Wastelander

I think that Agenda was trying to ask what we should be looking for on your channel? Are you going to be running kata on video to track improvement? Are you going to spar on video to get advice? Are you going to discuss philosophy or history? Does it make sense when I ask that way?

Just tell your instructor (as best you can, anyway) if your voice is still gone and you can't kiai and it shouldn't be a problem. Remember, when you kiai it isn't the noise that is important, it is the compression of your core and the release of energy, and you can do that without a voice.

No, I don't believe Ronin Brand uniforms are made in Japan--the one I have was made in Pakistan and it is just fine.

I'm of the opinion that fists are for soft targets so you don't need them to be super-conditioned, anyway--just enough to keep them safe if you miss. Knife hands and palm strikes are much better for striking hard targets.

I don't really develop callous very easily, so between that and the dryness of Arizona my knuckles still tear open. I would say that they are tougher than your average office-worker's hands, but they aren't warrior's hands.

I put in another vote for BDU pants, but if you really want gi pants just buy them and have a place that does alterations add pockets for you.

I'm not working on any technique, per se, but I need to work on using technique to beat someone stronger than me. I went to my first no-gi grappling tournament last month and was eliminated in my very first match because they guy was so strong that he was able to physically immobilize my hips FROM INSIDE MY GUARD (my guard game is good, at least for a Judoka, and I typically land armbars and triangles very easily from it) so I couldn't do any submissions, and then when he finally passed my guard he just squeezed my head into his massive chest and smothered me until I tapped for lack of oxygen.

The adult class at my dojo is after several childrens' classes, so most of us are already warmed up from helping in those and we skip warm-ups. Stretching prior to exercise has been shown to actually decrease muscle effectiveness, so stretching is an after-class activity to work pooled blood and lactic acid out. Our adult classes don't follow a rigid schedule, but we tend to start out either with basic techniques or kata, then move on to bunkai or advanced techniques and concepts, and sometimes we will work concepts as they are trained in other arts (tai chi concepts, kung fu concepts, muay thai concepts, etc.). The childrens' classes are more structured. Typically they start with warm-ups that consist of kicking across the mat, doing lunges, rolls, or crawls, jumping jacks, etc. After that we work basic techniques, either in the air or on bags or handheld pads/targets. Sometimes that is the entirety of the class and sometimes we work kata for the kids as well. We have separate sparring classes for both kids and adults, but my Sensei talked to me last night about working with the kids on some sparring basics to help ease them into the idea. Apparently when he gave out the official rank requirements for the dojo (they use the Shorinkan requirements as a base and he added requirements that he thought were important) he had a few kids get very upset and tell their parents that they didn't want to do karate anymore because he is requiring them to spar for rank at Purple Belt and up. Starting Monday I get to start trying to show the kids that sparring isn't scary or bad and that they can have a lot of fun doing it, all while making sure that they DON'T get hit until they get over being afraid

I don't mind talking, but I do mind not training. Martial arts training is fun for me and for the people I train with, so we will talk a bit while we train--never while the instructor is speaking or demonstrating, of course, or when we are working something full-speed, full-power (awfully hard to talk when you're busy breathing ).

I do not, personally, throw roundhouse kicks to strike with the ball of the foot--it's very difficult to pull your toes back while kicking at an angle like that, and I've messed up my toes enough that it's hard enough pulling them back for front kicks. That said, I would say sitting in kiza is probably your best option for stretching your toes, but you will still need to develop the muscles in the tops of your foot to be strong enough to hold your toes back or you will just have flexible toes that still don't bend back any further.

You are going to tear up your knees if you kick the air full-force to full-extension. It's going to take a while longer before you can increase to full-force kicks in the air, but still don't fully extend them because that is going to seriously stress the ligaments and cartilage in your knees. It takes time to develop your kicks in the air, and it will teach you to have very good control with your kicks later, so take your time so you can keep kicking into old age.

I'm 6'1" and 176lbs and physically quite weak for my size. I have only trained in karate and I can hit as hard as my strength, body weight and leverage allow. I have sparred with a former pro boxer and his comments were only on my head movement and some of my angles of attack, not my power. Boxing is not the be-all-end-all of powerful striking.

Dehydration is bad--we don't take breaks from class specifically to drink water except during intense classes or kids' classes, but we are always allowed to keep a water bottle next to the mat and grab a drink when we need it.

How long has he been training?

I go through kata or yakusoku kumite just about every day, and at the VERY LEAST I work some kihon every day. You aren't just a martial artist when you're at the dojo

And that's fine. There is nothing wrong with schools that compete a lot, and there is nothing wrong with schools that compete very little--it all depends on what the martial artist wants out of their school.

Try to keep your competitiveness under control--forcing your children to compete if they don't want to isn't going to do anyone any good. As far as tournaments go, they are decent promotional events for getting people to know the martial arts schools in the area, and they do make some money for the organizers if done properly. Beyond that they can be a fun and interesting event for martial artists to be involved in because you get to demonstrate what you know, see what other styles are out there and see how you stack up and what you might want to work on. If your friend's kids are making fun of TKD you should have a talk with your friend or their Sensei--TKD does have a reputation for being watered down more often than other styles, but that doesn't mean that the TKD your kids are learning is bad and regardless it doesn't give those kids the right to make fun of another art.

I believe it is quite a common practice to have belt ranks for MMA in Brazil. I don't really have an opinion on it one way or the other, but I thought I would throw that out there.

Oops, sorry I missed this--they were in Pekin at the Dragon Dome, but it was marketed as "HIVE MMA", I believe. The guys from Granite City were decent, but everyone else was pathetic. I'm from a little town roughly between Morton and Pekin, by the way. You have to remember that "fat" does not necessarily equal "out of shape". I have known a lot of guys with plenty of fat on them that have better cardio and strength than me, and I do believe that constitutes being "in shape" despite outward appearances.

I'll admit right away that I haven't read this entire thread, but I am seeing the "competition vs. self-defense" argument and so I thought I would jump in here. Can arts that actively compete be useful for self-defense? Yes. Can arts that do not compete and focus on self-defense be useful for competition? Yes. Does competing prove that your art will work for self-defense? Not necessarily. What matters isn't so much the content (it does need to be effective content, but most martial arts do contain similar content that has been proven effective over time) but the method of training. At my old dojo we also had Haganah classes (very similar to Krav, but more controversial) and they were actively resisting each other in practice. If they were practicing on someone who stops as soon as you start to defend then it wouldn't be very useful for self-defense, now would it? Those guys didn't compete, either, but having trained with them I can pretty safely say that they could fend off an attack pretty well. That said, I have trained Judo in two different dojos with different points of view on the art. My first dojo taught 50% tachiwaza (standing techniques) and 50% newaza (groundwork), although really it probably ended up being more like 35% tachiwaza and 65% newaza. That is because the instructor wanted us to know what to do in a grappling situation whether we were standing or on the ground and how to transition between the two. That is a self defense concept more than a competition concept--we very rarely ever competed outside of our own dojo tournaments (we had three affiliated dojos and twice a year they would hold a tournament together). My second dojo taught tachiwaza almost exclusively (we worked two classes of groundwork in the two years I was there) because that's what wins competitions, and we did the throws with a lot more commitment than I ever did at the first dojo because that would make sure we threw a resisting opponent. That all works fine on tatami mats in a competition but do you know how many times the person throwing would end up hitting their head on the floor? That doesn't work out very well for you in a self defense situation. Sure, fighting with the adrenaline rush and stress you experience in a Judo competition is definitely going to give you an advantage in self defense, but it still doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you smash your own head on the ground when you throw the guy who grabs you. tl;dr - Competition can be helpful and teach you to fight under stress, but it isn't the be-all-end-all method of determining effectiveness--how you train is more important than what you train and whether you compete. At least, that's my take on it.

Thanks for the input, Jim. I'm not completely untrained on the ground, so I am familiar with leglocks (straight leglocks are allowed, but twisting leglocks are only allowed in "absolute" matches) and I know not to go belly-down, in general (I've never been a staller in my Judo competitions when it comes to groundwork). I appreciate the advanced warning that choking against the face and grinding crossfacing is allowed--I've tapped out more in practice from chokes crushing my jaw than from chokes on my neck.

Hello everyone, I am planning on competing in a no-gi grappling competition this Saturday to see how well I can adapt my Judo to use without the gi. The tournament will mostly consist of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, so I'm just curious to hear if there is anything I should expect aside from them shooting for single- and double-leg takedowns and doing that irritating guard-pull from standing. I'm still not sure whether I should enter in the Beginner division or Intermediate division (I'm assuming they have these, but all that's listed on the website is weight divisions so it may be a non-issue) because I've had about 4 years of Judo training and 2 of those years had a heavier focus on groundwork, but none of that necessarily equates to BJJ experience. Any tips, tricks, or advice on what I can expect? Thanks!

I doubt growing domestically would bring hemp prices down. Like many things, I'd bet it would be cheaper to produce overseas, despite transportation costs, but I definitely agree that increased volume would bring down costs. One advantage to hemp, as I understand it, is that hemp is more "green" than cotton, and importing is less "green" than buying locally, so I'm sure "green" customers would prefer domestic crops. I didn't know that growing hemp commercially was prohibited in the US. As I understand it, you cannot get high off the hemp plants used for textiles. The funny thing is that I'm in California and medical marijuana here is quasi-legal. The state says it is; the federal government says it's not. Thanks for the info! You are correct--you can't get high off of textile hemp because it has less than .01% THC content. Apparently that's enough for Congress to say that people can't grow it, and in fact you can't even buy the seeds (which are edible and highly nutritious) unless they are sterilized first. As for domestically grown hemp not bringing down costs, I suppose that is true in the sense that it would cost more to harvest because employees get paid better here, but I still think the lack of shipping and the increase in stock would at least make a small dent in it. You're definitely right about it being more "green" than cotton because it doesn't need much in the way of chemical assistance to grow (herbicides and pesticides), and if you don't bleach it white like they tend to do with cotton you are keeping that chemical out of the equation as well. Besides, bleach weakens natural fibers (including hemp) so I'm not all that big on bleaching stuff that I want to last

Unfortunately, the attitude is part of school wrestling. Then again, intimidation is part of the game, and confidence in hard earned ability is better than low self esteem due to lack of effort. Since I only wrestled for about a month and a half in school (the coach always made me practice with guys two years older and 20+ pounds heavier than me, so I got hurt a lot and never got to learn anything) I missed out on that, beyond seeing the attitudes of the overwhelming majority of the male population of my school. Personally, I stick with the "emotionless" look for intimidation purposes--the strutting and showboating just seem stupid to me.

I can't see the video because I'm at work, but I'm going to assume it's the mohawk-headed wrestling kid? He has great technique, and I saw some good Judo-style throws, but he has one heck of an attitude. I saw some other videos on YouTube and it kind of seems like his parents are grooming him to have that cocky tough-guy attitude already and he's only 8.