merkury

Repetition. I went crazy with repetition, to the point where I'd be doing them in my head at work, scribbling the moves down on napkins, or typing them up and reading the movements through just to make sure every last movement was correct. Of course, I really went crazy with these memory practices right before my 1st dan test, in which random hyungs from all previous belt levels are called out and performed on the spot.

In Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do, the highest learned form that I am aware of is Kong Sang Goon. As far as applications and such go, I'm useless in relaying info as I'm a 1st dan, and in my style it's typically taught as a 4th dan.

Congrats! Basai is easily one of my favorite hyungs - so many useful movements.

There used to be a shotokan dojo search when 24fightingchickens.com was open... not sure what happened to it. Here's a little google list for now that might provide some leads: http://directory.google.com/Top/Sports/Martial_Arts/Karate/Shotokan/Schools_and_Instruction/North_America/Canada/

This is a voice of reason. Given that the fight had already gone on for some time, I would have broken it up, chatted with him about it, and a) asked if he learned any lessons from the encounter, b) given him advice on how to avoid those situations without physical means, c) as a default, asked if he was interested in studying a martial art to develop proper techniques.

glad to see that, first of all, the dangers of doing such a maneuver have been mentioned. if pulled off properly, a strike to an opponent's knee can, quite simply, remove their ability to walk. obviously this is a move not to be used lightly. having said that, i find it to be one of the best moves possible if you should encounter an individual much much larger than yourself. i'm only 5'7" and 130 lbs.. so it doesn't take much to best me in size. however, i know that if i were to go for my opponent's knee and land a solid blow, the fight is immediately in my favor. in short, very effective, but to be used in rare your-life-is-in-danger circumstances only.

Which should I, personally, choose for self-defense? I'm 22, 5'8" and relatively fit and athletic. My martial arts background is with a few years of Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do in which I earned my black belt. The style was extremely similar to what I've seen of Shotokan Karate, and the majority of the hyung/kata I learned were basically identical. In other words, it wasn't olympic/tournament based at all, but very linear and grounded. As a result, I feel more than comfortable using my legs, in comparison to my arm maneuvers, which did not receive as much attention. My primary interest is in self-defense. More specifically, I would like to be able to defend myself in physical combat, should it be necessary. I might seek weapon training down the road, but for now I'd prefer to develop empty-handed techniques. I live in a university neighborhood and, as such, typical situations I might encounter are drunk macho guys at a bar or on the street, muggers, or the rowdy neighborhood gangster-types and homeless guys. Judo seems to be a very well developed art, and more practical for self-defense than similar styles I've seen, such as Aikido. However, I have heard a few horror stories of joint manipulation training gone bad that have kept me as far away from them as possible. Nonetheless, I'm very interested in studying the Judo, particularly in combination with either Shotokan or Goju Ryu. What are the strengths/weaknesses of these styles, and which do you think would suit my situation best? As of this moment, I'm 80% set on taking Judo (M/W/F) and Shotokan (T/Th) concurrently at my university. Thanks again for any input - it's more than appreciated.