Rick_72

Its not a matter of "special treatment". What black belts should be doing is teaching/correcting mistakes in technique, or passing on lesson's they've learned. Of course there are times when you're going to have several black belts attending your class's, and there may be too many of them present to all be walking around mingling through the class giving instruction. I don't know your school, but don't you think those black belts got to where they are by taking the same path you are? Do you think that because you apparently work harder during the class that your paying for, that your somehow being cheated out of something? If you don't respect the black belts that are there to train you, simply because you don't see them "doing exercise's with you", well I suspect you have a lot to learn about the teacher/student relationship. When you get your black belt your going to learn that its pretty tough to instruct or correct the students if you can't watch them because your just there to get a work out yourself. Keep in mind that most black belts are paying the same amount in school tuition that you pay, and often times their own training is limited because their class time is usually spent ensuring that your learning correctly. That just means that after you leave the school they either have black belt class's later on, or they have to get together on their own time to train for themselves. Now I'm not sure if this is the case at your school, but it is at many others.

I was training early this year for the Outer Banks Marathon in NC, but I injured my back in my last months in Iraq. I'm all recovered, and will be running the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon next summer. My training isn't that strict. I usually run 4-6 days weekly. 2-4 mile speed run on Mon, intervals on Tues, swim or run swim run on Weds, long slow run on Thurs, I have unit PT on Fri so I do whatever we're doing for that, Sat off, and on Sun I usually run 10 or more miles. When I say it isn't that strict, I never really hold myself to that schedule. If I go out and feel like running long one day, or short and fast, I just do what I feel like. I'm certain this isn't the correct way to train for a marathon, however, when I actually declare to myself that I'm running a race is when I buckle down on the schedule and type of training.

That was actually one of my counter arguement's to the size, and strength issue. What about someone, possibly a woman, who's 5' 2" 100 lbs? I know 12 year olds bigger than that. Is it really about strength? Or is technique enough? The mystical thoughts that someone 5 foot tall is going to put a easy whoopin on someone that's 6' 2", 200 lbs is hogwash in my opinion. They may win the fight in the long run (because many of the Okinawan Master's are small in stature themselves, and can bring it pretty well), but its going to based on their superior technique, not size and strength, and at some point during that fight their going to get some scrapes. As far as re-testing, my thoughts on that were that it would only be a money grab of the testing fee's. At our school, the kids are taking the same test for their junior Shodan as the adults are for their Shodan. Consider that a 10-12 year old jr Shodan is then going to have anywhere from 6-8 more years of training under their belt before their awarded their full Shodan, not to mention the required instructor hours for our style. I think retesting doesn't really make much sense. I wonder if when they reach the required age for their full Shodan, if they shouldn't just be testing for Nidan, as I'm sure by then they would have learned the requirements for it. Hmm....there's a thought.

Scenario 1: If someone puts themself between you and your way out, and you have enough time, you turn around and walk back into the establishment you came out of. If I didn't notice them until it was too late, and I'm that close, the first guy's getting as quick a beat down as I can muster, because I know that they other guys going to be coming fast. If someone's taking away your only way out, and there's multiple enemies, their not there to be talked out of a fight. People's courage grow when they outnumber you 2 to 1. You have to even the equation as quickly as possible. Scenario 2: As soon as she's pushed into an alley, she's in a fight for her life, and should treat it as such. Anything it takes to change the situation, even deadly force.

I don't know, it seems to me that when you learn something correctly from the beginning it would stick in your muscle memory a lot better. Learning incorrect technique from the beginning makes it hard to change later. Besides, most students even just starting out know what an uppercut looks like. Our "head block" is exactly the same. Looks like an uppercut, then turns into the block. The thing is that its harder to actually put your forearm and hand in the correct position if you don't do the technique correctly, and the "hook" that forms between your hand and forearm is really important for this technique, in my opinion.

Your correct arm strength has nothing to do with it. I've just always felt like I'm generating a lot more power from my uppercut than a cross. With an uppercut, thrown properly, your rotating the hips no different than a cross, but your also lifting you body upward with a tight center of gravity.

When I started playing football, as a 11 year old kid, I had the same problem. It wasn't until my coach made me stand in a drill that we called, "head to head", that I started understanding aggression better. Basically two players lay down on the ground, head to head, about 5 yards apart. When the whistle blows, both players attempt to get to their feet as fast as they can. The one with the ball try's run over top of the tackler, the tackler try's to annihilate the ball carrier. Long story short, I wasn't allowed out of the ring until I started burying the ball carriers I was up against. For the next 6 years I started at middle linebacker, even though I was always one of the lightest guys on the team. I attribute that success to learning aggression the hard way. Aggression is something that has to be learned, sometimes the hard way. I suggest getting together with who you would consider to be one of the toughest guys in your school, and spar with them. Explain to them before you start, that while you want to be able to walk after leaving the ring with them, that you don't need to be babied in there. Once you train your brain that your in a training environment, and your technique and control will keep you from seriously injuring anyone, its ok to give someone a shot, you'll feel better about stepping in the ring. Watch pro boxer's. They are trying to take each other's heads off during the match, afterwards they are cool with each other (most times, unless of course you get your ear bit off ), its all professionalism. People that don't want to get hit, or hit other people don't spar. So keep that in mind of your opponent when your fighting.

When you say "non-contact" do you mean no contact at all, or controlled contract? For a speedster, you need to learn to counter punch better. People with fast hands tend to throw double and triple strikes often. If he goes high, you circle him and counter punch to the body. If he goes low, you circle him and counter punch to the head. Circle outside of his power side (reverse side). If he's fighting right handed (left hand forward) circle to his right, your left. If he's fighting left handed (right hand forward) change it up. This makes it tough for him to trace you down with that back hand, and often times cross's up a jab, rear hand combination.

A hook or an uppercut isnt going to generate as much power as a straight cross- a cross is the most powerfull punch one can throw. As to which one is better for ko's, thats widely open to debate. As far as how much power people throw behind their punches, its just a nice number to put to someones punches. Its not so much how hard you hit them as where you hit them. Not sure I'm buying that a cross is the most powerful punch. I've never really put that much thought into that, but is there some sort of scientific study done on this? I personally feel that my uppercut is much more powerful than my cross, because the cross basically comes from the outside in and the uppercut is a tight inside, torque driven, punch.

I've been following, and contributing to, a pretty touchy debate on another martial arts forum, and wanted to get some more opinions on it. What's the general thought around here on kids and their jr. black belts? My argument has been, that its a good thing to promote kids that have been training for many years (in some cases longer than adults had to) , and have earned it, to jr black belts. The arguments I've heard in return range anywhere from physical to mental reason's why deserving kids, who have proven their maturity to possess such techniques, shouldn't be promoted until they range between 16-18 years old. I guess my arguments are that the physical excuse doesn't really hold any water because adults of all sizes and ages study martial arts, and in many case achieve the black belt level. Also, that when you get older and start to lose some of your physical ability, no one takes you Dan grades away. My argument to the maturity question is usually that I've met plenty of adults throughout my training that have less maturity to the arts than do many of the children (ages 10-15) I know in my school. So, what do you all think?

You know its funny. I always here about keeping young people interested, by advancing them. But from what I've seen, the kids that take their training seriously, and there are actually quite a few of them, don't need trumped up promotions to do it. They just need something that holds their interest. Many times its nothing more than learning a new technique to practice every once and a while. I say keep doing what your doing! Never water it down. If a kid wants his jr black belt, his path shouldn't be that far off from the adult route. On that note, most adults don't walk into a martial arts school looking for the quickest route to black belt. I say keep doing what your doing Sensei Tom! Never water it down!

I think if martial arts in general were better organized (not having a million different organizations, competing for legitimacy) it would be much more marketable to schools. I think it would have to be started by some interested young people, with a knowledgable adult, as an extracurricular activty first. Then other schools in the district could catch on and go from there. Even in university's its not listed as a sport, yet most every university in America has a martial arts "club" of some sort as an extracurricular activity. It would be fantastic if it could be organized into an NCAA sport, then my kids could go to school on it .

What does your physical therapist say? Your doctor? Considering the focus of kicks in TKD, I'm kind of surprised you would want to go that route with ankle problems. Keep in mind the impact that your ankles receive when executing an kick with proper technique. Or having one blocked for that matter. I'd say if your doctor clears you for it, I'd consider Aikido for a lower impact on my lower legs. While there is a lot of leg and footwork play in Aikido, you won't be pounding them into your opponents in kumite, or heavy bags all that often.

Knocking someone out has a lot more to do with where and how solid you hit them, then it does with how "strong their jaw is". There are nerves that run down from your brain, past your ear, and along your jaw line to the sides of your chin. A solid shot landed on that nerve, or by pinching it when the jaw moves backward from a strike to the chin, is what can cause a knockout. The same result can be achieved from a strike to the artery on the left, or the vein on the right side of the neck. Anyone can be knocked out, some are just better at protecting those area's, and some will take a slightly harder shot to them than others.

I had plantar faciitis for the better part of a year. After visiting a podiatrist, and him giving me a list of the proper stretches (which you can actually find on the net) I managed to beat it. In just a month or so, after doing the stretches every morning before I got out of bed, it went away. I'm not sure it this is what you have, since your not feeling it in the morning when you get up, or if you've been laying down for a while and try to get up. But I'd definately go get it checked out, because if it is, its relatively easy to take care of.

There are a lot of new studies out there that say running does not damage your knee's, as previously thought by many. If you knee's start to hurt after running, lay off a few days, any cardio activity is better than none at all. After you drop a few pounds, and don't experience pain after, or a day after, you run's, you'll be able to pump up the distance or speed a bit. Many times the pain you feel in your knee's is simply your tendon's, ligaments, and muscles sore from lack of activity. After they strengthen you won't have that pain anymore. That's of course if you don't have a medical issue with your knee's in the first place. Just don't over due it right out of the gate, that's how you cause injury more often then just the actual running. Always check with your doctor if your feeling intense pain, or pain that lasts more than a few days.

Diets, and calorie counting are pretty much useless in my opinion. Eat healthy food, and never allow yourself to become hungry enough to say things like "I'm starving!". The best way to do that is to always have a healthy snack with you. At work, bring some fruit, or low fat yogurt for a quick snack when you start to feel like you need a meal. Drink lots of water, because often your body is telling you your hungry and really your just thirsty. Make sure when you eat your meals, your not rushed. By eating very slowly (chewing your food for a long time before swallowing), you'll give your body time to catch up with how much food you've already ingested, and you'll lose that hungry feeling often times before your plate is clean. If you already weight lifting three times a week, your on a good start. Now just increase your cardio. I'm a runner, so I advocate intense cardio sessions, followed by strength training a few times a week. Try to get to the point where you need your walk/run in the morning to really make your day. That means you have to get to a point where you really enjoy exercise, instead of just have to do it to lose or maintain your weight. Like you said you get bored on the treadmill. That often happens when exercising outdoors as well, when your walking/running the same route a lot. The key is to find that solace in your mind that it doesn't really matter where your doing it, your mind is free of stress, and your really not thinking about much at all. "No mind".

Yeah I guess that would have been an easier way to explain it HAHA!

I'm actually standing here in my office trying to re-create your pain haha. Anyway, from that little experiment I think what you may be feeling pressure in your glute's from when performing a side kick, is from not turning your grounded heel into the kick. If you do a side kick with your toes pointing forward (or the same direction as your were facing prior to attempting the kick), your going to feel pressure in you back, glutes, grounded knee, and maybe other places. To do it correctly, and get the most bang for you buck, as you draw your kicking leg up into chamber and start to throw your kick, your grounded foot should turn, heel first, to the direction of the kick. This will take much of that pressure off of your kicking hip and back, because your kicking at a more natural angle.

I haven't seen Unleashed, but I did see Fearless a couple of weeks ago, and it was fantastic.

I don't know if Shotokan use's what we call "body change" technique's, but if you do, try stepping more into your stance (not unlike kata) instead of sliding into it. As a novice to sparring, my guess is that your moving backwards a lot when your defending (not fact, just a guess). Practice stepping side to side with your forward foot (whichever direction you may be stepping), then bringing your back foot around behind it (ensure your stepping, not sliding....sliding is slower, and hurts your feet). This will take you away from an attack, and will help keep you from sliding on the mats, as it puts you into a solid stance instead of an off balance one (which is when you start dragging your feet). With body change it is also possible to circle your opponent as you fight as well, keeping you in the ring, and outside of your opponent's power shots.

I really like the mindset behind that.

Kobudo is kind of a tricky subject in my opinion. While there isn't a lot of practical use's for the weapons your learning (besides maybe the bo), it does teach you some biomachanic's for the use of expediant weapons. I mean really, who has their razor sharp kama's in the back seat of their car, and would break them out in the event of a physical altrication? That being said, the reason I study Kobudo is for traditional reasons, and I enjoy the conditioning my upper body gets for manipulating the weapons. So considering the traditional movements for weapons manipulation, I think it could be very, very easy to pick up hard to correct bad habits by learning Kobudo from video. There's no one to correct your mistakes, that you will often miss when trying to learn it from scratch. I would think it best to find someone who can teach you the basic manipulations of the weapons, and train those until you can find someone that teach's weapons kata.

While most pre-built exercise programs can give you a start or base, the best thing to do is devise something on your own that meets your needs, schedule, and keeps you interested. The problem with crash diets, exercise fad programs, and things built for you by other people is that they often times don't truely meet your needs.

As a runner I subscribe to a simple cup of coffee and a light breakfast before training in the morning. The caffeine gives you a slight boost in heart rate and energy to get started, but not long lasting effects. From what I've read some of these so called "energy" drinks have too much caffeine in them and can have negative effects on your health during strenuous exercise. Personally every time I've consumed one of those drinks, it feels like my heart is going to blast right out of my chest, and I would never even consider doing any significant cardio after drinking one. I personally prefer plain water for hydration, although many runners I know don't like that there's no taste (some say bad taste) in water. Sports drinks tend to help replace electrolytes and help fight dehydration, during and after significant exercise, most don't advertise any real energy gain though. Just plain old water works for me because I flush hydrate before I exercise (be careful doing that unless you know and understand your personal salt intake, as too much water and not enough salt can be very dangerous), so I'm not too dehydrated by not drinking as I run as long as I keep it below 10 miles. Best thing to do I think is to go find one of those blood pressure machines in a super market, sit down at it for a couple minutes, then take your resting blood pressure. Jot it down, and go buy the energy drink in question and drink it. Give a few minutes, than sit down for the same amount of time you did before and take your resting heart rate again. Bounce the numbers off your family doctor and see if he thinks the increase is safe for you. On a different note with the energy/fat burn, caffeine supposedly by increasing your heart rate, boosts your metabolism which is why you can loose weight with. I don't know if I believe that or not, because the studies on it are about 50% for and 50% against that result.