DWx

I wouldn't say I use online training but I do tend to use stuff like Youtube when starting to learn my forms. Once you have used the videos to map out the movements you can spend more class time on actually developing the moves themselves rather than having to remember what comes next. I find it useful to also look at how other people spar and see if I can pick anything up from that.

As a student I personally have an arrangement that works quite well for me and may work in this situation. I know that 9/10 I will be able to do at least 2 hours a week so I pay monthly via S/O for those 2 sessions. However I often can make it to 4 if not 5 hours a week so my instructor lets me pay cash in hand for those lessons (even though I'm not really supposed to). My instructor is also very good in that if I miss one of those 2 sessions I can make it up with a different session. I think if an instructor is relying on the tuition fees as an additional source of income or if they have expenditures every month (like room rental) then sometimes you have no choice but to expect students to pay a months tuition even if they aren't training. Also I know that for us there are certain sessions which are very popular but because of safety there has to be a limit on how many students are in that class at one time. Your payment acts as a deposit to secure your place in that class and its up to you whether you go or not. Personally I don't mind paying out for lessons even if I miss some. However if it came to be a situation where I was missing lots regular I would try to find some other way of payment such as a pay-per-session type of arrangement.

Think you meant ninjanurse Just to add my two cents anyway.. I also agree that its probably better in many cases to fully rotate the foot so the foot is pointing away. It will open up the hips fully and for things like pushing kicks it helps you to drive the leg through. Although, like Bushido_man96 said, if the kick is lower than the hip it probably isn't that necessary to get the full rotation.

Looks pretty good. There aren't many TKD games around at all.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I agree with Bushido_man here. I favour my right side way too much and as a result I can do everything 10x better on my right compared to my left. To get anything particularly accurate off of my left requires a lot of concentration. More reps on the weak side help to balance it out. My own training philosphy has always been that I want to be able to throw a technique from anywhere no matter what side I have forward or how much room there is or whatever. So I much prefer to do my reps so everything equals out.

IMO it depends on whether you consider a junior and senior with the same belt as equals. If you generally consider say a child blue belt as an equal of an adult blue belt then you should be testing them based on the same standards. I think to lower the testing standards will be detrimental to their training as they will have to go back at some point and improve it all again. IMO its better to get it right from the beginning rather than have them carry thorugh bad technique and habits. You could take a different approach to testing though. For us you are expected to know stuff like application, terminology etc. With adults you'd just ask them to give you a verbal translation of terminology and get them to explain whereas with kids I find it better to ask them to show you the technique first and then ask them to show you when they would use it.

We have something for the younger kids where they can earn badges but we don't really break down the main ranks. You do have to test on each of those factors though.

If its something that would improve and add to his technique overall then yeah I would suggest it. If he's already got good power and in his blocks and strikes then perhaps its something he can work on to improve them even further. Having said that I wouldn't correct him just because it isn't the way your school does it.

That must have taken ages.

He must have been hungry. Subway ought to be more considerate when the guy obviously needs his 2 subs!

Everybody else has really really bad flexibility? What type of flexibility are you talking about? Might be you're just not "good" at a certain stretch. To get a decent height on most kicks you have to be more than just flexible one way. I struggle to get past 110° in side splits and have to really force myself, doing something like side kicks though and I can easily place the leg at head height because I have the front splits type flexibility. The higher it goes though the more my hip has to be rotated over and the less upright my body which is not what I should be doing. A lot of factors influence kicking height. Its not all flexibility. You need the strength and the dynamic flexibility too.

Welcome back

Welcome!

Welcome!

Definately not fun. Most times I'm tempted just to lie on the floor instead.

A new film woulf be pretty cool. But they can't replace Mr T!

Something we do which absolutely kills your arms, chest and stomach is this varient on a push up. You basically go into the down position and hold yourself off the floor but as low as you can without touching. Hold it for a count of 15 secs then explode upwards before slowly lowering yourself again. An then start increasing the time held. To work the chest more I find its better to move your arms wider. You can't push up as high but your chest plays a much bigger part in trying to hold yourself off the floor.

Welcome

Congrats!

It is really annoying but I agree that you shouldn't get angry like some of them were. Not only is it bad for buisness its not neccessary. Plus it is actually quite funny if you're the one who's not going to have to count it.

Congrats! Sounds like it was a tough test.

Some of those are pretty cool. My dad's an architect and made our stairs at home out of these steel girders (doesn't look as good as those though).

There are a few other threads you may want to check out: Questions to ask: http://www.karateforums.com/what-are-the-right-questions-to-ask-vt31895.html Average prices: http://www.karateforums.com/how-much-vt29028.html http://www.karateforums.com/what-fees-are-you-paying-for-training-vt34400.html For me the atmosphere of the place is also important. Is everyone relaxed or is it a bit more disciplined? Depending on what you prefer the environment is going to affect how you learn. Good luck finding somewhere you like