danbong

How important is it for you to know if you were insulted or not? And if you were insulted, would that change anything? FWIW, my observation is that in shotokan, feedback is usually given in very blunt terms. And it is pretty black and white, too. Either you are doing it "the shotokan way" or it's wrong. I think that's partly due to cultural considerations and partly because in shotokan everything is tightly tied together and everything has to be "just so" for maximum effectiveness. And from a technical standpoint, there are many differences between shotokan and tae kwon do in kicking, not just how high you kick. So it is quite likely that it was an observation of technique.

I recommend training in the best style for you that is available in your area. Once you get to first or second degree it will be much easier to train long distance. At that point you might be able to train once a week or so and will have an easier time finding a training partner locally who also wants to learn long distance.

His name is Jimmy Coaxum. We were at the Department of Energy Office at Rocky Flats. When it closed up shop he relocated and is now in Amarillo, TX.

$130 a month for group classes is very typical in high cost or large metropolitan areas. It looks like Clarksburg is on the edge of Washington DC, so that would fit both counts. If you have a modest size school in a desirable location in those areas, rent alone is easily $4000 and up per month. So you need to have 40 to 50 students paying over $100 a month just to break even. That explains the marketing drive to enroll students and the fairly (to you) expensive tuition. Oh, and let's not forget, the landlord typically wants to see 6 months of rent in the bank, which means that you have to have $25,000 cash on hand. Not too many people are going to make that kind of investment just to hope to break even. For some of the other items you listed - spending lots of time working on basic techniques is the sign of a non-McDojo. That's how you build great technique, not how you attract and retain lots of lazy students. Age doesn't matter too much. Young instructors tend to have lots of energy and enthusiam. And you can have a ton of good experience by the time you are 25. On the other hand, they might not have highly developed people skills. Sometimes younger instructors also think that because martial arts is the most important thing in their life, it should be the most important thing in yours too. My summary would be that don't worry about if your school is a McDojo or not. Think about if your school is meeting your needs or not.

Back in the mid 90's a friend I worked with started learning BJJ at that school. He seemed to like it.

I guess somebody should tell Bill Wallace that he shouldn't have won all of those fights because he was doing it wrong from a technical perspective. Personally, I don't bounce, it feels totally wrong for me, but the fact is that it worked for some awsome fighters.

Then double congradulations are in order

Maybe the author thinks light contact point sparring is "fighting". In addition to the back leg roundhouse of kyokushin and muay thai, there's the back leg front kick of shotokan. And the axe kick usually done with the back leg. As the others have said, you need to set up back leg kicks properly, but that's really true of any technique.

I originally had a cheap single mouthguard and it was very difficult to mold, but I eventually got it to fit. When I switched to a top of the line double muothguard http://www.martialartssupermarket.com/index.cfm?action=moreinfo&itemid=9776 it was much easier to mold and fits with way better - and it offers much more protection to boot.

Most of them are made of a special plastic that softens when heated. When you first get them you put them in very hot water and them into your mouth. When they cool down they harden and are fitted to your teeth.

Tiger Claw sells 14 oz cotton gis in black that have elastic waistbands. http://www.martialartsmart.net/112uniform.html

Many good ideas so far. You can also tell him that you will get introuble and kicked out of the school if you teach without being authorized.

Actually it's worse than that. Olympic rules state that you can't push. So when two fighters get in very close they do what guys in my school call "chicken fighting" - they rub chest protector to chest protector with their arms straight out at the sides. They don't wear hand gear because they aren't allowed to punch to the face. I wonder what will happen as the new Olympic style rules allowing face punches trickles down to local tournaments.

Navy pilots have a saying for that - "your ego is writing checks your body can't cash"

Is it very common to have 45-60 minute bjj classes? My impression was that most bjj schools have fairly long classes.

If you study at the Satori Academy, that is the name that Kovar's is doing their nationwide expansion with. Their base is Tracy Style kenpo.

I don't use a back stance but not because my knee might be hyperextended if kicked. First of all, in a back stance your front leg should not be straight. Secondly, if your knee is kicked hard straight on with your knee bent you would still be injured. A fractured knee cap would be the likely outcome. The stance I use looks like a boxer's stance but is actually much closer to a shotokan fighting stance (what they call a short stance), but with hands held high. I've seen back stances used very successfully. The key is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the stance and to use appropriate tactics. For example, since your weight is on your back leg, you should have very quick counter kicks. And you might set your opponent up by throwing a few front leg kicks (just pick your foot up and kick) that fall short of your target. Then pick up your foot and skip in while you kick.

I have two suggestions: 1. In many kung fu schools they do drills to toughen the forearms. A simple partner drill is for both partners do an inside block and then a down block. Start easy and as your forearms get conditioned, block with more force. 2. In shotokan they do hard blocks with a twisting of the forearm ar the very end of the block. So first contact is made with the "meaty" part of the arm instead of the boney part.

http://jkdunlimited.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=10

The vast majority of the exams I have seen give a pass or fail result. Of course you don't need to wait for your exam. You can always ask your instructor at any time what areas you need to work on and what do you do well.

Bushidoman hit the nail on the head. This is THE drill to use. Another solid drill. Be sure to do the leg lifts to the front, side and back.

No matter what command you use in class - break, stop, yame, you should keep your defenses up as you separate. I guess this thread emphasises why this is important in terms of real self defense training.

It is a Kuk Sool derivative. http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sulkido/HIS/instruct.shtml

You can't steer a parked car. Even if you aren't doing it very well, you need to pratice lots. Then as your body gets used to doing the approximate motion it will get easier to make the changes your instructor suggest. You might ask your instructor if he has specific drills that would help you improve the specific technique. For example, doing slow motion kicks using the wall or a chair for support.

I was a Navy nuke, so my ego was always being beaten down And while there were many humbling incidents while training in martial arts, that training taught me the perseverance needed to keep going after those wonderful "one way" department head to division officer conversations.