DWx

Wow you need to get out more j/k Congrats! Just a couple more and you'll have beaten Patrick.

Sorry to here that Shiv. Its good that you are sticking at it. Think of it this way, if your Sensei did not award you 9th kyu this time, when you are awarded it you know it'll really mean something and that you worked hard for it. It wont be your Sensei giving it to you just because you paid the testing fee. Keep at it!

Welcome!

TKDTutor has a 9 page discussion on vertical vs horizontal: http://tkdtutor.com/09Techniques/Hands/Punching/HorizontalVertical/HorizontalVertical01.htm Haven't had a chance to read through yet but you all might be interested.

Don't like rats but that was pretty cute.

It was done as a demo at a pro-taekwondo event. Not sure what to think.. its a bit weird really!

Submissions101 did quite a nice tribute video:

Really good stuff. Commentry is excellent. Not sure on some of the techniques though although obviously this vid doesn't show them in full.. Like at 2.44 I'm not sure many people would be able to do that and get the attacker off the ground, especially if they guy's got you in a choke. Or like at 4.23..

Congrats John!

From most positions I would guess the vertical fist is a lot more natural. The majority of people tend to guard with the fist in this sort of position already so its not that much effort to throw a punch out there. Having said that, a lot of styles expect some sort of twisting motion when throwing the horizontal punch in order to get it out there faster, isn't really that effective if you start horizontal and just continue the movement out, so you'd start off in a similar position anyway... One thing you do notice with the horizontal punch with things like board breaking is that if you don't get the full rotation on the fist and land the punch off of horizontal, all of the power goes straight through the middle finger knuckle rather than both index and middle finger ones. Seen a lot of people damage their hands this way as often its too much for the knuckle to cope with because its not conditioned enough to take the full force of a punch on its own. So maybe vertical is safer unless you can make sure your horizontal works effectively every time.

Welcome Tim

Maybe they just don't like the look of their legs I'd take the trousers over shorts any day. I agree about the mobility point though. Probably a lot easier to kick in.

I think it depends. Obviously experimentation is a good thing or else styles never grow or develop and we'd still all be doing things the way our instructor's instructor's instructor did them. A lot of the styles people practice today would never have come about if someone somewhere down the line hadn't decided to do things differently. You also have to think about context as well. An MA style that was evolved on the battlefield which takes into account armour and weapons etc. would have to be experiemented with and changed to make it applicable to the type of situation a MAist may find themselves in nowadays. On a more individual level, I think a bit of experimentation is necessary because techniques generally aren't "one size fits all". You have to play around with them to get them to work for your body type and your own personal style. Sometimes the "traditional" approach to them isn't whats going to work for you. On the other hand experimenting and changing things does have its downside. I think standardization was mentioned in another thread. You can't really have that if everyone is experimenting and changing things, either everyone has to implement it or you're going to lose the consistency between the group. And I think that in some cases you have to accept that there is a reason why you have been taught a particular way.. In my own training, the org I'm with does actually implement changes every now and then because someone has decided that things would work better another way. This even happens with movements being modified in the forms. I personally play around with stuff too but I have to admit not in a big way.

Sad news. rip.

We have oral tests for colour belts which can be questions on anything up to their grade, including bits and pieces of history they ought to be aware of, technique names etc. Written tests for 1st dan and above and they have to submit a small thesis on some aspect of TKD and/or MA.

Welcome damen!

Something that I've seen work is to get the person to be the pad holder. Gets them used to soaking up the impact but at a reduced intensitiy and you're controlling where the attacks are coming in so there's less surprise about it all. You can then progress to things like body armour (TKD type or other) as it gives some protection but still lets you feel the impact. Also helps with the psychological side as they think they're being protected but in reality they aren't getting that much. Once the person is confident enough to take a hit in the armour, you can take it off and get them to spar normally.

Forgetting about what it looks like to other people, I would feel a little bit stupid myself. The most I'll ever wear is the bottoms in the car to and from if its a quick journey and I won't stop off for anything. Besides its white (as most people's are)... white is the worst colour for cleaning and I definately don't won't to get any extra dirt on it!

We practice one steps a fair bit but we only have one that you learn, you're expected to make them up yourself. They're used in testing from around blue belt (I think) and you're supposed to come up with the defense and counters through taking techniques from the forms and sparring. Usually in a grading the examiner can ask the attacker to use any technique they know up to their grade or they can tell the attacker to use anything they like so its not just like drill work as you have to be aware and able to react to any attack. I find its a good prelude to free SD senarios as its a bit more controlled.

Welcome Erin!

Thought this was a pretty cool use of the features you now get on youtube. Must have taken ages to animate.

Had my first session in the gym today. Didn't really get around to doing anything serious as was just getting used to the machines. I have a feel for what intensities I should be working at as at the moment am not really feeling like I had a hard workout session even though I was doing above what the guy recommended to start at. Actually the guy doing my induction said that if I want to get fitter, I ought to do 4-5 heavy sessions a week for 6 weeks and then slow it down to 2 sessions a week to maintain. Opinions on this? I was originally planning to do 2-3 sessions a week but do this every week.

For me it depends what type of senario we are talking about. Altercation-wise I would prefer the fitness as it would enable you to hit and keep on hitting before having your break to run away. In general though I'm gonna go the opposite way; I would prefer skill over fitness (in an ideal world I'd have both ). Fitness is something I could work on fairly easily on my own, skill not so much. I think great skill is a by-product of great teaching and learning which isn't so easy to come by and I just value that more.

Darning would probably work, thats if you can do it or know someone who can. I always get my mum to do stuff like that for me. If you were going to simply patch it, personally I would put the patch on the inside. That way its less noticeable and it doesn't matter a great deal if its not that neat.

Watching your form I would say more acceleration and definition on the techniques. Its not bad at all but just that little bit more would help a lot. I second tallgeese on the control after the takedown. Even if its just a simple wrist lock, it would be better than nothing.