lordtariel

It depends on how far you take it. A little competition is a good thing. It keeps you honest in your training and gets you motivated. As long as it stays positive, there's no harm in it. Rivalry that drives you to win at any cost isn't necessarily a good thing.

Whoever sweats the most in training, bleeds the least in war. Only a warrior chooses pacifism; others are condemned to it. Strategy is the craft of the warrior. -- Miyamoto Musashi If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kick-boxing.

Just because he has three locations doesn't necessarily mean he teaches at all three. He may have hired other instructors or had other students come up through the ranks. On the other hand, maybe it is. It would require more research and observation to find out.

It's called Redbelt. I just heard about this movie the other day. It sounds really intriguing. Anyone else heard of it? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1012804/ http://www.usadojo.com/articles/david-mamet-fight-hollywood.htm

....... I don't know about this one. I think I'll let other people watch it first. Wonder who they're going to get to fill Bruce's shoes?

Welcome to the forums.

I'm envious, I haven't gotten any martial arts books in a long time. Let us know how they turn out.

Glad you were able to find somewhere you like.

Not to mention, my contract has a escape provision for moving and/or family emergencies. In the event of illness or injury, the contract gets paused, and I start paying again when I recover. That way I don't get charged for months that I was unable to attend. Those are important things to look for in my opinion, when going into a contract.

In my experience you usually get charged more to avoid a contract. It really depends on the area you're in and who you're instructor is. I pay $65 a month, for essentially the same thing, but I'm in a two year contract. It'd be about $10 a month more if I wanted to go contract-free. That's what it really comes down to. Some places charge $70-100 a month and are mcdojo's, others are in that price range and are quality instructors. I'd personally pay extra to have a quality instructor. $80 a month to be able to train almost any day of the week isn't bad when you consider some of the cheaper places only offer two - three classes a week.

Don't know. Maybe it's an ATA site. I just googled xma teams and that one came up.

Woooo! Wait to go!

We'd be required to commit seppuku.

http://www.xmarevolution.com/XMASchoolProfiles/tabid/53/Default.aspx List of XMA Dojos. You can select Australia from the list.

Doesn't sound unreasonable. Do you have belt testing fees and if so, how much?

It's not so much the kata that's important, it's the technique. You get the technique down and any kata you do will be good. It's just learning sequence. And to be clear, all 59 aren't required to get shodan.

There's nothing wrong with XMA. It's a little too theatrical for me, but there's nothing wrong with it. It's not practical in a self defense situation, but it wasn't developed for self defense and has never tried to assert that it was. I don't see what the fuss is about. As for finding other teams, just do a search on google for "XMA teams" and you should get some. "XMA Demo Reels" on youtube should also bring up some sampler videos from different groups. You could research from there.

Good Luck! Let us know how it goes.

If an instructor is putting down other arts, I'd definitely think twice about learning from them. It's one thing to talk about the weakness a particular art might have, but it's another to just rip on one.

these are about the same few that we learn We actually threw in morote seionage as well as ippon seionage(2 handed shoulder throw vs 1 handed) Same concept though.

Suppose anything can happen during a fight. Emotions are probably running high and blocking out thought. Most fights I've ever seen(only a couple) are usually pushing and flailing though.

It's like They Might Be Giants... with ninjas!

I'm doomed

I really enjoy push hands.

Well, I do enjoy running. One way to get motivated to it is to pick a 5K(if you're new to running) or 10K race(if you run already) a couple months in advance and sign up for it. Make it your goal to be able to run the entire thing or to complete it by a certain time. There are many programs out there to get you up to running a 5K or 10K in a few months. Swimming is another good exercise because it's a whole body workout on top of cardio as opposed to running which is primarily a lower body workout. Swimming also has the added benefit of being low-impact. Running can cause havoc with your knees and ankles. Also, a swim suit is much cheaper than a good pair of running shoes.