searcher

Haidong Gumdo is the onlyu Korean style I know of that is dedicated to the use of the sword only. Hwarang-do has many sword forms in it.

My wife and I train at our private dojo 5-6 days a week(Sundays off) for between 2-3 hours. We also train by ourselves 5 days a week for 1.5-2 hours.

In my instructors school there are anywhere from three to 10 black belts at any one time, but attendance by most is off and on due to their private training and other obligations. We have never had all of our black belts at the dojo at the same time. This is really sad since their are only 20 of us at that level.

I am a traditional stylist, but I also do a lot of sport karate. As for streetfighting I avoid it if I can, but I think it is still important to prepare for it.

I suggest that you use nunchaku or kama they seem to be easier to get a rhythm down with. If you seem to get stuck with fillers I suggest you visit http://www.biland.com and look at some of the tricks and use his links for more research. You can also fill with gymnastics moves.

I agree with G95 and Saifights on this one, if you are not mentally there you might as well pack it up and go home.

I practise goju ryu and it sounds to me like somebody is giving you a little bit of a run-around. Goju-ryu is not the only system that has sanchin kata as one of its katas. The problem is probably someone who has had a bad experience or would like you to take another style(probably theirs). Sanchin or any other technique or form can cause you damage if you do it incorrectly. A person can hurt themselves with a fork if it not used correctly, so that goes to show that anything can happen. My oppinion is that you are being given a crock of bull.

I agree that tourneys cost to much and that they are getting further out of control. The local bigtime tourney costs $45 for the first event and $15 for each aditional event after that( that is if you pre-register). The cost for, at the door is even more outrageous. We all need to make a living, but enough is enough.

For fighting I love the lead leg hook or lead leg side. For flash or for kata the 540 hook.

None of the other masters in history have been able to stop others from using their forms, so I think that you are going to have a very hard time keeping someone from using it. You would not be able to let anyone see your form for fear of someone taking it. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

Just remember that in all of history of the ninja that they never successfully carried out an assassination on their intended target. They were however very good at spying, so to answer your question about becoming a ninja I suggest that you try and join the C.I.A. and use your super secret stealthy ninja skills there. :lol: By the way what color is the grass on your planet?

the so-called eclectic martial arts have been around for a very long time and they all seem to incorporate a little bit of everything into their system. Many of you have hit it on the head by saying you get a very watered down version of nothing. I don't see a problem with adding some grappling and joint manipulation to a striking system, but I think you need to stick to what your "main" style is based upon, if it means striking then striking, throwing then throw, just get yourself focused on what you want to accomplish and get very good at it. Don't think that the "pure" styles are not good because they don't contain a certain type of fighting.

Eye of the Tiger, I keep forgeting that you are still in your infancy. You still have a little bit to learn about the differences between men and women. But I do see that you could use a quick lesson. I believe that Lucida Reiker, Kathy Long, or one of the other women full-contact fighters would surely love to help you with your moments of insanity. By the way how did you get that bruise on your forehead? Keep up the rude comments and everyone will know which woman will be giving it to you.

I started in Kenpo karate and I loved it because of the flowing hand techniques. Then I took up Chito-ryu(an off-shoot of Shorin-ryu) and worked very hard in it. I liked it because the instructor had trained in aikido, kendo, and american boxing, as well as the chito ryu and he incorperated it into the system. At the same time I studied Kodokan Judo and it is a passion of mine, so many ways to throw and so few apponents. I also studied Boxing. It was good for increasing my hand speed and punching power. I also study Goju-ryu karate. Good for me in my quest to expand my knowledge. While I was training in chito ryu I dabbled in Isshinryu(it was easy to pick up due to my training in chito ryu which shares a similar lineage). It is great for combat training. The only systems I train in now are Goju ryu, Chito ryu, and Judo. Even though I still use the Kenpo drills for blocking stiking and kicking. Plus I use the punching combinations I learned in boxing.

I think there are merits to starting young and starting at an older age. I started as a teenager and my father started at age 38. I am more flexible and can do some trechniques that he can't seem to pull off, but he was more disciplined than I was when we each started. I think it all depends on the person, some people are not cut out for full-contact fighting and I think it takes a few years experience to find out if you are or not. My children will start training when and only when they show an interest in what their mom and dad like to do. My current master trained his children, but he was unable to keep them going due to distraction by their non-training peers. We all must remember that many of the great masters did not start their training until they were in their late teens or early twenties. Chuck Norris, Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, and many of the great full-contact fighters of our time began their training in the military and that means teens or twenties when they started.

I scored terrible, but all is not lost. I want to make a comment to Eye of the Tiger, if you think you can hit any woman and make her roll around on the floor I have a good one for you. Try and hit my wife hard enough to double her over and you find a world of pain shooting through your body. My wife is 5'7", 125 pounds and a master. She would not only take your punch but return it to you a whole lot more painfully to you! Have a nice day!!!

All of my students wear white until they reach 4thKyu(Green belt) then they can wear any color except all black or grey, which is reserved for instructors and masters only. My demo and competition teams have matching uniforms and they wear them no amtter what their rank.

My wife and I both practise kendo. We use it to help my wife's bunkai with her sword training. She is a master swordswoman and she uses it to also beat me half to death. I teach a little different version of kendo to my students. We use punches, kicks, joint locks, takedowns and the shinai in my version of it. My wife practises kenjutsu, but the kendo armour is a nice way to test skills.

Tai chi does use the double edged sword and so does wushu in some of their forms. Good luck in your training with the double edged sword it is extremely difficult to use.

You should never ever wash your belt no matter what. It should reflect the time and training that you have put in. It may sound weird, but it is supposed to contain the soul of your training. I have the same policy for belt washing as my different instructors when it comes to my students, Wash your belt and you get to start all over again. I will stripp the rank of any student that washes their belt. :argue:

To answer your question, Goju ryu uses both open and closed hand blocks. In every style I have studied we have learned both. As for use it depends on the situation and the need at the time.

If you really want to lose weight you are deffinately going to need to exercise. You can do a wide variety of exercises to build your upper body and any muscle as all will help you lose body fat. If putting pressure on it still hurts go swimming it requires little pressure on your ankles. Try to do some rehab on your ankle to help strengthen it, this will also help burn calories and it will help your ankle a lot. Food should be regulated by what you eat and not how much of course if you eat like a pig you will turn into one. Eat a lot of veggies and low fat meats, do not take in calories from the things you drink. This means drink only water and limit your caffeine intake.

Coin toss, I would have to say either straight jab(thanks to my boxing coach), toe punch front kick to the knee(Uechi-ryu style), or side thrust kick to the hip region. All have proven effective on the street. "I would no more kick a man in the head, than I would punch him in the foot." -Bruce Lee

Ad, don't worry about it man I lose my lunch before and after a fight. The best way to learn to deal with it is to fight more often. If you are only training, go and fight in the ring where your opponent is trying to kick your butt, at least he has training. In time you will learn to deal with it like every fighter that has come before you. If you come to a point where you are not scared to fight, then you need to get nervous.

I agree with Taezee in that you will have to be patient and continue stretching. Try balancing against something and throw your kicks as high as you can using your balancing point to keep from falling down. If you want to do more than this try ballet it is a great help in strengthening your hips for high kicks. Now kickchick it is not nice to bash on the elderly that think they know all about everything and us young wippersnappers don't know squat. I tried the old fart's methods and got nowhere fast. Just keep practising and you will get it.