DWx

Cheers guys. I think the composition kinda parallels the three K's of Karate.

High kicks are good for one thing IMHO and that's for flash. Which I'm totally against in the martial arts. I don't agree they're just for flash. A well placed high kick is likely to result in a KO and its just not nice getting kicked in the face either. Side kick to the body and you can suck it up, take a side kick in the face (esp. if you're moving in at the same time) and you're lucky if you don't get sparked. Once you develop the flexibility and strength, its no more effort to do a high kick than it is to throw a middle one. I'm not saying go into a fight only throwing high kicks, but if your opponent opens up his head and you're too far away to land a punch, kick him in the face.

Yeah same name but maybe with a bit added on to differentiate from the original school. If you've already built up a good rep with your current school people will be familiar with the name and it'll suggest that the new school is good quality too etc. etc.

In ITF TKD we have exactly 24 forms and these represent 24hrs. I'm paraphrasing but Gen. Choi who founded the ITF said that: a person's life compared to eternity is like 24 hours in during their own lifetime. It passes by in an instant and its a question of what you do with your 24 hrs which decides whether you are worth remembering or not. Do something amazing and good and you'll live on in the memories of the people you touched; you become immortal. IMO, a good death, no matter what age it comes to you, is one where you have spent your time doing something worthwhile. Whether that is living to an old age having raised a family, had grandchildren etc. or dying young in service, if you've done something instead of wasted your time then no-one can ask anymore. Whether you yourself can accept mortality I think is a very personal question that people should spend time dwelling on. Nobody wants to die but if it happens tomorrow what are people going to say about your life.

tennis ball drill sounds like loads of fun might have to get myself some

Its something useful to have. Yes it is better to kick lower for balance and power, but not being able to kick high can limit you. If you can kick high that flexibility is going to go some way to help prevent you from pulling muscles when kicking lower. And there may be situations when a high kick might be the best thing to do, same as jump kicks. And people always seem to forget that kicking high isn't just about kicking the other person in the head. We practice sometime with kicks from a crouched position (like if you'd been knocked to the floor). You kicking high can just about reach a standing person's lower abdomen/groin area.

Welcome Dimorte

Everyday for me. Haven't been blessed with natural flexibility so really have to work on it to maintain what I do have and to try to improve. I used to be able to do front splits but lost that after I partially tore a ligament in my knee (ironically trying to do the splits cold ) would love to be able to get that back so am slowly working on that. My side splits flexibility is shocking so any stretches to improve that are my favourites at the moment.

Mines a bit confusing as my own instructor trained under a load of different people but ultimately it goes back to FGM Rhee Ki Ha and from him, directly to Gen. Choi Hong Hi.

sloppiness? They're amazing Wish I could paint / draw that well..

Congrats

Congrats!

Welcome judobrah

Check out this thread for everyone's recommendations and reviews on their library: http://www.karateforums.com/martial-arts-research-library-vt8082.html Books are a great reference tool, I wish I had the money to buy more . But with the internet, nowadays there's plenty of material out there so its not absolutely crucial you have a huge library of resources. Only thing with the interwebs is that anyone can publish their stuff so you just have to be a bit careful and discerning as to which is junk and which is the real deal. If you're studying TKD, I highly recommend TKDTutor.com, 100's of good articles on there

Sorry for the bump but I found that TKD haka I mentioned: Shame the camera's from the back..

Cheers for the responses. I think my main concern is how far is too far when you're faced with somebody clearly physically inferior? Especially from a legal point of view. Me vs adult isn't such a problem because its on more of a level-ish playing field or I'm going to be the weaker one. Me vs child brings up (at least in my head) that there is a case that I should hold back and show restraint. If I full on punch a 10yr old in the face say after they go to push me or something, and they suffer some long term damage because of that, it doesn't really put me in a good position.

Welcome Dimorte

Thanks for responding Lupin1. Unfortunately years of dealing of this as a kid and the less frequent encounters as an adult taught me that arguing with them really doesn't help. In most instances they don't listen to a word you're saying or, if they are, its fuel for them to carry on. Or the best response I get sometimes is them pretending they don't understand me at all and doing Bruce Lee-esque noises. Which is ridiculous seeing as I don't speak a word of Chinese and have the most midlands-English accent possible. Most the time I can't be bothered to engage them so just roll my eyes and carry on with my business. Although today I did retaliate with a few choice word and got a nice description of how he'd rather have sex with a donkey, pig or tramp "than touch a Jap" (didn't even get the nationality right). Yeah. It's probably just the way I was raised. I got suspended once because some boy punched me the nose (zero tolerance) and my mom wasn't mad I got suspended, she was mad I didn't punch him back. She grew up in innercity Boston and is the kid who if someone talks smack about her or her family, she'll retaliate. If someone made a comment about the donkey, pig or tramp thing to me I'd probably make a very inappropriate quip about him going to see his mother and he could get all three in one... No I get that. My dad is the same. And he grew up with my grandma in 1950s, 1960s Britain and she happens to be German so he got loads of Nazi/Hitler comments as a kid. I just prefer not to get sucked in because I can't be bothered tbh. There's only ever been one time when I did get semi-physical: once a kid on a bike was harassing me and my younger sister to the point I lost my cool. Pulled his bike out from underneath him and chucked it over the side of the bridge we were on. I walked away and he burst into tears. Ha yes well I think I annoyed him further after that because I couldn't stop myself from laughing at him and then I did say something that is best not repeated on here

Thanks for the detailed response tallgeese, I appreciate it. Doesn't particular bother me that much anymore, it gets old very quickly. Its more of an annoyance than a real problem. I just feel sorry for people like this and their shortsightedness. That is something that I did learn as a kid. So yeah I have and do sometimes go out of my way and have sussed out where they hang out (I also used to live a couple of blocks over for the previous two years so know the area well). Having said that, I'm living smack bang in the middle of the area this year so I've got no choice but to walk through part of it. However this thing with the kids happened right on the edge of campus which is atypical because normally they wouldn't be that far up the main street so in this instance it wasn't a case of me walking into their territory. I have to say martial arts was the best thing that's happened to me. I used to get stuff like this a lot more when I was really young but TKD has made me loads more confident, (if a little over-confident), so I normally just go wherever I want with a "come-on-and-try-me attitude". Works to some degree and I have actually had people apologize after saying/doing things. I admit this'll probably get me into trouble one day but the other extreme of walking round looking like the victim is only an invitation for it to all kick off. Yeah I do know that that would help, just I am a little skeptical of the police over here. You get a vibe of "well what do you want me to do about it?". Especially seeing as I don't think I could identify anyone in particular. Actually getting the loudest / biggest one was what my dad taught me as a kid and it is what I'd do with older teens or adults. Thanks for the tip about using them as a barrier. I think my biggest problem is getting over the psychological issue of them being kids and me being an adult. That's where my basis in TKD lets me down I'm afraid. Very limited on the non-striking front. I guess I could see if I could learn something with training partners. I hope I'd react accordingly if one pulled a knife. I'd like to think I wouldn't hold back because they're a kid but you never know until it actually happens. My concern is that I don't want to presume they already have a weapon and then injure them more than necessary and face the legal ramifications afterwards. Pepper spray's illegal over here. Very strict on what's classed as a weapon.

Thanks for the replies thus far folks. Thanks for responding Lupin1. Unfortunately years of dealing of this as a kid and the less frequent encounters as an adult taught me that arguing with them really doesn't help. In most instances they don't listen to a word you're saying or, if they are, its fuel for them to carry on. Or the best response I get sometimes is them pretending they don't understand me at all and doing Bruce Lee-esque noises. Which is ridiculous seeing as I don't speak a word of Chinese and have the most midlands-English accent possible. Most the time I can't be bothered to engage them so just roll my eyes and carry on with my business. Although today I did retaliate with a few choice word and got a nice description of how he'd rather have sex with a donkey, pig or tramp "than touch a Jap" (didn't even get the nationality right).

Yes I appreciate how weird that sounds This is part rant, part question so bear with me. Basically I'm of Chinese/West Indian descent and that seems to make me a good target for the more backward elements of society. I used to get the whole racism thing a lot as a kid but you just learn to deal with it as there really is no reasoning with anyone who does decide to pick on you based on ethnicity. Anyway I've recently moved into the rougher neighborhood of town for university accommodation this year and 3 weeks into the uni term and I've had as many "incidents". With teens/adults who do it, its not really a problem as they often just want to say their piece and then go back to the rock they crawled out from and I know if they did get too aggressive, I've got no reservations about smacking them first. But today I had this badman kid all up in face, complete with supporting cast of wannabe gangsters. Was probably only about 11-12 years old but was getting pretty aggressive when I didn't seem bothered by what he was saying. Most of it was trying to look tough in front of his friends and they only joined in after he'd given me a good spiel about "going back to my own country". Threw some stuff but eventually went away. My question really is what am I supposed to do with a kid who is looking for a fight. Not too bothered about them physically hurting me, but at the same time I'm not just going to stand there and get punched in the face. Yet it looks really bad if, as an adult, I strike a child. Can just see the headlines now: "21 yr old martial artist attacks child". No good just restraining him if its a large group as they'll potentially all join in to make me let go. And if I just release them without ending it with a strike etc. there's the possibility they'll just come back for more. I appreciate that this is probably something that you guys don't come across yourselves but would love to hear your thoughts on this. Especially interested in what you LEO guys think.

Welcome Brutus

Welcome to the forums GraytScott Does seem like a lot of martial arts there... Although all the TKD ones will overlap, as would the Kickboxing ones, Judo ones etc. so there's only really 6-7 styles there (still a lot!).

I watched some "modern pankration" in a tournament this year. Dunno whether it was just the fighters themselves but I can't say I was overly impressed as it just looked like a poorer version of what most mma schools do.

Well that's a relief You guys will appreciate this: Earlier this summer a "concerned citizen" requested that my local council declare what provisions were in place if we ever got attacked by zombies. Council said it didn't have any specific plans, so the following week a load of zombies descended en masse into the city centre http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-13713798