DWx

It all depends on what you consider notable martial artists. Wastelander made a good point about a lot of famous martial artists taking up martial arts whilst in military service. Taekwondo for example is only 60 years old and many of the early pioneers are starting to turn 80 now. Granted many of them may have had prior training but a lot of them only really picked it up during military service. You could also argue that knowledge and understanding doesn't really kick in when the person is training as a child. Now if we are discussing notable in the physical or sporting sense, it's no secret we tend to peak athletically in their mid-twenties. Take a look at the average ages for Olympians competing at 2012 for instance. In general the physically demanding sports have a lower average age. This is even more pronounced if we look at medalists in the combat sports with the average gold medal winner aged around 27 - 28. So if 10 years is enough to become a really skilled fighter then it is definitely possible to start at 17 - 18 and be at the top of your game. But I would wager that most of the medal winners did start training earlier than that.

For the UK, see here for a good overview: http://www.police.uk/crime-prevention-advice/possession-of-weapons/ We have shotguns in the house and the guidelines for keeping them issued by our local police are quite stringent. There are standards on the type and location of your gun safe (which guns must be kept in) and on how and when you transport them and every so often we have a mandatory checks from the police firearms officer.

Welcome to the forums Oshishinobu

If it's a one time thing or only infrequently when you've been training really hard, I really wouldn't worry. I once threw up in front of about 40 people after doing hill sprints on the sand dunes. It'll happen less and less as you get fitter. You also learn to recognise your limits and stop before you reach this point. If it happens a lot, standard advice applies: go see a doctor.

Bunkai isn't a thing in ITF in the same way as it is in Karate or at least certainly not oyo bunkai. The moves are generally taught at face value and a punch is just a punch. In fact when I first joined Karateforums, bunkai was a very alien concept to me and I'd certainly never encountered it in my training. To be honest I still struggle with the concept. The applications are more taught in a drill / sparring setting or through set sparring. In fact step sparring being more important in that students are supposed to play and choose their own defenses and counters to attacks and not just learn a whole list of set step sparring drills. There are a couple of guys who break down the Chang Hon forms similarly to Iain Abernethy I've come across. After all large segments of the forms are taken from Karate Kata so why not apply the same thinking: Stuart Anslow: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chang-Hon-Taekwon-do-Hae-Sul/dp/1906628041/ Matthew Sylvester: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Taekwondo-Roots-Matthew-Sylvester/dp/1840247584 https://youtube.com/user/practicaltaekwondo It's interesting but I can't get fully on board with it myself. Sometimes some of the applications I've seen are more a desperate attempt to find a greater meaning to the movement for the sake of it and the application is questionable.

Great answer! For me, the most important thing to teach is self discipline and perseverance. With that then they are set up much better to succeed both within martial arts and outside it. There was actually an article on this the other day: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32195063

If you did what was right by you Bob, then I don't think anyone can ask more. Your family is most important to you and you took care of them as a priority. It might be a little noble, perhaps reckless, but I tend to stick myself right at the forefront of conflict between friends and family and will try to coax people down. I would have stayed because I would have felt a responsibility for the rest of the people there and not just my immediate family. But that's just me. For me personally, the following strikes a chord: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” My personal belief is that if you have the ability to do something or make something happen for the better, then you have a duty to do so. Hence why I'd probably have stayed.

Everytime the age argument comes up in such discussions I'm a bit conflicted. On the one hand I would agree that a lot of (narrow minded) people are turned off by the thought of taking instruction from someone younger. Mostly due to pride or some notion that they should know better than the young whippersnapper and that there is no value in their instruction. Yet on the other hand I'm of the opinion that if the 20 really wants to instruct (or do anything in life) it's on them to stand up and make people take them seriously. A lot of people are inexperienced at that age but equally a lot aren't and if you want to be taken seriously the responsibility is on you to act accordingly and change people's minds. So in my mind it's not a valid excuse.

ozm8, do you actually enjoy the classes? Do you value your sensei's instruction? If so then just keep training. Could just be a lull due to holiday season... Also first few months of the year you do see a drop off; lots of people make it their new years resolution to get fit, maybe learn a martial art, by the time Easter comes around they're bored of it and move on to the next thing. If class being small is an issue, why don't you offer to help promote it for your sensei? Bring a few friends for a trial session or ask if you can distribute leaflets of help in some other way.

Seems to be conflicting reports as some sources say they will sell it, just won't display it. http://www.tmz.com/2015/04/06/ronda-rousey-book-walmart-not-banned-no-display-stores/ It's a odd decision but IIRC they've chosen not to sell magazines, toys, etc because they've disagreed with what they portray.

To be honest this probably matters more at lower levels when students have a clear dominant side and leftys and rightys come together in partner practice. More so I think for orthodox fighters coming into contact with southpaws. Whereas left-handers probably spar regularly with right-handers, those who are right handed won't have necessarily sparred with left-handers so it can feel a bit awkward for them. Tends to even out the more experience you have. Though you get fighters like Bill Wallace who spar and fight very well off of one side, I personally think you should train both sides equally as Superfoot is more the exception than the rule. FWIW my instructor is a lefty (I'm right handed). The only time I ever notice is when he's writing, or from his preference to demonstrate with the left leading.

I'm currently 5 weeks post-op from a surgery very similar, if not the same as this. I thought I was the only one in the world I had FAI (Femoroacetabular Impingement) as well as a very large acetabular labral tear. Luckily once they got in there, the iliopsoas lengthening procedure wasn't needed, so they "just" reshaped the bone, removing the extra, and re-anchored the labrum back to the acetabulum... and here we are.. How's the recovery going? Hopefully you'll be back training soon. Just be thankful you're not my instructor. Bone spurs in the hip and years of the leg grinding in the socket means he's been told he's due a hip replacement... in his 40s. I agree with wayneshin's suggestion of the foot injury being at least partly responsible. It all usually connects together. I was seeing a physio due to back problems. His assessment was it was all due to how I walk. Splaying out my right leg slightly for some reason, compensating with hip position which is exacerbated by tight hip flexor and quads leading to anterior pelvic tilt, and so on and as a net result bad back ache. Aside from stretching, I ended up with insoles to correct weight distribution through my feet. See a professional OP and see what they say.

Not sure if it's applicable to your ruleset but there's a few things that I use it for in TKD. The first like you said is to check someone charging in. Though because we spar side on IMO a front leg side kick is a better option or if you time it right a switch back kick. The second use I'd say is purely as a set up for the roundhouse or possibly flying in with the hands. It's riskier as you have to be quick if bringing it off the back leg. As the hips come square you run the risk of eating a side kick or back kick straight to the gut. But the idea is to land the push kick just above the hips so the opponent stumbles back or at the very least puts their weight on the back foot. Then you slam in the back leg roundhouse. Third use is probably restricted to situations where the ring isn't enclosed and you get penalised for stepping out. Simply stick it on the end of a combo to push them out the ring.

It's an awkward kick and not really intuitive like a front kick or roundhouse. Best thing is to slowly build it up and get faster and faster whilst still concentrating on the correct mechanics. Try doing it over an obstacle like a low chair to ensure you get the chamber position high enough rather than swinging the leg through. It's also a good idea to have a good grasp on lead leg side kick first as it is halfway there. This tutorial might help:

Great topic Spartacus. In TKD kicks are used more than other styles. In the style of TKD I do (ITF) I would say the split is maybe 60 - 70 % kicks to hand techniques and we have many more types of kick than you listed for Shorin Ryu. In fact, ignoring all the variations in attacking tool and jump / spinning variations, in the TKD Encyclopedia I count 17 base attacking kicks and 5 defensive kicks. Most players spar and fight side on and use the lead leg side kick much like boxers jab with the rear leg roundhouse playing the part of the cross. The idea being to control your opponent at distance and to only give this up when you absolutely have to. Then you can use your closer range techniques once your opponent breaks in within your leg range. If you watch ITF sparring matches, the players spar at a much greater distance than Karateka or Thai boxers for example, and even when they do come together, they will break and make the distance as quickly as possible. One of the criticisms of TKD is all this fancy kicking and spinning is no good for self defense as you'd be highly likely to fall over etc. However whilst kicking someone in the head on the street isn't sensible, and I wouldn't recommend it, training to kick high consistently promotes balance and athleticism to kick well at lower levels too.

I have to disagree with this Bob. Sure it is more difficult for some students to pick up on the language aspect but you're not asking them to learn a whole language with grammatical rules and tenses. At most it is maybe a list of 100 words to identify what they're doing and IMHO that's not unfair. You yourself travelled to train in Okinawa, whilst you did not have a grasp on conversational Japanese / Okinawan, surely it must have been of benefit to at least understand what was meant by mawashi geri or by chudan zuki. Would you fail a student if they couldn't pronounce any Korean techniques? If so, why? If not, why? It's one thing to understand what command and/or technique is being uttered than having to pronounce it!! Two different worlds, imho. None are the same, imho. So, when I went to Okinawa with Soke and Dai-Soke, yes, I understood what the command and/or technique was having already been exposed to it at the Hombu. I was fluent in the COMMANDS and the TECHNIQUES but not in the conversation language; that was under construction. Key here, imho, is "I" was. And I am, but to require a student of mine, directly and/or indirectly, to be fluent in Okinawa/Japanese commands and techniques, imho, is unfair. Not all can, therefore, I don't require!! I didn't say pronunciation had to be spot on. I doubt very much most Western instructors truly pronounce it right. 99% of the world can't even pronounce "Tae Kwon Do" properly. But as you have already stated, the understanding of what is meant by the term has to be there. I assist on our grading panel and usually am given control over the theory part of the exam so for our students I directly get to decide if they pass or fail on terminology. And I have failed students on their theory if they have no clue when it comes to the Korean (my instructor then takes this into account when deciding pass / fail overall). I'm not asking much, even if they don't get the pronunciation right they should at least demonstrate they know the difference between makgi and jirugi, tulgi and chagi, and attempt to communicate this. There are levels of course and I take into account age and education level. For an adult I would ask "What is the 1st move in Do San in Korean?" and expect the full answer, with a child or less able adult I might ask them to show me the move then describe the components i.e. stance, section, type of block. Easier still I might ask those that have real difficulty to show me the move and ask "Is this kaunde or nopunde? an-palmok makgi or sonkal makgi?" and so on. So I don't think it's unfair to make students attempt to at least learn part of the language. It sets them up for opportunities to train with other people who might not speak the same language (but know the relevant terminology) or for the student to travel as you did to the homeland of the style and broaden their experience.

I have to disagree with this Bob. Sure it is more difficult for some students to pick up on the language aspect but you're not asking them to learn a whole language with grammatical rules and tenses. At most it is maybe a list of 100 words to identify what they're doing and IMHO that's not unfair. You yourself travelled to train in Okinawa, whilst you did not have a grasp on conversational Japanese / Okinawan, surely it must have been of benefit to at least understand what was meant by mawashi geri or by chudan zuki.

Perhaps you need something like what Shuriedo, Tokaido, and Toyo do - the fabric has a blue tint to it when you buy it, which will fade over time, but it slows down yellowing as a result. Or, I personally love my unbleached judo gi. Maybe the unbleached look needs to be more popular? I would and I can definitely see that being better. However TKD doboks are slightly different than standard dogi and we have to wear something specific so limited choice on brands available.

Richard III passed through my village at the weekend. Though he went through that fast you'd think he was late for his own funeral

As everyone else has said it just takes time. The higher grades in class have had longer to hear them that is all. As you are practicing at home or before class, just pick a few techniques each week to practice, every time you do them recite the name in your head and slowly you'll get used to it.

Looks like you've already gotten great advice so far. Have you tried reaching out to school's in your area or school's you are friendly with to gauge interest first?

Congrats

Shotokan is quite similar in a number of ways to (ITF) TKD and should be easy enough to pick up. In fact, a lot of the patterns (forms) borrow heavily from Shotokan kata. TKD is great for kids that age of the class is structured appropriately for them; I wouldn't expect much TKD learning but more games to develop gross motor skills and a few techniques to lead into the standard classes later on. Master Wolf's school should be quite good, we used to do the same tournaments as his school and the students were always good at both patterns and sparring.

I'm all ears when it comes to tips for keeping dobok looking new. I go through so many! Honestly why does white have to be the traditional colour just shows up the dirt more!!! As gross as it sounds I sweat a heck of a lot and this is my biggest problem with my dobok. They tend to go an off white or dirty white after a while. To minimise damage I try to wash it as soon as I get home, or baring that, soak it in cold water until I am ready to wash it. Then I wash with plenty of soap and a stain remover / optical brightener. When it does get a bit dirty looking, white vinegar or peroxide are good alternatives to bleach.

That actually happened to me at work once. I was a cashier at a fast-food restaurant. It was lunch rush and everyone saw. Happened to one of the guys in our school. Best part was it was during when he was leading the class through a warm up: "now make sure you get down nice and low in the squat"