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Here are a link to a site you can buy from in Australia: http://www.martialartssupplies.com.au/cms.php?menu_id=products&product_id=903 You will find most dummies are fairly pricey, if you are a little bit creative you can construct your own makeshift dummy. If you have a large pole at you house that can be drilled into without effecting the structural integrity of the building, you can drill half way into the pole at around shoulder/head height, then insert a rod(metal or wood) about arms length into the hole. I have done this at my house and it works fine, if you want to add more arms and legs then just drill more holes.

Haha, something like that

Thanks for the kind words ps1, very well said.

Certainly, i think there is alot of benefits to being well rounded and training in a variety of things, both traditional and contemporary. I certainly will. Here is a disclaimer to any of my "anti-kata" posts: All views expressed are in reference to learning purely self protection. If thats your goal, there are better ways than kata. But if you want to learn a complete art and have the time(which i do) to break-down the movements and principles, then practicing kata can be very rewarding. haha.

Hey Everyone, Tonight was my first session back at karate. I took a break for around 1 year to re-evaluate a few things and if you have seen some of my recent posts you'll be aware i have focused alot on self protection specifically. I am going back to karate for a few reasons: 1. Its probably the best school to train at in my area, in that the instructor is very experienced. 2. This style of karate is the one i have most experience in and spent most of my martial arts "career" training in. 3. It gives me something productive to do during weeknights. 4. I enjoy the training, even if it isnt always 100% focused on self protection. 5. Its something i can do at home and for a long period of time without burning out. 6. It will help me in my aim to be a well rounded martial artist and person. etc. Taking the break from training helped me put alot of things into perspective, realise what karate is, and more importantly what it isnt, and allowed me to work out exactly what i wanted to get out of the various training ive been doing. Thanks for taking the time to read, feel free to share comments etc. Cross.

Doing something is always better than doing nothing. However, motion that teaches your body to do one thing, when you should be doing another, is not beneficial, its detrimental to progress, causes contradiction of ideas and confusion.

Just for reference, the distinction between arnis, escrima and kali seems to be one of region only. Taken from:(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_martial_art) "The three major branches of Filipino martial arts are Arnis typically from the northern Luzon regions, Eskrima from the central Visayas regions, and Kali from the southern Mindanao regions."

Consider if you did sport specific training has opposed to kata, you would gain far greater results, in a shorter period of time.

So if kata program your body for specific motion, how is the specific motion of throwing a punch from a long stance with your other hand at your hip and holding the punching arm out straight at the end of the movement benifitial? If you are programming it, has you say, why not program useful things?

Well that would surely depend on the persons goals. If a person wants to practice art for arts sake, and maintain the history of a certain style, then so be it. But if you goals are not aimed at retaining history than doing something just because it was done in the past isnt going to provide much help. We have new research, better training methodologies, more scientifically developed training programs. Why ride a horse when you can drive a car?

Training is all about forming/learning good habits. The times when forms training becomes a problem is when the movements in the forms instill bad habits to the student. Take for example, pulling the hand(not in use) back to the hip, look at the number of times this happens in most kata, continue to train this way and this becomes habit. I think most people will agree that having the hand not in use in some form of guard near the face or around shoulder height is far more important habit to have than pulling the fist back to the hip. There are some forms and pre-arranged drills that will help you in training and are worth while, but when the drill is based around bad habits, consider doing something different.

Firstly its important to understand what the person wants from you. Are they holding you so they can get money from your family(implies they likely are not really intent on hurting/killing you). Are they are serial killer and your the next victim? Talking to the person can help you find out all these things. A simple "what do you want from me?" will put alot of things into perspective and help you better understand the situation. From there your tactics will depend on the specifics of the situation. Depends how much of an "attempt" it is, if they have a gun and you cant drive away immediately, then getting out of the car is the first thing you should be doing. Being seated inside a car while there is a person pointing a gun at you from outside is not a great spot to be. Try to give them what they want first. Hopefully you have car insurance. Fighting back should only be considered once you have given them what they want and they are still not leaving, or want to take you with them. Leaving to go to a secondary location with the attacker is a bad idea because thats usually where they find the bodies.

Thanks for the reply PS1. I was an advocate for using the startle response in self defense, but after having researched the startle response in a fair amount of detail i have come to the conclusion that it doesnt really play that great a part in the whole self protection picture, rather having solid basic defensive techniques that cover a number of attacks is far more benificial and will provide greater protection in a situation. So i agree with what your are saying below: Its not that i think all grappling is ineffective. Just the "take it to the ground, pull guard and go for the armbar" mindset that is seen throughout alot of schools. Ive always agreed that grappling and groundfighting is a crucial part of self defense, just how its trained and the emphasis might be different. Thanks again for the reply, you raise some very interesting points.

Yeah that helps. Doesnt have to have anything to do with MA though, just people male or female that are interested in learning to protect themselves. Cut the MA, do the research and focus on practicallity.

I train at my house mostly with a couple of likeminded friends, sometimes on my own. Being that i live in a reasonably remote area that only have tkd and karate schools with no real depth of instruction in anything else. Its very possible to train this kind of stuff on your own if you have the right research material and mindset being that technical "perfection" is not really the aim of the training, functionality can always be improved and most of the psychological stuff you can do without someone around also. Obviously having a teacher available would be the best option, but its not an option for everyone. Attending seminars in the nearest big cities is something i try to do when the right people come to town. Its very liberating to be able to do exactly what you want in training to best achieve your goals. And not be bound by any one style or system. The internet makes it very easy to research and find the best information on any topic you could think of. Rather than having to settle for the school down the road because its the only one in town. Having the correct tools for the job is important. But also its important to narrow down your collection to the ones you use most often and cover the most situations you are likely to face.

Very true.

Good points Bushido_Man, I agree with what your saying. I suppose submissions are always a good tool to have for moments when they are required.

Disarming is controlling the weapon hand and hitting the guy until he is no longer can do anything and is no longer holding the weapon.

If you are serious about learning how to deal with multiple attackers(not just physically), your best bet is to seek out a school that focuses specifically on self protection, not a martial arts club.

In ideal circumstances it might take 2-3 seconds to work, but in realistically it would probably take alot longer with a setup, then struggling to sink it in etc. And that assumes you sink it correctly. All time that you could be getting stomped by his friends, allowing him to pull a weapon if your commiting both hands/arms to the choke, or you could spend it doing something else like getting up, or striking to cause pain/compliance instantly. In a high danger situation, perhaps. If you have the presence of mind and finesse to pull those off, then i can see how they would work. But consider a bar fight, does it really warrent causing ligament damage or breaking bones? Or a group attack, or 1 guy with a weapon, do you have the time, situational positioning to perform such a technique? When you could be getting back up and increasing your chances of escaping?

I agree that knowing your enemy is a huge part of preparation for self protection. However submissions and chokes would be a very small part of the total picture(if a part at all). Knowing how to deal with(not just physically, but behaviorally) people who use weapons and fight in packs who want to sucker punch you and then stomp you while your laying on the ground, or the mugger who wants to hold you at knife/gun point, the rapist who wants your body or the trouble maker at the bar who wants to draw you into a ego battle so he has a reason to sucker punch you or hit you with a glass while your walking away is far, far more important and relevant than learning how to escape any submission hold or choke that you might see on the mat of a grappling school. Within the context of real world situations, the chance you will face a choke or submission is slim to none. Sure, a basic understanding or the positions and how to escape is useful and should be a part of training, but anything beyond that would be overkill imo. Certainly the positioning and control of your attacker is very important to understand and train. Also performing and defending against ground and pound style attacks. But submissions? Is the guy trying to beat your brains out with a baseball bat going to armbar you? Is the mugger holding you up with a knife going to double-leg and then guillotine? Is the rapist going to pass guard and go for a kimura? Is the punk at the bar who bumps into you going to shoot and look for a submission?

Im interested in getting some opinions on which specific aspects of various grappling arts (bjj, wresting, judo etc) you believe are applicable and beneficial for those interested in self defense. I consider the positioning and control withing grappling range to be one of the main benefits(if trained within the right context). Submissions and chokes im not so sure on however. Thanks, Cross.

The edge on mine isnt 2 bad. Its not really a problem anyway, i use the heavy bag for working kicks and conventional strikes. The BOB is for clinching/grappling range work.

You can also draw them in, so in a way they are the ones closing the distance. A simple way to do this involves using a basic technique, or a couple of techniques repeatedly while stepping back slightly, each time make the distance you step back shorter and shorter and they will be drawn in with the distance closing.

For quiet a while MT punches were very different to boxing punches, for a couple of reasons: 1. Less emphasis was placed on punching because kicks, knees and elbows are far more devastating tools and the K.O tools of a thai boxer. So most thai boxers only use the basic jab cross to set up their other tools. 2. From a MT stance, with not alot of weight on your front foot its hard to land a solid punch with bodyweight behind it because you need to adjust your stance and plant your feet to do it. This ment the delivery of the punch whilst looking very similar to boxing was quiet different. In recent times however western boxing style punches have been adopted and are taught by most MT gyms. So they were not always the same, but at this point the MT guys have adopted boxing style punches.