bushido_man96

It's not so much that I'm uncomfortable with the approach my instructor is giving me with the kicks, but more of the fact that in Shotokan, I focused so much on my hand techniques, that my kicks were neglected and I'm a little discouraged with kicking as a whole. Even in sparring, my instructor is always yelling "Kick" at me, but I don't like to be caught with my feet off the ground. I'm thinking "why kick as long as my hands are working?" I can quickly move in close range to use my hands and crowd my opponent and they are unable to chamber tight enough to throw their kicks. I think my problem is mostly mental with these kicks. You've got the right attitude, here, in my opinion. Just keep plugging away, and the kicks will come. Also, I like the way you spar in tight to the other TKD practitioners. It will make them better as well. And when you get to where you can round out your game and do both, you will be able to really work the others over!

I was wondering what CTF stands for? I am not familiar with this one.

My little brother that is.....he is 5'10" maybe, and 350+....yeah, big boy. I weigh 245, and he picks me up and tosses me like a rag doll.

Very cool. I am wanting to put together bunkai for my TKD forms, and I think it is going to be a challenge. I respect your accomplishment!

This would be a very cool idea.

I have been doing TKD for 13+ years now, so I enjoy it very much. It will really depend on the school, as to whether they focus on sport or a more traditional aspect. Check with the instructor. Even if they do focus sport, they will have some fun drills that they do to build reaction time and coordination. I do a more traditional style, with a pretty heavy emphasis on forms. We do spar, but don't focus on it. I have experience with Combat Hapkido, and have enjoyed it. I think Hapkido will benefit you well. If you can get both TKD and Hapkido in one package at that school, you would be doing well, I think.

Right now, if I compete, I use Gae-Baek.

When training in any MA, it is best to get at least 2 days in per week. It is hard to make gains with just one day a week.

You are very welcome. For a more specific idea, you could give Sohan a PM. He very knowedgable about the subject.

Welcome to KF, muadib! Glad to have you. Try doing a Google search in your area, and see if you come up with something.

CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!! I can't stay away from it. Love it. It is probably in the top 5 of my heirarchy of needs to survive. Can't live without it. Must take in large quantities daily.

Contrary to popular belief, bulking up will not necessarily slow you down. Joe Lewis was an avid weight trainer before he started his martial arts career, and he was an incredible fighter, and he was not slow. When you are doing your reps, you have to think about what you want from your training. Lighter weights, and higher reps (10 -12) will help with muscular endurance, whereas higher weight and lower reps (4-6) will help to build strength. These are just general numbers, and by no means completely accurate. That being said, you should try to build a program based on what you want. For the Martial Arts, both strength and endurance are important, so you may want to try a balance of the two. Hope this helps! And welcome to KF!

We are here to help!

You could do a Google search of your area, or check the listings in your local phone book. These are usually very helpful.

Well, in my melees on Friday, I did have to face a spear, and a halberd. And, well, it pretty much stunk. I despise those long range weapons. And my brother, who is rather large, can swing the things with good leverage from one hand! He is a monster, and he pretty much crushed my leg twice. I learned to block quicker that way, though!

Welcome to the forums, Black Crane. Glad you are here! As for your situation. First of all, make sure to stretch a lot. Every time your muscles are warm, do some stretching if you can. You can also stand with your arm against a wall for support, and get into kicking postition. Chamber your leg, and hold it high for 10 seconds. Then, slowly kick out, and hold the extended kick for 10 seconds as high as you can. Make sure it hurts, and your hip is knotting up. Then rechamber, and hold for 10 seconds again, and set down. Repeat 3 times or 5 times on each leg. This should help you out. Oh, yeah, and remember to stretch!

That is what is most attractive to me about kali, is the practicality. I would love to learn it.

For my battle axe, I used 1 1/4 inch rattan, like for the swords, and then I took some camping foam, cut out a pattern, and layered it 4 times, and then used some hot glue and packing tape to hold it together, then layered it with black duct tape. I probably have 6 inches of blade, and the head is big enough to hook shields and other weapons. It is also equipped with a thrusting tip. There are websites where you can actually by a rubberized axe head or hammer head that is SCA legal. But, I like my homemade version.

Oh, yeah, I just remembered the question about the back kick. I never really do a back kick, or I don't think I do. When we side kick, we try to roll our hips over to add more power to the kick, which is where I think many are calling it a back kick. However, I try not to let my back face the opponent, so I don't think of it so much as a back kick. If I am trying to "jab" with a side kick, I will not roll the hips as much, but I still try to let my base foot pivot, to save my knees.

You don't have to be as flexible as a ballerina to kick high in TKD, you just have to have good flexibility, along with some leg strength. It isn't really as difficult as it would sound. I am fairly portly, and kick high fairly well. I am not a TKD champion by any stretch of the imagination, but I do fairly well. I try to do a lot of MA related reading, because I love to do the research. In many older TKD books, there are mention of many different hand techniques, along with the kicks. I think the discrepancy in the amount of hand techniques comes from the type of instructor, and whether they gravitate more to the sport side or not.

lWhich are you looking for? The key will be to find a dojo that suits what you're looking for. In our early ranks we teach basics, but later on we're mostly self defense. But we also teach some sport for those that want to compete. Some dojos are mostly sport, others don't want anything to do with it. Frankly, I used to think that sport was a waste of time, but now I look at is another supplement to my training. I like your viewpoints here. You are very open-minded toward multi-faceted training.

It would be interesting to know when practitioners actually started placing the hand on the ribs/hips, and what facilitated it at the time. You don't really see it in pictures of medieval or ancient Western styles, so it may be a soley Far Eastern concept. Not sure, just what I have noticed.

I'm pretty sure the guy would have known if it was real or not, he was a pretty conservative guy, and very cautious. He probably could have been good at it, too, he has a great work ethic, and it shows.

Cool, sounds good.

I want a DS to play the new classic Mario Bros. games. Yeah, I'm old school!