cross

It will certainly offer the fighting side, some of the mental, competition, and has ps1 mentioned, full contact fighting. It seems, from your post, that you have an interest in grading and belts, if all your looking for is belts, then maybe its not for you.

Ah, my mistake. Same things applies though, books for reference are great, but only so much of the physical technique can be learned with someone to guide.

Alot of people reach a point in their training when they have similar thoughts to you. And i say you have to go with your gut. If you dont fell like you could use your karate in self defence, then you most likely cant. Self confidence is very important, if you arnt confident that what your doing will work, then youve already lost the battle. Some people may suggest that you need to train more in karate for it to be effective, but i tend to think that self defence can be learned fairly quickly, if you havnt learned it already then i wouldnt be sticking around hoping to learn it from the same school sometime in the future. With all that in mind, your still young, when you work out what your goals are and why you are actually training, then it may be easier to determine what kind of training (if any) would be good for you.

Havnt seen that specifically. But like any instructional tape, no matter how good or clear the information is, it wont compare to learning in person from someone who knows what they are doing and can show you what your doing wrong.

They go well in a circuit with heavy bag, skipping, and whatever else you want to throw in.

I agree. Alot of people have mentioned that the bob dummy is good for "realistic" training. This is true to some extend. The bob looks like a human and is good for target development, however it doesnt move/react anything like a human, making this part fairly un-realistic(whens the last time you punched someone in the face and they stood without moving and their head bounced back to where it started?) I dont own a bob, i own a bag. If i had the choice to buy 1 or the other i would go with a bag.

I think you are refering to a top and bottom bag, or double ended bag. They have a few names, and has you said, are good for working slipping etc. While i wouldnt rely on this alone, its great when you are getting started or training without a partner. Good for your all round reflexes to.

This is a good starting point to. But it needs to be built on so your reacting, not anticipating what your partner is doing. To achieve that, give the pad holder a number of options of how they can counter attack, then you have to react to each one has it comes.

Thats common among alot of schools(including the karate school i used to attend). They teach you to be good at whatever art it is, and throw self defence onto the list of things they offer, even if the focus is art and any self defence you learn is by coincidence, not intended training from the instructor.

Good to hear your training is going well Baron. I am starting boxing again soon. Found a good trainer who lives near-by. Trains his son who recently went pro and is quiet a good boxer himself. Should be a good addition to my current training.

The drill i mentioned is a good starting point. Obviously you can use your imagination from there. But once you start working out how the head movement and body movement goes together with your footwork, strikes and other defensive techniques you can start adding them into your shadowboxing, bagwork and other drills.

Excillent article bushido_man96. Has you mentioned, many standup styles neglect groundfighting techniques. If its not a part of their system to start with, then they must find someway to justify why they dont need to worry about doing it. Including new training within their system means they must first admit something is missing within their style. Instead of admiting this they often downplay the importance of the kind of training that they neglect so they dont have to focus on it. This obiviously is no benifit to a student whos aim is to be well rounded. Why they do it? Probably because admiting your wrong, or dont have all the answers, or the training you spent 20 years doing isnt all there is.. can be quiet hard for some. So hard that many will try and convince you that groundfighting has been within their style from the start, even though it has never been mentioned or practiced until someone asks why they dont do it.

Working with a partner is good. Strap on some headgear, give your partner some gloves and get them to throw punches at you. Start slow and light. All the basics apply (keep eyes on partner, hands up etc). Build from there by getting your partner to add speed and start moving around a bit more.

I agree in part. But some things are naturally more suited for the majority of people than others. Example: If you want to teach your mum self defence, you could teach her to punch and she could practice all she wanted, but does that mean she would be able to generate enough power to knock someone out, or even be able to perform the technique correctly under pressure to insure she doesnt injure herself? Maybe.... Or you could spend the time teaching her to palm strike(slap with purpose ) and rip and claw at someones face/body to follow. I know which one makes more sense to me. There are people who can generate great strength from punches, but these same people also break their hands when doing it.

Agreed.

I beleive the site i posted is directed at the general public, although there are different sections, so have a look around. The place to find the best information on self protection is https://www.senshido.com in my opinion. I have alot of richard dimitri's material, and am attending a seminar hosted by him next month. Best stuff i have found to date regarding pure self defence.

Agreed. I started reading that site around the time i started looking for more practical training methods and an effective approach to self protection. Lots of great information.

Sounds like a good plan, dont forget gouging, ripping, pulling etc also great from in close.

Excillent topic and great information so far. A couple of things i would like to add: The above, IMO is one of the most important aspects of effective deescalation. Being able to act passive and display to the aggressor that you are no challenge for them or have no intention of fighting is crucial. You almost begin to act the "victim" but in a proactive way that allows you to remove yourself from the situation. I realise some will say "but isnt it better to show that you are not a victim?".... In part this is true, but if the situation has reached a point where you need to verbally deescalate, then you have already been seen has a potential victim by the aggressor, so learn to use this to your advantage. The time to show that your not a victim is before a situation arises. Some excillent information on this topic can be found at: http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/deescalation.htm

Its important to remember that in sparring or mma the delivery system is different to that of self defence. In sparring or mma everything is physical, if you are outside of striking distance(this is often the case when people are feeling each other out etc) then its fine to throw kicks and long jabs or feint etc to close the distance. In self defence, the delivery is based on human behaviour more than technique. If there is distance, its closed with a verbal exchange and questions or taunting to "feel out". From there you are already at least within arms length before physical technique even comes into consideration. Sure, if a fight begins you may have the chance to break away and create distance(not something i would do until the immediate threat is removed) and you might get to do your kick, but other than that, its not always available.

Dont really have a preference, depends on what position your in obviously but straight are usually sharper and all aimed around thigh level. This depends on what kind of training your doing. If you are doing sports type training with a variety of kicks aimed at mid and upper body targets then i can see how shoes would be a problem, but in self defence training there is little room for such techniques so it isnt really an issue.

Thats true. The 3 leg techniques i focus on regardless of footwear are the thai round kick and push kick has you mentioned, and low line knees which tend to be easier to use and "safer" for yourself when mixing things up.

Certainly, the weight alone adds a whole new dimension. Footwork and mobility is limited and any kicking technique apart from stomps and low line knees goes out the window.

Create scenarios within the class where the students are required to be aware at all times. Run drills where a large group of people are walking towards and to the sides of a student and one is going to attack the student. This way they have to be aware and look for the warning signs of an attack. Give everyone a rubber knife that they can conceal and use at anytime against anyone in the class. Run scenarios that cover everything from the verbal to the physical to the aftermath. Include weapons, multiple attackers etc. And to boost awareness, from the verbal the "attacker" can decide if he is actually going to attack, or if he will walk away after a verbal onslaught. Just some ideas.

Only time will tell...