MasterPain

Yay! Bill did good.

Honestly if you have kali available to you, take the class. There is no substitute for hands-on drilling and sparring. If you can find material on the Irish art, try incorporating it into the kali stuff. The kali class will provide you with a training partner. Trying to learn an art from a book will leave you much of the time trying to figure things out on your own. Imagine BJJ without someone to roll with. Also the way the guy in the video was using the stick gripping the center does not make scientific sense. Power is equal to mass times velocity. The center grip decreases the mass being swung from the fulcrum and the end of the stick travels a shorter distance which lowers the velocity of the striking end. Any stick fighting system will develop skills that translate to another, so I say take kali lessons and research the Irish system.

That was about what I thought. The best range for a handgun is 10 feet, any closer and it starts to become a liability. I would never initiate a grappling situation with a gun in my hand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJOhSS1AAOU Opinions?

Actually if you re-read my post, you'll notice there is a touch of sarcasm to the entire thing. I had also said that combat boots should be allowed in UFC. Our school strives to be a complete combat system, so we do allow what would be illegal strikes in mma in our sparring and ground and pound. Eye strikes are mostly practiced with goggles on in the context of practicing knife defense. We do not neglect good old fashioned fisticuffs in our training. I feel that a person can more easily not do things like downward elbow strikes on the ground and punches to the back of the skull from rear mount in a cage fight than they could do something in a self defense situation that they have not trained. My philosophy is that to have a good self defense system, a person should do everything that the mma people are doing, as well as everything they are not allowed to do because it hurts people too efficiently. I believe I also said that Escrima practitioners are penalized. This was also somewhat sarcastic as I don't believe a dagger should be allowed in a cage fight. There are times it would be useful in self defense, although only in a certain context. Unarmed self defense is much more needed in most situations, however I feel that it is still sensible to learn the use of a blade. i feel a person should train all tools available to them. I personally know very little concerning the use of a handgun or an armored personnel carrier. Tallgeese however has put some hours into them. That does not mean he relies totally on his sidearm, it's just another tool to use in a given context.

Every time I hear ethics I think of the end of Billy Madison.

I don't see why everyone seems to think training a technique or concept requires using it with fuul force and intent to do grave bodily harm. Neck cranks are hard to do properly. To be able to use one effectively requires a person to train using them, but not at full force. Sparring done at 100 percent all the time would result in too many injuries to train effectively. I have never put out a training partners eye, that would be stupid, but if I can place my hand on their cheek, they know the eye poke is available and need to move accordingly. An eye gouge is not hard to do, you are right, but defending against it can be. So simulating it is good for your training partners combative skills. A light kick in the cup is not dancing, it's letting you know it's there. We don't base everything we do around the dirty stuff, but we also don't treat it as not being there. The rules for MMA are there to protect people or the rules would not be needed. Therefore for a complete combative system it would be logical to train the illegal stuff as well, in a safe and controlled manner. We do all the standard MMA stuff as well, or I should say mostly. In a real situation a person will fight they way they train. A law enforcement officer does not shoot their training partner, because they would die. But to say I'd just shoot the guy without actually practicing drawing the sidearm in the midst of a live fight simulation and expect to be able to do so in reality is the height of folly. We do have fighters who compete and do fairly well, however our main goal is survival.

So you've learned to defend yourself in a scientific manner. You've drilled your reactions to attacks in a principal based manner that adapts easily to different situations. Great. So you're done with practice and leave the dojo. You hop in the car, light a smoke, drive home at 80 miles an hour without buckling up while texting your meth dealer and putting on your makeup and changing the radio station with one foot. You get up the next day, take your motorcycle to work with no helmet. You spend the workday lifting heavy objects by bending at the waist and moving them to the side in a twisting manner. (Or in case of more white collar work just bad posture) When you get home you go hunting with Dick Cheney. But at least you can defend yourself against muggers. I present this in an over the top fashion, but at the same time I'm very serious. I've known one person who was killed in a violent manner. But there have been several who died in accidents and by extended use of tobacco and alcohol. Work related injuries have left some people I know unable to do things to the extent that they would like to. Anyone who practices self defense should consider it to be another safety precaution. What good is knife defense if you run with scissors all the time? Smokey the Bear belongs next to the Bruce Lee poster.

I hope you get better soon Clay. My mom broke one of her toes and it hurt for a little over a month. And we'll look forward to seeing you Alex. Last year for New Years, I gave up chewing tobacco. So this Year I am giving up being fat. It's a bad habit too. So as of the first I'll start posting my weight on here. If anyone else is overweight, feel free to join me.

I believe he got beat up by Bruce's sister.

Akisame Kōetsuji and Hermit

Cultural and religious upbringing can effect a persons attitude towards gender, age, and authority, not to mention contact. The difference of commonly comfortable conversational distance for native of Mexico and Japan tend to be 3 feet and 10 feet respectively, so there can be a lot of determining factors here.

I varies depending on the person. I'm more comfortable on the ground normally. However, in competition, there will not be much of a weight difference. So when training with larger people, it should be taken into account that escape is more of a viable option while standing. With this in mind I like to circle and hold distance with kicks and jabs, at any time I feel to much pressure I will crash in and uproot their balance to expel them,creating hopefully enough distance and backward momentum to give me the time necessary to draw a blade. My theory is that if I am being overwhelmed, it's time to move on to a higher degree of force. When training armed against unarmed, I like to back away in a circular manner and cut any limb that reaches toward me. The only way I will go to the torso is if someone really commits to forward pressure and a disarm. This manner of fighting is safer in making you harder to disarm and also keeps your defense from turning into murder morally, ethically and legally. I hope you were not looking for a MMA applicable answer...

1. Eric is senior (in age) and is most likely less effected by the competition than Carl. Carl is also not competing, however, being closer to the age that most people compete, he will be more swept up in the excitement. Also he has shown this behavior in the past, although sparring partners are usually changed at regular intervals. In this instance partners were not changed and therefore there was more time for the situation to be exacerbated, so there was need for an exchange of words, where previously the time was short enough to simply tolerate the unwanted aggression. 2. She handled things well, but should have reminded Carl of the no-contact agreement before if became a problem. 3.Between upcoming competition and a change in usual structure, as well as the prospect of spectators in the form of other students, the younger students will be more excited. Older students will tend to be more comfortable in the normal way of doing things. (I know this is a generalization, but it tends to be true.) 4.Maybe. 5.The other students and the authority of an instructor were enough to cause him to do something he was not comfortable with, however minor it may seem to others. 6.He caved to pressure from others, however he is mature enough top feel responsible for his own decisions. 7.After feeling to much aggression from Carl, he felt less comfortable with behaving in an aggressive manner with a child. 8.Having give in to a demand, it became easier to respond to encouragement. 9. I believe somewhat overreacted, because there was no real harm done, however he did act against his own principles and feelings, which is upsetting. What do you think? Agree, disagree? Also,how would your answers differ if you knew Eric was A. a hippie B. a Far-rightwing conservative C. a feminist?

Judokas compete on mats because their rules dictate a win with a successful throw, which had it been on concrete would likely be a knockout. If MMA stands for Mix Martial Arts, shouldn't the rules allow an even level playing field for all martial arts? IMO, MMA rules penalizes Judo. Secondly, MMA markets itself as the closest thing to reality fighting. Well, to a Judoka, that's true only if people generally strip to their underwear before a fight. And they agree only to fight on grass. While I would like to see the gi allowed, geet get caught and ankles get twisted. The rules do play against Judo in the fact that being slammed on a mat doesn't hurt much, but a hard surface would result in serious injury on a regular basis. Upkicks and downkicks have also been banned because they are too dangerous. Biting, eye-gouging and groin kicks are all banned because they can cause permanent damage, which penalizes everyone from my school. Knees to the head on the ground are illegal because they make people dumber. The rules do hurt the use of some arts. You don't see many Escrima people in the UFC, and TKD would be much more relevant if everyone wore combat boots. But the rules are there for safety. No one in thier right mind wants to fight on the Mortal Kombat Pit stage. By the way, I do strip down to my underwear before a fight, while yelling PANCAKES!!!!!

Karate and wing chun are fine for self defense, so long as they are taught in such a manner as to be good for self defense. One thing we have learned from mma is that a striking art should be complimented by a ground fighting art. And saying that you will knock someone out before they take you down does not count as a groundfighting art. Also ask your mma friends how often they have trained defending against knives. Try to find a complete system.

This may be the case. But do we really want to see? A street fight, or a competition where these guys can come away and compete again in 3 to 6 months? For real. We could take away the Dog Brothers' headgear and kempo gloves and replace their sissy shock knives with butcher knives, too. Everyone involved dies, but it's real.

Felt crappy and tired so did a light warm-up, stretched and practiced slow technique.

Not to mention mounted archery has been replaced with drive-bys, which usually cause nothing but collateral damage, that's Euphemism for death of innocent people. Also, the true modern equivalent of kamas would be vehicular manslaughter with a combine. (I think they are called harvester tractors in some places. You English people use funny English, ya oughtta learnta talk American)

Same here, what a blast!

This is my first article, so be nice. Not really give me feedback. Traditional weapons are fun to practice, have a cultural heritage behind them, a certain beauty in their form and use in motion. But, why are they traditional? Because at some point in time they were the choice instrument of killing or defense to a group of people. Several factors went into the choice of weapon. Swords were often carried by soldiers or noblemen, as they were to expensive, took too much time to learn or were banned outright to the common person. Swords however, were often a sidearm in battlefields as they lacked the range or spears and polearms. The naginata would be used in battle before a katana was ever drawn. This is downplayed in movies because SWORDS ARE JUST COOLER. Archery is downplayed in films generally too, unless your an elf. Once again, FIGHTING IN THE SHADE IS COOL. So back in the day, wars were fought with blades on a stick, hand-held blades, archery, and the often ignored shield. Why? Because nobody had an AK or a tank. Let's look at some of the non-military traditional weapons. Kamas and nunchuku were farming implements that the common person would be allowed to have and were able to use a defense tool when needed. Staffs were often carried by clergy or as a simple walking stick. Walking sticks were everywhere when most people couldn't afford a horse and cars weren't invented yet. The military weapons were the best the world had to offer in terms of killing the enemy. Even when they were common, anyone but a soldier probably couldn't walk through the town carrying a sword or spear in most places. So everyone else had tools or a staff or cane. While the traditional weapons have their place in modern times, they are not very practical today. The one exception I give to this is home defense. A katana is a reasonable weapon to defend yourself with at home. That is if you don't have a gun loaded and easily accessible, as many people are not comfortable with doing. A gun would be much better ,but like I said, many people don't like to keep a loaded gun around the house. A gun locked in a safe or kept unloaded is of absolutely no use to defend yourself. Also many states do not allow concealed carry of a firearm for civilians, so away from home you need something else anyway. And here lies my issue with traditional martial arts weapons, they are all illegal to carry in most places. Or at least make you very suspect, a healthy person with a walking stick is only normal in a woods or such. The weapons that became traditional because of their being the best a person could carry are now recognized as weapons and are illegal to carry. Try telling a cop that you were harvesting grain with you kama or threshing with your nunchuks. If a person wants martial arts for self defense purposes it makes the most sense to train mostly with weapons that are likely to be encountered. Usually a handgun, knife and some sort of club, be it a bat, crowbar or hammer. And the most time should be spent with whatever weapon you carry, which should be checked for legality. Only law enforcement can carry guns in this state, but most knives are fine. Technically they are supposed to be under 3 inches to be concealed, but this is not always enforced, although it probably would be in Chicago, attitudes are different here in the southern part of the state. Pepper spray is a good option, but all too often blows back, and should not be relied on too heavily to stop someone. Tasers aren't good for much but torture and rape, and are highly restricted. In the idea of kamas and such, a fine modern equivalent is a screwdriver. It's legal to carry just about anywhere. The TSA website even says you can carry a screwdriver up yo seven inches in length on a plane, but a kubaton is restricted. Explain that one. Don't expect many of these from me, as my 2 finger typing method leaves much to be desired.

People underestimate a small blade sometimes. Have you ever seen someone accidentally stick themselves with a utility knife? It's pretty bad.

1/2 hour snorkel training, some judo and grappling

Skip to 4:35

One of the people I look up to started when he was 50. Got his black belt at 55. He had to quit because of some problems with his nerves. He can still do more jackknife situps than some of the teenagers at the gym that have 6 pack abs. And he is 77 now.