lordtariel

wle.com is a pretty good site. I bought my white oak bo from them and was pretty happy with it. Also, try talking to your instructor... sometimes they get deals on equipment, or find someone else who needs to buy a long weapon and share shipping costs.

I think it goes back to the old days where a master would put a prospective student through harsh trials to ensure his dedication to study and character before he taught them. Standing in horse stance for an entire day, running miles and miles, hauling water up and down a hill... We live in a time now where it's relativly easy to find instructors and get into classes. By sticking through with your training and showing your character, you're proving you are worth teaching. Now this is just one interpretation, I'm sure there's many more out there. Also, I could study martial arts years and years and still not master the "basics" Because they're so fundamentally tied into everything we do, it's important to have a very solid grasp on them. Just my couple of cents. I do tend to ramble.

If actual violence were occuring I would have to intervene... carefully. I'd try to draw attention to what's going on, sometimes that's enough to get the person to run. If not, at least you have witnesses that aren't so messed up in the head that they'd defend the attacker and blame you. I don't think I could live with myself if I did nothing.

Yoga has been great in getting my kicks higher and my legs stronger. I was amazed at how much a good workout can kick your butt. I also practice tai chi for ballance and breathing.

It can be done in a couple of days Go online and buy a belt... Can it be done legitimately in less than two years? Sure... here's the secret. Spend 10-16 hours a day training hard, seven days a week for two years. If you can still maintain a high dedication to training, odds are you deserve the belt. Otherwise, expect 3-6 years at a good school, but remember, a black belt symbolizes that you are ready to BEGIN your training. Don't worry about how fast you can get it.

Welcome to the forums.

Welcome to KF

I wouldn't be too concerned about him yelling, but I would have asked him to watch his language around children. Some people don't have an issue with using the word hell, but some do, and it's not for him to decide who does and who doesn't, especially in the dojo. If kids sitting on the radiators is an issue, maybe something needs to be done to either keep the kids from getting on them or making them aware of the dangers of getting on them.

While I don't believe it's some deep powerful mystical secret thing, I do believe that everybody does have some kind of internal energy that can be minipulated in different ways.

Occasionally class is light on students and sensei allows us to choose what we want to study. I was thinking of asking to learn one of the non-rank requirement katas. I can't decide which one to learn though.

Not necessarily, it's easier to do with vertical cuts and difficult to do with horizontal cuts, but you can stick to the side of his sword and guide it's movement with your own. I guess it's more redirecting as opposed to deflecting though.

A lot of the stuff you do in judo is useful. Maybe not as useful as Jujitsu or other arts, but then again, I've never tried them. I think the most useful thing I got out of judo is how to deal with people who try to grapple and to not be afraid of getting in close. If you're serious about learning grappeling, it may not be the best bet, but since school MA classes are considerably cheaper than most places, it's a good compromise, especially if you just want a passing familiarity with it..

Look for some way to put a safe distance between you and the weapon. The great thing about defending against hand weapons(not range weapons) is that they are only effective up to a certain range. Short of throwing his weapon(really stupid), the guy with the sword probably isn't going to be able to hit you if you're more than 10 feet away. The more dangerous option is to get in really close and try and gain control of the weapon or the arm holding the weapon. Look for things you can use as a weapon... sand, gravel, branches, pvc piping, bottles, pushbrooms, ect. Just about anything can be useful if you're creative enough.

It's always good to practice in mixed ranks, but at the same time, training with people at the same level is good as well. Try to balance the two, go to a beginner class from time to time and go to an advance class from time to time. It'll teach you prespective.

It was an accident, you should apologize. Be careful who you hit, you never know who might sue you.

I roll mine up, let it sit for a day, then roll it the other direction. Keep doing that for a bit and it will break it up eventually. Washing works as well, but you run the risk of shrinking the belt.

good luck. Pinan shodan is one of the favorite katas that I know.

It's gotta be either anan or rohai for me.

I do this sometimes to psych myself up, but it's usually in my head, not out loud.

The live action Street Fighter movie was one of the worst I've seen.

Unlike now where we grind the nicked edges of a blade away to make it sharp, I believe they took a certain type of stone and polished it until it was sharp. It's a pretty expensive process that you can still have done in some cutlery shops today.

As a general rule, tai chi tends to be less structured than most martial arts. There's no real ranking system, most don't require a uniform, and usually there's very little in the way of sparring. The closest it usually comes is push hands, a routine where you try to push your opponent off ballance. Expect to do a lot of training in ballance, body mechanics, and flexibility. If you're lucky you might even pick up some weapon forms. It's really hard to tell you exactly what to expect because like any training, it varies from place to place. Tai chi is a very good complimenting art to other martial arts, is low impact, and relaxing. If you find someone who actually knows what he's doing, it's also an incredibly effective martial art on it's own. Wish I could say I completely understand the martial system behind it.

We got to do some breaking the other day in class and we used these rebreakable boards. On the back, they had a thickness rating of .5-2.5 boards. My question is, what is the size and thickness of a wood board for breaking? How do they compare to the rebreakable ones?

The great thing about sparring in class is that it's fighting in a safe environment. You can take some chances, do things differently than you normally do... If they score, no big deal, you're learning what's effective and what's not. Doing sometimes defensively unsound techniques a good way to get out of that total defense rut that's easy to fall into.

In case anyone is wondering, I'm not poking fun at this forum. Just thought it was humorous.