Zaine

The philosophies that she speaks of are very Renaissance. These are all things that people like Descartes, Hume, and Locke were worried over when she talks about exploring within one's self. This should not be surprising, as Lee studied philosophy quite often. She is right, though; there is something magnetic about Bruce Lee. He was very charismatic and seemed to embody what being a martial artist is all about. A lot of martial artists look up to him and I think that they should. If we want to continue to grow, whether or not we do so as a martial artist, being honest with oneself is incredibly important. Lee saw that clearly, which is why he pushed for martial artists to live this way.

Congrats! Well deserved!

I actually have heard of them, they have a dojo in Huntsville AL. I have never had any interaction with them, but they did get into an argument with a friend for giving them an honest review after they were less than respectable to one of their young child students that culminated, as I understand it, in them being financially dishonest with the family. Afterwards the friend received a number of less than friendly emails that threatened various actions if she did not take the review down. So, my instinct is to stay away from them. However, they could be great in that location. Check them out, and trust your gut.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you, good luck on your search! My first system was also Matsumura Seito, who was your sensei?

Happy Holidays to all!

Let's do this 2016 1) Continue learning! 2) Be more active in my local MA community.

Nailed it. While this wasn't the most productive martial arts year I've had, it was still a good one, and I never stopped learning.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Happy Holidays KF!

Congrats Devin! That's super exciting!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Congrats to all the winners! They are all well deserved!

I agree with the sentiment and will add that most police forces have a baton (often shaped like a tonfa) which, I think, already fills the space that a nunchaku would fill. Furthermore, it is a lot easier to wield, and a lot easier to control for someone who has no idea how to hold one.

Please don't spend a large amount of time stretching out daily. You can overstretch your body and doing so will cause you to not perform as well; especially when it comes to static stretches, which a lot of martial arts studios practice. I recently saw a video that used a good metaphor for this: imagine that your muscle is a rubber band. If you put a rubber band in a freezer and then take it out cold and stretch it then the threshold to it breaking is going to be quite low. However, if you stretch that rubber band while it is warm then it can stretch for much longer before breaking. This is true for your muscles as well. When we prepare for any exercising we should be doing dynamic stretches. That is, stretch out while moving and even then we should not be doing this for much more than 5 minutes because, again, when we over stretch we actually create a bigger chance of hurting ourselves. So be careful with your stretching practices. Tension can come from stress and other areas as well. I suggest looking at some relaxation techniques, yoga, or changing the way you stretch if you're just doing static stretches.

Well said Heidi, thank you!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

That's cool that you're still present in your dojo. I think that shows commitment. Are you doing PT?

That's a tough one, but I have always been fond of doing things with my hands. At the end of the day, I love jabbing. It sets up so many other things and is just a quick little reminder to your opponent that they are getting close enough for me to act.

In the end, it's the work ethic that really separates the wheat from the chafe. Like I am fond of saying: Martial arts is 30% classroom training, 70% solo training.

Congrats! Well deserved!

Wow, I'm glad that you are alive and recovering! It's good to have you back with us!

On the point of having another instructor do the test: I like it as well as long as there are uniform standards and sometimes there aren't, especially in a larger organization. This is easily solved, however, by a testing board (which is something that many schools do for higher tests anyway). When I got my Shodan, my board consisted of my instructor, and 3 other instructors from different systems. It took one instructor writing fail on their paper to fail me as the passing status had to be unanimous. While these other instructors could not have a perfect idea as to whether or not I was doing the kata correctly (in fact, I had forgotten the entire nunchaku kata and confidently made the movements I did up as I went) they were close enough in practice to judge whether or not my mindset, technical skill, and fighting prowess were up to the level of Shodan. I think this is invaluable for any Shodan test as it gives a different perspective on your own techniques. As for the testing cycle, I certainly understand Jr 137's points. Tradition, rite of passage, etc. are all very important to the journey. After every test I felt a sense of euphoria upon the confirmation that I passed. However, when we take this away and reserve it for higher ranks, such as Lupin1's karate school, are we really taking away from an experience? I guess what I'm trying to ask is this: if we took away a testing structure, reserving it for higher ranks, are we limiting the growth or encouraging learning? As a school teacher I teach my kids to love learning and I try to make the knowledgeable about the material that they have. It's worthless to limit oneself to what is going to be on a test. If we take away this cycle, and focus more on imbuing a love of the material and being more open to what they learn and when they learn it will that be more beneficial or less beneficial to the student? I feel as if I've convoluted what I want to say so to close: say a student is learning Pinan shodan and they have grasped it firmly enough to move on to nidan but have not progressed in other areas enough for a belt test then often they are held from learning nidan until everything else is in place. This can stagnate the students desire to come back. If we didn't worry about tests are meeting requirements, we potentially free ourselves from teaching requirements and move to teaching what they are ready for (assuming that the techniques and areas that are not up to par do not affect whether or not they can handle learning a different kata). I hope what I'm trying to say is coming across.