ANYONE OUT THERE PRACTICING MARTIAL ARTS?

I took Tae-Kwon-Do throughout high school. But I haven't practiced for quite a while so I'm now a grumpy ol' washout. I did teach a Saturday class in my spare time for a very short while. It was a very short while because very few people came to my class. :(

I really need to get to practicing again. Its good for ye health!

author=Irili
Hook Kick: I love the hook kick but it's entirely ineffective if not done right. Hit with the heel, not the flat side of your foot. You want a thud sound, not a slapping sound.

I love Hook Kicks. I always thought it was tricky for people because most try to put a lot of force into bringing their foot up, and lose a lot of power for the backswing.

I did a bit of Taekwondo when I was younger, but I didn't get very far. I only remember some of it.

That's funny, it says "Taekwondo" is wrong and the correction is "Wonderland".

Human chess is a good way of putting it. There is a lot more going on in a fight than just striking/grappling/etc. The mental game is just as, if not more, important.

I used to set traps all the time, dropping my lead hand or leaving myself open to draw the opponent into attacking when and where I wanted them to in order to set up my retaliation. The trick with that is that when you square off with someone who knows as much, if not more, than you do, you have to treat it like a game of chess and think a couple moves ahead.

You also have to keep aware of your surroundings. I was sparring with one guy who was well on his way to his Godan test with the Bujinkan, and his defense and evasion were both excellent. He was leaving targets open to draw me, I was ignoring them to make my own openings and leaving things open to draw him, which he ignored. It was a lot like a chess match, right up until I backed him into the tailgate of a parked truck at which point we clinched and went to the ground.

I talk about setting traps, and thinking a few moves ahead, but generally you need to keep in mind that any technique can fail. You should never rely on one thing, or even a set of things. If you always practice the same forms, it can be easy to get into the mindset of "if this, then that" which is dangerous, particularly against people who have no training/unorthodox training. That is why I have always been a big proponent of cross training, and being on both sides of as many arts/styles as possible.

Think like a scout: always be prepared!

Also, in reference to some earlier posts - My training might seem pretty hardcore, but compared to some of my friend's SEAL stories, I might as well have been taking a juggling class. I have a knee that I screwed up back in my BMX dirt days, so all the running would suck my enthusiasm right out of it.

Side kicks as a stop hit to an attacker in a right lead stance can be wonderful things (think anatomy, specifically the location of the liver).

A great kicker goes over, around, or through the opponent's blocks. Bill Wallace was a good example of this. You still have to train for ground fighting though, because all it takes is someone getting lucky and jamming the kick for the fight to shift from the range you're comfortable with to one you're not.

Wing Chun has some excellent training sequences, particularly in regard to leg work. The triangle stepping drills are great for any athlete who has to move with speed and sudden changes of direction. I recall playing a game of football with a few friends on a beach one summer. After they saw the way I could move, they were after me to teach them my leg workouts.

There is something fun about that adduction workout where you have ropes around your ankles with people trying to pull your feet apart. The fun part comes when they add an extra person on each rope and you still stand there, perfectly rooted to the spot.

Footwork is probably the most important aspect of any martial arts training (not so much during ground fighting) because if you can't get to your opponent, maintain your balance as your are moving, and get out of the way when you need to, it won't matter how good you are with your tools.

I used to do a lot of karate when I was younger (shotokan) and restarted in wado-ryu the summer before last, had trouble finding a club near me in dubai though (havn't done my driving test yet) but will go back to it when I move to Canada hopefully,
also done a couple of years of Muay Thai (spelling?).

I want to get into the whole thing a lot more to be honest :/

I practice Kamehameha and 64 Palms since I was born.