bushido_man96

Our school starts at 4, but between 4 and 7, the kids are placed in our Little Lions program. In this program, they wear white belts with a colored stripe through them; orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, red. They earn stripes on their belts each week for a different aspect of training; balance, fitness, coordination, listening, focus, etc. I can't remember how many stripes they earn, but they earn 1 per week, and must make both of the classes to earn the stripe. Every 2 months is a belt testing.

Man, James, you are frickin' animal! I'm glad you are back; you make me want to push myself even more.

At the last Olympics, my brother watched a match where I think a Korean competitor knocked out a 6'7" Greek competitor. Also, try taking some of the kicks they throw, even with the protectors on. They hurt. They shock you a bit. Knockouts do happen. Sure, mainly because they don't keep their hands up, but hey, that is their deal. If they don't want to keep their hands up, that is ok with me. I choose to keep mine up. If you watch the WKF Karate matches, they are more of a point game than the TKD matches are.

XMA is cool, too, but there are lots of differing opinions on it as well. I am not against XMA, or against the use of languages like Japanese in Karate. I just don't feel that it is as necessary as many think. I honestly think that the main reason for the use of the native language is because when many of the Japanese masters began teaching those in West, they didn't speak very good English. So, instead of trying to learn the English, they went with what they knew.

I have not seen such practitioners. Even training to do so, it is never going to be a foolproof attempt to take on multiple attackers; the movies do a good job of portraying this, but in real life, it is much different.

Perhaps they need to set out a few classes. Better yet, after everyone lines up, put the low ranks in the front, and the high ranks in the back. I have done this a few times. It will get results.

I like to break with the round kick. I can do 4 boards with a back leg round kick, using the ball of the foot (standard pine boards, 12x12). I also like to do a front leg round kick with using the instep.

How so? I agree. Action almost always beats reaction. If you feel that being struck is inevitable, then there is no reason to put yourself behind the 8-ball.

i disagree , many other more accurate and quicker moves can be done in a less time frame and be much more damaging. Which moves are you thinking of?

Cross has a good start. You should practice turning your lead knee inward so that you can defend the strike as it comes in.

I am in agreement with Karate Ed on this one. If the your first thought in a self-defense situation is "I hope I can not hurt this guy too bad" then I definitely think you are going to be in the wrong state of mind.

So, if you buy a brand new car, or you going to pay for it all up front? At the same rate, if you teach, do you pay per class? I know that some places, moreso in the UK, do this, but I have never done it. If you are a student, do you pay monthly, or by the class?

1-28-08 Chest/triceps Bench press: 155x10, 165x8, 185x4 Dips: 3x5 Triceps push-downs: 90x10, 105x8, 6 Overhead triceps press: 50x10, 60x6, 65x4 Abs Decline crunches: 3x12 Hanging knee raises: 3x10 Forearms Gripper: 3x12x30 lbs.

If all I did when I taught classes was show white belts what to do, and then made them to copy-cat me, and did nothing else, they would not be geared to test for a very long time. Physical demonstration is great, but I also talk about the little nuances of the technique as I am demonstrating it. Physical, along with verbal, is the best combination. I know that there are spelling variations; that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about totally different words, Korean words, for some of the techniques that we do.

I agree 100%. At this point, I would tell students to not wear their belt to class. They obviously view it from the wrong perspective.

Wow, that's quite a fast progression!

This has been addressed and changed. They won't allow a point if you cannot maintain your balance during the technique. I think it was Herb Perez who used to do a spin hook kick, and would go down to the ground afterwards to avoid the counter. They changed the rules because of that. As far as taking the kicks goes; most of the time, they are allowing the kick to come in so that they can spin and counter, striking the opponent while they are in mid-kick. Think of it as kind of like Boxing; you can't block every punch, and hope to punch back. Olympic TKD is the same way. I do agree that they should keep their hands up more, and block more, but they don't choose to. I don't think they are taught not to block; they just learn that using the hands to generate momentum and balance for kicking helps their purpose more. What about Judo? It is an Olympic sport as well. So is Boxing. There is also a Karate governing body. Do you think that they have the same goals?

What you are talking about are the very basics. Yes, everyone will know what the Japanese for round kick is, but beyond that, any technical information will be out of touch. In order to make it flow smoothly, the Japanese does help, I agree. As far as I'm concerned, I could care less about knowing the Korean terminology of my techniques. During my time in the ATA, I didn't learn the Korean name for any of the techniques. Now, I know the Korean terminology for the techniques that I do, but the terminology that I know doesn't match up with those that I have seen in other books. Go figure.

Shotokan, if you get into the JKA, is a pretty vast organization. If you like the support that comes with an organization, then I think you will like it. As a style, I don't know a lot about it, other than what I have read. There are lots of similarities with TKD and Shotokan, so I imagine I could adapt well to it. I have been reading books on the Shotokan style and forms, and I know that some schools have applications for the movements of the forms, which would be good as well.

And have you tried using bicycle inner-tubes or surgical tubing? I agree that jumping is one of the best things you can do to help your drive when stepping. But maybe too much jumping can make you JUMP when you should STEP... That's why I really recommend trying a type of resistance training that you can do while using good form, such as inner tubes. I don't think that this kind of plyometric jump training will lead to jumping when doing technique. We are talking about a very powerful, bursting movement, jumping as high as you can. I have done plyometrics in the past, and it has never caused me to jump durning any of my movements. However, the tube training is a good idea as well.

I think that XMA forms should be in a seperate division than traditional forms, but that is just my opinion. If you find out in the future that this is not the case, then I would opt not to compete.

"Who gets it first" is based more off of a time in rank thing; like someone who has been a blue belt for 2 more months than the most recent student promoted to blue belt.

Well, hopefully they will. I would speak with the panel before he is allowed to test, though. I know that I would not want to be put through a testing process only to find out that someone on the panel was trying to keep me from being promoted. Just food for thought.

I am not sure why they always put on weight in the manner that they do. I think it is to use the most leverage that they can. However, these guys are very strong, and very flexible. Don't mistake that, for sure.

What is a "multiple fighter?"