Trials of a tall and skinny albeit handsome guy. Get ready to laugh. (love, older)

[moddestmike]

I dress professional for work every day. Generally slacks and shirt from Banana Republic along with Cole Hahn shoes. I know how to dress professional, in my down time I dress in a t-shirt or somewhat close to the pic I posted(just not as dorky....even I'll admit that was a bit inaccurate and kiddish looking) because of having to be in professional dress 5 days a week. I will not parttake in the Affliction\Super Bootcut jeans that I see many bulky guys wearing. I dont want to dress like a part time MMA fighter. I've found a more accurate look of how I generally dress. Again, I wish I had pics of myself but this is about as close as it comes. Here are examples of work vs play attire:

Work:




Play: Admittedly I would have on a pair of Chucks.

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by SifuPhil

Um, flag on the play...

Hapkido, Taekwondo or Taekwon-Do (there is no double hyphenation in the proper usage of the name, BTW) and Aikido are all very different beasts with only a few points in common. Did you learn qi flow and projections in your Hapkido classes?

I won't comment on the length of time you took to achieve your ranks (are they through IHF, KHF, USNTA, ITF, Kukkiwon...?), since depending upon the particular school and instructors it is possible to achieve those ranks in that time frame. But "most" TKD students do NOT train in Hapkido simultaneously, at least in a traditional school, so I take it your school was a bit more...progressive?

Uhh, haha, no, you are totally wrong. Almost every WTF school, which is the only internationally recognized form of Tae Kwon-Do (and whether it has two hyphens or not doesn't matter, it's often written that way because it's the combination of three different words with one meaning, essentially, the way of striking with the foot and fist or the art of striking, etc.), teaches Hapkido alongside Tae Kwon-Do. That is not progressive. I've visited many schools, trained with many schools, and they all teach a form of Hapkido, grappling, because TKD is a striking art and it's weaker without some emphasis on what happens when an opponent grabs you. These are generally referred to as your self defense techniques, and each school will have a different order but they don't vary much in essence. Everything from an opponent grabbing your hair to grabbing your left lapel, right lapel, both, shoulders from the front, the back, etc. Those are self defense techniques that are part of Hapkido, and no it's not drastically different from Aikido, that's why it's called Hapkido, because it comes from a synthesis of a Japanese art with a South Korean art. It's VERY uncommon -- so check your facts -- for TKD to be taught without Hapkido also being taught on the side. That alone tells me you've either never studied or know nothing about these arts.

You can check on almost any TKD master in the world, and please do, look at their qualifications -- I trained with 4 myself, and knew 4 more through different schools. They will all be about 1 level below with their Hapkido black belts, so their info will read 6th Dan TKD, 5th Dan Hapkido, or my master is 7th Dan TKD, 5th Dan Hapkido. I'm registered in the Kukkiwon, which I have also visited in person when I went to South Korea, as a 1st Dan.

It's very difficult to get there in 13 months, yes, but it's by no means impossible. You just have to be dedicated. You probably won't get around having to put in a certain number of hours, but you can choose how you put those in. I would argue that 8 classes a week is far more effective than 2 or 3, because if you're doing it so infrequently, you have to remember what you learned last time and have now forgotten. I was very focused on TKD, it was the most important thing I did during that period, and a life dream of mine, so I was able to devote everything I had to it energy-wise and mentally. That is the only belt where you can move up at your own pace, by the way, as I'm sure you know. Other belts are time-limited, so to get 2nd Dan is a *minimum* of 18 months, 3rd Dan is a minimum of 30 months, and it continues to increase by 1 year per level of Dan. At least if you're WTF, which is the only organization I really think is worth being part of. ITF is ok but won't be recognized everywhere, whereas my black belt is recognized at any TKD school I go nationwide, otherwise they can't even call themselves a TKD school. There are a series of other rules as well, like you can't test for 6th Dan until you're at least 30. We had a very young master who would have qualified for testing 6th Dan by I think 28, but the second age restriction kicks in and he has to wait until 30. He must have started REALLY young.

Also, the average lower belt TKD student doesn't bother testing in Hapkido, because it costs money. I paid $395 for that test, same as the TKD test, and while almost all of the other students had a similar level of Hapkido ability to me (I did have to learn some extra stuff not taught in our TKD classes, of course), none of them really cared to bother officially testing. I wanted to because I thought it was important to have a verified black belt in two martial arts. I'm looking forward to starting up both again, but I've unfortunately been too busy to do that here yet and for a while my constantly moving work locations made it hard to decide where I should go.

Additional note, Phil is exactly right -- a first degree black is JUST THE START. It doesn't mean you're some huge incredible amazing martial artist. Not at all. It is the beginning of training, and almost nobody understands that in the general public. As a kid I thought black belt meant the highest level, but not at all. 10th Dan is the highest honor, and usually given after death, but peak skill as long as you are young is going to come around 3rd, 4th, and 5th Dan. Those are the guys you are going to fear, haha, first degree black belts are not all created equal. Some of them stink, frankly. I mean they know the moves, they know the words, they know all of the basics on an "acceptable" level, but in a real fight it doesn't mean they'd be able to do very well. I sparred against all kinds of levels of people and it wasn't mainly what their belt was, but their total package. I sparred people who were just color belts but pretty dangerous because of one good kick, and I sparred plenty of black belts who had no real threat level because they were just too old and slow. Or girl black belts, even the really good ones, they can't inflict any pain. I mean you take a 105 pound girl who is a 2nd degree black belt, yes she can kick very accurately and her skills are better than mine, but when I kick and she blocks, it STILL hurts her. When she kicks me and I don't block, it doesn't affect me at all. By the time I got to black belt level, one of the instructors, also a small girl, 3rd degree black belt, would flinch when I faked forward even because she knew if I kicked her, it would hurt. She couldn't hurt me, it was more like a love tap. Size does matter with skill levels that aren't too far apart. Now untrained versus her? She would probably be able to hold her own against some pretty good sized guys, anyway. And me against a 5th degree black belt girl who is still young, like 30-something? I'd probably get my butt kicked. But even 2 degrees difference can't make up for an 80 pounds of muscle difference, haha, or the size and height difference too. Having a first degree black belt is nothing to brag about, it really is just a start, but I had a lot of fun and I loved training!

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by moddestmike

This is the typical attire.

This looks like Justin Bieber. I really hope that at 27, this is NOT how you usually dress.

[TheImportersWife]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

Uhh, haha, no, you are totally wrong. Almost every WTF school, which is the only internationally recognized form of Tae Kwon-Do (and whether it has two hyphens or not doesn't matter, it's often written that way because it's the combination of three different words with one meaning, essentially, the way of striking with the foot and fist or the art of striking, etc.), teaches Hapkido alongside Tae Kwon-Do. That is not progressive. I've visited many schools, trained with many schools, and they all teach a form of Hapkido, grappling, because TKD is a striking art and it's weaker without some emphasis on what happens when an opponent grabs you. These are generally referred to as your self defense techniques, and each school will have a different order but they don't vary much in essence. Everything from an opponent grabbing your hair to grabbing your left lapel, right lapel, both, shoulders from the front, the back, etc. Those are self defense techniques that are part of Hapkido, and no it's not drastically different from Aikido, that's why it's called Hapkido, because it comes from a synthesis of a Japanese art with a South Korean art. It's VERY uncommon -- so check your facts -- for TKD to be taught without Hapkido also being taught on the side. That alone tells me you've either never studied or know nothing about these arts.

You can check on almost any TKD master in the world, and please do, look at their qualifications -- I trained with 4 myself, and knew 4 more through different schools. They will all be about 1 level below with their Hapkido black belts, so their info will read 6th Dan TKD, 5th Dan Hapkido, or my master is 7th Dan TKD, 5th Dan Hapkido. I'm registered in the Kukkiwon, which I have also visited in person when I went to South Korea, as a 1st Dan.

It's very difficult to get there in 13 months, yes, but it's by no means impossible. You just have to be dedicated. You probably won't get around having to put in a certain number of hours, but you can choose how you put those in. I would argue that 8 classes a week is far more effective than 2 or 3, because if you're doing it so infrequently, you have to remember what you learned last time and have now forgotten. I was very focused on TKD, it was the most important thing I did during that period, and a life dream of mine, so I was able to devote everything I had to it energy-wise and mentally. That is the only belt where you can move up at your own pace, by the way, as I'm sure you know. Other belts are time-limited, so to get 2nd Dan is a *minimum* of 18 months, 3rd Dan is a minimum of 30 months, and it continues to increase by 1 year per level of Dan. At least if you're WTF, which is the only organization I really think is worth being part of. ITF is ok but won't be recognized everywhere, whereas my black belt is recognized at any TKD school I go nationwide, otherwise they can't even call themselves a TKD school. There are a series of other rules as well, like you can't test for 6th Dan until you're at least 30. We had a very young master who would have qualified for testing 6th Dan by I think 28, but the second age restriction kicks in and he has to wait until 30. He must have started REALLY young.

Also, the average lower belt TKD student doesn't bother testing in Hapkido, because it costs money. I paid $395 for that test, same as the TKD test, and while almost all of the other students had a similar level of Hapkido ability to me (I did have to learn some extra stuff not taught in our TKD classes, of course), none of them really cared to bother officially testing. I wanted to because I thought it was important to have a verified black belt in two martial arts. I'm looking forward to starting up both again, but I've unfortunately been too busy to do that here yet and for a while my constantly moving work locations made it hard to decide where I should go.

Additional note, Phil is exactly right -- a first degree black is JUST THE START. It doesn't mean you're some huge incredible amazing martial artist. Not at all. It is the beginning of training, and almost nobody understands that in the general public. As a kid I thought black belt meant the highest level, but not at all. 10th Dan is the highest honor, and usually given after death, but peak skill as long as you are young is going to come around 3rd, 4th, and 5th Dan. Those are the guys you are going to fear, haha, first degree black belts are not all created equal. Some of them stink, frankly. I mean they know the moves, they know the words, they know all of the basics on an "acceptable" level, but in a real fight it doesn't mean they'd be able to do very well. I sparred against all kinds of levels of people and it wasn't mainly what their belt was, but their total package. I sparred people who were just color belts but pretty dangerous because of one good kick, and I sparred plenty of black belts who had no real threat level because they were just too old and slow. Or girl black belts, even the really good ones, they can't inflict any pain. I mean you take a 105 pound girl who is a 2nd degree black belt, yes she can kick very accurately and her skills are better than mine, but when I kick and she blocks, it STILL hurts her. When she kicks me and I don't block, it doesn't affect me at all. By the time I got to black belt level, one of the instructors, also a small girl, 3rd degree black belt, would flinch when I faked forward even because she knew if I kicked her, it would hurt. She couldn't hurt me, it was more like a love tap. Size does matter with skill levels that aren't too far apart. Now untrained versus her? She would probably be able to hold her own against some pretty good sized guys, anyway. And me against a 5th degree black belt girl who is still young, like 30-something? I'd probably get my butt kicked. But even 2 degrees difference can't make up for an 80 pounds of muscle difference, haha, or the size and height difference too. Having a first degree black belt is nothing to brag about, it really is just a start, but I had a lot of fun and I loved training!

Holy cow!

[virgode]

Originally Posted by TheImportersWife

Holy cow!

side notes

[imsh0t]

i think your personality, attitude, and demeanor is probably more important as well as your social standing. if you come up as insecure then it doesn't matter if your huge and muscular. Try growing a bit of a mustache or beard maybe? That should make you seem older. I also agree with the rest of the posters about the way you dress. You can look older and more mature while still being comfortable.

[SifuPhil]

Originally Posted by virgode

side notes

My apologies to the OP and to you folks for being exposed to our side-rant. I can't speak for Jonathan, but I get the impression he and I could discuss martial arts 'til the cows come home. We kung-fu krazies roll like that!

Jonathan, if you'd like to continue our discussion in PM please let me know.

[virgode]

Originally Posted by SifuPhil

My apologies to the OP and to you folks for being exposed to our side-rant. I can't speak for Jonathan, but I get the impression he and I could discuss martial arts 'til the cows come home. We kung-fu krazies roll like that!

.

Not to worry, just amused. Read another post by JLB that he has a couple of published books, oh hes got the gift.

[SifuPhil]

Originally Posted by virgode

Not to worry, just amused. Read another post by JLB that he has a couple of published books, oh hes got the gift.

*shrug* Perhaps he does. Just keep in mind that "published" has taken on a broader definition now that we have easy access to self-publishing. I have several books "published", but only two through traditional (and largely non-profitable unless you're a Steven King) channels - the rest are POD (Print On Demand) through an online firm.

Heck, some folks post a reply on a forum like this and say they're "published"!

[andreaspercheron]

Well if it helps, my son is 20, is 6'4" and good looking, he's been attracting girls since kindergarten (no lie) and he always has some girl falling all over him. But he's also VERY thin, in fact as a kid and teenager the doctor always said he was below the percentile that he needed to be even one time accusing me of not feeding him! LOL the kid eats, believe me but he's got this incredible metabolism.
I have usually dated guys younger and very tall but hmm that skinny is pretty thin. Just be happy that girls like you and don't worry, my son is super skinny and tall and he's stronger than anyone I know, he can more than protect any girl he's with.

BTW, older women are always the way to go! LOL