Treebranch

I myself don't know. I think those styles are fine, do what you like and like what you do.

Absolutely!!!

You can have all that and a weapon if you are taught correctly.

That's too bad, I'm sorry. Move to California and you can join our class.

San Soo's weak points are it's too brutal.

Thuggish it's not San Shou it's San Soo. San Soo is a Combat MA and you know what San Shou is already. This is the founder of San Soo. http://www.kungfusansoo.com/ These are some clips. http://24.199.21.166/sansookungfu/Videos.html This is a San Shou Champ: http://www.cungle.com/ Enjoy!

The first Matrix with Brandon Lee instead of Keanu would have been the perfect MA movie for me. Also I love Samurai films, but not too many of those are being made these days.

from the ground up are you studying Wing Chun? The way you described your teachers movements sounds alot like what we do in Budo Taijutsu. Not that I have seen. I studied it for a while and we never kicked higher than the sternum. San Soo is a very practical MA.

Most of them do work. My best advice is learn to fight, whatever style you enjoy.

That's why moving offline of an attack is so important, you don't know if the person has a knife or not. Better safe than sorry. Distance is time.

I've taken down too many people throwing high kicks to realize it's not a good idea to do it in a street fight. If the guy is drunk or doesn't know how to fight, great. It's a really risky thing to do against a street fighter. It's very easy to snuff those kicks.

If you trained in Kung Fu San Soo for a year, 3 times a week and are a quick learner, you will be pretty darn effective. In 10 years you would be a bad mofo.

Sorry, but unless you live in a really jacked up neihborhood or someone is after you, or you're really rich and you have something thugs want. Carrying a gun on your person is pretty paranoid in my opinion. If the presence of a gun has been successful at preventing crimes without being fired, than an airsoft gun would be just as effective. I think too many morons own guns, and are often used on their own families (domestic violence). You can justify gun use all you want, but the fact is that First World Countries that have banned guns are far more peaceful and don't instill the kind of paranoia where people feel they have to carry a gun. Military should have guns and police, but citizens should be thoroughly checked out before being able to purchase such a dangerous weapon. The gun is the great facilitator, and in the hands of a mentally unstable person it is very dangerous. I worked in the medical field for 9 years and every night I was called in for a GSW (gun shot wound). Every night there was at least one that survived long enough for me to get there. I was an on call medical technician. I respect a persons opinion on subjects such as these, and they have every right to feel the way they do. It's not their fault for being so paranoid, we are fed fear everyday through the media. I have an experiment for everyone. Don't watch TV for a whole week or listen to the news, and tell me if you don't feel a little calmer. Just my opinion thanks for respecting it as I do yours.

That's too bad and that does sound steep. Is that the only Ninjutsu school in your area? Are they asking $200 to start and $100 per month after that? That's pretty expensive, but some Aikido Dojos charge up to $120 a month. Unfortunately these schools have to pay rent and insurance and all kinds of other stuff, so these guys sometimes charge too much. I'm being trained by someone who is 6th dan at the park for about $20 a month. He's really good and I've learned quite a bit in a very short time. I'd keep looking, Budo Taijutsu is really fun. Good Luck

I added a few more items to my collection since the last post. I bought a better bokken, a shinai, a hickory jo, a mini stick with bo shuriken inside, and a Paul Chen practical katana. Fun stuff Maynard.

I have a Jo made of hickory. It has a good weight and it's hard as hell. I also just bought a Bo made of Hickory, the weight is nice and it's hard as a rock. I'd buy a nice Hardwood Bo like Hickory, Walnut, Cherry, Oak, something tough with some weight to it. Practice with something like that and when you pick up one of those toothpicks you'll feel like it's childs play.

Withers M.A.A. just curious. Have you ever had to use the gun on someone? Is your neighborhood that bad? Or does your job require it? A gun is designed to kill, not many options with a gun. I carry a small knife, not too effective against a gun. I hope you never have to use it. The knife I carry serves 2 purposes. One is it's handy to carry a knife for cutting things and such. The other is if things get a little too much for me in a fight and it's the only way I'm going to get out of there, then it's cutting time. I hope it never comes to that, cause I know how and where to cut. Anyway Good Luck.

I'm learning how to throw bo shurikens and it is pretty hard. Anyone good at throwing these? Could use some help. Here's a site I found that has some pretty good info. https://www.aikidoaus.com.au/dojo/shuriken/

UsagiYojimbo sorry to hear that the school near you is so expensive. Try to find out if some of the students train outside of the dojo, you might be welcome their. They probably won't charge you anything.

Bruce Lee was a better Martial Artist than we are now. The difference is that I and others here still have a lifetime to study martial arts. Unfortunately Bruce Lee doesn't have the luxury to say that. I don't know if any of us will ever be as "good" as Bruce was, but I will have to assume that if I keep being dedicated to MA's and train hard, by the time I am an old man I will be more knowledgable then he was. There are Martial Artists in our time that are better than he was, and certainly Martial Artists that were better than he was then. The difference was that Bruce Lee was a great innovator and in turn this made him very famous. He was the Greatest Martial Arts Movie Star the World has ever known.

What are you talking about? Citizens can get guns just as easy as criminals. Gun shows sell almost anything, or they can tell you where to get it. Look at countries that banned guns, it is very hard to get a gun there and their crime rates are lower. Also a large percentage of the guns on the streets were stolen from the homes of citizens with large gun collections. One of the easiest ways for a criminal to get a gun is breaking into someone's home usually at noon when no one is home, and steal whatever he can. Many times there will be a gun or two in the house. Ideally I think what you're saying would be nice, but believe me it is the furthest thing from the truth. No offense, I happen to live in Los Angeles County and I was raised in a pretty bad area. The gun is the great equalizer. Cops and Thugs are equal with a gun in their hands. Law abiding citizens will probably never use their gun in self defense. I think the only way that criminals would actually think twice about attacking someone is if the citizens could carry a gun on them, but I'd be more scared of that than the way it is now. Too many guns in one place can't be good.

broomhilda said: Not true at all. States with guns like California have huge crime rates. I don't think these thugs care if the cops have guns or not. If these guys didn't have guns they would not commit as many crimes. These people are cowards and need guns to make them feel strong. Guns don't make crimes rates go up or down.

If both were equally skilled with their perspective weapon the bo staff has the advantage. The bo staff in the right hands can defeat many short range weapons such as nunchaku. Musashi Miyamoto lost against a Master of the Bo Staff.

Almost any object can be used as a weapon. No you don't carry a Katana around, but what about a pocket knife. What about your keys, your belt. I think studying weapons give you a better understanding of unarmed techniques. Your hands and arms and legs are weapons, you carrying those around don't you? Also certrain styles of fighting teach certain movements for fighting and certain movement for weapons. This is a big mistake. You should always move the same way. The only thing that changes is distance and timing. If you are taught to block puches and kicks and not move, someone with a weapon will get you easier. Most of the time you don't know the weapon is there. So it's better to do weapons training than not to.

I think it's good to know how to use a gun, and I don't mean just shooting it.