bushido_man96

I don't know that I would try to spread Zen to other Christians, especially in the church. Most won't understand it completely (like me) and will put up a brick wall to you. On the other hand, when they do question you about it, you should be able to give astute answers that help to clear the mud for them.

I wouldn't be inclined to buy into the "battlefield tested" idea behind this. For the most part, battles have mainly been fought with varying levels of armor on. These points wouldn't be accessible through armor.

As far as how things are looked at in Asia as compared to the states, you have to take into account that these are two different cultures. Milage will vary. As for the TKD bashing that tends to happen, there are two ways to approach it. Let them run their mouths, and just ignore them, or, you can get into a verbal arguement with them. Although a verbal arguement can be fun from time to time, I'm not sure you can accomplish anything in regards to the Martial Arts with one, without it breaking out into a challenge of some kind. In the end, though, the proof is on the floor, as a friend of mine is fond of saying. You find it in talk or written word.

Unfortunately, I live in both worlds here. In the DT and Combat Hapkido sessions that I do, I like to experiment here and there, and test and try different things out. In my TKD and Aikido classes, unfortunately, the classes are pretty well set. I despise the one-steps in TKD, and view them as pretty well useless after the first few belt levels, but mainly because we don't expand on them. As some might have seen from my rant on the cross-over side kick in the MA training thread, I have some issues with some instructor's ideals on technique. The Aikido class, which I do enjoy for a change, is just somewhat helter-skelter at times, and I think that the students in that class take a LOT of things for granted. I would like for our TKD classes to be more experimental, but they are not. So, I do my thing on the side.

The video was a nice one. I know what you are saying about drawing the blade for cuts. It appears that the kata stops the motions. I think you could draw the blade with the katas, but I don't know if it would be allowed.

Like with my Chiefs this year....

Can't wait! I loved that show as a kid. And Scott does good work, too.

Welcome to the Forums, Damen!

Black belt testers have to write an essay answering 3 questions: How does TKD remain important to you? What does earning your black belt mean to you? What are your goals in TKD? I think those are it, but I'll take a look for sure.

If you've missed an issue or 10 of Black Belt, check this out: http://books.google.com/books?id=ONsDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Black+Belt&lr=&source=gbs_all_issues_r&cad=2_2&atm_aiy=1960#all_issues_anchor

And that's the deal. We do it this way, so that we have to exaggerate the technique; it is good for making sure we aren't cheating on the chamber, and making more of a half-round kick. However, I can watch all three rows in front of me do the kick, and it is pretty well wrong. Then, I do it the way I think is right, and get chided for it. I was fairly hacked. Our instructor does tell us that for sparring and board breaking, doing the cross-step behind is the way to go, and it is. But for basics, we break it down, and do it this way. My body and waistline are fairly wide as it is; I ain't very slim. So, when I get my body turned like that, it won't come back...but it seems like he doesn't see that. 1-29-09 TKD Testing: 6:30 - 8:00. We had mainly lower ranks testing tonight, and one brown belt. Afterwards, the black belts got to do some board breaking. And man, the boars were tough! These were some heavy, sappy boards. I can usually do 3 to 4 boards with a back leg round kick, and so tonight, I lined up 3 of them. After 3 hard shots with the right leg, the ball of my foot was a bit tender. I dropped a board, and switched to the left foot, and got the 2 on one try, but wow, did those boards pop! They were pretty nasty.

I would say that allowing brown belts to beginning to get into warm-ups, along with supervised assistant teaching, would be a good start. 1st dans should be assisting as well. 2nd dan and up could do unsupervised teaching, I think.

You will see that as size disparity increases, so will difficulty with these kinds of techniques. In a case like this, distraction techniques, like the eye pokes that you mention, come in handy in loosening up the grip the attacker has on you.

RIP

I knew a guy who was a Catholic, but also followed a Buddist philosophy. I think that is how you have to look at it; as a philosophy. He didn't have any qualms with the way it fit with his views of Christianity, either. If you look at the Zen is, I don't think it has much to do with who you worship, or how you worship. Its basically a way of respectfully interacting with the environment, and all things around you. Basically, in Christianity, God wants you to be good, to all. I think Zen goes along with this, too. I'll admit, that I don't know a lot about Zen or Buddism, and I probably won't make an effort to learn, either. It isn't a concern of mine. I am more like tallgeese is; I want to be able to defend myself from an attack; I'm not concerned with philosophy or a way of being. However, learning about what these different philosophies/relgions propogate, you can probably find some correlations that go along with Christianity. In the end, even if the folks at the church don't like what you are looking into as far as your Martial Arts training and research goes, they will still likely forgive you...

I'm not sure this is really the case. I think that most of us here take the Martial Arts very seriously, and I don't think that we are the minority, either. As for those who would have protected it from mockery, I really don't think that situation has changed much, either. We could argue about the "watering down" of the MAs in general, but I do think that there are more good schools out there than bad. The bad ones just get more attention. Like bad news.

Like you, I think that one-steps can be a good tool for introducing self-defense concepts. However, I think that by doing too many of them, the brain can become overwhelmed with choices. I think that it would be easier to use the strategies by training from a smaller number of one-steps, and just making sure that good strategies are used from start to finish.

This is the website for our HQ school: http://www.sunyistkd.com/

Now its Cussler's Sacred Stone.

Nice. Bowser should read it...

That's pretty cool. I'll bet it took forever to complete.

Wow! That is funny!

Week 4, Day 2: 20, 25, 17 (needed 20), 20, 20 (needed at least 28). This was a rough one. I'm not sure how I'll finish out the week. I may try this set again, and then do an exhaustion test, and back up to week 3.

1-27-09 TKD class: 6:00 - 7:00. I had an issue in class tonight. During basics, we do a crossover side kick with the front leg; we begin in a sitting stance, cross the back foot over in front of the front leg, then pick up what was the front leg, chamber, and side kick. So here's the deal.... One class last semester, the instructor made a note to the lower ranks in class not to watch me do the kick, because I was not getting the chamber turned all the way over (more like a snap kick as opposed to the thrusting kick it is supposed to be). After that class, I asked him about it, and I have been working to correct it ever since. When I chamber the leg to kick, I bring the leg up and pivot on my base foot, chambering the kicking leg up like I am going to front kick in the opposite direction. So, it ends up being like a back kick. In class tonight, the instructor got onto me because I was not throwing my lead arm out with the side kick (which I think is bad practice anyway, but what do I know...). So, he had me do a few more to get it right. I still couldn't throw the arm out, because my body is pretty much not facing the side, it is facing more back. I told him I can't get the arm out, and he said it was because my body was going back and down, like a back kick. So, I'm not really sure what frickin' kick he wants me to do here. I'm still breaking the kick down a lot more than any of the other lower ranks in the class; even some of the black belts. Its hard to do with a lot of speed, because this technique is mainly a technique builder, working on pivot, leg chamber position, etc. It really exaggerates the movements. So, I was a bit frustrated with the whole deal. On Monday morning, I may ask him which kick it is he wants me to be doing. 1-28-09 100 push-ups Week 4, Day 2: 20, 25, 17 (needed 20), 20, 20 (needed 25). I guess I will have to do this week again. I'm not sure if I should back track, or try to finish out the week. At the end of the week, another exhaustion test is supposed to be done. I could go ahead and do that, then start back at week 3, and work back up. Cardio: rode the bike for 25 minutes, then stretched.

I agree with Killer, to an extent. There is nothing wrong with being part of an organization. Benefits include standardization of technique and requirements, and availability of higher ranks to promote, along with certification within the organization as you get promoted.