YoungMan

Our demo team uses music for their presentations. I don't use it personally. I find it rather annoying. The only music I need is the energy I create as I execute technique.

Karate Kid 2? Overall not bad. Karate Kid 3 and Next Karate Kid? Let's not go there.

Or a televangelist!

Common thing to do: found your own organization, then declare yourself 10th Dan through that organization without telling people you founded it. People think you're an authentic 10th Dan. Guy who teaches Tae Kwon Do not too far away from me did that. His resume says 10th Dan in X organization. However, a little research will uncover he founded the organization he claims 10th Dan in. No names to protect the guilty. Sad thing is, people follow him.

I officiated at our recent tournament, and saw several people trying to use punches, with little to no effect. I think the way WTF free fighting operates, it's just very difficult to impossible to use punching effectively. It turns into two people chasing each other. It's probably easier in point fighting or MMA matches, because the fighters aren't moving around so much. To me, point fighting is basically Tag anyway. Considering the number of times I've also seen free fighters get knocked out with head kicks (this is with headgear mind you), fighting with your hands down is a very bad habit to get into.

I think Karate undoubtably had an influence on Tae Kwon Do in the early days. But I've seen clips of Taekkyon on YouTube, and to me there is no doubt that modern Tae Kwon Do owes much more to Taekkyon than to Karate. The sparring, kicking, and overall movements are eerily similar.

There is/was a rift because Choi insisted on calling himself the founder of Tae Kwon Do when he was not.

But to a certain extent, cross training is like giving yourself too many choices. Yeah, it is nice to experience different styles and approaches. But the downside to that is this: Say you are cross training in 3 different styles. Something happens and you have to defend yourself. Your brain has three different styles to choose from, which takes time to sort out. Sort of like trying to decide in a restaurant what to get. How many times have you needed more time to decide? Now, if you train one style you don't have to choose one of three options to use, because you have trained your reflexes to react instanteously in one style. You don't have to choose between Wing Chun, BJJ, and Tae Kwon Do. Not to say other styles don't have something to offer.

Was Bruce Lee a talented individual? Beyond a doubt. However, he was also obsessed with martial arts, which noone should be. Make martial arts an important part of your life, but don't obsess over it or anything. He also tended to be contemptuous of things he disagreed with. This goes hand in hand with youth and immaturity. He was talented, but he was also young and immature. He took other people's ideas and presented them as his own. He was not an originator. Many, if not most, of the principles of Jeet Kune Do had already been established and written by other people. He just happened to be the dynamic face behind them. Personally I think he's overrated.

Whether or not you drink is a personal choice guided by you values. However, we are martial artists, not monks. You only live once, and I have seen too many colleagues enjoy rum and Cokes to really think teaching martial arts precludes you from imbibing. We also, as far as I know, are not training in monastaries. We have every right to enjoy ourselves like other people. Just don't overdo it. And if you do, don't drive and don't do it around students. I head storues that my original Korean Instructor, when he was with fellow Koreans, really put them away (drinks). He always came to class ready to teach though.

Half the people ever featured on the cover of Black Belt were "taught by Bruce Lee" at one point or other. Or so they claim.

Being inducted into a martial arts Hall of Fame means nothing, especially when you take a moment to see just who is inducted into these things. Being recognized by your peers as a great instructor and having worldwide credibility is much better and rarer.

To quote the great Public Enemy: Don't believe the Hype.

No movies really motivated me to start practicing, although Chuck Norris films reinforced my desire to. I watch them now and realize how bad they really were. But when you're 12 years old they're pretty cool.

Martial arts training really shouldn't be that expensive. Unless you are teaching in a storefront gym or your class is in an expensive part of town, you really don't need to charge $100+ a month per student. What do you need? Enclosed open area away from the elements and temperature controlled (heat/AC), sandbag, striking board, spare room to conduct business, chairs for spectators, bathrooms to change. What would you like to have? Showers, sauna, lockerrooms etc. Ultimately, you really don't need much to hold classes. Is my time worth $100 an hour? I'd like to think so, but probably not. I would probably charge more if I drove further to cover the cost of gas. otherwise, $30-$45/month seems sufficient, especially if I'm not teaching for a living. I don't believe in that anyway.

You know, when people do that, or otherwise goof on martial arts, I just think "at least I'm practicing and going to class 2-3 times a week and trying". What do you do besides play video game sports?

Traditional Tae kwon Do is actually a very good all around system-utilizing kicking, punching, blocls, sweeps, and joint locks/breaks. Yeah, I know, the sport/tournament version makes it look one dimensional, but it actually is a pretty well rounded art. The fact of the matter is you're not going to find one style that effectively covers everything well. All styles tend to focus more on one or two aspects of technique. It's the nature of the beast.

The one thing about Karate Kid I didn't like, and it's not the movie's fault, is how many people couldn't get past Crane Technique to understand the philosophy the film had to offer. All they remember is Daniel-san balancing on one leg.

"What would you do if I (or someone else) did this?" Over and over with various self defense scenarios. "Who would win in a fight between you and ______?" We'll never know.

I prefer the Taekyyon-style hook kick, which is to say the hip flexor is rotated horizontally over a wide arc and the leg and foot connect to the target that way. Spinning hook kick or back roundhouse is executed the same way-leg straight, hip flexor rotates in a wide horizontal arc-except the body rotates around first and then the hip and leg go.

I have seen footage on YouTube of Koreans breaking several boards at once with spearhands. Hurts just thinking about it. I'll stick with techniques than are inclined to injure me less should I be unsucessful. Spearhand tends to be all or nothing. If the boards don't break, you can suffer irreparable damage to the fingers and hand. Knifehand itself is a good basic striking/breaking technique.

Given the small size of Korea and the fact that various styles coexist in this limited area, it would not be surprising that Tae Kyon and Tae Kwon Do have synergized off each other and traded techniques. Some of the techniques I saw Tae Kyon students doing in YouTube videos looked suspiciously like TKD (tornado kicks, jumping back sidekicks). It is entirely possible that TKD and TK have traded off each other, possibly in an effort to understand each other. End result being they are much more similar now than in the past. I suspect that Tae Kyon students, observing TKD's popularity in Korea and abroad, felt allowing it to absord techniques considered more Tae Kyon would bring TKD more in line with Korean history and allow TK techniques to survive and reach a broader audience. Let's face it: TKD is much bigger than Tae Kyon.

I will not necessarily respect another martial artist, even one (supposedly) higher ranking than me, but I will be courteous to them. This is a simple act of civility. Even my Instructor has told me there are plenty of martial arts coleagues he has no repsect for, but he will always be courteous to as required by Tae Kwon Do etiquette.

Even my Instructor, as long as he has practiced and as advanced a Dan as he holds, does not demand or expect people to respect him. He expects them to follow Tae Kwon Do custom and etiquette (he is old school Korean-American), but he does not demand or expect people to respect or follow him. Contrast that with many American Instructors on ego trips who demand almost to be treated as a demi-god due to the belt they wear around their waist.

I've had the opportunity to watch taekkyun practitioners on YouTube, which really gives you a better perspective. All I can say is, the kicks used in taekkyun look almost identical to many of the kicks we do (our organization), the free fighting is similar, the stepping is similar. We don't do the sweeps, takedowns, grabs, or throws (not in sparring anyway), but everything else-high kicks, jumping kicks, jump spinning, circular kicks-are very similar to the way we execute technique. I saw jumping back side kicks, jumping back roundhouse kicks, crescent kicks, and jumping front kicks that looked identical to our Tae Kwon Do kicks. From what I saw, TKD the way our organization does it is definitely taekkyun influenced.