Kuma

If we knew what you defined as a "karate roundhouse kick", we could help you out more.

Depends on who you consider an "original Okinawan karateka." Karate is karate. You may be thinking of tegumi, or Okinawan wrestling, which is different from karate (but karate does have elements of tegumi in it).

Weapon disarms are much more difficult to pull off than many might believe. Also, at that close range, by the time he may have even realized his opponent even had a weapon he'd be very unlikely to react effectively. And if this "yob" (a great word, by the way) had jail experience where he learned to hide a shiv or small knife in his hand, any one of those pushes and punch attempts could have been much more debilitating. Even with open hands, some of these predators are clever. In a jail in my state, a female employee was attacked by an inmate who had Band-Aided ten small razor blades from a shaving razor onto each finger. He only assaulted her for about 30 seconds until he was finally stopped, but the poor woman needed something like 1500+ stitches to repair her face. ALWAYS assume there's a weapon. Even if he didn't immediately produce it, this yob could have had a knife hidden on him. After he got knocked down, he could have easily hopped back up, drawn it, and advanced back at his opponent. Fortunately it just seems like he was a mouthy goof who was all bark and no bite.

My wife and I both have the Nike+, it's a very nice training tool. It's pretty close to the pace at least once you get it calibrated so you can get an idea of where your performance levels are and whether you're running fast enough or not.

Good self control, but poor choice of tactics in my opinion. It's best not to let someone get that much in your space, let alone the few times the fellow allowed him to grab him. Fortunately for him this fellow was just some mouthy goof. It would have been much more unfortunate if said mouthy goof was armed.

If you're told to go 50% and he's going 100%, he should expect the same in return. If he's expecting to go 100% without repercussions, he should think again personally. If it happens again, I would still sweep him and if he complains, then go to the next higher up and let them know of the situation. Sounds like he's in the wrong.

Here's another instructional video for the side kick Sanda-style: http://www.flashmavi.com/video/sanda_side_kick.shtml

I think Sanda has some great side kicks. I've been working on side kicking this way and it's been working out well. http://www.myvideo.ge/?video_id=358994

I apologize if it seems like I'm picking a fight, just trying to present an alternative view. Hey, some of us like country!

In a situation like that, you always have to think worst case scenario. Let's say you do go running out unarmed at a suspicious guy who is standing next to your vehicle whose alarm is going off. There's a number of things that come into play with just this first part of the incident right here: **What if this guy is armed? In this case he was, but only with a knife. What if he has a firearm? This Josh kid wouldn't be giving his interview today most likely if he did. And, though in this incident the thief ran off first, what if the thief immediately responded with his weapon rather than letting this kid chase him? **What if he had friends? You may only see the one and go charging out, thinking emotionally rather than rationally, only to find out that there is multiple actors outside that now you have to deal with. **Let's say you do chase the guy now, and while you're chasing him he manages to fall down and seriously injure himself. Now you just opened yourself up for a civil suit. Worst, what if while you're chasing him, something happens to you? Accidents happen everyday. In 2008 a man tried to shoot another man who was stealing his cell phone and accidentally shot and killed a 4 year old instead. I'd hate to be in his shoes. **Now you finally caught up to him and during your fight you hit him and he falls to the ground, splits his head open, and dies. Now you're facing involuntary manslaughter charges just to protect your Garth Brooks CDs. If he was a police officer, he gets paid to chase the bad guys so that's no problem. However, as a civilian, he faces a lot more limitations and also does not have the advantages a police officer has (i.e. defensive weapons, protective vest, and a radio to call backup). He's running off into the dark after a thief with nothing to protect himself and no way of knowing what he's getting himself into. He got very lucky. A lot of people don't. Here are a number of incidents from this year alone where a civilian confronting a thief ended up on the losing end: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/15/woman-killed-by-car-thief http://www.king5.com/news/local/Man-killed-by-medical-marijuana-thief-87674627.html http://theknoxvillejournal.tumblr.com/post/1269604151/knoxville-man-killed-in-burglar-confrontation-on-andes There are also incidents where someone stopping a thief accidentally went too far and ended up killing them. I can guarantee that won't go over well in court. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313952/Security-man-killed-shoplifter-Guard-choked-death-35-perfume.html http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7042101.html

No material possessions in my car are worth dying over. This guy's just lucky that he didn't. Even though I'm an LEO myself, I would still do exactly what I said before because it's the safest choice. Worst comes to worst, they just don't catch the guy. I doubt he's coming back, and he'll be caught again eventually.

I agree completely. The smart thing would have been after frightening off the thief (as technically that's what he really was; a burglar enters a building) would be to immediately call 911 and provide them with a description and which way they ran. Instead he gets sliced up over a few measly items in his car. From the look of the one on his shoulder, he's darn lucky his assailant didn't clip an artery. Stupid move, lucky for him he survived.

I wouldn't say this was just an MMA thing. Many if not all pro fighters do this type of training. In my Kyokushin training we spend a lot of time on kihon and kata, not just kumite, as well as conditioning. Nobody can train full contact all the time every day for long.

I agree. I'll take padwork any day over bagwork, but bagwork is a good alternative.

Interestingly enough, I think the actual conversation quoted is taken out of context. Bruce: When you use your leg it is much better - to kick at the phone pad or whatever - watch out with the side kick on air kicking - not air kicking too much. If you snap it too much without contact at the end you can get hurt." It seems Bruce is advocating padwork with a partner more than kicking a heavy bag, and discourages his students from too much air kicking. Another quote of Bruce's explains the main reason why he doesn't like kicking the heavy bag is because it doesn't react and isn't very dynamic. In this case I would wholeheartedly agree with him.

That's the way my dad was, and that's the way I plan to be as well. Being picked on in school was actually how I got into boxing. My dad just kept teaching me the 1-2 combo and told me to go for the nose. The average wannabe tough guy doesn't like seeing his blood on his shirt, so it takes the fight out of them quick was his philosophy. Still a pretty good one for scuffles with bullies in my opinion.

You can't increase power without actually hitting something. Striking is about penetration, and if you don't have anything to penetrate you can't develop power. This is very poor advice.

That's a fantastic idea, as you never know where you'll have to shoot from. A sad, but good example: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_667925.html He was actually on top of her when she managed to draw her gun and fire, killing him before he killed her.

Actually Oyama only claimed to have studied Chinese Kempo when he was living in Korea from his family's Chinese servant starting when he was 9 and leaving Korea when he was 14. During the time he lived in Korea (1923-1938) Korea was underneath Japanese rule and any Korean cultural practices (including Taekkyon and other Korean MAs) were forbidden. Taekkyon was virtually wiped out during that time, so the chances that Oyama actually studied it were pretty slim. I don't think anywhere has Oyama ever claimed to study Taekkyon.

Good training, OSU. joesteph - We don't wear chest protection in Kyokushin either. Occasionally injuries do happen but not too regularly. After a while you toughen up fairly well.

Considering your injury, swimming seems the safest for now.

A lot of it takes time to get comfortable with. The main thing is to understand that deep down this is supposed to be fun. Sparring is not really a fight per say, it's more about a technical exchange between two people scaled to the level of the less experienced person. It's a learning tool more than a competitive one. Understanding this and taking it to heart really helps in the long run.

The popular Korean arts of today primarily came about due to the Japanese invasion of Korea, so I'd say your friend is misinformed. Fujian White Crane would be a good place to start. However, there's no clear cut history of karate so it's all only theories. There probably was a better idea which was all written down, but thanks to the Battle of Okinawa they didn't last.

I wouldn't say that. Check out the two pictures on this website: http://seinenkai.com/articles/swift/swift-tidbits2.html Funakoshi in action demonstrating some grappling bunkai. The article itself is pretty interesting.

I'd use this time to give it a rest and work your kicks like crazy.