashers). From your post, I thought that's what she was doing (bashing). Sorry, it was late when I posted that. Anyways, yes, some people are ignorant. And the sad thing is, you can't change them. So don't let it get to ya. Just train hard