Qman

It was about 4 maybe 5 holiday reps initially. A blonde, a brunette and 2 blokes, one named Gaz or Gary. The new rep was a virgin. They played a game were each person got points for their sexual conquests. Their boss was a camp man whos best friend was a bar owner who was a bit mad. I think "boat " was somewhere in the title. Its been wrecking my head for ages!

Martial arts is supposed to be honourable. Is there anything you wouldn't do if you were attacked just because it is dishonourable, like biting or kicking someone in the head when they are on the ground? Or is it a case of if getting attacked, anything goes?

Should it be long? Should it test power? What did you have to do for your black belt test? Was it hard or were you surprised at how easy it was? Has the difficulty of black belt tests decreased over the years in your opinion? Please answer regardless of style.

Do you think it is ok to incorperate techniques from other arts into your chosen style? Some times I come across good techniques that are not part of my chosen style and I will learn them and put them into practice while training. My instructor is also interested in doing this and teaching them to the class. Do you think this is ok or are you insulting your chosen art?

I train in ITF taekwon-do. In our school we don't do all those flashy 360 and 540 kicks. We just do kicks that can be used in the real world, turning kicks, side piercing kicks, axe kicks etc. In your opinion is this a better way train? Eliminating all the stuff that you will never use in the street? Or do you have to be able to do these flashy kicks to be considered a TKD artist?

Which is more difficult? Breaking boards with or without spacers. My club never uses spacers when breaking so I do not know myself which is more difficult.

I just watched an mma training video where the guy basically says that practising static techniques is useless. You should only practise while moving or "alive" as he put it. All the training we tmaists do ie patterns, kata or techniques up and down the gym are completely pointless!

While I agree that you have to practice against a resisting opponent to get the technique down I also think that static techniques are beneficial to training for power, balance and the perfection of said techniques. It would also mean that things like stances are also pointless.

What is your view on static techniques?

Should I be worried that my static flexibility isn't good? When I fight it is totally different for some reason. Kicking someone in the face is no problem yet if someone asked me to lift my foot head high from a standing position I would not be able to. Does it matter?

When you are a guest at a different dojang is it still customary to line up by rank or would it be more polite to line up at the back of the class?

We've all seen the questions about Mcdojos and Mcdojangs but what in your eyes makes a martial arts gym legitimate? I don't want answers about contracts and all that, what should training consist of to make your training legitimate?

I have always wondered what exactly is done for a service?

.....power or form?

I have watched patterns all over the place and have seen so many ways of performing them. Some people are very clean and nice with their movements but seriously lack in power while others concentrate on the power at the end of a technique almost losing balance because of it. Should the techniques be performed as if you are really fighting someone? If so then each technique must go past the contact point of your imaginary opponent not neatly stop at the end of the movement. For example, when blocking in a pattern it must also be treated as a strike so a neat sudden stop at the end would be inaffective. I hope you understand what I am trying to convey. Which side do you stand on?

I think discipline is a big issue these days. Because the world has gone so soft kids today are growing up with a total lack of discipline. My son is 13 years of age and at that stage were he is always right. I heard him smart answering his mother and smacked him in the mouth for his lack of respect. Why does society today see this as child abuse? It was how I was disciplined as a child and I didn't turn out so bad.

I train in an ITF taekwondo dojang. We are definately not a Mcdojang but at the moment we have reached a sticking point in our curriculum. The rules state that a junior cannot go for a black belt until they are at least 14 years old. These days we are getting kids starting training younger and younger and keeping kids interested is very important. The are two young girls in particular who have been ranked as black tips for the last year. They are eleven and twelve years old. They both deserve the ranks they have achieved. They both achieved there ranks on merit and are excellent at taekwondo. They will not be able to get there black belts for another couple of years. They know this and you can tell it frustrates them but they handle it well. I raised the issue of introducing a junior black belt so the younger ones would still have a goal to aim for unil they come of age. With kids starting training younger these days do you think this is a viable option to keep them interested during the wilderness years?

I have seen so many different guards used while sparring. Taekwondo uses one hand by the face and one across the midsection, kickboxing has both hands at the face using elbows to protect the misection. I have also seen an open handed guard in kung-fu. What guard do you use and what do think is the best?

Is it from the moment you step into a Dojang or Dojo or when you make the concious decision to dedicate yourself to your chosen art? I know people who have started training and given up after a few months then started a diiferent art and do the same thing. Can these kinds of people be called martial artists?

You know when you have one of those days when you don't seem to do anything right in training and after the training you ask yourself, "What the hell am I doing?". Your confidence is low. Have you ever felt like this?

I graded for my red tip a couple of weeks ago and for the first time my grading was totally in Korean. I was wondering if learning korean is common practice among taekwondo practioners.

When invited to a christening or a wedding do you obey the forms,ie blessing yourself, standing up or kneeling down, to be polite or do you just sit through the entire ceremony?