guird

as someone who switched to kickboxing from shotokan, I may be able to help. What do you mean by license? is it an insurance thing? most kickboxing gyms will have that covered. You don't need to leave it immediately, you could do both at the same time. You may find that the reflexes conflict with one another, leading to a hampering in your progress of both, but I know people who have no trouble combining them. In any case you could eventually choose to drop one and pursue the other. Your sensei would understand, if you feel that kickboxing is the better path for you then they should allow you to take it. As RW mentioned there are a few different kickboxing rulesets, to which the conventions are tailored. American kickboxing will probably be the closest to shotokan, as it doesn't have leg kciks or clinching, Japanese kickboxing (K1-like rules) will have leg kicks and some clinchwork and knees, for which the training is appropriately modified. If you're going for full Muay Thai there will be elbows and throws as well.

Have you tried just asking him to go lighter? There are a few guys who immediately go very hard in my kickboxing school. Since I'm pretty good at taking a hit I often just roll with it, but when I do ask them to hit with less power they oblige. About nearly having your teeth knocked out, do you guys wear mouthguards when you spar? If it is a problem that extends beyond just this sparring partner, you should ask your sensei what he thinks about using them .

Ah, I had a mental image of someone with their body upright in a shiko dachi like when simply doing the kata, but your reference to sumo clarified a lot, thanks. Is a sumo-like posture what you were referring to, David?

Why transition to shiko dachi before sprawling? I have no trouble sprawling from a medium height stance, and there usually isn't much time to lose. The shiko dachi I was taught wasn't a particularly nimble position for sprawling. My wrestling is pretty awful though, so I may be missing something here.

It's true that you may find yourself in situations for which sparring does not provide a good analogue. However, unless you frequently find yourself in those situations and don't mind taking the risk of trying out untested techniques, I don't see a good way to figure out which techniques are good for these situations. additionally, without applying them in practice, or at least applying very similar techniques I doubt I'd be able to pull the techniques off even if I did know which ones can be useful. I know that some martial arts schools will implement different forms of sparring which resemble alternative scenarios, and these provide some idea, and there are a few fight organisations that go beyond the straightforward 1-on-1 situation such as the russian 'hip show' 2-on-2 MMA fights. Not all scenarios can be simulated like this however. If caught in an unfamiliar situation, I would rather rely on what I know (a punch to the chin is a good way to knock someone down, a sprawl is a good method for avoiding a low tackle) than gamble on untested techniques. so while sparring isn't an ideal test, I can't think of any other safe ones. If you know of one, I'm all ears.

I think it is a mistake to assume that just because a movement exists in a kata it has a practical application. It may be an exercise to develop some specific aspect of coordination, certain muscle groups, or it may simply be a mistake (nobody is perfect, this includes those who make and modify kata). In any case, I think there is little point worrying about applications you cannot consistently and safely test in sparring. One's intuition on the applicability of a technique, no matter how qualified they are, is no replacement for real application. You don't really know a technique is consistently useful until someone has consistently used it, and you won't be able to consistently use it yourself until you've done it for real a few times.

Are you saying that at this MMA gym they spend not even one hour a week hitting pads, sparring, and drilling techniques? If that's the case I predict very poor results for these amateur fighters, and you won't really need to say anything as that will speak for itself. if the fighters do well, then you've probably misjudged the gym.. as for your friend inflating his credentials, you could just ask him about it in private, you may be able to convince him that it wasn't cool and he shouldn't do it again.

Thanks! I guess in a square ring it can also be used to push an opponent into a corner?

Currently my striking simply consists of kickboxing. As kickboxing doesn't have a set form or approach, you can use whatever kicks and whatever approach you like, provided they fit within the rules. That said, there are conventions. The most common kick is undoubtedly the roundhouse - with many variations for personal preference. The thai kick seems the most popular nowadays and is also my preference. Lower kicks are mostlyu used to wear the opponent down and set up punches (though left kick to the body is a notoriously effective fight-ender, and even leg/right-body kicks can end things.) To the head it's generally to finish an opponent who leaves their hands too low. second most common seems to be the front push kick. I should mention I don't know how to effectively utilize the technique. I know it's used to gain some distance, but other than using it to clock an over-agressive opponent as they charge back into range I'm not sure what you can do with it. then there are the less common but not uncommon side kicks and spinning back kicks, the occaisional wheel kick, followed by whatever kick from whatever style you feel like using. (axe kicks, tornado kicks, front snap kick, hook kick)

Hadouken! Hahahaha, thanks for that

I'm not really familiar with this. Can you share the highlights or is there a good place to read about it? He's referring to the taolu component of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wushu_%28sport%29 here's a video: Basically, performance oriented forms competitions. Absolutely awesome if you ask me, but not too practical (aside from the obvious fitness benefits).

What wastelander said. also, I'm told Roy Nelson has a background in some kung fu style.

from what I've been able to find, it's pretty much the same as most karate kicks. I'm personally a fan of the thai kick.

millions of years ago, when animals evolved the instinct to playfight. The human branch of learning to fight is just a continuation of that. If you don't want to classify animals improving their fighting abillities as martial ats, it was when the first creatures that could be called human became old enough to wrestle.

the style isn't all that important. The training methods, instuctor experience and quality, and atmosphere specific to each dojo are the most important. Try out all the locations, as well as similar styles (did you check for korean karate like tang soo do? how about taekwondo? there are a lot of similarities), and make your decision based on how much you enjoy them and your impression of the quality of instruction.

Sudden excitement about this thread from september. No doubt the OP has already moved to Glasgow. How about an update? What did you decide?

Who is the instructor? if you can find his fight record, that should be enough to give you an idea.

There are a lot of MA's not included in any of those categories. FMA, HEMA, various wrestling styles, the various forms of indochinese kickboxing, savate, Indonesian Martial arts, Vovinam, pletny more Is the limit on poll options 5? Maybe an 'other'option would have been a better inclusion than just BJJ or just american freestyle. Anyway, I voted BJJ, as of the arts I do that is the one I am best at.

Nah, in any set of martial arts styles the quality of instruction tends to vary more from school to school within a style than it does between styles. Thatr goes for kung fu too.

This all sounds interesting. Why not take it one step further - ask some judo, bjj, or wrestlers in your area to spar, try this out. If you want to eye gouge, buy some goggles and propose it as part of the ruleset. Put a vid here, I would watch with interest. I think you should realise one other thing as well - an eye attack, even if successful, while excruciating and delibitating, isn't a magic off switch. Gerard Gordeau famously lost an MMA fight after blinding his opponent in one eye, for example.

As Bushido_man already said, training grappling doesn't make your fingers go numb and your teeth fall out. I would like to stress that attempting to maim someone in a certain range when they are versed in that range and you are not is a very bad idea. I have seen three videos in which someone attempted an eye gouge on a more experienced opponents, one was knocked out, and the other two had their arms broken. In all three cases they would have been allowed to leave the fight uninjured after tapping out if they had not escalated the level of violence. This was still pretty reasonable of them, as they could also have used their better position and grip-fighting skills to counter-gouge.

These are grappling techniques, albeit practiced as part of a striking-focused art. Hence it is simple repetition of the point that against a grappler it is best to have some grappling experience of your own.

shinaido, I would bet your right when talking about sparring, but that's the problem. The only way to know is to go all out, you can't go against a wrestler or grappler and not be allowed to use your strengths as a karate-ka. What I'm saying is that two karate practioners or two wrestlers can spar with rules set for that art and get an idea who is better in that setting, but with two very different martial arts it's not easy to spar per se. I'm thinking that's why MMA folks are diversifying so much. In some of the studying that I have done it seems Okinawan karate way before it was known as karate was much more diversified. Even Gichin Funakoshi is pictured using throws, hand and arms locks and take downs. From what I've understand the existance of styles that specialized and pigeon holed themselves came before (kung fu) and after (karate) they arrived in Okinawa. I think this entire discussion is predicated on the assumption that the rules are at least hybrid(striking and grappling), if not no holds barred. The overall opinion is that a pure striker is easy prey for a grappler and especially a balanced fighter. I have to say I agree. When a pure striker and pure grappler spar, victory is determined by takedowns, defending them on the part of the striker and executing them on the part of the grappler. Grappling arts almost invariably spend more time on takedowns, and so have a distinct edge. We haven't even discussed high amplitude throws yet, which add another element when it comes to the process of getting to the ground. It's like you said, it's best to be a balanced fighter.

I don't understand what you mean by 'power' and 'technique' in this post. Isn't technique about using your body to it's maximum potential to generate power(and move with speed, and keep your guard up and all the other things you want to do in a fight)? If keeping the heel down makes your punches weaker, wouldn't it then simply be bad technique to keep the heel down? How would practicing bad technique allow you to focus on technique?

The best thing is obviously to be good at grappling yourself. Grappling knowledge is neccessary to stuff takedowns, control and escape the clinch where the risk of being thrown is high, and to survive on the ground and get to a position from which you can stand back up. In MMA circles I think this strategy is called 'sprawl and brawl'. From what I hear, freestyle wrestling is the reccomended grappling art for this approach, because of it's emphasis on takedowns and position as opposed to submissions. If you'll be fighting or sparring a grappler without having to opportunity to do some grappling yourself, I don't know how much advice I can give you. If you infight, it easy for them to clinch, if you outfight, they can shoot (I know my highest-success rate takedown is a double leg takedown while my opponent jabs, but then my stand-up grappling is pretty limited). If you punch, they can slip or parry and then close, if you kick, they can catch and throw you from there. It depends a lot on their specific grappling experience and what kind of striking(if any) they know.