tallgeese

Ok, some people are just wicked talented.

Wow, I bet they were wishing for some sort of slaughter rule.

I keep trying to tell my wife the same thing and she never beleives me . Let us know how those titles are. It is an interesting area of study. I just got a text on medieval combat that was trans from Hans Talhoffer, apparently the movements are from roughtly the 15th cent. Pretty neat stuff I gotta say. On another note, you library is become more an more impressive.

As to the mindset, I should probibly make one more point. I don't like to think in terms of a "defensive" mindset in these situations. That's fine prefight when we're talking about awarenss and avoidence and possibly verbal confrontation phanses. Once this starts, your mindset leaves defensive mode and goes to offense. At this point you become the attacker. You are now the predator in the equation, regardless of who initiated the conflict. That's where your mind set will really pay off.

There are a couple of questins about your post that can influence the answer. First, are we talking competive arena or sd? Second, are we talking about taking someone down as in starting a ground fight or taking them down as in ending any threat that they present? That being said we'll dive in. I'm assuming a sd situation because of the tone of your post. And if we're talking about brawling with him, then we'll go with the "end the threat" scenario. First off, mentally set yourself to face these guys. That step one. It's ok to be anxious over fighting, but you have to get it in your head that you will not lose to t his guy, no matter what you have to do to him. Set your mindset through him and don't think for a second that you will lose. End of story. That, of course, may not be the case, but that's what your mind has to beleive in order to let your body do what it must to survive. Now, attack that which muscle and sheer aggression can not protect. Stomps to the outer knee work well, they also limit his mobility. This can be useful if you can play keep away from his aggression. It may gie you the distacne you need to escape. Next, soft tissue that immediatly get results- hit the eyes if you can. If he's untrained he's probibly trying to grab you or haymaker you into dust. Jab at the eyes relentlessly. Finger jabs, thumbs, what ever you can get in there. And do it with convicition. A half hearted eye poke will just send him over the enge angry. If you commit to this, commit fully. Other useful targets to consider are the groin and throat. Don't forget to pull hair, ears, what ever it takes that isn't covered in sheer mass. Never rely on any single of the above tactic to work. Use them all until you can get away. A whole lot of mean behind these weapons will go along way. Cover, cover, cover from his big shots. Don't let him knock you're head off for free. Last, move. A lot. Cut corners, don't retreat back, look for an escape. As a "last resort" option, consider escalatig to a weapon you have on hand-training prior is key of course as is sufficient knowledge of proper and legal use of force. Now, if you are asking about acutally taking him to the ground to anwer you question and not discuss the tactical concerns of this course of action, I'd say pull to guard. It will be easier than trying to overcome his natural tools if you don't signifigantly out skill him. Weight, and more importantly, muscle mass does make a real difference in any encounter. I respectfully disagree with anyone who says it does not. It is a useful attribute that one brings to the fight. Just like agility, cardiovascualr endurance, or skill. It is a factor, just like these. It is very possible to out skill a big man, don't take your own attributes out of the equation. But you are right to assume that it will make a difference. Mindset is often the final contributor to success or defeat though. Work on honing this as well as skill.

God speed.

Nice, aren't kids great... Today- 15 min of transitioning position from the top and key/armbar series 60 min of free roll focusing on naga rules. one of our guys is competing soon.

Agree, core strenght training is key. Try to utilize exercises that integrate the entire body in effort. That's really the key to coditioning for ma's in my opinion. Try utilizing olympic lifts and modified olympic lifts, gymnastic esercises, ect. I always refer people to crossfit.com to check their stuff out. It's an excellent overall condidtioning program. Some of the people on the site bite, but their program is good and the exercise demonstration vids are excellent.

Very cool. You'll certainly enjoy it and it will give you a different look at things for sure.

As to the ealier post about no styles having faults, I have to disagree. I do think that your emphsis on imporper teaching and students not training properly is valid. However, I lean to the opposite end of the spectrum- every system has faults. It's unaviodable when you consider the vast amount of situations that can occur in a fight and the tendency of systems to focus on certain aspects of the altercation. Also, depending what you want out of an art, there may be certain faults inhearnet to the way it's been put together due to your expectations. It happens and none of the arts we study are immune. The systems I come out of have very little to do with the esoteric side of the arts; very little to do with self-development. It's a shortcoming in what I do. No system I've seen handles knives as well as the Indonisean systems, no system I've seen spends as much time integrating firearms as Krav. This leave holes that you have to try and fill. However, Krav for instance generally (generally-before I start a flame war ) has less ground fighting than other arts that utilize joint position training. Nothing is without "fault" in the grand scheme of interpersonal conflict. The best we can do is work around those shortcomings and try to play to our strengths. Also, we can cross-train to limit the faults in our own system by adding movment from other arts into what we as individuals do. This way we plug these holes. Another option is to live with the fault, accept it an moved on. This is common for limited contact sport schools who train to compete in what they do, and usually, this acceptance leads them to be very good at what they do. For me, this is how I've delt with the limited amout of tradition and formality in my own lineage. I've accepted it, taken the laughs for not knowing a word of Japaneese, and moved on. Now, when I'm even older than I am now and can't throw down as hard, maybe I'll re-evaluate that and cross train in something more geared to the art-form side of things. We'll see. So, while I agree with some of the problems that Kajukenbopr wrote about, I also think that we all have faults in our systems. Just another perspective in the matter.

It' good to check back occassionaly. Thanks bushido man. It's pretty easy to get lost in other discussions when a thread goes a while. Doesn't make the converstaion less valid, it just means that we may not be talking about the same thing anymore. I do think the hand position in a high guard in relevent to any discussion on striking simply because I don't think that you can realistially talk about striking without talking about defense in some regard. It's all important to the application of the force you're trying to exert.

Managed to sneak in a second bout today- 8, 2 min rounds of: running backwards on the treadmill shadowboxing- kicks and lower leg movements single arm dumbbell snatches, 35 lbs same shadowboxing cleans to overhead with the medicine ball and slam same shadowboxing push press, 95 lbs. same shadowboxing 30 sec. rest between sets. The legs are pretty much trashed now. Time for the sofa.

That's pretty neat. It I bet that it will make insomniacs a little less bored as well.

2 mile run Chest/Tris in the weight room.

"If sense were common everyone would have it."

Let's not forget that in some ways, boxing is a much more realistic training model at times that traditional sparring. Not in inclusiveness of movments used, but in the context of contact and randomness. It's a fully resistive opponant who is trying to hit you. And you are doing likewise. It's created a very long running experiment on where the best position for the hands are during a full on fight with the hands-and history and basic physology has shown this to be in some form of a hands up position. Even they train in this manner from day one. True, I've never seen kata with a high guard. It's not a traditional

I think that, if it is what you are looking to do, then aikido can be a perfectly acceptable primary art. If it's training philosphy melds with what you are looking for and you can accept the limitations of the art. (Let's face it, we all have limitations in what we do. Aikido is not alone in this catagory, in faact, we are all there) That being said, I know several individuals who have taken up aikido as a secondary art and gotten a whole new prespective on their defensive outlook. I think that it can be a useful secondary art to study, espically if your primary focus has no joint manipulation integrated. As metntioned ealier, it can teach you to flow and move very well, which is often overlooked in harder styled oriental arts.

Yeah, gi's really aren't great work out clothes. I pretty much only wear mine for tests and the like.

You keep training...keep getting better. A radical increse in skill dosen't signify the end of knowledge. Just an increase in you abilty from base. The more time you spend in training, the more efficent you'll become across a wider array of situations. That's never a bad thing.

Just be a good bad guy, they'll do the rest. There is so much paddin gin that thing you'll be fine. As useful as the suits are, I want to get my hands on Blauer system's new suit. It looks much more mobile and you caould actually move like an attacker in it. Still, the red man's useful and it is always a good time.

Yeah, Evans continues to impress.

Almost anything that you want to train in can work together given some effort. One system will almost inevatibaly take precedence over the other as you develop preferences, but that's alright. It's part of the process of individualizing your fighting. Certanily you should focus on learning what ever it is that you are doing at the moment in totaility during that time. But I don't see an issue with doing both. kansascity and I tend to disagree about the place and timing of cross training, and that's fine. I do agree wholeheartedly with him on his evaluation of how contact fighting will make it diffuclut to do point-style sparring ever again. It's nearly impossible. I too have never really met that person who went to fighting heavy contact that was ever able to transition really well back to the point game.

Again, I think starting to train the way you are going to fight at the earliest stage possible is impariative. All my students start with the hands up. Even my daughter has been taught since the start to keep her hands up. It's not advanced, it's-in my view- part of the basics of striking. You can teach good mechanics with the hands up.

Just a leg day with wieghts for me today.

Ahh...classic Colts. You are a wise man, Shori.