joesteph

I agree. Insightful. Definitely good advice.

Going right to 3:00 and watching what follows is eye-opening.

Eric Oram has videos up at the Black Belt website. They look interesting, but I wondered how practical they'd be for someone who's not at his level. All the videos can be accessed if you go to one page of them as of this date, 3.15.10, but I divided them up in case they get separated. This video is on defending against a takedown: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/eric-oram-wing-chun-kung-fu-takedown-counter/videos/233 I thought of a backfist instead of a fingers flick, but his move may be a standard wing chun move. The takedown move Sifu Oram uses reminds me of an early move in a Soo Bahk Do form, but it might be a standard move in any martial art, it seems so natural. Attacking the "weapon" (opponent's arm): http://www.blackbeltmag.com/eric-oram-wing-chun-kung-fu-attack-weapon-arm/videos/232 I really liked this one, although you've got to be fast to apply that wrist seize. The elbow break that he uses employs what's taught as a block in a Soo Bahk Do one-step sparring exercise. I don't like it as a block, but it looks great as an attacking weapon. It kind of brings up "When is a block a strike?" I'd say when it's misunderstood as only a block, such as low block and high block not being seen as attacks. Defending against a jab and rear hook: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/eric-oram-wing-chun-kung-fu-jab-rear-hook-defense/videos/231 I don't know about the jab block, but I recognize the block against the rear hook. I've seen it in different forms I've performed, but this is the first application of it, and it makes sense seeing it in action as a means to an end. There's another video, Pak Sao against the jab, but it seems a bit exotic to me. If you're curious, it's at: http://www.blackbeltmag.com/eric-oram-wing-chun-kung-fu-pak-sao-technique-video/videos/230

I do, Ryan, regularly since 7th gup; I'm 4th gup now. I do thank her for explaining some things to us, which from what I see from posts by others on different forums is not done everywhere (and causes some to hate forms). I find I'm the only one in the dojang who approaches her to explain, or presents her with an interpretation that comes from me or even on YouTube for her consideration. But these are merely moments snatched; they're not within class time and to be studied. I don't expect kids to ask questions of depth, but why do teens and adults work hard at forms they don't ask their teacher about? Why the reticence? She's a lovely person and a wonderful teacher! I wonder how many teen and adult karate students throughout the country would dance the Watusi (I'm showing my age to remember that one) if it meant getting an extra stripe or a new belt color? If the teacher doesn't introduce something as that it must be learned, such as breaking down the forms for applications, it isn't likely to be asked about except by the oddball (!?) who thinks for him- or herself and approaches the teacher. I think there's a pressure on teachers to make sure the students receive promotions to continue their interest, and to have them win trophies at tournaments for bragging rights. Training and preparation for these eats up finite class time. It means following a curriculum guide that assures regular promotion, and the tournament wins aren't just for kids but for teens and adults, too. Without following this road, the threat is that students will drop out or simply go to another school that fulfills their desires. I favor knowledge-based training, and feel I don't fit in in my school--and likely other schools. It's great for my children, especially the personal attention their teacher gives to my boys who are autistic, and they're the reason I decided to take lessons. They've progressed to the point in which she has recently been able to teach them without me assisting on the floor, making me sad in a way that they don't "need" me, but happy that this important progress has been made.

I prefer the last two moves over what Soo Bahk Do has for this same form. Sensei turns and strikes, first to his left, and then to his right. In Soo Bahk Do, the form has these moves, but adds in a sideways jump and two more of the same strikes. These additional moves haven't been explained to me, although my teacher did refer to the elbow and fist movements as against an opponent behind you. The funny thing is that I've seen a video (Was it Iain Abernethy? Another martial artist on YouTube?) maintaining that while the elbow strike looks right for a blow to the opponent's midsection behind you, the fist is too far away from the opponent's face. He interpreted the twist before performing the first elbow and punch combo as having seized the opponent, and that the elbow and fist positions we see are where an opponent would be if thrown over the hip. Then, of course, whatever you do on the left is done on the right, and brings you back to start. In the Soo Bahk Do form, you wind up overshooting where you'd started. I'm sure you can hit an opponent behind you with elbow and fist if he's in the right position, but why the jump and additional strikes? I wish forms in every art would be broken down for students to understand and practice applications, and I mean way before dan level, right when you're learning the form.

Have you checked with Asian World of Martial Arts? They advertise three of them in their catalog, and I'm sure they're advertised on/available from the AWMA website. The one that looks like the best of the three is called "Ultra," the ad saying "for active women" and having the removable plastic protectors shown in the photo. When I did fencing, there were removable metal discs that fit into inside pockets in my female partner's uniform, without which she'd have had pain and bruising from chest strikes. The phone number is 800.345.2962 if you want to ask questions and/or place an order.

I've been training in Soo Bahk Do for the past two years, Karatequeen. I started five months after my children did, to help them and make karate a father-sons connection. I've taken lessons in self-defense jujitsu, and trained for a few months in Jeet Kune Do, but Soo Bahk Do is what I have my rank in (4th gup, so the top of the three levels of green belt). I'm ahead of my boys (twins, age eight), so it's not really necessary for me to continue with Soo Bahk Do. I've encountered problems with another student, a higher belt at the dojang, that have not been properly addressed and going for a year now, and there's a limit to what self-defense can be learned in this non-contact martial art. I'm informing my teacher this coming week that I'm ending my studies. I want to re-connect with the self-defense jujitsu sensei regarding a program he offers through private lessons, and I'd like to take judo as well. A friend who's done judo since she was in grade school has introduced me to some judo moves that an instructor may be willing to work on privately with me. I like what you are doing, Karatequeen, which is an interesting (eclectic?) mixture. My age is fifty-eight, so I feel I have the right to study martial arts my own way, with no concern about long-term commitments.

How did you strike the heavy bag before? Was it with a vertical fist? Impacting with the middle knuckle? The two middle knuckles? If using the first two knuckles isn't natural for you, causing a greater twist than the wrist joint accepts, there will be a strain. It could even be that this concentration on the first two knuckles and the horizontal fist is causing your wrist to fail to be straight. Regarding the latter: If your wrist is bent up or down at the point of impact it will snap backward or crumple downward, often resulting in a painful injury to the joint. (Martial Mechanics by Phillip Starr, p. 39) You might not notice this bending because it might be slight, but with so many hundreds of punches executed and with a new knuckles emphasis, it's likely adding up and taking its toll. Personally, I don't care what the "official" way of striking is supposed to be; I use what's natural for me when striking a WaveMaster or BOB, which would be the vertical and three-quarters fists. The official way (the horizontal fist) has been saved by me for forms and MA drills. A caveat here, though, is that I've read a KarateForums post in the past by someone who had broken her middle knuckle more than one time when breaking boards. She suggested that it's too much emphasis/impact on one knuckle, and using the first two would have divided that impact between two knuckles and still get the job done.

Though I've never reached dan level, the art I've been studying uses the horizontal fist, which I used for exercises that involved punching, but I naturally favored the horizontal and three-quarters fists for striking focus mitts and BOB, as well as when sparring (speed, plus the taller the opponent, the more likely the vertical). When I took JKD lessons at the same time, the vertical fist was easy to utilize. In the style of JKD I studied, the emphasis was to evade or parry, not to use hard blocks (as in force v. force). In Tim Tackett and Bob Bremer's book, Chinatown Jeet Kune Do, and Tim Tackett's DVD of the same name (following the book chapter-by-chapter), I'd call certain protective moves soft, as in pak sao. I'm not sure how interested you are in the "art" of martial arts or the combat factor, Corvidae. If it's the latter, then you might consider Jeet Kune Do. You'll have to get used to the Straight Lead, which involves putting your bodyweight into the punch, but I think you could adapt to that readily, and you might find it to be interesting when using the vertical fist.

I think GeoGiant gave an excellent example. If you have the knowledge, if you demonstrate proficiency, then should you be held to a timeline that was likely established for the average student? No one expects someone who hasn't yet reached readiness to have to test just because that's the time "everyone else" is going by. Why shouldn't acknowledgement be extended to someone who's a step ahead? After all, it's permission to take a test that permits the student to prove that s/he is worthy of the BB. I've noticed that dan members are in a better position regarding this, in that they are often knowledge seekers, including from martial arts other than their own. There's a topic I had posted, "Knowledge-based training," on the Forums and on another MA site, in which I referred to my desire to stop my belt progression (I'm at 4th gup), which involves regularly teaching test material on the part of my teacher, in favor of, for example, breaking down the forms I already know to learn/practice applications. The difficulty for her would be that it doesn't follow an established curriculum guide and would give unique individual attention to one student while conducting a class.

Hi, Karatequeen. Welcome to the forums. By your signature, it looks like you've got a unique animal-style group of fighters at home.

Where was the seminar held, Jay? The one I attended in my hometown, Bayonne, NJ, was last October, and some martial artists were from England. It was a 2 & 1/2 day seminar, but I could only do the first day due to an elbow injury. I understand that my instructor for the short time I studied the art formally appears in it. If you attended the October seminar I mentioned above, you'd know him as Patrick Cunningham, distinguishable by his Irish brogue.

Hi Matt! Welcome to KarateForums!

I'm greatly dependent on contact lenses, Ozzymk. Glasses have a limited benefit for me, and soft contact lenses don't give me the crystal-clear vision that rigid "gas permeable" contacts do. These are not the same as "hard" contacts, which gave me excellent vision, but limited oxygen to the eyes. Rigid lenses are the middle way that works well for me and might work well for you. Were they ever suggested to you by your eye doctor? If I'm not wearing glasses (around the house) or contacts, my vision is very bad. I know I could never spar without them. When I took self-defense jujitsu lessons, we were free to wear eye protection.

Congratulations are in order, hx! It's a reason to celebrate. I've watched testing for 3rd gup and thought it was difficult; you must have had a real challenge for 1st. Great news.

Not only genetics, but age enters in as a factor, GhostFighter. During middle age, it's natural for weight to redistribute. Your metabolism also slows with age, depending on where you are in time (early middle age, later, senior citizen, elderly). Males tend to collect body fat around the middle; females tend to collect it at the hips and thighs; these are the first places it seems to collect and the last places it seems to leave. I weight trained with free weights and cables from my thirties to my fifties. Weight training burns calories; muscle mass burns calories; no matter what I did right, the fat collected around the abdomen and love handles (whoever thought of that term was in denial) during my late forties and into my fifties. When weight training stopped, my eating remained the same. At 5'6" tall, I soon enough weighed 191 and had a 41" waistline, so I went for liposuction. I'm not advocating it for everyone in his/her forties or fifties; it's each individual's decision, and I chose it for myself. It took eight weeks to recover, so there went the summer, but though I lost only eleven pounds, dropping to 180, I also lost 4" off my waistline, to a more acceptable 37". That was in '06, at age 54, and I'm glad I did it. My weight today at 58 years old is 172 (I try to keep it between 170 and 175lbs), and my waistline is just under 36". The biggest weight-gainer for me comes from pastry, and I not only want to avoid the larger waistline, I want to avoid Type 2 ("adult-onset") diabetes. My New Year's Resolution to cut out the sweets has been holding up well. Diet, exercise, gender, and age all play a part.

I already have Tim Tackett and Bob Bremer's book, Chinatown Jeet Kune Do, and I like its content, but having viewed the new DVD, I have to say it added to my understanding. When focusing on a certain facet, the DVD immediately identified onscreen the chapter being presented. It's really worthwhile for anyone who wants to practice or borrow from JKD techniques, or who just might be curious. The DVD's available from the Black Belt online store, accessed from: http://www.blackbeltmag.com.

Thanks, Chitsu. I'd never heard of Tobikomizuki until you mentioned it in your post. I'm surprised I didn't because of its similarity to the Straight Lead. I found a video that has it demonstrated by a sensei combining the jab with the cross punch, and he goes on to footwork that's much like JKD. For anyone interested, though the sensei is speaking in Japanese, his movements speak for themselves. I found it enjoyable.

When I went to the Traditional Fighting Arts Forum, the author questioned the sine wave motion in Tae Kwon Do, including a video link of it within a TKD form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-GB&v=2bwx-s2bU2Q When I saw it, I realized it wasn't what Lee taught, and Lee got it from research, particularly from Jack Dempsey's book, Championship Fighting. It's having your stronger arm forward and putting your bodyweight into the punch by a kind of leap ahead, your fist striking the target/face with your feet just off the floor. In the first video, a comparison of the jab with the Straight Lead, gets into performing the JKD punch at 3:15. The second video goes right into it from the start, then does the cross punch with body movement (and so bodyweight). This demonstator includes a leap forward with the latter punch. The Jab vs. the JKD Straight Lead Punch Jeet Kune Do Basic Techniques

I understand that many people feel it adds power to their punch. In Martial Mechanics by Phillip Starr, on p. 24 is a series of photos of a rotating fist aimed at the reader. Starr says, "[W]hen you execute a punch, the fist should screw over at the instant just before impact." (emphasis mine) That's a different view from some who maintain that the fist should complete that motion within the target. It looks like it's not just when you should rotate, but where that we're examining. For me, the vertical fist and/or the rotation to three-quarters works best for speed and the power I need to generate. A jab by me would be a vertical fist, but a reverse punch would be three-quarters. If performing a straight lead JKD-style, I do it with a vertical fist as I was taught, power added by my bodyweight following the "falling step" concept.

This MSNBC story tells of a man walking his dog--from his car. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35662350/ns/health-pet_health/?GT1=43001 What kind of guy does this? Check out the last paragraph in the story.

This is the most comfortable--and doable--for me. I'd say that half the time my fist is in motion, it's in the vertical position. I also prefer the three-quarters fist, so I'm not rotating as much as when I'm performing a form.

Congratulations, BD! This will really make March a special month for you.

I started laughing when I read this, and when I think of it, it is amazing that he kept this bartender priority in the middle of an attack by a demonic woman. I guess he was just on "automatic." Thanks, GeoGiant!

I wonder what it would be like to train in the land of Muay Thai with Thai instructors . . . Looks like living in Australia has its advantages when it comes to the martial arts and travel.