delta1

OK, I looked it up. At the time (@1900-1905) judo as taught at kodokan was primarily a throwing art. The head of Fusen-Ryu was Mataemon Tanabe, a trained ground fighter who taught ground fighting as the primary emphasis of his school. A challenge was issued between the two schools, a common thing at the time. In the actual match, the Fusen Ryu students took the match to the ground by immediately sitting down. The kodokan students didn't know how to fight there, and were relatively easily submitted. Apparently they couldn't just attack the grounded fighter without themselves going to the ground, because that woul make them appear to be thugs. Kano did study from Tanabe after that, and incorporated a ground game into his system. According to Renzo Gracie, it may have been Tanabe's willingness to share his knowlege and skills that caused his school to eventually close while Judo flourished. It also caused his contributions to be largely overlooked in history, except that a judoka named Mitsuyo Maeda took his approach to Brazil. There he faught many all out challenge matches, refining his skills as well as an understanding of phases of combat. He also took on a student named Carlos Gracie, which is probably how Renzo Gracie came to be writing about the history of jujitsu in the first place. Any how, for some reason the fact that the Fusen-Ryu guys won by just droping to the floor stuck in my mind. So I got a book and checked it out. Pretty interesting.

What kind of "world championships"?

aefibird, have you checked to see if there are any of the current students that want to just work out together on the side and keep your skills up, and maybe learn a little? Talk to the Asst. Instructor, see if he/she would be interested in working on this when his shifts allow it. Maybe set it up for private lessons for the group, with everyone shareing costs, 2-3 times a month.

*rubs jaw* Guess I deserved that. *turns red in th' face*

Jerry & SS, you're both right. I'm partial to center knuckle strikes as well.

Depends on what you want it to do. Mine is a 50 pounder, because I want it to move around a lot. But if you primarily want to work power strikes, you'd want a much heavier bag.

"The Kodokan was beaten badly, losing all but one match. Why? The Fusen ryu were the first style of Jiu Jitsu to emphasis a style of ground fighting that looked very similar to wrestling in many respects." I'm strainin' my brain here, but in that competition didn't the Fusen Ryu just get down on the floor, forcing their opponents to fight in a range or phase that they were unacustomed to?

sonduck, welcome!

That summs up my feelings on martial arts pretty well. Nicely put!

So, you do d* style? (Sorry, couldn't resist that one). Sombody report this to a moderator, quick! (I had to edit that one myself- too many youngsters here).

American Kenpo is one art that, to those who havn't experienced it, would seeem this way. And, in all honesty, one of the problems we do have to deal with is that often new people get hung up on the techniques and forget their basics. But without basics, there are no techniques. It is usually corrected by not teaching new techniques till they show improvement in their basics. As for the complexity of the system, once you learn the principles, and learn to break the techniques down to principles, it really isn't that difficult. The techniques themselves teach you to move, correctly useing principles. AK is meant to be an adaptable art- adaptable to the user, and to the opponent he faces, and to new methodologies or needs. To do that, each practitioner has to understand basic principles in order to evaluate new information as well as what works for him. Understanding of principles also allows the student to self evaluate, making the physical aspect of his basics more readily intrnalized. When you look at it this way, understanding principles is part of our basics. Think of it as exponential JKD. Note: in AK, a technique is a serries of moves strung together to deal with a particular attack. Sort of a mini kata. It teaches correct application of basics, principles and concepts, movement under the force of an attack, leading or setting up your opponent, changing up or modifying the moves to deal with variouse contingencies, and much more.

Welcome.

Comeing from anothr style, he wears white- no two ways about it. If he has a problem with that, give him a black belt with pink stripes and wish him well on his way!

AK kicks with the knife edge, primarily for scraping stomps or joints. I wouldn't think it would be god for apower kick against structure, though, since your foot would have to be turned sideways and down. Really poor allignment at the ankle, and a good way to get hurt (as already stated by others). But I have another question. Some of you are talking about side kicking with the sole of the foot. This seems to me to be another bad way to kick. That is a soft area, as well as a large flat area (relatively speaking), so the effectiveness of the kick would be compromised. There are a lot of nerve endings there- you could hurt yourself, or even do yourself seriouse dammage. And there is no structural allignment with the striking surface and the major bones of the leg. Again, effectiveness is compromised while there is a very real chance of injuring yourself. What is the reasoning for kicking with the sole of the foot?

I'll have to agree with Lucifer, here. But it is an opinion based on ignorance, in my case. I just don'tknow that much about it. On the other hand, if you aren't used to it, the acrobatic moves might surprise you. I'd like to see it actually used sometime.

I've used those sounds in healthful Qigong, but I've never used them with techniques. For one thing, when used incorrectly, they can be unhealthy. There are specific postures and breathing (among othr things) that are used with these sounds to effect specific organs. I suppose if you really know what you are doing, it might do some good. I've seen people, and systems, that use different sounds to create differnt effects- short, explosive sounds for quick strikes- longer strong sounds for kicks, long, windy sounds for throws, etc. I've even seen people make the sounds of the strikes when they spar- as in 'POW', WHACK', 'BIFF', BLAM', etc. It's sort of comical. I don't usually make any noises, except when I groan or yell "Ouch!"

I have arthritus, and when I get really carried away sparing or on the bags, I can REALLY feel it in my hands. One of my physical therapists made me some plastic splints to wear after I've overdone it. All the guys I was working out with at the time made fun of me, 'till it was time to spar- then you should have heard them howl! I wonder if I could get a set with spikes... Edit: I have no idea what this has to do with the 'warm season'. S'pose I could say that some of them were hot?

The joke doesn't tell anything about norwegians. I used to date a Norwegan. She had a T-shirt that said YOU CAN ALLWAYS TELL A NORWEGIAN, BUT YOU CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH! Maybe why- I don't know...???

Wow, Bat- thanks for the advice!

Back in the late fifties and early sixties, Ed Parker was saying "It isn't the style, it's the fighter." A lott of people have quoted him since, and I really doubt he was the first to say it either. But, most people really don't seem to get it. The best style for the street is simply Spontaneous Whoop-*.

No, no, no, aefibird- that's spelled slily! You English...

If you're starting in a couple of weeks, I'd wait. You might get a better deal from your instructor, and help support your school.Also, you'll get to see what they use, and can pick what you want. Also, you'll get trained to use it so you don't develope bad habbits. Another thing, you may need or want to buy protective gear for class- don't blow the budget too soon. But, if you're flush with cash, you won't go wrong buying a heavy bag, MT bag, Wavemaster, or striking dummy. But get quality, unless you just like shopping for this stuff.

It is true that principles are pretty much common to all styles. But different styles emphasize and utilize them differently. The result is that, while there are many similarities, there are some radically different styles. I doubt that anyone would confuse Long Fist and Wing Chun, even if they'd never seen any martial arts before.

Can I say that here?

oN!