DWx

I'm going to cheat and give two First one: "Every black belt started at the back of the room" (as a white belt) Second one isn't strictly Martial Arts related but it has had a huge impact on my training: "No more zero days" A "zero day" being a day when you didn't do anything to improve your life. It can be a simple as doing 10 push ups, or washing the dishes, or learning about something new. Sticking by this mantra makes it much more likely I'll go for a run or go to the gym instead of sitting on the sofa all day in front of the TV.

Welcome to the forums Chaby. Whereabouts in London are you? I know of a few places but will depend on where you're located. Any exercise will be beneficial and if he is interested in martial arts them karate would be a great choice. From personal experience the martial arts tend to promote healthy lifestyles as a whole and most schools are incredibly supportive of you trying to better yourself. As JR said, choosing a school is more about the people and atmosphere than the style. He had to enjoy going if he's to stick with it. You might find the following helpful: http://www.karateforums.com/dwx-s-guide-to-choosing-a-martial-arts-school-vt44262.html I would also say support needs to come from home too which I'm sure you're keen to do. Weight loss will come from changes in diet as well as exercise so it would be good to start making simple changes at home too. Phase out the sugary breakfast cereals in favour of high fibre low sugar alternatives. Cut back on juice in favour of water or sugar free squash. nhs website has loads of tips https://www.nhs.uk/change4life-beta/be-food-smart#

This is a good thing that you're recognising this. All part of the 4 stages of learning. You're now straddling the line between Conscious Competence and Conscious Incompetence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence

Welcome! Better late than never What brought you KF in the first place?

Great post JR, all good points Bob, I feel for you in this situation. It sounds like change is needed but is this the right direction? Does your former San Dai Soke Iwao Takahashi even want to come back? Have your colleagues opened the line of communication with him? I have to say that your list of conditions are pretty binding so would he want to come back when he has no real authority?

At gradings its down to the discretion of the examiners what they want to see. Generally they would rather see a technically correct kick at a lower level than a student reach too high and get the mechanics wrong and lose their balance. In our school there are a number of older students who kick below hip level and as long as the mechanics are correct it is fine. On the other hand if the examiners knows that the student is flexible or hasn't made any effort to improve their flexibility and they kick low, they would be marked down because they haven't executed the correct technique. For disability, modifications can be made to suit the student and the examiner should be pre-warned about this if they don't already know the student. In all cases, whether they physically kick high or not, the student should still know that the kick in that particular form is meant to be performed high and be able to say where the theoretical target is. Tournaments is a different thing. For actual disability, the head umpire should be informed and then they would direct the other umpires accordingly to not penalise for modifications. If it's just an ability thing, then unfortunately its tough luck. Though it would only be a 1 point deduction.

High side in both Juche and Moon-Moo I guess it depends on how you define High. The encyclopedia states high but the performers look more like middle section turning kick in Hwa rang. http://www.swanma.com/Lib/TKD/FullEnc/Vol10/#p=174 Not sure which ITF or instructor you are with but high is defined as above the shoulder line. High means high. If you have the ability, both the side kids in Juche and Moon Moo must be performed like this. You would be marked down at gradings and tournaments for anything lower and would be expected to know that they are written as nopunde. Did you not take the few seconds to actually watch the photo in the encyclopedia? The performer did not kick above his own shoulder level. I know what's in the Encyclopedia. I have it sitting on my shelf. The 15 volumes set isn't perfect as there are a number of errors but page 118 of Volume 10 shows the high turning kick above the shoulder under the "Additional Techniques" for Hwa Rang. Personally I think the Condensed Encyclopedia is a better resource sometimes as that was revised and updated several times. As to your original question of high side kicks, have a look at page 312 in Vol 12. Pictures clearly show the kick to head height. Rather than the pictures I would go by the definition of a high kick, Vol 4 Page 20 states: I recommend you attend an ITS (or IIC when you reach blackbelt). Whichever ITF you're in they will clarify how they want the kick performed.

High side in both Juche and Moon-Moo I guess it depends on how you define High. The encyclopedia states high but the performers look more like middle section turning kick in Hwa rang. http://www.swanma.com/Lib/TKD/FullEnc/Vol10/#p=174 Not sure which ITF or instructor you are with but high is defined as above the shoulder line. High means high. If you have the ability, both the side kids in Juche and Moon Moo must be performed like this. You would be marked down at gradings and tournaments for anything lower and would be expected to know that they are written as nopunde.

Great points so far from both JR and Devin. What I would add is for some reason some Martial Arts instructors offer out lessons for little to no money. Its not a bad thing to charge for your time and effort; you're under no obligation to run a charity.

High turning kicks (both legs) is in Hwa-Rang at 2nd gup. Then at every grade above that there is at least one pattern per grade that has a high side or high turning kick. That said I wouldn't sweat it. I've been doing ITF TKD for 16 years now... still struggle with my flexibility with high roundhouses being particularly difficult for me. Instructors will prefer good mechanics over reaching too high for a kick and should make allowances for ability. As long as you know it should be high section by the book, you can perform at a low level with correct mechanics. Only way to improve it is stretch, build strength, and learn the correct mechanics: I don't think there is high side kick in any form. People do it only to brag that they can. High side in both Juche and Moon-Moo

High turning kicks (both legs) is in Hwa-Rang at 2nd gup. Then at every grade above that there is at least one pattern per grade that has a high side or high turning kick. That said I wouldn't sweat it. I've been doing ITF TKD for 16 years now... still struggle with my flexibility with high roundhouses being particularly difficult for me. Instructors will prefer good mechanics over reaching too high for a kick and should make allowances for ability. As long as you know it should be high section by the book, you can perform at a low level with correct mechanics. Only way to improve it is stretch, build strength, and learn the correct mechanics:

Happy Birthday Heidi!

Belated Happy Birthday Brian Hope you had a great day

Kicking off 2017 I'm trying to clean up my diet a bit as I suspect a lot of people are. Do any KF'ers have recommendations or favourite recipes for go-to healthy snacks or meals? High-protein low-carb would be good.

Not used a BOB but have had a Wavemaster XXL at our dojang, got broke when one of the men roundhoused it hard enough to snap the inner core. Though I haven't used one I'd lean more to the BOB because to me it seems more realistic and allows use to work a greater variety of techniques. If you're concerned about durability, I do know people who put the TKD chest protectors on BOB. Might help protect him a bit.

In professional fights such as MMA and boxing, fighters will stare each other down at the weigh ins, adding to the hype. Great article breaking the staredown here: http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-fighters-stare-at-each-other-so-intensely-at-the-prebout-weighin From the article: Do you enjoy watching the staredowns? Any favourite fighters or events?

Congratulations again Brian As I said, you were one of the first people to welcome me to the forum and were one of the main reasons I stuck around. Thanks for everything you do here!

Congratulations MatsuShinshii

This came from a course I took a couple of years ago with a strength and conditioning coach on youth development. This coach has worked with several Olympic Team GB sports (including TKD) and I believe currently works with one of the premier league football teams. One of the main takeaway points was that, except for a handful of sports, early specialization does not benefit young athletes but hinders them. Young athletes that specialize early on may compete at very high levels in their youth, but they tend to drop off and burn out. The difference between elite and near-elite athletes at an adult level was the elite tended to have taken part in many different activities and specialize at late adolescence. Taking part in a variety of sports tends to produce a more rounded athlete who then can specialize later on in life rather than creating a swimmer, or a runner or a martial artist. Re. burning out, the studies I read suggested that burn-out was less likely to occur when the child took part in multiple activities and did not focus too heavily on one. Mentally they were better as weren't focusing too narrowly on one area and had a wider experience, but also physically they were less likely to develop injury through overuse as a result of sports specific movements. In terms of papers, here's a few: Late specialization: the key to success in centimeters, grams, or seconds (cgs) sports Moesch K, Elbe AM, Hauge ML, Wikman JM. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2011 Dec;21(6):e282-90. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01280.x Expertise in Ultra-Endurance Triathletes Early Sport Involvement, Training Structure, and the Theory of Deliberate Practice Joseph Baker, Jean Côté & Janice Deakin JOURNAL OF APPLIED SPORT PSYCHOLOGY, 17: 64–78, 2005 DOI: 10.1080/10413200590907577 Sports Specialization in Young Athletes - Evidence-Based Recommendations Jayanthi et. al. Sports Health. 2013 May; 5(3): 251–257. doi: 10.1177/1941738112464626 Early Sport Specialization: Roots, Effectiveness, Risks R. M. Malina Current Sports Medicine Reports November/December 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 6 - pp 364-371 doi: 10.1249/JSR.0b013e3181fe3166 The following paper by Lloyd and Oliver also provides a good overview to latest ideas around the Youth Development Model: The Youth Physical Development Model: A New Approach to Long-Term Athletic Development Lloyd, Rhodri S. PhD, CSCS*D; Oliver, Jon L. PhD Strength & Conditioning Journal June 2012 - Volume 34 - Issue 3 - p 61–72 doi: 10.1519/SSC.0b013e31825760ea

For young students, if we want to get the best out of them athletically, we should be encouraging them to take part in a wide range of sports to develop a wide range of motor skills. Studies have shown that young athletes who took part in multiple sports when young are more likely to succeed at elite level than those who specialized and only focused on one. For example: ESPN article I'm a firm believer that as martial arts instructors teaching kids we're teaching them not just kicks and punches, but also about fitness and health in general. To create the best martial artists we should create the best athletes and to do this we should encourage them to take part in a wide variety of physical activities. Thoughts? Do you encourage younger students to cross train? How about adults?

Happy New Year

Bob, what you've achieved is great. I'm sure your doctor will be impressed that you've already lost 40 lb in 2 months I wouldn't sweat the last 6 lbs. I would say it's likely with all the work you've been doing you may have gained some muscle mass too which will increase your weight. Just look after yourself though. Don't push too hard as you can end up hurting yourself.

Welcome goju1971

Great article Leigh. Our TKD school uses one-step sparring (Ilbo Matsogi in Korean) a little differently to most TKD schools and for us they are to bridge the gap between fundamental movement and sparring or self defence. The major difference is that we don't teach set sequences and at advanced colour belt levels don't specify the attack, the defender has to observe, decide, then act. That is where I find the benefit personally. For us one step sparring is supposed to provide a framework onto which you can practice selection of blocks and attacks and learn the correct angles and distances to use them whilst also learning to think and react fast. I agree with the argument that no-one starts in a gedan barai before attacking you but as a halfway house between kata and free-sparring it makes sense to have set position to start in and reset the drill even if it is a bit formal. (We actually start from a shizentai or feet parallel position). Later on you can use a more free position in free sparring When teaching this in our school, the responses we want to see students create are: - block > counter-attack > immobilise - evade > counter-attack > immobilise - simultaneous counter-attack (i.e. shutting the opponent down) The key being that students should chose blocks and counters that are comfortable for them and work with their body type and the situation they are in. Though we specify the attack to lower grades, at higher colour belt levels we're wanting students to be able to quickly identify and respond to a variety of unspecified situations: - straight attack (e.g. front punch) - inside to outside (e.g. backfist) - outside to inside (e.g. hook punch or haymaker) - downward (e.g. bottle to the head) - upward (e.g. uppercut) plus similar breakdowns for kicks. It's up to the defenders to quickly workout how the attack is travelling towards them and then select a response to match.

Courtesy of tubby in this post, here are the new Kukkiwon forms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4y50bJvvMM&feature=youtu.be Looking a lot more difficult that previous forms and a lot more kicking combinations.