tallgeese

The mid-level round kick is a touchy thing to deal with in regards to martial theory. In my view, and experience, it's best to deal with the mid-level threat with the elbows and forearms near the bend of the elbow. This makes the contact surface on your end either the rigid structure of the elbow or the supported portion of the forearm within the first couple of inches of the elbow. This is much less likely to cause injury than a blocking motion of any kind near the hand where the bones are thinner and there's no support. This also lets you keep your hands up to protect the face. If they are there, then the elbows kind of naturally fall into posture to cover the mid section. I agree, the legs cover low line threats. Either the leg (thai cover) or the groin (Okinawan sanchin stance footwork). Footwork is the last component here. Yes, it's best to not be there. However, as said, things happen. You're footwork can indeed still support the block. A slide away during impact at distance will lessen the force transmission. By moving into the threat as it comes in, one can "jam" the kick prior to it's most powerful portion of the arc. That still takes up back to what the X motion is. I'm pretty certain it's not intended to be a block. At least not a two hands committed to a single attack kind of thing. More likely, it's a lead into a joint manipulation or a portion weapons defense showing contact portion of the arm. That's the thing with old kata, there are rarely contiguous tactics. Often, it's piecemeal reminders of an overall movement.

11/20 Warm up Squats Bench Rows

11/19 Drilled controlling postures from Sat. seminar. 4, 2 min rounds of rolling to maintain said control 40 min free roll

11/18 Drilled material from yesterdays seminar by reviewing all the techniques and controlling patterns.

I really think that the original intent of the motion, when you go back to the oldest forms out of Japanese arts, is part of a tuite sequence. It's a pretty standard position for one's arms to be in while working a joint. Part of the moving text book that kata initially was is acquainting the body with positions it will move thru in various phases of combat. Now, when you start moving away from those few kata, and even fewer people around that can walk you thru that, it's largely mimicry that's being transmitted. We see that movement in a lot of kata now of modern origin (post 1960 say) and it's in there just because people have seen it in older form without context. So while the movement is there, it's really meaningless. Now, can people go back in there an add value and application again? Sure. I wonder if it's the most efficient method of learning such movements, but one can really infuse some meaning by sorting out the background of these movements. Great question, bushido man.

11/17 3 hour seminar from Roy Harris today on leg attacks and controlling postures while working leg attacks. Absolutely amazing! If you ever get a chance to train with Prof. Harris I strongly urge you to take it. 30 min free roll at the end of the seminar.

11/16 4 hours of control tactics with Roy Harris. Focus on drilling patterns and knife work. Awesome day!

11/15 8 hour day of control tactic work that was ground focused.

Welcome to KF!

11/13 1 mile run abs chest/ tris and shoulders, all still light thanks to another round of bad shoulder-ities

11/13 1 mile run abs chest/ tris and shoulders, all still light thanks to another round of bad shoulder-ities

11/12 Drilled rounds of guard vs. pass, and side mount v. escape. Worked on bow and arrow variants from back 40 min free roll.

Personally, on the approach to black belt, I can't think of a better topic than warrior mindset. It's one of THE most overlooked and undervalued traits among martial artists today. Check out some of the relevent material on the subject, from the classics such as the Hagakuri and the Book of Five Rings to more modern material such as Grossman's works (particularly On Combat) and Atkinson's Warrior Mindset text. This is one of the things that make the difference between a martial artist and a skilled dancer. Mindset.

I don't think I do; however, a while back my daughter was "helping" clean my guns after a shoot and named my duty Government Model "Worker" and my rifle "Water". I have not idea why. That said, they've kinda stuck.

11/9 Wow between work and sickness my time to train has been short the past two weeks. Luckily, I get a lot of rounds down range during these weeks at work, but man am I missing the regularity of my gym life. At least today I managed morning mat time: Drilled Closed guard to Spider guard transition. Sweep from spider, moved into triangle then omoplata from the spider. 30 min free roll

11/6 After a week of self imposed workout denial due to family in town, I finally make it back to the gym. 60 min free roll. Yes, I had some fun with it.

Welcome to KF!

Justice, I really like it when you get involved with discussions about your art. It's such a different martial background and set of artistry than I, and probably most of us, come out of it's just amazing. I just spent quite a bit of time working thru the thread and trying to wrap my head around it it. Super cool. I truly hope I get to share some training time with you or another equally well versed practitioner of your art at some point. Until then, I feel that I must go out and see everyone one of the films listed in that highlight reel. Thanks!

There are lower levels of female competition about everywhere. Some are, as in all things, better than others. With the UFC bankroll, it shouldn't be long until the money attracts some good skills. I agree, it will start slow but one thing the UFC can do is market. I'm actually looking forward to seeing it showcased more.

It not a question of what style is better. It's about what style you want to add to your response pattern that is more likely to plug holes in your game. If your goal is to add throws to your skill set, judo is a better choice. If you want a deep ground game, then BJJ is the choice. I've worked with judo guys, and they are great at what they do. But BJJers generally have more to offer once on the ground that people with equal time in with Judo. It's not that one is better than the other. Either will suppliment well if you've got your head around what you need to operate and how you're going to structure your game. It is a question of how well a chosen cross training art fills the gap you're wanting filled. It's hard to compete with BJJ for pure ground game.

'Grats, Harkon. It's well earned.

10/30 45 min free roll.

Welcome to KF! Keep us posted on how things are going for you at your place.

Welcome to KF!

That's a great topic, sensei8. And Brian has some interesting notes to it. The specific internal side of your Aikido club evolution is pretty neat and probably fairly unique. I've taken individual evolution as pretty much the norm since my core art so heavily touts building the individual fighter to their strengths. It's very uncommon to see Dan level Bujin guys work the same. Even now, when I'm doing almost all BJJ, when I do Bujin it's so heavily influenced by MMA, BJJ and my work that it's completely different than when some of my close friends do it. That's driven the art to evolve in all sorts of direction. MP does lots of JKD and escrima type work. His looks different. The down side is, while we all think these are great, we don't really have a codified set of knowledge that everyone is responsible for. I'm okay with that, but some might have issue. Either way, the next generations look different than we did at their rank. the fact that one wouldn't evolve past what was taught before is so foreign to me that it's hard for me to wrap my head around systems that don't change training practices and tactics from time to time. It's also led me to instructors in other arts who are always pushing their games forward rather than stagnating.