brickshooter

The interesting thing is that showmanship also found its way to kumite competition. One has to be conscious of where the ref and judges are. One has to hold one's attack out a little longer to impress the judges. Yell to make sure the judge awards the point. Sometimes, one strikes a little "pose" after making contact. A lot of drama.

What irks me the most about BJJ are some of the marketing and promotion. Rather than talk techniques, some BJJ practicioners prefer to humiliate other martial arts. I think that this type of marketing works well for the very young person or those with limited intelligence. But it really turns off most people. My enemy is my attacker. My enemy are not the other martial arts.

I think it's the individual. The winners of any sports are hyper-competitive and they're willing to go the extra mile to gain a competitive advantage. Losing in a kata competition hurts just as bad as losing in kumite. For them, losing is just losing. They don't reason that kumite is more or less important than kata. It burns them just the same to lose. Consequently, they train more than the rest of us. Far more. Re Athleticism. Obviously, it is a big factor. But at the highest level of competition, everyone is an athlete. But there are some who will get more out of their ahtleticism by working harder in the weight room or on the tracks. Those are the hyper-competitive ones.

I wear a 10 ounce (tropical weight) white Muegen gi. Tried my Judo gi when the Karate gi was dirty. But the double weave + summer heat + no side-tie-strings drove me nuts.

I'm not sure whether more sparring is better for self defense. The problem with sparring is that you're limited to techniques that won't permanently harm your classmates. Can't really poke him or her in the eye. Can't crush his testicals with a bionic grip. Can't improvise by grabbing a brick and hammering him with it. Second, the military and police don't generally spar. They do self-defense drills. Over and over until it's second nature. Yet there's no outcry for the need of more sparing in either organizations.

I think that modern militaries teaches a soldier the skills he needs on a modern battlefield - marksmanship, concealment, calling in air strikes, navigation, cleaning a rifle, etc. At the very bottom of the list is where hand-to-hand combat is. And that's after a soldier loses his sidearm and knife. Even at the commando level. I think their view of hand-to-hand combat is with the use of a dagger to kill. It's not an armbar or a MThai round kick. I don't have an issue at the techniques taught in Krav schools. I think that they're all effective for self-defense. I just have an issue with the Krav marketing machine implying that they have a perfect system, because commandos, the military and the police use it. Reality check. Commandos, the military and the police rotate in martial arts instructors from ALL styles to teach.

Stronger? All I know is that Shukokai follows the natural body mechanics in generating force as other sports such as throwing a football or hitting a baseball.

IMO, the Krav Maga that is taught to actual IDF Commando is not being taught to the public. What I'm seeing out there is a watered-down edition that looks a lot like MT/BJJ combo with a little weapons defense. Why? Probably because the whole point of teaching the public self-defense is ... self-defense. Not stalking and killing another human being, which is what commandos do. I don't even think that what is taught to IDF commados are even taught to the rest of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) nor police. A lot of clever advertising.