Bon

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

::edit::

I'll refrain from arguing then =/

If you want self defense you might try and find a place that has freestyle kickboxing, where the focus is not on sport, but self defense.

Are you only allowed to spar with people of the same rank in your school ? Maybe you're not allowed to spar without the instructor's permission ? When I did kickboxing, we were told by the instrcutor. We could never just gear up before class and spar or anything.

haha, that's niiiice!

Generally contracts are a sign of a McDojo IMO.

I'm gonna say TKD and hapkido, 'cause they're similar. Wing chun is completely different from what I understand, you have to learn to punch with a vertical fist and what not. Hapkido and TKD would compliment each other nicely, giving you even stronger technique I would imagine.

You might want to look into either Greco wrestling, Sambo or Brazilain Jiu Jitsu for taking an attacker to the ground and 'keeping them there'. Another art to complement the grappling would be something like krav mega, muay thai or kickboxing. These arts don't require a great deal of time to learn, should be relatively confident about defending yourself within a short period of time, depending on how often you train and how hard you train. 19 is NOT too old to start, I can't understand why people would say that. If you're serious about MA, you might want to look into some weights too. Btw, what's your build like ?

I quite liked your post, it was good.. I don't agree with the above statement, but: sticks and stones ONLY break the bones, words may shatter the soul..

Good stuff! How much have you gained ?

http://stickgrappler.tripod.com/52/52jhr.html http://stickgrappler.tripod.com/52/52.html All I could find.

What kind of awareness system do you use? How do you recognise a dangerous situation? How do you keep yourself prepared? I don't use any 'system', I'm always aware of my surroundings. However, I've been going to school to the same place for the last 5 years, I feel pretty comfortable there since this is my last year, I'm now older and bigger than most of the people in the school. I know nothing is going to happen at school.. In new places I'm always aware of who's around and what else is around. If I see people eyeballing me, I generally submit and walk away. I'm having trouble putting this into words, I think it's more instinct ..

Headbutts are very effective.. I'm almost willing to bet my life opening with a hard left jab will hit them, they won't be expecting it and they won't see it coming. How about letting the guy push you, going backwards from the force, then coming forward and putting a kick through him ? I think it depends on the situation, it's not a good idea to get fixed moves in your head. _________________ It takes sacrifice to be the best. There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy. [ This Message was edited by: Bon on 2002-07-31 23:39 ]

I know #bookwarez on DALnet has a lot of ebooks. I'm not sure of the laws dealing with downloading and storing though.

Wouldn't you spar more if you were self defense orientated ? Knowing all the techniques in the world is useless unless you can put them together in combat. I do BJJ, sparring is a big part of it, and I spar every lesson