G95champ

Just a note when I made this challenge idea I had planned on the people playing to vote on the best one to win immunity. Not know who that one was of course. So What ever you all do just letting you in on my line of thinking.

yeah thats pain lol

Honestly No. TKD is usually taught as more of a sport. Not to say it can't be used for SD but its not MT by any menas. Boxing is taught with gloves. In the street you don't have gloves so Boxers tend to break their hands a lot when fighting without gloves on. Thats not to down Boxing or TKD any because both are super arts but both are more sport than combat.

Fox News is reporting that the USA just dropped 4 2000lbs bombs on Saddam and a few dozen Bath party leaders including his 2 sons. Great news for Iraq and the world.

Do more crunches. Pain is weakness leaving the body.

Welcome

They can't use them because on the first night we took out all the Command and Control Centers. No orders for Saddam to do so. These guys are not going to go out on their own and do it espically after President Bush warned them not to.

To each his own... You are normally weaker in the mouring however its nice to get things out of the way and you are less likely to skip a workout because it is the first thing on your list of things to do. Frankly your body don't care if its 5am oir 5pm as long as its consistant.

What are you conditioning? There is a differance in running a mile, lifting some weights and doing a few set up As opposed to hitting a steel bar, kicking a tree, or dropping rocks on you stomach. Running, Lifting, Stretching, and that type of conditioning never hurt anyone if done right. Being sore is part of the game. However it should pass in a few weeks. Kicking trees, punching steel, and other crazy junk is just that. I know its what you see in movies and stuff but lets be honest you not going to be faced with a situation that calls for you to rip a guys heart out or kick through baseball bat. Talk to your Sensei, A Coach at your HS, a friend who works out, go to a web site get some info. Knowing what to do and when to do it is more important than doing everyting all the time. Like MonkeyGirl said you need to allow for rest as well. BTW punching holes in your wall is not conditiong. LOL.....

What about Sumo and Fencing?

We work low stance is Shotokan and the Kiba Dachi is no differant. It just takes time and lots of work. Don't rush it just go as low as you can for as long as you can and then next class try a bit more. Can't do it perfect in one night.

Any one know the words to MRs Robinson. LOL Good luck..... I would come into class one day and say I got to leave a few mins early I got a date. That puts everything on the table. Or you could ask if your GF could take classes as well.

We had a nice game plan in Iraq. That is to get rid of Saddam and free the people of Iraq. Pretty simple and to the point. By doing so we have moved faster and lost less than any army in the history of the world. Seems like a pretty good plan to me. Add to that a lot of our losses have been because of friendly fire, machine breakdowns, or human error. I think the game plan is pretty good. In Vietnam we never had an objective. LBJ sent more advisors in with the idea they would help train the SV. However advisors quickly became armed guards that quickly became combat troops. Despite (Rolling Thunder) a massive bombing atack on NV. We never hit Command and Control Targets. Sort of like we were acting like we were fighting but we would never hit them where it hurt on purpose. LBJ never commited enough men and weapons to much less he never stated an objective. Nixon came along in 68' and said he was going to pull us out but actully made the war bigger by going into Cambodia and Laos. Again the gov. said one thing and did another. The fact is the military and gov. did not really like each other and the boys in the field paid the price. We were trying to save the SV but never really tried to hit NV. You can't win a war on defense. Sooner or later you got to score. This is basically what happend the score was 0-0 until we pulled out and the SV gave up an HR to the NVA and the war was over. I know that was a big quick but fact is we never had a set objective nor did we fully commit to destroying the NVA and VC.

Shotokan is the mix of Gojo and Shorin Ruy. Thus it has 2 great ties from the start. Funakoshi also had a background in Judo so another quality tie. Shotokan was also the first art brought to the USA after WWII by Funakoshi and his studensts much less the first one to really become orginized under the JKA. Shotokan is very well rounded and its simple focus makes it eaisy for almost everyone to do. With tons of Books and Web Sites on it anyone can double check and get extra info on it as needed.

I agree on the video game and music thing. Don't know how that got into this converstaion but my only point is that kids should not have black belts that are the same as adult black belts. JR Ranks and stuff are differant. Im going to shut up now because I figure this thread has gotten to hot and will be closed before long. LOL

AndrewGreen I am a teacher so I do know a bit about judging mental development. 1. Can the teach and explain kata? 2. Do they know the history and development of your art? 3. Do they understand how the body moves and works and why certin moves work and others don't based on size, speed, muscle, etc. 4. Do they have good people skills? 5. Are they mature, do they handle themselves like a blackblet should according to your schools moral code. *This list goes on.... Can I hold my own? My lil bro is 6'8 300 and plays OL at WVU. Can I beat him up. Is that what your asking? I've never met Shaq but I have learned that anyone can be choked out, and a knee or ankle kick can bring down the biggest of men or women. So size don't matter but physical maturity does. Their acomplishment will be noticed when they reach a certin age. Things you work for and takes time you tend to think more of them. To many people are given stuff IMO. Tell people no once in a while. MA is about respcet and if you have to wait you will respect it more. Much less other will respect you more and you will respect your teachers more for making you work for it. You made a few statements that I got lost on. YOu said don't give them a belt. I don't if they don't earn it they don't pass. With that said I tell everyone I will never have a black belt under me under the age of 16. Thats on the table from day one I don't care who you are or your dad is and how much money he is willing to give me. You also said something about what do you test for if its a preformance based art meaning you do it as part of a demo team or something it sounds to me its more like Gymanstics or Cheerleading. I guess you want me to go to school Monday and give our cheerleades black belts becasue they can do splits and turn backflips. (Don't sound much like karate to me.)

I don't put much stock in that statement. Only because you can knock yourself out by running into a shelf, standing up to fast in a hot room, or frankly just having a glass jaw. Nothing is ever 100% TURE or false. Kids don't drive cars because they are not consided mature enough to control such a dangerous machine. Kids are not allowed to vote because they don't understand the platforms people run on. (This is not to say adults do) However I think a kid should not be given a black blet under the same reasons.

Any Karate style should give him pretty good balance. However don't focus on the style as much as on the quality of the teacher. Watch as many classes as he can see what he likes then see where he can get the most classes for the best price. All arts will basically teach the same thing. Some focus on other parts more than others but the teacher will be more important than the art he picks.

I think its more a mental thing than a physical thing. MA should teach the development of the mind, body and spirit. Now we all know people who we don't think should be holding the ranks they hold. For any number of reasons. If its a prefromance based art then you don't need to wear a black belt. If they can fight well for their size thats great but the general understanding is a black belt should be able to hold their own vs anyone. 13 year old kid can't hold his own agaisnt a 30 year old man. Sorry. A person who is not mental responsible in my opinon reguardless of age has not business wearing a black belt. Mental development above anything else. If you are not mentally able to wear the next rank under me you better find a new school if you wish to go up. If belt color has nothing to do with it let them wear a brown belt till the become adults.

Im with Kensai Its a joke No one under 16 IMO should ever have a black belt. Their is way to much mental responsibility that goes with one. I made mine at 18 and at the time I told my Sensei I felt I was to young for it. Doing moves and understanding moves are completely differant. I would much rather train under a person who knew what he or she was talking about but could not kick over their waist then train under and dance teacher who had no clue what moves were ment for but looked like the second comming of the Blue POWER RANGER.

If Howard Stern came to me for lessons you bet I would teach him. Talk about bringing in people to your club. LOL. I don't doubt he is a brown belt. Being in NY and with his fame he can have access to that. I would also say he is a pretty decent brown belt. WHY because he is in the spot light so much no one is going to give him one. If he said he was a 5th Dan thats a differant story but frankly anyone can make a brown belt much less a black belt. Don't really mean a whole lot as far as how much you know. Im glad to see a person with his star power into MA much less a traditional art like Shotokan.

Shotokan in the USA here

Wrestling

Once Saddam is gone and the people can speak without fear of their families being taken off and killed we will see how many are happy with the war.

It was only reported the other day but this has been know since the mid 80's. Hitler did the saem thing in WWII and the NVA did it in Vietnam. Takes War and evil to a differant leval. I hope everyone who carries a sign and protest President Bush never has to live under a person like Saddam.