Truestar

It's been such a long time, simply rereading the other two to catch up is the long option. I'll have to pick it up.

My lowest was 0.369 with pink. Then tensed up so much on one I blew a fuse and twitched.

Congrats on the promotion!

In any situation where conflict is possible we have different levels of that fight and how it escalates. Do you create your own rules? Does your school have rules you follow? Police officers are allowed to use one level higher in a conflict in order to maintain control of a situation. Do you have the same philosophy? The five levels we learn of which I believe are widespread taught (not sure though) are: Heightened Awareness Avoidance/Verbalization Light Contact/Controlling Technique Heavy contact/Combative technique Deadly physical force Do you have similar rules/philosophy?

In our school we teach the "5 Tenets". Basically at white belt these are learned right off the bat and they are expected to be memorized. We have Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit. Unfortunately I seem to be one of the few students who have learned these and remembered them 8 years later from my journey from white to black belt. Do you teach tenets at your school? Do you expect your students to remember them?

Congrats!

That's awesome that your school integrates that kind of entertainment but still manages to have serious tests and testees. Best of luck!

The stripes are simply a visual recognition, to want the rank alone is foolish which is why I try my hardest everyday.

My instructor just promoted one of our black belts to Second Dan during an open house. I was the only other one other than my instructor that knew (which I think displays lots of trust ). He didn't put her through a test, he more like took several weeks to get her back into the grove. She's been training for years and definitely deserved it. Seeing someone get those two slashes only inspires me to keep going forward. Over the past 6 months I've been transformed into a fat yet decent martial artist at red belt, to a bit more slender (still chubby ) and better martial artist at Shodan. Seeing those two slashes just lets me know that the road doesn't end. I couldn't imagine stopping at this point. If only other people took more of the philosophical aspect of the art. Many people view black belt as a perfection, when arguably with some it is not. I think when people reach black belt, know there forms well and know the techniques, they think that there is nothing more to do. I think the path to the Dan rankings is not so much physical afterwards, but mental. While there are still patterns to be learned after Shodan a lot of it is doing your best to perfect your current technique, and to look into yourself a little bit deeper. (My bit of the Dan rankings not being physical shouldn't be read into though, you still have to maintain a certain level of fitness, hopefully you guys know what I mean )

I was doing this a bit this morning. Each Saturday we advanced guys come in a do some sparring and grappling above the norm in class. One guy who has been training with us recently did more Olympic style TKD and showed me this. It definitely is great for sparring in class, I don't know how tournaments would take it though. I find the hardest part of doing this is remembering what to do afterwards. Instead of moving back you should move to the side, that way you have a better way of counterattacking immediately after blocking. Once I learn to start perfecting the technique I'm positive it will come in handy.

That was definitely cool.

Today was their first class to my surprise. They did surprisingly well and didn't give up. The warmup was tougher than the Little ninja class but they stuck with it with some smiles to go along with it. I don't foresee a major problem.

Pretty soon we'll be moving a couple 7 year olds up to a new class that is going to be a bit more structured than our Little Ninja class. They are good students but often have a hard time concentrating or getting motivated and the new class isn't as much "fun" as the class they are currently in. Our Little Ninjas generally do basic activities to enhance their abilities that they are currently developing as children and the class doesn't focus on real "heart-pounding" material. I'm sure my head instructor will help me along the way as I continue to learn to be a better teacher with young children, but I was wondering what some people here thought or would do.

Sounds like a good test to me. Our school has recently gotten back into the harder stuff. It used to be the day where nobody whined about getting hurt. Some of us are getting into that life now. No pads light contact sparring into take-downs whenever you can set up then into grappling. If you can get up into sparring again, you do. That's the kind of stuff the more advanced students are doing in our school. For my black belt test the group was somewhat fragile (younger guys and girl going for different belts) and unfortunately nobody else was ready for black. But stuff like that has been included in some of our tests. Hopefully if I test for 2nd Dan it will be with the current black belts who are currently a rough group.

That's hardly sad or paranoid Tiger. In fact that heightened awareness could save your life or someone you love someday.

Hey ShorKid, Do you have any details you'd like to share? Do you perform your katas? All of them or a certain one? Do you spar or have physical requirements? (Certain amount of push-ups, or chin-ups etc.)

I saw a ridge hand to the throat while watching "Depth Charge" on Spike TV last night. Now yes, it was a movie however it was the guys finishing move. He got his opponent to his knees and before the opponent could do anything he lambasted him with the strike. So I wouldn't see using this strike in the midst of a fight, maybe towards the end (if its obvious the fight is coming to an end). It seems effective for keeping an opponent down allowing time to get help or get away.

Don't discount everyone due to age! I am in my mid 40's and can still throw these kicks plus a few others. The old knees do not appreciate it so I do not regularly practice some of them but I do demonstrate and teach them to all my students-regardless of age. Small modifications may be necessary for physical limitations until the student progresses but they are expected to practice as taught and most eventually get it. Absolutely. My instructor in his late 40's still throws a great looking jumping kick. Flexibility and power I definitely know can come from all ages and sizes.

Congrats Tiger!

At the age of 16 I do a number of jumping kicks in our TKD school. Jumping Front Jumping Side Jumping Roundhouse Jump Turning Back Jump Spinning Hook Jump Spinning Crescent In a real fight most of these would be impractical, but situations vary. I might see using the hook if I'm fighting an inexperienced slow opponent but I find jumping kicks in general to be risky in a real fight. We also differentiate between jumping and hopping. Hopping kicks are used for distance whereas jumping kicks are used for height. My young age is probably what allows me to do these kicks.

I couldn't ever imagine signing a contract for classes. Is this common? At our school we have to register with contact info and medical info, and you pay for class. If you come, you pay, if you don't come you don't pay. If you don't come for an extended amount of time when you decide to come back you may or may not keep your belt. It depends on the circumstances. Signing a contract seems extreme though, and in my opinion a bad idea. I mean, are you technically legally bound to show up once you've signed? If so I would reconsider ever signing one again for Martial Arts classes. Then again, this is the first time I've heard of a contract for a school.

Bread and butter would be healthier. Yeah I definitely understand that. Being in the working class cost has always been a hassle and time. One parent works until 5, the other until 3. But there's constantly work after that too. Dinner always seems to be a hassle but I totally understand why people buy it. We'll still buy it too, but dang. We were just shocked when we looked at the back of it.

I'm sitting here looking for lunch, I'm going to have Chef Boyardee ravioli simply because, well...there's nothing else here. Not enough eggs for anything, and nothing to make subs with. Have you ever really looked at the nutrition facts for this stuff? 950mg of sodium. On a 2,000 calorie diet that's 40%. We've pretty much started cutting this stuff out of my sisters diet. I'd much rather go to a restaurant and get some real ravioli.

I think the knife hand can definitely deliver more power, however I wouldn't totally throw the ridge hand out of the picture. Placing a ridge hand at the septum or throat will certainly do some damage. We teach the ridge hand in three ways, inside, outside, and downwards. A serious Martial Artist would probably assume that downwards wouldn't really work. As long as you get generate the power inside and outside could work if placed in the right spot. I can see throwing a ridge hand to the head, and bam. My hand is already in a good position to go for a grab to the arm or neck. I think it has its uses.

For me the only way to have popcorn is to load it with butter, and I only have it during a movie. But I also have the sweet tooth so if they really did ever get rid of popcorn in the movies there's plenty of candy to sne....err.buy.