bushido_man96

Good deal, frightmaster! Sounds like you have a good situation there.

Thanks, ninjanurse and frightmaster. Good stuff, indeed.

Yes, very good advise indeed.

Thanks, Brandon and Sohan. I have always found that breaking things down have helped me to get my technique right. I may not be fast, or ultra-powerful, but I have always had pride in my technique, and I strive to have the best "fat guy" technique out there.

ps1 summed it up. A good stretching routine will help you get your flexibility back, but it won't happen over night. Just keep working at it, and you will get there.

You might still! There is no time limit on greatness. Nothing worth doing should or can be rushed. You have not achieved your "victory" by now because you were not meant to do so. Accept that and you will be better off. Besides...when your 40, you don't want to have to be the guy who needs to bring up the past when he speaks of acomplishments. When your 15, 18, 22, 35, and older; you want to be able to say, "This is what I did today!" Martial Arts is a life long process. Every physical skill you learn between now and death is ultimately superfluous. Good point, ps1. Jaert3, it sounds to me like you need to let your ego go.

This is a great attitude to have! We can always get better, and it is never too late to start! I don't think that just because you are older, your achievements have less value. You shouln't get down on yourself like that. Going to competitions like you have is going to bring things like this to the forefront. This is a good thing. You should try to constantly improve, no matter what age or rank you are. Whatever you achieve from here on out will still be great, because it will be something you have not achieved before. If you quit now, then you will have something to feel sorry about. You said you will be 15 on December 24? That is not too old, my friend. Heck, that is just getting started. You have many years of competition left ahead of you. It is ok to want to be successful. I have always wanted to feel the cheers of the crowd when you are in the ring. You CAN get this feeling again. But you will have to work for it. Also, I understand that you want people to think good things about you, but in the end, what is important is what you think about you, and how you feel about you. Why wouldn't it be special???? Don't be overly concerned about how long it took you to get to black belt. That is water under the bridge, and there is nothing you can do about that now. It is time to move forward. Concentrate on your current training, and do the things that you need to do to get to that next level. It is ALWAYS worthwhile to start improving and getting better. If you stop, if you give up, if you become stagnant, THAT is when you fail. You are overreacting a little here, I think. You haven't missed out on anything, yet. If you don't try, the only thing you will miss out on is the opportunity to become better than you were. Now it is time to put your nose to the grindstone, and start gutting it out. There is plenty of time left for you to get better, and to improve, and to stand out amongst the crowd. Go get it! It won't just come to you. And remember, if was easy, everyone would do it.

I have not heard of him, but I am not familiar with many of the Chinese Stylists, either. Sorry!

I am surprised you watched the whole 3:05! I just watched the first 30 seconds. I couldn't do much more after that. I felt that it was unrealistic. Some of the technique was ok, but not much of it was realisitic self-defense. I don't mind flashy demos, but this one could have been prepared a little better. It was obvious that the woman could not have overpowered either of the men in the fashion that was being demonstrated. Showing off flashy techniques is great if you have it set up in a sparring situation, between two uniformed practitioners. However, in that case, I would have used more common self-defense techniques, and it would only have lasted 30 seconds to a minute. As far as this demonstration being effective; well, that depends on the goal. If you want people to see that women can do MA, then sure, she showed that she could do it. It sounded like the crowd was entertained, at least.

Ok, this week the Chiefs go to Miami for a showdown with the Dolphins. Unfortunately, there are some injuries: LB Derrick Johnson will not play, and an already depleted offensive line loses Pro Bowl G Brian Watters; Kevin Sampson will also miss this week at Tackle. Safety Greg Wesley may not play as well. Time to see if the young ones can step it up!

Very nice. Happy Veterans Day to all of the vets, and all military serving or who has served. Thank you. Brian

Happy belated birthday (it was a busy weekend at work!)!!

Sounds good. Keep it up!

Differences that I notice: It starts with open handed double blocks, instead of single handed blocks, and then advances with open hand strike. The first 5 hand techniques are all open-handed techniques. It also adds sidekicks to the form. Also, in this form, you turn and head back towards the starting position twice, as opposed to just ending the form by heading back once. Hope this helps from a technical standpoint. I guess this is supposed to be a graceful and powerful form, and you are to use your preserverance to develop this.

I see what you are saying, Kez. I have seen this with some of the better athletes in my school, but not necessarily black belts. The good athletes take for granted that they are good, and don't work their stances as deep, or don't punch in basics as hard, but are all good when sparring comes around. If I am not dead tired by the time sparring comes along in class, then I did something very wrong.

Very good points, Kez and Sohan. Sparring high ranks all to often gets you used to seeing the good technique, or what we may view as "proper" technique. Sparring lower ranks, we will see more unorthadox, or what we would consider "improper" technique. Well, on the street, we won't always get to block the "perfect" technique. Likely, everything will be rushed and messy. So, it is important to spar with low and high ranks for these very reasons.

When I struggle with moves like this, it find that breaking them down and practicing the component parts helps the best. For example, practice jumping and chambering each of the kicks.....only the chambers, though. Jump high, and concentrate on where your knees go. Do that maybe 10 times, maybe more. Then, when you are comfortable, you may just add one kick until you have it down, and then add the second, or throw in both if you feel confident. Then practice sticking the landing, and then the block afterwards. Remember all of the set-up phases, like chambers, jumps, and keep your body position in mind. Hope this helps!

I have been told that "losses build character."

Well, best of luck to you!

It's just because they only named 1 instructor and the only other thing on the ad was a mobile number, when all the other martial arts ads had lots of information. Well, just call and find out when classes are, how long, and if he would let you set and watch one. Who knows, maybe he is just getting started with his school. Some of the low profile schools can end up being the best. Ask if he will give you a trial session, to see if it offers what you want.

Congratulations!

I love the sore feeling you have after a good class!

Ok.

That is funny, I have never seen it put like that! I love it!