tallgeese

And on that note, you hit upon a very true statement. Often, we make our problems, and create loopholes for attorneys to exploit, from our own lack of common sense when it comes to keeping our mouths shut. It's much easier to articulate the reasonableness of an action in a dynamic and fluid environment with unknown hazards if you're not talking trash about putting the suspect to sleep a few seconds before he takes a nap.

First up, GS, congrats on the 1st Kyu! Great job on the test. I have footage coming from across the test and the varied disciplines coming. For starters, here's some footage of me and GS doing some mma focused sparring, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9CXFhGWn50 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZgWKBbQgkY GS, nice work for being 2+ hours deep into your test. You got some good shots in there.

I stumbled across this interesting article over a pretty varied tactic in BJJ. For those not into it, leg locks are either (on either extreme) the best attacks out there and the single best way around an open guard and should be trained from day one, or (on the other side) rarely if ever done and certainly never before purple. About every camp has a different take and they are usually pretty passionate about it. Personally, having come to grappling thru MMA, I've seen a couple of pretty horrendous ankle and knee injuries due to them. Now, the academy I'm out of rarely do them and never before purple. Naturally, I've seen no career ending lower leg injuries since I've made the move. The author is making a pretty good argument for their inclusion. Here it is: http://www.revolutionbjj.com/news/5-myths-about-leglocks-in-bjj/ If you've gotten thru it, now I'll comment. I, very respectfully, disagree with the gist of the article. A couple of his points are strongly valid. For instance, leg locks are just as executable and no less complex than any other attack. One problem is their safety. Other submissions you can feel come on. A heel hook is a squirm fest to defend (even in controlled and controlled randori environments) and then an ACL goes. I get that you need to drill them (or at least defend them) if you're competing at purple (IBJJF doesn't allow anything but straight ankles prior to then) but daily use in sparring drastically increases the chance of injury to pretty critical joints. However, the major problem I see is that to turn everyone loose too early with leg attacks can lead to people not developing their open guard game to the level it can be. It's hard to want to open up at blue and try things if you're partner is falling back on an ankle lock every time you try and you're tapping to keep your bones connected (some blues and about all white belts have control I'd worry about if they were dropping for my ankles) or stepping thru to start knee bars. So, for survival, you start keeping your closed guard more, thus stunting your growth in that area. Next thing you know, you're straining to hold it, then missing the point of rolling in the first place. Again, just my opinion. I think there is a great variety of valuable opinion on the matter. This just happens to be mine. However; the article really does present it's material well.

No worries sensei8! Everyone's got a slightly different view on this and that's fine. Private security is held to the same use of force standards as non-sworn, non-LE personnel. The can't use any force not considered reasonable. This is largely the same as LE;however, in most states there is a clause that mandates retreat from using force when possible for non-LE's (not all, but many). LE's are not held to this restriction and face no duty to retreat. It's the most prevalent difference in UoF regulations between the two groups. Add that LE usually has access and authorization to use weapons not generally accessible or legal for non-sworn to use. Still, security using more force than generally accepted as reasonable will get them jammed up. As will attempting to detain beyond their limits of authority. This is usually what I see them get hemmed in on. That said, I stand by my position that moving the bad guy to unconsciousness THEN cuffing him is an excellent tactic.

12/23 4.5 hours or so of varied workout for GS test for high brown. Rolling, sparring, spontaneous weapons defense, ect. Part of my sporadic training over the holidays. Nice work by the way GS! Congrats!

I thought this was great footage not only for the excellent arm bar finish, but more to the transitional skills displated and the chaining of movememts together: And the arm bar is pretty slick.

I am perfectly okay with the force used. I don't know what if any ramifications there were from the security company. Certainly, I don't think law enforcement would be in a hurry to press the issue. Cuffing in the front just lets him keep his arms free to engage you later, makes it easier for him to manipulate objects to hurt you, and open doors and such to escape. I think you can make a case for past behavior and non-compliance enough to justify the additional control. He's already attempted to evade custody once, why let him again. The other option would be to crank on pain compliance until he submits and risks injury to the suspect, or causes him to fight in which case now we're escalating to non-empty hands methods of dealing with said bad guy, strikes, spray, baton, ect. Which get us second guessed all the time by a public that does not routinely have to fight with bad guys.

Merry Christmas all!

Check this find out. It's a secuirty officer dealing with a non compliant suspect. He gets railed in the comments section, but I have to applaud the efforts. No one gets beat down, sprayed, hit with a stick multiple times. Nice work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl76jcW-sHs&feature=player_embedded Our problem is that it's rare to find an agency, at least in Illinois, that will autorize these tactics in other than deadly force altercations. Then, of course, since we haven't practiced them no one knows how to use them.

12/21 Okay, after dealing with a three day total lay off from activity due to a back injury in Sat. I started back slow. Treadmill work at a walking pace Hip Drills on the mat Movement drills on the mat Stretching routine Abs The back held up well and feels ready to start rolling on again. I'm going to continue to stretch and shrimp for the next couple of days in anticipation of a reunion workout with GS and MP and everyone else back home over the holidays.

After catching up a bit with the graphic novel in the absence of new episodes I can say that my strategy has backfired. Now I want the new season back more than ever with my appetite primed. I certainly appreciated the graphic novel, and enjoyed it largely. I can see where fans of the books are irritated by some of the decisions made in the show. However, I'm perfectly happy considering they are two separate mediums.

I just keep going back to the idea, that when looked at from a self defense application (which we agree is not the only reason to study) there are better ways to spend time to develop those traits. It's efficiency, that's all. Time spent learning to sit (or do seiza or however you want to phrase it) is time away from learning actual self defense. It's focus diverted from modern application and training methodology that is more focused in it's crossover application. Again, I'm more about modern, problem focused methodology when it comes to learning defense. I just don't see this as the best method for teaching the attributes you mention.

I was going to ask how it applied to karate at large, then I went back and skimmed the thread until I got to your quote here: "In today’s day it is still important imo, as it is part of the larger picture of correct posture, centre of balance and movement, which is vital to making your karate work" Ok, I see you hypothesis here. However, how does the center of balance and movement while sitting on your knees translate to that same set of attributes while moving thru a live fighting situation? If you want specific skill in an area, you train for it in that area. Or a cross over situation where the same set of attibutes are applied. For instance, lots of BJJ guys do yoga. It works as a crossover because of the relaxation thru the positions is the same set of attributes skilled BJJers look for. However, every top end BJJ player will still tell you that the way to get better at jits is to do jits. So, physiologically, how does sitting on one's knees, a static and stationary postion train you to maintain balance and center while fighting? A better crossover for attribute development would probably some form of dance or standing yoga postures. There's not enough in common between the two medium to effect a true crossover training advantage. Now the point I will conceed is that combative efficiency is not the only goal availiable to the martial artist. If your goal is cultural preservation of an artform then by all means, sitting on your knees makes sense. It's part of tradition from a society that no longer exsists that dates to the era of the creation of the systems. I can easily wrap my head around why one would make this part of their day to day routine. However, let's not make jumps of physiological relevence between seiza and combat.

I like flags. I'd get one up for national origin of the respective arts I was going to have in the building (ones I was teaching or having others teach). Some affiliation graphics on the matted walls or above. I'd definatly go with a wall of photos near the entrance or desk area with guys I'd trained with over the years, famous and not so famous. Certificates of instructors. That sort of thing.

I see where you're coming from given your situation. When I think wish list I have a few items that come to mind: -fully matted floor -matted walls to at least a few feet off the floor -focus mits -kick shields -mt pads -some loaner sparring gear (heck, this will be my old stuff, I"m buying new gear if I'm opening) -loaner gi tops for BJJ -blauer contact suit -multi purpose bag station -handful of redguns and training knives and some sticks

Plenty of striking arts, and other arts for that matter, do just fine without it. Any western striking art for instance. Boxers seem to get along just fine without it. Most forms of kickboxing, savate, JKD, ect, all have good striking patterns without reliance on it as a formal part of their workout. Grappling arts, who spend more time down at floor level than any karate system, don't use it much if at all. Speaking from being around wrestling, shootfighting, and BJJ, I can say that it's just not a part of the tradition and there's no loss of any functionality there. The position really goes back to feudal Japan where it was a common posture to sit in. It has more to do with that than anything. Of course you'd practice from a position you were likely to be attacked in. We, in modern America, would be much more well served from a functional standpoint from working from chairs or car seats.

It's the "but...." part that has to disapear. You can't control everyone else on the floor. But you can influence them, and the best way to do that is to not get caught up in those traps yourself. If that means you get crushed a bit here and there so be it. They'll get the idea. Or if they don't simply don't work with those people. In jits, the easiest way to work on this is by rolling from position during open mat. In other words, you start with a dude in superior position. Now, without spazzing, work out. Then switch. There's no ego in it if you are supposed to lose. To translate to more traditional arts, think about developing sparring drills from a negative standpoint. For instance, consider tying one of your arms down and then being placed on "defense only". Now you will actually work your head movement instead of relying on your hands to do everything because you have to. Again, you don't worry when you get hit because you are supposed to get hit, you're only working with one cover hand after all. See the idea? By starting in a negative position, you eliminate ego. Now, with proper control on your partner's end, you can work your material with limited fear of a)injury and b) loss of face. Everyone starts to get into the culture you're trying to build. Soon, you'll all be rolling or sparring this way without specialized drills. The people who can see the value in these sorts of exercises are the one to seek out to randori with. Leave the ego driven "must throw at all costs" guys to themselves.

Old guy back lock up is all after a day of rolling, that's all . I'm well on the way to recovery. I should be great by the time our little get together rolls around. I'm actually being smart about letting it heal, so that's light years from where I've been before.

It's so hard to delineate training goals when you're nursing a back injury. Still, after hobbling better today than yesterday I got myself to work and came up with the following: 1) Two tournies this year. A third would be a bonus. One an IBJJF event. 2) Medal in one of the smaller ones. Yeah, I took a gold last year, but promotion halfway thru the year will set you back on a repeat effort. 3) A couple of stripes on the purple. 4) Develop my deep half position to a usable pattern for me 5) Average 2 classes at my academy per week and another two BJJ specific workouts at home in the week as well. 1 lift/ run day per week as well to augment. This would last thru the year. 6) Push a serious training camp effort out from Jan 1 to the IBJJF on March 3. Augment class w/ near daily cardio and/ or lifting/ stretching. Diet included. Okay, it's written down. Let's see how well I do this time next year.

Congrats! That is awesome. Talk about a great base to work from.

Dealing with the ego is difficult, especially for type A alpha male types that tend to excel at martial arts. I don't care what anyone says, everyone has ego, everyone wants to be the best on the floor, across styles. There's an interesting interview with Frank Shamrock in Sheridan's book "A Fighter's Mind" regarding ego. He states that confidence is highly important to the martial artist. Ego; however, is a major enemy. It's what keeps you from learning. And that's the surest way to fall behind the game. I think this is very true. I think the best way to keep it on everyone's mind is to continue to pound the training pace into everyone's head until it becomes the culture of your gym. Making everyone realize why you're there (not to compete with one anther, there are venues for that). Once you get everyone on the mat to buy into it, the easier it will be to keep the speed, and egos, in check. It's building that culture that's difficult, as is, once built assimilating new people into. I always challenge people who disagree to train that way for one month. One solid month at a real training pace instead of creeping into ego. It's short enough that most people can manage to a decent degree. Then have them honestly check their progress. Generally they'll see that they've progressed and buy in.

Okay, so in light of the upcoming year, and the positive responses off of the 2011 thread, I thought we should try it again. What are your goals for martial arts training in 2012? I've got some thinking to do, so I'll be back soon.

2011- Compete at least three times. One of which I want to be the IBJJF in Chicago. Focus on hitting takedowns to start matches off Win one of said tournies in my division. I've come in 2nd twice. We'll see. Lastly, watch my diet better so I'm not cutting 15 lbs prior to a competition Okay, so here's where we ended up. I didn't get three comps in due to scheduling. However, I did indeed get a win in a division. Taking bronze in my weight class and then the gold in the absoloute class at the IBJJF winter open. So I din't get volume, but I did get quality in the comp I really wanted to do. My takedown work got WAAAY better. I threatened with it in the sole tournament I did, but I focued on training it once/ week pretty much all year. Takedowns are much better. Diet. Well this one's a split. I'm down to about a 10 pound cut. But I'm still in a position where I have to cut prior to a gi tournament. At least I'm not worse. Here's to next year.

Sparring at 100% is a sure way to make sure you stunt your growth as a fighter. You will, without a doubt, stick to what you already know due to the ramifications of failure. Your game doesn't grow. In fact, I've seen more sloppy full go matches than anything else in my time. As to that, sparring of ANY kind should NEVER be sloppy. It should always be clean. Bad habits can develop if it's allowed in any contact level. This is not a failing of of type of sparring, but a failure of instruction and dedication of the student. Even set at 30- 60 percent (a good training pace) technique should be good, clear, and precised. No bad habit should be acquired. This allows you to try new things and work to expand your game without the crushing fear of being killed for stepping off your A game.

Welcome aboard!