tallgeese

I still really think that the quicker you get to two man drills the better. People have made really good points above, espically about overloading newer people and loss of precision. I do think that these factors can be mitigated by properly structuring the drills to accomodate their level. I also am in a minority that we don't need to stress perfectin in movment initally prior to moving on in either intensity or options. An accptable facsimile of the movement will do just fine to start with. You can tighten it down as you go. Mind you, I'm not talking about wholesale sloppiness here, just and acknowledgement that, at a rudimentary level the student it processing the movement. You can now correct on the fly AND give him a more realistic feel at the same time. These drills are often useful for training the "what if" if a movement goes arwy. This is something that basics in the air simply don't do. I agree with using two man drills also to push basic teaching. It's easy enough to construct a two man drill that focuses on foot work and distance. Now, give one of the guys a pair of 16 oz. gloves. In round 1, you just do the movement, in round 2, he can jab, in 3, jab or hook. Now, you trainee has had three rounds of the movement drill you designed with the added realism of defending as he does so. You accomplish multiple tasks in a relitively simplistic manner. If your attacker varies his attack as well, you've also introduced a basic form of spontaneous response training in very early on. It become a very efficient way to transmit information quickly. I think that this is much more valuable in the long term that more static basics done solo. It does require more time to set up, more attention to what everryone is doing and, in short, is a bigger pain to put together for the instructor. But I really th ink it's worth it. It's also harder to run with differnt levels in the same room. Which m ight be part of the hold up on doing more advanced stuff, bushido man. To get around that, try starting the paired work three or four steps ahead of where the newer guys are starting. So, if round 1 will be move for the new guys, the advanced guys should jump right to round 2 or 3 (from the above example). Then the progression could continue from here. I'll acknowledge that this is eaiser said than acutally supervised and might be more suited for the smaller class sizes I deal with than more successful commercial endevors that other might be a part of.

Hey signalnoise, first off, welcome to KF. Glad you've liked what you've seen so far. As to your question, about any striking heavy system would fit your needs. If you're looking specifically for a karate system, I'd take a good look at any school first to see if they are going to meet your training needs. If you're looking for sd capabilities and lots of heavy sparring, there are alot of schools that might not fit the bill as well as you'd think. There are also plenty that will. In the Champaign area there are tons of schools. Lots might serve your cause. There are two guys I know personally that I trust a great deal. One is Mike Schlosser. He has a school up in Rantoul last time I checked and that's been about 4-5 years ago. He's got a hard style Japaneese background and he's spent time doing Goju as well. He's also branched out into grappling and such and teaches the DT program at PTI (the police acadamy at UofI) as well. The other is a guy who is semi-retired and mainly teaches private and semi private classes down in Matton. He does go to Champaign occassaionally to do some stuff out of a TKD school there. PM me if you might be interested. That's the only first hand people I know of around the Champaign area. I'm down that way alot since I'm kind of from the area let me know where you end up. I started training in a town called Newton, a couple of hours south of there. It's a long drive, but a gym called Tri-Fitness still operates down there with my instructor, occassionally they host cross training sessions that are real helpful and might be worth the trip there and again, but it's probibly not going to work for a long term solution for you.

today- crossfit: running clock- 1 pull up 1st min, 2 pu's 2nd min, 3 pu's the 3rd min, ect. I got out into the 13 min back/bis

Very nice. I'd say your spot on. Basics, let them have some fun with something. What always goes well at my place is letting them beat on you with a padded baton and callingit a sword fight. The big poffy blocers are good for ki v. kid. Good luck and have fun with them.

I agree with your assessment of how time would ideally be spent, bushido man. We are training to fight, to do that you've got to be laying hands on each other. Personally, our classes are almost exclusively conducted with two person drills. Most basic striking and such is done against mitts or shields and this is usually in some sort of dyamic fashion to help mimic fight conditions. We do individual work, but this is usually on a solo basis away from class. Bag work and such. I do think it's useful to do some movement drills and such as indivdual work, but even then it's best to throw a second person in as quickly as possible to make the training more "live".

today- chest/tris

Well, I'm interested to take a look, even though I don't do it. There are pleanty of things that, to me, aren't worth the energy of doing. Even in my own art. Terminalogy is one, I can't define more than a couple of things by oriental terms. It's a constant source of eye rolling from some of my peers, but it's not worth the effort of learning for me. Practitioner or no. It's personality, and what you want to focus on or how completely you feel the need to emerse yourself in your art.

It's hard to know what you will and won't have time for in a fight. It's too fluid a monster to have such set parameters. You've mentioned a good point for training mindset across whatever ranges you're training in. It's no use paying to get on the bus and then not riding it. If you can get to that superior position, break the sucker, that's why we tap when we train, so things don't break. Or, work for a choke which is easier to extricate yourself fromafter sucessfully applying it. Better yet, sweep to positon, pound him into submission and get away. In any case, all of this is easier if you spend a good amount of time training your ground game completely. Let's not forget the difference between competivite mindset and combative mindset ever. But a lack of combative mindset conditioning and acceptacne could lead to one ending up in a bad spot regardless of their style, standing or grappling, or any combination or permutation of both.

today- crossfit- 3 rounds of: 2 min row 21 burpees 1/4 mile run finished with good ab work and another 1/4 mile, just for a round number.

And yet you might end up there anyway. Yeah, it's less than ideal for sure. But to really be versed in that range of combat you have to train it completely, not just the above mentioned componants. Probibly the most common ma-ist out there is the guy who was a high school wrestler. This dude, if he's in his early to mid 20's (which if he's putting himself in a position where you have to defend yourself agasit him statistics say is likley) still has some decent skills and conditioning. Now this wrestler can probibly dump most stand up martial artist right to the ground unless they trained a bit at what you've stated. Now, lets say he beat their sprawl. Now what? Now, you've got to rely on the rest of those ground skills, pulling to guard, initiating an offense, sweeps, ect. All while not getting punded on by this bruiser who now has great position. And, you're going to need to do this before he has friends jump and help curb stomp you or at least minimize the damage they will inflict as they do so. As a side note- this is why mulitple oppononat sparring should also allow for someone getting dumped, to practice inhigh stress for such an occurance. Also, training drills should be conducted to help train this. For instance- start a round of ground-n-pound (3 min), now, have a second individual join the fray from standing. This kind of controlled "end in sight" trining will help prepare and teach tactics to everyone regarding this possibility. So back to my example. Now you're in a ground fight, with a skilled baddie on top of you who can probilby hold position pretty well. This is a bad time to not have spend good time training on the ground. I'm not disagreeing that it's better to remain up in sd situations. I think I've said as much ealier in this thread. I'm just saying that it takes more than working limited ground applications occassaionally to really prepare ones self for this very real possiblity.

You guys can keep it . None of that sounds appealing at all, bats or tiles. I'll keep my fragile bones and skin intact whenever possible thank you .

Yeah, the truth is on the floor. If you notice in my ealier post that you quoted about going on your own nowhere did I suggest that one add ranks to his credit or give himself a larger than life title. Just start teaching out of your own loosely affiliated group and discount buy certificates. That about sums up my postion on it. Yes, self promotion is a bit silly. You'll attract and keeps students that are worth having based on ability and teaching skills.

Defintalty sounds like a nerve impengment of some sort, somewhere along the way. If it hasn't gone away quickly, I'd get it looked at.

Bujin Bugei Jutsu (modern era combative art)- 19 years, 4th dan Gokei Ryu- 15 years, 2nd dan I competed under both amature shootfighting rules and open mma rules back in the day for about 3-4 years. I did a year or so of fairly serious boxing training during undergrad as well as two years of MT and JKD training during grad school (meaning I got way more out of my ma training during that time than academic benifits ). I don't actively persue training solely in any of those now, other than what I've kind of integrated into my overall skill set. The past few years I've been training hard in the ground game out of the linage that Jim Theobald comes out of. Beats me which flavor it is and I haven't sought any rank in it.

today- shlds/legs

They are the training models I believe.

At the same time, I don't want a training injury that I could have prevented. Even something as simple as wrapping the hand will help support the knuckle and protect the surface skin from abrasion. I'm not saying I've never pounded on a bag bareknuckled. In fact, it's probibly not a bad idea every now and then just for making people understand the reality of hitting something hard. Kind a feel so they aren't surprised. But long term, I think it's best to use some form of protection so you can keep training harder, longer. Don't forget, we have to be able to function at 50+ as well. Continued trauma from the heavy bag will work on the joints bad enough as it is. That's a level of price I'm willing to pay. The added damage to joints long term without anything there is something I'll pass on. It's bad enough I can feel the weather change in my joints already, I don't need to make that worse.

Ok, so I've been using a pair of the UFC brand MMA gloves since about Thanksgiving now so I thought I'd let everyone know how they're doing. Before I start, yes, I know that they look really tacky. And yes, the big "UFC" logo over the knuckes just screams "poser", but I was away at an out of town workout and had forgotten my normal pair. A quick trip to Dick's Sporting Goods give me this option for about 25 buck or a centry equivilant for around 45. Hence, my choice was made. Now, after using them a bit, I'm actually impressed. Granted, my expectations were low. The padding is adaquate for the streamlined form that has become the normal cut of these gloves and protects the hand well enough. There's a largeish opening in the palm comparted to other models I've used but this does afford really good grip capacity. Also, the fingers are articulated well and allow for easy bending. The stitching, which looks a little suspect, has held up so far to pretty regular use. The wrap around wrist velco has also held up well and fits about like you'd expect it to. They also, in the black model, don't turn your hand the color of the glove which is often the case with other brands. Now, if you're using this type of glove to cross train with in either sd simulations or weapons work, remember that these gloves are specifically designed for mma comp training. That means no extedned padding over the thumbs or down the fingers. As a result, knife trianing will beat the hand up good. For this, I'd look into other models (personally I use a modified pair of centrry gloves). So, in closing, I give them passing marks. They are certainly functional for training purposes. There are beefier and better models out there. But for the 25 bucks I paid for them, that fact is inconsequential. The biggest downside is dealing with the "wanna be" factor that the over large logos connotate. So bottom line, not the pinnicle of these things but very functional and probibly one of the best values for money that I've seen.

I prefer dedicated bag gloves of some sort. The padding is usually more closed cell and better to stand up over time. If you're going to use gloves (and this can be great conditioning if your training for the ring specifically) then I'd recommend just dedicating a pair to bag work alone. I'd also buy a less than top end pair for it. Bag work will destroy gloves pretty quicly if you're regular and heavy with it. Not the thing you want to send your real nice Fairtex thru. On that note, expect your dedicated pair to get torn up pretty often and replace as such. If I'm using regualr gloves, I tend to prefer 10 oz.ers.

They are basically symbolic reconstructions of what your subconcious is working on while you sleep. That could mean concerns it has, desires, ect. At least that's what my layman's understanding is via the Discovery Channel. On an interesting note, Grossman talks a bit about the subconcious and what it can tell you about your readiness state while dreaming in one of his talks. His assertion, thru his own research, indicates that there are certain dreams common to fighting types of individuals. MA-ist often have a "the punch dosn't work" dream, people who carry guns will experiance dreams where their firearms are ineffective. He, and more importantly, whatever specialist he took the research from, believe that this is the body's response to performance anxiety is one form or another. So, if your dreams have you hitting away at someone and it bouncing off, maybe it's your body's way (in this case, the subconcious mind) of telling you that it's not comfortable wiht the preperation you've been doing lately. Maybe it's time to pick up the sparring or sim drills. Whatever might be missing. As another example (one I've actually had happen now and again) maybe you're pulling the trigger in sd and the rounds won't hit the target, no matter how well you've got your front sight. Look at the last time you were at the range. If it's been awhile, go. On a sheerly anctdotal level, this will usually put that one to rest. I think that, again, on a non-scientific level, that result usually bears out across all these anxiety issues. Now, depending what level you're operating at, the expectaion of actual conflict, ect. this may or may not be a vivid or comomn experiance. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting side note.

I've pulled ab muscles before, and they can be problematic. The best bet is to limit your activites to those that don't actively cause more pain. This will vary depending on where exactly the pain is and how bad the strain. YOu can keep training, you just have to modifiy what you're doing. Now, if the injury is severe enough that it hurts with everything, it's probibly best to just take some time off for recovery.

I like training rounds here and there in a very similar fashion joe. It gives you the opportunity to work on very specific aspects of your game. today- 1/4 mile run crossfit modified) 5 rounds of: 95 lbs. sumo deadlift high pulls 10 dips 3/4 mile on treadmill, max elevation

Interesting. Persoanlly, I'm not a weaver stace guy, as you can see by my above post. Again, if you're in body armor and taking a side facing stance, you're presenting the gap in your armor and I don't want to rememver one stace for work and one for off duty. Jeff Coopers work remains seminal for sure. And, even all this time later very relevent. But advances have been made. What is still invaluable in his writings is his attitute towards mindset of winning gunfights. His stuff should be required reading for anyone serious about firearms for sure. But the state of the art didn't stop with Cooper. I'm not saying I wouldn't check it out, but personally, I'd check out Gunsite, Sig Acadamy, Thunder Ranch, ect. They've been working toward cutting edge for quite some time and have continued to strive to stay ahead of the curve. Also, on a more affordable note, several NRA schools have really seen an upswing in tactical level concepts of late. Again, giving you a more accessable option to training. Just my thoughts. I'm sure these guys are qualified, but certain other options will cut straight to the source material without the traditional ma elements apparent here.

White Yellow Orange Green Purple Brown (3,2,1) Black

today- 1 mile walking on treadmill on full incline crossfit: 21-15-9 reps of 95 lbs. thruster pull ups 1/2 mile run