DWx

I think you probably would be taught it.... Maybe you haven't overtly been introduced to it yet but GM Park has always been ITF-style. My instructor trained with GM Park Jong Soo a number of years ago and he did it then. I think he was also Technical Director for the ITF for some time (?) though I think he's independent now.

Great topic idea Brian So I am only really familiar with the Chang Hon / ITF set, though I have seen the other forms in the past. Rather than comment on how the moves are performed, I'll stick with the content: I like Chon Ji being about as simple as you can get. For beginners with sub-6 month training I think it's a nice basis for learning forms as you can take away 2 stances, 2 blocks and 1 attack from it. Maybe you could have introduced a front kick but I probably wouldn't have included a high kick like is seen in Songham 1. That is a little too much I think for people you are just introducing to balance and using their feet for things other than walking and running. But then again I'm a stickler for being technically correct right from the start. Pal Gwe1 I feel is quite similar to Chon Ji... though maybe a halfway house between it and the next pattern Dan Gun. As a beginner form I quite like it and I think the mechanics taught (inward block and inward knifehand) are reasonably simple and similar that they would be easy to pick up. Both are very similar to and . Not surprising since Taekwondo has a very strong grounding in Shotokan and other styles of Karate.Songham 1 seems to be more complicated to me and not necessarily what I would offer to a beginner straight off. Side kicks in particular are awkward movements that aren't really natural to pick up and I think teaching this kick to a beginner plus teaching them a high front kick when they most likely are just developing their flexibility isn't a priority. FWIW in ITF, side kicks don't appear until green belt / 6th kup. It also contains a greater variety of stances, attacks and defenses than the other two. Interestingly though, all 3 follow the cross-shaped (+) diagram on the floor and go up-down and across the room rather than splitting off on different angles and following more complicated footwork.

Sorry but what happens when your sensei slows down and stops being able to be thrown around and throw others? Will you tell him that sorry he can't be your teacher any longer and you're moving on to better things?

IMHO this impedes progression. Whatever field you are studying, be it science, maths, or martial arts, you learn from your predecessors and build upon their knowledge. Else you just repeat what they had to discover and never go on to anything new. You honestly would prefer an instructor who is still fit in his mid 30s say over someone in their 60s or 70s who had trained twice as long and had done things Mr Young & Fit could only dream about?

^ I guess the argument they probably made then was that he needn't have stabbed the aggressor in the heart. There is only one way such a thing will end and especially being trained in combat maybe they thought he should have been aware of the consequences of his actions. Perhaps they thought he should have stabbed elsewhere and that the heart was not his only option? Whether or not the law profession knows what a fight situation is is kind of a moot point when it comes to the law. You must make the choice to play by the rules or not and accept the consequences. Without knowing the exact details, whatever the prosecution argued must have been believable enough that a jury of his peers were completely convinced.

This is a pretty good breakdown of the law in the UK: http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/self_defence/ The key idea the UK law is based is whether or not "reasonable force" was used Some interesting points raised: So maybe there was more to your story Gareth to explain why the old man was charged?

So you would not still learn from his knowledge or experience? There may be many reasons he is physically not able to do something but that doesn't mean his knowledge has been eroded. I've known martial artists with knee problems, with back problems, heck, my own instructor is due a hip replacement in the near future. All these things can place limitations on what they can physically do. I've not seen my instructor kick or even do tul (our kata) in months but that doesn't change that fact that he is one of the best technicians on the UK TKD scene. Personally I do say to people "do what I say and not what I do" in multiple situations. Firstly I have never been gifted with good flexibility so my range of motion in my hips is limited. I've had to adapt my kicks to suit. Doesn't mean I don't understand how to kick properly or how to instruct somebody with good flexibility to do so. Sometimes I also say this when the student is a different body type or build or age etc. I'm a mid-twenties, 5' 10" heavyweight. I do not expect a lightweight teen or a 5' 0" elder to move or fight like do. Doesn't preclude me from understanding how they should be moving though.

It's a Kyokushin wheel kick isn't it? Dangerous to say the least...

Is there a label near the top or in the collar? Could be dye migrating off the label ink. If it's all 3 gi's in the same place I would give them a call to see if they would replace.

Congratulations Alex

Welcome simsan50 are you currently studying a martial art?

Welcome to KF karate bethpage what's your background in MA?

Welcome Jeremey

Welcome to the forums 15love and welcome to MA. Looking forward to reading your journey.

Bit late to the party but for me it's flexibility. I find its the main thing that limits everything I do, especially given I do a "kicking" style. I've practiced since I was a kid and pretty much stretched every day too but I just don't have that much flexibility in my hips (or shoulders). Just think everything would improve ten fold if I had better flexibility.

This is a great answer. My take on it has always been low / touch contact with kids with a heavy emphasis on gross skills like footwork, distance and timing etc. and less on building up a large technique library. With very young kids you can teach the majority of these skills with very little punching and kicking each other and more through games like "tag sparring". TBH we see very little injuries at child level.. More with teens who have gone through a growth spurt and suddenly have limbs half a foot longer than they were last month. I think they forget how long and how strong their arms and legs are

Those look pretty cool. What design would you pick though...

Best of luck to him Ken The 1st of many to come.

Now I'm certainly no expert and do not have a current class, however my general rule of thumb has been to divide the class into thirds: - one third fitness, strength and conditioning - one third skill work - one third review and putting the skills learnt into live training. Each session has an overall lesson objective, be it sparring orientated or forms or self defense or whatever and I would try to match the fitness and strength component to the lesson. For a sparring class this could be a lot of fast burst pad drills and fast footwork, some explosive fitness (burpees and all that), then onto combination and drill work, then onto free sparring. For a lesson centered around forms the fitness might be something longer burn like a run round the field and some intensive stretching, followed by drilling the basics in lines to then going over a particular form in greater detail. Similar to Lupin1, I would expect most students to do the majority of limbering and warmup prior to starting class. The exception being beginners and low colour belts who might not know how to stretch or warm the body up efficiently. With them I'd start with 10 mins or so light warm up first. The other things is, I always think colour belts ought to have a higher intensity / cardio-centric fitness component with some basic strength thrown in. The goal being to raise that baseline of fitness to a functional level and get them fit whilst teaching them the basic concepts with an emphasis on how to move correctly rather than moving with speed and strength. Advanced colour belts and blackbelt can then shift towards general strength (especially gymnastic strength) with the expectation they can maintain and improve cardio at home. They've ideally got the basic movement down so they can refine the movement and incorporate more strength and speed. With all students though I think there is the understanding that class offers the bare minimum of fitness in order to get by so to excel they should incorporate more at home.

Fun fact: splitting the ear open is one way they treat cauliflower ears, got to drain all the excess fluid and relieve the pressure. I am split about her comments. Whilst on the one hand it is not becoming of a sportsperson to seek to seriously damage their fellow opponent, it is what a warrior would do. Identify your opponent's weakness then exploit it to end the fight. Yes it is sport but they are also practicing martial arts. To be honest this is why you have referees, to safeguard competitors and to stop the fight should something like this happen. Maybe I'm going against the consensus here but I don't blame Eyes for her attitude. It's not what I would do but if she really wants to win, it's a valid tactic.

Dentist made is definitely the #1 way to go... but it can be pricey. Not sure if they'll ship to the US but Opro will custom make mouthguards by mail order. They send you an impression kit which you make a mold of your teeth from, just like the dentist does, then send to them and they make it. The high-impact ones start at £42 each: http://mouthguards.opro.com/

That's awesome for you. Most of my best friends are people who I train with. There's a camaraderie like no other that forms when your working your butt off with a group of like minded people all aiming for the same thing. Even more so when you get to smack each other on a weekly basis! Hope you heal up quick

Somewhere I had a biomechanics paper that detailed the forces at work in a Karate a's punch... I'll see if I can dig it out. I would agree though that it's not just the terminal speed and the mass at play but also how efficiently this is transferred and the change in velocity that occurs. It's very simplistic but think of it like this, if I'm in a car travelling at 60 mph and I see a stop light 30 feet away, I then slow the car down in a controlled manner over time to come to a complete standstill thus very little force is transferred. If I'm travelling along at 60 and all of a sudden there is an object in my path, I come to a very abrupt stop and that kinetic energy has to go somewhere, usually by completely crushing my bonnet and the object in front of me. Point is its not travelling at speed which results in a powerful collision, the rapid and sudden deceleration does: http://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/2012/06/03/its-not-the-fall-that-kills-you/ That said, if you want to know the speed of your arm during a punch, it's pretty easy to measure. Film yourself punching then watch the video back and see how many frames it takes for your punch to travel to its target. If you know how many frames per second you were shooting at, you can then use this to work out the time it takes for you to punch. Divide the distance your arm travels by the number of seconds it takes to do it and you can work out the velocity of your punch.

I would agree that improving core strength and leg strength helps to hold the stance... That said, in the meantime either train in shoes as has already been suggested or there are some "secrets" to helping you grip the floor better. Honestly (cheap & nasty) hairspray sprayed on your feet works great to assist with traction. Or if you are able to wipe the floors down well afterwards, try liquid chalk. Not that I recommend doing this because it's pretty gross, but I've seen some competitors give their feet a wipe with sugary sodas i.e. full fat cola to get better traction on competition floors.

I can appreciate to the uninitiated it can seem and look very weird and I would agree that the vast majority of what is on YouTube is highly over the top and exaggerated. Aside from the fact of bad or mis-informed instructors, there's also been a trend in international comps to make the movement bigger and bigger because its more aesthetic. So then you get people on a local level trying to emulate them. Personally I don't think the movement is bad in essence but when done over the top detracts from the effectiveness. But it's not an all or nothing scenario, IMHO some is good, too much is bad. Goldlilocks. Doesn't mean there isn't value in the right amount done for the right reasons. I guess the other thing to bear in mind is what was happening on the political scene when this was first introduced to ITF TKD. The General wanted ITF TKD to be different from Karate (and WTF) and be all new and improved. Needed to make sure people knew it was different.