CriosDubh Member

White; Yellow; Green 1,2,3; Blue 1,2,3; Brown 1,2,3; Red 1,2,3; provisional black (white stripe in middle, a.k.a. 1st degree lvl 1; 1-3 degree black all have 4 levels; 4-6 degree black have 2 levels. Upwards from there, I'm not sure. Only a few people in our tradition have them. I've met only one.

Excess nitrogen and sulfur will always cause this problem. Some people use activated charcoal to reduce this issue. It certainly works in chemistry lab and in kitty litter. You can get activated charcoal in tablets at many pharmacies.

I recommended someone (laserturkey) to a sister school.. I wonder how she's liked it? Too funny that you and I are practically neighbors!

Perseverance gets me through my depressive episodes. I have decided to treat them like seizures. i expect them to end. I insist that they end. I take my meds, do my exercise, and try to avoid eating crappy processed foods. I visualize the depression as a battle where some whacked out terrorist neurons are pigging out on my…

The association to which I belong allows injured adults to do free-style one-steps in lieu of sparring. Maybe you could check out one near you. I do TKD for exercise, but I also swim, bike, run, and do yoga, I absolutely stink at sparring (too slow), but I love it.

Not sure where you live, but it's true that under-challenged gifted kids without ADHD can look like they have ADHD. The boys tend to act out physically and loudly, while the girls tend to daydream. Notice I said' "tend." The classroom-disuptive behavior is what the teacher notices, so notes start to go home, especially if…

If your instructor thinks that you are ready to test, then that it is a compliment. However, if you don't think you're ready, then you should wait. It's hard to be a transfer and starting over in a new style. Too bad you couldn't find a sister school in your new city. Watch the purple belts and compare their abilities to…

I would add to all this: make sure that the martial arts school does not require a ridiculous contract. Read everything closely! A school close to me has all sorts of shady practices to get people to sign multi-year contracts. The school I attend has a month-to-month, thirty-day notice program. Students can get a lower…

I'm no nutritionist. However, it has been my experience that if, after a few days, that a lower calorie diet is giving me headaches or sapping my energy, then I need to eat more. If that means a slower loss, then so be it. I think that upping your protein is good. Don't cut carbs too much because too few calories is…

I estimate how much time we spend working vs. listening and watching. Some classes, we work the whole hour non-stop. Other classes, we might work only 45 minutes of the hour.

Are you doing Joon-Gun? We did that as a tribute form a couple of cycles ago. Our national association is completely Americanized and uses a novel progressive form. However, every cycle we get to learn a Korean form, and red and black belts have to test on it as well as the progressive form. Now we're doing Choong-moo.…

I get what you're saying. It is a totally personal thing. I love sparring, but I wouldn't love it nearly as much if we were fighting without pads. I don't think the other PTA moms would be too understanding of me showing up at school all messed up. They'd probably report my husband. You know, for some reason I meant to…

Well, to each his own. Some schools are more about the artistic side, some are more about the martial. Compare fencing (especial foil) to actual swordfighting. Very different, no? Doesn't make the fencer less of an athlete.

You can choose your wood more carefully, but you don't have to "cheat." Also, did anyone tell you that you need to break with the grain, not against it? Simply flipping a board over can improve your chances. Make sure that it oriented properly, and as shinkalork says, plan to go THROUGH the board. When we break wood, we…

Re: sexism in the dojang: I was complaining about not getting to spar men, but that has changed since I mentioned it on the board. My lead instructor saw me get totally pwned in our recent tournament, so he's decided that I now get to spar at every class, even if it's just him and me. :wink: I have never, ever had any man…

That sounds perfect! My class meets at noon,. I decide whether to walk or run with the dog in the evenings based on whether the instructor tried to kill us or just hurt us. The dog prefers the days when class was brutal. She's lazy.

From what I have seen and heard of Insanity, it seems like it would be as beneficial as any other form of cross-training. You may have to adjust the timing of your Insanity workouts to fit your martial arts training. Personally, I find it helpful to schedule tough cross-training days on the days when i'm not going to TKD…

My son's neurologist put him on the ketosis diet for his seizures, not to lose weight. He hated it, his breath stank all the time, he had little energy, and he did not see any improvement in seizures. I followed it for a week and hated it also because I was training for a half-marathon, running 25+ miles per week, and…

I wear vibrams outside the dojang. I have one pair whose sole has been worn nice and smooth. They're perfect for practicing on wood, concrete, or asphalt.

Are the shin splints on the front or on the insides? The front ones, you can build up the muscle and stretch them out. The inside ones mean that you more than likely need motion control shoes. With regard to running barefoot, you MUST stretch, and you must build up to it. If you're slapping on the Vibrams and expecting to…

I didn't know anything about the program until you mentned it. It looks great! Do you live in an area where it's offered, or are you looking to start a new program? Eithe way, good luck in yr interview, and keep us posted!

Congratulations!

My girls are 34DD, and I do all sorts of high-impact exercise all the time. That being said, it did take a while to get used to it. Currently I wear an ordinary Champion C9 compression bra from Target that works just fine, but when I was pregnant and running, I had to use the motion-eliminating bras from Titile 9. They…

I know this thread is almost dead, but yoga pants have an evil sidekick: Karate pants. (Get it, side kick? Groooann) Elasticized and drawstringed, they hide any weight changes, and they entirely lack the courtesy to even attempt to make your butt look good. Even the skinniest butts pretty much look the same as everyone…

She didn't say that at all. She said that they need more opportunities at school, and I agree. Those of us who bother to teach our kids how to act, help them be prepared for school in all ways, and participate in their education do not appreciate our kids being deprived of educational opportunities outside of the core…

Our style is mostly TKD. In addition to traditional patterns and sparring, we work on self-defense, some weapons (short stick), board-breaking, general fitness, and agility. We have a testing every two months, but you have to pass several pre-tests in order to be allowed to test for rank change. K-12 students also have to…

PE haters: it's changed a lot! So far the PE teaches I have encountered in elementary and middle school have been outstanding. Teasing, bullying, and exclusion are quashed upon discovery, and the class is structured purposely to exclude the opportunities for negative behavior. The classes focus on lifelong fitness in all…

Budget cuts and high-stakes testing. Yuck. I'm convinced that the testing is a plot by folks who want to undermine and defund the public school system.

this is a problem with evey sport. With some kids getting into developmental sports as preschoolers, kids whose parents don't have the resources or time to take their kids to soccer or whatever just cannot compete and get on the school teams. I'm not saying that the schools should compete with worse players in some sort of…

I had similar issues. Depression causes weight gain, the medicine causes weight gain. My doc switched me to Wellbutrin, and a lot of weight dropped off, as well as the incessant carb cravings. What helped even more was when she decided that maybe depression wasnt my only issue, ran some scales, delved into my personal…