bushido_man96

This is a very good point. If you have worked hard up to the point of the testing, then you really have nothing else to worry about. The real work is done at class.

I have to attest to the value of this workout, here. Very good, indeed, and much more affordable.

I pay $60 per month, I think. Includes gym membership as well. I also get discounted as an assistant.

Just keep on practicing, and listening to what the teacher tells you to do. Reaction takes time, so be patient.

Well, contact doesn't hurt so much right now, but the muscle soreness, and the aching of the knees does last a bit longer. Yeah, I'm 28......almost 29.

I think this is a good point. Very well stated. This is where I think that rank becomes detrimental to martial arts. Kids can play at all kinds of different sports: kid's wrestling, football, baseball, etc. The list goes on and on. I'll stick with kid's wrestling, because I think it relates well to the philosophy of children in the martial arts. There is no rank in kid's wrestling...just practice and competition. They go to practice, learn things, go compete, come back, and practice more. Since they don't have rank, there is no concern about how much they can and can't learn. If they compete well, they go on to the next level, like state or national championships. They train and learn, train and learn. Now, in martial arts, children do this as well. However, the martial arts will use a rank indicator, the belt, to decide in which brackets the children compete in. Perhaps if the martial arts could shed the idea of rank, then everything would start to clear itself up.

I agree with class seperation. It is hard to fill the needs of both adults and children at the same time, when you have to go about it so differently for the two. I don't like playing babysitter, either, in this case. However, I don't see a whole lot of that in my area. Many of the parents like to watch the class, and many of the children don't have to wait around long for the parents to show up. I guess it just depends on the area.

Excillent idea, thanks. I have no plans of doing it yet, im only a young pup. But was just thinking about what the future of training holds for people. Ideas always start small, and sometimes deviate completely from what they started out as. I have seen this in the past as well. It is great that you are thinking about, it though. It is always good to come up with new, fresh ideas. Even if they don't work out, they may lead into something else.

Personally, I don't get to a lot of seminars, so I can't really answer for myself. However, I do have a friend who tries to hit 2 ICHF seminars in a year, and he has come back with tons of info. He enjoys them greatly, and there is usually several options for him to choose from when he goes. By going to the ICHF seminars, he has hooked up with J. Hock Hochiem (spelling?), and has gotten to the point where he can teach some of the material, and has worked with me on it. In the end, I think it depends partially on who you are, and also the content of the seminar. A Karate guy going to another Karate seminar may not come away with much more than slight variances, or a different idea of how to teach things. A Karate guy going to a BJJ seminar, since it is so different, may bring back a ton of information to share and work with.

You may have to play with the idea for a while, until you can get it to flow. Something similar you could do, if you are looking for low-impact training, is performing these slower techniques in a pool, like in the 5 foot deep area. The water provides excellent resistance, and it will be slow and low-impact on the joints. Just a thought.

Just my MA books. They aren't worth much to anyone else, except me.

I have to agree with Rateh on the size issue. If it were the case, it would be very difficult to promote many women to the rank of shodan. In most cases, an adult female will not be as physically strong as an adult male, who is untrained.

Very cool, Sohan. Very good. I wish we had a BJJ place around here. Florian seems like a very good teacher.

That is another good idea. Unfortunately, I suck at darts, so I had better stick with the cards.....as a bonus, the cards don't stick in the walls!!

Yes, i agree about the wrist support being the main thing. After all, the gloves are their to protect the knuckles. I have a pair, not those kind, a simpler version i suppose(ill try and find a link). I use them all the time now. They support the wrist very well, ive never had problems with them. Great, thanks for the info, cross.

Uuh, uuh, I thought of more! You could have a student draw a card, and have the class do the selected number of exercises like I mentioned above. When finished, you have another student draw another card. That way, everyone can do the same thing, if you want them to do it that way. Then, you can make the Joker or few other cards so that when they are drawn, the instructor(s) have to do a set number of push-ups; the students would dig that (especially kids!).

That sounds pretty cool, cross. Just off the top of my head, you can make each suit a certain exercise. For example, Diamonds could be side kicks, Hearts could be round kicks, etc. You could even make face card, like the King of Diamonds, count as jumping side kicks, Jack of Hearts could be jumping round kicks, etc. This is a great idea; I may have to take a deck of cards to class, and shuffle and deal!!

Ouch, sorry to hear that, man. I have been fortunate enough to never pull a back muscle. I realize how debilitating it can be for quite some time. I hope you heal up soon.

Those are interesting. Have you worked with them at all? Do they support the wrist very well? I am more concerned about the support of the wrist as opposed to the protection that they would offer my knuckles, but that is just me.

Is anyone currently tracing/recording their geneology? My wife is very interested in it, and her grandmother has already done quite a bit of work on it, and has been a wealth of information on it. She is such an intelligent lady, and she is fun to sit and talk with. Years ago my dad tried to do a geneology of the Walker side of the family, but got to stump, and hasn't been able to find much since. I am going to give it a go. The only grandparent I have left is my grandmother on my mother's side, so I will be calling and talking with her shortly. I hope to be able to trace something back to our European origins eventually. I think it would be great. My wife's grandmother has traced hers back at least as far as to the family that homesteaded the land that their farm is now on. It's so cool to learn all that stuff.

Well, the Chiefs will line up with the Colts in Indianapolis this Saturday at 3:30. I am optimistic, as the Colts run defense is ranked towards the bottom of the league, and Larry Johnson finished as the second leading rusher in the NFL this season. The bad news is that the Chiefs have been vulnerable to the big play, and Peyton Manning is a master of managing defenses, and making big plays. If the Chiefs can run the ball and play defense, and force the Colts to play from behind, I think the game goes in their favor. As a side note, reading an article on Chiefs Warpath, Herm Edwards did state that if the offense should struggle with Green at QB, he would not hesitate to make a change. Huard made some great plays for the brief period that he entered the game on Sunday, and he could be called on again. Statistically, the Chiefs are 0-2 against the Colts in the playoffs, losing to them in both 1995 and 2003.

I am not familiar with it. Sorry!

Regardless of rank, I try to give equal amounts of respect to everyone I meet inside and outside of the martial arts. The funny thing about respect is that it is reciprocal; you get what you give. I also believe that you get respect in two ways; by earning it, and by demanding it. I can understand that your friend was angry, and in the end, she probably did the right thing in getting into the black belt ranks. What kind of chance would the lower ranks have had against her? Would that have been fair to them? On the other hand, though, she could have just gone ahead and competed with the lower ranks, and then the tournament organizers would have to have dealt with a bunch of angry parents. Either way, it sounds like she comes out right, after all.

Neither did European knights. Here are some articles that I found online that clear up how Medieval European Knights used their weapons defensively: 1. http://www.thearma.org/essays/edgemyth.htm 2. http://www.thearma.org/essays/parry.htm 3. http://www.thearma.org/essays/parrying.htm 4. http://www.thearma.org/essays/parrying2.htm 5. http://www.thearma.org/essays/parrying3.htm These articles are written by practitioners who also research how the Medieval European fighters trained and used their weapons. Their research is based off of information from Medieval fighting manuals combined with hands-on applications of sparring with the intent of hitting the opponent--not the sword.