DWx

Don't know much about books but have you tried YouTube? Tons of stuff on there and plenty of martial arts orientated ones too eg:

I'm not 100% sure on the exact requirements but for us, past 7th dan its no longer a physical test. More on what you've done to further the style and further your understanding of the style. So could be scientific research into body mechanics or training methods or equipment etc. as applicable to the style or could be furthering it by spreading the style to a new country or area and teaching lots of people. Give me 20 yrs or so and I'll let you know what happens when my instructor gets his

Wow my first thought with the babbling during hiking was a hypo. My parents are both diabetic and whenever my mum hypo's, she's a babbler. Talks absolute nonsense and loses all sense of short term memory. Spent over an hour once where she was was trying to find something to give me and just kept opening and closing her bag. Although that doesn't fit the violence aspect. I would think getting him checked over would be a better option than charging him with assault. Seems to be some sort of underlying condition there. Hope it gets figured out

That's a very fair question. At my dojo, I test my students 3 times a year. Every Shindokan practitioner can test once a year at our Hombu every June/July. At any testing conducted at our Hombu, I'm usually the Chairman on the testing panel for all testing ranks. Why would I/Hombu test anybody that might fail? It's like any other test for anything given in the USA. For example, imagine you're going to take a written test for your driver’s license or you’re going to take a written test for Algebra in high school. You study and you study and you study, then you feel that you’re ready for the test. You sign up, then you show up, and then you test. However, something happens, you blank out, you forget the answer to the simplest questions. You then turn in your test for a pass/fail grade, and then before you know it, you’ve failed the test. You thought that you’d pass! Your instructor(s) thought that you’d pass! Your fellow students thought that you’d pass! Your parent(s) thought that you’d pass! However, when all is said and done; you’ve failed. The resulted fail isn't what was hoped for, but it’s not the end of the world…it happens to the best of us all from time to time. It’s nothing to be ashamed about; continue practicing in preparation for the next testing cycle. Sure, during the 3 months leading up to the next testing cycle, I teach you, I train you, and I review you; I’m confident that you’ll pass with flying colors, but then the unforeseeable happens…you forget, you panic, you freeze, and you fail. Why is the martial arts so different? Why do some instructors/organizations only train for the testing cycle and not for effectiveness of technique(s)? Shindokan students must apply for each testing cycle, and in that, some are approved for the next testing cycle, however, some are disapproved for the next testing cycle for various reasons. It's those who've been approved for the next testing cycle that end up failing; not those that haven't been approved for the next testing cycle. Things just happen, and in that, students end up failing the test. I don't give away belts; they must be earned!! I've failed a countless amount of tests myself, no student is immune from failing any said test. Great post Bob Even though the person might not pass the belt this time, it doesn't mean that people didn't think they weren't ready for it yet. It is like any other test in life. Not everyone passes their driving test first time. I can tell you all now that I screwed up on my last set of uni exams and got less than I'd hoped for even though I knew I knew the material and my tutors knew I knew the material. Things just happen on the day. That's life. Besides I think the ones that were borderline pass/fail and failed tend to be better in the long run because, providing they don't quit in the interim, they tend to work really hard to make damn sure they get the belt next time. Next time they step up in front of the examiner to test for the same belt, they often appear 10x better than they were before. Failing also means more time practicing at that level and more time practicing makes for a better student. We've just had a colour belt testing at our school and a couple failed. Can read here if you're interested: http://www.karateforums.com/colour-belt-grading-time-vt41198.html Not sure how my instructor goes about telling them... never happened to me and its not something I've wanted to ask before. I do know that the borderline fails get a sort of probationary period where they may end up getting the belt after a few weeks but if not they just have to wait for the next testing period.

Congrats

Thanks for reading still kicking I think a part of it is that because we have quite a few students, classes are segregated into belt groups so there's a class for beginners, class for intermediates etc. It's great for learning and focusing on stuff applicable to your current level but you never get the opportunity to see what the higher grades are doing. When I was a colour belt, the classes were mixed but that was also good because I could copy how the higher grades were moving and be inspired when they did something really cool. My instructor said as much during the grading. Told some of the lazy ones that it would be good for them to come along and watch a blackbelt class or stay and watch the next part of the grading.

Don't have to read this if you don't want to but just come home from an all day colour-belt grading at my school. Been a while since I've helped out at testing (am away a lot at uni) so was fun to get behind this side of table again. Had 53 students testing, majority were white belt to yellow belt (first couple of grades), some intermediates and about 8 advanced colour belts (3rd and 2nd gups). Examining was my instructor (6th dan), his wife (4th dan) and our assistant instructor (5th dan) with me and a couple of 1st dans assisting. A lot of white belts were testing for the first time and all did well. Lots of new adults which was good to see Adults white belts all broke too. I don't often get to see the beginners and the standard was quite high. A number of them were looking pretty sharp so will definitely be keeping an eye out for them as they carry on training. Green belt group really did not impress at all though. Apart from the adults and a few kids, the rest of the group just looked like they couldn't be bothered and a few hadn't learnt their theory all that well... My instructor got quite annoyed during the self defense section as even though they were told repeatedly to put some effort in, they weren't grabbing each other properly. So he made me get up and do it! Told them to all line up and I had to go attack them whilst in full suit and tie and proper shoes! For the ones that stepped up to mark they did reasonably well and was quite good for the parents to see them try to defend themselves against an adult. Lot more realistic than having another kid trying to grab your arm. But for the rest it was a mess. Just don't know what it was with this lot but really demoralizing as an examiner to watch and frustrating. A number of them ended up failing the testing and will be put on probation. Not for a lack of skill as I know they all can do better but mainly because there was an absence of enthusiasm and effort. Hopefully will give them a kick up the backside for the next testing day. The last session with the 3rd and 2nd gups was great though. Was only younger teens/kids in this category but they were really raising the bar compared to even the adults in the group before. Most of these kids have been training since they were 4-5 yrs old and are now about 7 or 8 years old. Proper switched on though, not like the group before. Had me doing the self defense with each of them too, grabbing them by the throat and trying to drag them by the arms. Lets just say I came home with a few bruises. On the breaking a few of them even stopped sir to ask if they could have a more difficult board or double up on the boards! Really impressed with that as tbh I'm happy if a 7 year old breaks the board I was holding (was a child "advanced board") as it still requires a bit of force behind it to break and they were asking if I could go get the other one as well! Just wish the lazy green belts had stayed to watch.

Welcome Nadz37

Happy Birthday George

Yes, I do. And I hate it. It affects the way I move all the time. It messes with my kicking, especially my spin kicks. It also affects how I hold my arms up. The bulkyness tends to cause my elbows to flare out more, and this can mess with my blocking.Can imagine. Never worn one but I hate even wearing female chest protectors as it compromises my blocking and punching. Sucks. Think both styles' (WTF & ITF) ruleset tend to put the heavier guys at a disadvantage. Just little things like this and stuff like headshot kicks, spinning kicks scoring more doesn't really fit in with the heavier fighters.

This is what I'd do. Weight forward and push whilst hands are up ready to punch as you close the distance. He's either got to let go to cover up and protect himself or get hit and risk crashing to the floor too.

Welcome Renee

Brian, do you wear the hogus? I always wondered whether they made it more difficult/uncomfortable to have hands up?

How about a hairbrush http://www.coldsteel.com/honeycomb.html Personally I'd go with the mag-lite option, I agree with you guys saying a knife is a great equalizer.. just personally I don't feel comfortable using one and would probably stab myself or drop it on my foot. I do carry a small mag-lite around which has a super bright LED (useful for shining in people's eyes too).

Yeah it does seem to be only the heavily sport orientated schools/fighters that adopt the hands down approach e.g. Olympic fighters. Would seem to suggest that there is no advantage to doing it. That's a good point. Footwork should always come first anyway. If you can move out the way, move. But would it not be sensible to at least raise the arm to protect against kicks that you didn't quite evade? From an ITF perspective we do a lot of footwork and positioning work but we still keep the guard there because sometimes a kick (or punch) gets through or your opponent anticipates where you will move.

Ok Well yeah personally I think its better. New workout techniques or borrowed techniques from other sports/martial arts will only make TKD stronger and better.

Likewise a physician will tell you to wear one to cover their back and reduce their liability. Physician's don't know everything you know. Not all of them have a understanding of MA and they can only assume the risks involved. Its not all hype. You say the jury is still out and that's because science and accredited doctors are coming up with reasons why not to wear headguards too. I would like to read and studies you have in favor of wearing headguards if you have links to them, might change my perspective on things. Also who's to say regular people like you aren't reading the hype about needing to wear a headguard, believing it and the posting it on here. Works both ways. As long as there are studies on both side of the argument you can't say for sure. moriniuk and I were posting our take on the matter. I know of a doctor firsthand who actually knew something about the sport and was ok with people not wearing headguards: my grandad was a surgeon and was heavily involved in the Guyanese boxing association, often acting as a ringside doctor. Unfortunately he's not around anymore so I can't ask him why he was of that opinion. But there's one accredited doctor on this side of the argument. To add to the debate, something else I've just been reading: if wearing a headguard does lessen each blow you receive, then you can take more individual hits which can have a cumulative effect. With the headgear you can repeatedly take many concussive and subconcussive blows whereas without one, a hit is more likely to just knock you out or have a serious enough effect to stop the match. I'd rather take the one hard hit then lots of slightly lessened ones. Its the frequency of hits that result in chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI) and if the headguard is taking the edge off of each of your opponents punches just enough not to knock you out, you're going to be receiving lots of hard punches. And yes there are medical studies to back this.

Yeah I would have though so too. It really does seem strange. Compared to ITF TKD in which we even get points if its a good block (one that knocks them off balance) Olympic TKD just doesn't seem to emphasize a guard or blocks. The punch thing's always seemed weird to me. From watching videos, fighters just seem push each other away to get back to kicking range rather than to punch. Maybe its a points issue? In what I do (ITF style) body shot punches do score but people choose to punch to the head because it is a more visual punch and judges are more likely to score it. Punches to the body tend to get obscured by legs and arms and not all the corner refs can see them. Maybe its a similar thing with WTF? Punches to the body aren't visual enough for the points?

Welcome StepnSteph

You can download their competition rules here (right at the bottom): http://www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk/btcb-downloads.html It doesn't say anything about not being allowed to parry but I guess if you don't get anything for doing it, why bother? On the punching to the chest, I guess because its hard to get withing that range when the kicks are flying about and you're more likely to score with the kick. Its just the sport side of it. The TKD gets modified to the rules so that the obvious things like the guard gets neglected. Its sad in a way because I have sparred a sport TKD blackbelt and get withing punching range and they don't know what to do. Or block a kick properly and they don't recover from it so great and you can then close in on them. My friend (who's ITF TKD) tried out for that Olympic TKD fighters programme for 2012. Although she got down to the last 20 or so candidates she was rejected in the end because she was too ITF in that she kept trying to block and punch. Guess its just not a desirable trait for sport competitors.

What do you mean by modern/traditional schools? If you mean in terms of training methods, nothing wrong with a modern school. Loads of new technology and research out there which you can utilize in your training. For example, a better understanding of plyometrics can train your punches to be faster more effectively compared to traditional methods. Same with stretching. Understanding the different types of stretching and using them effectively is better than just forcing you into the splits old school style. Self defense is something else to consider. A modern school might teach you stuff which is more applicable to what you might encounter. A traditional school might say "here's how to disarm a horseback rider whilst he's charging at you in battle".

Hey rchave17, welcome to the forums. I do TKD too and would be willing to get some training in with you if you like. I also quote sensei8 and Jeffery in response to my query about TKD guys getting in on this : But would sure give us a new way to look at things. A little TKD can go a long way. So yeah, you're more than welcome

These are exactly the reasons why I opt to go without TKD headgear. It is compulsory for our juniors but adults can choose and the majority choose not to because of these reasons. Your peripheral vision is compromised, your head feels heavy and you can't rotate it as fast and people try to and can hit you in the head more often. It also muffles your hearing which is just as bad never mind the fact that in competition you can't hear your coach or the ref. Well said. Besides, people should learn to keep their jaw closed anyway. Get hit outside of training and it should be a natural reflex to put your teeth together and hold your jaw. And it holds your mouthguard in place too. Here's a study comparing amateur boxers (with headguards) to pro boxers (without): http://news.softpedia.com/news/Boxing-Damages-Brain-Despite-Headgear-Protection-35433.shtml It found some of the problems associated with head trauma were just as likely in the amateur fighters as it was in the pros. Also an article in BlackBelt magazine discussing head injuries ans why they occur: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b9IDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA60&ots=KN5F-Na7cq&dq=study%20headguard%20safety&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false

Breakfalls are probably the obvious one, as well as improved balance in general. The other thing I've noticed from my TKD training is improved control over your feet/legs in general. So I instinctively use my feet to pull out a chair or other stuff like that..

Love The IT Crowd watch it over and over again on 4oD. Shame season 5 is supposed to be the last one they're going to do. Misfits is another good one by Channel 4, they're going to be showing it in the US soon: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13761843 so you guys get to see it too Not sure how well it'll translate though as there are loads of cultural references that you might not be familiar with. Haha for those of you guys who liked my accent on the live webchat, listen to the character called Kelly in the show, that's how I used to sound when I was younger.