bushido_man96

He's basically talking about use-of-force, from what I can see. In many cases, if you feel threatened to the point you are in fear of your life or great bodily harm, you can justify a force level that may result in death to another. If you are being attacked by more than one person, and feel great bodily harm or death may result from the attack, then defending yourself with enough force to kill can be justified. I think that is what he was getting at, RW.

I agree, there are great points here. As for the creating a new style thing, what I've noticed is that at times, new styles come from either different training concepts, or different goals, as opposed to the creation of something totally new. Just that the person had a different idea in mind than who he learned from originally. I think that your son will find the classroom experience a lot more enlightening than trying to learn online or from videos. As he gets more experienced in Martial Arts, he may find he can benefit more from those videos or online information. Just because someone is good at forms, doesn't mean they can't produce a good fighter. Some of this will depend on what your son is looking to get out of it, too. If he wants to be a good fighter, over time he should be able to adapt his training to reflect that. And even if the instructor isn't known to produce fighters, he should be able to help your son learn some basic fighting concepts, which should come out of the style, anyways. From there, he can choose to learn and grow how he wishes. In many styles, a green belt could be considered an intermediate rank, so a year may not be unheard of. It depends on what kind of testing cycles the school uses. Good luck, and welcome aboard! Keep us posted on the progress of your son. Or better yet, show him this site, and you two could post together.

God help you is your trying to stop that guy with an inside crescent kick! Agreed, but what if you use that inside crescent kick from the ground against a meth-head who is leaning over you? Suddenly that kick becomes valid. Certainly there are other things you can do that could be more effective, but it's a viable option at that point. This kick is in our Combat Hapkido curriculum, but it is used more low-line, like an attack to the leg. Should you not be able to turn the hips over for like a round kick, this one is viable. In sparring, while jammed in close, it is a viable attack to the head, if your flexibility can handle it.

I think spacers make the breaks easier. With the boards or bricks all stacked together, you have to drive enough energy through all of them at once, where as with the spacers, the break of the one above can help facilitate the one below, and since the one above isn't braced by the one below, I think it requires less energy. Or something like that.... Perhaps someone with knowledge of the physics involved could chime in, because I know I sound like a total incompetent right now..... But I think I know what I am trying to say... Maybe...

Well, I don't know of any doctors who approve of any kind of contact endeavors as being healthy. Although the makiwara is a hard object, it does have give to it, so you are not putting the max amount of impact on your bones. But, like sensei8 said, its important to do it at the right time, and if you are too young, and the body is still developing, then it may not be a good idea at this time. But soon, you may be able to start.

In the TKD I have done, we chamber pretty tight to the ribs, as opposed to lower on the hips. The rational for the pull-back of the non-striking hand has always been Newton's law of equal and opposite reaction; one arm out, one comes in. This helps to develop the power from the hip, as well, and trains more muscles. As students develop better body mechanics, they can produce the same power without the pull-back, because of the good hip involvement. At least that is how it is taught. In sparring, I never return my hands to this position. Only on forms and one-steps do I do this.

You're killing me, man! That's great!

Btw...You're both wearing NAME BADGES in the photo...ROFL :lol: Sorry, I just couldn't resist. BBM...for example?! Yeah, I know, I noticed the name tags, too. I forgot we had them on. But, it helps eliminate confusion here, eh? And yep again, BBM would be one I was thinking of.

This is the exact problem with my school, and I hate it. The instructor is always teaching to the test, and the test material is always the focus. I don't like it because it takes flexibility away from class material, and like you said, the true understanding tends to go down.

I'm always confused. And around here, it's worse because my Japanese mostly comes from anime. :lol: Good stuff!

I must be lucky. I pay around $40 a month for TKD and gym membership.

I wear my seatbelt a lot more than I used to, and I have no excuse for the few times I don't wear it. I've only been working the road as a Deputy for close to a year now, and have already seen two fatality accidents, both of which were not wearing seatbelts, and those are just the ones I've worked. I've been on scene with similar accidents, but the results were different, because the driver had a seatbelt on. It seems that whenever ejections happen, that out-of-control vehicle always finds a way of rolling over the ejected person. Not cool, folks.

What was the difference between his Thai kick and wheel kick? Targets, or technique? I'd say front and round would be primary. Side kick is a good one, too, but I find it to be much harder for beginners to grasp well, and it takes more time to really develop (especially if they learn the round kick first). But, I'd keep it low, which makes proper execution easier, too. I'd also add a back kick, but can't think of what I'd add as a 5th for a basic self-defense kick the others don't cover.

I'm sure any Gracie seminar would rank high on the list. I believe Bill Wallace still teaches seminars, so I'd have to put him up there, too. I imagine Blauer seminars are pretty popular, too.

Let us know how it goes. $20 per lesson seems a bit steep to me.

Is it "redirect," or "receive?" I thought it might have been receive.

No, I didn't misread. Just agreeing, basically. Sorry about that confusion.

How long? Which style?

I've been to the gym twice already this week, and plan to get in tomorrow. Thursday I should make class. Steady workout regimine is the start.

I'm unsure of how lucrative XMA competition is, to be honest. I've never been into it. A local Karate school that holds an annual tournament does have open divisions for weapons forms that are XMA type, and I don't believe there is any money to be won. As far as leaning away from traditional to something more flashy, I don't know if that's the case or not. Everyone has different goals, and many schools want to provide as many aspects as they can to bring in as many students as they can.

If you don't train until your knuckles bust open, it shouldn't cause any permanent, long-term damage. Focus on those three things he mentioned at the beginning, and just keep your reps down, like 10 on each side for starters, and leave a day between training periods. Over time, you'll be able to punch it more before reaching that point of breaking the skin. Just remember, that if conditioning the knuckles is a goal, along with the other three principles, that it happens over an extended period of time, and injury creates downtime that won't contribute to training. Be methodical, and listen to your body. You'll be fine.

This is very common in many competitive endeavors, including Boxing, Wrestling, even sports like football and baseball. In many cases, the coaches didn't even have the physical talent that the players they end up coaching have, but do have another gift entirely.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are my days off right now, so if you want to work something at odd hours, those would be good days for me.

Not if you live in Chicago! Now, I just watch and see, and enjoy. I think it will be Packers/Steelers in the Super Bowl. Steelers win.

Thanks for the kind words, Patrick. It was a fun time. In case anyone is confused, I'm the short round guy on the left. It was pretty cool to get to stand up and talk about what we do here at KF to those that were interested in moderating forums. I've seen places that have done a bad job moderating, and they didn't last very long. The fact that KF has been around for 9 1/2 years is a testament to a process that works. It was pretty cool to be able to address a room full of people that are probably a lot smarter than I will ever be. Thanks for that oppurtunity, Patrick.