DWx

This is what I was going to say. Any good instructor will be able to tailor your training to compensate for an injury. Don't know about your specific condition but I've trained with two people who have had shoulder injuries. One lady's shoulder would actually dislocate every now and again in class. She'd compensate for it by modifying certain movements or by not using that arm to strike or punch as hard. Another person I train with had a similar problem but had surgery to correct the issue. She's still going strong, has minor problems every now and again but can fully get on with her training providing she is aware of her limitations and doesn't overdo things. Speak to your physio to see what they recommend. The second person I mentioned was recommended by her physio to do extra strength training for her shoulder so she started doing kettlebell workouts.

Best of luck tallgeese Understand where you're coming from with the loyalty side of things but having a new instructor is a great opportunity to see things from a different perspective and get a fresh look on your training.

Depends what you mean by sport Karate. If we're talking about "sport" as in all tournaments, then I say yes its a good thing. I'm all for competition and TKD competition plays a very big part of my life. "Sport Karate" as its come to be known: tippy-tappy sparring and competition forms not so much... Compared to normal training, there is nothing like a competition to drive you and force you to make yourself better. Especially if you're serious about it. There's nothing wrong with enjoying winning the medals and trophies either. Competition forces you to train harder and perfect everything and so even if you don't win a medal, you've won in your training by making yourself a better Karateka. Sport Karate, even though its not "proper" Karate, can be good, probably more so when you're younger and interested in sport. If does teach you to be fast and you do need a load of athletic ability to be good.

congrats ps1

thanks for the kind words guys but like I said in the 11 years anniversary thread, the real credit goes to you Patrick for creating an environment I'd want to spend far too much time in

Congratulations Patrick! I agree with Alex in that being around KF has definitely expanded my knowledge as a Maist and I've made some good friends here. Only downside is I spend far too much time reading all the threads instead of working! Thanks for creating such a great environment.

I would do that for any Kata competition; appearance is part of the scoring. Other than that, yeah, that's dedication. Is it really that weird? We'd get our butts kicked if we turned up to class with a creased dobok!

People often get confused between the two and even when they think they know the difference they still do the actions wrong! Simple exercise I use to teach beginners the difference: Stand with your feet a shoulder width apart and lift one leg up to the front so the top part of your leg is parallel to the floor (like you were going to climb some really steep stairs). From that position, stomping straight down so the heel or side of the foot makes contact with the ground is the side kick. Extending the leg so the ball of the foot or instep (as in a front kick) goes forward and up is the roundhouse action. Obviously this is a massive oversimplification but it does illustrate that the side kick is a straight out kick whereas the roundhouse travels more in an arc. People often confuse the two actions and do the roundhouse action but intend it to be a side kick and I think that maybe this is where you're confused?. All you're going to do then is to skim past the target. Just remember its the same action as you just did but now your leg starts in a different chambered position. Stand with your feet a shoulder width apart again and lift your leg so that the inside is now parallel to the floor. Kinda like the back leg of a hurdler would look like but round a bit more so the knee is more to the front. Keep your heel tight into your butt. The same stomping or front kicking actions will give you a basic side and roundhouse kick. So imagine there's a line from your backside to your heel, stomping out so that your heel continues to travel along that line is a side kick. For the roundhouse there's a line travelling down your quad/hamstring and out into thin air, you're kicking the bottom half of your leg so that the ball connects with that line. Hope I haven't confused you here Another way to think about it is if you stand back to a wall in the chamber position so that your backside and heel are both touching the wall, extending your leg so the heel travels along the wall is a side kick. Kicking the bottom half of your leg forwards away from the wall in that front kick action is a roundhouse. Then you progress by adding a bit more to the action like how you get your leg into that chambered position so that the whole movement, from foot on the floor to the end of the kick, contributes to the power. For the side kick, you drive your knee up into your chest (like a front kick chamber), rotate your hips over into the hurdler position, then stomp out. For the roundhouse, you're going to go straight into the hurdler position almost as if you were mid hurdle. Whilst keeping that bent knee position, bring the leg round to the front (knee leading) then the lower half of your leg goes and you connect with the target with your instep, ball of the foot or shin. Things to remember: - pivot on the standing foot at the same time to open up your hips and prevent yourself from twisting your knee. Depending on the style, you turn the back foot somewhere between 135-180°. - foot position depends on the kick and what you want to kick with but in general, the outer edge of the foot should be parallel to the ground or maybe heel slightly higher. Try not to kick with the toes at the highest point. If you're struggling, you need to rotate your hips over a bit further. - hands up. As tempting as it might be to wave your arms around for balance, keep them tight and keep your core tight. From your previous posts I gather you're self training? If so just be careful. Kicks aren't natural movements and even experienced kickers can end up hurting themselves pretty badly. Do these kicks at half speed, holding onto a chair if necessary, and work on form before even trying to put and speed or power in. You'll end up with much better kicks in the long run and you'll be less likely to injure yourself. Don't be kicking too high either, better to have good form at hip level than atrocious kicks at head height

What ninjanurse and MasterPain said. Its all about the height of the knee in the chamber. Compared to a front kick using the ball or toes which travels upwards and inwards, when using the heel you have to come down ever so slightly.

When we're talking self defense or talking weapon usage and ownage, I wonder how many of us have actually looked into our local laws concerning these things? We throw around these terms like "reasonable force" and talk about what we can carry for self defence but how much of our own laws do we actually know about? So out of interest I did a bit of digging into UK law*: Wikipedia has a basic summary but if you really want to know what's in our laws, you can search at the legislation.go.uk website or take a look at the Crown Prosecution Service website: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/self_defence/ If you're in the UK, you need to know about these laws (amongst others): Criminal Law Act 1967: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/58/contents Relating to knives and other weapons: Criminal Justice Act/Offensive Weapons order of 1988, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/33/contents Offensive Weapons Act 1996: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/26/contents Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/37/contents Prevention of Crime Act 1953: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/1-2/14/contents Relating to guns: Firearms Acts, 1920, 1937, 1968, 1997: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/all?title=firearms%20acts Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/contents Not going to bore you all by going through them so I thought I bring up some of the more interesting bits and pieces. - For starters, there are a number of weapons you definitely cannot own and carry. Aside from the obvious no blades, no guns rule, here's some of the more unusual ones that you can't carry: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1988/2019/schedule/made - You won't get penalised for pre-emptive strikes nor will you be penalised if you don't walk away at the first opportunity: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/self_defence/#Pre-emptive_strikes - What about reasonable force? "A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large." Criminal Law Act 1967, Part I, 3 You can defend your property, whether that be your wallet or something bigger like your house. You can also prevent an attack on another person or defend yourself from an attack if you can justify that the force you used was reasonable and you can use force in a lawful citizen's arrest. So guys, I know a lot of you are LEO's, what's your take on self defense and how to apply your local laws? what's your professional insight? And how do laws like this compare between countries and between states? *I'm not lawyer nor an expert so this is just my interpretation. If you want definitive advice, go find yourself a lawyer friend

In addition to what JusticeZero said, practice in front of a mirror. See yourself and how you move. Being able to spot your own tells will not only make it easier to spot them in other people, it'll tighten up your game as you can start to eliminate them Also get yourself some lines on the floor and practice moving along them and off of them. See how much distance you can cover going forwards and backwards, and how you can come off at an angle. As a bare minimum, you need to have a way to go forwards, backwards, left and right, as well as a way to swap lead side. I don't want to go into specifics as your TSD school probably has its own way they want you to move, but practice going along lines up and down the room to get a feel for how you want to step. Forget abut kicking or anything else. Just hold a good guard and keep practising until you're not thinking about how you're stepping. You also need to be light on your feet. Do your footwork then chamber for a kick, then move off again and chamber. Everyone can move around and throw their fists about but being able to move and then get your balance for kicking is more difficult. You don't have to throw the kick at this stage, just pick the leg up as if you were going to. If you have a partner you can practice with, there are some great "games" you can play to work on your distance and footwork. The easiest, which is similar to what JusticeZero said, is to face each other about an arms length away. Designate one person to be in charge and they have to move forwards, backwards, around etc. whilst the other person has to match their movement to keep the distance the same the whole time. Progress by playing tag: same game but this time you take it in turns to tag each other on the shoulder and use your footwork only to get in or out of distance.

Walking away and taking the moral high ground is the best thing shinobitribe. I also get this a lot, used to be really bad when I was still in school. Its really not worth engaging them or even acknowledging that they said something as they're just looking for a reaction most times and whatever you say or do won't make a difference as their ignorance and prejudice is so ingrained there's no reasoning with them. By saying something back (as tempting as it might be) or by getting physical it just gives them an opportunity to escalate. Especially getting physical with them might just reinforce any ideas they had about your race. Not to say walking away and taking the high ground is the end of it. Be very wary as if they're really out for a reaction they might follow you or worst turn physical themselves. So be aware of where they are in relation to yourself, where you are, who's around etc. And if they do look like the type of person who'd strike you in a heartbeat just because they have prejudices, strike them first. But in any case, I don't think there's anything wrong with being "cowardly" in a situation like that, just means you have a healthy respect for your own well-being and aren't out looking for needless fights.

I'd agree. It takes a lot to learn how to punch, let alone learn how to punch properly because its kinda a weird movement when you think about it. Along with the hammerfist I think a slap is a pretty natural movement too.

Welcome roaringboy

Welcome Chris

congrats jaypo

Congrats

So when you're tired or you think a injury or condition is holding you back and you can't do something watch this:

I've actually messed around with those before, but I think the brand we got was a little on the easy side. Maybe it would have been appropriate for kids or something. I'm sure they make them tougher than that, but I never got around to ordering more. Yeah it very much depends on the brand and type of board. As a rule, if its got foam padding or is hollow, don't even bother with it as they're for kids or beginner adults. I've always found these good: http://www.blitzsport.com/Standard-Smash-Board One white is probably 2 wooden boards of the same thickness and the blue is maybe 4 boards. Been using mine for years.

Well people do go a little crazy sometimes during sparring We have a guy, one of the best fighters I've ever seen and the nicest guy ever, but in the ring he goes a bit mental, sort of a back to basic instincts. Not an ego thing, just something else takes over and he comes full pelt at you. Best thing to do with guys like this is to keep your cool and try to out-think them. Maybe it's just me but if he was going a bit mental shouldn't one of the BBelts stepped in and told you to separate? Nevermind that you could handle it, if it had looked to me as if he'd totally lost it, I'd have been worrying about which one of you was going to get injured first.

Could always use rebreakable boards instead? I know they're plastic but it terms of lifespan and useage time you can argue they're better. Plus its much cheaper to purchase one board which you can use 100's of times than to keep buying wood just to throw it away 2 seconds later. I prefer them anyway as they require greater accuracy and can give you somewhat measurable feedback as they're fairly consistent every time you break.

In the style of TKD I do we don't really have them. We have are the equivalents of (assistant) teacher, master and grandmaster but these titles go with rank rather than awarded based on some other criteria. Some Korean systems also use kwanjang nim for the head of the school and/or possibly jangsa nim for chief instructor but I don't think you'll find as many terms. I disagree. Something like Kancho (head of the school?*) can be self-awarded. Ignoring whether the person is qualified enough or holds high enough rank to create their own system, I think a term like Kancho, Kaicho or Soke is appropriate as you are the leader or you are the founder of the system. It might not be necessary to have such titles when its just you and a relatively small school, but say you had a number of instructors below you and a whole network of schools, then I think a title conferring leadership is pretty appropriate. As much as we'd like there to be completely no politics in martial arts, a clear hierarchy is sometimes quite useful and a title like Kancho or Kaicho clearly marks who is in charge. This does raise the question of whether you should be using Japanese titles outside of Japan but I think if your martial art is inherently Japanese/Okinawan and you wish to train in that language, then why shouldn't you use these terms? *(btw, if someone could explain the difference between Kancho and Kaicho to me as if I'm an idiot I'd be grateful My Japanese terminology isn't very good and I get mixed up between the two!)

That sucks Bob! Though they must like you to keep inviting you back!!!

Well yeah, hence "as part of an attack".. Think it depends on what you class as attack and defence.. To me, throwing out a side kick as I'm going backwards is a defensive manoeuvre. And for what its worth, IMHO I don't think moving back out of range as a defense is so bad. Say the person throws a front leg side kick, often in my school we'll slide back so the kick just misses then as the leg and weight go down, come back at them. Obviously if you're back-pedalling only you have a problem, but for the odd little thing I think its ok.

^yeah it is Linux based but everything is done through their web browser which I really like using anyway. Have a Windows desktop and wanted like a small netbook kind of thing to carry around.