rmurray

At 6'3" 165lbs you are very lean. There may be a nutritional element holding back your strength training. I don't want to sound ignorant, but I know very little about life in India. If you are able to help yourself to more food, that might be a good place to start. I'm 6'1" 230lbs and I can do about 50 push-ups. In the US we have a variety of protein shakes/muscle gainers we add to water. It's mostly whey and is derived from dairy products. That may not be acceptable in your culture. I do know that eggs are available and accepted in india. If you can get more eggs, they will supply your protein. Short answer; get more protein and keep trying to improve.

It may come up in court, (probably not, if you keep it to yourself) but there is no specific precedent or law that I have heard of. My Father is both a black belt and an attorney. He is also a very careful man. I'm sure that if something specific existed he would have warned me lots of times.

Are you talking about strictly teenage boys your own age, or grown Men too? I'm no expert in BJJ culture, but as a 31 yo man I would positively refuse to grapple with a girl your age. I just wouldn't want to create an opportunity for a misunderstanding. I suppose most responsible adult males would feel the same way. Am I crazy?

It's a shame that some schools will water down the value of a blacbelt by giving them out too freely but it's not anybodys place to say what another dojo should do. An undergraduate degree from MIT or Yale is valued far higher than a degree from an online university but their all bachelors degrees. MIT doesn't have the right to tell University of Pheonix to make their courses harder. The people who put in the hard work at better schools got the better education just like you get better training by putting in your time and learning more at a good dojo. A good karate school Sensei will have a strong history and a recorded lineage, is probably at least in some way connected to and recognized by some larger federation. and you know how long it takes to earn a blackbelt. I'd say a fair standard is that a real blackbelt should not take less than 5 years to earn. When someone says they got their blackbelt in 2 years than you just nod politely. You have no reason to belittle them.

Conrad Your Shotokan Karate can be plenty dangerous enough to win you most fights. Just stick with it. Practice a little more often, Focus really hard at the dojo during your training. Go a little harder and faster and pretty soon your doubt will go away. Talk to some of the more advanced guys at your dojo. They're probably pretty confident about how they would do in a fight. They will probably give you some tips to help you win.

The type of karate in most movies is whatever type the actor knows. All of the action stars have learned their fighting skills independently just like any of us. The actor will have most of the control in directing each fight sequence. If you look up any action star you like, you can find out what style MA they've trained in. Fighting talents are a good part of an actors resume. Think about Steven Segal, Patrick Swayze or Chuck Norris. All great karate guys with successful acting careers. Matt Damon and Keanue Reeves are younger examples.

Look you can get the dvd's for under $60 if you try to log off his page. If you are someone who wants to beleive you are capable of defending yourself but don't want to spend any time or effort, than this is the perfect system for you. For what I spend on a single month of instruction at a dojo, a student of Capt. Chris could be set for life. Although I don't beleive ANY of the claims, I wouldn't mind hearing his method to cope with fear induced stress in a survival situation. At least he's going into it in detail. I had a good buddy in high school who started working for a rip off artist and now they are both doing it. They're not in self defense but they offer instruction on how to get rich quick. They both star in their own promotional videos. Let me say, the soul has left the body. My old buddy is renting a room in someones house, but his latest video is filmed in front of a Ferrarri he pretends to own that belongs to someone he's never met. He goes on and on about sincerely wanting to help others become as successful as he is. The other guy actually has made some real dough but he is every bit as much an empty vessel. His video is shot in front of "his" helicopter if you know what I mean. They even show the chopper taking off as if he's in it. I don't know how these guys get out of bed in the morning. The videos from these two jokers that are positively lying about everything, are eerily similar to Capt. Chris' claims. Right down to the take away close.

lparnes nailed it. I wouldn't worry about people wanting to fight me. I would be more embarrassed that another martial artist or someone I know might see me. Being in a kwik-e-mart with my gi on might suggest that I am showing off or unorganized. Easy idea... put track pants over your gi bottoms, wear whatever shirt you will wear under your gi top and then add a hoodie, fleece or whatever weather and modesty dictate over that. keep your gi jacket in a gym bag until you get to your dojo, remove track pants and replace hoodie with gi top before workout. Reverse order after your workout. Lupin, that is a sad story. We have two women at my dojo and I've never heard ANYTHING said in reference to their gender. Any disparaging remark about that would be so out of place at our school, I can't even imagine it. You should see if there is similar program in your area. I can't imagine that a school with so little respect for one of its students is teaching very good karate anyways.

I guess it depends if the term "MMA" is describing a fighter or is it describing the bout. In the beginning it was always describing the bout. The fighters were trained in different styles. For example a muay thai kickboxer would never have to defend against a choke at a muay thai tournament and a collegiate wrestler never had to face a head kick in his competition. But when they came against eachother, they would have to follow the same rules of the MMA bout. As would a karateka, BJJ, ninja, streetfighter, etc. The set of rules or lack thereof was MMA. Now it is also used to describe the fighter. Some evolution has obviously taken place over the last 15 or so years. I'm not denying MMA as a style. If schools are teaching it and students are learning it. It has to be something.

I think Brickshooter has it figured out. Maybe he's just smart for a muscular guy though. hehe. I like to talk about karate but other than martial artists, nobody is really interested. Except for those guys that want you to teach them some quick, easy technique to win any fight. When I say the quickest, easiest way I know to win fights is to practice 5-10 hours a week they lose interest.

I agree; out of the choices you mentioned that wing chun school should have you up to pace for fighting soonest. Don't they teach Karate in your area? Karate is a great fighting art and wherever you end up in life you're probably not too far from a good karate dojo. How about a status update? Have you joined a school yet?

Interesting post Sokusen. That could easily be a whole new thread. What exactly does MMA mean. Is it a formal set of rules that martial artists from different styles agree to before they fight? I think that was the original meaning and certainly the intention. Basically a full contact match where you bring your own training but agree not to do this or that. I think that the popularity of MMA spawned the creation of new Brazillian Jiu Jitsu schools all over the country. I think these schools placed a greater emphasis on striking than traditional BJJ to win MMA matches. I think the style that is being taught now in "MMA" schools is mostly BJJ combined with muay thai kickboxing. I think most people over 30 think of "MMA" as a set of rules first and people under 20 consider MMA a style of fighting. As time goes on, I think MMA will more and more be considered its own style. I'm a UFC fan but personally I prefer the tradition in traditional martial arts.

This is getting off topic. If you refuse to beleive that kicking and stomping a downed opponents head might be useful to win a fight... That's fine with me. I happen to know the damage adds up fast and the fight is in your hands right away. A downed opponent gives you many targets regardless of where they cover up, and ample opportunity to safely exploit them. Even a highly skilled fighter doesn't maintain much of a chance once he has taken his seat on the floor at the feet of a determined opponent. I'm not sure why I have encountered opposition to what I would consider established truths. As a community of martial artists we should at least be humble enough to agree on simple, sound fundamentals; or we will lack credibility as a whole.

The obvious example might be to knock someone down with a strike.

It isn't that important what style you choose. Learn about the different programs in your area. Look online, make some phone calls. Just the information about location, schedule and pricing should shorten your list. Visit and sit in on classes on the short list. See how they train. Talk to the instructors afterwards. The right school will find you and you wont have any decision to make.

Unless you plan on moving, you have a geographic limitation of which gym you can train at. Mainly you need to be able to get there and practice regularly. The gym can charge whatever the market will bear. If there is another gym in the area compare their terms and choose the better value. At this point you have a fiscal decision to make about how much learning MMA is worth to you. Basically it doesn't matter what they charge in my city. Your choice is simply yes or no. MMA is popular, it can also be a profession. The practitioners work out and train frequently. They require alot of equipment, a lot of coaching and support staff to be available for long hours. just setting up your gym for MMA might require a bank loan. No question why it costs so much to join. Why do you want to learn MMA? Do you plan on competing in that arena? Do you have professional fighting ambitions? If you just want to be a really good fighter you could probably find any traditional martial art being offered in your area for a lot less money.

Now that I think about it, a rule change wouldn't be that bad. UFC matches would be more representative of real fighting. Just like the street, you would rarely ever see a fight go fifteen minutes. Going to decision would be rare. The UFC standings would be different. St. Pierres and Penn would not be household names.

White belts come in all shapes, sizes and ages. They have different talents and God given abilities. The only thing they all have in common is a lack of experience in an organized martial art. In my dojo it isn't unusual at all for a blackbelt to get caught by a white belt. Healthy, athletic young men come in as whitebelts all of the time and with some instruction in technique and practice, they can develop amazingly quick, accurate strikes after only a couple of months. Being a blackbelt does not certify that you will never be susceptible to a well placed lucky punch. In Shorin-ryu many of the whitebelts have over a year of intense training and practice. The blackbelts get hit when they are so intently focused on teaching, their sparring is fostering a learning environment where the whitebelt can really be at their best. This pushes the whitebelt a little further and now and then a blackbelt might get a small souvineer because of their own good works.

There seems to be this story that pops up now and then about these blackbelts at this bar in Anytown, USA. These blackbelts are always getting their butts kicked out back. I have heard several manifestations of this since I was a child... The Blackbelts I know are from Karate and BJJ. They are typically too diciplined and driven to be carousing around local taverns running into trouble. And they are very competent, extremely dangerous fighters. It's true most blacbelts will never be in a real fight (it is there way). They certainly aren't going to be out losing fights.

Sparring is simply practicing the skills and techniques you would be most likely to use in a streetfight based on your training i.e. punches, kicks, blocks etc.. It's also sthrengthening your fighting muscles and gaining you experience and confidence. Of course it will make you a better fighter, how good depends on the time you put into it. Practicing anything makes you better at it. Just because you spar doesn't make you the most dangerous man on the planet. But it might be the competitive edge you need if a stranger grabs your child, or some irate driver follows you into a parking lot. Most martial artists aren't aspiring to be the best streetfighters alive today. They just want the best chance to win the possible conflicts they might find themselves in. And sparring is a good exercise that helps their chances but allows them to live a normal life. The type of people you would likely end up fighting in the street aren't going to have formal training and be practicing and conditioning regularly like you are. They are very possibly impaired or unrested. Your martial arts training and sparring experience will likely be enough. If not, it certainly wont work against you to have had the training and experience. Nobody promised that martial arts could save your life in every imaginable situation. But it will give you a huge advantage in many plausible situations you might encounter in regular everyday life. And I beleive that many would be attackers and thugs are frequently knocked down by well timed, beautifully executed teqchniques.

I respectfully disagree Sir. I insist that for all of time, in parking lots the world over; Maintaining posture while getting your opponent off his feet yields a very high percentage of wins. There are positively hundreds of UFC fights that never would have gone to round two if not for the UFC rule about kicking/stomping a downed opponents head and spine. The absence of that rule would change the game completely. I'm not for a rule change. I'm just saying that rule is the biggest difference between UFC and survival.

As a Karateka and UFC fan.. short answer yes. More Karatekas in UFC would be cool. I think the glaring difference between a UFC event and a no rules street fight is kicks to the head and spine of a downed opponent. In a real fight when one combatant loses balance, it's over. The standing fighter will instinctively attack with devestating stomps or snap kicks. If it wasn't for this one rule UFC fights would have different outcomes and would be much shorter. In a UFC event, a good stand up fighter will have no motivation to trip or throw an opponent who may be a better wrestler, bjj, or joint manipulator. Because his only choice is to grapple, he doesn't even try. He may lose this fight because he is taken down and submitted in a later round. That same fighter might have beaten that same opponent in a streetfight by sweeping, tripping, or throwing him early in the fight and thrashing him with kicks.

Why do you think that? Martial Artisits usually do win in physical confrontations with untrained attackers. And why wouldn't they. Martial arts are fighting skills. Like any skills, the more you practice and train the better you become. In this case fighting. Think of it this way; if you went and practiced bowling twice a week with a good instructor don't you think your bowling score would be pretty good? So what would happen if you had to bowl against a guy who had only been bowling once in a while and had no instruction. You would win pretty easily, same as a fight. In my case it's karate. How would anybody who practices punching, kicking, and blocking techniques for hours each week; with experience, confidence, timing and conditioning not beat someone who probably only fights a handful of times in a year?