Mistassailant5

Well Muay Thai is already a form boxing. My advice would be to train in solely Muay Thai, but incorporate some of your old boxing punches.

I am not sure of stick styles, but there are obviously Bo staff styles

I think the children should be able to obtain a black belt... if they pass a series of tests. Its understandable that martial arts is not all strength, but there is no point in giving a black belt to one who is too weak to actually use the skills they learned.

There are some submission techniques that I believe are exclusively to judo, usually the gi chokes were primarily used in judo

Wrestling is a very difficult transition from traditional grappling arts, but even though your original training won't really help you on the mat, wrestling could possibly help you back in your respective art.

Aikido (contrary to popular belief apparently) is truly a very powerful art, for those who are commenting and saying it is impractical (no offense to any posters) they probably did not fully appreciate all the values and slight details that come with learning this art. In the beginning it may seem slow and impractical, but all of this is just practice for a real combat scenario. I have personally taken on two bullies larger then I am at once using purely aikido and I could throw them with ease. Try out this art, but only if you have the patience for it.

Aikido (in my opinion) is one of the most powerful self defense arts imaginable, and I use the term self defense because you literally can not attack with this art. Using your opponents momentum and slightly redirecting his force with a little bit of yours, a massive result occurs, like someone taping a spinning top. This is an amazing art if you can learn it so go for it.

I personally think that bouncing is ok because I personally am more agile while I am bouncing and I never thought it telegraphed your movements, if anything it would make them more random in my opinion.

Baguazhang/Baguaquang (yes they are different) are both very effective styles, especially against untrained fighters, and even trained fighters alike. Not many people are used to fighting someone who consistently moving in a circular motion which many arts can not employ very well so the circle walking puts you at a huge advantage.

No offense canuckeast but this is a pretty silly question. ANYONE and I mean anyone can always pick up a martial art, and there will always be an art for someone. For someone of your body type and past injuries I would suggest Aikido as an art. I personally practice this (and since I am also 5'10" but 165 pounds) someone your size will actually be pretty decent at it. Aikido is a Japanese martial art which uses many joint locks, takedowns, and throws which can take down the largest attackers. You should look into it more and you should try to find some local schools.

I train in 3 martial arts. You have to work harder but I think it gives me an appropriate defense in more situations

Elbows are a very powerful and versatile tool which users who are highly proficient in are devastating. Skimming the elbow across the skin causes deep cuts or a full on strike is heavy blunt trauma. You must be careful though, elbows can be very dangerous, I saw in a Muay Thai match someones head getting split open by an elbow. Just use your elbows wisely.

I try to practice my main Shaolin styles, but I have sort of developed my own style using a lot of attacks involving all the parts of the arm and using it like a whip.

Thanks guys. To Kuma and DWx, I know I need a teacher . Its just that as of now I can't afford to go to a school, thats why I practice by myself.

Well to answer your question. For the roundhouse kick my leg is certainly high enough, but it may be my hips arent turning enough. Second problem, I have been studying the martial arts by myself from books for 3 years. (I have actually been very successful, I have never lost a spar, even against black belts) But I have never trained in kicks. SO yeah.

Americanized with Chinese influence I believe

Hi guys. I am having a small problem here. I have recently tried picking up kicks since I have worked primarily upper body strikes for some time now and I just can't seem to get them to work for me. For example, for roundhouse kicks it seems I cant my foot travel far enough to hit the target or for a spinning back kick I cant get my foot up high enough. Is it a problem with flexibility because I believe I am above average in that, or I just need to practice more.

Work your angles and distances. For their kicks keep dodging to the sides while closing in and keep the distance nice and close, if they try to hit you with a close kick spin around them, they will get confused giving you a beautiful window of opportunity.

Besides the obvious aspect of cardio, muscle endurance is very important too. You can use light free weights using many reps to help increase muscle endurance. If you are doing freestyle or have to take powerful attacks from classmates, work on muscle strengthening and thickening using heavy weights or difficult body weight exercises.

I use repetition feints. Its when you continually attack with a similar move then when you feint to do the move again, you hit them with a different move and they are usually open afterwords

Grounded reflex bags are helpful for reflexes

LOW KICKS. Against one of my friends who is a boxer a destructive low kick to the ankle is so helpful. Once you take out a leg their speed dramatically decreases. Another suggestion would be trying to hit right in between the shoulder and collarbone (there is a small soft area there) and behind it is a nerve cluster so if you hit that with a powerful spear or nukite you can essentially take out is lead arm.

In my opinion he is not a true black belt, but my story is extremely similar to his. I can't afford to go to a school so I practiced by myself and I frequently challenge black belts of various arts and to this day I still have not one loss. He may not be a true black belt, but he may have the skill of one.

Then a spinning back kick followed up by a spinning back hand

METALLICA. That is actually a decent song by the way.