DWx

If it gets in I reckon you'll start seeing a greater split between martial art and martial sport. I know the Olympics is the Holy grail in terms of sports competition but is it worth it? Taekwondo grew in popularity because of it but Olympic Taekwondo isn't really a martial art anymore, it's martial sport. FYI here's the Karate Olympic bid website: http://www.thekisontheway.com/

Can't really say much on the business side of things, think you've already gotten great advice on that. However why don't you start small and work you're way up? Otherwise you might find yourself lacking in students (and money!). You might not even have a great enough demand in your area to go full time. Personally I'd pick one style, work out a curriculum and get some students then work my way up. See you do ITF TKD (same as me ), who's you're master? Can go to them and see if they'll help you set up a club under them first and you can test the waters. Your NGB should also provide lots of help on the insurance and legal side of things.

This is when stuff like lineage becomes more important. Ok so you're a 10th dan. But who gave you that 10th dan? That's what gives any rank any legitimacy.

Heh I know how you feel. Sometimes it's best just to eat it. If you're anything like me, you'll get a craving for it, try to satisfy it with other things and then just end up eating it anyway. Everything in moderation is ok

Sad seeing stuff like this. The sad truth is I don't think you'll ever eliminate it totally. You can put measures in place though to guard against it. I don't know if you have something equivalent in the states but in the UK we have background checks by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) which can go some way to identifying offenders. In our club we also have a strict child protection measures in place such as adults are never left alone with a child, a parent or another adult has to be present. And other stuff like instructors avoid touching students too

I don't carry a kubotan but I do have a small maglight on a keychain. Never had to use it and aren't trained with it so it's largely useless to me. FWIW you can get arrested and charged for carrying a kubotan in the UK if you intend for it to be used as a weapon.

Congrats PaulS!

Congrats!!! Amazing acheivement

Can't really add much to what people have said already. Mouthguards for me have higher priority than any of my other gear. Really do not want to have my teeth knocked out. Custom fit mouthguards are the way to go too if you can afford it as they fit so much better. Also FYI to anyone in the UK under 18, your dentist can actually get them made for free for you on the NHS. I must have had 3 or 4 custom mouthguards over the years where I didn't have to pay a penny.

Don't know if this is any good to you but martialartshop.co.uk (who I've also used before) have some clearance sparring sets available: £30 for a set (minus the headguard) which looks to be just a generic brand dipped foam gear. Also if you built your own set up from the T-Sport gear on that site (which I think is equal quality to Macho), it'd be £63: headguard feet hands shins

Can anyone recommend a good translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War? I want to expand my library and want to get a physical copy. I'm looking for a copy that's not only a good translation but maybe also has some good commentary too. Same question for The Book of Five Rings. (bonus points if both books are published in the same series - I like my shelves to look neat) Thanks in advance

I've always had good service from Blitzsport but have never bought any of their sparring gear. They've always looked a bit cheap to me (compared to Macho) but I've never worn them so could be mistaken. But assuming you're getting a set with hands, feet, shins and head guard, £65 for the lot is a very good price as if you bought them individual it'd be around £80: http://www.blitzsport.com/Products/Dipped-Foam For comparison, you can get the Macho Dyna set for £90 or the Warrior set for £100.

Congrats PaulS

Cultilvate isn't the word I'd use I have a couple of bonsai but it's more about desperately trying not to kill them.

Always when free sparring. I don't want false teeth just yet! Our club actually makes you sign a disclaimer if you don't want to wear one. We don't have a permanent venue so don't bother getting out mats for normal free sparring. We will get them out when doing anything like takedowns and throws. Competitions more often than not take place on mats.

For us it's usually somewhere around 6-12 months of training. First you get introduced to some drills then one-for-one sparring (exchanging attacks) and some semi-free sparring (exchanging combos). Then you can begin to free spar. Your ability to free spar isn't part of the exams till around 5th gup.

I like lowereastside's answer. IMHO I would say it depends on the student but also more about time than about grade. What does letting go mean exactly? I think I'll always go to my instructor for guidance even when I'm not seeing him day-to-day.

Congrats Which kata did you do?

With these sorts of discussions I think they always come back to the same question: What is a blackbelt? Is it a qualification that you achieve or is it something that you are?

Ah yeah sorry the piercing thing is ITF terminology. We don;t really have plain side kicks, they're always a specific type of side kick. The piercing term I think is what everyone else would consider a normal side kick. At the end of the day it's semantics again.

Welcome T3chnopsycho

Lots and lots of footwork drills. Either shadow boxing or with some sort of target (heavy bag or otherwise). And practice loads. Good luck for your tournament

You might want to look at Taekwondo shoes (trainers). Adidas probably have the biggest range although Nike also do them but also Mooto, Kwon and Daedo are good brands. I've mostly used Adidas and they are very good but I would recommend trying some on first if you can before buying online.

Essentially that. I do pivot the back leg and the mechanics of the kick are the same as the piercing version. The main difference is though is when in the kick connects and where the focus is. When I do the piercing version, I'm looking to connect right at the end when I'm just about to lock out the leg. That's where the kick ends and I start to retrieve the leg. With a pushing kick, the acceleration perhaps isn't so much but then I also connect slightly before full extension. After contact I'm still using my mass to and strength to force the kick to extension and push through the target. Retrieving the leg isn't so important and my mass is probably still going forward at that point. Analogous to impact blocks and non-impact (parry) blocks. How do you do yours? We also have thrusting side kicks but I don't really do them myself.

It depends on the style of TKD but generally green belt would be the equivalent to 6th or 5th kyu so yes it's an intermediate rank. Orange is usually somewhere near the start and would be around 8th or 7th kyu.