moobrack

Thahnx for letting me know jamesdasher! I wil have to look around sum more!

The best I could do! Developed in Russia with roots going back at least 1,000 years, its intensive and covert cultivation during the 20th century was encouraged by the Soviet elite. The art was reserved for top government official bodyguards (Stalin's bodyguard was Systema) and for use by the hyper-elite Special Operations Units within Spetsnaz, arguably the most capable special operations military units ever created. With the fall of the Soviet Union, very high level Systema training is now available in the west, specifically in Toronto under Vladimir Vasiliev, student and colleague of the great Moscow based Systema master Mikhail Ryabko. Toronto is a nice place to visit and stay a while. It's worth spending some time (a week to a few months) there. Many top martial artists and professional bodyguards from around the world have done so. The training is radically different from "normal" martial arts and beginners are welcome. Basically, everyone who steps into the school quickly realizes that no matter how many years (or decades) they've trained in martial arts, they need to start over from scratch once they see Systema's capabilities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Everyone - and I mean everyone - should learn how to defend themselves. To think that you are immune to violent attack is absurd. 2. Most violent attacks begin as cowardly ambushes so the first martial art is awareness. The best fighters I know never let their guard down. Their antenna are always out. Simple being awake and aware of your surroundings when you are in public will go a long way to keeping you safe. Always err on the side of safety. If you don't like the looks of a situation, avoid it. 3. Wear shoes that make it easy for you to run. Running is a perfectly acceptable self defense technique. Most bad guys are not going to chase a victim down the street and attrack attraction to themselves. 4. If they can't touch you, they can't hurt you. All you have to do to be out of harms way from the most violent, dangerous character is to maintain more than an arms length distance. Keep that in mind and instead of panicking when confronted, cooly start looking for targets to attack. 5. If you are challenged, give your assailant one warning - and mean it. A simple command: "back off now" will do. Then, if the attacker proceeds to invade your space, you are absolved of any moral responsibility to him. He's forfeited his normal rights as a human being and you are free to injure him in any way you can. 6. Learn the vulnerable places on the human body and learn how to hit them hard. To think you can learn to defend yourself without knowing precisely how to inflict massive pain on an attacker is ridiculous. 7. The quickest and most practical training I've seen for learning to strike is a book and video tape called "Hikuta: The Art of Controlled Violence." It used to be available from a company called the Hanford Press in Canton, Ohio. (It's a subset of the Suarez Corporation. Sorry, that's all I know about it. If you write me for more details on how to get this material, I won't respond. ) Hikuta sounds like a made up name to me and its history, as presented, sounds a bit far fetched. Nonetheless, the people who put the book and tape together deliver the goods in a way no other book or training I've seen matches. 8. There are two problems in striking another person: 1) not striking them hard enough to be effective and 2) hurting your own hand. Hikuta overcomes both these problems very nicely. You do not have to be a big bruiser to stun and undermine the attack of a big bruiser. Also, if you can get your hands on just about any hard object, a hairbrush, a glass, even a tooth brush or a pocket calculator, you've got a deadly and covert weapon - if you know how to use it. I also recommend two very fine books, both long out of print, that I discovered in the library of a very accomplished martial artist named Vince Black. The titles are "Boxing's Five Killer Punches" and "How to Create a Super Boxer" and the author is a guy named 'Champ' Thomas. This fellow, who learned his ring skills fighting in the unregulated SoCal, Arizona, northern Mexico circuit during the Depression, offers sound, practical advice, all of which can be used by women, that is simply not available anywhere else I know of. 9. A good finishing point for any martial arts training is to set up a safe, controlled situation where you can experience the impact of a hard blow. Many people fold after being struck hard once, not for physiological reasons, but for psychological reasons. It's also good to have the opportunity to pound away at a padded person and get over your natural reluctance to harm another person. 10. Practicing martial arts on a regular basis is a good workout and may save you or your loved ones from death or serious harm. 11. Here are three books that will improve you general health, flexibility, and physical poise enormously. Traditionally, in Asia the very best fighters combined street-tested down and dirty techniques with self development methods you'll find in these three books. The payoff can be great indeed. It is not uncommon to find "old school" Chinese - men and women - who in their 70s, 80s, and even 90s walk down the street with confidence because they are far more dangeous than 99.9% of the people who might be foolish enough to mess with them. Get all three. It's the best money you'll every spend: 1. The Way of Energy by Lam Kam Chuen 2. Warriors of Stillness by Jan Dierperloot 3. Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body by Kumar Franztis One last point. Don't study "chi gung" with anyone whose methods do not correspond to the material in these books. There's been a lot of "hot shot" chi gung appearing in North America in the last 20 years. Most of it is bulls*** or worse. The best chi gung is calm, slow, natural, gradual, and simple. The teachers are older people, or their senior students, and there is a lack of hype surrounding what they are doing. In contrast, the "overnight" methods are marketed with a great deal of fanfare and, for drama's sake, they employ guided meditations and forced breathing patterns that can permanently scramble your nervous system. In fact, I know two people who make a good living treating people who've damaged themselves this way. Many of these "secret inner school" techniques taught in North America to the unwary for big bucks are readily available in comic book form from street vendors in Hong Kong and Taiwan for about $1 each. There is good stuff available and it is worth seeking out. The three books I've recommended will help you separate the wheat from the chaff.

How is this? The Greek race is certainly well-known for its athletic and military achievements in the PreChristian era. In truth, we must credit them for both the word "athlete" and the ideal it expresses. It was also the Greek soldier who would represent the standard for the rest of the world to follow for centuries. The contribution of the Greeks to the evolution of the martial arts, as we presently know them, is now certainly evident. Fighting systems that have originated in both Eastern and Western parts of the world may indeed be linked to this ancient combat form. Over 2000 years ago, the ancient Greeks had developed a brutal, all-out combat form which they named Pankration (pronounced pan/cray/shun or pan-crat-ee-on depending on the dialect). The term is derived from the Greek adjectives pan and kratos and is translated to mean "all powers" or "all-encompassing." First introduced into the Olympic Games of 648 B.C., pankration would soon become the most popular and most demanding of all athletic events. It integrated every physical and mental resource - hands and feet, mind and spirit - in the closest simulation of no-holds-barred competitive fighting that any culture has ever allowed. Only biting and gouging were prohibited. Anything else went, although the tough Spartan contingent allowed these, too, in their local athletic festivals. The techniques included a murderous mixture of Hellenic boxing and wrestling: hook and uppercut punches, full-powered kicks, elbowing and kneeing, joint locks, as well as numerous submission chokeholds. Kicking was an essential part of pankration, especially rising kicks to the groin or stomach, and powerful leg sweeps meant to take an opponent off his feet. Kicks above the belt were used sparingly, with blows aimed to the head or face only when one's adversary was on the ground and too weakened to block or catch the attacker's foot. Due to this unique tactic alone, some combative experts credit pankration as the first comprehensive unarmed fighting system on record. Pankration bouts were extremely brutal and sometimes life-threatening to the competitors. Rules were minimal in number. In addition, there were no weight divisions and no time limits. The fighting arena or "ring" was no more than twelve to fourteen-feet square to encourage close-quarter action. Referees were armed with stout rods or switches to enforce the rules against biting and gouging. The rules, however, were often broken by some participants who, realizing they were outclassed by a heavier and stronger foe, would resort to such measures to escape being seriously maimed. The contest itself continued uninterrupted until one of the combatants either surrendered, suffered unconsciousness, or, of course, was killed. Although knockouts were common, most pankration battles were decided on the ground where both striking and submission techniques would freely come into play. Pankratiasts were highly-skilled grapplers and were extremely effective in applying a variety of takedowns, chokes, and punishing joint locks. Strangulation was most feared during ground combat, and was the leading cause of death in matches. A fighter would immediately raise his arm in defeat once his opponent's forearm had secured a firm grip across the windpipe or carotid artery. The feats of the ancient pankratiasts became legendary in the annals of Greek athletics. Stories abound of past champions and masters who were considered invincible beings. Arrichion, Dioxxipus, and Polydamos are among the most highly-recognized names, their accomplishments defying the odds by besting multiple armed opponents in life-and-death combat, and battling and killing lions when human competition was no longer a feasible challenge. It is also theorized that the famed strongman Hercules was the first Olympic victor in pankration. Exhibitions of superhuman strength were frequently witnessed by the awe-struck Greek people. Practitioners displayed the power of pneuma (Gr. inner energy) by breaking stones and planks with their bare fists and driving their hardened feet through forged war shields. The Romans would later adopt pankration into their particular athletic contests, but their modifications would degrade it to a mere blood sport. The fighters were now armed with the dreaded caestus, a weighted and spiked glove which reigned blows with deadly results. In Rome it was not unusual for such public brutality, as it was the rule rather than the exception, to quench the spectator's thirst for gore. This alteration, however, diminished the skill and aesthetic value that the Greek race had come to admire in their athletes. Rarely, if ever, did a true Greek pankratiast participate in the savage gladiatorial arenas of Rome, even though the were often tempted by higher purses and positions within the powerful Roman empire. Pankration was basic to the majority of the Greek warriors who served under Alexander the Great during his invasion of India in 326 B.C. Many authorities now contend that this dispersal of pankration techniques throughout the subcontinent laid the foundation for countless Asian martial arts which evolved soon thereafter, including Chinese kung fu, Okinawan karate, and Japanese jiujitsu. This theory has been the subject of a raging controversy for the past twenty years.

It depends what kind of karate! Karate-Do = thw way of the empty hand Karate-Jutsu = Empty handed combat!

I will try and look it up!

I agree completely with Thaiboxerken!

depends what technique I am doing! Left Side - Shuto Uke Right side - kicks!

I have so many favourites, there is so many to choose! Yoko Tobi Geri ushiro mawashi geri mawashi geri mae geri crescent kick hook kick ushjiro geri ashi barai oi tzuki age uke shuto uke kaki waki uke haito uchi kakato uchi hiza geri all empi uchi's yoko geri ren geri kin geri and many more.

Cage Fighting school, whatever next!This Pankration sounds interesting, I am gonna try look something up on it.I will let you know anything that I find!!!

I am a summer baby.And the youngest in my year at school.(Yr10) and the tallest in my school(6"3) My Birthday lies on the 2nd July!I was born in 1987!

WHOAA!! Thanx aikidoka, took me a while to read but It was great! Thanx that really helped me a lot!

his nw songs great! letter to my unborn child!!

In a Judo grading, say for example if you fight a black belt and you are only a yellow belt 3rd mon, If you beat the black belt do you get his belt?

try to keep your hands busy, then you won't get tired and fall asleep! I am always feeling tired so I resulted in learning how to play the guitar!! Keep the caffienne down and keep drinking water!! Thats All I can offer Hope It helps C Ya

Sos for mistake, Thanx for correcting me! Well I will you see you there Baggy!! C Ya!

K, will be up soon!

Interesting insight Warlock, but we could have told you that for free!!! lol

Will a background in Shotokan Karate Help? Will I be able to take to doing both Wing Chun Kung Fu and Shotokan Karate-Do at the same time?

Hey Guys, I am just informing anybody whomay be interested in entering a massive competition on the 18th November at Rothwell Sports Centre in Leeds.It is under TradKa rules.It will be great! I am in for kumite and Kata! Wish me luck!!! C Ya!

Thats Handy!

Very impressive! Maybe I can get lessons in Japanese from you YA!

Hey Sutton. Have a good one!

I also like Ludacris!!! He is ruff!

Block and Counter.Counter as you block, this way they will least expect it!

R U a part of our karateinternational Kickbuttnat, that creed is the same as ours! FREAKY HUH!