tallgeese

Thanks, bushido man. I will. It's the Midwest NAGA. I want to do well, but it's really not the sort of thing you go into to win. There's a lot of guys out there living to compete in it these days and my world dosn't revolve around competition anymore. Guess I just missed it a bit and more than anything wanted to test myself against relly good guys. Still, I'm pretty stoked about it. today- 5 mile run

I'd also be careful assuming that the old masters did things without fear, regardless of what has been passed down as truth. Fear is too normal and universal emotion to purge from one's mental makeup for them to have done away with it totally.

yesterday- rest day today- 2.5 mile run bis/tris/forarms abs

I agree with all your basic statements above. I just don't think a cross stepping motion is all that useful in combat. I'd like to th ink I apply the rest of the principles to other movements.

Probibly shouldn't come to that. If one of the dudes from your school, instructor included, is getting ready to throwdown and it's the other dudes fault, you'd better be jumping in before any of your buddies are beat down. Either to break it up or attacker the attacker from a superior and unecxpected direction. Any other response is unacceptable.

It the worst case hypothetical that one has to get into their head to train for. 99.9 percent of people who train will probibly never employ their training beyond the floor or ring. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing. However, mentally, one has to prepare and expect that it will indeed happen to you. Gavin DeBecker in his book The Gift of Fear (highly recommended by the way) talks about how denial is really the killer in physical confrintation. Grossman in On Combat (again, highly recommended reading) takes it a step further. He states, and I agree, that by getting comfortable in the fact "it won't happen to me" will keep you training with the deadly seriousness (a term lifted from Forrest Morgan- Living the Martial Way) that you need to be. It will also be detrimental in any post conflict psycological resolution due to the brains inability to cope with what it has, up tilll the conflict, seen as imporbible. They are good points, I agree, it's probibly unlikely for alot of people. However, I always caution people to get too comfortable with the notion.

today- back/abs rest warm ups with shrimping drills, leg overs, rolls, ect. 2, 2 min rounds of 30% roll for warm up, work on escapes mount side mount then switch and work on holding position 20 min block of going over and drilling the olo plata and gogo plata, transition between them. 2, 3 min rounds of stand up working takedowns 3, 3 min rounds from knees 3, 5 min rounds free roll matches from stand up. Good news from last night, after considering the weight classes and divisions in this upcoming tourny, the guy who'se grappling line I come out of and I decided that I'd roll in the 160-169 bracket for open and teh 160-175 for the 35 and older. What does this mean....I've already easily made weight In fact, I can put a bit back on. After wavering between the two class, I had cut down to be in shooting range of 159 or 154. So, walking around at 162 I'm in a great spot to let a few go back on. Again.

On the use of force, if you stocked the dude in the head with the butt of the shotty, then yes, it'd be considered lethal force. Not to mention, it'd be a tactic used outside of established procedures for most of us carrying them for LE duty. If it comes out or the rifle for that matter, it's to use as a projectile weapon. If I have to go hands on, cuff, transition to a less than lethal weapon, ect., then the long gun is slung and the appropriate transition made. That's a whole skill set in and of itself. And, if you're carrying a weapon around (legally, I mean) then it had better be readied for use with the intent to deploy it properly otherwise it's a liability. So, a folder should be clipped somewhere that it's accessable and you should know how it opens from the draw. A firearm should have a round in the chamber and saftied or decocked. A baton, well, it should just be accessable and you should be proficient with getting it open from wherever it is you carry it. Personally, the last one is one I never keep on me. Just some thoughts on use of force as we talked about a post or tow ago.

Yeah, you've just articulated why I don't study trad weapons. It's an exercise in historical combat. That's great if that's what you're into. It's just not a focus for me. Knives, clubs, guns, that's about where weapons training is at for me due to the practicality. I get what you're saying about already being at deadly force. My thought was that by using the blades on shoes you'd already placed them into that catagory, so any sort of kick now throw would by defalut be into the deadly force catagory. So out go the ever useful MT rounds and front kicks should you need them in a less than lethal encounter. As for using a different aspect of the foot while employing them, I'd think you'd be on shaky legal ground, regardless of your skill level. The law probibly wouldn't make the distinction.

It can be an immediate fight ender. It might not be as well. I've seen plenty of guys get clocked in the throat during sparring at high intensities and still have it together well enough to stay in the fight. It can also be that the shot is a hair off, or the angle is slightly wrong or any one of a thousand other things. I think we'll all agree that it's a good tool to have, and practice with. I just caution everyone that trians with me that nothing is a guarentee. I try never to let my mind assume that a fight will end with any strike.

I can't say that I use any of the listed strikes. Thanks for the breakdown, however, that is much easier for knuckledraggers like me to follow . There's just nothing there that can't be done with a less exotic strike, one that probibly has less chance of injury to yourself. Anytime you start using fingers as force multiplier then you start risking having them broken, torqued, ect. I do study my art in it's totality, even the more tertiary skill, it's just the art I study dosn't employ these strikes. It's complex enough a skill set already without the use of tools that either risk injury to practitioner without conditioning, or take up a niche that can be filled by other tools more often practiced because they fit a wider range of situations. Still, ma's are about the trainee getting what he's looking for out of them. If you have the dedication to condition those weapons and the desire to master them, then by all means go for it. I'd never say that one shouldn't work towards a high level of skill in them. Part of the beauty of studying ma's is that no one really looks at them or their training thru the same prisim.

Only once? You're ahead of the curve

Interesting. Seems like it pigeon holes you into a deadly force threat response, however. That's not a problem if you have to respond to a deadly force threat, but what if you have to use foot movements against something that dosen't rise to that level?

Yes, it's pretty common actually. There will always be athletic overlap in these types of endevors. Certainly the ability to move efficiently will always be helpful when going from one combat methodology to another. But the idea of being skilled in one prior to training in another seems to be an eastern concept. Lots of people studying western swordsmenship seem to be perfectly content with just doing that.

I'd agree, to get better at bag work, or any apect of it, the best thing to do is bag work. It will also pay dividends in your fighting ability. FOr specific strengh exercises, I'd work on utilizing push ups off your fists, grip training, wrist curls, ect.

I do think that you should undertake a highly detailed study of your art. This includes all the strikes, particulars, ect. However, I don't think a system designed for sd should have stuff in it that's not going to be effective at some level. Now, if you're not in ma's for sd, then by all means, study and practice whatever you want. I'm not exactly sure what the strikes are that you've mentioned in the OP, so I'm not sure if we utilize them at all (I'm a plain english guy- sorry). I have the same professinal concerns as Kuma, so my training tends to be adaptable to what I need to do at work. I still think that those things that are often outside of day to day use of force for cops should be worked. So, eye gouges, groin kicks, throat strikes and grabbing, ect. need to be practiced, just because you never know. however, with limited training time, those tools might take a backseat to others that you'd use more often. As to the conditioning aspect, I'm pretty much with bushido man on his views on the subject. Most of the conditioning that you will need should occur as part of a training regimine.

I'd agree with that; groin, shin, knee. That's about it for the front kick off the front leg realistically. Even then, it's best to think of it in terms of a distractionary device or stop hitting tool not an attack designed to throw out lots of damage.

today- warm up 4, 2 min rounds of roll for position 15 min of review/drilling mount escapes and half guard options 10, 2 min rounds of free roll escapes. restart in negitive posture after escape. The guy in dominatne position works submissions and holding posture. 3, 3 min rounds of free roll from feet rest 1.75 mile run on light interval hills.

I'm not huge into weapons normally assiciated with ma's. Knives, clubs, guns, pretty much. Anything else is pretty much confined to the "playing with" stage. Aside from my time in the SCA, but that's another topic. Based on what I've seen and monkeyed with, I'd have to say any of the exotic chain-link weapons must be pretty difficult. I beaded myself with a weighted end of a mankriki (sp) once that ended by experimentaion phase with that.

today- 3 mile run delts/traps

Welcome to KF! Glad to have you aboard, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Agreed, it is impressive. I won't even argue that. Respectfully, it's the time-benifit analasys that dosn't work out for me. I have to imagine that the slow and steady approach is indeed correct. My quibble is that it's a ton of time to commit to training a weapon that you've essintially removed from the fight 9 time out of 10 (or more) in a modern western setting. Shoes and boots are so much more likely to be used as a striking surface that it makes more sense to me to train with striking surfaces that translate easily to accomadating those. Ball of the foot makes sense since you can present that with sneakers on. As does the heel or blade of the foot, espically if you're a boot wearer. I'm not saying it's not impresseive, or useful. I'm just saying that it's very specialized in a set of circumstances where generalities usually work more frequently.

I ruined my own weekend with one of those once upon a time

Not to mention that there is only so much conditioning that one can do. Sooner or later the little bones of the toes will start to break down on impact.

today- 4.5 mile run