tallgeese

I'm not really a fan of the pressure point thing. I've seen too many people that they just don't work on. From my experience, someone with the proper mindset to hurt you can work thru them, alcohol seems to numb them out, and higher end drug use can just flat out render pain reception useless. So much of application seems to depend on control over the area around the pressure point (ie. head control for the hypoglossial, inter-orbital, ect.) or precision striking. In live events, precision striking is often difficult to do, and if I can gain head control then I want to use it to gain control that is non-dependent on pain compliance but rather bio-mechanics. Locked in control over an individual body is far better than pain compliance in almost any situation. Pain compliance is hit and miss, as I stated above. A good side control that holds someone down is less theoretical. Once I do something like that, I can control, or go up in force dependent on the situation. Any pressure point applications I've seen had a corresponding tactic to do the same thing that was not dependent on pain compliance and often simpler to deploy. For me, after the analysis it looks like this: Effective tactic x Simple to deploy under stress = me winning fight Tactic that relies on an unreliable medium x Difficult to do properly = me getting curbed stomped But again, that's just what I've noted. Others might have different results.

Excellent! I enjoyed the anime, looks like the live action film might not be a disaster.

8/20-24 A week with the rifle and 2000 rounds of ammunition expended across a variety of drills. I've spent worse weeks. Back to the mats on Monday.

Training with women in BJJ isn't an issue. Training with new white belts isn't a problem either. From the instances I've seen with women in BJJ schools, it's never been a problem. As Wastelander said, some might have an issue, but plenty won't so just don't work with those who might avoid rolling. It's not going to leave you short of training partners. So, my advice would be to sign up and start enjoying the process. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

To echo everyone else. Don't stress these things. They happen and are all part of it. Keep at it and move on. You have to do the art you do because you love the movements of the art. Not because you're beating people in comps or earning belts. Qui is right, part of the journey, embrace this too.

This can really be helpful training. And, sad to say, I probably don't do it enough. The factor that light can play in various venues is substantial. Cudos for taking it on.

I have a couple of old karate gis that are pretty much in storage in my closet. I haven't worn a gi while actually training stand up in ages. I have 4-5 jits gis that are always in rotation. I wash them after EVERY outing. Then they air dry. Outside if it's warm. Then, they get hung up until it's time to cram them into my duffel bag again and go to class. No special treatment.

8/18 Chicago Open. One match, loss by advantage points. Video coming soon. 8/19 Start of an off week. Rifle/carbine inst. school coming up and little to no time to train. After the 5 weeks of run up to yesterdays comp, some time away from the mats will be recovery time well spent.

8/17 Drilled back escapes from Wed. Followed up with a reverse D'Arce. 60 min light free roll with members from a couple of sister schools that are in town for tomorrow's tourney.

8/16 Drilled top game combos, guard combos, takedowns. 30 min free roll.

Glad you enjoyed the experience. BJJ has been a great thing for me in my martial journey. You'll find that it floats between so many needs, from self defense to sport competition to one of the pillars of mma. It's incredibly versatile and highly individualized. I know a couple of guys that used to be in Marcello Monteiro's organization and they have nothing but good things to say. Having seen some of his instructional material I have to say I'm certain your in good hands. Good luck and keep us posted on how things are going.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard KF!

Welcome to KF!

Welcome back!

8/15 Drilled escape from back mount via set out and turn to head, then via reversal from same move. 45 min free roll. Drilled some work from negative position and strengths leading up to tournament.

8/14 am: range day with rifle pm: 2 mile run abs recouping shoulder....again

I like the teaching at the hosts school. I don't think you'd need to match the rank or even the style. A one years stint teaching your style OUT of one of his location while managing the club would be cool as it is. Plus it's a bonus for the host to capitalize on what the winner would bring in that's different than what he does already.

8/13 Drilled defending the choke from partner on back, followed by escape. Moved on to submission via armbar while partner is on back and then chained it to escape. 20 min free roll 30 min no gi with the fighers in prep for fights this weekend.

Last post on the thread, I promise . I see a radical difference in the "liveness" in training between kata and other forms of training, regardless of how well one understands what's going on with the bunkai or not. I think if you put good kata footage up against good "live" training footage it will become apparent which is more effective at mimicking combat. Good is the key. The human body hasn't changed, but how we understand learning and the physiological changes that go on with combat have. Grossman has done great work on how we should change based on this. Howe has some excellent articles on this and how to model "live" training as well. They are both way smarter and far more experienced in the field than I, I'll refer everyone to their work and let everyone draw their own conclusions. To each their own. Again, I've never said there's no reason to do kata, just that it's not necessarily the best way to prep for combat.

I personally don't care one way or the other. I prefer English for most situations just because most of us, myself included, don't really get the other language right and don't get the implication behind what we're saying. I can see keeping it for hardcore traditional arts that are focused on preserving the past. For modern combatives, I'd just as soon use English. It's a different goal and getting everyone up to speed on other terminology seems to be a waste of time. The other instance I don't really like it used is in BJJ, and that's just me because of the schools I've come thru always use English for technique names. I get irritated when people start calling them by the Judo (in Japanese) equivalents. I have no real reason for that last particular bias, it's just me

It's a charged subject that's been discussed in about every martial circle at one time or another. For me, the practice of the basics (kihon) openly with not guessing or deciphering of intended bunkai, is far more valuable. Drilling technique, with good fundamentals, is a more optimal method of learning to defend ones self in most cases. With kata, one must learn a pattern, become comfortable with it, then hope your instructor actually knows bunkai for it. Or, you have to start using other resources to ferret them out, or you start coming up with what you think fits retroactively. Then, in all three cases, you have to hope that those bunkai are effective and still relevant within the context of modern combat. If you're drilling basics, and putting those immediately to work live and progressively building them under pressure tests, then your doing less work for more pay off. You immediately start with appreciable movements that you can start using without deciphering them. This doesn't mean that there is no reason to do it, one might want to do it as part of an art that one want's to sustain the way it is thru history. That's fine. But every field of study mankind knows of has advanced in the last one to two hundred years dramatically. Including the understanding of learning and violence. There is no reason that unarmed combat should suffer because practitioners feel constrained by an antiquated training method.

Welcome aboard KF!

A spot in a martial arts movie? Or if Chuck is coaching, a spot in a "Walker, Texas Ranger" reunion made for TV movie? Then we get twice the dose of campy, guilty pleasure.