Liver Punch

Haven't had the energy to post much lately, and Thursday is a decent example of why. 5/3/2012 AM: 1 Mile Run PM: 1 hour of clinch work against the cage with strikes 1 hour of BJJ Free-Roll 1/2 hour Muay Thai Bag Work/Pad Work/Conditioning 1/2 Hour of Muay Thai Sparring, 80%

I was surfing the web sometime around the first of the year with ME...I wonder if that one is mine. It looks like I need to make a visit with 95, and if I can find some place to connect via dial-up, Windows 3.1 Perhaps I should fire up the old OS/2 machine and make a visit with that too. I wonder what version of NT is being used to visit the site. I'd donate a new computer to any poor sap who's still surfing the web with his copy of Windows NT 3.1 and a P1 Processor.

It's tough for me to go to a friend's house, walk into his living room, and punch him in the face. If I manage to make myself do it, I feel bad afterwards. There's a few people that doing that to wouldn't be so hard...that's because I hate their guts. For the average person, it's easier to fight someone if you don't like them. For a professional fighter that faces an opportunity to have to fight anyone on Earth, it might just be easier to hate everybody. And, for a lot of guys, it just pays to be the bad guy. Chael Sonnen, for as good as he can be, would get triangled by a High School Geometry book. But if he can string a few wins together, get everyone to hate him, and bad-mouth the champion of his weight class along the way...he's got himself a title shot.

Nothing makes me angrier than when someone really loses when training. Personally, I feel like once someone is trying to hurt me instead of sparring with me, it's no longer a sparring session. If you lose your mind and try to knock my head off, I'm at that point in a fight where it's acceptable to defend myself. Choking him out was perfectly reasonable, responsible, and acceptable in my opinion. I wouldn't have been quite as nice...

Translations are tricky things. Kancho, translating into English as "Head of House" would be interpreted by people where I'm from as "father" or more casually "dad." And while after a long time within a system, this is a somewhat appropriate relationship for one to have...I can't imagine coming in off the street and calling some guy "dad" while he punches my face in. Even Sensei, when understood to mean "teacher," feels a little weird to my particular brand of English. Teacher is more reserved for an educator who teaches a lower level than college. To me, in a non-sport martial art, "Instructor" seems to hold the same connotation in English as I'm told that "Sensei" does in Japanese. In a sport-based martial art, Coach seems to be a much more appropriate title. Ultimately, I completely understand calling someone by a title from the art's home country, it makes things a little more universal. For those in an area where foreign visitors aren't common, and a need to appeal to the masses is greater...then perhaps common language is more appropriate.

What's it normally look like when one gets hit? I have no clue. We need more pictures of people getting hit really hard.

Once, when I had been in the martial arts for 2-3 years and was about 10 years old, a situation arose on the playground. This situation, it quickly became apparent, could only be effectively solved through fighting. As my opportunity to knock this guy's head off arose, I remembered our Sensei saying "Martial arts are serious, and they're only to defend yourself against serious threats - not for using on the playground." I thought about this for a moment, and realized that using my martial arts techniques would be both disrespectful and wrong. So, I didn't use martial arts, I just started throwing hay makers. I'm not really sure what the moral of this story is. Perhaps, like in real life, there is no moral - just one kid on the ground with a bloody nose, and another kid standing over him crying his eyes out with his blood on his fist...nobody is ever a winner.

You're right, they take a class, learn a bunch of stuff in the classroom, and then make their first jump. Of course, that jump has them attached to an instructor and is at low altitude. Sparring that hard that early is like going to skydiving school, and on the first day they tell you to pack your own chute, strap an oxygen mask to you, and tell you to perform HALO jump.

I happen to have an idiot cousin who will be going up for trial right around that time in Tulsa...perhaps me mentioning that fact will get you off the jury - although he needs to be locked up for a while. He was the "notorious" "car wash shooter." Freaking moron...

For the record, I'd probably be using OS/2 if it were still a viable option.

I'm a PC guy all the way, and so far, I haven't ran into anything I couldn't do with Windows. I think Win8 (Technically Windows NT 7.0) is going to be a big game changer. I did think the G3 Macs were pretty cool, though.

Revenge, at least the brand that I would employ, is wrong. However, I'm OK with doing something wrong in a number of circumstances. If you kill or rape a member of my family, I'd gladly dig two graves before placing you in one. I'm a big believer in spite, and though I sometimes forget, I rarely forgive. If the courts frowned upon my particular brand of justice in the above situations...so be it.

While I pretty much entirely lack the background to make any comments on the differences in technique in just about all Chinese, Japanese, and Okinawan martial arts, I think you could benefit from broader advice. (Naturally, I think that because it is the only advice I have to give) Step one to learning what you don't like about a martial art is to take one for a while. For example, you have a friend attending a particular dojo and you seem to have a good impression of the Sensei and everything in general. This is a very good thing. If you don't enjoy your school, you won't go, and then it won't matter "how good" the art is. I would take Shorinryu for a year or so. After a year, you'll pick up good fundamentals and have an understanding of both the art and of what your needs are out of a martial art. If those needs are being met, you can happily stay where they are. If those needs aren't being met at all, you can find a completely new gym and start the process over.

I'm guessing everyone has a different opinion on this! The disclaimer or obviousness is that you want to pick whichever art has the most competent instructor and best environment available to you. I'll assume that all things are equal and it's a matter of "what's better." His particular brand of wrestling is probably freestyle, which is a great thing to know how to do. I think the perfect supplement to this is Greco-Roman wrestling. The techniques of Greco, in my opinion are both more effective, and safer than what you see most of the time in freestyle. Of course, that's not an option here... Judo isn't as easy to find quality instruction in as BJJ, due to the former's growing popularity. BJJ would help him grow a lot in his ability to move on the ground, and BJJ would help him with balance and standing maneuverability. They're probably equally beneficial to a wrestler. That said, I think he should learn both in the course of his life, and my opinion is that learning Judo before BJJ is a natural progression. Also, he's young. Grappling arts seem to lend themselves well to youngsters, and from a combative standpoint, give them lots of options beyond their fists. I'm actually starting Judo in June when the next available class opens up.

I think the most important question is how authentic would you like your Muay Thai training to be. I have absolutely zero doubt that their Muay Thai instructor can kick-box. Within the confines of a Muay Thai fight, I have no doubt that he could be quite successful. These facts, however, have little bearing on the quality of his "pure" Muay Thai instruction. There is no mention of him competing in Muay Thai, training under a Kru, spending time in Thailand, or even at the gym of a well known instructor on America. This means that while he can probably teach you how to "beat people up," he probably cannot teach you the "art" portion of this martial art. So, the question is what are you looking for? Do you want an authentic Muay Thai experience where Thai words are used to name the techniques? Do you want to learn a Wai Kru, wear a Mongkol, and have pure Muay Thai technique? This would require someone with a good Muay Thai pedigree. Or, perhaps, do you want to learn how to hit people with your feet, shins, knees, elbows, fists, and fight particularly well in the clinch? Perhaps you'd like to mix in the kicks of Tae Kwon Do, the punches of boxing, and learn how to move from a Thai clinch into a wrestler's clinch to utilize your judo. This requires someone with a good "fighting" pedigree. Again, it's all about what you're looking for.

A fight can start in the trapping range just the same as it can start anywhere else. If the fight begins with someone larger than me, particularly someone who it may be dangerous to clinch with, then I'm standing in trapping range. I can't meld my techniques with outside entry because there is no outside entry and I can't move forward into a clinch because I'll get destroyed. My only option at this point is to trap, control and evade - particularly is moving backwards isn't an option. The best or even only option may be fighting inside a range (albeit for a brief moment) until you can move inward or outward.

The only supersets I've ever been a fan of using were for grip. Of course, I don't have much of an attention span for lifting, or anything else for that matter. Regardless of how good of shape I was in, there hasn't been a time yet where I couldn't meet my goals with body weight circuits. Perhaps this isn't for everyone, but it seems much easier to me to "burn out" in the weight room.

Ooooh, I love this game. I'm currently sitting in the office of a "secure" correctional facility where "nothing that can be used as a weapon is allowed." Within arms reach of me are: six ink pens, six highlighters, one pencil, a telephone receiver, a computer mouse, keyboard and monitor, a newspaper, paperclips, a stapler, tape dispenser, metal hole punch, and a heavy book. Within this 8' x 10' office lies: a microwave, a pot of hot coffee, metal desk organizers, a meter stick, a container of coffee, sugar, salt, and pepper dispensers, garbage bags, 2 plastic milk crates, a heavy framed map, 3 removable steel plates that cover the water shutoffs for adjacent bathrooms, metal dividers inside of the refrigerator, two frozen ice packs in the freezer, a radio with a long antenna, and the room is lit by 9 short florescent light tubes. I could deploy most of those things in less than 5 seconds and any of them in under 30 seconds. If you've got time to improvise, your options increase exponentially. As for flashlights being a weapon, I'm sure that context (as always) applies heavily. If you're carrying a flashlight in your car and its stored on the floor, trunk, glove box, etc. that seems legitimate. If you're carrying it in your lap on in your hand while you drive around harassing people, that's another story. If you have it on your person at night and you're walking around your home or property, or some other place you have a legitimate reason to have a flashlight - that's probably going to be alright. If you're in the bar at 3 in the afternoon getting into fights with a 3 feet long flashlight, then the arresting officer will probably deem it to be a weapon.

The quote "mixed martial arts is “causing erosion” to the sport of Muay Thai " pretty much sums it up. This wouldn't prevent foreigners from training in the country to use it for MMA, but will protect Muay Thai from any sort of changes. Muay Thai is not only a big cultural thing, but a lot of money exchanges hands within the sport. People, and therefore governments, fear change...this is the easiest way to prevent it.

Another option, one I've been been lucky enough to exercise in the last few weeks is probably exactly what you're looking for. I train in a Muay Thai/BJJ/Wrestling/MMA gym. We have one pro fighter who has a Kyokushin background. He's managed to adapt that into his standup quite successfully. From him I get to learn different methods, techniques, and thought processes without kata, a "traditional" structured environment, etc. Perhaps between all of the gyms in your area, you can find someone close to home to train with on your days away from the gym. With a heavy bag and a couple of mats, you could train/learn in a method that better fits your needs.

I'm not sure where you're driving from or how long it takes to get places on Long Island, but there's always Matt Serra's gym in Huntington. You can bet that they don't do a lot of kata.

A lot of people throw/teach a hook with an inverted vertical fist. I'm a big fan of this method. Also, I'm not attempting to turn this into a debate about what the best method is, but my biggest problem with a vertical fist is my bottom two knuckles. With a closed fist, holding it vertical, my bottom two knuckles are the front-most part of the fist. Because these bones are smaller, they're more likely to be broken than the larger top two.

Every time I scroll past this thread, it makes me think there's a need for a martial arts card game - you know, like Magic: The Gathering. I suppose with some sort of programming skill, it could become a computer-based game as well.

I own a spear, and am somewhat familiar with its various functions. If it came down to needing to use it in self defense, I gladly would.

The difference between brave and stupid pretty much depends on whether or not someone dies. In this instance, the would-be hero died. We often discuss in self-defense scenarios, that to get to the point of being seriously injured, you've probably made a lot of mistakes. That's exactly what happened here.