Zaine

I agree. I would also guess that it started somewhere in Africa or the Middle East. Possibly it started in Mesopotamia. Possibly somewhere far away and much earlier that we have discovered yet. This whole topic would be a very interesting paper (if you have to do one) for a black belt test requirement.

I wouldn't think that it would be much better. Ask yourself this, however. If you are ever confronted with a situation in which you would have to defend yourself, would it be better for you to use techniques that are painful for you and therefore maybe weaker because of it, or would you be better off using techniques that work for your body. Most martial arts aren't made for every body type and instructors know this. That is why we push our students to understand the technique that our respective systems teach while at the same time stressing that if something works for you, it works for you. If it doesn't, then it doesn't and there is nothing wrong with this. If you enjoy your school, then stick with it and modify the techniques to fit your body.

Welcome to KF!

Awesome! Congrats! My school started out in black gis for whatever reason. I guess it's just what my instructor preferred. When we got to black belt we were allowed to wear blue pants.

That's true! The funny thing is that as time moved on the long sword started to get made more for thrusts as well due to the nature of the armor worn by the opposing side. So while it was still great for slashing, it became more and more apt at killing with the point as well. http://www.worksofrichardmarsden.com/historyofthelongsword.htm If you have the time, this is a cool article. There is a pictured timeline that illustrates the evolution.

Awesome! The soreness will go away and come back when you start new things. Soreness is just part of the journey, eventually you will use all of those muscles on a regular basis and it will be much easier! Keep it up and have fun!

I've never run one but I've been to one. They're definitely possible through insurance (or at least that's what the organization running it said) you just have to do some research, maybe talk to some lawyers to get the necessary paperwork. I remember having a lot of fun, it was only a weekend but there was a lot of seminars, morning work outs, they provided meals (none of them were that great at cooking but what lacked in flavor was made up for in the community that you ate with).

Do this. It's good that you've made an appointment. Too many Martial Artists that I've known have ignored injuries such as this and ended up making it MUCH worse that it was ever going to be.

A few! Overlooked that question. http://www.youtube.com/user/scrimatore For the Schola Saint George you can find them here.

Definitely. It takes a lot of body control to pull these off.

That would be cool. The obstacle to that is finding which part to make safer and which rules to impose or restrict from the regular UFC.

Nope! Judo injury to his right knee took care of that when he was much younger. He actually has a funny story about his kickboxing days as to why they don't call him "Superfeet." While fighting in the ring he once kicked with his right foot and it made contact, which gave him a 100% success rate for that foot, so he decided not to ever use that foot again so that he could maintain that accomplishment. In all actuality he doesn't, as a general rule, because of the Judo injury but the story was a fun way to mystify the people at the seminar.

Awesome graph! It's really interesting to see how it all breaks down. Thanks for posting!

To quote a wise jedi master:

Good luck to you hammer.

First of all, welcome to the forum! With regard to your question, I'm afraid it's a little to vague to give you a more specific answer than the ones you've already been given. Proper training over time will develop the technique, speed, power, and composure under pressure necessary to defend yourself. Hopefully. I will be honest with you--there is no martial art that can guarantee you will overcome a larger attacker 100% of the time. The best they can do is give you a much better chance than you would have without martial arts training. Agreed. Although I cannot give you an answer from a feminine perspective, I can relate my experience fighting larger people. My sensei was both taller and larger than any of his students and because of this we spent time learning techniques to use against a bigger opponent. So there are a plethora of techniques that allow you to effectively defeat a larger opponent but, like Wastelander has said, there is no guarantee. Just as there is no guarantee that a larger opponent will defeat a smaller one.

Good luck to you!

sh Nunchaku are an advanced weapon for my school that is learned right before Shodan. The children class never touches anything other than a bo. So I also cringe at that.

I'm not as worried about lineage. If the martial art is effective then I'm okay with it, but that's just me. I am also okay with weapons at a lower rank. We started learning weapons at 9th Kyu and there was never a problem. As long as your instructor puts emphasis on the safety aspect of weapons I think that there is no problem. Again, that is just me.

Exactly. That is why at first it is important for one to have another job. Although I think that I would do my best to not have to use my living funds to pay something like rent for my karate studio.

This is going to seem like a cop out but it's going to be as useful as you make it. I can see a lot of ways where Kyokushin would compliment Muay Thai and a lot of ways where it might become a detriment. It all comes down to your ability to find out which concepts would help and which ones would be more detrimental.

If Tokaido Yakudo has a chart use their chart. I generally go with the height chart for myself.

Happy Birthday!

A couple of factors go into it for me.1) What are others charging for similar services? 2) What's it going to cost me to keep my school running month to month (i.e. rent, paying any additional instructors if there are any, insurance etc.) From there I can set a price that will allow me keep my school running.

For me, it's about 5-10 minutes, so I'm a little lucky in that area