tallgeese

1/9 1.5 on the treadmill, again easy pace

Happy birthday to you both !

Congrats!

Correct.

1/8 1 mile treadmill, easy abs

I started, and am primarily still involved, in ma for self defense primarily. There were other neat things about it, but that was the primary reason. To learn to fight. I was luck in that I found a school at the outset where that was the focus. So I didn't have to deal with the problems listed so well by RW. Now, since then I've leared to like other parts of the arts as well. And look beyond just the sd aspect. For instance, I love BJJ, and competing as well. So, not everything I work for that immediatly transfers to sd. There is still plenty of overlap, but my focus is to get good at BJJ for it's sake alone. So, resons can and do change. One needs to constantly re-evaluate why they are training as they go to make sure you're working towards ones goals.

Yeah, 'noons are no good. 1/7 8 hour block of DT and police specific ground fighting. Some stand up striking, weapon retention then move into ground work. Paired stuff as well. Some good drills out of the day. Lots of time on the mat.

I agree in such similar styles with so much overlap, it wouldn't be a problem at all. Now, if one were starting a system entirely different than the one he or she were presently ranked in then it would be a different story. Then the white belt makes perfect sense.

Yeah, that'll happen. 1/6 am: treadmill warm up legs abs pm: BJJ nite: Drilled over arm bar from guard. Transition to omo, then defend omo from top. Finished with guard pass. 6, 2 min rounds of closed guard v. pass 45 min free roll

The answer will depend alot on your attributes and the other persons as well. What you can do under duress and what they are willing to do to you. The key, regardless of tactics, it aggression of your own. Wheter you meet the attack head on, move lateral, or clinch and takedown is immaterial as long as you can do those things. What's important is turning on the switch to attack. Survival and winning in conflit is not based on a defensive mindset, it will grow out of the ability to immdiatly identify a fight and take it to the other person. Look at a bulk of street fight videos, espicially ones with ma-ist getting mopped or police dash cam vid of violent assults by an offender. A bulk of those on the loosing end are there because they try to defend the attack, the back up and focus on not getting hit. Those that are successful meet the attack with an attack of their own. Either by cutting an angle and retaliting, beating the bad guy to the punch, taking the offender down aggressivly, or escalinging weapons, or a combination of all of the above. Good, practical tactics are a must of course, but those will vary per person. More than anything attacking back with a proper mindset is key and under realized and under practiced by those who say the words.

1/5 1 mile on treadmill abs 40 min of light technical work. Most of the time was focused on developing the deep half and transitioning there from X guard. Went into countering the set up guard and the underhook from side mount.

For rolling, it's something light with rythm. Some mellow alt stuff, Jack Johnson and the like. Classic rock is another popular one for me. On mma days it's harder stuff. GS, I must say I love the montage mix you guys have down there. Including the Team America montage theme....priceless

Best of the Best tops my list to date (the first one, not the cheese ball sequels). You can't list such things without mentioning Enter the Dragon either. I remember the Speakman film. I also remember liking it alot at the time. Haven't seen it in years. Might have to look that one up again.

1/4 Short warm up on treadmill back/bis abs Cool down with shrimping and shots on the mat.

1/3 BJJ nite: Drilled over closed guard tactics, focused on developing great fundimentals. Moved to Armbar from the guard and defense. Finished technical portion with sweep from guard vs. standing. 6, 2 min rounds of guard v. pass 45 min free roll

Welcome to KF!

Congrats!

The BJJ acadamy I attend grants rank (stripes/belts) when the coach thinks your ready. Stripes can occur any time, belts tend to be granted at seminars where his instructor is present as well. As to my stand up background, testing occured and still occurs, but it's more of a formality really. Nothing is really done until the instructor thinks your ready. The test is more a right of passage than an actual test. Espicially the black belt test. For the instruction I do much less formal things even than that. Until black, everything is kind of "here you go, you're ready" and we move on. I don't even do much of that anymore given how my focus has shifted. I haven't seen testing fees of any kind, or charged any while I was instructing, for years.

1/2 1 mile run chest/tris abs The AC joint feels way better after some down time. As does the jacked up finger. All good. I do still have a twinge in the shoulder on flat bench so it's coming out of the rotation for a bit. Incline, here I come.

I think that MT is a great art. I spent time working with it during my two years at grad school, never to a great extent but certainly enough to be come comfortable to an extent. It does have great clinch and in fighting capability. I think boxing is vastly under rated and alot of my hand/ head movements come from time spent training with some golden gloves guys early in my career. There is, of course, the signifigant lack of a well rounded game with only a single set of weapons used. However, the hands are at a science here. Foot work and angles are brought to a premium. I'd also agree with MP, trapping is an exellent tool to incorporate. Although I've never been able to worok strong side forward, the acutal movements of interception work across a wide array of situations and shouldn't be overlooked. I think the soft parries of goju, while hidden in kata that are often misinterperated it seems, lead into a nice variety of trapping movements as well. Great obseration about the nature of "mixed" in MMA.

Granted. The concepts, in general, have been around a while. However, how many people were talking about this kind of thing in the 70's. JKD was a mindset movement that has continued to influence arts to this day. Even now, I hear alot of ma-ist talk about mindset and combat efficicency. However, I see very little of it. Lee was the highest profile advocate of this highly important aspect of fighting. His classifications that bushidoman reviews above speaks to this.

1/1 Finally, my self imposed break has come to an end. Rang in the new year with some mat time today. 20 min drilling takedowns. Doubles, singles, underhook trips 60 min free roll. Worked on setting up the deep half and sweeping in particular. On another note, the mat time I did accidentally log over break was pretty good. MP, GS, great seeing you guys again. Had fun with the boxing and trapping/ striking live.

Great read! I think, again, it shows Lee as a man ahead of his time. When you look at combatives these days, you see all sorts of emphasis placed on refining instinctual behavior to deal with threats (ala Blauer and others). This is really what Lee is referencing here to a certain level. It's his movements away from over complicating that have set the stage for alot of what we see today. Including to a degree, the ongoing development of MMA as a singular style. I think the cycle he implies is that everyone goes thru the middle art stage. I guess what we're seeing now is a movement to minimize that overcomplication process. The biggest debate really does not seem to be, from a combative standpoint, if it's best to do this but rather the best way to do it. Great disection, bushidoman.

Indeed. Happy New Year!

I gave this post it's own thread because it was such a good idea last year, I thought it'd be useful again this year. Last year I wanted to continue with my BJJ. I did. Making it almost the sole focus of my martial arts training and competing twice. 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.