tallgeese

today- 3, 2 min rounds of working explosive sparring drills from a defensive posture. both parites in mma gloves. one side attacks with a flurry forcing the other to defend. then he breaks and holds up his hands. then the trainee side immediatley explodes with a jab, cross, jab, cross. as a variation, had the attacking side move to a tie up and have the trainee side push off and counter with the same. 4, 2 min rounds off limited engagment sparring. attacker has both hands to attack with, defender does two rounds of defending while using the lead hand only. two rounds defending with rear hand up only. focus on movement and fast checks. 3, 2 min rounds limited engagement from the clinch only. punchs and knees only. if contact broke, restart from clinch. if either party got to a takedown position (ie, body lock from side or back, high slingle) restart. round robin on the ground, 1 min rounds for 4 rounds. tied one hand to side (your choice) and start from knees. the idea is to really focus on using the hips and legs.

That's not a bad thing at all. Indoors, regular hours, good pay. Sounds like a good call to me.

It really depends. Personally, if I have to I'd work for weapon control. Of course, this madates training agaist a "live" attacker rather than always doing clean movements. Don't get me wrong, there will always be a place for movement drills of a controlled fashin, but survivabilty will be determined by fast paced spontaneous drills and stress innoculation. For my money, best case scenarios involve escalation of weaponry, ie. you clear disatance and shoot the guy, or bean him in the head with a hard weapon such as a club. Multiple times, until he dosn't move. Barring that, gaining space (controling the distance) and escaping is the best option. Marc Young also makes a very valid point in regards to the ambush factor in true attacks where often you won't see the knife till it's in your ribs. Having seen the results of some knife related crimes, this is a good point. It brings to the forefront the importance of awarness and situational control prior to any altercation. It's a big subject, any sort of weapons work. With plenty of complex facets to deal with. Isn't that wonderful .

Did you try the inserts in the wrestling shoes? Might be something. Other than that it sounds like a pretty severe case. This is one of those times that having tried everything, you might want to consider a second opnion followd by surgery. Sounds like you've given everything else a try.

How much time have they been sticking with it? It can take the body quite awhile to adapt to getting hit. Several months even. The best thing to do is hang with it. Repetion will win in the end. However, it might be more of mindset issue that needs dealt with on their end, ie overcoming the reluctance of taking the damage associated with high contact sparring. In either case, continued live drill in one way. When doing mit work, actually getting a set of mit cloves or just hitting htem with the mitts works well to desensitise people. There there are the associated medicine ball to the gut routnes and such. More than anything, spend time drilling approprite responses to defending against actual stiking. Teaching them to move and focus duruing flurries is key. One high end drill we use is to tie the lead feet of each fighter togetehr and make them cover and move from the infight range. This forces people into good defensive posture and keeps them looking and moving. It's also great conditioning for this sort of thing. Additioanlly, it will usually fire the mindset of both parties right up. Preaching intensity is the key to training the mindset. Stopping people when they look timid during an exchange and getting them set up right is a start. Then make them work thru the same sticking point. I've found that this can work wonders for focuing fighter's minds past the panic of being flurried. As with all things, your milage will vary. I'd look hard at the psychie of the guys having trouble and check the mindset first.

Great vid finds that showcase how lethal this kind of thing can be.

Just a background in on field trauma care, that's all.

Some times an orthotic in the shoe will help by raising the arch of the foot to tension the facia band less. Of course, this means wearing shoes. I'd explain the situation and ask in ma shoes or wrestling shoes (my perferance) would be ok. If someone in your school can tape, there is also a pretty efective taipe jpb for the condition which might help. Make sure your guys knows what he's doing, it can actually cut you up pretty good if he dosen't. Good luck.

I guess my answer to that would be "maybe". Yeah, I know, real commited isn't it . Lot's of guys get pounded on pretty good in mma comps while there head is positioned on the ground and a superiorly positioned opponant throws down shots. I rarely see anyone injured long term from this, but it does tend to be a fight ender. Ths blow to the top of the head can be very dangerous. It's called an axiel load and it's the reason most football players with head injuries are taken from the field on stretchers and spearing is illegal in the high school version of the sport. It consist of force transmitted from a blow to the top of the head down to the spinal column. This is where you get neck fractures from in this sport. However, I haven't heard of similar problems in the mma arena, which is where you would expect to find them. Might be worth looking into.

Yeah, not really buying it. I agree, I'd have like to hear more about the physiological effects on hard trauma to the nerves, but the intro voice over made it difficult to settle in and take any of it seriously. As to stopping the heart with a strike, look at all the people who hit their chests on steering wheel colums every year in auto accidents, few of them are dropping dead due to a coronary incident other than those predesposed to it from an exsisting condition. If two cars hitting each other aren't doing it, I'm sure not with a hammer fist. As far as people shoving appendages thru boards, yes, it's impressive. And one would think that force like that could do serious truama. And I'm sure it can. But remember that the soft tissue of the body gives as it absorbes force. Unlike wood which has no where to go, soft tissue will move about. That's not to say it won't be injured, it just means that things with out a sharp force mulitplier (ie. knives, pens and such) are hard to shove thru soft tissue. Also, that pine isn't moving. In conflict, movement is paramount and thus that kind of focued striking power is less spectacualar. Again, impressive but it might not speak to killing ability with a single movement.

today- mitts of- 6, 3 min rounds of defending agasit the mitts, followed by the mitt holder attempting to clinch. push out of clinch and combo. add a jab, cross to front end of combo. finsh by adding a mitt holder shot at end. sprawl to defend, take side back and knee. 20 min insturctinal block on escaping the guard and passing to side mount. drilled limited roll drill of escaping live guard and taking side, mounted individaul then escaped side. rinse and repeat. 3, 3 min rounds of free roll from the knees 4, 3 min rounds of free roll, standing.

We don't use one steps in the traditional sense. Drills that train the body to adopt certain principles are in the core of our system from white to purple belt but aren't one-steps per se. They are teaching tools, that's all. There are about 4 at each level. Rather than have complex sequences built into the system that can be foiled by an unexpected movement from the attacker, or misses movment by the defender, it's best to cultivate the ability to respond spontaneously to attcak. This should be, in my opinon, the end result of drilling,not rotly memorized resonses. So while different tactics are trained often, there is no set number of the. THey are chianed together to poractce good transition from one to another until the student can imploy a proper tool at the proper range and moment. This lends itself to less memorizing and more reactive capability.

I'd never actually grab the blade on purpose. Yes, it's better to take a cut there than a more signifigant area. But a cut early will compromise your ability to grab the knife hand and control it. knife control is key, but I feel there are better ways to get this done. As to the kia, i've never been a big advocate. First off, if he dons't freeze, you tip your hand and give up the tactical advantage of suprise. If he does react, it could be a startle response to the sound, making him move the knife unexpectedly even to him. Better to make sure that you are the one instigating any movement from here. Just my thoughts.

today- 3, 2 min rounds of mitt work- started wth coverage and combo to close. added tie up and knee to quad. findihed with holder shooting and forcing a sprawling defense. 3, 2 min rounds on the ground-n-pound bag- started with hooks from tight position. posture to strike down three times. then to elbows. also allowed movement to side mount and knee. tight knee across to transition. add elbows from side and close positure hook to body, finished with all above and hammerfists. 20 min insturctional block on two sweeps and chaining them together. 3, 1 min rounds of reversal drill from guard. focus on sweep. 2, 3 min rounds of free roll from knees 3, 3 min rounds of free roll from standing.

Not sure what one is. Maybe a description or link?

Yeah, I've seen plenty of going to and from class with pants on and a shirt. I have no problems there. Nor do I have a problem with wearing the pants for a post workout stop for food or such. It's just a matter of convienance. I've done both of these plenty of times. Personally, I wouldn't wear the top out. Certainly never the belt. I'd do my best to find a t shirt before having to stop out with a top on. Not due to any hard fast rule, simply because I'd feel kind of dippy. That's just me, not an indictment of anyone else. See, if you get away from training in a gi, you get rid of this problem .

I applaud your efforts considering what you've had to deal with. The only real concern I would have is the kidney, everything else might be problematic but controllable from a risk standpoint with care on everyone's part. Most contact sports will not allow participation of someone with a single kidney due to the seriousness of the consequences should it sustain injury without it's partner to pick up the slack. I'd take long look at the contact levels at your school and consult with your doctor for the matter and give him a realistic apprasial of what the enviornment would be. Additionally, this should include incidental contact that often occurs, falls, ect. Then you'll have a much more informed medical opinion of the risks. That being said, you still have to co-habitate with the signifigant other and he should probiliby be on board, and consulted with, over what ever decision you make. Like will just go eaiser I would guess on the home front. The medical risks over the kidney would be my first step in assessing the possibilities of sparring. I'd clear that hurdle before starting to discet tactics to deal with the other issues. Good luck.

As fot the creativity question, I'm not sure. I doubt it. I just like having soemthing going in the back ground to keep the energy levels up during training. To be honest, I don't even notice it when I'm active. But it's between the rounds that it kind of sub conciously filters in.

Most of the time we blast whatever's playing on the metal or areana rock station. I'm still kind of old school, and like to throw in vintage Metallica or Ozzy. One school I trained at had a European coach who loved the techo stuff. I hated it at first, but did learn to appreaciate the rythm that it brought to a heavy bag work out. Still, I use it sparinly these days.

There are plenty of theories out there, joe. I've spent a good chunk of time in the past working with knives, here's my thoughts in regard to your specific questions. As to the hands up position, you can pretty much figure on a startle response doing this for you in any sort of armed conflict. If you have time to see the assult coming at all, your body will probibly instinctively respond in a manner which does this for you. Best to capatialze on it. I'm always a big fan of getting the hands up. Yes, they can be slashed, that's why you train your response to be tight. Also, I can't my forearm rotation when there's a blade invovled to present more of the exterior of the forearm. That way you're exposing less heavy bleeding targets. Also, a hands up position gets something close to your neck to help defend that region. Good knifers will take targets of opportunity and cut at them just to get in your head and make you move. A couple of slashes and then your bleeding and losing the mental edge. Now, you start reaching for that knife hand and exposing bigger targets. So, yeah, people will try to cut them. But if your hands aren't up, they'll be cutting immediately to either the larger arm movers in the upper arm or if distace dictates, the neck. Keeping the arms up creates a barrier of sorts to maintain distance. Now we come to the off line movement. Personally, I try to always move off center line when faced with a linear attack. Success varies, but you need to try and move the target of the atttack. Checking the weapon hand is a good idea as well. However, gitting a grip on it is way better than merely slapping it away. Control is key in armed conflicts. I usually preach not to commit two of your weapons to a single attack from an advasary. There is an exception once a weapon comes into play. Here, I will get both hands on the knife holding appendage as quickly as possible. Yes, he can then counter your grab more easily. However, that knife is a serious force multiplier and increadably dangerous. Again, control is key. It's the biggest threat on the board and needs to be in your possession, not his. So yes, I will risk counter here to maintain a two on one control over the knife hand. Once you've established control, you need to immeditately be offensive. You can't give him time to react to your counter. Now's the time to start the head butts, knees to the ground, biting and such. And it has to happen without hesitation. By using both your off line motion and a controlling function at the attack point, you make it a two tiered process to stab you raher than one. If you just move, he has to correct his angle. If you just make a trapping motion or grab he must simply defeat that. If you do both, now he has two layers of defense to pentrate. With weapons in general, you've got three overriding principles- -control the weapon -control the distacne and -esclate weaponry If you can control the weapon being used against you, you can win the fight. If you can maintain distacne, you can win, or escape. If you can escalate to a superior weapon and have the skill to deploy it, you can win. Making those three things happen is up to the individual movements form your systems and whatever else you're importing to get the job done. Building a reponse systems around those principles will give you a good start in dealing with armed conflict.

I guess I should say, before everyone points out the obvious- obviously Lee is not a western national. However, I included him simply becuase the majority of the work done on JKD was done while in America and invovled some decidedly western influences such as boxing, wrestling, and fencing. Ok, maybe not to the letter of the OP but maybe the spirit.

Bruce Lee's work in JKD was ground breaking and in many ways set the stage for the modern combative surge in the arts. Alot of things he put together still stand as very effective. His true genuis, however, was in his outlook on training and experimentation. His principles of expanding and testing knowledge have not, and in all likleyhood, will not ever be eclipsed. Modified perhaps, but never thrown aside. I think the Gracies go in the same catagory. Their take on jj and the development of bjj and it's subsequent influence on ma's in general certainly earn them a place in history. I know that there are certainly other submissive based grappling arts. But the Gracies not only developed their own system, but got it out there in the popular knowledge at the right time. They definatly fall into this catagory. Guys with a good historical knowlege of boxing could probibly point to when and where it truely evolved into the "seet science" that it is today. A trainer somewhere was probibly respoinsble for that occurance. I just don't know who it'd be. Good post, it'll be interesting to see who pops up on everyone's list.

I agree with ps1. Chances are you might not be tight enough on the movement, I could be wrong it's hard to tell without seeing.

today- back/bi's legs