joesteph

Did it yesterday. Quick and "painless."

The forms are meant to be a compact way of containing martial art moves, both offensive and defensive, within a given set of movements. That means that it's essential to be able to break the form down into the various applications that are actually within it. Here's an example of taking from a Soo Bahk Do form: One particular portion has the forearms form an X in front of you, then as the forearms separate, the hands appear to be holding a ball. Next you let out a front kick. The application was explained offensively by my SBD teacher's own teacher as seizing someone's lapels, pulling them together for a choke, and then firing off the kick to his midsection. However . . . I saw forming the X defensively, striking the inner forearms of someone who's grabbed hold of me, then separating my forearms as I grab his arms. Next comes the front kick, which can be done with the ball of the foot, as in the form, or with the heel, as a push kick, or even use the lower shin to drive up into the scrotum. I also so the X, still defensively, striking the inner forearms of the grabber, as above, but then seizing his head with my thumbs in his eyes. Then comes a kick as I described, above. If he's reaching for me with one or both arms, form the X as I ram into him, which was an alternate suggestion in discussion I'd had with, again, my SBD teacher's own teacher. Now infight with the close-range weapons at my disposal.I was constantly working at tearing the forms apart, Kamahl, whether trying to figure out applications myself, asking my teacher in-between classes or at the end of class, and surfing YouTube. I might get in a couple of minutes of testing an application with a friend but, unfortunately, class time wasn't allotted for practicing applications. I found out that it was because there's a curriculum to be followed by certified studios, meaning class time goes for following the curriculum guide first, and applications from forms are really reserved for dan level. I ended my Soo Bahk Do studies after two years, happy to have made 4th gup (kyu), and am in another school that has the preliminary/basic form explained to me simply because I asked. I'm still working on it, but there's been practice of the application as well as performing the form, and I believe that forms are done better when you have some idea of what's martial about the movements. To sum up: I'd say you'd be more open to forms if you knew what you were actually practicing.

Wonderful!

If you go to this link: http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=263335&title=unanswered-questions-wedding there's a video of what's supposed to be funny. I think it's whacky and I wonder if she went through with the wedding.

When striking down, it just might be the turning of their bodies into it, like tossing bodyweight into the strike, which is what I felt when trying it just now. As for horizontal, the only way I could execute the move comfortably was to keep the palm down all the way through. When you say "palm," Rayjag, do you actually mean an open palm (which is what I was using) or the palm of the fist? I always use a fist with the elbow strike, and it's the same for me as I tested.

For my boys' teacher's birthday each year, I buy a box of chocolates and have them sign a birthday card, and they give the gift and card to her. It's was kind of cute this week, watching the three of them munch on the chocolates. (I lucked out and got a piece, too. )

I'm not familiar with the term nage, Brian. I only know tori and uke. When this has occurred with me, Danielle, I've actually taken the puncher's fist and bumped it against my own face. Then I've said that it has to be realistic, and that I'll block. I know what's coming and that it's at a moderate speed, so . . .

A hook punch is coming in to the left side of my face, and I block it with both hands as vertical knifehands. With my right elbow, I then strike under the opponent's jaw to stun him. Then I make the seize, etc. as in my second post.

I only have these videos from YouTube and eHow, Toptomcat. If I'm with Sensei, and we're both in a right lead, he has me grab hold of his gi with two hands and do a jerking motion, say pulling with the left hand and pushing with the right, so that his shoulders aren't parallel to my body. Then I step over with my right (reaping) leg and twist further to take him down. I press but don't slam my upper body against him. With Sempai, in the same right lead, I actually seize his shoulders at the sides to perform the jerking motion so that his shoulders aren't parallel to me. The rest is the same.

I've had some practice with Osoto Gari at the new dojo, and I've been taught that the opponent's balance/stance has to be broken utilizing a strike and a twist of his shoulders. I have to work on coordinating my reaping leg with that shoulders twist, and then comes a twist by me of the opponent's unbalanced body to do the takedown. These videos don't show breaking the opponent's balance by a shoulder twist, but by what's like an upright "body crash" or "hard bump" to me. Demos of the throw itself: http://www.ehow.com/video_2360725_do-jujutsu-osoto-gari-throw.html Instruction on using the throw against a punch: http://www.ehow.com/video_2360727_use-gari-throw-counter-punch.html In these videos, tori is larger than uke. Is that a flaw in this instruction of Osoto Gari? Is breaking the opponent's balance by strike and shoulder girdle twist, as I'm taught, a compensation if outsized? What's your preference in performing Osoto Gari?

That's odd. I was editing while Explosive Power was responding with a quote, and his post went up before my edit. I thought the program would block my edit. Well, I'm glad you enjoy Shotokan, EP.

What makes you feel that Shotokan is put off at all? Or that most people want full contact? There's non-contact, light, light-to-moderate, and then full contact, appealling to all different persons/personalities. Do you feel this way, that it's put off, because it isn't as widespread as other martial arts? I don't know what style of karate you're studying, EP. Is it Shotokan? I do know that you enjoyed boxing in the past. Could it be that you're put off personally because you enjoyed "mixing it up" when you boxed? Is it that you're taking Shotokan and would prefer full contact instead of light contact sparring, including point sparring?

I learned more today about my fighting stance and distancing through sparring against different opponents. It's not just contact sparring, it's continuous instead of point-sparring. I'm much more careful starting off with a proper stance, and I've worked on not dropping my hands, but I have to watch that I don't leave my torso open between my arms as I'm fighting. No windows of opportunity for the opponent! To me, that's a stance matter. I also discovered that when I infight, I have to remember that it's not an actual situation in which I'm going to use elbows and knees. There's also a no facial contact rule for safety, so I'm not going to uppercut to the jaw. To me, it means it should be a series of getting in and getting out; staying there does lock up the opponent to some degree, but it can become a slugfest of just trading blows.

Here it is Jay: Chapter 16, "Five Ways of Attack," by Ted Wong, pp. 338-349. A: simple angled attack (SAA) B: hand-immobilizing attack (HIA) C: progressive indirect attack (PIA) D: attack by combination (ABC) E: attack by drawing (ABD)

Sounds odd to me. Chest protector is not a nessesity, why would it be? In Kyokushin tournaments, women are allowed to use only soft types of chest protectors. I took Shihon's term "safety" as a polite way of saying that while men can be bruised in the chest, women can suffer greater bruising (and pain) if the breasts are struck. Unnecessary bruising falls under injury and safety to me; when I fenced, I learned that the women's outfits differed from the men's by including two small metal disks within inside pockets. I found that to be perfectly sensible. I'm a man who's not embarrassed to wear a chest protector so that I can enjoy sparring without being banged up. I can take care of my children, go to work, and continue contact sparring sessions. I also wear a groin protector, and I'm sure female students realize that we males wear them, but they just accept it as appropriate protection. Why should a woman have greater damage to her body than a man when sparring? Shihon is thinking of the welfare of his students. There are threads containing info about kyokushin in the forums. It's wicked enough that I believe most men wouldn't go that far, let alone do it regularly. If an adult woman wants to enter kyokushin, just as men do, then that's her business, but it isn't done in Shihon's dojo, and the person I referred to is a teenage girl, about age sixteen.

Now that I'm happily doing contact sparring, I ran right into the problem referred to in the OP. The teenager I sparred with first today was a girl who I'd heard was good, and I liked that she was about 5'9" to my 5'6". But she wasn't wearing a chest protector. (I was. ) Shihon wants no face strikes, and that's okay; body shots keep everybody busy, and he'll permit below the belt if it's the legs. I got stuck thinking about where not to punch and so used legs only, especially roundhouses to her legs or diagonal roundhouses to her midsection. She kept me very busy defending myself, but when we ended what would have been the first round between us, I quietly told Shihon that I wished she were wearing a chest protector. He changed us to spar with others, and she did spar with boys no taller than I am who threw punches as well as kicks to her midsection. I did tell Shihon afterwards that I'd love to spar with her again, and he used the term "safety" when he referred to the chest protector.

Congratulations Lupin! You're moving up that belt ladder.

I've received my copy of Bruce Lee's Fighting Method: The Complete Edition, and remember the original four short books it comprises. What a difference the digital enhancement makes; the photos are so crisp! Although I'm only on Chapter 5, I've noticed that what's said is likely far clearer to someone already familiar with Lee's concepts. I'm glad I picked up a few things in the past, including those JKD lessons. It's like reading an in-depth book about, say, a certain event in history. You often have to know something about that event in order to profit the most from reading the book about it. Got to get back to the book . . .

I feel it's expected to be able to perform high kicks, whether to the head or a jump kick for altitude (instead of covering distance), if you're in a Korean martial art. If you reach a certain level in belt rank, and it could be at a gup level, such as 3rd (start of red belt), not necessarily chodan, I believe you will be compared with others in your Korean art much more stringently than if at a lower belt. This comparison can be done by you personally, not just by others who observe, and you have to ask yourself what it means to you in terms of how proficient you feel in the high-kicking art you're studying.

Sounds great! Welcome to the forums!

Welcome to the forums, LastNinja.

Exactly this, Kuma. I especially like the switch at 1:40 and its two-man application at 3:05. The tournament sparring showing the kick against an opponent looks like something I want to practice for so I can use it. Thanks for the mikazukigeri video link.

I usually think of a roundhouse kick as being horizontal. By that I mean it's exactly horizontal/level against the ribs, though at a sweeping angle if against the head. In the new art I'm studying, the roundhouse is taught to be executed at a diagonal to the ribs, so that it's got a better chance of slipping under the opponent's elbow. This is a sparring technique that was suggested in my former art, but roundhouse training would be against the kick shield, and it was definitely horizontal. I'm directed to practice the kick in my new art diagonally against the heavy bag, obviously expecting that the opponent is going to be covering against a shot to his ribs. If we go by "you perform the way you train," then that accounts for how I barely saw diagonal roundhouses in the old art's sparring, but I have to watch out for them (and the other guy has to, too, as I'm doing them myself) in the new art. Do you train/spar with these diagonal roundhouses yourself? Regularly? Occasionally? Not at all?

I found a good video regarding practicing the Muay Thai kick against the leg. It's a special target (looks like a suitcase) that's held against the partner's outer thigh. http://www.ehow.com/video_2355654_round-kick-muay-thai-technique.html EDIT: This post is connected with the last one on the preceding page.

The new art I'm studying not only trains Muay Thai kick to the legs, but we can use it in controlled contact sparring. The knee is off limits, I kick wearing shin guards, and I wear thigh protectors (in case the other guy does it to me) that I got from AWMA, just to play it safe. Striking against the heavy bag, though, means going all out. I don't wear shin guards when I do this exercise to toughen up my shins.