DWx

Welcome Charles

That must have been a hell of a hit... Yeah I don't know as I wasn't there. When I spoke to his dad he did say that there may have been an underlying condition which they didn't know about and I think the major issue he said was that there was internal bleeding. Still, not a nice thing to happen and especially when that young.

Welcome Christine

Synchronization was spot on! Looked really good

I think this is it. You can't call it a test if you can just show up and pass. You could be having a really bad day and perform badly and I think you should fail for that. Even if your sensei thinks you're ready, there's no guarantee you'll perform on the day.

It's actually rather the opposite. Guns are RANGED WEAPONS. Imagine that you are going to shoot someone with a bow and arrow. If you're standing close enough that you have to adjust how you nock and draw the bow because your target is in the way, you're doing it wrong. The brain is not a fast instrument. It's been said that there is a lag of about a third of a second between the eyes and everything else. Further, tests have indicated that at relatively close ranges of (as I recall) seven meters or closer, you would have to be a fool to bring a gun to a knife fight. Guns only threaten space in very specific ways, unlike for instance a knife which can threaten all sorts of space near the hand. If you have the unenviable need to chose a weapon to defend against, and you will be at close enough range to use unarmed techniques, a gun is one of your best choices. Well my point was, how are the gun defence techniques working? Not criticising darksoul, but a lot of the stuff you see is where the defender elaborately takes the gun from the attacker e.g. If they are that close that you can do that and the gun is already drawn and aimed at you, the risk of getting shot is too high for me. Even if it takes time for them to react to your movement, pulling the trigger is much quicker than you moving and executing the technique, nevermind execute it smoothly. If it doesn't go so well and you end up wrestling for control you still run the risk of getting shot. If it was me, I'd just hand over the cash. If they are far away and in a position to fire, you're in not in a position to take the gun off of them. Since you have to close the gap to do anything, they could shoot you first still. I don't know for certain, but I thought the distance of 7 metres was when the gun wasn't already drawn? Them having to take the gun out and aim will be in your favour and that'll obviously be a different story.

Just depends what you can manage. Lots of people I know fly from England/Wales up to Scotland (or vice-versa) for competitions. I would but I actually like driving and have driven over 4.5 hrs for competitions before. Congrats FangPwnsAll7

Forgive me, but what do gun techniques entail? I'd imagine that if the gun is drawn and they are close enough for you to do any technique, then you're already screwed unless you can talk them out of it. They'll be able to pull the trigger much faster than you'll ever be able to defend against it. My gun technique is to hand over my phone, keys, purse.. whatever they want. I can always get another. Getting shot isn't worth it.

1) 3-4 years usually but that depends on how much you train and the school 2 and 4) if its Olympic TKD and they use Olympic rules for sparring, don't expect to be using the hands much. In Olympic TKD you can't strike to the face with the hands although you can strike the body. What you've learnt in boxing may help but the sparring rules will differ in that uppercuts, crosses etc. will not be permitted or scored. Olympic TKD is points based but to score, a strike must be dealt hard enough, I think the term they use is "trembling shock". There are plenty of hand strikes in TKD, if it is Olympic/WTF TKD try searching for examples of the "poomse" and "taeguek" forms on YouTube to see what type of strikes they do. But the majority of these strikes may not be used in free sparring and will be used only in forms practice and step-sparring type training. Other styles of TKD can include more hands; I do ITF TKD and would say our sparring is more 60:40 feet:hands. 3) Is TKD a good pick? Yes and no. It depends on your goals and on the school. You will almost certainly be taught to kick and will be taught to kick well. Hand strikes may be lacking but again depends on the school. How much self defence is covered is again dependant on the school. If the school is advertising itself as specifically as Olympic TKD then it maybe more sport orientated than self defence. You will learn next to nothing of ground fighting other than striking from the ground so if you want to learn grappling for self defence or want to learn more than a basic level of throws, it'd be better to look into a grappling based school. Maybe link to the website so we could see? Best thing to do would be to go along and watch or try a few classes and to speak with the instructor.

What's the problem with the concrete? Is it that it's too hard? too slippy? too rough? Can't fix the problem till you know what it is Shoes are probably the cheapest option. Or if you're desperate to train barefoot, maybe get some thin puzzle mats (but you'll have to take them up each time). Or you can invest and put down some proper flooring: astroturf or playground flooring? Wetpour is like a rubber surfacing (don't know what the generic name is): http://www.wetpourrubber.co.uk/

Pertinent to this thread: a 15 year old I know is having surgery today to save his testicles after getting hit there during training last week. Wasn't wearing a cup but the class were only doing step-sparring. Took an accidental hit to the groin and a couple of days later he 's now having surgery. Spoke to his dad this morning and apparently its a question of whether they can save one of his balls and whether the other will still function. Something to think about there Naked Snake...

They let Beckham be such a huge part of it because he did a lot to help win us the bid and has done a lot for getting kids involved in sport. Plus he's an east London boy too The majority of us Brits don't like Clarkson. He's not that popular tbh. And although we do like Bear Grylls think he's also more popular with you guys than us Apparently NBC cut out the part where Emeli Sande sang "Abide with me" which was a memorial for the 7/7 victims?

Yes! Surely he should just let it be (pun intended ). Someone like Elton John would have been a better choice. I guess though Hey Jude is just one of those songs that everyone knows and everyone can sing. Thought the torch was a brilliant idea

What did people think of it? I get that they were trying to do something a bit different but did you non-Brits actually get it? Was watching it myself thinking that some of the references were a bit obscure and might not translate well.

Great post Zoodles, welcome to the forums

I managed to get tickets for the men's heavyweight +80 kg TKD finals in a couple of weeks. Don't really follow Olympic TKD but can't wait to go down and watch! What about the wrestling?

While I agree with most of those points on the list I don't think answering yes to any of them immediately means your school is a McDojo. McDojo's exist to make money and often result in bad martial arts. They often have those qualities listed above but other legitimate schools might also still say yes to those questions. Just picking up on some points: Many Korean styles will label 4th dans as a master. Its perfectly normal to be a 4th dan by the age of 40. Depends on the school and location. If you're fortunate enough to train close to where a higher up is based (s)he may very well visit your school often. The head of my TKD association lives about 1 hr away from us so he sometimes drops in for training. Again this doesn't necessarily have to mean you train at a McDojo. Your instructor(s) are just good at what they do and have built up a large student base over the years. For example my instructor teaches 6 days a week and has 150+ students, ~40 of which are blackbelts. I think the majority of the points on that list have exceptions.

1st and 2nd Dans, not so much. When a 3rd or 4th dan step in, you'll usually see them standing open handed with much more circular blocks. Generally, black belts do not spar pre-black students. 1st dans will spar 1st or 2nd browns but rarely below that. Any reason why blackbelt's don't spar the lower grades? I've always found it a good way of learning for the lower grade if they spar a blackbelt as they can see how they should be moving and what works and what doesn't work. Quite simply because they become more effective more quickly if someone has no previous training. Basically they are easier to put into practice in the real world. Example - It's easier to block with this early on: than it is to block with this: or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT9mbYwbTow I can see it would be easier to learn the Japanese first but how does that work with teaching body mechanics and power generation? As the Chinese movements are more circular and the Japanese ones more linear. Interestingly the 2nd link kind of matches up to some of the blocks we do in TKD although we'd do them in a more "Japanese" way.

k thanks for explaining As a result then, do the higher belts' and blackbelts' technique differ noticeably from those of lower grades? So say when a blackbelt is sparring a low grade, will they end up striking and blocking differently? Also why do you learn the Japanese techniques first and not the other way around? Sorry for all the questions, just interested

Welcome v_dsl_027

Welcome Ralph

I don't really know much about Kempo so forgive me if this is a noob question but how do the Japanese forms and techniques compare to the Chinese ones? If the mechanics and what not are very different, seems a bit odd to have you learn one thing then suddenly switch over. Almost like you're discarding everything you've done so far.

heh I was just looking at it as an excuse to eat more

Are you thinking of Kuk Sool Won? I think they wear the cravates on special occasions, Wikipedia says this is modelled after ancient Korean generals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuk_Sool_Won#Uniforms http://www.kuksoolwon.com/site/news/generals-uniform-changes The Taekwon-Do uniform, and this might also be true for other Korean styles, is supposed to be modelled after the hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. They often have coloured collars. I don't know if and what symbolism there is behind the choice of colours or why the collar is coloured. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok

Sucks Shizentai. Hope you get better soon. To ease you back in to your Karate training, how about something a lot lighter like Tai Chi? I studied it for a couple of years a while back. I think its less physically taxing and stressful than Karate but will still keep you active and for me it vastly improved my understanding of TKD and martial arts as a whole. For me there was a real benefit in slowing things down and really looking at body mechanics instead of relying on strength and power.