tallgeese

The debate must be framed. These definitions depend on the intent of the practitioner and school. Singularity brings up a great point, some people do not care about self defense, fighting, or combat, and these are not the focus of being on the mats for them. That's perfectly valid. So before we look at what's real and fake define what each individual is looking for. I think a bulk of these arguments would go away if not only practitioners did this, but schools were better about it. This disconnect can be caused by a couple of things. First, school owners might not honestly understand fully what their art is best suited for, having focused on theory rather than testing. Second, it might be fraudulently sold for memberships. Last, despite various claims it's possible that a school isn't that good at what they should be good at. On the student side, they must really understand what they want to do and go to a school that meets their needs. This failure to assess, and continually assess, goals leads to all kinds of problems. I have kids come in all the time and want to be fighters. I'm a gi-focused BJJ school that has a Muay Thai program on the side and a PTK class on Saturdays. Not an MMA school. I send them to my competitor. He's got a great MMA program. No good will come from this guy being unhappy with me or his lack of progress to his goals. For this instance, lets assume the school in questions wants to be combat focused, because why would one take a challenge like this anyway if they weren't? Some one challenges a personal development guy to a fight the answer should be "no, I don't do this for that." In the first couple of cases, an eye opener like this can be useful. Either the practioner has misunderstood the reality of combat or he's lying. In both cases, this will reveal the truth of the matter. We always talk about the fighter and not the art. There's validity in that, but it's only part of the equation. A larger part is training methodology. This is where many trad arts fail in comparison to competitive based combat arts like MMA. There is little substitute for the grind of conditioning that combat athletes go through. Very few SD focused guys can hang in the aspect with properly conditioned athletes. This should be addressed in training and, again, understanding this is important. Getting in the ring with an athlete used to physical exertion and stress management from live training will reveal weaknesses in methods. Often, I watch these video and see that it's really a lack of training methods that sinks a lot of trad arts when it comes to these challenges. A failure to be live, under the threat of contact in a stressful setting really shows. Often it's not the art, or even the practitioner, but how they train that sinks them in their efforts. Something for all of us to consider.

welcome to KF!

Welcome aboard! Dabbling in iaido has always been a goal for me that I just can't seem to make happen. Look forward to hearing viewpoints from your background.

This. All day, everyday.

Happy belated! Hope you enjoyed!

welcome to KF! Keep us posted on your progress!

welcome aboard! Look forward to hearing your thoughts on matters.

Welcome to KF!

Is it one of the orange Homer buckets from Home Depot? Because, those are display worthy. It's one of the green ones.

Great topic! I have all my certs from kyu grades to dan grades framed and in a chest. Lol! I've always aimed to display them at my school. Just haven't gotten around to it. maybe once the seemingly never ending remodel gets done. On the equipment front, I don't have a ton of weapons lying around to display. The live blades I own get used for kali training and after that it's just sticks used in training so they reside in a 5 gal bucket in the back, not really display quality.

That's aways a cool time! Good luck in the endeavor!

Congrats! Always glad to see you thoughts.

Maybe not, but there is something to be said for the same instructor from 95-17. For both you had him.

Totally fine. In the early days of BJJ in the States use of a judo gi was common. van is correct, it's largely just a more conservative cut.

It's huge. It facilitates power, evasion, penetration... in short just about everything important in a fight. It's immaterial if we're talking about your primary art being a striking based platform or grappling, or weapon. Your footwork is your connection to not taking damage or being put in a negative position. FMAs are typically fantastic about their focus on footwork right out of the gate. Granted, when you're stick is a stand in for a two foot razor blade minimizing contact is a great idea. Boxing is another great example of high level footwork. Cutting angles and generating power has truly been developed into a science with this art. Each different based on the focus, but each very well placed and efficient in delivering the principles of the arts combat focus.

Super cool! I'd love to do more meet up stuff.

I cannot believe that they ran with this! It will be a huge payday for both fighters. I don't think it helps MMA as a sport though. Mayweather wins this hands down. It's a boxing match. There's no way that even an MMA striker of McGregor's skill set can hang with him in this setting. Add takedowns and kicks you might have a different story but there's just too much specific ruleset that favors the boxer.

I have one hanging in our school. I outline on it frequently for BJJ. It keeps me on track and lets students see the progression. For Kali, I'll diagram footwork patterns from time to time, particularly for newer people. We have experimented with casting keynote slides to a TV but it often proves less than fluid enough for me. I'm going to experiment with Apple TV as well just to give it a go. Personally, I'm going to try, but I'm pretty famous for being fluid with class structure up until I start the day. The white board gives me a bit more freedom. That said, having an AV set up is nice. Particularly for seminars. We'll run videos for women self defense classes from keynote. It's handy having some options for presenting.

Great idea! I'm already surprised that Noah and I just missed some chances to train together! So, here's my list: Tim Jones- Kempo- Newton, IL 1989 Jeremiah Ramsey- Boxing- Charleston IL 1991 Pat McWorter- Gokei-Ryu- Effingham, IL 1993 Mike Hurst- Ryu Kyu Kempo- Effingham/ Charleston IL 1994 Leo Kirby- Shootfighting- Charelston IL 1995 Makato Kern- Muay Thai/ JKD- DeKalb IL 1997 Keith Hackney- MMA, Addison IL- 2000 Jim Theobald-MMA/ no gi jiujitsu, Rockford IL- 2002 Chris Lund- BJJ, Grayslake IL- 2007 Mike Budknik- BJJ, Woodstock IL- 2012 Paul Ingram- Kali (PTK)- 2015

Welcome aboard! I agree with the others, it's not really your place. There might be very valid reason for his choices. As you get some time on, if the situation continues, maybe ask why he executes the movement in that manner. Like I said, he might have valid reasons that are unique to his experience.

The past two weeks have all been about the butterfly guard for us. One of the hallmarks of all open guard work is the ideal of getting under controlling the opponents hips and working to sweep where his/her base is week. Here, we work off a counter to the more straight forward and more common standard sweep. Check it out: Who wells plays the butterfly guard frequently in their ground game? What other common counter do you have to deal with? What sweeps to you utilize against them?

Welcome aboard! Looking forward to hearing about your experiences there!

So awesome!

Congrats on a great milestone, and even more so the valuable insight and experience you bring to this community! Thank you for all that you do.

Thank you, Patrick! And congratulations on such an accomplishment! 16 years on a medium like this is outstanding!