bushido_man96

All too true. A few weeks back we were dealing with a drunk gal, and she ended up slapping me on the chest a few times when I was trying to restrain her. It didn't hurt at all, but I had that "what the hell?" thing going through my mind. It doesn't pay to discount anyone. I've seen lots of big dudes get arrested, but more often than not, I've seen the little guys be the fighters.

But do you see the issue from school to school? Even within styles, its easy to see this kind of competition for students with the lure of a "tournament champion" instructor, or some such proclamation. Many times we only see the style vs style version of student competition, but it does happen within styles, as well. Like so many issues within the Martial Arts, this is part of the ego thing, in my opinion. If someone comes to me, and asks why my school is better than someone else's school, I'm not going to give some answer to inflate what it is I have over someone else. I will only tell them what they can hope to learn from me as my student.

My mom was really limited on her flexibility, as well. But she had a good belt level side kick, and was really quick to get inside and use her hands. Its nice to be flexible, and if you keep working at it, you'll get there. Just be smart when you train, and listen to your body. There are also a few stretching routines out there that you might look into like Elastic Steel or Stretching Scientifically. Maybe those will be of help, too.

12/10/2012 One-steps: all 30 Do-Kangs: 1-4 Colored belt forms Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Chuung Do San, Won Hyo Yul Gok, Joong Gun Toi Gye, Hwa Rang, Choong Moo Black Belt forms Kwang Gae Poe Eun Gae Baek Se Jong Yoo Sin Stretch. Breaking things up a bit allowed me some rest and recovery to hit some of the little things. I really slowed down and paced out Yoo Sin, and I felt good with that pacing. I may keep working at that for the testing.

You're giving humanity too much credit, they just want to make sure THEIR stuff isn't burning. Yes, that could be the long and short of it.

LOL yep! But I'm really proud of this blue belt. For the first year he was here, he was always flinching and backing away. Now he's gotten a lot tougher, a lot braver, and his talent is really starting to shine though. his voice has dropped a couple octaves too, lol! I had a brief flying lesson last night too, come to think of it. I remember hearing my Shihan say "nice, very old school!" as I was sailing through the air. I guess a lot of other women go to the mall or something for fun? Too funny!

Congrats, and glad you had a good time! That's what's most important.

I skimmed some of it, and will take it all in when I get more time. Thanks for sharing this, Danielle. There was a thread that went up a while back with a Youtube link of several different masters, one even being a Chinese stylist, I think, demonstrating their versions of a same kata, one after the other. Was it this same kata? If so, that link would only enrich this thread.

That's fantastic!

Great topic, Bob. I do agree with you. I think when learning self-defense, its important to have some levels of learning to go through, working up to non-compliance drills and scenario training where things change in a heartbeat. Alas, my school does none of this, but I work on different ideas in my head, and will find some willing partners eventually.

TKD is dominant where I am at. But, "dominant" could hardly by a wise word choice, as its tough to get MA schools running in rural Kansas. But, the city I live in is kind of a honey pot, with our TKD school, an Aikido school, a Karate school, and a Defensive Tactics club at the University. In the town I grew up in, there was our TKD school, or you could Wrestle in school.

Most people in the world are sheep. And this isn't bad. It just is. Most people don't have the capacity to deal with violence, and don't want to, and that's the mark of a chemically balanced human being. Then there are the wolves that feed on the sheep, and the sheepdogs, who have the capacity for violence like the wolves, but also have a moral and ethical code to go along with it. The bystander studies prove some good points. Its amazing how someone can yell rape and no one turns a head. I think they still teach women to yell fire, don't they? I don't know if that is because a fire would have a greater chance of affecting more people around, or what, or that fact that a fire is not a human violence, but it make people react differently.

Lots of good points here. I think DWx made a good point about control. We talk about the aspect of control a lot as Martial Artists. Its important that we be controlled in our physical training, for sure. As far as your asthma goes, I think it would be a good idea to make sure not to overdo it to the point that you have to sit out. Cause then, you're missing out on training. Something an Aikido black belt told me when doing techniques; slow is smooth, smooth is faster. When I'm really chuncking and clunking through something, I slow it down and work more deliberately at it.

Test for and receive my 4th dan. Renew my Combat Hapkido training, and hopefully test for 1st dan. Get back into strength training.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

I agree that could be an issue. It could also be lessened if you are a higher rank. Higher ranks can probably squeak by on one forms class per week, and maybe on the technical sessions, as well, depending on how well you think you are doing. A lower rank might suffer more with this.

I think there are several issues at work here. One, is what many young boys are taught when growing up by their fathers, "never, ever strike a woman." After years of drilling, that tends to stick, and it can be hard to go back on it, even in a training setting. And I don't view it as a sexist thing, but as one of the old-fashioned gentlemanly things. Two, is that not all women want to be treated like guys. So, you have to shake out who it is ok to thump on, like Ev, and who it isn't, and who will complain. With all that said, I do think that women in the training environment should be playing along the same rules as everyone else in the dojo, whatever those rules are. But, easier said than done.

12/6/2012 All 30 one-steps.

Agreed. That's pretty much what I was getting at.

I agree that is the worst scenario, Ev. Hopefully, most of our instructors are willing to swallow pride and avoid such pitfalls. We can only hope.

Welcome to KF!

Isn't that Gerald Okamura? Love the vintage Apple IIe there, too. I had never played that game, but the old Nintendo classic Kung-Fu! looked about like that. It was a good time, too.

I think DWx has the right idea, as well. That would give you a good mix, I think.

Dumbells can be used, but when you get heavy with them, they are a lot more cumbersome. Barbell weights are great because they allow for the body to work as a unit, like its supposed to, and allow for easier progressive loading, which leads to more progress. But if you have dumbells, its a good place to start.

Justice, I love your vivid descriptions of and "post predictions." I giggled. And yeah, Sensei8 is nasty...To answer your question, MugaiJohn, I think there is room for all of it. I'm not a Japanese stylist, and I don't recall if Jiyu Kumite is total free sparring, or a controlled 3-step, or what. You'll have to elaborate there for me. In any case, I am sometimes of the opinion that forms practice and basics practice overwhelms the time of a class, and not enough time is spent on application, self-defense, and sparring. As for the sparring, I think a happy medium can be found in doing some self-defense focused sparring and some more sport/competitive style sparring.