delta1

Guess you aren't in th' Big Sky country to look at stars after all! Scared, huh? True. But if I remember right, that was about the time I was in California. PM me before your next trip. Maybe by then I'll have my training room project finished. It's getting useable, but you know how those projects go. Yeah, yeah. But YOU didn't get a rainbow belt! (neener neener!)

Well, call them up and invite them for coffee! Sure do! That's why I go there myself. Hope our tastes in women are similar as well. Come to think of it, as long as they are female, they pretty much meet my criteria! Bring 'em with! Pretty sure it is! I used to get over around Kalispel, but havn't in a long time. Moses Lake is the only sizeable city around here- and I only call it that to you because you are from Montana! I'm north, up SR17. Wenatchee is farther West. Way to the East is Spokane, and the largest thing to the North is..., Canada! Edit: for the record, I have never cheated on my wife. Just so everyone knows I'm kidding here (especially my wife!). Is drinking coffee cheating?

No problem! Mine doesn't allways translate well in person! But, at least we've got one!

Swiss Army defense for a right front kick- drop to sitting stance, hold foot, administer pedicure! What can I say, it's early here too- and I was up all night waiting for my kids to spot a streak in the sky. SS, meet me down at the Shell and I'll buy the coffee! Then later in the day (at least 9:30 or 9:00 AM) we'll see if we can find an application for that bottle opener!

It was helpful. Sad, but like those who prey on weaker individuals, there are others who take advantage of societies mores, the law, and all too often the unwillingness for authority to act. Another aspect of self defense to consider and train for. Thanks for the input, and tell Alicia she did good.

Dang, Wap, that was a good reply (fer a trudishunal guy!). Sorta leaves me with nothing to do but agree.

Sai, do you know this person? Sounds like she and her son handled it well. I've had to handle similar situations with my boys and other boys. When the officials refused to act, I've told my sons that next time they are to make a beliver out of the attacker, and that I'd back them any way necessary. I told them this in front of the school officials and the kids parents, and the kids. Usually the attacks stoped after that, but there were a couple of times it came to blows. Of course this was a tougher situation as the antoganist was a girl and the protagonist a boy. I think the only thing I'd do different would be to tell 'L' that, once she'd kicked him in the spine, he should do whatever was necessary to defend himself next time she assaults him, because at that point it is getting dangerouse for him. I'd also have told the bus company that if ever anything like this happened again and the driver did nothing, both him and the company would find themselves in court. Same with the schools, if they refused to act. I won't tell you what I'd say to the parents. Really, I think I'd have steped in a lot earlier. But this was a good learning experience for 'L', and I'm glad it worked out ok for him.

True enough. And there are the times you have to make an example, or just 'persuade' someone. But, you have to know going in that you are taking a seriouse legal risk. Personally, if i were going to learn a CQC system, I'd go for a WWII (Fairbane, Sykes, Applegate) based system.

True, it would have more to do with their particular school. FMA's should fight at largo, medio, and corto, as well as grappling. I've worked with Modern Arnis, and they do all this. But their grappling was mostly standup. The Kali guys I worked with were crazy, and ground was most definately an option, I don't care how hard it was! Both fought live stick periodically, with minimum protection. And typical of seriouse FMA's, you did not back down from a friendly offer to beat the heck out of each other! Crazy bunch! But i have to say that for pure enjoyment, I don't think you can beat the FMA's. And they are effective, when done right. But, like I said earlier, there can be a tendency to try to hold the opponent off with your weapon, and I've seen it when we got together with other FMA schools. It's like TKD, where a lot of people try to hold you off with kicks. But once inside, they are finished! It's too bad as well, as TKD has some excellant in close moves, when taught as a fighting art. We had one little guy in Kali that, if you were hesitant at all, would do a flying bridge and be in so fast that you didn't know what was happening 'till your ribs were lit up! He could tiger stripe you so fast, then take you down for the coup de gras! Any way, I did not mean to imply that all FMA's fence. It is just a tendency to be aware of and avoid, especially as a begginer. And a good school will soon work that out of you.

I'm not going to give an opinion on KM. But, if you are looking to 'beat the *' out of someone, I wouldn't study anything. Training in a martial art will only increase your liability and probably your jail/prison time. Your objective in a fight is to survive in good shape, not punish him. The courts think that is their job, and don't take kindly to you doing it for them! 'Course, I'm not saying he won't get hurt in the process of your 'surviving'. But once you go too far, you become the aggressor, guilty of assault.

First off, there are some excellant American Kenpo schools in the LA area. I'd advise checking out as many as you can before you decide on anything. Contact- varries with school and system. I've not seen any advanced belts in the AKTS that don't do contact sparing, and the rule is that you absolutely will not get your BB without hard contact training. But they don't just throw you in and start pounding. That can develope bad habbits, as well as put some people off. You are worked in to it gradually, concentrating on proper technique and form. 'Course, if you want to, there's usually someone there that will oblige you with a good contact bout. But sparing is as much a training/learning process as practicing basics. The idea is for both partners to improve, not kill each other. Protection is used, how much depends on school policy and the fighters. I don't know that much about Kyokushin, but from what has been posted on this forum it seems to be an excellant system as well. They are a little harder style (as in more linear and staccato) from some clips that were posted. It seems to be more sport oriented, but they fight more like AK than they do Karate (or it seemed to me). I don't believe they target the head. American Kenpo is more self defense oriented, and is Chinese based with Japanese influence. We have more soft moves (circular, indirect, yielding, useing his force against him). But we also have a lot of hard moves- more ballanced. What happened to all the KK guys that were posting here? They are a good bunch, hope they didn't wander off! Any way, either way you go (including Aikido) you'll have a good system.

I didn't get that from any of the people I've worked out with. But I have seen it in some schools, and the ones I worked with would eat them alive! These guys would take you to the ground in a heartbeat, as well as move in and chew you up. One of their greatest pleasures was to get in on a 'fencer' and 'tiger stripe' him! And, 'going in for the kill' is just an expression, but a pretty applicable one if you are stick fighting!

Not sure what your point is, and I'm not going to get into a debate about whether an inanimate object is good or evil. But I will say that, for a lot of infirm or weaker people, a firearm is an excellent self defense tool- IF the person who carries it trains with it!!! Just buying one and thinking it will protect you is as foolish as assigning intentions to it (good or bad)!

Well, no. First off, most people can tell when they need to use deadly force to defend themselves. The courts and lawyers might like us to think differently, but almost anyone has more sesnse than those sorry buggers. Second, if it is a life and death situation with a larger or more visciouse opponent, I think an equalizer is a good idea. Knives, especially in trained hands, can definately tip the scales in your favor.

Back to the kiai: has many purposes, as has been discussed. But, regarding its purpose in helping take the hit- it expells a little air and tightens all the muscles of the abdomen, including the diaphragm. When we say 'someone got the air knocked out of them,' what really happened is they were hit hard in the stomache, the air in their lungs was violently compressed, and the diaphragm went into spasm. Extremely painful, and of course you can't breathe, which makes it hard to continue to fight. Tightening up, expelling a little, and pre compressing your air help you prevent going into spasm.

Could be different in other schools, I suppose. But, as defined by Mr.Parker in Infinate Insights, a check is a hand/guard placement in anticipation of an opponents move. It guards a zone or quadrant, and is in battery to be used as any defensive or offensive move. A cover is a foot maneuver which takes you from facing one direction to another. By the way, I just got a set of Infinate Insights about a year ago ('bout time!), so now I too can be one of those obnoxiouse jerks that goes around quoting "According to Mr. Parker in II, vol ___, pge ___, para ___... ad nauseum!

It's been a while, but let's see... defense against a right front kick... from a right neutral bow, pivot left into a left close kneel with a right inside downward palm down to the kick, forcing him to drop forward. Right back kick to the solar plex (or abdomen?). Plant back to a right neutral bow and immediately pivot to a right forward bow as you right back knuckle his right temple. May have to insert a foot maneuver to keep position. Man! I havn't done that one since my brother and me were trying to recreate some of this many years ago. Hope that was close. Any way, gives you a good idea why Mr. Parker dropped it. A lot of those older techniques, as well as some still used, were apparently (I've been told by some who were there) created in response to questions or requests made of Mr. Parker by his students. They were droped if they were redundant, or didn't fit well, or just if they were a little "Craziness".

1st Junior Instructor 2nd Associate Instructor 3rd Head Instructor 4th Senior Instructor 5thAssociate Proffessor 6th Professor 7th Senior Professor 8th Associate Master of the Arts 9th Master of the Arts 10th Senior Master of the Arts

doubletwist, I can't say why Mr. Fowler chose those techniques for Yellow, and why only seven. But they do not violate the web of knowlege, and are easily done at that level. Intellectual Departure was discontinued early on. Some systems, like Tracy's, still do it. Don't know if you've seen it before, but it is sort of interesting. It got its name because you (the defender) had enough sense to turn and run away, and kicked his butt in the process. I believe Mr. Tatum does a variation on this theme in one of his lectures (something about a castle?). The term sifu is a Chinese term, meaning your teacher. Mr. Fowlers teacher would be his sifu, and your sigung. Ask the Drunken Monkey for a better breakdown if you are interested. Titles are mostly for marketing here any way, and he has to pay the bills. But I prefer teacher or instructor, and Mr./Mrs./Ms. But I'm more interested in his/her Kenpo than their title.

Sure there is! What part of the state are you in? There is a lot in Spokane, and I believe that one of my instructors black belts started a school in the Seattle area. There are also a lot of Kempo schools (if you can't find a Kenpo school, but want to 'keep it in the family). If you are in the Wenatchee area, check out Qi Fighting Concepts. It is Sifu Joseph Simonet's school. He does a mix of Kempo (not sure what system), Wing Tsun, Silat, and Taiji. I believe the Taiji is Yang style, definately Ch'uan-fa, and is taught by his number two, Addy Hernandez. Not EPAK, but we're talking world class ma's there.

You mean a 'check', I believe (cover is a foot maneuver- and I've been called on the same mistake, so don't sweat it ). But you are correct. You'll eventually find that you can hit harder from a checking position than from a full chamber, and I find that fully torquing a punch without proper understanding detracts from both power and effectiveness. As for flow, it greatly enhances your ability to control the fight. Kenpo flow should do dammage and set him up both on the strike and the withdrawal. You really see and appreciate this more when you translate your empty hands moves to a knife. The dammage you can do with one motion is unbelievable!

Ed Parkers American Kenpo.

Pretty much agree with the general consensus, here. If you are not willing to and/or don't need to kill, don't carry a knife for self defense. Same with any deadly weapon, and at close range the knife is the most deadly I can think of (excluding mad bombers). And with any weapon you choose to carry, you should train with it until it is second nature to use.

"Shorinryu Sensei Black Belt" 'Bout time!Congrats, even if it is just for talking! WapCaplet- reminds me of Jim Nolan. (Don't wrack your brain, you don't know of him). In one tour in the Navy, Nolan was on an aircraft carrier, in subs, a SeaBee, and of course, a Navy Seal. If you'd done it, Nolan had done it better. All kinds of ranks in dang near anything martial. We all measured your tolerance for * as your Nolan Quotient. Sounds sort of like your guy. Your Sensei did the right thing. He gave the guy a chance, even though I bet he knew the result from day one. Besides his attempts to build himself up by undermining the instructors, something no 'Master' would do, his comments showed a complete lack of understanding. thaiboxerken pretty much said it about the front kick: As for the example set for his kids, I don't think they stand much of a chance in that regard. This kind of person is focused only on themselves. Pretty sad.

http://www.tracyskarate.com/ The Tracy brothers left Ed Parker in the early days of the systems development. They wanted to more aggressively market the system, while Ed Parker did not think it was quite ready. They added some things from CMAs, I think from Jimmy Woo (don't remember for sure). Their system is Parker based, but it is early Parker, and they do quite a few things different. It is a good system, but it lacks the deapth of understanding and effectiveness that is in EPAK.