joesteph

Is this the methodology of your style? Here's a demo of it, Bob, with the demonstrator suggesting that multiples are for tournaments. http://www.ehow.com/video_2356188_doing-front-leg-roundhouse-kick.html I can see it in a self-defense situation if it's one shot against the side of your adversary's knee, likely using your lower shin, but it would have to be followed up, so it'd probably be the start of a combo in self-defense.

Congratulations on your promotion, Macox. I know it had to have been challenging to reach. In my art it's a red belt. I hope I have the talent you demonstrate to earn it someday.

I think that roundhouses, especially from the lead leg, lend themselves more easily to being the strike kick that Montana refers to. I've watched the assistant instructor practicing a lead leg roundhouse to hit low-medium-high and then bring the leg down to the floor, as in strike-strike-strike then down. It's funny, but each kick made his supporting foot/leg move him up a few inches.

I just received the November issue of Black Belt magazine, and turned to the last of the series of articles on the Straight Lead by Teri Tom. This one is on recovery--retracting the arm after the punch. On p. 32, she states: tart turning your hips the opposite way you turned them to throw the punch. If you're a right-hander, turn them clockwise when punching and counter-clockwise when retracting. Your arm remains fully extended as your hips start to turn in reverse. I don't understand. I've been learning that part of the JKD punch is a turning of the hip, but if I'm right-handed (as the photos on p. 30 show her to be) and have the straight lead executed, I've turned my hip counter-clockwise, and when I retract, I turn my hip clockwise. Am I getting clockwise and counter-clockwise mixed up in my mind's eye, or did an unfortunate reversal of what the author wanted to say creep in? BTW, I went to the official web site of Teri Tom, but nothing was coming up. I did read from the connection to it in the search engine that if nothing is seen, then Flash is not in installed in my computer. I've got the latest version of Flash installed, and double-checked to be sure. I was unable to find a link to send an email to Ms. Tom about this.

Just surfing the Net, I came across what, to all appearances, is a news report in text and video. It's at: http://www.news9today.com/smokingfuture/index.php It gives the appearance of a professional report on a safer cigarette, one that gives the smoker no smoke but an amount of nicotine, instead. I read the text, watched the main video, and clicked on the link (appearing in the text as "E-cigarette") to the manufacturer's web site, which is obviously an ad. Only after I did these and returned to the news page did I realize that above the banner in the text was the italicized word Advertisement. This news-appearing presentation, called News 9 Today, has video connections to actual reports by CBS, CHEX TV, and MSNBC. It's a creative ad, leading you to the manufacturer's site.

I decided to see Love Happens, which isn't a romantic comedy, but a view of how people need help in dealing with grieving when death occurs, particularly of a family member. It's set in Seattle, and one scene has the main characters visit the gravesite of Bruce Lee, his son Brandon in the grave next to him. It was observed in the movie how young father and son were when they died. And it's true. It wasn't a long scene, but it struck me as important that it was included in the movie.

I'd posted that the first move (that Cathal's video link went to) was also the first move in a Soo Bahk Do hyung, that move to flow into the next, which is a takedown. I spoke with my teacher tonight, and I did the first move, but instead of moving into takedown position, seized her fingers as though I were to perform a joint lock. (There was no need to go further.) She agreed that it was another application of follow-up from the first move, but to follow that lock with a neck break she considered way overboard. In the position the uke is in in that video, as I described it to her, he could be kicked in the stomach and you take off, or you could break one of his fingers and take off, but to wrench or actually break someone's neck isn't something my teacher, who is a fourth ("sa bom") dan would even consider.

I thought this would go better under General Chat, since it's not exactly what I'd call the art of the sword. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/samurai.sword.killing/index.html Any burglar who isn't crazed (as in "on something") would have bolted right then and there. I believe the defender when he said he was lunged at.

It's Mallory Senne, who does women's self-defense and has excelled at Aikido. Here's the focus on breaking the neck from another of her videos, this one on eHow/Expert Village: http://www.ehow.com/video_4949105_self-defense-neck-breaks.html The video you directed us to, Cathal, has her first move as the first move application in Soo Bahk Do's Chil Sung Il Ro Hyung, which is also taught as a defense from being seized from behind. But the second move in SBD is a takedown, not a neck break. I like the joint lock, but the only way I can see using that neck break is if you're kicking him like mad where he is and he just shrugs it off. How? He's on drugs, what else.

And please take age into consideration. I'm 57 and don't have the endurance of a 17-yr-old. I can fight him, fight him with power, if I'm in an actual altercation, but trying to keep up with him during testing isn't the same. Consider that we have to do form after form together for the same rank promotion. I take longer than those who are younger when I practice, and am pressed to go faster than normal for me in testing so that we resemble a unit, but I've observed the ones I test with, and they aren't as meticulous as I am, such as looking properly before turning. When everybody's moving faster than I am, and I'm to "keep up," I'm not demonstrating that I do know to give a proper look rather than the fleeting glance I've seen. Also consider that someone like me, in my fifties, can't just keep sparring, sparring, sparring and do well. In an actual situation, I'll be breaking the attacker's nose, teeth, bones--I mean it; it's not bravado; I'm not fooling around with non-contact sparring for "points" or holding back, performing only certain "approved for competition" techniques should it be for real.

I'd like to think that it would be, Kruczek, but I've found from personal experience that it took months to sense I was learning self-defense in both TKD and my present art, Soo Bahk Do. Regarding the latter, it was a year, supplemented by a self-defense JJ course, before I felt I'd acquired what I could use to defend myself. It may depend on the art, such as that I've learned in just a fistful of lessons in Jeet Kune Do how to hammer someone's face in and blast his knee and thigh, but JKD isn't the "art" that TKD and SBD are. It's truly "combatative." I think that, in this case, DWx is homing in on belt level promotions, which are grades in-between gup levels that may depend more on knowing the art than proficiency in self-defense. I couldn't say if she's also including dan level promotions.

Welcome to the Forums!

I can only comment on gup levels, not dan levels, but I've gone through both types in my gup testing, and I've found that do-it-all-at-once has been more of a test of endurance for me than when tested over a series of classes. I have much better demonstrated what I knew, especially since it is a physical activity, when spread out. In Soo Bahk Do, there are forms, demonstrations of certain strike combinations, one-step sparring techniques different from the strike combos, self-defense (against the wrist grab), tournament rules sparring, knowledge of terms and history, and a board break. Doing these all at once does not mean doing them as well as divided over at least three classes, nor does it mean "setting higher standards" to me. If you're interested in entering the ring, where you have to keep fighting, fighting, fighting, then endurance is a great requirement that's tested in combat. I say examine the gup student in the individual areas that testing requires over a series of classes.

I've had balance problems doing Soo Bahk Do, Bob, and I came across some videos by this gentleman: In this video, he explains about turning the supporting leg's foot for side or roundhouse kicks, the heel of the supporting leg facing the target, of course. In another video, which I didn't bookmark, he gave additional advice that is simple and effective. In this video, he speaks of turning the foot of the supporting leg, but how people frequently turn only the lower leg, not the upper and hip areas of the body. He's referring to needing to do this to protect the knee, but I discovered that by concentrating on the whole leg turning, my balance improved. He also says in this video to keep the supporting leg straight, as in not bending the knee.* Again, this is about protecting the knee, but I discovered that it's a balance aid. In another video, the one that I hadn't bookmarked, he suggests in a portion of it that beginners first turn the supporting leg, and then chamber for side or roundhouse kicks. While I didn't need to do this for the side "snap" kick in my art, I found that it was easier (as in easier=balance) to do a variation of the side kick, nicknamed the "screwdriver," by first turning the supporting leg and aiming its heel at the target. I suggest you examine that you're turning the whole supporting leg, have the heel of the supporting leg facing the target, and even try turning the supporting leg's heel first, then chambering, to see if it eases you into better balance. *EDIT: After reading Cathal's post, below, I realize I may not have been clear. I don't mean to keep the leg "ramrod stiff"; I'm referring to the video in which there's a noticeable bend in the knee by the demonstrator.

When I took a course called Street Survival, the instructor being a police officer with a dan ranking in Isshinryu, it was for adult men and women. The first hour was how to prevent being caught in a self-defense situation, and the second hour was the fighting applications. When we were kicking the heavy bag, the men went first, and we were encouraged to kiai when were striking, the explanation being to expel the air to add to the power of the kick. When the women were about to take their turn, the instructor said that they had an option. They could kiai just as the men did, for the same effect, or they could yell "No!" instead. Every single woman who kicked away at that heavy bag blasted out a "No!"

I understand that some who favor the roundhouse like to use the same leg to give double or triple strikes. It might be hit middle then high, hit low then middle then high--a chain of kicks that don't intend to move the opponent but to strike, strike, strike. I believe it's really a sparring move, but if it's contact sparring, it's got to have some effect.

My JKD instructor hssn't had me spar yet, not till I get JKD techniques down better being my guess, but I did see him sparring with two students (wearing gloves) while he gave me a break. One of the students tried a roundhouse, and our instructor moved in on him and turned, so that the roundhouse's thigh was striking the instructor's ready knee. Slick move. When I was first speaking with my instructor about taking JKD, I asked about sparring, and he told me it was light contact and to be done respectfully. I liked hearing that and, from what I saw, that's the way it's done in his training hall. I wonder if your instructor had had an incident, BenchModel, and so this is his "public" explanation while he avoids telling the true one.

The latter is really difficult to generate any sort of power with if you chamber to the front of the body.... but it does conceal your intentions. I'm really a low, and I mean low kicker, Michi. I go for the knee and the thigh, using my lower shin for the strike. I'll know I've improved in the JKD roundhouse when I can come down at a 45 degree angle. I think that where I'm hitting doesn't require as much power as, say, to the ribs and, from what I've been introduced to so far, seems to be in combination with a punch to the face. It's like high-low, high-low, or low-high, etc.

If you listen to Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA, there's a line she sings three times: and a Jay Z song was on. Well, I was listening to Elvis Duran & the Z-Morning Zoo on the radio, and the song was played with Miley Cyrus replacing "Jay Z song" with "Elvis Duran," so it was: and Elvis Duran was on. That must have cost a few dollars, but it's a NYC radio show, so there are deep pockets and an interest in keeping the show popular. Do you remember We Built This City by Starship (aka "Jefferson Starship") some years ago? Part of the song had a DJ with a great radio voice speaking and identifying a particular radio station, likely one in San Francisco. I remember that station after station made a deal to have its own radio ID replace what the DJ was saying. I couldn't say how many stations did it, but in the NYC metropolitan area, it seemed pretty popular. Clever advertising for Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA, but Starship and We Built This City was there first.

What surprised me the most about Soo Bahk Do is how I can understand forms moves/applications if I "think Tai Chi." What surprised me the most about Jeet Kune Do is the use of a front kick chamber to fire off a front kick, side kick, or roundhouse. Beautiful!

It's some coincidence that you're asking tonight, Tallgeese, because I just posted a surprise I got about that "screwdriver" side kick at: http://www.karateforums.com/post429558.html#429558 JKD really gets you thinking in different ways. Tonight was the kicking surprise (explained in the post, above), and we did a lot of bag work, which is different from the focus mitt practice we've usually been doing. The bag work was to do combos that the instructor decided on, but we had to keep moving, keep up on our footwork, and even "break rhythm," so that we remember not to be easily read by an opponent. The punching combos with focus mitts was replaced tonight with a wicked "slap" against a focus mitt held sideways. We learned to put our bodies into it, not just our arms, and when we really concentrated on having the palms (forget the fingers) hit the mitt, if you slapped the side of a guy's face, he'll really know it, and if you do it against his ear, it's going to do major damage. The class is an hour-and-a-half, so there was some time for our instructor to do some joint lock work with us. I was very glad about this, especially when he had that we were against a wall, and the practicality of joint locks came in. What I especially liked was that I could go further than permitted in my Soo Bahk Do class, in that we were cranking it up--first with the instructor doing it and having us feel the power of the lock, then with us on him, and finally with one another. I still do Soo Bahk Do and I respect that there are certain parameters that my teacher has to use as her guideline, but JKD really is a "combatative" art.

When doing the back leg side kick in combinations, this is the version that I have been trying to work with. It comes out well in one of the combinations we do . . . For someone new to follow this post, you would want to click on DWx's link in the quote. What a surprise I had tonight in my Jeet Kune Do lesson! We've done a lot of punching in my classes so far, and the front kick has been used a good bit too, but my instructor had time to demonstrate the three kicks used in JKD. The kicks are off the front leg, although JKD uses rear leg kicks, too, where applicable. The front kick used is a "pendulum" one, with the rear foot coming up to take the place of the front foot as it kicks. The side kick uses the pendulum and comes up/chambers just like the front kick; then you do the "screwdriver"! (I also found out that the roundhouse does the same action, turning into a roundhouse after the "front kick" chamber.) I immediately mentioned the "screwdriver" discussion we'd had in the forums to my instructor, and he allowed me time to do a number of front, side, and roundhouses on a WaveMaster, using that same chamber. I remember that a member of the forums mentioned she does her side kick the so-called "screwdriver" way, but her art isn't Jeet Kune Do. Well, it looks like it's lurking here-and-there in the martial arts community, ready to surface as a surprise to the opponent.

This is an interesting video about driving drowsy. It concentrates on teens in particular, but teens actually have excellent response abilities; inexperience is usually thought of when dealing with a teen, but this video puts another spin on how they "just want to get home," a feeling which adults have as well. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32774371#32774371

Do you find this area, this "ring" around the shoulder girdle, tense as you perform your punching exercise? If so, holding this tight state can lead to cramping. When I do Soo Bahk Do, I've had my teacher and even her teacher when she guest instructs tell me that I'm way too tense in that area. They've told me it takes from my endurance. I've worked on it and improved. When I do Jeet Kune Do, there are a lot of reps involved in punches, and my instructor has had me concentrate on being relaxed until almost connecting with the strike to the focus mitts. I will tire more easily if I stay tense/tight around the shoulder girdle. Holding that tension for a sustained period of time can only tax the muscles involved. I lose power in my punches bit-by-bit as more and more reps are performed; this is normal if there are really many reps, but the looser I am, the more power I retain fior a greater challenge. Since you've said you've been doing kickboxing for only a few weeks, Sibylla, it's possible you were tense before all these new reps and didn't feel the impact on your body. Now that you've got the technique down and the instructor has upped the reps, sustained tension is taking its toll.

I know someone whose grandmother insisted on continuing to drive into her eighties. Should she drive a family member, that person wouldn't let there be a second time. You could tell her till you turned purple that she was going to get herself killed, but she saw her car as her independence. One day, one of her sons said to her that she was going to hurt somebody someday. A child could run into the street, she wouldn't see him, and she'll hit him. A car could suddenly brake ahead of her, she wouldn't be quick enough to stop in time, and she could send someone to the hospital--or worse. That was it. That got right to her. She wouldn't drive after that because she didn't want to hurt anybody.