tallgeese

Lots of good comments already and I'd agree, it's totally possible AND your journey. Do what you enjoy and seems to best fit what you're looking to get out of the arts. That said, I'd like to see the lineages he's coming out of to gain credibility. For instance, if it's a karate derivatives which stresses the addition of movements out of Kali to supplement weapons work then I'd want to know his or her history in the karate art that serves as the base AND how long they spent on a blade in Kali. That's a good indicator of how well thought out the integration is. Someone with 10 years in karate and 5 doing Kali will have far more complete answers than someone who was in each for a year and simply wanted to stand at the front of the class. This kind of thing goes to how well tested the system is as each of those disciplines come with a lot of data behind them on how they perform in their given realms. Without that you're operating on theory. I'd also vet the instructors credentials in whatever he's purporting it does. Training and RBSD has become very vogue these days, but the actual amount of people who are qualified via training and experience to actually help you understand it is far less than the number running schools. Thoroughly vet instructors as well as systems. That said, it's totally belie valve that your instructor has check all these boxes and your in a good place. Just evaluate. That's all.

Congrats! Well done!

Welcome aboard KF! Looking forward to hearing about your progress!

Let me bounce it off my kids instructor. He's dealt with this before.

Obviously kids are good. These classes are a big draw for us as well. I think on the adult side of things you'll find the FB ads you were talking about helpful. The way they target specific interest is second to none and don't even really require a time commitment. The demographic on that social media platform is getting older and older as well, which translates to jobs, which equals disposable income for those uses. Disposable income that they will gladly exchange for an experience that interests them, which FBs robots will target for you. If it's specifically the adults you're looking for I'd highly recommend it.

Timing.

I personally am a fan of it. We use it consistently for our seminars and events. We've seen it's regionalized approach work very well at what are super-reasonable rates. Particularly when you consider the time you spend with more traditional methods and mailers and such. We don't beat it up much outside of events and our annual back to school specials or any other specials we run thru the year. It's always part of our fall membership drive. When we track how people heard of us this is second after word of mouth. I suggest giving it a try for sure.

Well done! Congrats!

Since the big boom in the 80's! Even held on through the Attitude era. A bit out of touch these days, but don't think I won't stop flipping if I see it on. In fact, one of the most enjoyable podcast in my rotation these days is Something to Wrestle with, with Bruce Prichard, who was one of Vince's inner circle during the late 80s- early 90s. It's massively fun and offers a lot of insight into the game.

There's a multitude of reasons. They change over time. At one point, I really believed that it was all about self defense or nothing. Then I got into competing and then that was okay. Now that I'm older it's okay to just be around because you love it. The key is for each person to take a look at why they are training, a realistic look, and make sure they are in a position to match that. Otherwise, you'll never enjoy it.

Fitness as a whole should not be overlooked. Cardio, strength, flexibility all go to making your performance better. Which increases your chances of winning. Being stronger means being more durable. You have to be able to work at 100 percent for short duration bursts, recover quickly, and move effectively. Work on all of it.

No. You can have a certain combination of traits and mindset to help you learn to be a great fighter, but no one is born for it. At the bare minimum consider that you're learning to hurt people. To get good at that, you're going to need to put yourself in increasingly difficult training and simulations to get there. This is pretty counter to most peoples drive for self preservation. Some will simply not work past this. Now, from a physical aspect you need work. Hours and hours of work, to make your body do what you want it to. When you look at top athletes, a lot of things have to go right. First, you have to start with the right physical attributes to mold. Next, you have to be at the right place at the right time to have access to those who can take your attributes and build them properly. Lastly, you have to have the economic wherewithal to spend the time and money honing them. Now, add in the first part- even with all these you have to want to do the work. That's a lot of things that have to go right to get you to a high level, which explains why there's so few people who can win a title shot. Now, even if you're not looking to do something like that these will all apply in some fashion. You might have a great set of natural attributes, but if there is no coaching in your area then you'll never develop them into a functional martial skill set. Maybe there is, but you can't afford it and you're not willing to sleep under a pallet to afford training. Again, you'll never get it done. There's a ton of factors outside attributes that go into making a fighter. "Natural" isn't a thing.

Short answer: yes. You can learn via this modality. Longer answer: It's entirely possible. Accept there is limitation and that you'll be missing one on one, personalized answers to your questions and problems. This will create lag time in your learning curve. Now, will you have far more skill with a well designed on-line program by a qualified instructor than you ever will on your own? Absolutely! It's a question of your ability to learn from the computer. I know, it's odd for my computer illiterate self to stand up for this, but it's a fact that technology is changing the way we learn. Everywhere. It's only surprising that it took so long for us to jump on board in the MAs. The question really isn't, "can I learn" it's "how well done is the on-line program for me to learn from." This will be the largest contributing factor. Much like in person instruction, you'll gain far more from a systemic, building block approach that is well laid out than you will from randomized videos of techniques. As with in person schools, do your homework. My PTK coach, who started training the system with face to face, runs an amazing on line program. As part of it, he has a private community on FB where members can ask personalized questions via video demos for clarification. That, and it's layout, make it a great resource for those who want to train kali but are not near a school (that's the case with a lot of people and a lot of arts.) So it's a valuable thing. This is in stark contrast to what I thought a decade ago. But things progress, not because I've lowered by standards, but because tech savvy instructors have figured out how to make the most of the new methods at our disposal.

Not at all. One hundred percent you can just train for fun. There's nothing at all wrong with this. Martial arts are big and if we're all honest with ourselves they can be very fulfilling. Training for something we don't actually want adds stress and decreases from this fulfillment. Have fun.

Privates are a pretty common thing in the BJJ world. I think they can be extremely useful for focusing on a specific problem on is having, a position or technique that is giving someone issues, etc. The individual focus based on your game and physical attributes is a useful thing. As for with famous practitioners, that's entirely up to you. Part of this is the experience of it. You'll learn, of course, but it's probably not going to be a seamless to integrates as material coming from someone familiar with how you work. That said, the experience is usually pretty cool.

Awesome job and well earned!

Yes. I agree one hundred percent. Once the fight kicks off this is the attitude you must have. You have to assume the stance that he is weak... this drives your will to win and presses you consistently attack. Which brings us to the next point. Never giving him a chance to regroup. Once hands go he's decided to hurt you. Given any opportunity to do so he will. Continued attacks keep him defensive, or at least less effective at offense. This is mandatory. In this day and age if things kick off they are serious. I'm walking away from anything that isn't. Once he's called it, I will win. This mindset has served me well on the job. I've seen officers who didn't agree with the stamen get hurt or let partners down because they wouldn't crush an opponent. I've always swore that wouldn't be me.

That's awesome! I dig it when these things happen!

You're totally correct in your assessment. There can very well be a change in what arts you a) are interested in, and b) want to do at various, or even c) are capable of doing. I also think Wastelander has a point. Within a given art focus can shift. Here's my example: When I was a young artist, I wanted combatives more than anything. Every part of training was about fighting and done so with a focus on hard style stuff. My body could spar hard routinely and recover quickly. On the heels of that, I took up grappling as part of this and my early time on the ground was no-gi, highly athletic shootfighting. As I got older, I started sparring less, then drifted out of hard style kempo by and large. It sucked recovering. It sucked getting punched in the face. It sucked getting joint locks cranked over and over. I stayed active in jiu jitsu but my pace slowed there as well. Focusing on the artistic and technical movement more than the activity of the scramble. So I saw a move from a hard style to grappling. Then a change in the way I grappled. It's common and part of your evolution. You should always be asking yourself "what do I want my martial arts to do" This answer, which may change over time, will guide you on what art you should be training and how you should be training it.

Welcome aboard! Oyata's in my lineage (at least on the karate side) and his system is stellar! One of my instructors trained with him before my time. Glad to have you aboard!

Of course, mostly because we’re just too cool for school and are the awesomist evar! Seriously though say you’ve got a bjj B.B. training 10 years- that’s still 10 years of grappling experience he’s got over his peers who would have 1-2. The reverse happens often too. You see many former wrestlers get into bjj that hold a significant advantage over their peers (other blue belts) because they bring in 15+ years of grappling experience against an average of 2-4 This sums it up pretty well. The only thing I'd add is the mindset of the black belt. Wrestling practices and rolls at a different pace than most (not all) BJJ facilities. Some BBs will make this transition without any problem. Some will just not adapt well to the pace. I'm in the second group these days. 45 is 45. In my early 30s I'd be fine jumping into wrestling practice. These days...hard pass. But if he's into it then more power. It will greatly enhance his skill set.

hey, singularity6 have you watched a film yet? pink Not yet. Eventually, though! I recommend jumping straight to Enter the Dragon. Really the best thing to do.

For our generation I think that's a pretty comprehensive list. I'm a product of 3 and 4 while using 5 to market my own school these days. My first instructor was a direct result of 2 and his of 1, so I'd say that's a good list. I'm also certain that I'm not the only one who can say that.

Great to see you back!

Yeah, I'm going to echo what everyone else has said...think hard about moving on. That's not instruction.