Alan Armstrong

How similar is JKD to your martial art style? Here are some samples: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jCLS9mCcRk0 Does the sample video look like JKD or something else? Do you incorporate JKD in to your personal style? Have you ever sparred with a JKD practitioner? Did Bruce Lee have an influence on you becoming a martial artist? How different is JKD to Wing Chun and what are those differences? How different is JKD compared to your main style? Are JKD concepts difficult to comprehend or understand? Do you believe JKD is mostly a standup striking type of martial art? Is JKD a useful method of self defense or should it stay in motion picture industry? Is it right to call Bruce Lee the father of MMA? Why do you think, Bruce Lee's quotes are used very often by none JKD martial artists? Has Bruce Lee's influence on martial arts been a good thing or perhaps not?

How about a nine year old with a samurai sword; is she too young for this display of swordsmanship?

Treating muscles like dogs is just a metaphor I use to have a working relationships with them. Taking good care of one's muscles or your dogs, is the best way, that they will obey your commands, as all they really want to do, is to make you happy. Give them plenty of exercise. Keep plenty of drinking water close by. Never let them run wild, unless under very strict guidelines. Give them the nutrition they need to stay strong and healthy. Remember that you have about 600 of them, perhaps you don't know them all by name but keep in mind, that they like to do things together in groups. Reward them with treats, make them feel important. Let them rest in comfort but don't over spoil them. They have an attachment to bones, don't break this relationship, rather encourage it. It is your turn to add ideas...

You are too kind sensei8 for educating the critics. As we are all very much aware that, MMA fighters need to prepare for their bouts ahead of time, studying their opponents, style, moves and habits. When they loose it's because of not enough time to prepare for the fight, due to being on "Short notice" Personally and most of the other martial artists out there "Are in the now" to fight at a moments notice and are training this way. Many in the MMA are prolonging their fights due to enjoying their televised appearances and gaining crowd popularity and new fans; above all keeping the sponsors happy. Traditional and efficient martial artists end the fight as quickly as possible without showing off or showboating to the audience. Theses real martial artist pop up from time to time, just to let them know in the MMA how it is supposed to be done. As for fighting Goliath; I would tell him that: "In the land of the blind, having one eye makes you king" "But unfortunately for you, I have two eyes, a great advantage over your one" "Walk away now Goliath, or walk away later, living in the land of the blind" "What do you treasure more Goliath, my death or your eyesight?" As Goliath is a Cyclops, with one eye, he is at greater disadvantage to those with two eyes. As a Cyclops has no depth perception, only having hight and width to rely upon; he would never know how close or far away the opponent will be. Girl vs Goliath https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IvSwpsw7d_E

OMG What is this in the Octagon? A glimpse in to the future! Girl vs Goliath https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IvSwpsw7d_E Male vs Female MMA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3KQACh4Yv_k

Style dictates fashion even in martial arts. Practicing karate in bear feet, it has its reasons for griping the floor adding stability to techniques. Kung fu slippers, protective footwear but still thin enough to feel the ground. Training shoes, light weight, comfortable with added traction. Commando boots, great for added protection while on rocky sharp surfaces. How are you coping with or without footwear indoors and outside? There is a problem for many martial artists due to getting blisters on their feet while training, twisting ankles and breaking toes with or without footwear; how do you protect your feet in all aspects of your personal training? There is another dimension to this issue of feet being protect by footwear and that is preventing footwear from wearing out too easily; especially everthing in the heel area, above and around it. I've taken up repairing my training shoes as opposed to replacing them with elastic glue and stapling patches on areas that have worn down due to my stretching exercises on abrasive surfaces. Are you replacing or fixing your training shoes?

Doing forms on the beach; why the beach? Perhaps forms and katas could be practiced at a meditative state. Using your breath and movements coinciding with the sound of water, splashing gently on the shore. Katas can be practiced on a spiritual level and not just for combat purposes. There is also the connecting with nature with the ground being wet sand, that can be squeezed with the use of toes, not possible to do in a dojo or on a concrete floor. Cherish the moments doing katas on the beach, high up on a mountain and in a field of wild flowers; no two katas you practice can ever be the same, for a thousand different reasons.

When cross training, adding "Martial Art" nothing wrong with that; beating up a punching bag. Could be a "Martial Art Dance Fit Mix" for all it matters. Not everyone is stuck on "Names" "Style" "Organizations" "Federations" Belts, Certificates, Medals and trophies; many people just want to have fun, without the marketing gimmicks. Fun fitness martial arts moving to the music; without the bowing, hierarchy or military presence. Location is limited to one's imagination and local options... Bartering, borrowing and using free space are a few options...

Now we are talking; Grand Master size Egos! Tell it the way it is! UFC disrespecting other styles; don't they know where their martial art originally came from. Well done... Bulltahr

Benny Urquidez kick boxing seminar; well worth watching.

Yes, but size and skill is pretty significant. Men are just so much physically stronger than women. The womens abu dhabi or world champion would have a very very difficult time submitting a male blue belt if they were fighting, nevermind anyone else of a higher caliber. Think about how much difficult top black belts have submitting other guys in their division.... yeah Mud wrestling, there wasn't much fuss about, gender, size and strength in those places.Perhaps UFC mud wrestling between genders would be the ultimate compromise.

It will certainly be interesting for me, not sure if I will still be around in the next 10 years.Therefore if you can make a wild educated guess regarding Aikido and Russians in the next decade; it would be appreciated immensely. My instinct tells me that they will be wearing the traditional Aikido uniform topped off with a Cossack hat and throwing each other around in the snow. Maybe they will call it Snowkido.

Let's be hopefully a little more open minded on the subject of "Egos" Is it because ego rhymes with dojo? Because mojo rhymes just as well. I've heard the word "ego" used alot in the dojo environments. Surely not all differences in a dojo can be labeled as ego problems. Jealousy, envy, greedy, needy, moody, rivalry, never herd these words used in a dojo. A few CI's have used the word ego, to my face and honestly, I'm not sure why. The fist fights with other students, were equally to blame, then perhaps ego bashing is fitting for the situation. Is the word "conceited" more difficult to construct a sentence with, so the word "ego" is used in its place, due to being a smaller word, a contraction of egotistical? I hope no egos have been bruised here, as there are sensitive people everywhere these days, just waiting to construct a sentence, containing derogative egotistical connotations.

At the time in 2011 both teaching "Tang Soo Do" 27 Chloe and 19 Grace two talented martial artists; the Bruce sisters. Even though being twice and three times their age; if close by, I would enroll in their classes. Chloe Bruce kata: The way I see it, if they are old enough to teach me something, then I'm still young enough to learn.

Capoeira is usually practiced on the beach.

What stands out in my mind regarding martial arts, is that there seems to be a fairness control issue. Muay Thai fighters don't seem to carry this baggage with them. The saying "Pick on someone your own size" It seems like to use it as an excuse to loose to someone bigger. When tournament fighting, if the opponent was bigger than myself, the first thing that came to mind was "Great a bigger target" easier to hit. I'm sure if there is something called a "Mismatch" in a fight then that is going to be used as an excuse, of unfairness. Fight the good fight, with all your might! Let the bigger person complain and make the excuses, because the smaller person was too fast and too small to hit. Many small dogs on the street don't care how big the other dogs are, neither should we. For some out there, stop sparring against easy pickings and start opening up to taking on real challenging opponents. The biggest thrill for me, was being underestimated, the surprised look on my opponents face, always put a smile on mine.

What do you consider to be the biggest problem with martial arts? What do you consider to be the best things in martial arts?

By demoting a student to a lower rank, this will improve their chances of winning, when competing in a tournament?

Martial artist male or female, should be training to fight those bigger, stronger, faster, younger... To think the opponent will be equal in every respect is highly unlikely. The alternative is be trained to fight those less worthwhile, smaller, weaker, slower, older... Then why bother trying to train to be a fighter against individuals that are not much of match for you? I would rather fight a superior fighter and loose than to fight a pushover and win. If women or men belive that they are superior or weaker, then the gender equality debate has lost, before it had a chance to become equal.

Hi Bruce001 Throwing some suggestions your way. Find out first what exactly is happening to your back when kicking first, before anything else. To damage yourself isn't going to be much fun, so figure out what your physical issues are. Perhaps you need to reline your spine and posture, strengthen and lengthening muscles; open up joints and tendons, change your diet to a less inflammatory one. There are many exercises for kicking purposes, that can help put you back on the right track; if interested I can link them to you, right here?

How young would you accept your Karate Sensei to be?

Peacefulness is never meaningless.Unnecessary violence is meaningless.

Had just finished giving a private boxing class to a Kenjukenbo student. He was very happy with the information and instructions given to him; a good workout. Wanted to send him on his way with a short Wing Chun technique, when to my surprise he backed off not wanting to know anything that wasn't Kajukenbo related. It was if a type of "style contamination" would occur, that would short circuit his prior Kajukenbo understanding. Respecting his wishes, I left it at that. Having information on other styles doesn't mean that students will be open to learning it.

Solid post!!!!!

1.) Know what is required for the test. 2.) Practice what is going to be tested. 3.) Set a reasonable goal to learn and absorb what will be required for the test. Try to sit in on other students tests and take notes or record it. Testing is a method or way of determining if the student has learned the required information adequately. Tests are in your benefit, better to fail and learn what was insufficient later, than to pass before one's time-skipping valuable information.