Chikara

I like your reasoning Tiger. What they don't know can't hurt them. Besides, they're both being paid for their services, they're not being cheated out of anything at all.

Well, the dojo I go to now is the Isshinryu one. We go force against force and bang our bodies to get hard. I'm going to quit as soon as I've finished paying the contract off. I have no problem with contracts, they keep business going. But, I'm not about to waste $ on classes by not going. Besides, it's only until October anyway. The new one is Aiki Jiu-Jitsu. It's taught by a male sensei, whom I respect and trust a lot. He came from a military background (I think Air Force) and he's seen true combat. He teaches us to save our bodies and not to absorb the pain, but to redirect the energy. He's the polar opposite of Sensei #1, he totally respects women. I've been doing classes with him about a month now. He has the men and women practice together too, unlike S#1. Oops! Gotta go! Ciao!

This is exactly the question I've been asking everyone I know! I do a purely stand up style and my sensei was very upset that I went to check out another dojo. He insulted me a lot, it was not a pleasant experience. / / It sucks because I'm a short woman and that style is a man's style. He's also constantly saying a woman trained in this style would have no chance against even an untrained man. Sorry, lots of angst here. Anyways, I really appreciated your article and will probably read it a lot and share it with some friends of mine, if that's okay.

It takes 2 1/2 (absolute minimum) - about 4-5 years depending on the dojo. I've been doing Isshinryu and Kobudo (the weapon part) for 2 years now and am ni-kyu in it. I've had at least 500 1 hour sessions. The weapon list isn't complete either. We were taught these: Short stick kata Nunchaku kata Urashi Bo Oar form (2 different forms) Sword kata Tonfa kata Horseman's Form (from Bando, not taught to all, but to many in the east coast) Our style is made up only of Goju-Ryu and Shorin-Ryu. Master Shimabuku also added Kobudo (weapon style) from one of his masters Taira Shinken. There, hope that cleared some things up.

I'm going to AJJ class again in just a little bit. Sensei said my abs aren't strong enough to take a punch yet, so I'm going to do a bunch of ab work. Today, I plan to do 100 situps, 100 pushups, and 100 squats. That's been my goal for a while, but I started school and it's keeping me too busy.

OMG! Class tonight was freakin' awesome! All we did were absolute basics, but we really went deep with it and were shown how it'd apply in real life. It's the best!

Impressive! Uh... all I've got is Aiki Jiu-Jitsu class tonight. Been noticing a lot of improvement in this class. I can't wait until I'm ready to test, then I'll feel better. I do a hard style now and this is a softer, more circular style. It's quite a change.

Nothing but class tonight. We focused on bo/bo kumite the entire class.

Also, the sensei for AJJ said that BB's don't even wear gi's anymore, just normal clothes for training. Cool huh!

Yup! All those ideas both separately and together. You do get to feeling the adrenaline feeling a little bit from the weapon stuff, even though they're fake.

Another good day. Today: 20 pushups 20 kicks 20 knees 10 punches Seisan Seiuchin Naihanchi Sanchin (always the Goju way)

What training exercise? The one I talked about, or did you mention one I missed?

Yeah, thanks! We're catching a little of Hanna, but not much. Must've been the weather.

Today: 20 pushups 20 situps 10 knees Seisan Seiuchin Naihanchi Wansu Chinto Sanchin Kusanku Sunsu 15 self defense against a punch.

Absolutely! I totally agree with what both of you had to say. My 2 senseis disagree on the matter of "kill or be killed." The karate sensei says not to leave a mark and to run first chance you get no matter what and to not do any preemptive moves. Of course, the karate sensei only teaches from a male perspective. If I was to ever be attacked, there's no jury in the US that would think I was out of line killing that person (only if my life was in danger.) But, I would if I had to because I care more about my life than I care about a murderer's, even if it's someone I know. The Aiki J-J sensei says to first disable the attacker, then get out of there. He's more sensitive to my kind of concerns and teaches ground stuff a lot, including standing, armed, no light, etc. I compared the karate sensei with the AJJ sensei and noticed the difference. Karate sensei only cares about competition now. AJJ sensei cares only for self defense (absolutely no tournements.) I'm no good at conclusions, so ciao for now!

Wow, you guys sound just like my new sensei! We had a blast one time practicing on the ground with knives and guns, multiple attackers, no light, and without using certain body parts. He would just say, "Okay, keep doing what you're doing, but don't use any hands." Just another idea to share.

The closest I came to anything MA related was watching the Karate Kid 3 and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I kind of fell off the wagon this week.

Yes, it's absolute myth that if you don't fight back, they'll ease up. Total garbage. It only makes them want to hurt their victims more. If there's a gun and they're still far away, I'd say run and don't let them take you to another location. It'll be isolated, removed, and completely up to the attacker. If you run, they usually won't shoot at you. If they do, they'll usually miss you. Better odds than being alone with them in the middle of nowhere. As for crime of opportunity, it's mostly done by people the victim knows and lives close to. It's also most often from robberies in the victim's own home. Goes against all the common conceptions of rape. This is an excellent thread, full of very important things to consider.

That dvd exercising is an excellent idea! I forgot about adding that to my daily routine. Thanks for that Joe! Um... didn't actually do anything at all today, wasn't able to. Mom hyper extended her shoulder and has to get injections of Cortisone (sp?) or it won't get better. So, things a little crazy right now.

Same with eating an oreo cookie; whole, in bites, or take apart and lick the cream. That's all. Besides, all arts have had some exposure to each other. Everyone knows about Japanese and Chinese arts, they were influenced by others just as they influenced others. Pankration looks just like wrestling, Chin-na just like Judo, etc. Getting off topic slightly. Oops! But, it's all beneficial anyway.

I suppose you could compare Bando to Pencak Silat, they include empty handed stuff, weapon stuff (both old and new weapons), knife fighting, and stick fighting. I don't know anything about it except what they have and that 1 bo kata.

An easy thing to forget sometimes, what with the differences in gender and size.

I agree, good to be comfortable at fighting at all ranges and in many different disciplines of MA. That way, they can't surprise you. Most dojos train only in ancient weapons and swords. How many of us carry a sword or a pair of sais with us? I'd say it's also important to get rid of what's not important and skip right to gun/knife/bottle/stick defense. The most common stuff first. Another thing, only have 1 technique for many different attacks instead of many techniques for only 1 attack. That will reduce the time you spend thinking about it and you won't hesitate.

Yes, to everything. We are always conditioning our limbs in Isshinryu. Of course, nowadays, my current dojo is only interested in kata and weapon katas for tourneys. I hate tournaments, so I'm switching. Thing about being in a close quarter fight is that those blocks really do work in close. We practice redirecting when they're trying to shove that blunt steel knife through our gut and it works. Yesterday, Sensei had us 1 at a time deflect and redirect his knife attacks. He started slow and further away, and gradually got much faster and much closer. It was amazing to see how effective it really was. Because by the end of it, he was actually going for it. And he said not to block with the hand, but with the forearm (hand still open).

I have noticed that most of us are into pure calisthenics. Of course, that does make the kata and kumite part easier. Hey! You got forum brown belt! Congrax!