delta1

I quit smoking several years ago, and it was one of the best decissions I made. Actually, it took me several tries over about six years, give or take. My biggest problem was drinking- something about the two just go together. I'd drink, next thing I knew, I'd be smoking again. Drinking is something that everyone needs to answer for themselves. If it is causing you problems anywhere in your life, stop! I quit that for a long time as well, and now I only drink every now and again, and very rarely get drunk any more. It relaxes me, so it is probably a good thing for me. But I'm a little older (ok, a lot older!) now, and not nearly as rambunctiose. I can tell you that I'd have saved myself a lot of problems if I'd never drank to excess. But everybody's gotta learn, right?

'Ninja Boots" are called 'tabi', and the ones you get from the ma catalogs are a cheap version of the work boots Japanese men wear. I have a pair, but the only place I've worn them is to church. What should a martial artist not wear...? Well, in one Kali class I visited some guy showed up wearing a red bandana on his head. Besides getting told off, some of the senior students really teed off on him in sparing! (For those not familiar with the FMA's, a red bandana means you've survived a few death matches- something they were pretty sure this guy had not done ) Oh yeah, in case you're wondering, it wasn't me. Fortunately, when I went to the ranch supply store, all they had was black, lavender, and teal. I chose black! So, I got to learn that lesson at someone elses expense!

SR, I don't really see a contradiction here. It follows the Chinese thougjt that all things are in ballance, all tend toward harmony, and all are inter-related. I've read something similar somewhere, but don't really remember. I need to look this up since it adds a whole different dimension of interpretation to this diagram and the understanding of motion.

They can, but not necessarily will. Many people with large muscles depend on them for their power, disregarding good form. They might still hit hard, but not as hard as they could with relaxation and good form. Another way they can hinder is when a person is so muscle bound that his muscles tend to fight each other. Not a punch, but I worked with one guy on his upward elbow strikes once. Guy was big, and bucked hay bales for a living. I was moving him more than he was me, and I'm a whimp! But, the way he was taught to do upward elbows was just to bend the arm, palm toward shoulder, and raise the elbow sharply. I could see his muscles fighting and binding as he struck. I showed him how to rotate that strike, and he dang near put me through the wall! Same with his back fists. He was chambering them back (bad enough in itself), but I swear you could watch him have to unbind everything before he launched his strike! I never got him broke of that, and I was able to work the focus mitts a lot faster and harder because of it. With good stretching, relaxation, and proper form, large muscles don't have to slow you down. But too often they do.

Beat me to it! Laid out on the ground, all your basic foot maneuvers can be extrapolated from it. Makes a good subject for meditation. After you play with that for a while, start to tip the plane up and rotate it through variouse positions and orientations. Superimpose smaller parts of the diagram onto the larger diagram. You'll find not only foot maneuvers, but kicks, strikes, throws, ... in fact, all motion is represented in this diagram. Good call, ST!

Well, October is promising volcanoes and a few argumen... er, discussions. So maybe we'll do it again? And there was some quality in all that blather as well. Congrats, Big Pat!

I havn't noticed that they are in it for the martial aspects. But I have seen cardio classes that were based on MT or Kickboxing that were mostly women. It is a good complete body workout, tones 'em up all around. But most all left when the real class started.

That's 'Peach' (we'll just let them figure that one out for themselves). And, how about "Repulse the *^#! Monkey"...

I don't think I like the sound of that one!!!

I guess it is sort of rude! But it's up to him whether or not he tells any of us anything. All I can tell you is that he hasn't, so don't feel left out. And all I can do with him is to suggest he let you in on it, whatever 'it' is.

You mean the technique names? They harken back to the Chinese method of naming moves. The chinese speak allegorically. Needle At Sea Bottom is primarily a groin strike in Taiji, and the Chinese refer to the perineum as the bottom of the sea. AK uses synonyms to represent different things, and the technique names use these synonyms in the technique names to help give a visual reminder of what the technique does. A branch is a leg, and Buckling Branch,... well, you figure out what the technique does.

Would I mock?

Just a burp. Could still get the big bang.

I just glanced through this thread for the first time, but I'll make a couple of points and hope I don't sound too much like the guy that came in halfway through a conversation. Bones are an organ, they are not just these hard things that give your body shape. For instance, the white cells in your body are produced in your bones. The fastest way to get fluids into a persons system is an intraosceos infusion- through a bone, usually the tibia. Bone density is a medical fact. Talk to your doctor about it. One of the reasons the elderly tend more to fractures is less bone density due to a number of factors. Bone density is improved with diet and exercise. The more you use your bones, and the heavier the use, the stronger they will become. Abuse is a different matter, and bones aren't the only things you have to worry about when striking objects. Nerves and joints can also be effected, as well as any component of the hand or foot. So use common sense and ballance. Whoever said he didn't want arthritus was right on target! I do have arthritus, and it definately can put a crimp in your training regimen. I never got the concept of ballance (some would say common sense either) until later in life. I still train with a heavy bag. But now I use wraps and gloves. My bag is a 50#er, mounted on a pedistal so it can be locked in or swing. Not only a little easier on the joints, but has the advantage of moving in a lot of directions at once, giving a more realistic workout. And I guarantee that when it is swinging and bouncing all over, you are going to hit wrong occasionally! I also just put a chorded headache bag on it so it swings around at you from a different angle and path. Humbling little device! You either have to duck, slip, block, parry, or get hit each time it comes around. And often both bags are returning at once! I just don't think I can safely say I won't land a few wrong, so I protect my hands now. Just a couple of thoughts. Good discussion (don't know how I missed it so long).

Feel free. I'll check back when I finish mowing the lawn (or later, if you are busy now).

What was it about their manner that made it 'strange and unique'?... What was their manner? What was 'consisive' about it? What did they do there that might help us in our understanding or training? That kind of statement beggs an explanation!

Yes, by all means spar with goggles or headgear with a plastic face shield. With goggles, practice ripping them off with a finger as you knuckle rake the eyes. I actually used that in a fight once, and it was pretty effective as a set up for follow up strikes. (Edit: he was wearing glasses, not goggles- but it was at work, so goggles would have been a possibility) Use your immagination, and train as many ways as possible for as many different possibilities. Good idea. You going to just let that sit there, or you going to tell us what you are talking about?

AK has a lot of finger techniques, including pokes and gouges, and the finger whip. JL is correct, that whip is effective, and to more targets than eyes. It's in Taiji as well (Single Whip). The whip there is actually the arm that loops over like you are using a buggy whip. But the crane hand can also represent a finger whip. Eye rakes, gouges, pokes, thrusts, whips- all are effective. What you use depends on what you are presented with. Most of the time a finger technique to the eyes is used to set up something. You are looking for exactly the reactions you described, and they are effective at getting these reactions whether they make contact or not, again for the reasons you described. Of course, if they do make contact, you can also do dammage, possibily dissable him and end it there. Finger techniques to the eyes are also useful in situations where you need to strike fast, but are not in a position to generate a lot of power. For example, your strike to his face is intercepted. Sometimes, you can go through just enough to change it to a finger technique to the eyes and keep the initiative. You brought up an excellant point about the eyes being well protected. Both Kenpo and Taiji teach that finger techniques are done loose. The fingers don't tense until they reach the target. A straight finger thrust to the eyes should be done with a naturally cupped, loose hand and fingers. All five digits should point at the target. This has several advantages, not the least of which is that if a finger lands on the orbit of the eye or the bridge of his nose, you won't jam or break it. Also, you are far more likely to hit at least one eye, probably both. Loose fingers will slide off obstructions and into the socket, and since he's moving, you have a spread of weapons aimed at the target. If he moves too much, you may be able to thumb hook an eye, then come back with a finger rake. Your intent here is to get his eyes, not just poke him. There's a difference. One last thought; eyes are tougher than you think. You are more likely to scratch than to 'put out an eye'. If the situation called for it, I wouldn't hesitate to use a finger technique to the eyes. Edit: Jerry, I know it can be done, to break a board with that finger whip. But I cringe at the though! Just thinking about it makes me want to reach for the Celebrix!

Sad to hear. You can only wonder what drives people to some extremes.

Well, now that you are a bb in his system, maybe you should think about doing a monthly class in his area! Could be worth it if enough of them sign up!

That is sad. Guy has a class interested in learning,and all he can give them is a few basics and a wall that miraculously sprouts rank certificates. I've seen this with TKD people, where you can show them a few principles and how to extrapolate applications, and they just take off. Others look at you like 'Do I have to know this for my belt test?' Most of them don't get into this until after black. My opinion is that this is a mistake, but on the other hand, everyone doesn't learn like me so I shouldn't be judgmental.

I was in Benge, WA the first time it errupted. Since Benge isn't on most maps, Ritzville got the credit for the largest ammount of ash dump. But Benge actually was the worst, with a couple more inches than The Ratz. Best advice I can give anyone is to stock up a little, and ride it out. An emergency generator wouldn't be a bad thing either. Get some dust masks and scoop shovels for the cleanup. Most of us put two stage air filters on the vehicles we drove, but those that didn't did not seem to have any problems.

Actually, since you had no idea this was comeing, you probably did the right thing. You tactfully accepted an honor, given as an 'honorary' award. When his intentions were made clear, you refused to be part of the charade. You have nothing to be ashamed of, and this did serve as a lesson, and a dang good example, for your students.

Yes, and no. Like anything, if it isn't worked out of the student, the tendency is to become an ingrained habbit. I've seen schools that are that way, and like I said, they get eaten alive by those that train all distances. Another example of what I'm talking about here (we'll pick on me this time): I'm a Kenpoist, and we drill our stances untill they are second nature. When I started working out with the Kali guys, I had the hardest time adjusting the axis of my neutral bow. I'd start out at about 45', but as the fight progressed the axis would shift back towards allignment. My right side and arm were black and blue for a few weeks, 'till I broke the habbit. Kenpo does stick work, but at a more advanced level than I'm at. So this was all new to me, and I had a few bad habbits in regards to stick fighting that they were more than willing to help me work out! I worked with some Modern Arnis practitioners for a while. They did it as a compliment to their base, which was practical TKD. That is where I get the comparison to TKD and FMA's geting stuck in bad habbits. I got to noticing that the ones that trained their TKD in close also took their Arnis in close. Those who tried to major in kicks and keep the fight at a distance had the same tendency with sticks. Get two of them fighting and you heard more clacks than thumps. They were great to practice on, though. One of these guys was a kicker, and earlier that night had kicked me halfway across the room. It was sweet revenge when we were stick fighting and I did a shield block to an overhead, spun behind him and worked him over! Once I got in he had no clue what to do. A simple foot maneuver would have saved it for him. But he was a 'fencer', and was lost in close. I'd never have tried that on the Kali guys. It would have been my back getting worked over!

We did both, sometimes putting a taped edge on the stick to represent an edge. By fencing, I mean the tendency to try and maintain a 'safe' distance by holding an opponent at bay with your weapon. There was a fencer who worked out with us for a while, and he was excelent at getting in close. His forte was saber fighting, though he also did rapier and some other weapons. Had some good moves. So I'm not talking about classical fencing doing this either. Just a descriptive term. Ever see two kids play fencing? That's sort of the idea.