cross

I dont think you should feel good or bad based purely on the names of whats being taught, its the content that is more important.

I agree 100%. However, the physical portion of self defense is fighting. Unless the style in question covers all areas of self defense(some of which are mentioned in my previous post) not just the physical, then all the person will be learning is fighting. Weather its effective or not is another story.

If the training involves practicing and learning about conflict de-escalation, signs of aggression, pre fight posturing, pre emptive strikes, legal implications, dealing with police interviews, your rights in terms of defending yourself, dealing with post traumatic stress, the possibility of revenge attacks etc. Then yes, it will be pretty good for self defense.

Its good to hear you havnt stopped training altogether baronbvp. It can be hard to find the motivation to train on your own to start with, but once you get into the swing of things it can be very rewarding, has you've noted. Im still training at home and am in the process of trying to find a couple of like-minded people to start a training group with. Be sure to let us know if you come up with any good solo drills, and if your after some self defense specific ideas for training on your own i would highly recommend Richard Dimitri's DVD "The Lone Warrior: Solo Training Drills." Check out https://www.senshido.com for more info. Let us know how it goes and best wishes, Cross.

I think the main reason boxing has lost alot of its popularity is due to people becoming so desensitized to it. Most people have seen boxing for long enough that its not new and exciting anymore. This is why MMA is having such an impact and drawing larger audiences. Its something new that people havnt seen alot of before. The "fad" will begin to fade when people have been exposed to it long enough. I rarely watch either anymore. Considering i dont have pay tv and being a spectator is no longer a huge interest of mine. But if i had to choose i would rather watch MMA.

Few sites for you: http://www.usmta.com/State-New-Jersey.htm http://www.boxinggyms.com/addresses/newjersey.htm http://www.challengermartialarts.com/schoolsNJ.htm Hope this gets your search started.

I completely agree. I believe your time would be much better spent elsewhere if you want to learn truly functional kicks.

Couple of sites: http://www.leotfong.com/ http://www.tajkd.com/leofong.htm Hope they get you started.

Continuing to work getting the most power out of the least movement with strikes. An interesting drill i found on youtube from steve morris can be found here: Helps you develop alot of power without any unneeded movement.

We could play the "what if" game all day. But this was clearly a video, has ps1 states, to demonstrate the technique step by step.

Exactly. One of the most important parts is the de-brief afterwards. Talk to your training partners and ask what they saw and what they would have done differently etc. Its better to lose and learn in training then to lose when it counts.

Definetly. The level of force you need to use will likely be directly proportional to the threat you are facing.

I agree. If you are unlucky enough to be faced with a group of people who are becoming aggressive towards you etc then it can be extremely difficult to diffuse this kind of situation. While your calming one person, another may be getting more aggressive or egging the others on. This is where pre-contact positioning, effective pre-emption and mobile footwork come into play. Its interesting to see how many people say that you cant defend against multiple attackers or that their style never trains for it. IMO if you arnt dedicating some of your time to training against multiple attackers you are missing a big piece of the self defense puzzle.

Im not sure if your being serious or not... But in any case, i do recommend for those who drink when in public that they should do at least 1 full training session while under the influence to see how it effects the bodies reaction and your perception etc.

If the art has been continually passed down without any progression or inclusion of tactics to deal with modern threats and most likely attacks to be faced, then it will be outdated and lack a certain level of practicality, even if it did work when in the time period it was designed for. The "natural response" i refer to is any humans reaction to a surprise situation, the flinch or "oh crap" moment that occurs when a stimulus is introduced 2 quickly to be processed by the person. This brings up an interesting point. Have you even witnessed 2 pro boxers start fighting at a press conference or weigh in? All the years spent training go out the window and it looks like 2 school kids fighting. The different is that now the fight is real, and they are unprepared for this reality.

I posted the following with regard to kicks in another topic:

Dont get me wrong, im not suggesting that if something doesnt work after 5 seconds of trying it then you should forget it. I agree with you in that some techniques that require a fair amount of training will be very beneficial and worth the effort. However my point is that instead of jumping straight into your styles answer to a certain question, look at a variety of options FIRST, and then spend the time training the most logical option.

I made a post in a different section of the forum that relates very much to this topic, it can be found at: http://www.karateforums.com/attachment-to-style-vt31519.html

In this post i will outline some observations regarding the teaching of self defense techniques and how stylistic attachment can have a negative effect on productivity. This topic shares some parallels with Bushido_man96's "Martial Arts "Monogamy"" article. When a person begins martial arts it can be for any number of reasons, but at some stage along the line self defense skills comes into the equation. Its at this point that the practitioner's attachment to their style of choice begins to play a role in the extent and practicality of self defense techniques/concepts that are trained and taught. Take for example a person who begins training in , after a certain amount of training they begin to question how they would deal with basic strikes in a self defense situation. Now this can be approached from 2 completely different angles: 1. What is the most logical and efficient way that i can defend against strikes utilising movements and tactics that are pre-existing in all humans? or 2. What is the way that says i should deal with strikes? If you approach it from angle 1, you would research, test and seek out the most efficient means of dealing with strikes and then train to maximize your ability to perform such movements. Also taking note of the most common types of strikes you would be likely to face in a self defence encounter and ensuring that the defenses are practiced against these techniques. If you approach it from angle 2, you may look through the syllabus of your style and see what "blocking" techniques they have to offer. From here you try to apply these techniques against strikes, and to find the strikes to use you go back to your syllabus and look at the strikes taught within your style. Then you train and train trying to make this work even if in doing so you are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and even if your styles main focus isnt based on striking. So why do people continue to train this way? (it still happens judging by alot of discussion here, in other forums, video footage, schools in my area etc). If the practitioner didnt try to make their style fit to every situation and use the existing techniques then they would have to admit that they didnt have an answer, or that their style was somehow lacking and that their "master" status or belt didnt mean has much has they first thought. Practitioners to this day continue to completely dismiss areas such has groundfighting and weapons(not the kind that were used by farmers in feudal japan) just because it wasnt a part of their original style. Having an attachment to style can be extremely detrimental to your training and progression. Being able to look outside the box, take things that work and practicing them will serve you far better than trying to force something that wasnt ment to be.

If we are talking purely self defence, grappling skills are crucial. They are whats going to help you get back to your feet. Going to the ground and realising you dont know how to grapple is not something you want to happen during a self defence situation. The locks and submissions are not necessarily going to be helpful, but the knowledge of positioning etc is definitely a skill that will serve you well.

Definitely. Yes, but at the same time, if something isnt working im more than happy to completely abort it and move onto something else. Its hard to say that while sitting in front of a computer i suppose. I would never hurt or kill someone out of malice, however when you are placed in a situation where it is your life or theirs then i would be willing to do whatever it takes to go home. A general idea of how hard you need to do something for it to work is important. However i believe that the unpredictability of self defense situations would make it near impossible to completely monitor the amount of force you use for each technique. This obviously depends on the level of threat and how comfortable you are with your own ability.

Thanks for the reply swdw, it raised some very interesting points. i agree the driving analogy is not the best way to relay something combat related. But i still find it far more practical to find out what your own bodies natural response to a surprise random attack is and enhance that reaction, has opposed to trying to completely relearn how to react when its already built in.

I see using a more natural response has a huge advantage. When it comes to a self defense situation and your body bypasses all cognitive proccessing your left with gross motor skills and your bodies natural reflexive response, trying to override this with technique is never going to happen because your flinch isnt something that is learned, its already existing in all of us. To use a real life example. Think of the times when your driving your car and you always use correct "technique" when slowing down, you gradually apply pressure to the break and maintain your steering in a straight line to gently pull to a stop. All fine motor skills are being used. Now picture a high stress suprise situation (like any self defense situation). Your driving along and all of a sudden a kid runs out in front of a car. In a split second you slam on the brakes, swurve to the side of the road and narrowly avoid hitting the kid. This is your bodies natural respose taking over, all traditional(gentle braking) technique goes out the window and your left with your bodies pre-programmed defense mechanisms. Only once the treat it gone or the shift from prey to predator has been made will you be able to regain access to your fine motor, well practiced skills.

Excellent post. From my experience with striking and the way its taught more specifically, people tend to focus far to much on the technique and dont pay enough attention to the power generation behind it. Leaving them with technically "good" looking strikes, but at the same time they wouldnt hurt a fly. In my opinion the principles of power generation are far more important to master than a large number of techniques. Thanks again for posting, it was a great read.

Hey BT, welcome to the forum, good to have another aussie onboard!