Drew

Some background first: I've been studying martial arts for about 16 years. My first lesson though, was about 21 years ago. I punched my Dads hands, jab and and a two out front of our house. Over many years, mittwork like that was the most valuable part of my training, I feel. Good mittwork (like you will get in Thailand or from a professional boxing trainer) alone will turn you into a formidable striker. Other than striking, I got my start just doing jiujitsu in the basement of my church. We put the gloves on and took it to the yard outside too, and attracted a lot of the neighborhood doing mma out in the grass. We met once a week on Wednesday, just like the English kids back in medieval times. Just casually practicing what we saw on tv and the internet proved to be effective when taken to various gyms and dojos. I grew up in a rural town so we were quite far from even bjj gyms, let alone big boxing gyms, mma gyms, what have you. As I grew up and saw more of the world, I got more formal training. At first I visited anyone who was around in my state, and as time went on I traveled pretty far to get what I wanted, training in Thailand. Like I said, good mittwork will build many good reflexes. Other than that, knowing what you're all about, what you came to do, and what you need to defend, BEING it, amplify these skills. I've had a good number of fights in various formats. 2 in mma, 1 in muay thai, and 1 in boxing. Two of them were professional, two weren't. As I flexed harder and harder, I found that who I was interfered with what the fights were: that is to say; a good will and peaceful attitude bent the fights out of shape and moreover bent my spirit somewhat. It's odd to say and maybe harder for many younger people to understand. Any enterprise you undertake will effect you as a person differently than that same enterprise will effect someone else. I do believe that good has a plan. Where the martial arts are concerned, I think its good for someone seeking a competitive edge to do these things: 1) If you are studying martial arts in the broadest sense; that is, learning philosophy, and how to fight in many contexts, kata and forms of any martial art are a VAST repository of knowledge, and karate kata in particular can give you reflexes which will help you mount improbable defenses even against overwhelming odds. I will say that karate kata are not the easiest way. The forms of Tai Chi contain much of the metaknowledge you will need to even stand a chance against some one who is trained, taller, etc. 2) If you are trying to fight just one person, there are a few principles which will help you regardless of whether it is in a sporting contest or not. Put a side towards the opponent and use that side. Use your longest weapons but not to the exclusion of other weapons. If you use you lead front kick, expect to need your sidekick, and if you use you sidekick, be prepared to use your lead thrusting knee. If you use your jab, be prepared to use your lead knee. If you jab, be prepared to use your rear uppercut, if you have the intention of using that uppercut to prevent certain head motions, be prepared to use your rear hook also. From half of the effective stances, you can throw a concealed spinning attack. This can take any form, from long range kicks to short range elbows. If you have the initiative, you will find your jab coming into contact (maybe.) When a jab touches someone, you should be in a position that is loaded to throw any punch, knee or kick available from your stance. That should add up to a lot of possible attacks. Your lats are a key here, they will feel flexed and very particular, additionally you will feel as if you could shiver from such a position, as if you wanted to sneeze but in your body. I have to say, when someone is jabbed, there is a million different things they may do in response to it. you have to be structured behind your attack, in such a way as to have a response to any outcome. These are shapes you will find yourself taking and find favorable in terms of both offensive and defensive options. I didn't mention slipping, but really, you must be read to lean back, to either side, or duck. These movements are connected to the rear uppercut. You have to be ready to raise or lower either elbow also. When an opponent is within your grasp, you have to have all of these actions ready, so that a flaw in your method cannot be exposed. It is like walking a tightrope but it may become a slackline at any moment. You have to be on your guard. If you are using your lead side, but the opponent is too tall, there are a few more options. Primarily, you can move. There are a million ways to say this. You can change your position relative to the opponent. You can make sure your stance is pointing towards theirs but theirs is not pointing towards you. You can take an angle. If you have taken an angel, you have to make sure that you are 'wound in.' What I mean is, you have to have that shiver down in your bones. And if you do that, and make sure you are either coming up their center line, or coming up behind them (the outside angle), you will have a chance at even someone who has no business fighting you. Angles are very interesting. Conventionally, we say, 'you can take either the inside angle or the outside angle.' The inside angle is also sometimes called the 'pocket,' though this is an ephemeral term, the definition of which often depends on who is speaking about it. The outside angle is extremely dominant, and is associated with southpaws. Many southpaws manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, however, because they use their rear side as a lead instead of using their much nearer weapon, the jab or front kick. The inside angle can also be extremely dominant, and the jab must still be used or the advantage of the angle will be forfeited. Well, I wrote this knowing I would come to a rambling stop. I've had a few bud lights and I'm starting to sound like Abraham Lincoln, but I do have a few more things to add. Your stance, loading and static form all express power. Honing this can feel still and in mittwork will feel incredibly powerful. You throw combinations which could have a million variations due to your balance. They are the qualities that most fighters focus on, and the qualities you will feel in the stillest spaces during Tai Chi practice. They are very internal in nature, and in fact have a lot to do with the internal rotations of various joints throughout your body. Gaining skill in this has a lot to do with awareness of you own body, and trying to put as many weapons as possible between you and your opponent. Angles are an explosive additive to the aforementioned. They amplify anything you know with sheer power, if you know how to find them (there are several tricks of footwork which can help you get to these positions) and if you know how to use them (you have to set and maintain a forward pressure into the target). This applies not only to striking but to grappling. If you have a striking angle, and move within reach of a gi sleeve, for example, you will find that any grip you take (with the lead hand) has a far more dramatic effect on the balance of your opponent. If you wrestle, any shot you take or grip you take will be much more effective if you are squared up but your opponent is letting you take that angle, no matter how slight the angle is. If you are having trouble with an agile opponent who does in fact move laterally, squares off, and attacks such that you have trouble dealing with them at all, there are a couple things you can do. The first is that if they were in range when they move laterally, you can throw a round or spinning attack. These often work. You have to make sure it hurts or you wont be able to regain a position that pressures them out, though. The safer option is to move to cancel the angle even as they are taking their new position. When you do, you need to make sure that your stance still maintains its properties (many attack and defense options) and is pointed towards them. Ideally, you would then take your own angle, but space constraints are going to be at the forefront of your mind. I mentioned karate kata early on. Kata often have responses which would help against more than one attacker. In instances like these, maintaining good angles becomes a matter of gross movement, and keeping 'squared,' 'faced off,' or 'wound in,' towards the nearest opponent. When this fails, kata often help provide any response at all which might help you find a position that has at least a hope. -Drew

Being like the moon is being like water. The moon isn't only reflected, on the water. The moon sees the water and feels that it isn't alone. There is a push and pull between them. Light and power connect them. The moon should feel it has a home in the water; touching the silver disk, or crescent, or shrouded ring, or brilliant penumbra on the water should bring you in contact with the moon itself, into contact with all water that reflects it, and with every reflection.

IMO bunkai are fun but overhyped. Choki Motubu was a proponent of being difficult in the red light district. That was his type of thing - people put hands on in a way that would annoyingly limit their own movement, but which Choki found amusing. Break the wrist and walk away, that's all there is to it. On the other hand, bunkai are useful for decisively ending fights. It's kind of like... Missing the forest but picking all the right trees. You forced certain responses and had miserable answers for each one. That is the ikken hitatsu spirit of kata.

Reaching to the ground can strengthen the wheel kick... However building a variety of options from a stable position like that takes time. I've seen some strong misc kicks used as 'pokes' from 3-points. Usually, they aren't very commanding.

I like fighting mma and muay thai, it may be dangerous but so is skydiving. I've been hurt worse on a mulched playground than I ever have on canvas.

^^^ I wonder how many of his contemporaries were as well read Bruce Lee with the internet would have been president

My opinion is that Trav's head movement and footwork drills will at once make you very hard to hit and put you in a loaded position to throw damaging strikes, which sounds like what you're looking to do. He's a cornball but he knows his stuff

Solid advice. The tricky part is finding, growing with, and perhaps eventually outgrowing the *right* opponents.

"The Tao" is a dope book, would recommend to anyone who likes strategy or intellectualizing their problems. Nice video, well sine. These concepts have saved my brain a lot of wear and tear.

One of the things that stuck out at me in Thailand was how sharp the skills of the experienced teenage fighters was. Their techniques had a technical and aesthetic perfection that you very, very rarely see in the west. The trainers, by contrast, lacked that polish. They all clearly once had it, but through time, 300 fights, and an earned lack of serious training they just don't have that technical excellence anymore, even though they can typically teach it. What they did have was impressive fight IQ and ring savvy. In the middle of the two you have the early twenties fighter with all the sharpness of a "young" fighter but with much of the intelligence of the retired ones. They're about 8000 times better at Muay Thai than their western counterparts, and that's because they've spent around 8 years training 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the evening, six days a week with short breaks after tough fights. That's burning the candle at both ends, and the progress really shows. There's no substitute for effort over time, and skills degrade the longer you don't train them.

I think it will grow if you keep competing under his banner. Even if it's only local ammy shows. If you keep winning, which I believe you will because that first one was a VERY rough match up for you, a buzz will be created in the area you compete in, and opportunities will start presenting themselves. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, you know. The traditional kickboxing skills you posses notwithstanding, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see you pull off some of those standing joint locks out of your bunkai vids. That kind of stuff is where the clinch in mma is headed: Shinya Aoki, Jones and less notable people have already demonstrated the potential even without a focus on the discipline. Not that I think you wanna go around trying to break peoples arms, but hey, it's a rough sport. Chicks dig casts anyway so you'd probably be doing them a favor. Anyhow, Jack Slack, Lawrence Kenshin, BJJ Scout, and like a dozen other combat sport analysts are currently attempting to take over the internet, and they're gaining ground. I think if they aren't already the most influential minds surrounding martial arts they soon will be. The analysis movement is like a renaissance in martial thought. The way it lets the lay person and casual participant understand on a deep and fundamental level how the sports work is both raising the appreciation of the sport by fans and will ultimately drive the skill level of even the best up, as they have to race to stay ahead of the filthy, educated casuals.

I went to Thailand and picked a fight a recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sUuXpAf-RA I'm the one who has 99.9% reflectivity with the stadium lights.

Internal quality control of sparring in BJJ will keep good BJJ clearly seperated from some of the cheese that's already starting to pop up here and there, I think. There are cheesy fake Muay Thai schools popping up now too but you can always tell who is legit. I've read that in the feudal period Jujutsu schools, along with other martial art schools tended to be patronized by a nearby Daimyo and that was what provided true legitimacy to a school. I reckon if the Daimyo wanted decent fighters he probably didn't let his Samurai train in Ye Olde McDojo. Anyway, at the advent of early modern warfare the Dojo lost their true purpose and so assuming the Dojo still ran at all there wouldn't be that rigorous quality control anymore: you don't have any Samurai that might die if your training sucks. My point being the competitive aspect of BJJ and Muay Thai are that true purpose. As long as there is competition real martial arts will always be around, even in the midst of all the splintered nonsense.

Yeah his corner was a bit miffed with her about that.

Thanks, no I've had another, a second round submission loss, the organization that one was under are real nazis about licensing rights though. Noah's fight makes me happy every time I see it, that kick was was sooooo well timed.

As long as we're posting relics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj0rt6BoTXA I'm red. Seems like that just happened, but it's been two years already. Time really creeps up on you.

It occurred to me during editing that I don't really know how fast people read. I tried to err on the long side but still didn't get it apparently. The plan for future ones is to narrate them, we'll see how that works out. As for the music, didn't know people hated 8 bit stuff that much. Royalty free and all that. I felt like having music made the cuts seem less abrupt, and something was better than nothing. Thanks for the input.

Thought I'd try my hand at an analysis video in the same vein as Lawrence Kenshin or BJJ Scout's stuff. I dug around on my hard drive to find any footage that might share a theme so I could learn the video editing software I have, this is what I came up with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqfKnFuMfBA Let me know what you think.

+2 Impulse=mass x change in velocity. It's that change in velocity you need to be looking at. Obviously the difference in the starting and ending speed of a bullet is going to be a lot more dramatic than that of your fist, and even when multiplied by the relatively small mass of the bullet you are going to end up with a much higher impulse than any punch can provide. I think you might be getting tripped up by thinking that force is always bad for you. Our planet is constantly pushing us about with an incredible amount of force, but doesn't crush us because there is (relatively) little change in velocity at any given point.

This was very helpful, thank you.

That's really cool, the ones that use the outside foot position are similar to sukuinage. Say, if you like searching in kana, you might try using google.jp instead of .com some time. I've found some great stuff that way.

Lmao, all my lolz go to you

how can something slower and lighter hit harder? a rear cross uses most of your body weight, and travels really fast, a donkey kick uses very little body weight and travels at a slower speed, how can the donkey kick do more damage in some cases and about the same in other cases? Because the force of the impact isn't only supplied by you, it is also supplied by the person being struck. Typically back kicks are only landed or effective against someone who is moving towards you. They themselves are supplying lots of mass and velocity. Of course, any strike will be more effective when the opponent is moving into it, but it is pretty much the only way to hurt someone with a back kick, short of using a spin, or a specific and specialized kind of switch. This is easily demonstrated by back kicking a stationary heavy bag, then back kicking it again as it swings in to meet your kick. The kick has significantly more impact when the bag (our hapless opponent) swings into it. I would also like to point out that it is the rapid acceleration of tissue caused by the force that hurts people, and I think you will get a better grip on this if you learn about acceleration and vectors in general.

http://fightsgoneby.webplus.net/page16.html http://fightsgoneby.webplus.net/page14.html http://fightsgoneby.webplus.net/page15.html Those articles will take you far. Just remember what Dobringer said, "For practice is better than art, your exercise does well without the art, but the art is not much good without the exercise." Read and think but put it to the test in sparring. Edit: Remember that orthodox fighters can and will use the same things on you.

Reminded me of this: I had noticed some BJJers and catch guys have picked it up for some reason, it makes me want to face palm myself with the entire mat.