DWx

I think both Opro and the Funky Gums recommended are impression ones similar to these. Definitely with the Opro kit I found I had a better fitting mouthguard than I've had from the boil and bite and even from the dentist.

Welcome back Iceman

For the Korean it depends if you are going with ITF TKD, Kukki TKD or Tang Soo Do as the terms will differ slightly. But bandae dollyo chagi is more like spinning heel kick, quite literally "reverse turning kick". Hook kick is goro chagi but we also have hooking kick (something different) which is golcho chagi. For the punches it's kind of difficult to provide alternatives to the terms you've used. I covered some of them here: http://www.karateforums.com/taking-a-closer-look-at-the-hand-techniques-of-taekwon-do-vt46106.html

Belated happy birthday Alex hope you had a great day!

Not really met anyone notable outside of TKD but have inadvertently had tea with Prof. Chang Ung (gatecrashed the VIP area) and have been introduced to new ITF president Prof. Master Ri Yong Son. Have also met pioneers FGM Rhee Ki Ha and trained with GM Hwang Kwang Sung (one of the 3 promoted to 9th dan by Gen. Choi). Trained with various international coaches and world champs, but highlight would be training with Hwang Su-Il (known for doing the motion capture for Hwoarang in the Tekken games). I actually had the honour to step into the mat with Master Hwang at the last world championships for the ladies team spar; he was coaching team Japan and I, England.

To be honest any programme that targets the whole body (and not just bicep curls!) will be good. I think it is mainly down to personal preference what you do and what works best for you. Personally I do a mix of both but that's because I like the variety. If weights, I would lean towards barbell and dumbell over machines as they require you to develop stability and balance also but if you really prefer or only have access to machines, then it is still good for you. If you don't have a specific plan already, these are some good starting points: http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ https://fitloop.co/routines/bwf-recommended-beginner-routine

Welcome Dicho

Think of it like this, the weakest link in the chain is the one which will break first. You don't have to be a body builder or world class strongman, but you should prepare your body for the forces you are going to put it under. I don't know the stats for martial arts movements, but take for example a long jumper, as they take off, their body and joints can be subjected to forces 16x their own bodyweight. To prevent injury they have to sufficiently build up the structures and muscular support, especially for high risk areas like ankle and knee joints. To not do so is leaving the body unprepared and hoping for the best. So in the end, strength training is necessary to prevent injury, not cause it. Just this weekend I was on a course with a strength and conditioning coach who works with a number of Olympic athletes, including previously working with Team GB Taekwondo and he stressed strength for injury prevention, particularly strength at the limits of your mobility to help protect yourself. As martial artists we shouldn't be strong just to kick and punch someone else, but we should mainly be strong to help prevent injury. Weight lifting, when done with proper form, is good because it's scaleable and easy to progressively load each time. The big lifts such as squat, deadlift and bench all work the whole body too. However bodyweight exercises can be equally as good as long as you scale them too as they also work balance and provide you with acrobatic strength. But forget just doing 50 pushups, it's better to increase the difficultly and do 10 handstand pushups for example.

Whilst I know what you're getting at, high price tag doesn't always mean best quality. Beyond a certain point its also a case of diminishing returns.

Congrats The Pred

Will be cheaper than a new gi at any rate!

What is your current routine? Honestly if what you're doing now is causing anxiety...stop doing it! You don't need to train until exhaustion routinely if it's causing issues. It's all about smart training and realising what works for you. For cardio, start with something you like doing: running, swimming, biking, skipping, maybe a combination of them, or maybe something else. Then use this to slowly raise your base level of fitness. No need to go crazy every session. Then once you've got a good baseline fitness, you can start building on this with high intensity bursts - quick recovery. But you absolutely do not have to go until exhaustion.

There's loads of them if you just search for "celebrity blackbelts": Sean Connery has a (honorary?) blackbelt in Kyokushin Karate. Vladimir Putin is a Judo blackbelt. Bear Grylls has a blackbelt in Shotokan Guy Richie does Judo Forest Whitaker does Kenpo Sarah Michelle Gellar has blackbelt in TKD (how else does one beat up vampires?!) Michael Rooker (Merle in The Walking Dead) does Kyokushin Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) did TKD

Get yourself some compression shorts. There's a reason pro athletes, including MMA fighters, wear them. 6 inch ones will cover you down to mid or lower thigh. Plenty of brands now carry them, Nike, Addidas, Reebok, Under Armour etc. Not only will they help wick away the sweat and help the fabric slide, they'll also help keep your muscles warm. Personally (as a female) I prefer the Nike Pro stuff but men have a far wider variety of brands to choose from.

No doubt about TKD's popularity. But was there a single person during your or my lifetime who came in and changed things up, and influenced millions to do the same? I don't know TKD enough to point to an individual person who broke the mold. TKD is easily the most popular MA in my neck of the woods. TKD officially turned 60 last year, it's younger than most martial arts. I would say Gen. Choi Hong Hi definitely was influential, he is generally regarded as the Father of TKD. He championed the Oh Do Kwan which was the Korean military division, and made a concerted effort to send his instructors out across the world to teach TKD. He specifically took a team of 12 masters around the world to demo the style. The team included other influencials like GM Rhee Ki Ha (father of British TKD), C.K Choi (Canada TKD), Park Jong Tae (Canada TKD), Park Jong Soo (various European countries, then Canada), etc. I would also choose Kim Un-Yong. First president of the WTF and played a big part in spreading it worldwide and getting it into the Olympics.

Is it not commonplace to have first aiders on hand? Usually its necessary for insurance purposes. I reffed a tournament at the weekend and had 3 medics assigned to just my ring.

That kick was brutal. If that had been at one of our tournaments it would have been an instant red card for the player in black. I know its hard to control an axe kick but it looked like there was no attempt to bail out or stop the leg. Though as to whether she should continue, it depends on what the paramedics thought at the time. I've continued before after being knocked to the mat.

Welcome sd.bombon

I know you say it with the smiley at the end, but I believe Mas Oyama is the most influential after the founding fathers' generation... Each IKO (how many are there now, 5?) claims several million karateka Then add the numbers from the following well known international Kyokushin offshoots: Seido Juku Seidokaikan Ashihara Enshin World Oyama Daido Juku Kudo Zendokai Then there's independent Kyokushin dojos. Then there's local offshoots (a former Kyokushin or offshoot karateka starts his/her own school without using the Kyokushin name, and a few of his/her senior students do too). Then there are the schools that don't have an Oyama lineage, but changed the way they did kumite once Kyokushin started gaining popularity. IMO, after the founders, more karateka can most likely trace their lineage back to Mas Oyama than any other person. Perhaps being a Seido Juku student, I'm a bit biased. Maybe there is/was another Funakoshi student who stayed Shotokan that can rival Oyama's numbers? Based on numbers (anecdotal, not actually counted), I'd have to say the Gracies with BJJ. If you limit it to the last 20ish years, Gracies, hands down. The last 50ish years, Oyama. Great post Could you not argue by the same reasoning that some of the early TKD pioneers were just as influential; how many schools (even McDojo's) claim some training in it?

Welcome back John. good to have you back

I know this is quite a new course, but has the university published any stats about those who graduate? Most will release figures on percentage of graduates who got a job in their chosen field within 12 months and those who did something else. They should also give you stats on the percentage of students who completed the course and the types of employment they went into afterwards. That should at least give you an idea of whether this is a viable career path or something you should just study for interest. Barring that, are there any alumni they could put you in contact with?

That is a great point. The degree you choose can have quite a major impact on what you do with your life. It's a lot of time and money to invest in something so whatever you choose you have to choose it for the right reasons.

Welcome sicktwist

Yes and no. It depends on what you mean by good. Can an average person acheive a decent skill level by training a couple of hours a week? Sure. Will you become a world champion or best in the world? Probably not. However for the average student a few hours a week is enough to develop a skillset and hone their abilities. Now on the other end of the scale speaking from personal experience, I would say hours do matter if you want to be the best. I have trained and competed on my national team for TKD for the last 8 years. My team, England, typically rank within the top 10 countries in Europe, sometimes just sneaking in to the top 5. Training time is something we frequently talk about and how we, compared to some other countries actually do very well given the number of hours we can afford to put in. The top 5 teams all have significantly more time they set aside for training than we do. They aren't training technique much differently but the shear amount of time they are training has an impact. Surprisingly though they also aren't training crazy all year round. It really seems to come down to smart training. To explain: English competitors typically train at our home clubs maybe 3 or 4 times a week, supplement this with individual fitness training, then meet up every 2 weeks for a 3 hour squad session. Some of the teams elsewhere in Europe are fortunate that their competitors can train full time professionally and as you would expectm these guys often medal. What's surprised me though is how the Bulgarian and Russian teams train (frequently end up on the podium). From speaking to their competitors, they all have day jobs and just train in the mornings and evenings like we do. However a month before a Championships, they take time off from work and school to attend a fight camp. These fight camps typically mean 5 or 6 training sessions a day, every day for several weeks. Again the techniques and methods are not very different but yet they consistently out class everyone else, even the professionals who are training all year round. So yes hours do matter, but using those hours well are also important.

This happened to Karate and TKD. I don't think it will even take 100 years. The difference is though that Karate and certainly TKD didn't start out as one thing in the first place. BJJ you could argue had always belonged to the Gracie's and there haven't been any major fracturing off whereas with TKD you saw it breaking up within the first 10 to 15 years.