DWx

Forget "Does my bum look big in this?". When shopping you ought to ask "Can I roundhouse to the head in these?" before buying. Seriously though, this may make me sound paranoid but if I'm going to the rough part of town, I make sure I wear clothes that allow me to move. It doesn't mean you have to compromise on looking good but it does mean you don't limit yourself when faced with an agressor. I have a pair of jeans I can kick head height in and they look pretty good (well I think so anyway) and I tend to wear them if I know that there is a possibilty of conflict. Realistically no MA is going to cover every eventuality and circumstance but you can do things to make sure that it isn't as bad as it could be. Maybe thats a part of martial arts, being aware of what could happen and acting to minimise that risk.

In ITF I would actually say forms tend to be the more popular. Even at nationals there are far more people entering the forms division than sparring, breaking or sp. technique. I would. I like watching them when they're done well.

Nearly always have my phone on me, feel kinda lost without it . I'm too lazy to carry a watch & diary so the phone keeps everything in one place for me. Also can't be without my USB flash drive thingy. Causes a major stress out when I forget it!

Tiscali UK.

My teacher always stresses the martial applications in our form. She points them out at every technique and shows application. I think that because it is more of a soft art that has kinda become popular with the older generation for the health benefits you don't really see much in the way of martial art about it. Thought this was quite a nice video also:

Definatley loads of politics. I think ITF mainly wants to try to get some form aspect into the Olmypics (as well as merge the two orgs).. what do you think WTF wants from it?

This would be very interesting to see... For sparring would love to see more hands in Olympic sparring. Also ITF rules allow points for a proper block. If it causes your opponents technique to come off balance then I think you score 1 or 2 points. Would be interesting if they kept this or not. Also do you think the Kukkiwon would now be responsible for administrating ITF blackbelts and ITF curriculum from now on? Another thing is the whole history issue. I'm part of Chang Ung's ITF now and they definately play up the part of Gen. Choi in TKD history whilst WTF seem not to mention him at all. ITF go as far to having his picture displayed in classes etc. and nearly all the literature you get like certificates, official ITF documents, books etc. will have something about the General on it. Do you think WTF are going to accept this? From what I've read and the general feeling I get from stuff on the web, WTF really don't like Gen. Choi a lot.

Looking at Chang Ung's ITF site, apparently the ITF and WTF have moved forward in their talks and are looking at somehow combining tuls and matsogi. Seems quite interesting as they are now looking at each other's rule sets for tournament sparring and ways of performing techniques. Would definately mean some big changes on both sides if a merger was to happen. Wonder what would happen to the other two ITFs if a full merger came about.. Any thoughts?

Welcome

Welcome back

Lose weight! I seriously need to drop down if I want to compete properly this year. Also want to master Juche so that I can hopefully grade to III dan at the end of the year.

That sounds pretty cool. You always get loads of games streetfighter type games and something like Capoeria would be so refreshing, especially if they stuck with the traditional side of it. I would so love it if they had like Wii remotes that attached to your feet. Think I will approach Nintendo with the idea... Then I might actually win at something! I was really disappointed that Mario & Sonic @ the Olympics had no TKD! WaLuigi would have won every time with his long legs and it would give your arms a rest.

Welcome! First off, its never too late to start MA and I know of a guy who was like in his late 40s/50s who started. From the links you posted, I like the look of the first one, can't get much from just the instructor profiles they have on there though. Out of the other two I'd be more inclined towards the Kenpo. The TKD is unlikely to have weapons and the website looks a bit commercialised to me (doesn't mean its a McDojo school though). Also from the Kenpo videos and photos it "looked" quite good. There really is no substiture for watching a class so definately go see one if you have the chance. As for girls in martial arts, there are loads of women that do it so you wont be alone. And its guarenteed everyone looks and feels stupid in their first couple of lessons, you just have to remember that even the highest ranking masters started where you did. Everyone was a white belt once. Good luck in finding a school.

I've not been too strict on my diet (although I'm trying to cut a bit of weight now), just generally tend to eat right. I try to get loads of fruit and veg in. I eat fruit during the day at school if I need to snack and have my lunch all sorted so I'm not tempted if I walk with my mates down to the local shop. Try to get a fair amount of protein and carbs in and drink loads of water. If a tourny is within the next few days I start eating more slow release carbs and ensure that I take enough water in. Personally I try to avoid quick sugar fixes from energy sweets and the like but lately I've been taking Lucozade to training... Anyway, like BB of C said, you gotta play with your own diet until you work out whats best for you. Wouldn't start messing with it just before a tournament though, as you may mess yourself up. Good luck if you are competing.

I suppose if what the article said happened, like the whole stretcher thing, you could understand the uni banning it. Could have not been MMA as such but ended up as a "beat the hell out of each other" style of fight.

My first instructor, Mr. Higginson, is still my current instructor after nearly a decade. I think my first lesson was actually his first lesson taking over the club from our now assistant instructor Mr. Wells and I have never trained under anybody else. Mr Higginson has been the person to get me to where I am today and is an excellent teacher and I'm really sad that I have to leave my club in October to go to university. At first he used to only teach a couple of days a week but gradually got more and more students until he final gave up his day job and now personally teaches 7 days a week to around 200 students & 30 blackbelts. Unfortunately for us that means he gets to train during the day so he's like super fit now and believes that we can all keep up with him in fitness session. The guy's like a machine I can't begin to say how good a teacher Mr Higginson is and I'm seriously thankful that he is my instructor. (This is all going to sound like some cheesy ad for him, but he is like the best teacher). He used to be on the England squad (he is now on the verteran team), and we have about ten students now at National Squad training. Even more impressive I think is that we have 4 students from my village (yes village!) competing for England at the ITF European Championship, one of which is European patterns champion and got bronze at the Worlds after losing out to a Korean. He has been the only one to teach all of us from white belt. That's just tournament success though and I think he has done well to produce excellent MAists too. Mr Higginson was even awarded instructor of the year from Choi Jung Hwa (Gen. Choi's son) and has been on seminars from and graded by the General himself and M. Rhee Ki Ha. The club itself has a great atmosphere too. We don't have a permenant venue yet but wherever we train its like home because of the people. I am seriously going to miss this club...

hey welcome back! Hope your knees get better. Real bummer for a maist.

A horrible exercise designed to burn out your legs and make you wish you hadn't gone to training that everning. Basically like Brian's links, you go down squat thrust and jump up..

O ok nevermind, I probably read your description wrong. I don't think there is a totally right way or a wrong way to do things. If you feel you get more power from hip action then that is right for you. Good luck with the rest of the form

When I went on a M. Hwang Ho Yong seminar in January, he said that sine wave was especially important on the scooping block. Your arm itself does not rise a great deal but the entire torso through rising in the stance. He said it was much stronger not to use your arm but to use your core, your whole upper body, to put mass behind the scoop. And anyway Brian, if I get your second description, it appears that in essence you are doing what sine wave is supposed to be if done correctly.

Still might be good though. But after a load of other Marvel comic films like Spiderman, X-men, Fantastic 4 etc. its got a lot to live up to. Like I watched Electra and it was a good film itself but compare it to the other more recent superhero ones its not as good as all the hype let on.

Not seen it myself but a friend has. He said it was a let down after the other Marvel films like Spiderman.. Still might go and see it myself though. Came out in the UK on the same day as the US, so you can go see it now if ya like.

Welcome!

Bit late, but congrats!

Wow thats quite a jump. Congrats.