Liver Punch

Sawback Naginata anyone? It's a Gerber machete that costs about $18.00 new, and a generic "farm handle" that I picked up for $15.00 I believe. I removed the handle from the machete, did a little hand machining on the metal end cap of the handle, and ran 2 through it and the blade base. I attached a sorry looking graduation tassel for good measure. It's pretty sturdy, has some nice weight, and the original sheath still works with the whole thing. http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq357/gdiel1/P1010021-1.jpg http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq357/gdiel1/P1010020.jpg http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq357/gdiel1/P1010022.jpg My next project is a flashlight with a ball hitch on it...I believe Tallgeese was dreaming of something along those lines. Is this what you'd imagined: http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq357/gdiel1/Maghitch.jpg

To the above, I would just like to say, We have all heard the phrase, “Respect is earned, not given.” However true that may be strictly depends on what an individual's perception of respect is. You cannot learn to show respect until it is understood why it needs to be given. Giving respect goes beyond the ability to follow guidelines or rules; however important they may be, but it is the learned thought process that has to be trained to understand why respect should be given. Training someone starts with basic guidelines and understanding of rules necessary to make class go smoothly so everyone can benefit, and then broadens as their confidence and learning grows. Watching the gleam in your student's eyes as they start to build confidence and grow into a pattern of giving respect is one of the most awesome parts of our teaching experience. Now, I wasn't their when the individual was hit, but I have been witness to similar circumstances. A friend of mine and I first started training at a dojo where the teacher favored certain students who could do no wrong and who often did not exercise any control. Now, we all expected get hit and to do some hitting when sparring. A mean, that is what sparring is about, but everyone was supposed to be aware of the rules and not to break them. One guy in the glass kept kicking in areas that would have gotten the rest of us in a lot of trouble. He always hit with full force even though we were taught to exercise some restraint in class (I mean class was for learning and not meant to be a life or death situation). We were taught to land the point in sparring, but, not go overboard like in bloodsport. This guy finally got to my friend and she stopped coming for a while and then we got together and decided that both the instructor and this guy needed a dose of their own medicine. So, she returned to class and one day when sparring, I got to spar with the instructor and she sparred with the favorite student and both of them got taken down. Things improved after that and the instructor stopped playing favorites and started making the guy follow the same rules. I am not proud of that, but, sometimes we all get pushed to far. Maybe that is what happened with this guy. Maybe he will give it another chance after a while. This isn't terribly uncommon in MMA gyms. Respect is given by everyone who isn't a jerk, and the other non-jerks give it in return. There's a lot of guys who don't give respect, and as such you have to take it from them. It's one of those understood things that when a guy won't ease off, won't settle down when you tell him, and won't trow lighter with guys who don't want to be hit hard...an instructor, advanced student, or general "bruiser gets them for the next few rounds of sparring and explains to them the error of their ways while inflicting a fair amount of pain.

For whatever reason, singling out children for punishment seems to work well, but adults take offense. The odd part is that you can punish an adult class as a whole for an individual's mistake and it goes over much better. Anyhow - congrats on finding a suitable school.

Kickboxing in modern day can be summed up by looking at K1. It's essentially a shorter boxing match with kicks. In Muay Thai, aside from knees, and elbows being legal, the clinch is both legal and used regularly.

So, it looks like work is willing to pay me the same amount weekly that they do now, and I'll be working one day less. Because this is a win/win situation, I'm certainly going to accept their offer. The hours would also be much better in regards to training time. In addition to being able to train 22 hours a week and condition 6 hours a week from here forward, I'm in the process of maybe getting my own self defense class. Everything is a bit sketchy at this point, but will hopefully be worked out in the near future. Anyhow, you're the only group of people who has any sort of understanding as to the significance of this, and I figured I'd share with the group.

In a sort of related topic: I actually saw a creative form between two kids at a tournament years ago. It started with them playing baseball, I believe the kid with the bat 'charged the mound" and they fought bat vs. unarmed with disarms/weapon trading. It wasn't exactly a traditional kata, but it was pretty cool.

I meant to post this one - it's often overlooked.

I thought it meant you lost by default in a forfeit.

For you guys that are less about brute force and blunt trauma -which is kinda my thing, I think a BOB is a great addition. It's perfect for targeting a specific area of the body and angles and whatnot. I used it to work on liver shots extensively, as well as spinning attacks (which aren't naturally my forte'). It's like having a training partner that you can continuously abuse.

When getting the crap kicked out of me after a layoff, I try to stay calm...being on edge while getting pummeled is exhausting

I'm officially looking for a solution to this problem.

Caveman logic tells me that weapons are better than hands. Against a knife, my personal preference is a club - but, it's something I train with and are comfortable with. As far as local law and regulation is concerned, I've found a few viable options. They're all tools, and unless used as a weapon, they can probably be passed off as such, and carried in your car. http://www.real-self-defense.com/unbreakable-umbrella.html http://www.jr.com/maglite/pe/MGL_S6D016/ http://www.12volt-travel.com/19-wooden-tire-thumper-p-5995.html?zenid=c9f0b447d6055d85b29e30c887359a82

Your finger bones are small - you can't make them tough, and not protecting them is a good way to hurt them. Physics also dictate that a lot of energy is going to be transferred through your hand, your wrist, and on up the line. Gloves offer protection from that energy. So yeah, taking off the protection might feel good, but it's often got consequences.

Let me start by saying that I'm not a sociopath, or a vigilante, nor do I wish to emulate the lead roles from Dexter or Deathwish. I haven’t been adjudicated mentally defective, arrested, or convicted of any crime. This isn’t about being a “tough guy”, this is about freedom. The above quote was in another thread. It's a responsible statement, it's an intelligent statement, it's a mature statement, and from the standard martial arts perspective, it's the appropriate statement. I'd tell anyone who is not a martial artist and willing to listen the exact same thing. As a martial artist, it's the way we should portray ourselves and the way we'd like the rest of the world to view us – it’s simply the standard for martial arts today. The question is as to whether or not it is my standard. This martial arts philosophy of avoiding conflict until it's positively necessary, of winning by not fighting, and by knowing that once you're in a bad situation, you've made a lot of mistakes...these are all good things. I don't doubt, nor do I argue this fact in the grand scheme of things as it is the conventional wisdom of many martial artists with a better viewpoint on the situation than that of myself. Perhaps the issue at hand then, is that I'm not necessarily a martial artist "first". I majored in Political Science, so much of my personal philosophy is rooted in western politics rather than traditional eastern tradition. I buy very deeply into the ideas of personal freedom and liberty and have a deep-rooted belief that I should be able to act within my legal rights at any time and place without concern that others will not act in the same fashion. This idea is the basic cornerstone of freedom and modern society as it is, and perhaps more so, how it should be. Philosophically, this is who I am first, and the values that I hold most important. The rubric of traditional eastern philosophy and martial arts standards must therefore come in second place – there is no room for devaluation or compromise of one’s core values, a choice must be made. I'm not certain that this makes me dissimilar to the individuals who crafted most of our individual arts. While the samurai are often held in high regard throughout the martial arts, history is ignored when discuss them. Before Japan was unified, the samurai were not held to the codes that they are now famous for. They were not noble swordsmen who held honor and procedure above all. They were soldiers. Many a samurai felt the agony of defeat without committing seppuku. Many a samurai left their soul – their sword – in its sheath while firing gunpowder-driven weapons. Many a samurai cloaked themselves in darkness, fled the battlefield, faked weakness, and acted “dishonorably” to gain an advantage in battle. The samurai did not become great for their ability to follow a code, groom themselves, and act as noblemen. The samurai became great for their ability in war. War and combat is what makes our art martial. To ignore, romanticize, and pervert history is to do a great injustice to all parties involved. For the purpose of my argument, war has always been - and always will be based largely in politics, freedom, and ideology. Personally, I take combative risks regularly. While I do not find them to be frivolous in nature, they are tactically precarious. I live not far from a “bad” neighborhood. When I go running, I often run through it - it's got the best sidewalks in town. When I have a letter to drop off, or need to pick up an item or two, I walk through it. I'm not the same color as most of the people there, and I’m frequently harassed because of it. Though not the most intelligent maneuver, I usually hurl equally offensive language back at whomever it is that has decided to interrupt me in my business. I've made two mistakes right there - I went into a dangerous neighborhood, and then I poked the proverbial bear - or multiple bears in some cases. Enemy territory, multiple attackers, racial tension and a big mouth equals a lot of mistakes and potential danger follows close behind. This isn’t about martial arts - even if I were unarmed and untrained...I'd still conduct myself the way I do. It's not a matter of getting into an altercation, it's not a matter of testing one’s skills, it's a matter of testing personal freedom and liberty. It's a basic human right to walk down that street, and it's within that right to reciprocate when someone’s words become insulting. When exercising one’s personal freedom becomes a synonym for imprudence, and in turn, angst becomes a symbol of self-preservation, it is then that the expediency of martial arts has perished in a particularly demeaning and inappropriate fashion. It is here that we've got a colossal internal (and now external) debate. Is passivity - in situations which are not self-indulgent, frivolous, or ego-driven - the proper thing to do as defined by the values of martial arts? Would the founders and creators of our individual arts wish for us to avoid all situations which may result in a righteous use of your skills? Is exercising my right to tell someone to stop being a jerk (even if I think it may result in a physical altercation) when the situation warrants it a violation of my responsibility as a martial artist? Perhaps as someone who can speak their mind without fear of the end result; it’s my responsibility to speak the truth for myself and for those who are afraid to do so. If someone believes in personal autonomy, should martial arts be a burden and hindrance? Should I avoid the bad neighborhoods, social establishments, and unfriendly territory based solely on the fear of having to use a skill that I learned specifically for those situations? There is no advocation on my part for unnecessary violence. What I would advocate, however, is an honest evaluation of what is and is not necessary. I started taking the martial arts to conquer fear. I feel that using the very tool I sought to help me conquer fear as a crutch to aid in additional distress to be a senseless exercise in irony. Discuss.

I think it's the mental preperation. A lot of useful techniques can be performed without martial arts. Hitting someone really hard isn't strange to most people. Hitting someone, or using any other technique becomes a different story when you're under duress. It also becomes a different story when someone punches you in the mouth. I think the time between mental understanding of a situation and the physical response is something that can only be improved through practice. Furthermore, defending one's self while under stress, while bleeding, or while your body is flooding you with chemicals is even harder to get good at. Martial arts seem to be the only thing that the average person can partake in to give themselves an advantage in that area.

I think that's just the problem - Tyson, Ali, Foreman, and Hopkins all use varying and different technique on the lead hook. Tyson throws a tight, almost a high shovel hook, Ali often kept his hands low, and brought his entire arm up into the "proper" position as he thre the strike. Foreman looks like he's throwing hooks with just his arms and very little body rotation at times, while Hopkins throws over the top sometimes. All of them throw with varying degrees of angles, power, and Tyson even threw palm down from time to time. While Muay Thai fighters do have sizable gloves - even the same weight sometimes, the construction of a Thai glove seems to lead to to more pain in my opinion. Even if that's just in my head, MMA features a much lighter glove, and if you're ever forced to throw a punch in self defense, you'd be lucky to have as much as a pair of mittens. The big question here is: what's the best technique for an individuals specific use. If you want to throw a Mike Tyson-style hook at someone's temple full blast without gloves on, be my guest. However, I have the feeling that afterwards, most people would decide it probably wasn't the best technique for the situation. Without boxing gloves, I think a sizable amount of boxers would be in trouble in regards to technique. I don't know that I'd lump many top-level professional boxers in that category, but I think the loss of face and hand protection would give a multitude of low to mid level boxers trouble against someone who trains without that benefit normally. The question is what, if anything, do we borrow from the way techniques are performed in various arts when we apply that technique to our particular needs.

Musashi trained alone for a length of time, and he turned out pretty good. If a large part of your trouble is keeping the proper mindset, it might just a matter of figuring out what works for you. I don't know if you're much of a reader, but if you can get martial arts related books - from the library, or readings online, that might help. You know the books - it's the usual roundup: Book of 5 Rings, Dokkodo, Hagakure, The Art of War, etc. Aside from that, you can always see if you can work for your gym dues at the Dojo. If nothing can be worked out where you've traditionally trained, and you aren't opposed to cross-training, check at other gyms and dojos - it never hurts to ask. GS is right, you might be able to find a training partner to work with for a while, and a relationship like that could very well benefit both of you. Beyond that, keep your mind and body sharp. Study, read, be active on this and other forums, watch video, and train as hard as you can. I find that brutal and self-imposed physical conditioning makes my mind strong in a big hurry. Most of all, good luck.

Where's the thumbs up button? That's why I put up a video of Sakuraba defending from the waist-hold position. Nobody will grab you over your arms, even if they did, what are they going to do from there? It's just not much of an attack. This pretty much sums it up. I'd start with reverse headbutts, foot stomping, and screaming my head off.

This might be at the heart of our difference in opinion about this. Where I'm originally from, you couldn't walk into a boxing gym to save your life. In all honesty, you'd be pretty lucky if someone had an uncle John who boxed in the Navy. I didn't notice you were from New Jersey until just now, and I certainly understand where you're coming from. You'd have to drive a long time to find a Shotokan gym where I'm originally from, and if you were interested in something like that, a brown belt who had a good teaching style would be appreciated. The guys that still attend my "home gym" are 25 miles from a TKD gym, 25 miles from a good MMA gym, over an hour away from a legitimate Muay Thai Gym, over an hour away from a legit BJJ school, and I couldn't tell you where you could find a dedicated karate dojo. So, yeah - in the metropolis of New Jersey, this guy's idea probably sounds insane. From my personal location and therefore history, a million dollars couldn't get you a karate lesson within walking distance. Maybe this is a case of location, location, location? It's hard for us to not say "the more the merrier", whereas in a real life city, you're probably full to the gills. If I were in a large city with lots of competition, I'd be nuts to open up a school without some seriously amazing credentials.

You're claiming that Nobunaga didn't pull mission control mid battle? I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think this is a good explanation for quite a bit of things, including this.

We do only have 1/3 of the story. Which is why we probably shouldn't assume the child is injured, nor should we call anyone an "offender".

If you're not sure who this was adressed to, I'm not sure why you felt the need to address it with a a description of why it doesn't apply to you. Unless of course, you thought that it was directed toward you and didn't say so, in which case you might be right. That argument was something along the lines that you appeared to be making. In saying that his style wasn't anything new, but was free of rigid tradition-bound rules that needed to be followed in order to gain rank, and were furthermore adapted to suit his body style and that it was no better or worse than anything else, you called it McDojo like. I train at what amounts to three different schools in three different cities, and none of them are deep-rooted in what I could call "the traditions of their art." They've all been adapted, modified, and offered "as-is". It just appeared to me that a bunch of people jumped all over someone and told him he didn't have what it took to teach and if he tried to do so, he'd be running a McDojo. I found that to be incredibly pretentious, and more importantly, nonconstructive. I think being on this forum constitutes an active effort to be part of the Martial Arts community, and inherent in such effort should be the desire to be as productive as possible. I'd very much like to be as constructive as possible in both the sharing of information and the exchange of advice and would certainly hope that it's something everyone else strives toward. Your most recent post clarifies your position on this issue, and I think we're in agreement on the subject as a whole. You should understand that you do not represent the majority of martial artists or their respective dojo. The majority of them do not require someone to be developed physically and mentally, nor do they require what I would classify as "overly-adequate" amounts of time to make it to black belt. I get the vibe that this guy has desire to establish a school that produces something closer to what you are as a martial artist than to become a 7-year old blackbelt factory. Ultimately, I felt that anyone taking the position of calling a potential school a McDojo before its doors open is one of the most counter-productive measures that can be taken on these forums. If this individual is to open a school, I would much rather he have a forum of martial artists worldwide that can give him positive input and support than have a group of people ostracizing his school before its doors even open. He will almost certainly listen to a group of supportive allies with useful advice and constructive criticism in an effort to improve both himself as a martial artist and his school as a whole. To put it plainly: even if this guy sucks and what he does sucks, he's going to start teaching. I'd rather it be with a a variety of martial artists attempting to guide him in the right direction, than doing whatever he wants, because let's face it...that's what all of the crappy instructors, schools, and organizations do right now. I mean, come on - imagine if we could convince the Tai Chi guys to do a form with a shotgun... Also: Field trips do, indeed rule.

Everyone's definition of McDojo is different, but as long as you aren't outright screwing people out of money or ranking people to black belt as rapidly as possible, I think you're free from falling into that category. With all due respect to the other members of this forum, I think that there's a lot of black belts out there who are a joke, plain and simple. When I was a brown belt, I would have put myself against any black belt from an entire list of systems in actual combat. So, as far as rank is concerned, I could care less what someone holds. That's a good thing if you're a highly-capable brown belt, but if you're an incapable brown belt, then yeah, stay away from teaching until you get better. But regardless of skill, if you're charging just enough money to pay for the necessities of training and don't pass yourself off as being something you're not, then you aren't running a McDojo. You're a Shotokan brown belt and therefore not looking to teach Shotokan as a black belt. That seems reasonable. And, you felt that Shotokan could be improved upon, so you added in modern self-defense, and the techniques of other martial arts. That's also reasonable. The important part comes as to where these other techniques were learned. If you watched some television, read some magazines, and bought an instructional book...that's no good, and you should avoid teaching. But if in your time off from Shotokan you have been training wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, and self-defense, and are now looking to mesh your skills into one art...that's a good thing. I don't know all the details in this, and I don't think anyone else here does either. If anyone here thinks mixing and matching martial arts to create a better art and free yourself from the traditions and structure of those traditional arts is the definition of a McDojo, I think they should take a few field trips and see how well the ability to count to ten in Japanese helps you in a combative situation. While rank does only have a particular amount of currency in the art it comes from, brown and black belts are pretty much universally recognized as pretty good, and really good, respectively. As aforementioned, I think there's a lot of black belts in a lot of arts that would be sitting ducks in a fight. However, even those guys have some ability and knowledge that everyone can learn from. They've done their time, they've mastered a lot of technique, and shown a lot of discipline. Those are three values that are universally useful, and in and of themselves deserve some respect. You're not in love with the idea of rank for yourself and your art, and that's fine. There are plenty of combative groups who's members don't wear rank belts (boxing, wrestling, combative shooting groups, muay thai, Blanka from Street Fighter) and they all seem to do just fine. If you're going to call your system a martial art, I think rank is very important. While Boxing, Wrestling, etc. don't have ranks, they compete, and students earn a record to show their ability. People like to have a measure of their ability...it gives them street cred. If rank belts aren't a necessity in your new art, I assume that you won't be wearing a traditional uniform. I would suggest something like Neil Melanson uses in his submission grappling classes. He ranks people with stripes that can be sewn on their shorts. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://xtremecouture.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/beltrank_photo_grad.jpg&imgrefurl=http://xtremecouture.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/xtreme-couture-announces-grappling-stripe-rank-system/&usg=__xRwfnLWnGFPjijeuac6rNIuq7xw=&h=919&w=1171&sz=540&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=UwSJZGXC_FpC-M:&tbnh=136&tbnw=173&ei=GCXATY2_LYiU0QHQxLn2BA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dxtreme%2Bcouture%2Bgrappling%2Brank%2Bpatch%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1024%26bih%3D632%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=128&vpy=139&dur=991&hovh=199&hovw=253&tx=148&ty=118&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0 In closing, you probably know whether or not you are a fraud. You probably know whether or not you have to teach people to defend themselves. If you plan on being active in the martial arts community or having a large school, you'll probably want a black belt eventually. Putting one on yourself is a bit tasteless, and I don't think you want to get your BB that way anyhow. I think you should continue your training regardless of whether or not you're going to teach. If you are going to teach, it will benefit both you and your students. It also gives you an avenue to earn a blackbelt outright, and keep your skills sharp against people that are experienced martial artists, and not beginners.

I hate teaching just one person. It's hard for them to see anything you demonstrate on them. How is a person supposed to know how I'm twisting their arm when I'm sitting on their head? Agreed. Two on two, or another multiple of two is perfect. Even teaching one person, you need two instructors for that reason.

What?!? Why didn't you ever take me there? You guys have all the fun...