joesteph

When I talk about karate with friends who aren't martial artists, they're far more interested in my children, David and Patrick, than they are in me. When I tell a "war story," it's about how the boys have had to defend themselves against bullying. (More than one time, I might add!) When asked why I'm no longer studying at the same school as the boys, I respond that I'm no longer needed to assist, so I'm at a school that has contact sparring instead of the non-contact they do. The response is usually that it's great that they've progressed so that their teacher no longer needs me to assist. No interest about me that I can see. Shown up by my eight-year-olds. As a father, I love it!

This is a video interview I did with Patrick and David on my Facebook, and it's about their first tournament. This is the URL where the video is in my Facebook account. It's short but fun: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=116168798424069

Great photos of you and your daughter Adrianna, Jeffrey! Congratulations on her receiving her orange stripe.

I noticed that Ninjanurse posted four photos, two that are class photos, and two of herself (one performing with a sword, another with a side kick). I then posted two photos of my children. The photo album is there to be used. Could more members of the forums post photos? Anyone who wonders what the album categories are should click on "Photo Album" at the top of the web page (white letters on a red background).

Great shot of the monkey attacking him.

Even during the short time I took JKD lessons, I learned immediately that it was "a fighting concept." It's called a combative art for a reason, and what I was shown essentially follows Lee's idea to (paraphrase) "just reach over and knock the other guy out."

It's interesting that you said no punches to the head, GeoGiant, rather than no punches to the face. At the dojo, Shihon encourages the sparring rules of tournaments his school enters, and they don't permit strikes to the face, but strikes to the head, whether by hand or by foot, are permitted. The rule of thumb seems to be that where the helmet is, you can hit, except if it's the back of the head. I did attend a fundraiser that Shihon sponsored last year, and he emphasized no strikes to the face. He also said no strikes to the back of the head. Do the rules you have to follow specifically say no punches to the head? Not even a backfist? If so, then it's "kicks only" to the head to maintain the high kicking art aspect of Tang Soo Do.

Welcome to the forums, etali!

The Sidekick Foundation has entered into an arrangement with Pepsi for the month of May. By going to: http://www.refresheverything.com/sidekickhwangkee and voting yes (one vote per day), money can be donated by Pepsi for teaching elderlies a combination of certain Tai Chi moves with simple Basic Form 1 moves from Soo Bahk Do and Tang Soo Do. The purpose is to improve the elderlies' balance, as their falls are far more serious than younger persons. This series of movements is called "Hwang Kee."

Hi Will! Welcome to the Forums! It's good you have time on your hands to train now. No one knows what time s/he'll have tomorrow.

Do you feel you've fallen into a pattern, Conrad? Say to do mae geri with the right foot, then mawashi geri with the left, as a matter of routine? Perhaps your sensei can suggest practicing comos of punching and kicking. BTW, are you permitted to kick to the thighs? If so, you can vary the target (ribs or thigh) as a start. For punches, have you switch orthodox and southpaw? The change might give you a differerent perspective and more satisfactory punching.

Congratulations, Quinteros! I see you list Goju Ryu and Shotokan. Which was the brown belt earned in?

Interesting how so many lead leg strikes, even looking like dueling with the legs as the swords, could be observed. I did note that punches often came after the other fellow would drop his hands, or keep them low while he was kicking.

Welcome to the forums, John! Don't worry about "Alcatraz/Alctaraz." Think of it as a typo among friends.

This reminds me of when I took Soo Bahk Do, and my teacher had already intro'd me to a particular defense against the wrist grab, one that had three parts to it. When she had me work with another student for application, she cut out two of the "official" parts and had us substitute a twist of the joint lock so that we were taking one another down by leverage. The original drill was obviously some sort of training exercise; this worked much better. It sounds like it's the same leverage you're describing, and we'd already practiced breakfalls before this "variation." We also landed on mats. If it's like what I practiced, tori controlled the speed uke was falling. Tori had control. I feel you're blaming yourself, Lupin, as though you're doing something wrong. Not a single forum member who's posted holds you responsible for this natural feeling. You're an untrained person who's being taken down backwards onto a hardwood floor.

I don't like this at all. It's not only that you have to know how to fall, it's also that tori has to know how to throw. Someone performing, likely learning, as common a takedown as Osoto Gari can do so with too much steam and make it a hard fall on a mat. You don't need to chance an injury on a hardwood floor.

If you don't have a qualified instructor guiding you, you'll smash someone's throat. I remember when it was popular for the "sleeper hold" to be taught to police, prison guards, and security people, but too many who "learned" it were taught by friends who barely knew it themselves. There were some deaths by strangulation applying what was thought would knock somebody out.

This is a good point. What training are you undergoing in breakfalls, Lupin, so that you can ease into takedowns? The better the intro, the better you desensitize.

I began practicing this side kick against my home WaveMaster just as I was starting at the new dojo, readying myself for contact sparring. I like that it incorporates performing the kick as though there were a step, and driving a bit of bodyweight/momentum into it for added power. I found a Bruce Lee demo clip, Lee performing the side kick the same as Ted Wong in Jay's link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Ru6ON8qzc&feature=related But I noticed it says Jun Fan JKD on Jay's clip. I understand that Lee did experiment, and this way of doing the kick was practiced by me during the time I took JKD. The presenter isn't a JKD practitioner: It may have just been how to perform a JKD side kick with the rear leg instead of only relying on the lead.

Hi Dan! Welcome to the forums!

Welcome to the forums!

Congratulations, Jeffrey! Enjoy "wearing" the multicolored belt!

I like what Toptomcat and Sensei8 are saying. I practiced breakfalls first, found that controlling them myself was a comfortable intro, and now when someone does a takedown with me as uke, I'm fine. If someone such as I am, with positional vertigo (I can't do tumbling w/o getting dizzy), can desensitize to takedowns, Lupin, you'll find you're able to as well. Good luck with it.

Today in class, Shihon included makiwara work for me in my training. The makiwara had a rubber pad over the fist strike area, with "clappers" (as I call them) behind the pad. Below the pad was cord wrapped around the makiwara post, and below that was a wooden piece that would be for knee strikes, with cord wrapped below that as well. Sensei saw me punching the makiwara, hitting it hard like a punching bag, and came over to help me out. He rolled up his sleeves, then demonstrated at perhaps half power, but with technique as his objective. He used the vertical fist as I did, but emphasized the knuckles to strike with, the straightness of the wrist, the elbows straight but not locked out. He used a rhythm with his punches in orthodox stance, then changed to palmheel strikes against the cord below the rubber pad. Sensei also introduced me to using the board for knee strikes, so that I wasn't going to harm my knees, and showed, but didn't expect me to do, a certain low kick he said was one of the few he used in JJ against the cords below the knee strikes board. He left me to do combos of punches, palmheels, and knee strikes, which I performed in both orthodox and southpaw stances. If I didn't have to move on to the heavy bag, he'd have intro'd me to elbow strikes against the rubber pad. I've heard warnings about the makiwara board, that it can harm your hands, but this method from Sensei has me thinking that it's the misuse of the makiwara board that causes harm. I liked what he showed me and made it a point to thank him about it after class with Shihon.

"Attributes and Tactics" is Chapter 17 of Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: The Complete Edition. On p. 360, under Tactics, Lee says: A fighter can be classified as a mechanical or an intelligent fighter. The mechanical fighter fights in a similar pattern in each encounter. His strikes are repetitious and automatic. An intelligent fighter will alter his opponent's technique in order to use the right strikes, depending on his opponent's technique and the way he fights. He approaches each encounter with a strategy based on preliminary analysis, preparation and execution. This sounds like a good analysis to me, but then Lee warns about the novice fighter, because he's so irregular. In JKD, Lee pushed for a "broken-rhythm," so that your opponent can't figure you out. Since the novice is unskilled, he hasn't got a rhythm that he's fallen into from experience, and "may even fool more skilled fighters" (p. 361). I guess that's why they call it "beginner's luck."