MaxMarks

I say be a leader and tell them they need to tap. The bottom line is the dojo needs to be a safe place to train. People that bring their ego in in a way that is harmful to themselves or other people are a threat to that. If a higher rank wants to hold out a little long that's fine, beyond that the words, "you need to tap," go along way. So, let them out of the submission then in a tactful way tell them they need to tap.

If anything the popularity of MMA has helped traditional MA. Our dojo is full of people studying kempo, kickboxing, bJJ and Yoshitsune JJ. One supports the other. As MA has moved through history there has always been a blend of old and new. MMA is just our generations new, which is really nothing but a blend and retooling of the old. Kempo was in that roll before MMA. If someone said that MA is dying what they're seeing is traditional attitudes threatened by the bad apples in MMA (I know a lot of great people that fight MMA.) As we all know, traditional MA is still strong and perpetuating strong character, discipline and positive attitudes. MMA is focused on a successful fight in the cage. Traditional MA are still squarely focused on good people.

Both. Sounds like you made a good argument. Believe it or not, much of western boxing come from the Filipino knife fighting styles. http://www.bakitwhy.com/articles/influence-filipino-martial-arts-western-boxing

Just to be sure I wait until the board throws the first punch.

The strength from power lifting can be good when balanced with the cardio, speed, and technique training from your kickboxing. I agree that it can slow you down if you build to much bulk but I think the bigger issue is that bulk can effect stamina. The more muscle you have the more there is to move and the more of your body's cardiovascular resources they consume. It can be tough to carry all that muscle into the later rounds of a fight. Make sure you're also doing your destabilized strength training too: body weight, TRX, Kettlebell, etc. Strong primary movers and week stabilizing muscles lead to injury.

Great video. Not just a good example of BJJ but a good example of staying calm and relaxed in the face of adversity. My favorite part is the woman that works at the restaurant clutching the plastic knife ready to defend herself. Someone should let her know that if she studied BJJ she would need to carry a plastic knife.

Interesting! I've never heard that explanation. I've often wondered about other hand positions in chamber like cup and saucer (one hand in chamber and the other on top of the chambered hand) and if they relate to locks. Chamber position relates to style. I agree with everyone here - hands up when you're fighting.

...adding that to the list of things I never want to be hit with.

We could definitely get to the bottom of this if we we're discussing it in person with full mugs of beer in our hands, in which case I'm fully in favor of beer mug up with the frequent tip toward the mouth. That being said, close range I tend to go thumb toward my face (looking into the mug) and long range beer mug down. If you have mma gloves on and your looking to cut, beer mug up with a snap back toward your face on impact. It's a nasty technique but you see it a lot in the cage.

It's a fundamental BJJ move that flows with the arm bar and triangle choke from guard. It's a great move. It's harder to pull of than the arm bar and triangle but a necessary part of that triple threat from guard. It is as save as any grappling move. Just make sure they do the finish slowly and give their partner plenty of opportunity to tap as a lot of body weight is behind the lock.

Welcome!

We teach the self defense striking priority as eyes, throat, groin. Even the lightest touch to the eyes causes someone to react - their hands go right to their eyes making for an easy escape. A strike or pushing into the throat causes people to react, caught, sputter buying time for escape. The groin is good to for obvious reasons but many guys learn on the school playground to protect this area well. Believe it or not, of the three, this is the easiest area to fight through. An important point to get across in self defense it to just do something. Don't get so hung up on what that something is that you don't react. Start hitting, clawing biting... what ever and buy you time to escape.

I guess I'd really like to know what you mean by fight. If we talk about competition I would say it's not necessary that they have fought competitively but you will find most trainers have competed to some degree. You're looking at two different aptitudes: teaching and fighting. Some of the best trainers aren't great fighters and some fighters can't teach. You see this sort of thing in the sales department of a business all the time. The best salespeople don't always make the best sales managers and some of the best sales manager aren't good salespeople. In the case of self defense your most skilled avoid the fight. Unless you're out looking for a fight, which I hope no one is, it a rare circumstance. If we waited for all martial artist to get in this kind of fight before they taught we'd have very few teachers (especially in my quiet spot up here in southern New Hampshire.) I say measure a teacher by their ability to teach and and fighter by their ability to fight.

Anything can happen and if it does I would chalk it up to dumb luck. We work at full contact all the time. In thirty years I've only know of one person to injure their kidney and it was a throw not a hit. I've actually known more people to pee blood from excessive running. (My self included) This is so true: If you're going to be in a sport like this you have to expect injuries here and there. It sounds like the chemistry between you and this Nidan isn't great. Maybe some time apart would be good. Martial arts should be a mostly positive experience. If it's not, something needs to change.

Humility is such an important part of the arts. I feel bad for her that she couldn't just come to your dojo and enjoy communing with other martial artist. I would let it drop... maybe take the high road and apologize, explain that you meant no offense. Ego and insecurity are often intertwined. Maybe this is an opportunity for you to lead by example and humble yourself to her. In this situation one of you is acting like a black belt and the other is not. The actions and belt colors aren't matching up.

I totally agree. The belt system is relatively new in the history of the martial arts but it's fantastic for what it teaches us about reaching for and achieving goals. It's a text book example of breaking a large goal into smaller ones then even smaller ones. Most martial artist know exactly what they need to do on any given day, when they step on the mat, to get to their next belt or stripe. I wrote my New Years blog post on the subject. http://lifeskillsfromthedojo.com/?p=126 Check it out and share it with your students. It's great for them to realize they can apply their experience with earning rank to any life goal they have.

I've been in a few self defense situations. One thing that was ringing is my head the whole time was, "don't hurt the guy." I was much more worried about hurting him that I was he would hurt me. In one situation I was actually pleading with the guy not to get up after I'd knocked him to the ground. (He was attacking other people and trying to get into a building to get at some people, so running wasn't an option for me.) I did as little as I had to to keep him at bay. I don't know any experienced martial artist that wants to hurt people that haven't agreed to step in a ring with them.

The round kick is a staple kick. Because it does take a little time it usually has to be dressed up in a sparring match to land but in a self defense situation you would probably get a long way with just the round kick. I got hit in the head Tuesday night with one by someone who wasn't trying to knock me out and it was no fun (the stars were pretty though.) So, yeah, fire away: legs, ribs, head. What ever you can do. What ever is open.

Thanks for posting tallgeese. Inspiring and humbling. It's going to be hard to make an excuse for a bad grappling match now.

I think what JusticeZero means here is not that the content of the question lessens your ability to defend yourself but that if you're asking that kind of question while defending yourself distracts you from the task of defending yourself. We train so we can react without thought. Hopefully, if ever in a self defense situation you react in a way that keeps you alive and don't spend time counting knifes. It's a fun question academically but not practical to consider during a self defense situation.

It's a great art. It's the Israeli Military's self-defense system primarily designed to keep people alive it the streets of militant cities. It's a very effective no frills system designed to rapidly incapacitate the attacker. There are a few interesting principals that come out of it: Bursting and 360 degree blocking. The short live TV show Human Weapon did a good job profiling in this episode: http://youtu.be/v8a3h1y9l7g

Welcome!!

Great point and something I don't cover now. Thank you!

Nidan in Youshitsune. Up my grappling game by relaxing more and polishing technique.

That happens. Give yourself some time before going to bed to chill. Watch a bit of TV or whatever relaxes you. I do a lot of later classes. You get used to it. Also, you should be pretty chill when you're fighting. The more you relax when your working out and sparing the better of a fighter you'll become and you won't have as far to come down afterward.