tallgeese

Awesome! http://www.dailypilot.com/news/tn-dpt-0114-blackbelt-20120113,0,1768188.story

1/19 Drilled passing the open guard: same side pass, countering attempt at half guard, and bailing to double under variant. 25 min free roll.

Thanks, bushidoman. I will make use of this as well.

I too have run into that argument, bushido man. My point was that we don't study a full striking system either. Or a full standing joint position system either. That doesn't stop us from doing both. Let's compare baton training, anyone doing escrima for that? Nope, we have always taken parts we need to use and trained them for law enforcement. About the only thing we do train a complete system on (if you've got a good training budget and department-and that's not always the case) is handgunning. That's due to the huge liability involved with their use. If you can get that video you're talking about, bushidoman, please post it. I'm always looking for stuff to use in training.

Increadable!

1/18 early: 20 min takedown technique 20 min takedown randori 30 min free roll later: pullups curls dead lifts

1/17 30 min free roll 15 min takedown randori 15 min free roll focusing in top game and passing guard

Nick Jamilla, and I'm presently compiling my angry nerd letter. This guy probably thinks that Greedo shot first. People that think that aren't really Star Wars fans anyway.

1/16 Drilled kimura, to taking back, sweep, arm bar, switch arm bar. 60 min free roll.

My work calls for it from time to time. Here are some of my general observations from my experiences, not tedious blow by blows: 1) Be prepared for the autonomic physiological responses that will occur. They happen. Read Grossman's books on the subject. Be prepared for the parasympathetic backlash. 2) Body lock takedowns are far more reliable and safer than anything requiring an appendage. The straight arm bar is a tactic I've seen in every art I've ever been exposed to. Keeping safe and in control is way easier with body lock type takedowns. 3) Aggression. It's ALWAYS better to attack in close combat than to rely on defensive maneuvers. 4) Fitness matters. Conditioning either gives you an edge on a bad guy or helps close the gap if he's a specimen. Either way, if you're doing ma's for sd, start conditioning either in class or on your own. 5) Bring back up if you can Those are my experiences. Take them for what they are worth, your mileage may vary but I have field tested this under all kinds of conditions. I'm comfortable with the statements.

http://bjiujitsu.blogspot.com/2011/09/microbiologists-take-on-bjj.html Wash your stuff. Period.

Well deserved!

Welcome aboard! Looking forward to your perspective.

It's Saturday. No one wants to do technique on a Sat. Now that this is done, I need to get my fajitas ready for the UFC get together dinner tonight. Gonna be tough to watch the diet. Jose Aldo is fighting, as a Nova Uniao guy, I think I'm contractually obligated to get the fight.

1/14 60 min free roll

None taken. Initially, when I first started training, kata was a part of the system I trained in. I spent 3-4 years with regular kata training. Up to brown I believe where I was doing sechin and tensho (sp) for the rank. After that, my instructor and the system as a whole moved away from kata. I would guess, it's been a lot of years back now, that the slide started prior to this and accelerated at that time. We were finding that by structuring live drills and incorporating modern training aids, we were getting better results, faster for combative purposes. We tested the methodology and found that, for us, other methods worked better as they translated more directly to confrontation. Later, I had the opportunity to train under an individual with a fairly lengthy resume when it came to old school arts. He was adamant about kata and I spent time working out the bunkai to nihanchi (again, spelling is probably a shot in the dark at best). I was impressed by the depth of information contained within. However, even with this moving text book I didn't see, and still don't see, the reason to not just practice the movement on a live opponent at various levels of resistance rather than hidden within a set of steps. So, yes, I have been around them. No, they've never been my thing, even when I was around them. I'm certainly no expert. However, my assessment isn't based on my personal learning style and preferences. It's based on experimentation and research, often using my own progress as a measuring stick, not theory. And I've read what others have to say on the matter. Science has shown us that the closer to an actual event the training for said event is, at every level of learning, the better off an individual will be when faced with the event (see Grossman's works on how this directly applies to combat). Why spend significant time working on something that the student sees no immediate correlation with what they need combative movement to be? Moving out of combat science altogether, let's address the last point. Most people talking about learning today say that one of the top factors in retention and later use of a skill is the student seeing immediate application. Why put the intermediate step in there? We're making it harder for them to learn on top of not making training look as real as possible. Check out Siddell's work on the subject matter for a direct connection between this and combat. If we step outside of my experience and science and look at examples at face value, let's take mma. MMA, within it's rule set (which is actually pretty helpful when we talk about unarmed personal conflict) is producing some of the best one on one, hand to hand martial artist ever. Let's look at how they are doing it. Top camps are not using kata. I know, they are restrictive. However, Renzo Gracie in his book "Master Brilzilian Jiu Jitsu (a must read, btw) makes a fantastic point that arts that have more high damage tactics (ie. eye gouges) that can't be practiced live tend to fare less well in combat than more restrictive arts that can train all their tools at speed and live each day. He sums it up as a more deadly theoretical art is less useful than a less deadly (on the face) practical art. For a less controversial example, perhaps, look at Judo. It's an art that, while kata may be present in certain schools, they are all but removed now in others. However, look at their randori. The student can immediately see why he is working on a give drill, it leads to something that he can look at and want in his toolbox. That kind of training mimics combat far better than does a kata. We're mentally preparing the student to fight, not do kata. Again, all of this is predicated on looking at this thru the lens of combative efficiency. There are plenty of reasons to do kata. I just don't think self defense is what it's best at teaching. There are other, more modern, scientifically backed methods of doing that.

Had a video that came to my attention a couple of weeks ago that took me some time to find in a shareable format. Below is a camera phone video of a police conflict where a second offender joins the fray. There are about 20 things you could take out of this video and take as training points. We've been doing it. However, the one I wanted to bring up on this forum is the application (or lack thereof) of combative use ground fighting. I've heard I don't know how many coworkers talk about not wanting to train ground fighting because they will just hit the suspect. Likewise, I hear a lot of martial artist use the argument of not wanting to go to the ground in a street fight as a reason to shy away from training in a ground fighting art. First up, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFsWF3FoLI You can see by the portion that takes place on the ground that the officer on his back has little training in a ground form of combat. Here's my point, even if you don't want to be on the ground you might end up there anyway. You'll note the bottom officer tries to utilize strikes, including the eye gouge, multiple times to little effect. It's due to his position being so bad, something that stand up only artist will say, but rarely understand the depth of. This is a perfect example of the need for integrating grappling training into whatever you are doing. Escape from here (which is the worst side control/ head lock in the history of mankind) could be a much easier matter with minimal training. Thus allowing the officer not to continue to grapple with the offender (although in this situation I would argue that, that would not be a horrible idea) but to stand and access his other weapons. I thought this video coming to light was excellent for many points to debrief out of it. For martial artist, it is a real world example of what many have said since UFC 1. Grappling is important.

Welcome to KF! Looking forward to hearing your input.

I would concur. It's, to me, a way of training that has outlived it's usefulness. Kata is not sacrosanct. It's a means to an end. It's a method of training. One that was devised before the last centruy in a political enviornement that no longer exsist in a contry with a differnt country. This is, of course, assuming that you're looking at karate for combative reasons. If it's not, then by all means, go all in for the cultural preservation. Or the culture. But to say that solo drilling, in preset forms, is the best way to improve attributes for combat is dated. It's this dated feeling that we often convey. Remember, I'm looking at this thru a combative lens. If this isn't your focus, then you need to explian that to potential students up front. Or, if it's only part of the picture, you need to be up front with that. This explains kata to new students much more than saying that it will teach them defense. I'm not saying that one will never learn self defense from kata. But it there are over 100 years of advancement in physiology, learning science, and psycology that have led to more immediatly effective drills. I think self-defense oriented schools that hand to kata as a major componant are doing themselves a diservice in regard to preparing students realistically for a fight and in attracing new students interested in it. But that's just me.

1/13 1 mile treadmill abs active rest day

If you want to become good at sparring, then stop trying to win when you are training. You and your partners are so concerned with scoring the point you forget why you are in the dojo. You are there to learn. This is a common problem when students first begin to spar. They think “I need to score a point, but I can’t let them score a point!” This way of thinking couldn’t be more inhibiting for the learning process. I don’t care if how you train whether it’s light contact, or harder contact. Forget about “winning” and focus on your technique and what you are trying to accomplish when you spar, whether it be distance, timing or control. Leave the “winning mindset” for the competitions, keep the “training mindset” for the dojo. I don't think any advice could be put better than this.

You are a brave man than I. I anyone gets any kind of toe hold, ankle lock, or other such thing on my ankles while they are set in place like they would in a body triangle, I am not waiting to see if they can pull hard enough to make me tap. I already have and we're resetting.

1/12 Weather conspired to keep me from class tonight. So: 1 mile run abs single leg extension leg extension leg curls superset power cleans light stretch and heavy complaining due to power cleans.

I'd agree. Simply start training. I travel to train quite a bit, but even I wouldn't drive 1.5 hours to train every session even if Rickson Gracie himself were teaching personally. Cross training or even changing styles entirely is as old as organized martial arts themselves. You're in good company. As to kata, I get where you're coming from. Bear in mind it's a training modality, nothing more. It, in that respect alone, is no different than focus mitts, or partner drills, or the heavy bag. It's a way for you to practice martial arts movements. If you like other methods better, or if other methods help you learn faster, or if other methods more quickly and directly accomplish your goals then so be it. MA's are a highly individualized path. That said, in Wado, you'll do your share of kata. Either learn to like it or buckle up and grind thru it until another option presents itself. Good luck and let us know what you decide.

1/11 1 mile treadmill pull ups curls rows abs