tallgeese

I've been on both sides of this equation. For years, I trained in a T-shirt with gi pants while in combative karate systems. It was great. Then I moved into the MMA realm and did away with the gi pants, even more comfortable. Now, I'm heavy in BJJ and I'm back full circle to a full gi all the time. Heck, I don't even like doing no gi grappling all that much That said, during Muay Thai, I'm back to shorts and a T. So, I think it largely depends on the requirements of your art. If you are in a grappling heavy art that utilized grips and such, you'll NEED one. If you're largely in a striking art with only small joint manipulations for grappling then a shirt with gi pants is probably very comfortable and functional.

Congrats on the milestone, Bob!

Awesome to hear that you're experimenting with different grappling stuff!

'Congrats! Great work!

Hey all, this week we look back at our work on passing the guards we've discussed the weeks prior (X and De La Riva) Here's a breakdown of a De la Riva pass that is driven by some of the offensive options we saw from the guard position the week before: Does the pattern make sense based on the offensive options? What else are you seeing that has the potential for creating a pass here? What other pass options do other people prefer from this position? Next week we'll be brining it back down to less sportive material, but I really wanted one more week to continue to burn the body mechanics and base control that you learn with these methods into everyone's head.

Ouch! And I'm NO "scam artist teaching fly-by-night Rex Kwon Do." I don't have a website/facebook, our Hombu doesn't have a website, and neither of us truly want a website, and my reasons as to why can be found somewhere here at KF!! Btw, I'm quite finished defending our/my reasons for not having/wanting a website!! A WEBSITE MEANS NOTHING...IMHO!! Why? Proof is ON THE FLOOR, and not in some website! I've known and seen so many schools of the MA that have running water and power and real MA training, but their ineffective across the board. I take offense to being lumped as a fake, and this is what I'm being told that that I am. If I am, then so is our Soke, Dai-Soke, student body, and Shindokan!! I've more important things to worry about than creating and managing a website, like, teach Shindokan, and administrate the SKKA!! I respect those who do have a website, but I'm/we're lampooned and lambasted mercilessly because I/We don't have a website!! I think you took his post the wrong way, sensei. I'm pretty sure he was referring to public/uninformed potential students' perception than reality. When looking for a dojo, the one I chose didn't have a running website (it was down), and the Facebook page wasn't very good. It's sole purpose was to let students know of scheduling changes due to weather or the like, remind them of special events and times, and post some pictures in case students wanted them. They now have a simple website - http://www.adirondackseidokarate.com I think it's crucial to have a web presence. Doesn't have to be elaborate; just something stating who you are, what you do, how to contact you, and when classes are available. I don't have Facebook (yes, that one person in the universe without it is me!) nor care for it, but it's a good way of easily communicating a student body and potentially making things more personal. Have a look at our dojo's page - https://m.facebook.com/AdirondackSeidoKarate If you scroll down to the photos section, I'm in the first pic, standing with Tadashi Nakamura To the bold type above... You might be absolutely correct!! We've defended our stand in this issue for quite awhile, and I'm more passionate about it than I care to admit because both Soke and Dai-Soke could care less about opinions, and for the most part, I'm the same way. Yet, however, albeit, it can hit a nerve just right when we're defined in an less appealing tone, and I feel that I'm not only defending Shindokan, our student body, our Hombu, but mostly, Soke and Dai-Soke. Facebook is the rage of the page. Yet, it's no secret here that I'm computer challenged...no...I'm a computer IDIOT...dumbest on the planet. Facebook is the bane of my existence because I can't navigate around it to save my soul, even after I've been shown how to or have read the latest Facebook For Dummies. Facebook and me are an oxymoron, to say the least!! I've cancelled my Facebook at least 5-6 times, vowing that I've never return, but I come back to FB in the hopes that I can finally figure it out...I doubt it, but it's worth a try. As far as the Hombu is concerned. Soke and Dai-Soke refused to approve the Hombu/SKKA from having a website. Whenever pressed as to why, they'd say..."Because I said so!!", and who can argue with that. Arguing with them about certain things was like arguing with anything and everything about a car...who gets to drive the car...who puts gas in the car...things like that we fruitless because they OWNED THE CAR!! Finally, they allowed us to explore the parameters of having a website, even an information based website only. BUT, and it's written in the By-Laws, the SKKA Hierarchy MUST be in a 100% agreement in ALL aspects of the website, and if not, then there will be NO website!! That's where we STILL stand, many years later. We can't agree on everything, and I've many times put my foot down and instructed them all to JUST GET THE DARN THING FINISHED NOW!! But, to no avail, not every T is crossed and not every I is dotted!! We can't even agree on the stupid FONT size and style, and I don't care about the stupid font size and style....JUST USE THE DEFAULT and quite being difficult and unreasonable. Per Hugh Beckworth, our Lead Legal Counselor says that the way the By-Laws are written, it takes a unanimous vote, i.e. 100%, to amend, and some can't be amended!! I'm no lawyer, but Hugh is, and the By-Laws are "quite binding" across the board. I've lost faith that we'll ever approve on a website/FB/Etc. in my lifetime!! That last parts a bummer. Not because it has anything to do with the quality of what you do, a website can't make or break that, but because fewer people will have the opportunity to run across info about what you do. We don't have to like the current business model for MAs (heck, I'm hip deep in them and it drives me crazy) but we can't deny they are effective for today's society. Not just young people, but 20-somethings and up have been raised on internet commerce. It's a natural thing for them and certain bias' will have been developed. I can see how it's frustrating for you. As to your own feelings about working the web (or lack of ability in your perception) it's something that you can fall into. I'm a computer illiterate as well. However, I have learned to cope. On the end user level, most stuff now is getting easier and easer to just use. Forget about setting it up To that end, there's almost someone around the dojo always willing to help in the more complex things. Once of the people at are school makes sure everything talks to each other. That's beyond me. Even if you don't like FB (and I get it) it's still a good business tool for the time being. We put a lot of effort into our website, and we turn WAAAAAAY more traffic over our FB page. Not to mention the FB page is free, easier to manipulate, and less work to maintain. Just getting an organization or individual school on there is a great networking tool. Just some thoughts.

Really nice! I dig the compare and contrast you did there. Well done on your own videos as well.

Judodad, I think it's defiantly worth checking out. The biggest red flag I'd worry about is being evasive about either the instructors rank in BJJ or his lineage. There's a lot of other arts bouncing around on that web site, this is not a bad thing, but but I'd make certain the rank they are selling BJJ on is an actual BJJ rank and from another art (we see this sometimes when people have rank in JJJ and claim BJJ.) I'm certainly not saying that this is the case here, as the site identifies the coaches coach and therefore is easily verifiable. But when checking out any kind of BJJ school I always list the aforementioned paragraph as a box that should be checked. Good luck, I'm certain it will be a good experience. Let us know how it goes.

It's about 30 min away in a neighboring town. Great instructor with some serious cred. Still, in this day and age we're making it. After that, the nearest is 40 min away, which is the school I started jits in. As for our PTK program, there isn't another program in the county I live in. As far as I know, the nearest is my coaches school in a near Chicago suburb.

It depends on what we're doing. And I do less and less stand up that's NOT kali every month. For hard SD sparring, Kempo gloves or MMA gloves. If the guys are getting ready for fights almost always MMA gloves. As I think on it now, they've really become more and more the norm due to ease of use. If we're not grabbing or grappling it's some Fairfax 16 oz gloves. I've had a pair for this company for years and they are still holding up. Lastly, for Kali we use hockey or across gloves. It's the only thing that will stand up to the impact of the hard weapons.

At this point, IMO, the best thing you can do with a base of knowledge on is to start gearing up and doing stimulus response training in realistic scenarios. It's gonna take some gear, some contact, and some set up on the classes part but this is the kind of training that bridges the gap as much as possible. You'll need at a minimum good caged headgear. The kind that you can elbow away on and not worry about, MMA or tempo gloves, knee and shin gear and I've always likes to add forearm pads as well. Don't forget a mouth guard. This is for you and the attackers. This is NOT sparring. It's you going about daily life and being ambushed. It's not consensual fighting, it's an attack. Spend some time on Live Leak, You Tube, and others watching assault videos. Build situations from there. Don't be afraid to use the parking lots, cars, etc around the gym. Your partner will attack you, grab you, and realistically try to end you. You will not let them. The goal is not points, finishing, etc. It's escaping or escalating weapons. Once you're rocking with this stuff, add low light, strobe light, headlights, blaring music, anything to further confuse the situation. Now do it on slick floors, in the rain, where ever. Add more stress to the situation. Keep one guy as safety on the outside. His job is to make sure everyone stays not broken. This type of training will help you bridge the gap and build stress inoculation to events. I might have some footage in the archives somewhere. If I do, I'll put it up as an example. Good luck and keep us posted.

A lot of it goes to connection. In striking arts, people are always wanting to stay away from building connection. This makes it easier to control range. In grappling arts, it's the opposite. Grapplers will do whatever they can to build any kind of connection. Part of this is range, some of it is grips, but really it's about owning anatomical waypoints on the body and manipulating the other's base from there. This connection not only allows for control but also for sensitivity to the other persons intent via reading the shift in body mass. Proper connection is critical in good grappling. Keeping a grappler from building it is critical to the striker.

To date, my schools advertising is nearly entirely web based. We run a regular YouTube channel and Facebook page where nearly all of our activity comes from. While we maintain a website (and I really think it looks great) we really don't get much business from it. Almost all of our non-referral based customers come to us thru social media. We've held off doing more due to limited space that we're rectifying now by opening up part of our basement. The plan is flyers and direct mailers. Maybe I'll have a better estimation of their importance by next year. Patrick put me on to the concept of content based marketing, where you're building quality and getting hits off of like minded individuals attracted to the brand. That's really the direction we've tried to push and focus on. Internally, people seem to love the social media presence because they are always pulling pictures off our page, etc.

Hey all, I wanted to share the last couple of weeks of work that we've been putting in. The last couple of week's have focused on different aspects of the open guard, specifically, the X and De La Riva guards. Lot's of people really get worked on these being "sport" guards and I don't necessarily disagree with them. However, there are a lot of good lessons about base manipulation, balance, and weight control. Check out the similarity and differences in these two recaps: What do you see that drives both techniques? What advantages do these similarities give you? Disadvantages? Lastly, what open guard do you all use? What are your stances on the uses of De La Riva and X?

It's really up to the tone and tenor that your gym sets. There's no right or wrong answer. At my place we tend to lean on those guys and let them know that they're just pressing hard and pain compliance isn't the goal. But, some places are really in to it. Here's the rub on letting people get away with it, lots of people will tap. Either they are new (in which case they are learning bad habits from their partner) and haven't yet gain their "jiu jitsu callous." Or they are guys who don't want to go to work the next day and have trouble eating lunch for no problem. That tap that the person grinding gets from these is a bit false. In both cases, the person on top gets the idea they have a tactic that works. In a tournament of SD setting however, NO ONE will tap to it. He's developed a false sense of confidence in a tool that doesn't work. Now, one could argue that by defeating it each and every time you teach the same lesson. True. That said, I don't want to get the grind every night to prove this point. I like to eat un-hindered. But it's up to the instructor and tone of the classes. Either way, nice work effecting the escape.

That is great, Patrick! It's great that you've built such an awesome community here and continue to grow it!

Yeah, I even had to go back to the coaches coach before I was certain that it was a BJJ school. That said, it's a heck of a good lineage so it'd be worth a shot to go and check out. Let us know what you think after you visit.

Slightly belated, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

8/6 Bodyweight routine. 2 mile run

Congrats! Well done!

Thanks, Bob!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic on my end, but somewhere between work schools and teaching we managed to keep up with our recap videos. I'm just now catching up here. That kind of month. Here, we look at two sequential weeks. First up, we take a look and holding mount from a mobile opponent driving to the side. This modified mount really allows us to: a) defeat the knee elbow escape, and b) set up some real slick isolation of the up side arm Take a look: Next, is a building block off of the same motion. Using the same tactic, we set up the modified mount followed by transitioning to back mount. From there, we press onto a more advanced attack option: Sometimes we look at advanced options as the realm of sport grappling. There is some weight to this argument. However, advanced options let us open up avenues that are often unexpected and therefore might be more likely to succeed. Check them out. How does the training methodology effect one's totality of understanding about the art? Is there a sacrifice made in the advanced v. fundamental argument? Either either, or both, useful outside the jiu jitsu realm? Let the discussion begin.

Personally, I don't see a problem. It's a great learning tool, encourages work and progress. It's clearly not a cut on karate or any other art. I hope it's successful for you and the students using it.

Welcome to KF and welcome back to practice! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Good point. So much of this comes down to how humans process information in combat, and really all aspects of life with the OODA Loop. A concept defined by Boyd after his combat experience in Korea, it's come to be used by just about every armed profession on the planet. MAs should be no different. And understanding of it will teach one how to train to process better. Manipulating this loop gives you a higher chance of success in a conflict. Let's look at the acronym: O- Observe O- Orient D- Decide A- Act At every point, when confronted with a problem, the human body goes thru this cycle. In Bob's example, the flurry of unanticipated attack, we go thru this from the first motion, thru each subsequent attack, until the end. When we Observe, we do just what the point says. We take in information. In Bob's example, we can get caught here and never really move past it. When we observe the first attack we much move to the second step, or be caught behind the loop as we just continue to process over and over again in the flurry without every move on. This leads to a loss of the combat. It's one of the reasons that combination striking is so important. Properly used it can immediately overwhelm the OODA loop. Look at security video of fights to see this in action in the real world. MAs teach us to observe and process. In the MA arena, the longer one is in the more you will process, quicker, more accurately, and move to the next step quicker and with better results. Here is the level of multi-tasking that Bob's talking about. So we understand, the next step is Orientation, where we put our bodies in a tactically advantageous position to what we observe. Good MA training helps this (moving to angles rather than straight back off of startle,hands coming up, etc) can all help us build the next step. Which become Decision. Now we decide what to do. After we see whats up, put ourselves in the best position to deal with it we have to decide what to do. Here's where good training most obviously shines. If we react with out thought to the attack because we've seen it thousands of times in training we have a major short cut on our hands. Train. See every attack in training before you see it in real life. This is critical. Last, we Act. We execute that decision. Here, the more committed, confident, and fit I am the better able to get it done I am. A certainty of outcome in our mindset will drive the process better than half measures and fear. Then, we observe the effects of the action and start again. This process cranks off in milliseconds and good fighters, in any arena, learn to manipulate it and move thru it faster than their opponents. Too often, we overlook the need to teach these principles to our students and wonder why they are overwhelmed by input or fail to process. Some of the best reading material on the subject was Paul Howe's books. Leadership and Training for the Fight and the Tactical Trainer. He really breaks down each stage in a functional look.