DWx

I hate it. Its ok when I don't have to go anywhere and can stay indoors but going outside means getting cold (and probably wet).

Having a resistive partner is one area where I really envy you BJJ/grappling guys. Because of what you're doing in some cases I think its a lot easier for you to practice against a fully resistive opponent? In striking styles probably not so much. Unless you have access to full body armour you can't go all out on each other and even if you have the armour is usually restrictive so you can't move as freely as without it. Obviously there is still a restriction on how much force you can apply but still I think there is a lot more resistive element to grappling than the type of work you can do if you're mainly a striker. As for training methods? Having an angry hormonal teenage sibling is definitely the way to go. Always trying to put joint locks and holds on each other, mostly unprovoked and spontaneous, and of course, neither of us is particularly compliant. Same sorta thing goes on in sparring, we both hit hard and don't back down. On a more serious note, having training partners that you trust and know well enough to be able to crank the contact and intensity up is a must I think if you want to train for SD seriously. I like tallgeese's list of stuff. I would add multiple attacker work though. If you are serious about self defense you have to include the possibility of getting attacked by more than one person and know sort of how you'd deal with it. Also worth sometimes doing stuff where there are guys on your side too vs the attackers. Just being aware of who's where and what's going on can be a bit overwhelming if you've never done it before. I think its also worth doing in all these things in environments where you might get into a fight; enclosed spaces, poorer lighting, that sort of thing. In answer to the original question, if I was in a fight? I'd like to think I'd come off pretty well. Truth is though that although I think I'm aware of what to do and how to do it for SD, its really not my main focus in MA at the moment. I'm more into the competitive side right now. Having said that, our sport sparring is pretty hard and I know what damage I can do with my gear on so without the gear maybe I'd do ok.

IDK but it seems pretty inconceivable that they didn't check him out first anyway especially as he was teaching kids. Standard procedure over here is that you get CRB checked before anything like that.

Relaxing would probably help. Being all tense during sparring does tend to provoke the harder hits and a lot of people almost seem to panic when under stress in sparring and then hit hard. As for clenching the teeth? Probably again due to not relaxing. To some extent you need to clench your jaw anyway as it'll help if you get smacked in the face. It'll stop you from biting your tongue or cheek.

Thanks a lot Bob. Also I'm noticing that I sometimes have a tendency to turn the leg over so the heel comes up rather than the side of the foot (if you can picture what I mean). I guess that would be just a case of repetition to solve that problem?

Congrats

Congrats

Seems to me that what you guys call a crescent kick would actual mean the vertical kick in my style. Its very similar in motion to our crescent kick but the crescent is a blocking kick whereas the vertical kick is the attacking form..

Thanks for the info sensei8. I think my problem may be that I'm not doing it fast enough. So to do it fully I either have shift all my weight onto the standing leg or not get the full kick out before landing in the stance again. Do you have any suggestions of specific drills and exercises to develop the speed and strength?

I'd agree with that

Having problems with this kick from the TKD pattern Yoo-Sin. (Its at 1.23 in this video). I can't seem to be able to do it without coming up out of the stance and over onto the standing leg. Either I end up shifting the weight lots or the kick doesn't come high enough. I've seen it (or a variant) in some katas so if any Karate guys wanna give some advice that would be great.

There was a thread about the same program a while back: http://www.karateforums.com/one-hundred-push-ups-vt35495.html Don't think anyone got to 100 but it looks like a pretty good workout for the arms anyway. You could probably modify it for other exercises too for like 100 situps or something. Good luck with it

In TKD the primary use for a crescent kick is to block the arm or leg. I wouldn't use it within clinch range, elbows and knees are much more appropriate when you're that close. If you're blocking with it, you should be going no closer than the elbow of a straight punch and the ankle of a kick anyway. We don't really place that much emphasis on it though. You wont find it in the forms until 2nd dan and we don't really teach it earlier because to block well with it is quite difficult. Its rare to use it on its own too, if you are blocking with it at all, usually you'd be following up with a consecutive kick otherwise a arm block would have been a better choice.

Society would still function without them whereas it probably wouldn't so well without policemen, lawyers and school teachers. So in that respect, no they are nowhere near as important to society. Having martial arts instructors isn't essential whereas having people to maintain the law and to educate are. On the other hand the importance of a teacher to an individual may be great. I'm sure for most people in the martial arts (and on this forum) have had a teacher impact on them in a positive way and maybe influence their lives. In that respect I would say the teacher is definitely an asset to society. And of course, like George said, a teacher can become important in a community if they are able and choose to. I still wouldn't rate them alongside policemen and the like though. Really a martial arts teacher is just like a soccer coach or whatever, they can be a positive influence but they definitely aren't essential.

Welcome yvangkwheng

I don't know. Maybe all rounder was the wrong term to use. For an all rounder, I was thinking someone who isn't restricted by any of the traits originally listed, whether that means they are the best, I don't know. And should they really be included in the list...? I mean they can have the ability to charge in, counter, fight from both sides, use spinning kicks etc. But even then they're still going to follow "patterns" to a degree. Like their particular counter when X kick is thrown is always the same. Or that when they want to come in and fight close, they always use a certain combo to close the gap. Or they have all of the traits listed but will change between them as the fight progresses depending on what they think is going to work.

I'd probably class my self as a puncher because I seldom throw kicks on their own. For me a kick will always be followed by the arm, even if its countering. I'd probably say I'm same side of the body too (right), I can and do kick with both legs but my left arm is useless and doesn't hit that hard. I think you could add the all rounder as a category (you do get them).

Welcome Chris

Personally I don't like the idea of having a specific "fighting stance". Of course when you fight or spar you're going to favour certain positions but I think sometimes fighting from a particular stance is very restrictive...

Welcome Jeffrey

Well they do have a chart based on height and weight and from that you're in the middle of the 6. But you'd need to hem it. Century do do a women's cut gi which might be better? http://www.centurymartialarts.com/Uniforms/Middleweight_Uniforms/8_oz_Womens_Middleweight_Brushed_Cotton_Elastic_Pants.aspx

What brand are you looking at? Often if you go direct to their own websites they usually give a full size chart with the waist and hip measurements on. Or you could ring them up / email..

Great sparring drill we use: Stand with your back close to a wall (a couple of feet away maybe) and have it so that someone is constantly attacking you, either one person or rotating a group so that the attacker is always fresh. Can't move back because you'll hit the wall so you have to move off to the side. Aside from that other drills are to just practise dodging and slipping on your own or against pre-defined attacks.

Not Karate but... A form called Choong-Moo (+ all previous ones) Then at 1st dan we learn Kwang-Gae, Po-Eun and Ge-Baek..

Surely 5 stars takes up more room than IX? We use roman numerals for ours.