MasterPain

After making him a nervous wreck the whole time, then having him on defense sparring with us older guys, there was one round of him with a new guy with a 5 unanswered punch combo.

Our head of system couldn't be there due to his mother in law being sick, so the testing panel consisted of myself, LiverPunch and GroinStrike. I'll link to video of part of the test. LP is working on the video of the sparring portion. There is about a half hour of sparring on video. I'll put it up here when I get it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGXd22mRvHM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjEGgtM-Mw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6XCCrmfFCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGaDRGaLGfo We decided to give him a surprise orange belt after it was over because he's worked hard and shown dedication. (and because we can.) It'll probably be a year before the next time he tests, with his work ethic I believe the difference will be impressive.

"Remember when i went blood drunk outside of Quiznos?" I want that on a t shirt.

Soft doesn't always mean not hitting as hard.

The only way I know the tactics of anyone from my style is that I know them personally. Dang hybrid arts that encourage cross-training.

I was right, but we'll have to wait a week or so for Crom's laughter. Also, the confrontation at the end was intense.

It should be noted that we refused to train that guy due to a poor attitude. We teach a violent art, therefore we don't teach violent people.

The moral of the story is- minimum wage plus cruddy tips do not make delivering pizza in the ghetto worth it. There are people who will try to shank you there for a pizza. Ev, I'm stealing this. Best quote in a long time.

Thanks, that would be much appreciated 11/15 ground mobility drills 40 min freeroll white and yellow belt angle drill attack and defend drills Here is the video of what I was talking about. On watching it back, I can see how one might refer to it as your super guillotine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcFVcG0p5yg Thanks, I'll use that.

I think we're doing that on the upcoming test for yellow belt. Yay!!!

There was a 10 year old girl in Illinois that killed herself over this kind of thing about a week ago.

Knowledge is what you know, experience is how you know how to use it, and rank is the symbol of it.

Sorry to hear about the abuse. Getting in fights to test your skill to defend yourself is completely illogical.

I think times vary greatly from one individual to the next. It takes me a long time to learn new things.

Why have you been in enough fights to recognize that your technique falling apart is a pattern?

They don't teach those techniques, but they teach how to put you in a position to do so. After that, all you need to know is how to do a keylock, which is very simple.

Great post. I've been to other forums, and this is my favorite. As a martial artist who values concept over technique, I'm impressed by the ability of a non-martial artist to offer such insight on a martial arts forum from his own experience in other areas of life. Patrick, from now on, you shall be known as the Teamaster.

At the end of class the other night, I was picking up mats by myself while everyone was talking. I didn't really care, but Groinstrike pointed out the the high rank was putting things away while everyone blabbed. I made a rather blasphemous comment about washing feet. But that story makes a good point about humility. Either call and ask first or put on your white belt. Or, in my case borrow one, cause the white belt is 20 years old and too small.

If you can't run the course, go to the bleachers at the local high school football field and run laps.,

I mean no disrespect, but you are the age of LP, GS and my parents. How would your answer have differed 20 years ago? I know my view is different than it was 10 years ago. I'm seeing things your way more and more. I lost a nephew a couple years ago, and some of my friends, so the holidays are hard.

Let's not dismiss MMA as "just a sport" just yet. Let's look at what the sport has shown over the years. First, that grappling is a range that many arts ignore, to their own peril. Any decent collegiate wrestler can take you to the ground, break your arm, choke you unconscious and KILL you if you don''t know how to defend takedowns or get back to your feet. Remember that a tapout means "please stop before you dstroy my limb or neck." So, for a self-defense minded person, to ignore grappling is to bury your head in the sand. Case in point: chuck Liddel is known as a knockout artist. He is also a great grappler. If not for his ability to use grappling skill to keep the fight standing, he'd be known as that guy that keeps getting taken down and tapped out. There also tends to be an attitude from the MMA crowd that traditional martail arts are not combatively efficient. This stems from their lack of experience with weapons. Aikijutsu is not much use against a boxer, but it is awesome against someone swinging a ball bat at your skull. What I'm getting at is that you have a good view on using what works, just don't let the style-specific sycophants ruin your view of any art. If you can stay objective, most arts have something to offer.

Ok, some people chech these things at work and don't get to see the links. But yes, I would bet on BJJ against 3 section staff any day. Swordchucks, however....

Did you watch the link? The guy with the 3 section staff hit the other guy, was rushed in on, pulled gaurd and submitted the other guy with an armbar. Mixed martial arts at it's finest.

I'm right with these guys. It takes a long time to ingrain an art to the point that you can use it under pressure. Also, you need experience of training under pressure. I must admit that I am a huge fan of Bruce Lee, but we must avoid hero worship and fanboyism. In Enter the Dragon, there was a scene where he told a student not to look at the finger or we'd miss the glory of the heavens that it pointed to. He also smacked the kid upside the head. I interpret this, in my infinite wisdom (cough) to mean that a teacher can be a guide, but in the long run we must make our own way. I think it was Einstein who said that his knowledge was the tip of the pyramid of the knowledge of others which he stood on. I think that means that the theory of Relativity would not exist had his mother not potty trained him, or something. I think that if you want an idea of what bruce would be doing today, if he had lived, you should check out Burton Richardson. He's a JKD instructor, Escrimador, BJJ black belt, and Chris Leben's coach. Another good guy top look to is Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny. His take what works and train it live approach makes for a great martial artist.

I'm ashamed that i didn't think to say this already. I've done so on a few occasions. Actually the only real fight I've been in as an adult was protecting a teenage girl from a belligerent drunk.