MasterPain

This is part of my point, in the first section of bold, we talk about kata as a training modality that combines many aspects of combat. Fine, and very true with the right instructor, system, and kata. Again, to really have all this integrated the way instructors of old did them you'll almost need to find a kyoro art. You have access, a vast majority of karateka don't. But it's A modality. One can just as easily, and in fact more easily construct, drills using modern equipment and two men that more accurately mimics a conflict than by doing kata. To the second point, you point to understanding the dynamics of a fight. And the end of the last point leads into this. Kata IS NOT dynamic in any sense of the word. A fight is, but kata is not. It's always best to try and train as close to the event's parameters as possible. This is where, to me, from a combative aspect, kata has been surpassed by an understanding of training and learning. Dynamic is controlled, armored, non-premeditated work against a live aggressor trying to fight you. It's movement and work on the mitts that minics a fight by allowing the trainee to move into locks and takedowns (there's an article in the article section about this), it's working some version of sparring that allows one to test their systems tactics against resistance (as sensei8 often refers to). It's just a modality that does not, in any way, based on my experience and the thoughts of experts in the field of combat preparation (see Howe's Leadership and Training for the Fight as well as his book The Tactical Trainer for his thoughts on the breakdown of combat training- granted it's a different field, but the principles are what's important) deal with preparation for a fight. One point that sojobo and I agree on after going thru several points, is that we're (and I mean me) are not saying no one should do kata, but that if you're training to fight there are probably faster, better ways to prepare. I agree with all of this, but at what point is it no longer karate? If we go all out with combative effectiveness, you'll have a sidearm. A Smith and Wesson negates both the "empty" and "Chinese" translations of "kara". If you take away the prearranged kata, and train the applications of the movements within, then it can no longer really be "Goju Karate" or "Shotokan Karate", so while still being karate based, what is the new system? If you use BJJ as a delivery system for strikes, is it still BJJ?

Oh no! We learned Jiu Jutsu from Youtube!! Anyway, good stuff. Thanks.

On a serious note, Bill Hinzman, the actor who played the first zombie to appear in Night of the Living Dead and therefore the first of the "modern" zombies, has passed away of cancer at the age of 75. It's sad to see the passing of a cultural icon. May he rest in peace.

I think that continued training during these overweight and undermotivated periods of time is what separates the lifers from the get-a-black-belt-and-quit types. If you really love the arts, you should practice even when you're not consistently making progress. Then when the urge to dramatically improve hits, you'll be more ready. Those who quit entirely during these times often never start again. As far as the spiritual side of training, I think of Dogen, founder of Zen Buddhism in Japan. He placed huge importance on zazen (seated meditation) practice as a way to let go of attachments. So much so that his last wish was to die in zazen, surrounded by his fellow monks. I'm not a zen practitioner, and you won't find me seated in a temple for hours. But I do know that when someone is trying to punch you in the face, everything else falls away and you get to experience the moment in its thusness, as they say, and for a time, all is right with the world. Every new student, I hope will get a feel of this, find joy in it, and take the art beyond what I give them.

If you define a martial art by what it simply IS, then it is a system of violence. If you instead choose to define it by it's periphery benifits, it is much more. To me, baseball is just a game. I wonder what baseball is to a little league coach, or someone who went to see games with their grandpa when he was still alive.

I'd much rather be able to outrun someone than "beat them up." The grass is always greener over yonder.

2/2 Cardio circuit for 1/2 hour Dumog/ Aikijujutsu technique then randori for an hour then an hour discussion of the duality of man, compassion, personal responsibility, philosophy and emotional junk.

Bullied kids commit suicide on occasion. You may have saved a life.

There are consequences for actions. At least there should be. Sometimes consequences hit you in the face. Did the bullying stop after this?

Great topic. I love throwing out the old quote about the definition of the word is. Define fight. Instruction of what? Self defense? Knockdown tournaments or mma? Lots of legit answers possible. Competitive fights are great fun, and educational. The best use for full contact competition for the defense-minded martial artist is dealing with the adrenal response. Knowing you are going to fight a trained individual who is actually trying to hurt you in front of 1,000 people is a stressful situation. Learning to function with a clear head in this state is a great tool for self defense. Other than that, it gives your technique a reality check, although if you needed a reality check, you most likely lost. You should have gotten your reality check at the dojo. I have a friend who coaches mma fighters and they are doing quite well. Ask him if he's ever fought and he'll tell you simply "Almost every day." Frankly he needs to lighten up, he's not young enough to be getting hit like that all the time. The funny thing about self defense training, is a bit of LARPing is needed (Magic missle not necessary, though fun). Scenario training is a little strange that way. Adult games of cops and robbers are great. I've been in 2 mma fights, but I pulled a rubber knife out while sparring and got hit harder than I've been hit in the cage, because large men with knives are scary. We take our fun seriously, I guess. There is no competitive arena for knowing when to lock your doors, find a better parking spot, yell "help, help, I need an adult", deploy weapons, run like a frightened child, or tell someone how there is hope for a better future so just go with the nice men over there, ect.. The only place escape is winning is a WWE steel cage match. In real life, escape unharmed is winning, usually. For that matter, MMA fights are between willing, legally protected fighters. Imagine if the winner had to defend level of force used, the continued attack of a downed fighter, forward aggression against someone who is retreating... Self defense is much more than fighting. Point to my rambling, is one is to be gathered, is that there is not a competition for self defense, but that doesn't give an excuse not to test technique in a manner as close to a real situation as possible.

I think that depends on your definition of the word "is." I say yes. Kihon, I am led to believe is made up of parts of kata. Even if a person learned letters out of alphabetical order and could not sing the abc's, they could still use letters to make words.

Paul Vunak says that there are specific positions and ways to effectively bite, and that a person should have the equivalent skill of a BJJ blue belt in ground fighting before they ever bother to study it. I'm not saying biting is useless, humans are omnivores with good incisors, but like eye gouging, it's not a magic bullet.

Um, I know Master Tanaka was his shidoshi, and he mastered the Dim Mak (breaking the bottom brick) and somehow learned a gymnastic style of kickboxing from a guy who does some kind of Aikido, then won a secret tournament of death matches while AWOL, but I'm not sure what Frank Dux is doing here. I was looking for cheap tricks and such. Another good one is the can-opener neck crank to get a chance to get your base back in the guard. Stepping on the foot of a retreating boxer. As far as wrist grabs, I've transferred the defenses and wristlocks into ground fighting and Greco style clinch. While lower percentage than other things, I've found a lot of uses for them in live sparring. Only in the dojo for me as well, although other than competing, no one has ever sucessfully punched me outside of the dojo either. Brian, our school's grab defenses all include at least one strike. I did use a kotegaeshi on someone who grabbed my collar when I was a teenager, the guy was a lot bigger than me, so I negotiated aggressively until he was convinced I was not the easy victim he wanted. A wristlock was the best response at that time. People can yell low percentage all they want to, but it saved me from a fistfight/ wrestling match with someone who might have hurt me. The main part of training should be spent on high percentage technique, but don't discount everything else as useless. Stephan Kesting says the same thing here.

Ancient Secret Ninja Techniques are what I like to call useful stuff so simple nobody bothers to train it, or useful stuff that gets ignored because of rulesets or whatever other reasons. I'll give a couple examples. The Shove Basically, trying to push someone as far away from you as possible. Useful for escape, weapon deployment, or even to stop an opponent's forward momentum. Not of as much value in competitive fighting, so many people don't practice it or think of it a a martial technique. Front kick to the shin Something a child would do, but it hurts. Especially by someone in boots or hard soled shoes. We mostly train barefoot, so it doesn't seem as effective. Along the same line are punches to the arms. They don't hurt much with gloves on, but are awful bareknuckle. Anyone know some others?

That's not my only reason, but it's a big one. Sensei8 covered most of it other than that.

I absolutely refuse to teach people like this, I also don't care to learn from them. They are usually very ego-driven, bad personality traits travel in packs in most people who have them, and will hurt you when training.

For me, that's all there is to say on the subject. A huge part of what a person gets out of training is the personal interaction. If you don't like the guy, can't trust him to keep confidence...ect... I just can't imagine any instruction being worth dealing with that.

Until the show starts back up, here is some zombie goodness for you guys. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDyt9dme23Y

Why the specific style? What is available in your area? Why not there? What are your goals in training?

Seems like for every story like the Guy Mezger deal, there's one like this. Sad. And yeah, jumping on the hood was most likely a bad idea in any case, but my thing is- what was he trying to accomplish? Should have let the guy have the car. But it's hard to say how I'd react to this situation. It would be hard to ignore someone screaming for help, and there's not time to think things through very well.

sorry about the stick in the eye, hope your cornea is ok. Did you watch Enter the Dojo's Dance of Death yet?

I saw this on your facebook and came here to say the same thing.

The human race is very egocentric. The fact that many of us consider the zombie apocalypse to be the the end of the world says a lot about our perspective. The zombie apocalypse, under the generally accepted conventions, mostly effects humanity. To us, the end of humanity is the end of the world. So, it comes down to whether a dog has a buddha nature...... Mu.

Interval sprints, a variety of pushups, speed ladder drills. Explosive stuff is good for arts that focus on the idea of kime. This guy has cool exercises, but I have issues with his combatives. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFQxqOr3Nfw

This is another strange idea, in a way, but I feel learning is best done through play. It seems to be true for children, but also holds true for adults. Potty training a little boy? Throw cheerios in the toilet. Why? Because boys think it's fun to pee on things. Teaching a 5th grade math class? Make word problems funny. Because an amused child is an interested child. The teacher who I learned the most from in school was a fun teacher who loved children. He was not the most smartest or the most educated teacher I had, but he taught me to enjoy learning and to think for myself. Thank you Mr. Shinn. There was another one in high school who had elves grade papers, and as a student had ridden his motorcycle through the halls. That guy was awesome too. Let us, and did I mention I do love lettuce, apply this to a martial arts environment. Both the sense of fun and thinking for ourselves. Now I realize that being attacked is serious business, and in a way should be treated as such. But as I touched on earlier, potty training should be done in a way that is fun for the child, because it works. And if anything is serious business, it's not peeing your pants. There are a million ways to spar and do randori. I feel they should all be viewed and treated as games. This encourages students to keep coming back. It encourages them to try new techniques that are not part of their A-game, after all they're just playing. It also helps everyone to become friends, which is great. For that matter it helps keep injuries down, because no one wants to hurt their buddy. In learning, I believe in positive reinforcement ("Good job, way to go. Now take this!") and natural consequences ("you failed to neutralize my attack, so that stick hit you in the face, maybe you should have done this?"). Rote memorization of techniques has its place, but should quickly be followed with "Why do we do it that way?" "Where else can we apply the concept behind this?" The ability to apply previous knowledge to new situations is imperative to dealing with the chaotic nature of combat. Here's some further reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_learning