iolair

bushido_man gave good advice ... especially step 2. Forget about speed ... just practice at a steady rate, concentrating on the technique. Practice the kick both by itself, and going into other techniques. Practice, practice, practice, practice. About 10 000 times. (Yes, I mean that literally. For example, 200 times a day ... for 50 days).

We're talking about a front kick? OK, I use several surfaces... my "standard" is with the ball of the foot. However, I also use: toe ... if I have strong shoes on a la savate flat footed ... to push the opponent back heel ... good for low targets (e.g. opponent on floor, or to knee or PPs in leg).

Blocking a hook is a pig... best to do something else... I prefer to use their momentum in a throw, o goshi (regular hip throw). OK, so it's not Karate - but it works very well ... The Aikido randori-no-kata has two good responses to the same movement too. Well, sticking with regular Karate ... probably best to use distance and body movement to evade it. Or, better still, anticipate the attack and "neutralise" the attacker first.

I really don't think this is feasible. While I agree that one could learn the physical moves, I think that it is impossible to get mentally and spiritually indoctrined into a style in a year. I'm sure it is possible - if you trained that intensively, you would be pretty much eating, drinking and sleeping the martial art for the whole year - it would be your life - something us "part-timers" never experience. That would give perhaps a stronger mental and spiritual experience than doing it more gradually.I think the majority of that time, though, does need to be under proper instruction - it would be much harder, and probably not possible at all, to train those 30 hours a week if only (say) two or four were under a Sensei. (Go read "Angry White Pyjamas" - Aikido beginner to black belt in 10 months - and then dare to tell me they didn't become proper black belts...).

It obviously depends heavily on the student and the style, but by my reckoning, it takes around 1200 to 1500 hours of training, with no major breaks, to get a shodan. So, you could do it in a year ... but it would need 30 hours a week and good injury management. (Anyone read "Angry White Pyjamas"?) More realistic for most people would be 6 hours a week, 50 weeks a year - which would mean 4 to 5 years.

I also find push-ups hard ... my biology seems to mean I find endurance easy to build but strength hard to build. But, by checking I have correct form and keeping at it two or three times a week, 35 push-ups in a row wasn't hard to build up to. (I also do dumb-bell presses once a week, which may help). From the accepted wisdom on training, there is limited point in doing a set of more than 20 push-ups though. I've heard martial artists say that the real point in doing high numbers of push-ups is as a test of mental endurance rather than physical.

These are to a great extent conflicting aims - unless you have a huge amount of time to spend, by focusing on one you partially exclude the other in each pair.If you really balance your (say) grappling vs. striking training, you'll be a poor grappler compared to someone who grapples all the time, and a poor striker compared to someone who strikes all the time. Hardly perfection.

I've also done belt-less kickboxing, my normal answer is something like "My style doesn't have belts, but I guess I'm equivalent to a brown belt". Yes, people should judge on abilities and experience rather than this kind of award, but giving an "equivalence" answer is much more convenient than having to give a huge explanation or get into a debate every time.

Complete/add/alter/remove to/from the following list as much as you can... I'm thinking from a big perspective here ... try to think wider than your personal favourites to experiences you think everyone must have. As you can see, I've just started this off ... it needs a lot of work. If it gets to more than 10 things on a section and you want to add something, remove something that's already there to make room! 100 Things you must do before you die 10 Cities you must visit - Venice, Italy 10 Buildings or Monuments you must visit 10 Natural Wonders you must visit 10 Works of Art you must see 10 Foods or Drinks you must taste - A good single malt scotch whisky 10 Activities you must try - Learning a foreign language and using it for real - Walking to the top of a mountain 10 Books, Stories or Poems you must read - The Lord of the Rings 10 Movies, Musicals or Theatre Shows you must see - Casablanca 10 Pieces of Music you must listen to 10 Things you must do with other people

Right now, I can barely break 30 ... out of practice since I switched to Aikido as my main style, as we don't do them. I still do bench presses in the gym, but not for endurance....

AFAIK, combat Capoeira and the dance-fight-game Capoeira are not necessarily practiced in the same way, even though they are usually taught in the same club. Same moves, but different ways of doing them...

It seems to me, rather obviously, that the stuff about the heart exploding and the five steps are complete fiction. However, my brother and his Sensei, who practice pressure-point-heavy Kempo, tell me that it is possible to stop the heart using a combination of pressure points...

(Thanks to whoever dug this thread up)... I have to agree with the comments on bears, tigers etc... the only way to survive a physical encounter would be to not have one (or maybe to play dead after their first attack? If any playing was required).

How would you defend against attacks by a dog or dogs? Has anyone ever seen any training on this subject?

I'm thinking of giving Aikido a try ... to what extent is it a practical art? (I'll still be practicing kickboxing ... so could combine it with that in a "real" situation if necessary)