joesteph

Hi Jenny! Welcome to Karate Forums!

I'm sure most members do some amount of practice striking with the knee. Watch an MMA bout, and if the knee can be brought in, it will be. I wondered about how members practice to strike with and block against the knee. When I study Soo Bahk Do, it's often been using the knee against a kick shield, putting my hands on top of the shield to pull on it (as though pulling down an opponent's upper body) and striking. When I took Self-Defense JuJitsu, we were only to place our hands on top of the shield or the holder's traps, and fire away from there. The differences, I found, were that I had more freedom to do a short jumping knee kick with the touch than with the pull, and it was also more "rapid-fire." Knee strikes are taught offensively in my art in one-step sparring and in forms. I realize that knees are a taboo in most sparring situations, but I wondered if anyone practiced blocking knee strikes, not just delivering them, at their dojo/dojang. I found just such an article, blocking that weapon, in the October 2002 issue of Black Belt magazine, "Knee Thrust" by S.D. Seong, in an interview with Cung Le. The article is on p. 64, and can be accessed in full at: http://books.google.com/books?id=b9wDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT5&dq=Black+Belt&lr=&source=gbs_toc_pages&cad=0_1#PPT63,M1

Congratulations, James! Wear it proudly!

Welcome to the forums, Inya. Is the avatar a photo of you doing a kick with a partner?

When I train with my boys on Mondays and Wednesdays, we leave the dojang and immediately go to McDonald's, something our teacher knows we do. I've seen kids wearing their dobaks there now-and-then for I don't know how long, and my sons wear theirs as well. Since I aid in my children's lessons, I wear my dobak with them. I don't see other adults wearing their uniforms, but I don't wait for others to do something to give me the go-ahead to do it as well. If anything, customers smile or are just used to us; the cashiers all know us and have no problem. Sometimes our dobaks have struck up conversations, all of which have been pleasant. On Thursdays and Fridays, I have my own lessons. I go straight home without changing, meaning that I'm seen wearing my dobak during the summer, going to my car, and in the winter, it's just the pants that can be seen due to the coat.

There's a good article in the September 2003 issue of Black Belt magazine, "High Risk: When Do You Act?" by Jim Wagner, p. 38. An excerpt reads: For someone to qualify as an attacker, three elements must be present: means, opportunity, and intent. Means refers to the ability to carry out the assault. Opportunity refers to his ability to carry out the assault at that moment in time. Intention refers to his desire to attack you. Often intention is implied--such as when you're withdrawing money from an ATM and a guy [threatens you]. The article can be accessed in full at: http://books.google.com/books?id=N9sDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT5&dq=Black+Belt&lr=&source=gbs_toc_pages&cad=0_1#PPT37,M1

In the June 2003 issue of Black Belt, there's an article on p. 48, "Beyond Technique," about a mother out sightseeing with her teenage daughter, and when a mugger gets rough with Mom for her pocketbook, the daughter enters into the fray. It's online at: http://books.google.com/books?i....PPT9,M1

Classroom teachers have found that the more teaching conforms to an organization's desires, the more creativity goes out the window. An example can be "teaching for the test" that the organization wants, but education (all that it implies) can suffer from a narrow focus; a stilted study can result. I can see creativity being applied in the martial arts by the teacher who will prepare students for testing, but also introduce that which is not organization-directed and yet has merit. This is the "truer" teacher. Now that the most recent test is over, my teacher is more open to asking us individually what we would like to work on/emphasize. It may be that two students partner up and work on something together, while others focus on something different; it may be that a good idea comes up for the class to do for a certain amount of class time. It doesn't mean that the teacher is foregoing what s/he wants to teach/what is expected to be taught in the art, but that there's room made for student interest and even students admitting personal weaknesses to be addressed. A recent example would be that my teacher wanted to use a technique from the defense against the wrist grab in a better self-defense manner (to redirect a middle punch). I felt my partner was too stiff doing it, but to make it work smoothly for me on him, I'd have to have applied more pressure against his shoulder joint, and he is sensitive regarding joint locks. Next class, I was permitted some time at my request with a dan member, and my application noticeably improved.

My teacher permits the younger ones who are orange belts (8th gup; 10th gup is white belt) to participate in the adult classes. One of the adults brings his daughter with him (age nine) to the Friday class. She's usually paired up with an eleven-year-old boy, so there's been no problem.

Welcome to the forums, NewLevel!

I think you're an exception to the rule, BB of C. The general rule would be to take in size and rank first, then see if there's something there that makes it otherwise. The instructor is likely the best judge, pairing opponents s/he knows would be fairly matched, rather than witnessing a series of lopsided victories, especially if there's a higher level/degree of contact.

Why do you include "size or rank"? Your martial arts background is listed as Cannon Style, Kuk Sool Won, Isshin-ryu, Capoeira, and Tae Kwon Do, and I doubt you're a smaller person. If you're against an equally or nearly-equally matched opponent, I understand, but what if you outweigh someone by thirty to fifty pounds, or is noticeably below you in belt rank, and likely far behind your MA experience?

OK. I don't do side kick at all, so i'm hazy on that . . . You'd lose a bit of power waiting until that late to swing the shin out, especially given that you are moving past the target all the time that you're doing it. I would think that your side kick would be limited by whatever power you had available after checking your own rotate. I know. I don't like the side snap kick myself. I was originally doing it with a much smoother and faster action, and it was a thrust side kick, but I was admonished that it wasn't the accepted way in my art, therefore I perform it this way when I've been called upon to use/demonstrate it. I used to do the side kick two ways, one being the snap when in the dojang, the other being the thrust when at home against a WaveMaster. But I couldn't keep doing that and have proficiency when in the dojang, so I only practice the side snap kick even at home. Since I've found it hesitant and telegraphing what kick I'm about to do, I don't use it while sparring.

Isn't this from Saturday's UFC broadcast? I'm sure I remember this sequence, starting with that flying knee. It makes me think of a Muay Thai fighter unleashed as a wrecking machine. Sometimes just a few seconds of a fight can be the most thrilling, especially if you can replay it--or save it on the hard drive. Thanks for the link, Night Owl.

In chambering for a roundhouse, say you're turning your body and raising your kicking leg so that your knee points towards the target/opponent; then your arcing kick swings out. In chambering for a side kick, say you're raising your kicking leg into what is like a front kick chamber, only you've turned your body, so that the kick will snap out against the target/opponent. That side kick can also be referred to as a side snap kick. Now think of your opponent watching you, and whenever you chamber for a side kick, you don't use the front kick-appearing chamber. You raise your leg just like a roundhouse, go past the pointing knee position, and from that tight chamber thrust out (not "snap" out) a side kick. Your opponent doesn't know when you raise your leg along the roundhouse path whether or not you're going to stop, point the knee, and swing out a roundhouse, or go past that roundhouse knee point and thrust out a side kick. If you picture or try these out, then I guess you can see how it's done with a hook kick, too. (I don't do the hook kick myself--because I'm awkward!)

You are apparently unaware of the original postings regarding this, Quinteros. A male member of the forums posted that he had been sparring with a fellow student, a female, at his dojo/dojang, and both were wearing protective equipment that included chest protectors. During the sparring session, the female student abruptly stopped and angrily called out to him to stop hitting her in personal places. The male poster stated that he was sternly reprimanded by his sensei and even punished. One of the responses to him suggested that he speak with his sensei to be aware of any special rules concerning sparring with female students. As I said to Brian in my asking him about special rules: Although I did not further explain that the protector she wore had the addition of two inner chest pockets, where two metal disks were slipped, I didn't think it was needed to be said. My question was based on what had been posted in the past concerning a sparring incident, and I thought my fencing reference made it clear why I was asking.

Same here. My children started, I watched, decided I should get involved to work with them, and it's turned out to be a benefit to me.

I like the way you put it, Justice Zero. There's something cavalier about it. "What's your choice of weapons? Swords? Pistols?" "Neither! Elbows and knees!"

When the posting on doing a side kick the "right" way, which was essentially about chambering, was active, one of the responses was by a member whose instructor had no problem with his chambering in such a manner that a sparring opponent couldn't tell by the chamber if he were about to shoot out a side, roundhouse, or hook kick.

I didn't know that Van Damme was a dancer before martial arts. It reminds me of David Carradine, with a dance background, whose interview for the series Kung Fu included a spontaneous jump kick by Carradine (not a martial art one; one that a dancer would do) that likely clinched it.

I remember working with Tai Chi "circular" blocks in the past, and my friend had attended a seminar that emphasized how these blocks are not actually circular. It'll sound odd, but the path is elliptical. Its resemblance to the circle can fool the onlooker--and the student, who's forcing the circle. An elliptical movement is nearly circular, can follow the body's natural movement (you're moving your hand and arm and shoulder and hips . . .), and is the path actually taken. Tonight, my teacher was having us redirect a middle punch in such a manner that it swung up and wound up slipping into a trap, while the other hand performed a strike. Then we altered this redirect to extend the opponent's punching arm out straight to lock the shoulder while the other arm aided in control. Neither of these moves were actually circular, but an onlooker would think my partner and I were performing circular redirects. If a colored line were drawn in the air, you'd see they weren't circular at all, but elliptical, and followed the natural movement of the body to execute the moves.

It looks like it's $329 at the web site. You could get a WaveMaster and select the optional single or double arm attachment, or both, and even select the leg attachment and make an entire Wing Tsun dummy. Or you could stay with the WaveMaster and just the single or double arm. Check out Century and AWMA: http://www.centurymartialarts.com http://www.awma.com

Hi Ashley! Welcome to the forums!

Well said, Tori.

Brian, since you mentioned the chest protectors, are there specific rules for sparring with females? I remember a past posting in which there was sparring between a male and female student, but the manner in which he sparred (he was the one who posted) was objected to. One of the responses was that he should have checked with his sensei if there were certain rules he was to follow. When I took fencing, my female fencing partner wore a different protector than I did, so a rule wasn't needed.