DWx

Macho do pink! http://www.macho.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=10000197&prodid=WWWSGW edit: ok I got beaten to it by Baronbvp

Well I would understand wanting to keep it in English if you had someone from a different style visiting, however there are differences across schools about how techniques are named in English anyway. For it to work properly you'd need standardisation in all schools. Also, if I were to go on a seminar in another country, say Spain for example, I would understand more if the seminar was conducted in Korean than Spanish. Training in the native language of the art allows students from any background to understand what is being asked whereas if someone asked me to punch in any language other than English (and Korean) I wouldn't have a clue what they'd just asked me. They could have asked me if I'd wanted a drink and I would be still standing there just as ignornt, wondering what was going on. For me personally, I like to find out what techniques are called in languages other than English. It usually helps me to understand better. For example (sorry but I can only give a TKD / Korean example and its not a very good one): Sang makgi <-- we call this W-shape block Sang palmok makgi <-- twin forearm block Both blocks use the Korean word which we translate as "twin", unless someone had explained to me that I must use both arms I wouldn't know unless I looked at the translation. I'll try and think of a better example but hopefully you can understand my point!?!?

While practising this morning I decided to try and shake things up with regards to the way I train myself. Most of the drills I do I do fairly easily now as I have learnt how to deal with that particular movement. I tried to think of some new ways of doing things but came up with nothing really inspiring. Does anyone know or use any "different" drills when they train? I'd be especially interested in kicking or sparring orientated workouts. Thanks in advance

The last time I went to an international seminar the whole thing was nearly in Korean. That way everyone knew what we were doing regardless of their native language. Personally I find that when a student uses the korean terms, they tell you exactly which technique they mean. They could ask me to demonstrate a side kick but then I'd have to ask whether it was a piercing, pushing, checking, high, middle, low... whereas if they'd just said it in korean they tend to say the whole thing because they are more concious of what they are asking. Also at our school, the students are asked to research the culture and history of Korea (us being a TKD school). Learning to recognise and translate the languge is a part of that.

Woah, shock-horror when I logged on today! Thanks!

My sister has the same problem. She wears flexi-frames (I think thats what their called) which can bend and wont get snapped easily. She did try contacts for a while but she had problems. Once during a tournament, one fell out which she couldn't put back in so she had to forfeit. They also sometimes get knocked back behind her eye which is very painful and takes a while to sort out. I guess its up to personal choice. If you are happier wearing glasses, I'd stick with 'em or otherwise see what contacts are available.

Ow! I wouldn't even try it one board

fair enough

XMA stands for: eXtreme Martial Arts. It incorporates the more "flashier" techniques with acrobatics for show purposes. The original creator (if XMA was ever just created) was Mike Chat, one of the power rangers: However it has developed more and more towards the tricking side of things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-Er2xsc3o&mode=user&search= That's my interpretation anyway.

why? surely you can get other good quality belts?

Does it really have to be Tokaido?

5"8 is not short! I'm 5"9 and I'm nearly the tallest at our school.. definately the tallest female anyway. (I also happen to one of the heaviest but shhh don't tell anyone) As for doing the cool things, unfortunately several of the little kids seem to have built in springs in their legs so they can jump higher than head height easily. But just wait... I will find a technique that no-one else can do and then I'll show them...

In my experience Kwon are pretty reliable & they do ship to Sweden. Not sure how the prices compare so you may wanna look around a bit more. http://www.kwon.com/kwon/shop_artikeldetails.asp?str=belts&sf=1&agnr=3060

I've been working on it too. I've managed to get the side kick half working really well but the twisting is lacking. My leg just doesn't want to twist in the air so at the moment I have a messed up side kick and front kick. As for thinking too much, I believe you can never think too much, you just need to be thinking the right thing. I find that if I try to force myself to learn a technique, it just gets worse. Usually I have to do a few, do something else for a bit and then come back to it. That's just me though, sounds like you're having a lot better luck than me if you're striking with the kick too

With the double roundhouse, I find its as much pulling back your first leg as it is throwing your second. I learnt it by doing the first kick, putting the leg down and stepping through fast to land the second kick. Once I got that sorted, I progressed until I didn't need to put the foot down after the first. I hope that made sense.

Yeah they're amazing.... I've always wanted to see one of their performances live!

Just wondering, RyoSakazaki, how old was your friend when he quit karate? If he was 13 when he started, was he still a teenager when he quit? Personally I doubt that someone that young could create his own proper style and call himself (or herself) a black belt. They just haven't developed the maturity yet. He may have the fighting skills but IMO there's a lot more to that strip of fabric than being able to beat people up...

We are in no way opposed to weapons, my instructor just doesn't know enough to be able to teach them. If we had someone who knew their stuff I'd imagine my instructor would be very happy to broaden what is taught at our school. This idiot who brought weapons into the class though thinks he knows a lot but he is a liability to himself and others since he cannot practice safely with them.

But would you get penalized by the law if you continued to attack even if your assailant had genuinely given up? After yelling "stop" does the attacker still pose a threat or do the roles reverse and the attacker now has to defend themselves from your attacks?

Soak 'em in surgical spirits. It causes the skin to dry and harden on the outside. I do this sometimes as it is a less painful way of toughening skin.

Well I try not to land on my heels at all, more like running on the balls of my feet?!? Unfortunatley not running is not an option as if my instructor wants us to run in class I don't have much choice

Yeah I saw that but wasn't sure how much it differed from Kuk Sool. It seems similar to Hapkido too. So does anyone practice it or know someone who does?

Has anyone heard of this Korean MA? I was "surfin the net" and came across a club in the UK but I can't find any information other than what's on the site. It doesn't appear to have a specific international body so is it fairly new or not very widespread? From what I can gather from the website it incorporates soft and hard forms, weapons, empty hand, pressure points, breakfalls, groundwork and just about everything else I can think of http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sulkido/FAQ/typi.shtml Seems interesting and I'd like to know more if anyone can give me any information.

I have a black set to train in because our doboks are black and white so I wanna stay colour co-ordinated , but both red and blue are sometimes required for tournies.

I'm not sure what you mean by musical. The kata in the video he showed was put to music. The people bounced to the music. The use of the sine wave is not bad, but exaggeration to the point of absurdity is just that absurd. We use our hips in our punches too but it doest have to look like a booty shake when you get good at it. It looks good to the beat, that video was dancing- JMO O, it makes sense now...