New member! and a Question

[Shadoh]

Hi im a new member shadoh, who fonud you guys via google when i was looking up chakra points, and pressure point strikes.
Basic overview of myself im a 16 year old in florida, whose grown up around a father who used to be a street fighter learning a few tricks from him, and taking Tae Kwon Do for 3 years (Waterd Down version from my area) Im currently not in the situation financialy to train with a formal instructor however im working on getting a groupo of friends together to continue training with what we know.

Im wondering if anyone knows of some forms, i could do on my own time that may help to increase the fluidity of my movements. I've noticed that my speed, power, fluidness, and responss time have all gone down since i quit training.

If anyone knows of a good form that i could research to just keep my skill level from dropping even more. Id much enjoy it :-D

[Tom Yum]

Im wondering if anyone knows of some forms, i could do on my own time that may help to increase the fluidity of my movements. I've noticed that my speed, power, fluidness, and responss time have all gone down since i quit training.

If anyone knows of a good form that i could research to just keep my skill level from dropping even more. Id much enjoy it :-D

You can work on speed and fluidness by just practicing your kicks in the air or having a partner hold the targets for you. Work on one, two and three kick combinations. The idea here is that one kick opens up a target for another or is a counter offensive move against a punch or another kick.

Response time: Do the 1/2 second drill - your partner holds the pad in a position for less than 1 second and you either hit or miss. If you miss he/she will try to whack you on the face with it or throw a counter kick while you defend and get ready for the next target.

Power: Kick a heavy bag...kick it with bad intentions. Try to kick "through" the bag... If you haven't kicked something solid for over a year, ease into it. Throw as many kicks as you can for 30 seconds. Rest. Then 1 minute and so on. This will improve your fight conditioning too.

[kingoftheforest]

Fluid

Tai Chi forms are great for building fluid movement. I have heard of Pro athletes taking it to help them in their respective sports as well.

[Hardball]

What style of TKD did you study. Moo Duk Kwan, WTF or ITF? They should have some forms for you.

[osopardo]

TKD forms:

http://www.natkd.com/tkd_forms.htm

Financial situation:
Option 1: Try to get on your high school's wrestling team. Talk to the coach. Even if you can't make the team he might let you train with them. Being a benchwarmer is better than being a spectator.

Option 2: Most YMCA's or the local Parks & Rec. Dept. have ongoing martial arts programs (judo, karate, tae kwon do, wrestling, boxing, etc.) which are fairly inexpensive. Look into it, talk to the instructors and just tell them you're broke. They're usually volunteering their services and are not in it for the money. You might get a free pass.

Bottom line: Self training can be extremely limiting and even hazardous. Get into a regular class with a real instructor, none of this backyard crap.

Oh, and keep us posted on your progress.

.

[Shadoh]

Thanks for the replies everyone, i used to do Chong Sil Kwan. I never thought of the YMCA programs i will look into it if i can get the old man to let me. Thanks for the tips on basic training for yourself i'd never heard of the hit and miss one but it sounds effective. thanks everyone ill keep yall posted once i get back into a pattern.

P.S. If i did the forms i know with others in backyards with them just so i have other points of views to flaws, etc. Would that be less hazardous? Sparring i relize would be pretty bad with 5 or so people under instructor level could be not soo smart -didnt think of that =/

[gregimotis]

P.S. If i did the forms i know with others in backyards with them just so i have other points of views to flaws, etc. Would that be less hazardous?

Probably not.
Thing is, you need to be sparring to know what actually works and/or have someone who's sparred/fought/trained enough to recognize problems and correct them. Five guys with little experience telling each other what they think might work isn't any better (IMHO) than one guy trying to figure it out for himself.


Now, if your goal is to be good at forms, then that's a different thing - the folks here at Defend.net tends to be more combat oriented (either sport or SD) than forms oriented, so that's where most peoples answers will come from.

[osopardo]

P.S. If i did the forms i know with others in backyards with them just so i have other points of views to flaws, etc. Would that be less hazardous? Sparring i relize would be pretty bad with 5 or so people under instructor level could be not soo smart -didnt think of that =/

LOL! I was just having visions of you guys doing pro backyard wrestling - jumping onto each other off ladders, hitting each other with trash can lids, breaking lawn furniture on each other's backs, etc. Doing forms is fine tho...



p.s.
My heart's with you, kid. My son's also 16, got his black belt in WTF Tae Kwon Do a few years ago and is now into paintball. Your dad should have no problem with you being involved in what should be primarily and essentially a good athletic program.

[Shadoh]

Ok thanks all, yah his defense was "When you get a job" So im working on that :-D Thanks everyone!

P.S. Paintball is great :-D