Montana

7 years is a long time out of the martial arts. My suggestion is to wear white, advise your sensei that you used to be 1st kyu grade, and you should, because of your experience, progress more quickly than your average student due to your past experience.

What I teach my students about the amount of force to use in a survival situation (real fight, not tournament) is basically what the law states, and that is that you should use the amount of force necessary to insure your survival and safety, and no more than that. However, what I also teach my students is that if you are faced with a situation, such as a home intrusion where your life, or someone else's, is in danger and your truly feel that you could be killed, then the use of deadly force may be needed to keep yourself, or someone else, from dying. Over the 30+ years I've been doing the arts, I've often thought about what I would do if someone broke into my home and held my family and I at gunpoint with the possibility of my own, or a member of my family, being killed. I think (nobody really knows for sure until it happens) that I would not hesitate to do everything in my power, whether it is using the martial arts, a knife or a gun, to kill the home invader. Basically, I feel I would, and could, do anytthing I had to do to keep myself and my family safe.

Not a chance! My students, from youngest to oldest, men AND women, are lumped into the same class..ALWAYS! We train and learn together despite abilities, gender, strengths...and yes, weakness's. I have seveeral people in class with various disabilities, including myself, such as bad backs, knees, shoulders, bad right hand (myself due to a chainsaw injury of the right wrist) etc. Fast learners or slow makes no difference, we are all here to train and learn and we find ways to compensate for those that aren't working with a 100% perfecft body, coordination or brain. I've been teaching this way since 1978 and it works well for me and I wouldn't do it any other way.

definitely would take a lot of practice.

FUNNY!

The first thing I'd ask my student is "Did he touch or swing on you first?" Depending on his answer he'd get obne of two responses from meL: 1. Good job! You defended yourself! 2. All he did was verbally assualt you? *insert butt chewing at this point*

To have martial arts knowledge, say from books and videos, but no experience using that knowledge, such as practice time in a dojo, is pretty much useless in application.

Open tournaments are those that are open to ANY system to enter. IE: karate, TKD, kungfu, kenpo, etc. How do you join? Just show up and register.

Assuming youtr Nahachin is the same as mine...where there is a crossing step then lowering of the center of gravity and both hands come from about the groin straight upwards in front of the torso to center of the chest level...that's movement is breaking a grab/bearhug from behind. Quoting myself here..and noting I made a mistake...what I was talking about is Nahachin Nidan, not shodan...oops! First hand movment of SHODAN is either a right outside open handed block or a strike (take your pick) to the throat followed on the next step by a grasp to the back of the head and an elbow smash.

Your health is the most important thing you have. Without it, you have nothing. Skip the test.

Assuming youtr Nahachin is the same as mine...where there is a crossing step then lowering of the center of gravity and both hands come from about the groin straight upwards in front of the torso to center of the chest level...that's movement is breaking a grab/bearhug from behind.

AGREED!

Just to add. It would take a absolute minimum, if the minimum time between gradings was observed 17 years to go from white belt to 5th Dan. so if they started at 1 year old the youngest would be 18. anything less than that is a shambles Show me a 18 year old 5th Dan and I'll show you a belt factory.

I'm having a sale thru thru end of the year for $200 US currency.

Unless it's the same system, or VERY similar one, all students start out as white belt, 10 kyu in my dojo. I would expect the same of me if I joined a different dojo myself.

I found this on Google under worlds youngest black belts. http://youngblackbelts.tripod.com/ Alexander Maskeny, is only 7 and just received his black belt, in fact he received 3 black belts from “The World Tae Kwon Do Federation”, “Tae Kwon Do Ji Do Kwan, Korea” and “U.S. Tae Kwon Do Grand Master Society”. Here's another link on a couple of guys in their 20's that did it http://www.umamn.com/usa-bin/show-staff.cgi ' Rediculous if you ask me.

Since you mentioned there was a board of other instructors other than your wifes normal instructor, I would guess that they didn't share your opinion of your wifes skills and looked at her thru more unbiased eyes than yoyu and her instructor did. What you saw from your wifes performance might not be the same thing the other instructors saw, or were looking for.

Shorin Ryu and Shotokan ar very different systems and emphasise different aspects. They are similar in only general ways.

My guess is somebody combined a little Isshin Ryu with some system of kung fu and named it Isshin Fu. Most likely not a main system...more likel;y a local club.

A;so be aware that the groin and knees are not targets in MMA competitions. As far as I* know, all Okinawan karate teaches and train to use those two areas as viable targets in a street confrontation.

In the majority of Okinawan systems the bo can be held either way, depending on what you are tryibng to do, or transition to. Each grip has advantages and disadvantages and specifuic techniques that are associated with the type of grip you're using at the moment.

This is the passai sho we do.

Perhaps brought to us by the same people that brought us the Pet Rock?

I agree that if a kick to the head connects it can end the fight immediately. No argument from me on that one. The objection I have to high kicks is that they are relatively easy to avoid and couinter if you train for that, and watch for the signs of an impending high kick and are ready for them. Those of you who have expressed that high kicks are effective, I'd be curious to know if you train to defend against them, such as attacking the groin and knees, sweeps and take downs,.

High kicks are good for one thing IMHO and that's for flash. Which I'm totally against in the martial arts.