marie curie

Could you have recently encountered light injuries to your back or knees? If you have, then the repeditive motion and force you encurr when running could be the culprit. Have you had x-rays? Stress fractures are pretty common, and if you get an injury at one location (like your lower back), then other places can hurt due to your body overcopensating and transferring more force to them ( like your knees)... Just something to think about.

Thanks for sticking up for all us dog-lovers!

Excellent Post! Thank you for the good information!

I'm a chick and a scientist, soooo, when I can't think of anything, this is what I pick

Absolutely nothin- everything that I've done I've learned too much from to miss out. I wouldn't want to be right where I am. Well... maybe I would have bet a 3 in race 7 instead of that 5..... nah

Has anyone ever lifted a broad sword? HEAVY! So, I can't really see that one being reasonable for any of us non-powerlifters

Probably one of the Gracies, Sanada Yukimuraor any old ninja, Inosanto- but I'd need lots of time- he goes really fast Emparado

I think that this question is a little too broad. Can you learn all of MA online? Of course not. You can't learn all of MA at one school- and I wouldn't try learning even the entirety of 1 MA online. However.... Can you learn an element of MA online? Most can! I've learned many techniques from descriptions and pictures. My boyfriend learns well from videos of other people doing techniques. So, the internet is a great supplement!

In our school, testing is more of a demonstration of your MA technique and overall fitness. It publicly demonstrates your worthiness of the new rank to others. Nobody has ever failed a belt test in our school because you don't test unless you are absolutely ready. I like it this way. With respect, Sohan Then what is the point of the testing? I've seen people that were rock solid on everything, get to the test and fall apart. What happens at your dojo in that case? Aodhan We feel one proves themselves in the many hours spent in the dojo. Our promotions do not come easily, and we lose new students frequently to McDojos who provide gimme promotions every few months. Perhaps we could simply present belts in a ceremony to those who earn them (field promotions do occur in class in special instances of outstanding performance), but the test offers an public opportunity to display one's skills--and display they must. Sure, I have seen people who have struggled somewhat in their belt tests (which are quite challenging and can last up to 6+ hours), but I personally have never seen anyone who was rock solid in class who fell apart on the test. One certainly could potentially fail our promotion test, but I guess we're just very picky about who gets the opportunity. With respect, Sohan Good post- this is how my schools have been, too. Well... the ones that I have stayed at anyway. My old school, like my new one for higher ranks, required a panel of instuctors from other schools to grade you. We were not sent to a test unprepared, but it was vital that someone other than the people that we trained with (someone neutral) verified our skills. I had one test early on- I was testing for my blue belt and I was about 12 years old- that I was quite shaky on. I knew the stuff solid, but I was way nervous. My Sensei went to the panel and told them that I knew the kata that I had done poorly, but that I was nervous for my first big belt test (blue came after yellow). Two of the guys pulled me aside later and asked me to do the kata again, and -releived that I had another chance- I did it wonderfully, and was promoted-even complimented by the judes. The point is, that I did everything else well, and had my Sensei's word. While having gotten lost in one kata (the first event), the testing panel was able to see what I could do and promoted me accordingly.

Yeh, I've gotten out of some choke holds, but it was only in MMA fighting, and usually it is a good elbow that just lets them loosen for a second.

This is changing! When I was in Japan in 2002, I stayed with a married couple- the woman was Korean and the husband was Japanese. Kong- the woman told me that this inter-marrying was very common, as Korean women are raised to be a little more "wild" (that's the word that she used) than Japanese women, and that many Japanese men were growing to like that, while Korean Men were wanting more of the "calm" Japanese woman. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200407/200407290028.html http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=664 Japanese Men Marrying Foreign Women China 10,242 Phil. 7,794 Koreas 5,318 Thai 1,445 USA 156 UK 65 Brazil 295 Peru 139 Other 2,427 Total 27,881 Japanese Women Marrying Foreign Men Koreas 2,235 China 890 Phil. 117 Thai. 62 USA 1,529 U.K. 334 Brazil 265 Peru 125 Other 2,601 from... http://www.mhlw.go.jp/toukei/saikin/hw/jinkou/suii03/marr2.html Anyway, as to the topic- I think that people right now largely know what TKD is (thank you olympics), however, people of an older generation may not- My mom, for example, is in her mid 40' and before I was an MA person, thought of it all as Karate because that is the term that was popularized in movies when she was younger. Soooo- if it was a school started like 20 years ago- it seems reasonable that it would be called "Karate", and even 5 or 10 years ago this generation was the make-up of the Mom's and Dad's that were picking out the places.- just my 2 cents

Welcome fosforlu! mmmmm. Baklava...

Ooooh Nevermore! Good choice!

sidekicks and roundhouses rock my socks- but today I choose roundhouses (regular- not thai- I have pansy shins, so I don't do thai kicks)

Head Gear x2 Hand Pads x2 Foot Pads x2 Chest guard (depending on tournament) Mouthguard x2 Shinpads x2 Gi x2 (Never know when you'll start bleeding) Obi xlots RashGuard Shirt Clothes for after (new everything including underthings) Washcloth to clean up after Deodorant Organization card if needed ID if needed Money Mobile Bananas!!! Totally!!! It's what I eat too! Few packs of PB crackers Water Gatorade (Yes, both- whichever you feel like is probably what you need) Snicker's Bar MA journal/pencil Tylenol (doesn't thin your blood) Medical Tape Bandaids (including blister bandaids- they will stay on if you med tape them) Firstaid stuff Camera Book Yeh, well, that's a ton, but I'm a good packer, and kind-of karate-mom for our group

I like 80's training montage music!

Welcome James- enjoy the forums!

Welcome Heather!

I think the problem lies more in the eyes of a jury who thinks those crazy martial arts people have mystical powers and should be able to subdue anyone with their pinkey. After all, that's how it works in the movies. I think it really comes down to a matter of using only sufficient force to ensure your safety. In Georgia we now have the right to use "deadly force" against someone out in public if we believe our lives or property are in danger. Martial artists can be held to a higher standard if their skills are brought up in court, but the onus is really on the state to make the case that the force was unjustified. I'm no lawyer but this is how I understand it. Respectfully, Sohan Ok, I'm pretty sure that I've posted this two or three times before.... but repeat threads most certainly happen. There is no "per se" law reguarding martial artists or black belts, such as, "If you are a black belt, then you can not XXXX." There is a concideration of "reasonable response". If the court knows that you are a martial artist, and you went nuts on some guy, then they are probably going to say that you had the reasonable ability to stop the danger to you, before going that distance - turning the original aggressor into the victim, and you into the aggressor. Also, lawyers can paint a picture to a jury of you being a crazy ninja going around killing people for fun or whatever, if you don't have good charater witnesses and "good standing" in the community. Note for fun and knowledge- Never take someone's weapon away from them, and beat them with it- this also switches the aggressor/victim rules, and you will be in trouble.

Maybe they could teach sport martial arts instead of traditional- Olympic Style TKD or Olympic Style Judo? I hear what someone said about kids with behaviour problems attacting teachers (my mother is a 4th grade teacher and has been attacked by small children twice). One certainly cannot say, "If you have this disorder, you cannot participate in this activity." Hmm... Maybe not like in P.E. class, but as a sport. Sports teams have always been allowed to kick kids off the team for bad behaviour. This way, the kid will at least have a chance to prove him/her self as well-behaved enough to participate.

This doesn't seem like any different a situation than an "uncomfortable situation in a grappling class" with a girl (or for me- with a guy). People are just that-people- and no matter their personal lives some are going to see grappling as a sexual opportunity instead of the training that we all go for.

I have a personal journal for events like this too- but I have a specific binder with notes for Kajukenbo- not so much judo/bjj

In my system, we are required to keep a journal of the techniques that we know, forms, etc. I've found that it has helped me a lot in fine-tuning.

Yeh, actually one of the high-schoolers that earned his shodan in my old system was a homosexual, but I don't think that anyone knew- or if they did, no on cared.

Welcome!