aigaios

^ Lol...

Yo momma's but is so big, when she sits down she gets three feet taller.

Lol... This one isn't that great, but here goes: I was teaching a group of kids their forms one lazy afternoon, and three middle-school aged kids come to the door of the school and stand in it, watching. After they had stood there for a while just watching and not coming in, I walked over and asked if I could help them with anything. We had a short little back and forth about class schedules and such, and then I said I could get Master Kang (Pronounced "Kong") to come and talk to them if they wanted to know more. Then one of the kids, who had been mostly silent up this point blurted out rather loudly, "master Kang?" in the most hilariously disbelieving way. I looked at him for a second, and then the kid who had been doing most of the talking excused himself and the other two and they took off. So random.

For us, it works like this: Testing - first friday of the month. Results - Following Friday Belts and Certificates - The friday after results. (If you passed).

The 540 (sometimes referred to as a "volley" kick by TKD schools) is a tornado kick that lands on the kicking foot, with that foot making an upward arc in the air. The bkick is shorthand for "butterfly kick" a distinctly more wushu style kick (even though the chinese name of the kick doesn't mention anything about a butterfly, westerners named it that for some reason), in which you dip your head down (facing downwards) low to the ground in a downward arc, and then swing it up violently while kicking your legs up behind you towards the ceiling, landing on the first leg to leave the ground. Ideally, during this kick, your feet are above your head. A btwist (butterfly twist) is a bkick with an added 360 rotation while sideways in the air, which makes you land on the other foot (the one that leaves the ground last). You can also go on youtube.com and search the names of tricks to get an idea of what they look like. Trickstutorials.com is another good site to visit if you want to learn the tricks. Hope that helps.

Learn the tornado really really well. Then go for the volley/540. From there you've got a basis to learn all the traditional korean 1.5-2 spin jump kicks. Bkick will lead you down the path to getting a btwist, which is a staple of tricking, and has many cool variations.

I think HKD is great, being that it's the style I train most in. Try it out for a little while, and see what you think. I personally like traditional aspects of meditation and respect quite a lot, so I can see where you're coming from there.

A good method for stretching side kick height (IMO) is holding onto a wall or bar, turning sideways, and starting gently, raising the leg to it's full extent sideways, then speeding up the motion gradually, so you end when you're throwing your leg up as hard and high as it can go. Make sure that the swinging leg remains straight. This isn't a great method to use if you want to be able to lock it out really high, but it will allow you to pop that kick up there. If you want to lock it out, use the isoflex method of slowly kicking out and holding, and then slowly bringing back. A combination of these two exercises has given me the ability to kick to roughly 6'2" and lock it for half a second. Hope this helps.

IMHO, Ki is something that we may never fully understand, in fact, our understanding of it at the present moment is very little. Therefore, it would be somewhat hasty to say that Ki is a product of any divine or evil source until we have been able to discover more about it.

Like firghtmaster said, your gorunded foot is very important. Make sure it is pivoted all the way back, otherwise your hips won't open up enough for full extension and comfort. Also, make sure you stretch adequately, otherwise you will be pushing your muscles too hard to try and make up for flexibility that way. And make sure you drink plenty of water. Hope that helps.

^Lol...

trickstutorials.com is a good site, and https://www.steve-terada.com has alot of vids of hm doing standard tricks and crazy stuff.

^Lol... For me the thing that really clicked was my snap kicks. Everything just felt like it got cleaner and faster after black belt...

I agree. Don't just go right back in. Take it slow and build back up to what you had before gradually.

I agree. Don't just go right back in. I did that at one point after my black belt test and reinjured my knee rather badly. I've still had to stay away from heavy training since then, and that was quite a while back.

Congrats!

Lol... I _hate_ chest protectors, and I totally agree with Ottman. They pevent me from executing my kicks properly. Lucky for me, in my school they aren't required. .

Godd stuff, good stuff.

^ agreed.

Ahh... Now I see. . So much for being perceptive. xD.

^ Indeed.

Okay, thanks. And yeah, it _is_ hard to keep up with all the different GMs.

Enter the Dragon, Kung Fu Hustle, Shaolin Soccer, and soon to be released: Contour.

1 3/4 is what I use, but two inchers can look cooler if worn with a heavyweight uniform... BTW, does Eosin-Panther sell plain belts? I have one thats embroidered and one that's plain, but my plain one is kind of flimsy...

Palm strikes definately rule.