Kuma

http://www.desertwindmartialarts.com/index.html Kyokushin in Vegas. Striking Unlimited in LV is another good option. Ken Hahn has a strong Enshin background.

It's always nice to see when your hard work pays off.

On the money, distraction techniques is what is needed for a smaller weaker person to play their techniques.Distance, timing, and movement help too. Watch this highlight of Ryu Narushima, a knockdown fighter who at 5'6" and 154 pounds was routinely dropping fighters much bigger than him with his vicious lead high kicks.

Good post. That's my philosophy too. The hands and waist are the typical danger zones so that's where I want to loosely focus my attention.

In jissen kumite, the vertical fist comes in handy if your opponent has a tight guard and you want to sneak in a punch. Rather than throw the typical shita tsuki for example, where it turns under so the palm is facing up, I'll use a vertical fist to sneak in between his forearms and give him a good whack. Other than say maybe for hooks though, I don't really use it too much otherwise.

Excellent post. And yes, you will definitely know the difference when you feel it!

I know a lot of Goju Ryu schools do free sparring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXY4FgKlLok

It sounds like sanbon or ippon kumite, I'm guessing? If so then if you don't actually execute the technique at the target you're supposed to (i.e. you execute a chudan tsuki at their pectoral rather than their solar plexus) you're only doing them a disservice because then they don't really learn how to block the technique that's coming at the target. There is something to be said for control though. When I'm training with some of the guys who are newer to the art than I am, much like many other posters here I probably start off slow to let them see what they're doing, pick up the pace a bit to their own level, and then maybe a couple times give them one a bit beyond their abilities so they can see how to react to it. Control is still definitely needed though, which takes time to develop. Just start off slow with other students and either let them dictate the pace or try to stay in their own ability level.

Burpees are big in some prisons, since you don't have much room to work out. Doing a lot of them will give you a workout for sure. http://norulestraining.com/the-dreaded-prison-burpee-ladder/

If we knew what fighting stance you meant, then we could actually have a discussion. You could be meaning Daniel-san's crane kick ready stance for all we know.

Use duct tape, put a * on the ground, and work on moving on the different angles with counterattacks from each. Seems to be the easiest and one of the most effective ways IMO.

Realistic training scenarios will help you greatly in this. Rather than you and your partner bowing, assuming formal stances, and beginning the drill, have them approach you aggressively, with shoves and curse words and yelling loudly. This is one thing that many people do not account for in self defense scenarios. An overly intimidating person who grabs you first can often times make a person freeze in their tracks.

That's the boxer Butterbean. That was his first MMA fight and he essentially had no ground experience at that point. Genki Sudo is also an incredible martial artist and a superb athlete, a big difference from the average martial artist. Not taking away anything from Sudo by any means, but that can hardly be considered a regular event.

It all goes down to what you're training for: do or jutsu. Just because there's a lot of -do styles out there now, doesn't mean they weren't a -jutsu at one point.

I think you're missing his point. He's not comparing stats or actual matches, he's simply saying that everyone can lose to somebody else. If Fujita was sitting on a bar stool kicking back one and Sapp sucker punched him, that's a different story than two individuals going into a cage fully intending to be hit and hit another person within a rule set. That's also discounting the fact that the football player might just land a lucky shot, or the MMA fighter hurts himself which significantly hampers his skill, or any number of factors. In TUF they had that Brad Imes guy who was not great by any means but still won against guys with lots of extra training. And that's just in that limited rule set. Outside the ring is a whole other story.

Anything can build character. MA training is not exclusive for that.

I've actually never done it that way, every way I've learned has been the second way.

Mas Oyama studied Goju and Shotokan at the same time, didn't seem to hurt him. If it's simply distance and time, I can relate. I love training in Kyokushin but it's about a 45 minute drive one way and my instructor's and I schedules conflict at times, so I just started training in Muay Thai at a place that is less than 10 min from my house. The thing to keep in mind is to make sure which one you want to focus on. I'm training the Muay Thai to supplement my Kyokushin training, which gets priority if the two conflict. If you're going to simply train both without a goal, it might hinder you some.

This may be my year to try my first knockdown tournament so that's what I'm going to shoot for and train for.

Two different ways of tying a karate belt: Either way it's going to cross in the back unless, like still kicking said, you're using a really short belt.

My wife got me Wii Punch-Out and the Wii Boxing Gloves. I already beat King Hippo for the minors, gotta keep working my way up.

I especially like him as you can see how his techniques and approaches are constantly evolving. He stays on top of things and is constantly pressure testing and trying out new ideas. He also has experience with knife fighting as well (Escrima) which I think is important because I've seen a lot of knife disarm techniques where you could tell the individual teaching didn't really know how to use one in the first place.

I'll be the odd one out and disagree. If he's had a few years in already, he might know a few things. And if he doesn't want to give it up, that's admirable. When I was deployed overseas, that's exactly how I learned as I didn't want to "give it up" while I was gone. My vote is keep attending your normal classes, but do your Isshin Ryu kata religiously.

I think it's a bit too "fine motor skill" necessary. Though I like some of what Moni Aizik does, that to me seems more like something for a demo than a real situation. I much prefer this method by Kelly McCann/Jim Grover. It's simple, effective, and doesn't require tons of training to be effective. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NUcQMCLHGc

A lot of it just boils down to simple translation. A weapon is a weapon no matter what you call it. Best not to get too wrapped up on labels and what something is and is not. I've also seen it spelled "tunfa" and "tong fa."