iolair

"Then I woke up and realised the whole thing had been a dream"

I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm just saying it's NOT going to be a transferred electrical pulse, as was suggested. BTW, does anyone have a UK contact/website for this style? Thanks.

Leave: find a new school. Your instructor is still living in medieval times, I'd leave him there if I were you!!

How it works is quite simple. The same points that are used with kyusho for hitting are activated. But instead of physical hit, they are activated with electricity. The human body is full of electricity, for example any move you make is created by the brain sending an electric current (a synapse) through the nervous conduits to the muscle(s), making the muscle(s) contract. That is also how the stupid AbTronic stuff they sell you on TV-Shop work: with electric current pumped into muscle. With some practice you can focus some electricity to some parts of your body. This is actually simpler than some make it feel, for instance, every time you move a muscle you do exactly that! You focus enough electric synapses to that muscle so it moves, it is mostly subconscious for a grown man. With training, it is possible to focus so much energy to some part of your body it can literally jump across some air if there's a proper conduit available. Everyone has seen this involuntarily (try rubbing your arm with a wool pullover for a few minutes, then go touch some metal - autch! You feel the sting of electricity.) As a science teacher and physicist, I find this very hard to buy. I know all about bioelectricity, and have seen nothing to suggest this is possible. The human nervous system works on tiny potentials and currents, there is no way it can produce enough voltage to do this. To knock someone out with electricity, you need up to 0.1 Amps of current running through their body. Human skin has an electrical resistance of at an absolute minimum 500 ohms; ususally much higher (it depends how clean your skin is, how damp it is etc). Ohm's law (Voltage = current x resistance) tells us that we therefore need at least 50V electric potential to cause the type of effect we're talking about here. The human body generally generates millivolts of electric potential. Secondly, to discharge an electric voltage through air, without contact, also needs a high voltage, because air is an effective electrical insulator. In fact, thousands of volts are required before it is possble to discharge a current across an air gap.... (it takes 1.2kV per centimetre).

Interesting question... I don't know of any martial arts that are specifically religious, though many of the traditional ones include aspects of eastern spirituality. If you want to explore the mind/body connection, or gain control of your body the following are worth exploring outside of the martial arts - Pilates - Dance (i.e. Jazz/Modern/Balet) as these involve body control etc. Yoga would probably count as well, but generally does seem to have a lot of the spiritual connections. As for within the martial arts, finding an instructor/sensei/teacher with a good understanding of sport science and biomechanics may be more important than the style itself. If you are training alone, that obviously precludes the wrestling and grappling style, in fact you are probably limited to the major styles because they are likely to be the only ones with sufficiently good materials for solo training, e.g. - Karate (Shotokan, Kyokushinkai) - Tae Kwon Do - Boxing - Kickboxing (some types) If you are serious about learning any of these, then I'd urge you to try and attend a few classes to start off with (a few months if you can manage it), or at the very least visit and watch a few classes.

Sounds a bit of a mouthful to me! BTW, when you teach: will you split on traditional lines (e.g. Monday: Karate, Tuesday: Kenpo, Wednesday: Muay Thai) or mix everything together in the one set of classes? I'd be interested to read your planned curriculum. As for name, "Withers Martial Arts Academy", "Withers Fighting Arts Academy" both sound good. In the company name, you're probably OK leaving off the "academy" without confusing anyone.

Vietnam: Viet Vo Dao. Don't know much about it beyond the name I'm afraid. From https://www.vietvo.com: "Viet Vo trains in both unarmed fighting and weapons (sword, broadsword and staff). Unarmed fighting techniques include kicks, knees, sweeps, punches, elbows, knife-hands and eagle claws as well as locking and throwing techniques. Due to the physique of the Vietnamese people, small and slim with a smaller bone size, Viet Vo techniques tend to emphasise countering techniques utilising small circular movements." Russia: Sambo, as already mentioned. It has a lot in common with western amateur wrestling. Africa: Lots of indigenous fighting forms, can't think of any formalised ones from the top of my head though!

I don't really have any techniques that are more confident than others: I train them all thoroughly and equally. However, my favourite technique (not the one I'd use most, I just like it) is side thrust kick to the chest or throat.

OK, I've decided to reject the name "Greenoch", amusing as it was, for something in a similar vein but without the comic connections.... ... the name I'm pretty much deciding to go for (I'd like to hear people's reactions, however trivial something like a name is to the whole of the style) is gunlann. This comes from the Scottish Gaelic words gun "without", and lann "blade" ... "without blade" signifying "unarmed" (I guess a bit like "kara te" being "empty hand" signifying "unarmed"). The vowel in the gun part should NOT be pronounced as in the english word "gun" but more to rhyme with "good" or "book". OK?

I don't practice combos longer than 3 moves, because I don't think a fight will stay static enough to deliver anything longer than that before the situation changes.... that said, favourites are: jab to head, jab to head, cross jab to body, jab to head, cross side thrust kick, hook kick block & grab, cross, hip throw hook, round elbow strike, uppercut

Welcome to the forums. You don't say why you want to learn a fighting style - this would help us advise you. Do you want a sport, fitness, self defence, movie-style moves, or what? There are two significant brazilian forms that I know of. One is BJJ or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is mostly a form of wrestling and seems very well thought of on these forums. The other is Capoeira, one of the most unusual martial arts (I'd love to try it, but no clubs nearby). It could be described as a cross between martial arts, dancing and basic gymnastics...

You have a point ... if I was trying to set up the style as a business / or attract lots of students, it would be a dumb name. Even given that I'm not doing so, it may be worth reconsidering - if I can come up with any ideas. I've never been creative at all in that way though! Any suggestions? I'd want the name to reflect that this was a British/Western style rather than an oriental one. [EDIT]Hmm, possibly comhlann (pronounced covlan), which is the Scot's Gaelic word for "combat".[/EDIT] On the other hand, not-taking oneself too seriously is a good thing

http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives/blackbelt/1999/sep99/3.html I've just read it.... Am I as good a fighter as Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris? Not a hope on earth. Have I conducted a comprehensive study of different fighting arts? You betcha! Here's the thing. Although I have enough knowledge to plan the full scope of this new art, in terms of practice I would consider myself in the MIDDLE of its grade structure. This is actually (on a personal level) very useful, as it gives me the path for improving my own ability. On the other hand, while I'm prepared to share this art and have others train with me, I know I'm not ready to have anyone train under me. IF that happens, it will happen in a few years time when the style has been tested by time in training, and where I have applied it in (at least) sparring while sticking rigidly to the limits of the style, to see fairly how it performs. By the way, the grading structure does not have many "dan grades" or the equivalent. Basically, after all the novice grades (equivalent of kyu grades), there are only three senior grades: black (competent), grey (expert) and white (teacher). The teacher grade does not indicate a higher level of technical ability than grey... As I stated in the last post, I'm not really thinking in terms of future students/opening a school at this point, and may not ever do so. I'd make sure I had several more years experience with the new style before I'd even consider doing so. I do have 16 years experience - though as I said I've not graded for 10 years. Personally, I think grade in previous styles is irrelevant (though of course if I was starting a real club it would be important for credibility). Undecided. I'll only include them if I'm completely convinced they aid fighting ability. This is the kind of reason I'm posting this here, to get feedback from a variety of martial artists from different backgrounds.

Firstly, a large part of this is a personal project; by creating this style I'm improving my own understanding and ability as a martial artist. Secondly, I've no great desire to start up a dojo/club with this style - it will probably be shared with a few friends etc, but I'm not trying to create the "Next Big Thing". The furthest I'm likely to go publicly is a web site. Thirdly, as it happens I actually work as a teacher anyway (science, 11-18 year olds). My specific experience of teaching combat sports is limited to a few months teaching beginners' fencing though. Or the direct link to the article is http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives/blackbelt/1999/sep99/3.html

The original Greenoch is an "ancient celtic martial art", and doesn't exist - it was used in posts on the rec.martial-arts newsgroup a decade ago. I've just stolen the name, and added in the "Modern" to save anyone who remembers the fictional version getting confused. I think in reality every martial arts practitioner creates their own style. Even practitioners of only 1 art make decisions on which is the best way to apply the techniques they know: those who study multiple arts each take a different interpretation onto the street of how to mix them up! Of course, most people do this unconsciously. The main thing I'm doing different is formalising it and giving it a name. Even if only I use it, I think it will still have been a useful exercise. If anyone else decided to jump on the bandwagon, I won't complain though! I feel I have enough experience to give this a go... despite the limited grades in my signature file, I actually have quite a lot of experience, namely The following three styles trained formally (started in good clubs) - 16 years Karate (practiced at least every week during that time, except for one year off due to a hip injury) - 12 years Fencing (not always immediately applicable, but leads to a strong understanding of timing, footwork and distance) - 1.5 years Judo And the following studied during the last decade informally (outside of a club, but often with trained practitioners) for a shorter but appreciable length of time - Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, TKD, Savate, Muay Thai, Amateur Wrestling My lack of grading is because, for personal reasons, I've not formally attended a club (apart from fencing) for the last 10 years. I still train privately and with friends. The most limited part of my experience is streetfighting; I've only been involved in four "real" fights, and I'm not too eager to get into more just for research. So for this aspect I've relied heavily on what I've read: particularly Geoff Thompson's "Dead or Alive" (very good book - highly recommended), Musashi's "Go Rin No Sho" and Sun Tzu's "Art of War". Finally, I've studied many videos of martial arts movies and competitions, not to copy the technique (as in movies the techniques are picked for how they look), but to spot where someone using that technique is open to counterattack. Thanks.

I know I'm one of thousands to try this, but I'm developing my own martial arts style.... called Modern Greenoch. I'M POSTING THIS HERE TO GET PEOPLE'S FEEDBACK ON WHAT THEY THINK OF THIS "STYLE". I realise that there are lots of eclectic MAs already out there, with different people's takes on the set of techniques that are most effective. The difference here is to select a small number of the most effective techniques, so 1) with infrequent training, you still have a chance of becoming effective 2) with frequent training, these small set of techniques should become very fast and fluent indeed.... The technique list There are 5 "quintets" of offensive techniques in different ranges, and also the "zeroth quintet" of basics that are included for all students of the style... the sets of techniques are in the order in which a student would be examined in them for gradings. "Zeroth" 0th quintet - essentials 1) Footwork (drilled heavily, techniques are most similar to western boxing) 2) Groundwork (the four basic hold positions, transitioning between positions, escaping holds) 3) Falling - breakfalls to all directions, forward and side rolls to standing. 4) Conditioning 5) Blocking (only two blocks are part of the style, however) 1st Quintet - Punching 1) Jab 2) Cross 3) Hook 4) Backfist 5) Uppercut 2nd Quintet - Throws 1) Hip Throw 2) Body drop throw 3) "Major outer reaping" (i.e.o soto gari) 4) Shoulder throw 5) Shoulder wheel 3rd Quintet - Kicks 1) Front kick 2) Roundhouse 3) Side thrust kick 4) Back kick 5) Hook kick (practiced from the same chamber position as side thrust and roundhouse) 4th Quintet - Submissions 1) Naked Choke 2) Cross Body Arm Lock 3) Figure 4 Arm Lock 4) Single Wing Collar Choke 5) Still undecided: probably a knee lock? 5th Quintet - Infighting 1) Round elbow strike 2) Rearwards elbow strike 3) Rising knee strike 4) Roundhouse knee 5) Rising elbow strike Each strike is learnt initially to the most effective target, then alternative targets are practiced later. (For example, side thrust kick would first be targetted at the knee, but advanced learners would also practice targetting the throat and nose). Weapons learnt after adequate unarmed skill reached on all techniques, there are two weapons: Dagger (knife) and Cudgel (heavy 2-foot stick). The name "Modern Greenoch" In the olden days of Usenet when I frequented it in the early 90s, there would often crop up on rec.martial-arts rather silly "My style is better than you're style" type threads. As people got fed up with this, a frequent reply was to invoke the "ancient celtic martial art of Greenoch", a fictional style more effective than any other in which the Greenoch master could (for example) annihalate a troop of Ninjas with a double-reverse-eyebrow-twitch. Personally, I like the name "Greenoch", so when I decided to put together my own style I thought I'd steal the name, but of course as I had no ancient celtic druid Greenoch masters to teach me, this has to be "Modern Greenoch". Grading System The grades are not particularly important (the colours are based on ancient druid ranks - I'll post the details if your interested). Each grading would include technique assessment, fitness assessment and both ground based and standing sparring. Striking-sparring in gradings would be semi-contact for early grades, For senior grades full contact and include exposure to multiple attackers. Again, early gradings would isolate "quintets" for the sparring (i.e. one sparring session would be kicking attacks only), later grades would allow combinations of any striking or grappling techniques as well.

Just to be different, my front foot (usually my left, but I chop and change quite a lot) points in around 30 degrees from a line towards my opponent...

It means grade. The grades, for belt, go backwards in most martial arts, that I've seen. 1st or 0 kyu is usually a blackbelt. Example, I am a high purple belt, high 7th kyu, I believe. I'll check later. The amount of kyu grades (gup is the Korean equivalent, not sure what it is in Chinese?) varies from art to art .... but 8 or 9 is a typical number... i.e. Beginner 9th Kyu 8th Kyu 7th Kyu 6th Kyu 4th Kyu 3rd Kyu 2nd Kyu 1st Kyu 1st Dan (Black Belt) 2nd Dan 3rd Dan etc etc.

I'd heard that originally, while the gi was washed (for hygiene reasons!) the belt of a martial artist was never washed, to show their experience. Obviously, as they trained more and more in the same belt, the belt would darken to show their experience, until eventually it would be virtually black.... Well, nice story but I don't know if it's true or not, but it just about works for a white, yellow, orange, brown, black progression....

I hate to say it, but that's just what I was thinking as I read this thread....

Oh yeah, I did have some previous thoughts at a list of techniques. It's a loooooong time since I did Judo though, and though I've kept in practice with throws, I haven't with groundwork... Single wing choke (Kata ha-jime) Figure-4 armlock (Ude garami) Cross-body armlock (Juji gatame) Scarf hold (Kata gatame) Broken top 4-corner hold (Kuzure kami shio gatame)

I'm not familiar with all of these... by an arm-bar, are you talking about what judoka call a "juji gatame"? I have no idea what an americana is. Last time I encountered an "americana" it was a pizza! (seriously). The rear naked-choke ... if its the same as the judo one, you are using both hands, and are close in to the opponents back. From this position, the opponent can reach your eyes quite easily with his hands, yes? I prefer the collar-choke where you apply with one hand, restrain the opponent with the other - much safer (as long as they are wearing a top, of course!)

I already have a list of throws that I've selected and practice regularly: - O goshi (bog standard hip throw) - Seoi otoshi (shoulder throw) - Tai otoshi (body drop throw) - O soto gari (major outer reaping) - O Guruma (shoulder wheel) I've deliberately avoided sacrifice throws, I wouldn't like to throw myself onto the floor in a self defence situation, especially if there were multiple attackers. The hip throw is very easy to pull off against someone attacking with a punch or knife if they leave their arm around a fraction too long. The shoulder wheel is slightly more difficult than the others on the list, but worth it because the force you can drop someone onto the floor with it makes it a very effective technique overall if you can pull it off.... The tai otoshi is a good all rounder, and great if someone (unarmed) is charging you....

OK, with striking arts, it seems possible to do well in a fight using only a handful of techniques ... look how far a western boxer can go with only 4 punches, or a Muay Thai practitioner with the same plus a couple of kicks... So is it possible to do the same thing with grappling ... just rely on a small number of well practiced techniques? And if so, what sort of things would be on the list of essentials? I'm actually trying to build a list of the essentials to put into my informal practice/sparring sessions with friends... So that they're useful for self-defence, hold-downs won't be allowed on the essentials list if the opponent is still able to strike or gauge you (i.e. if their hands and arms are free).

Yes, I still believe that fencing is the fastest martial art! I don't make it to the club very often these days (I'm a busy teacher), though was there losing 3 hits to 5 last night!!