Wolfman08

Go to youtube. Look up the Vitamin String Quartet. Enjoy. Or anything by Tool.

Seriously? I just tried that and almost fell over. How does one pull that off?

So it isn't a perfect simile.

Learning to fight with a shovel is no more bazaar these days then learning to use a kama. And the mounted position they showed in the second video almost definitely has a few advantages, same with the choke shown. And several of the techniques demonstrated looked fairly effective, and entirely legit. Really the biggest issue I see is the kata shown in the first video was done with more speed then accuracy. Even the issue with the founder's rank isn't that big of a deal in my mind. Miyamoto Musashi was one of the greatest swordsmen in Japan, and one of the greatest in the world. He founded his own style, and wrote one of the most read martial arts books in the world as well, and he never trained under anyone in swordsmanship [/devil's advocate]

I now have justification for owning a sword.

Sadly, this isn't new. Quite a few stores with security guards give instructions not to follow possible shoplifters outside of the store, and not to stop them. When I worked at IHOP for a little while I was nearly fired for writing down the license plate of a group of people that skipped out on their bill. A $75 bill. That came out of my pay check.

I'm pretty sure the founders of Sambo were killed in the gulags. I don't think the reason had anything to do with them founding Sambo though.

Kata. Kata helps. Also, basically any drill you do in class. Until you have some experience with what you're good at, and what needs to be improved, drills from class are probably your best bet. And by the time you figure out what you are good at, and what you need to improve, you'll probably have a fairly good idea of what kinds of drills you need to do anyways. However, if you need some direction (maybe you have a weakness that isn't addressed) there are drills that can probably help. For that kind of help, we kind of need to know a little about what actually happens when you get destroyed.

It could be that he's working on some aspect other then power. I'll regularly do combinations like a low round kick, a high round kick, and then a round kick to the stomach. Odds are, none of those kicks will have much power, and they'll probably be fairly slow. However, what I am working with my balance (to stay up long enough), my agility (to be able to move my leg in between strikes), accuracy (hitting a specific target) and possibly speed (if I decide to get a little squirrelly). I could do the same thing by working a combination with a backfist, that rolls into a ridgehand with the same arm. Odds are, it will not generate power. But, it will force me to work my reaction time, speed, agility, and accuracy (if I'm aiming for specific targets). Any of the components of fitness and, and should, be worked in shadow boxing in some way, generally with some focused drills, and some which are more generalized.

In addition to what Sensei said: I know a guy (long story, don't ask) who "trained" another guy for a local MMA event. The training consisted of lots of weightlifting, and a little bit of grappling, and nothing else really. Neither have been in any serious fights (ring or otherwise), and neither had watched any of the local fights. They didn't even know that (at that time) the organization they were going to go compete at wasn't sanctioned with the state boxing commission, making the whole thing pretty illegal. The guy who fought got the crapped kicked out of him (metaphorically speaking, since he was tapped out half way through the first round). He went back two months later without working out once (and maybe being in a few horseplay-style fights) since then, and pulled a win out of his butt. Last I heard he had a 3-1 record, and hardly ever works out.

I was on a different forum and someone asked basically this question, but with kata. It of course quickly devolved into a monkey poo fight about how kata is completely useless vs. kata is a god. Between the OP and the poo fight I managed to get in that Kata is alot like shadow boxing or running drills with a partner. If you're doing sets of Jab-Jab-Cross over and over, you're basically doing a kata, if you're doing it to the air, pads, a bag, or working it with a partner. Someone else quickly insulted me, said the two are nothing alike, and didn't say anything else. Just thought of that story, and thought some people might find it interesting.

The easiest way to think of shadow boxing is as you working combinations with an opponent, bag, or pads. I mostly shadow box for warming up.

True enough. But if you're major concern is self defense, that should be your technique base.

I would advise against biting and anything where you are contacting with an open wound. You don't know what kind of blood-born disease your attacker might have, after all. Or he might enjoy it, which open a whole new can of worms in an attack.

Three attacks for that situation: Rake the eyes, kick the outside of the knee, kick the groin. In addition, knowing how to grapple might not be a bad idea (ie, in a rape situation). Or just being able to run away.

Great. Second time I've actually needed health insurance, and I don't have any. Freakin spectacular.

You're right. I cann't remember the details myself, but spacers do make the break much easier because of some highly detailed physical laws.

Parkinson's? That just occurred to me.

Ironically enough, I have no insurance as of just about one month ago.

So, I'm laying here on my couch watching Season Three of Sliders on Netflix on my laptop, and the muscle in the front of my thigh keeps twitching. I wouldn't bring this up, but it's twitching fast (probably about three twitches every two seconds), and has been going on for a while (maybe an hour, off and on). And it's happened a few times before, maybe three times in the last week. The last time it happened it was going off and on all day. Today was an upper body in my weightlifting routine (if that matters at all), I stretched out pretty well before and after, stretching doesn't help any, hitting it doesn't help any, and when I put my really cold hand on it a few days ago the twitching stopped for maybe 20 minutes before starting back up with a vengeance. It doesn't hurt, and it isn't interfering with my ability to do any thing (like standing, walking, or going up stairs), it's just really irritating. So, what's going on here?

Hand chambering you only really see in Karate, Kung Fu, and the styles that derive from them (such as Tae Kwon Do and Tang Soo Do). Most Southern Styles of Kung Fu schools chamber their hands at their upper rib cage, and most Karate and Northern Kung Fu schools chamber at their hips. The advantage to Karate style chambering is that it forces the practicer to focus on the movement of their hips. The advantage to Southern Kung Fu styles of chambering is that it develops the bicep muscle and (if the backward movement of the arm is done with force) develops a backward elbow strike. Cuong Nhu (despite being heavily based off of Shotokan) use the more Southern Kung Fu method of chambering

I haven't done anything worth thanking me for, but whatever.

Don't they get easier after a certain number of breaks?

Google 'how to made el jeffe dummy' and I'm sure you'll find plenty. There are tons of people who (like me) have a fetish for home made training gear.

Unless you recycle them. One of the guys in my school does alot of wood carvings when we practice board breaking. Another student has a bonfire fairly regularly, and she spends alot of time breaking boards to supply her oven.