KarateGeorge

Depending on the seriousness of the fight, a strike to the solar plexus can be a fight stopper too. I've been struck there before and it effectively floored me for a good minute or two (though it felt like an eternity! ). It's not a lasting effect, but having felt its effects, I believe that if its done properly, it might be enough to provide sufficient time to get away from an attacker.

I was surprised to learn how much my understanding of general body mechanics has grown, and continues to grow, from learning martial arts. Also, how even 6 years after taking my first karate class, I still love it and am still growing, learning and expanding my knowledge.

Hehe, don't worry. The 30's aren't refusing you.... LOL, you can say that again!!!

Welcome!

I'm a Christian and a Martial Artist. I don't see any reason why Christianity and Martial Arts should be mutually exclusive. I know many Christians can find it to be a stumbling block, but I think generally in those cases it mostly comes from a lack of understanding and exposure to the world of martial arts. Someone was mentioning earlier in this thread (oneheart, I think) that a lot of the concern for many Christians comes from the elements of Eastern philosophy. I'd agree with that, and in those cases, there are plenty of instructors within styles who don't focus on those portions of their art, and even styles of martial arts as a whole that don't have spiritual elements to them and focus more on the physical. It really does come down to the dojo, the instructor and the individual student and finding what's right for you as a student.

Yeah, that was very disturbing. Those guys can rot in jail for all I care, and I hope they get caught and do. People like that give martial arts a bad name for the 99.99% of the rest of us.

Well, I'm new here so I didn't know you from before, but welcome back and good luck on the job hunt!

I'm a member of the 30-39 bracket, but I refuse to accept that I'm in my 30's.

Hello, welcome!

I've had a couple good ones. I'd say one of my funniest ones though was on my test for red belt. I was doing a board break, and I was given the choice by the testing board of how I wanted to break the board. I decided to do a jump front snap kick with the board holders holding the board parallel to the floor above my head level so that I would have to kick straight up for height. I successfully broke the board, but they lost their hold on one of the halves of the now broken board, which arced in the air and flew back smacking me in the forehead and giving me a nice little cut. So the lesson I learned is that Bruce Lee was wrong. Boards really do hit back!

In my experience, a lot of people seem to start getting frustrated after those first couple of belts. I know I had those moments as well. You feel like you've been doing things for a while already and yet you're not yet able to successfully pull off some of the more advanced techniques yet. Don't worry you're not alone on that one. The best advice I can really give you is to not try and compare yourself against the other students. Compare yourself against your own potential. Are you growing and learning, and are you doing the best you can with it? You're still covering the groundwork that all builds up to learning those skills demonstrated by the brown and black belts. For the most part, a lot of those "advanced" moves are nothing more than fancier versions of the "beginner" techniques or just the chaining of multiple techniques together. It comes with time and training, and as you learn the basics and start getting the hang of it, you'll be introduced to new elements and expand on those techniques once you're instructor feels you're ready to step it up to the next level. Don't worry. You'll get there. Everyone learns at their own pace, and everybody has their own limits. Learning a martial art is a lifelong journey, part of which includes learning how to build on your strengths while learning to minimize or overcome your weaknesses. Keep at it and let us know how things are going!

There are definitely pressure points that are legit, without getting all hokey-pokey. But like JusticeZero said, there's a lot out there that I'm not convinced of regarding pressure points as well. There are some really good ones along the arms, shoulders and face/head that are easily accessible and if you know where they are you can easily test them on yourself to see what kind of effect they would have if you actually used them on someone. The biggest problem I see with pressure points are that in a real-life situation, they can be hard to successfully use. Pressure points are very small targets and even the angle of the strike can make a huge difference. Others are best applied with pressure rather than striking them, making it difficult to pull off unless you're in a grappling situation. In an altercation, everything is in constant flux and people are moving around so much that its hard to make successful, effective contact with a pressure point, but if you can pull it off, it can make a difference.

I've trained with escrima sticks, nun-chucks and sais, but I'd say my primary weapon of choice are escrima sticks. I'd love to learn the katana though.

Nice workout there! Thanks!

I've always been of the belief that a person's ability to do is not always the same as their ability to teach. Some people are amazing martial artists, but aren't able to clearly pass on their knowledge. Others may be average physically, due to various things, such as age, size, injuries, health conditions, etc., but they know their stuff and are great at passing it on and inspiring their students to be their best. Still others are both physically amazing and great teachers capable of passing on their art. There's an important place for both those who are physically amazing and those who are great teachers. There are great martial artists who have pushed the boundaries and challenged martial artists through sheer physical talent. But there are also those "unspoken heros" that though they may not be able to do the amazing feats themselves, they see in their students potential to do great things and inspire them to work towards being the best martial artist they can be. Those are the kinds of teachers that keep martial arts alive and ready to carry on to future generations.

I think one of the biggest keys of a deflection is to follow the direction of the attack. As a simple example, take a basic parry of a forward punch. The punch is moving in a general angle from their shoulder area towards their centerline. A parry from the outside in towards that centerline works with the direction of the attack so that you've worked with the angle rather than against it. I think the second biggest key is good footwork, which applies across the board. Proper footwork and stances make a huge difference in pretty much any technique you may attempt (unless you're down on the ground that is.)

I tend to find myself moving to the outside. Not only does it limit their attacks, but it also limits their blocks, making it easier for me to move to the offensive. I also adjust my distance based on who I'm fighting. If they seem to be a big fan of kicking, I try to keep in close range on them to make it difficult for them to pull off good kicks. If they seem to be a close-in person, I'll step back and try to keep my distance. My basic tactic is to try and limit their options and minimize their strengths.

1) Bruce Lee 2) Chuck Norris 3) Tony Jaa

My biggest physical limitation is my vision. Without my contacts, I'm blind as a bat, and because of the type of contacts I have to wear, they fall out fairly easily, which can be a problem during training. As a result, anytime we're doing any sort of contact activity, such as sparring, I just take them out. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, just because I don't want to risk losing a contact while training. Secondly, because if I'm in a self-defense situation, there's a good chance I could always lose a lens in the process of defending myself, so I figure its best to have trained with impaired vision so that it won't throw me off if I did find myself in that kind of situation.

Just saw it last weekend. Thought it was hilarious!

I've had about a year's worth of training in Wing Chun. I'm not entirely sure of the lineage, but I know Yip Man's in there somewhere.

Outside of class, I mainly do conditioning exercises, running a few miles a day, about 4-5 days a week, strength training (push-ups, pull-ups, crunches, weights), stretching, and then run through the katas and occasionally do some shadow boxing.

Kipon I - V Pinan Shodan Pinan Nidan Pinan Sandan Pinan Yondan Pinan Godan Bassai Dai

Hello everybody. I just discovered these forums a few days ago and have been lurking around reading posts. Since this seems like a pretty good group of people here, I thought I'd venture out from lurker status and introduce myself. My name's George, and I've been practicing karate for about 6 years, and currently have a Sho Dan ranking. I had to take a little over a year's hiatus due to scheduling conflicts caused by going back to graduate school for my Masters degree. After about a year away, I couldn't stand being away from karate any longer and decided to get involved with my old school again. Unfortunately due to the poor economy, my instructor closed the school down but he has been teaching out of his home gym which is significantly further away from where I live and he's cut his hours back. So right now I'm limited to going in on the Saturday morning class to help teach the kids. Teaching the kids is pretty fun, but obviously I don't get much of a workout of my own doing it, so I'm currently looking around at different schools near me that I can get some additional training of my own, probably a different style to be able to learn something completely new. I've found out the class schedules of a couple nearby schools and now just need to go check them out and see if any of them are a good fit for me. Anyway, as stated, my background is Shuri-te karate but my Shihan also trained to brown belt in TKD before switching to karate, so he incorporates some of what he learned from that as well, along with a few things he's learned over the years from other various arts and added to the mix. In addition to karate, I trained in Wing Chun for about a year, but had to give that up because of those darn scheduling conflicts. I'm looking forward to finishing my Master's so that I can get involved in a more active manner again!!! Well, I've rambled on long enough...it's good to be here and hopefully I'll be able to learn a lot from you all.