iolair

Of course, the most motivated/able martial artist is not necessarily the best instructor... Once the instructor knows their stuff to a certain level, surely the ability to communicate their skill is more important than additional skill.

avoiding substyles.... how about to keep it neat if you add any, just copy this list and paste it into your post. Aikido Amateur Wrestling American Kickboxing Archery Arnis Boxing Capoeira Escrima Fencing Iaido Jeet Kune Do Judo Jujitsu Kajukenbo Karate Kendo Kenpo Kickboxing see American Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Savate Krav Maga Kuk Wool Sun Kung Fu Muay Thai Ninjutsu Pankration Sambo Savate Silat Tae Kwon Do Viet Vo Dao

I want that on a T-shirt! And you can.... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00007FGQH/104-7794560-6256715?v=glance

Some thoughts for discussion... Is it possible to make any real use of gymnastics/acrobatics/tricks types moves in a "real" fighting situation? If it is possible, how would there effectiveness (both physically and psychologically) compare to simpler techniques? How effective are trick-heavy styles such as Capoeira and TKD in street fighting / self defence / UFC? Does practising these techniques have any other significant payback (improved balance/coordination/speed etc.)?

Eggs - especially the whites (but don't cut out the fattier yolks altogether) Cottage cheese Lentils

I do plenty of short burts of secluded training.... what I would have loved to do (before I was married with kids & mortgage) though, is spend an extended period (3/6/12 months) in Japan training in Dojos there. (Of course the destination would depend on your art). Depending on your resources, you might also need to think about taking a part time job at your destination to help with accommodation or dojo fees.

Really depends on your objective... traditionally, they were (I'm told) used to unseat a horse rider ... that needs to be pretty high. And in kickboxing a jumping kick to the head earns the most points of any move. Personally, I don't like jumping kicks at all - too impractical; too few opportunities to use them effectively for the amount of effort put into perfecting them. I'd rather spend more time drilling my basics As for exercises ... lots of jumping, also look into plyometric exercises of your leg muscles. (depth jumps etc.)

Is this what you mean (no video, but a sequence of stills ... http://www.cpalmquist.com/gannon/)?

Albino? Anyway, I used to do Judo as a teenager with a partially-sighted guy called Ian Rose, who did very well with it: http://www.britishjudo.org.uk/athens/IanRose.php (I last practiced with him around 1988/9, but I see he won a Paralympic medal at Athens this year). , so a grappling art like that where you can feel where your opponent is may be useful to consider.

A non-deforming object hey? sounds hard, like steel? i think perhaps if you punched a non-deformable object as hard as you could your fist would deform badly and you would lose alot of energy If you hit a FIXED non-deforming object, maybe... but this one is gonna SWING, remember... And it doesn't need to be 100% non-deforming, it's just the more it squishes, the more of your punch energy is going to squish it instead of making it swing.

Actually, I teach it

For PSI ... pounds per square inch ... you need to know the number of pounds. Pounds is a measure of FORCE. Speed itself does not tell us about force. Newton's Second Law of Motion tells us Force is equal to mass times acceleration. Acceleration is a _Change_ in speed. Something can quite happily continue at a steady speed with no acceleration, and therefore no force, occurring.

Speed times mass = momentum, not force (though measuring momentum transferred can be useful too) Pressure = force per unit area = Force / area (in SI, Pascals = Newtons per square metre) I guess a way would be to have a non-deforming object hanging freely. If you know the mass of the object and you can measure how high it swings up to when you have hit it, you can work out the energy transferred by your blow. Energy transferred by strike = Gravitational energy gained by swinging object = mass of object x gravitational field (10) x height gained If you measure mass in kilograms and height in metres, your answer will be in joules. It would be important to have a non-deforming object, because otherwise energy is going into deforming the object and not into making it swing up. To have any chance of accuracy you'll also need a partner to watch the bag swinging up so you can concentrate on delivering the techniques.

I can tell you haven't fenced (much)... the reason we fence in a straight line is that is the easiest way to keep yourself guarded. You start moving at diagonals or around and you very quickly create openings that your opponent can take advantage of. Fencing hasn't always been carried out in straight lines, but the techniques evolved that way because that's what worked.

It may be true that you and your club believe this ... but, sadly, it would be naïve to assume that this was every karateka's point of view.

On Self Defence: Geoff Thompson: Dead or Alive I have a quite a few martial arts books, but the above is the only one I feel is indispensable. Realistic. Scary.

If you look into the history of boxing, it used to be a more formidable art including some throws and more stand-up grappling - before it was toned down by safety concerns. I'd also like to learn Savate, and have been hampered by a lack of clubs - none this side of London AFAIK I also fenced for 12 years.... would love to try Quarterstaff too if I could find anywhere.

I got the mileage figure from the site of someone who did the ride round Britain's coast, but they were just taking it slowly etc., I want to go far as quick a route as is possible, so it may be shorter... I'm working the route out now, gradually, and it looks like it will be shorter. (My route along Scotland's coast is 1265 miles). The shape of the British coast can be quite fiddly, so I guess it depends how closely I want to follow it! (aefibird: regarding all the preparations required, that's why I'm aiming for a date two years away. And hoping to travel with a support car who can carry the majority of stuff.)

Visualise. Imagine a real opponent in front of you who is attacking and defending your moves - react to what he does. Try to work at high intensity and 2 or 3 minute rounds of shadow boxing with a minute rest between each one. Work in the same way as you would with a real training partner ... e.g. try it just using hand techniques, just using foot techniques, and all out.

I had a crazy idea ages ago that it would be cool to cycle all the way around the coast of Britain, as close as you can manage it. I've not planned an exact route, but it should be somewhere in the region of 5000 miles. That should be possible in 6 weeks of the school summer holiday (I'm a teacher) riding 6 days a week and about 140 miles a day. Which sounds feasible - I'm pretty good naturally at endurance stuff, and have no problem maintaining 15+mph for a long period. I would do it to raise money for a charity, though I don't know which one yet, and given the amount of organising would probably aim for Summer 2006. Perhaps to cut down on the time commitment, it would be possible to chop the route up into stages and have multiple cyclists completing it in a relay. Anyone else here that potentially insane?

I started in Seido Karate - a style that is an offshoot of Kyokushinkai. After reaching 8th Kyu, I went to another style and was very quickly promoted well beyond that. Why? Because Seido had worked me so hard and given me such a high level of technique and basic sparring. Well, it might just be the club/instructor, but I found the Seido (Kyokushin based) a much stronger style all-round than the Shotokan I did.

I think that if the styles you are doing are rather different (as a teenager I did Judo and Karate at the same time) then their is no danger of confusion... and of course it will improve your fitness and the techniques available to you if you need them for self defence. If the styles are similar, I would say to avoid confusion it's best to get a strong grounding in one art (say 2-3 years or roughly green belt) before beginning the second.

You need more points on your scale to make it easier to fit onto it, other than just worst-ever and grandmaster. Of course, if it take (say) 6 months to go from level 0 to 1, it probably takes a year to go from 1 to 2, and longer with each subsequent level... Because once you get the basics, improvement is much more gradual. How long does it take to be a grandmaster? Most of the people that have worn that title well have well over 30 years regular (often daily) practice under their belt. I've done county-level competition in Fencing, and know the theory very well, so probably a 6 As a striking martial artist, I'd rate myself 4 to 5; as a grappler 2 to 3.

I agree with most of what you said, except that Baked Potatoes contain rapidly absorbed starch so are just as bad as white bread. Substitute new potatoes or more veg.

What fitness standards (e.g. number of push ups, running ability, flexibility, etc, etc) would you expect to see in a martial artist: A) who has just passed their first ever grading B) is at an intermediate level (say green belt in most styles) C) has just passed their black-belt grading ?