bushido_man96

I agree. Its meant to instill a sense of discipline as to who is in charge, and a hierarchy of sorts for the order of the classes. If its run right, things should correct themselves most of the time, and the students know where and when to fall in line.

I've got some of the reproduced fechtbuchs. Love them. Absolutely love them. If I had a place to train around here, I'd do it.

Yes, it is! And when you finally get healthy, we promise we won't trade you like the Royals did with Greg Holland.... Sorry about that....got a little carried away. Get well soon, Danielle!

I'm unclear as to what you mean when you mean one kata beating another. Are you talking in competition? Are you talking about the bukai of one kata vs the techniques of another? I'm a bit confused as to what you are asking.

Everything in moderation (including moderation). It sounds like you're doing great, Bob! Keep it up, we're all pulling for you!

Competition can be a great motivator. However, in you situation, Bob, I think cooperation would be valued over competition. Likewise, in the Martial Arts world, I think competition is what first comes to mind, when we could all benefit more from more cooperation here and there.

Praying for a speedy and full recovery. Its great to see this kind of connection between those who practice and compete with each other.

The main thing with a mouthpiece is just getting used to it, especially if its a requirement. If you don't train with it, and then have to throw one in when you compete, it'll be an adjustment you won't want to have to deal with while also dealing with getting punched in the face.

Welcome to KF! Glad to have you here! As for your dilemma, it sounds like it might be tough to figure out. If you are going to be moving eventually, and you don't have many other options available, sticking with what you've got might be the best bet for now. Earn your first dan, and see if anything changes for you from there. If it doesn't, then you might feel the need to move on then. But being so close to first dan, you might not forgive yourself if you don't at least follow through with that. Best of luck to you, and keep us posted!

You are most welcome! Well-deserved!

That sounds about right.

10/11/2017 TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Basics, assisted with forms, one-steps (white and green), and then combinations.

Wishing you a speedy, and full, recovery, Danielle. Can't imagine what that's like, but hopefully you'll be stronger in the end.

I think that's a good point, Alan. But, I also think that its a phase that many MAists go through, somewhat wishing for an opportunity to prove to themselves that their skills will work when called upon. Its something instructors need to continually address throughout the course of training their students to try to quell that desire.

These "handling skills" should be honed in partner practice, with one-steps and sparring. One-steps can be tricky, though, as they should be used as a basic learning tool, but should be modified in my opinion as time goes on should become more of an engaging exercise between the two practitioners. Not quite sparring, but not as one-sided as one- or three-steps.

Moderation when it comes to exercise and training has more to do with what your body is capable of. My daughter is preparing to run a marathon, so running a 5K would be considered pretty moderate for her. For me, a 5K would probably put me in a wheel chair. Brisk walking for 20 minutes would be more moderate for me, at least in the cardiovascular realm. When it comes to more intense exercise, like Martial Arts or weight training, its going to depend on what makes you really tired, and what makes you break a sweat and just feel kind of warmed up. My guess is that if you get to that warmed up feeling and maintain some time there, then you'd be looking at some moderation. That's the best I think I can put it, so I hope that helps, Bob.

If I'm walking into a formal, traditional MA school, I probably would. When I go to DT training, I do not, because its not the norm there.

Welcome to KF!

Congrats, Luther!

I think the older WTF forms, the Pal Gwe forms, were much closer to the Shotokan origin, but as time went on, the WTF made a very visible effort to differentiate what they did from Shotokan, and so the newer forms were designed and they moved forward from there, and also focused on the differences in sparring.

To the bold, I hear you, and I agree. I don't wish for the opportunity to have to actually use one of these defenses, nor do I ever want my fellow officers to be in that position. You are right about the petty crimes, and yes, it is usually better to just hand over the wallet (I rarely carry cash as it is, so its just my cards). But, I'm of the opinion that if you don't want to turn it over, and you make that decision to use your skills, then fine by me. I won't judge it. The consequences, however, might be severe. I guess what I'm saying is that regardless of how I would handle it, I'm ambivalent to how another might do it. Agreed, 100%. Again, agreed. In the long run, its the best bet, I think. I agree that there are these guys out there, and they can be dangerous to others.

You are right on the money. I'm kind of lucky in that I met my wife at my TKD class, so she pretty much gets it. But, I've got two young boys at home that play sports and have school activities, so I get caught up doing those things a lot. Right now, I get one class in per week. I spend other nights watching my oldest son at football practice, and after that, wrestling season will start up, and I watch both boys at that. Add that into a rotating work schedule with different days off every few months, it gets hard to stay consistent. My weight training has gone out the window for now. Hopefully in a few months, I can get back to it. So, it can be difficult, finding that balance.

I think there has to be a balance in training. If you go full power with sparring partners all the time, you'll quickly run out of sparring partners. To minimize this, its important to also do focus mitt work, bag work, and things like that.

Not doing a good job here, so I'm going to change that. 9/27/2017 TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Basics, stretched out, forms (Yoo Sin), one-steps, sparring. After class, we reviewed our first two three-step sparring sets, and me and one of the youthful and enthusiastic 2nd dans talked and worked some sparring concepts. We also had a visitor pop in for class tonight. It was a gentleman who was a black belt at the academy when I joined up many years ago. He had moved to one of the Dakotas for work in 2002. He stated he should be popping in now and then, which would be really cool. It was nice to see him, and he stated he had started up Shotokan a little while ago, which is cool. I figured he had been doing something, because he slipped and answered with Osu a couple of times. He also let a few hand techniques to the head slip in sparring, which was fun. At any rate, it was good to see an old, familiar face pop back into class.

I agree with Bob. I think things have gotten so far afield that unification is just a pipe dream that gets talked about now and then with no real plans at doing anything. It would involve too much compromise on one side or the other, and I don't think either side would give that much.