bushido_man96

I'm with lordtariel on this. I prefer a normal bag, as opposed to the BOB.

The ITF and the WTF are different organizations, with set rules for their competitions. Depending on what organization the school is under, you will find what rules set they use. The AAU is more like a governing body, which has its own rules for AAU Karate, and AAU Taekwondo. I do know that there is a qualifier for Olympic style TKD in Oklahoma every year. Your best bet would be to start checking out some schools, find out what organization they compete under, and then look into the tournaments that they enter into. You may be able to find what you are looking for.

The best way to fix this problem is to keep sparring and make yourself conscious of what you are doing. That way, you can work on making yourself not do it. Have someone lightly spar with you, or do th slow-mo sparring mentioned earlier. Now, everytime they see you lean and drop your hands, have them tell you about it, so you can fix it. Another thing you might do is have them make you do push-ups everytime you do it. That may give you a little incentive as to becoming aware of what your body is doing. These kinds of things are common to beginners, and they just take time and practice to overcome them. Keep at it, and you will be fine.

On a side note, have you noticed the increase in the amount of fighting practice that both Jon and Jaime have been doing? Could that be a touch of forshadowing? Thanks for the website, by the way!

Hooray!!! Another Magic player! I have not played in a while, probably about a year now. I love it, but it so expensive to keep up! My favorite traditional card game is Spades. I get competitive over that!

I think it is ok. No big deal to me, though. It isn't going to make me turn on a soccer game, now. I watch football, NASCAR, baseball, and college basketball, just about in that order. I don't think I will be working soccer in any time soon. However, if does work out well for the MLS, then I do think that it is a good thing.

Mine said I was only 20% addicted.

Welcome to KF! I did not know that Muay Thai had testings, or rankings, for that matter. As for the testing, I am not sure what would be on it, but talk to your instructor, and he may be able to give you a heads up.

Congrats!

If you can give us a rundown of the rules for you style of sparring, we will have a better idea of what techniques you can and cannot use. As for not doing well, what do you think you need the most help with? It was your first session, so you should not be expecting to rule the day, so to speak. Just relax, and watch how your opponent moves. Learn to block, and then begin to counter.

Do you feel that to be a good or bad thing? For me, I think that it would be a good thing. I know about the differences betweent he densities of the bones in the hands and the head, but I think that I would be ok. I have made hard contact with numerous inanimate/immovable objects with my hands, and have not found myself to break or fracture my hands, yet. Not that this is good advise, but I think that I could be ok, if it came down to it. Also, if I concern myself with only punches, I don't have to worry about opening my hands when I go hi, and closing them when I go low to the body.

Since the instructors are police officers, they may have some very good self-defense ideas for the techniques, and they should also have a good feel for the use of force guidelines, to help you out in a self-defense situation.

Congratulations! Like cross said, just relax, and make sure you have everything planned out, and you should be fine. It is normal to be a little nervous.

Me and some of the students from our school do some Combat Hapkido. Me and one of the other black belts are actually wanting to test for our 1st dans through the ICHF, and one of the students who has been to several of the seminars has put together some curriculum for us. As for the uniforms, ours are like TKD uniforms, but black, with short sleeves.

It sounds like you have a good deal, there, Baron. I'm glad to see you are going to enjoy yourself.

I thought that he had meningitis, or something like that. Very interesting.

Welcome to KarateForums! As for the catch schools, I can't help you much. Try doing a Google search for your area. Check the yellow pages as well. I hope you find what you are looking for!

In this instance, I don't think you can relate the punching arm to those of other 'straight line' principles. The body just works a little differently. If the arm has a slight bend, I don't think that all that much power will be lost. As long as the fist is traveling in a straight line towards the target, then the power will be applied. I think that this is why a hook punch can be effective, although the arm is not straight.

I have not seen the web site. I didn't know that there was one.

I agree with this point. I consider TKD to be farily linear, and we use a lot of circular footwork (well, I try to, anyway! ) to create angles of attack and counterattack.

When in the heat of self-defense, I can see that gross motor movements will usually be what happens most. Therefore, I think that the most common attacks will be with closed fist. However, most people don't realize how fragile the bones of the hand are, in comparison to the rock-hard bones that keep our melon fresh. In the end, however, I would probably end up punching, as that is where my training has led me to go.

Oh brother is that ever a fact! I metioned it in another post I just made, so it may be redundant. Usually is someone asks me to show them some MA stuff, I say "Okay" and walk away smiling over my shoulder. They usually laugh, get the message, ad don't ask again. Now when I was a few years younger, I was at a pool hall with a bunch of co-workers, and one was a Vietnamese guy whos dad was a high level Master in a Viet MA. He hadn't trained is a few years, but got drunk and when I tried to calm him down about some readnecks in the bar he got ticked at me and started boasting how he could kick me 10 times before I got him once. I slid my foot across and just bumped his shin, then said "you loose". He fell on the floor laughing and we all left and sobered up. You got both great advise and a great story in there! I like how you kicked your friend and made him bust up!

Wow, I didn't know that. Kind of sneeky, but I think it paid off for him!

That is true! It would be cool to see it get some air time like that. If I remember right, their are so many members per team, and one team member fights for 2 or 3 minutes, and then they break while another team member fights, and then they kind of cycle through. That way, each fighter is fresh for each round, and that way the action stays upbeat, with no stalling. I think they actually get bonus points for putting together fast, upbeat combinations, for being aggresive.

I have always heard that locking the elbow can lead to hyperextension, but upon performance, mine is very close to being locked out, but not quite. Many karate schools talk about kime, which is (correct me if I am wrong, karate guys!) the focus of a technique upon its completion by contracting the muscles of the body at this time. Therefore, I would say a very slight bend is beneficial to not popping your elbow. However, I will mention that the post bearich made appears quite viable, although I had not heard it explained that way before. In the end, do whatever seems to work the best for you.