tallgeese

It is very similar. Arm trap, posture, ect are all the same. The entry is slightly different as is the movement of the foot on the attack side. That said, these are minor differences. It is very much similar. Conceptually, work on one will improve the other.

For me, it's mostly about matching weapon to target. That said, most of my stand up has put emphsis on the shin, followed by the ball. There's just too many bones to break on coverage with the instep.

Engagment is important for continuing the journey. If he's attaned goals he's happy with in karate then I'd say go for it. In fairness, I'm biased. Being a bit of a JKD guy and mainly focused these days in BJJ I think you'll find that he (and you) will enjoy the adventure. With jits, you'll see martial arts from a whole new aspect. The methods and techniques will be new and exciting and present a world of their own to work thru. With JKD, there's such a wide range of skills and focuses to experiment you'll never get bored, and might even find something unexpected that you'll each fall in love with to develop more. JKD will also give you a frame work to insert your karate background into, so it's not like you'll be writing off years of study. When you start digging in to JKD you'll find things that you'll want to explore. For instance, I got the chance to take a formal look at JKD after lots of years doing stand up based arts. I liked it, but REALLY loved the FMA aspect. This led me to my currect obsession with PTK. I've kinda moved on to train it in place of persuing JKD, but that's okay. JKD was my portal to that aspect of the MA's. I think you'll find each (or either) an expanding experience. Good luck and keep us posted.

Okay, so I posted it, I guess I'd better chime in. 1) Make it thru the first year of business at our new facility I'm opening with a friend. This seems crazy to say, espically since I'm still 2-3 weeks out of even opening the doors! But there it is, survive our first year teaching BJJ as a business. 2) 3-4 days a week on the mat teaching and learning. As long as this school goes, that's easy. If not.... 3) 1 per month average private or semi private in PTK with my coach there. Maybe even advancment to the next student rank. 4) 2 Big seminars/ camps in regard to PTK or other aspect of FMAs. I thought about putting a tournament on here. But quite fankly, the goals are so big this year I think I've got enough.

12/8 Drilled passing the half guard. Reviewed position of half guard. Moved into knee slide pass, then back step pass. 45 min free roll.

Hey all, our weekly recap of material is up: This week is all about the X Guard. Our recap is a bit longer and focuses on not just a particular tactic from the X Guard but also details about proper positioning and drilling to improve those. Then we end with a brief technical overview of getting there and sweeping from there. As always, healthy debate is welcome! Is X Guard, something you play, or something you haven't looked at previously?

Okay, since we started the wrap and review of the 2014 goal list, I feel that I'd be remiss if we didn't kick off a 2015 thread as well. So, here we go What's everyone's 2015 Martial Arts Goals? I'll put some thought in myself and be back.

12/5 Drilled Attaining X Guard from half guard. Moved to taking back., 30 min free roll 12/6 Review of the weeks material. 75 min free roll.

12/3 Drilled X Guard position. Drilled movement from X Guard. Covered move to standing w takedown from X and then scissor sweep. 35 min free roll.

That's really cool! I'd like to get the chance to train with some of the people from here at KF at some point!

Well, here we are in December and 2014 is almost over. Now's the time to check in with our 2014 Goal and officially see how we did. So, I'll kick off with the below list from the beginning of the yearq: 1- Done! Keep 3 per week in jits was easy and as it turned out, low. I ended up with a 4 average the second half of the year when I took over teaching duties and due to my cross training and independent work in other arts, probably had it prior to that as well. 2- Pretty much done. The second half of the year this was easy due to my training schedule. The first half, I augmented with form work out of PTK most of the time. While not really "fitness" focused, it certainly kept me moving. 3- Half. I did far more than that stand up. But almost all of that was weapons related work with PTK. So yes, I meet the letter, but not the spirit. When I wrote this I was looking at sparring and such. 4- Done. See 4a 4a- ALL of these were weapons related. Aside from taking my co instructors sessions at the Warriors Weekends I got into several PTK seminars and a regular training group. This is a form of Kali that is source material for some sects of JKD. I really have fallen in love with the art and shifted focus to it. That said, I spend two private session on Kalis Iliustrisimo as well, a different brand of kali. 4b- Total fail. I have not added a single bit of this to my stand up. As intrigued as I am by classic trapping, I'm afraid that the extra time that I'm sinking into PTK will override any desire I have to see this for the time. 5- And this is the big one. Done. I was awarded my BJJ black belt in November. Insert deep breath here. 6- Again, total fail. I went and coached at one but that was it. Between everything else the desire to do this just went away. So that's it for me. Pretty successful as far as meeting my goals went. A couple misses but I can live with that. Somehow, I managed to do it without making my home or work life blow up AND kicked off a new gym in the process whose doors will be opening in January (yeah, looks like my 2015 goals are shaping up.) So, not too bad, but as always, room for improvement. How did everyone else do?

This was a video we shot last week in response to some questions about the butterfly guard and how to utilize sweeps from there. For me, as is most often the case, the techniques have to be built on a solid positional understanding, which is what we discuss here. The drilling progression we go thru is ideal for understanding, maintaining, and then using under pressure the butterfly guard. From here, it become easy to add actual tactics to the end of the drilling sequence to work on specific techniques under stress as well as the attributes that the drill develops. You can also open it up and allow for the movement from butterfly to complimentary guards as well as part of the progression. As always, enjoy and debate!

11/30 60 min free roll. 12/01 Drilled X Guard principle and tactics. Rear sweep. 30 min free role.

Thank you and congrats to all the winners and nominees!

This week we really spent the time taking and maintaining back mount. While attacks from here are important, and we spent time drilling them at the end of the movements, the key to working the back is getting there in the first place and staying there. We worked broke down getting there from mount, closed guard, and some open guard. In our recap, we break down taking back from modified mount and how to use position to achieve that outcome. Discussion and questions welcome!

11/29 60 min free roll.

11/28 Drilled taking back from X Guard. 35 min free roll. PTK Group- Drilled footwork followed by Dakup y Punyo form. Then drilled flow from the form.

Yes, get away. In a SD setting we should be talking about escape at this point. Now, what if we have to deal with this. First, it is common. Second, it is hard to deal with it. My take, respectfully, is slightly different in dealing with this situation. Defense WILL NOT WIN. Ever. Continually defending will only ensure that you finally catch one. You lose momentum, you lose timing. From my experience, launching your own offensive as quickly as possible is the key. You might defend out of the gate, but that is ONLY to allow you to adjust timing to start your offense. That's it. The true skill of martial arts is in attack. The fast you apply a threat back the fast you start winning. So, for my money and experience, immediate protection followed by immediate offense in the most violent (within proper use of force) manner possible to disrupt the attacker OODA loop. This will look different for each and every person here. For me, that's an immediate cover or interception and at the same time crashing the gap to lay hands on the attacker. Preferably with a body lock where I exert control. Once I'm there, with momentum, I can effect the takedown. Now, Captain Flurry is on his back and while he can still hit me he can do so with little real force and I'm on top with some serious amount of control. This affords me the ability to do several things, any of which might be the right call given a situation. I can strike, hold and wait for partners, disengage from a position of cover and strength, or exert further control. Now, if one is more of a striker (and prior to my BJJ time I was in this group as well so I can speak to it as well) that might look more like cutting an angle on an attack and firing my own strike, again focusing on the attack and not the defense. Using body mechanics and footwork to protect ones self while jamming, defanging, or otherwise attacking around the initial assault. Once you've got initiative, it's a straight blast maneuver (or such) from an advantageous angle which continues until he covers. Once his defense is begun, you don't let it end. Ever. Your assault continues until the fight is over. There are other options that kind of go beyond the initial question, as to escalation of weapons, ect. Also option (and maybe good ones) but beyond the scope of the question.

11/26 PTK form review. Abecidario, Dakup y Punyo Drilled taking back from guard. Duck under arm followed by pulling to back mount. Maintenance drills, followed by choke. 35 min free roll.

It really depends on each individual instructor, club, other students, and how that entire equation fits with you. More to the point, how you fit in with that equation. That's going to be a major determining factor in your choice. That said, I hear where you're coming from and the general advice you're looking for. Personally, I don't know much about Systema and just a touch more about Krav. That said, lots of material I see in regard to Systema is questionable at best in regard to theory and application. This might not be the case across the board, but it's prevalent enough for lots of weird stuff to creep out. I'd be suspect of it. Krav has some serious quality control issues. But, it's got a good set of principles and might be what you're looking for. Likewise, JKD deals with just about the same paragraph as above. It's edge, to me, is the great deal of FMA influence in some blends of JKD that give it a great set of footwork to launch off of. It's also going to be, usually, more open minded about options that Krav will due to its eclectic nature. Depending on the lineage, expect to see some good, combat oriented ground work in JKD as well. Now, full disclosure, I'm a bit of a JKD guy so take my recommendation with a grain of salt. That said, I'd lean to the JKD courses. You're likely going to get a wide array of ranges and tactics unified by functional footwork and a willingness to experiment. Good luck and let us know where you land and what your experience is like.

Here's a thread that pretty much details the long term, largest struggle I run into in my given arts. Aside from big, side-lining injuries, dealing with the constant physical and psychological grind is the hardest thing out there. Here's what I think about it: http://www.karateforums.com/the-grind-vt46625.html

11/24 Drilled taking back from mount. Maintainence drill. Bow and arrow choke to arm bar. 35 min free roll.

Thanks for the votes of confidence guys! Appreciated. The guy in the back is Kent, he's the MT instructor at the gym. That pretty much sums his personality up in a single frame!

11/22 Drilled butterfly guard prinicples and then a couple of sweeps after some specific questions from our kids instructor. Then into a short review of the week's material. 30 min free roll. PTK flow work with focus on matching time followed by the integration of the 12 attacks into the flow. Awesome morning.

Here is my groups weekly recap. We spent all week attacking from mount. Something that has to be addressed AFTER learning to maintain the postion in the first place. In this video, we deal with the individual that wants to grab and hold from the bottom mount to prevent offense. Enjoy, and comment. Debate and comments are, as always, welcome.