SevenStar

when addressing power, the first thing to always check is technique. the roundhouse mechanically is harder than people think to do correctly. After addressing technique, address attributes - speed and strength.

most schools don't - it will vary from school to school, and it's not recognized by any other school than your own. What I've noticed lately is that american kickboxing schools that stem from karate tend to use a karate style ranking system. However, there are thai schools that do it as well - it's a structural thing, and also a motivational thing for newbs. But, it's all internal. Say I was a red belt at my school (if we had rankings) If I went to his, it wouldn't mean anything. Some organizations also use them to denote who may teach and who may not. For example within adjarn chai sirisute's association, he has various levels. A level 3, for example, denotes an apprentice instructor. Once again, this won't have any significance outside of the TBA, which is adjarn chai's organization.

it will all help. Do you intendt on fighting? If you do, it may be more beneficial to you to break aspects of your training up into rounds - to get you used to pacing yourself for the round. For example, if you shadowbox for 15 minutes straight, you pace yourself according to that time limit, that way you don't wear yourself out before the 15 mins is up... That pacing is much different than a 3 minute round - you will exert yourself more in the shorter round and will be less conservative than you would in a 3 minute round. However, due to the greater exertion, you will tire faster... It may be helpful for you to pace yourself according ot the round duration. So, shadow box 5 rounds X 3 mins, 1 min rest between rounds. skip rope 8 rounds X 3 mins.

I wouldn't say it's the only.... a japanese friend of mine is about 5'5 and 155. I've seen him tear apart guys that were six inches taller and at least 40 pounds heavier than him, including myself. That's just the product of hard work and dedication. they definitely start early though. It's not uncommon for a fighter in thailand to have 90 fights by the time he's 21.

yeah - that may be part of your problem. You really want a more experienced guy to partner with a newbie - it's better for the learning experience. In our classes, we always rotate partners each round, so everyone has a chance to work with everyone, but we try to make sure that two complete newbs aren't together at any time. This is more productive for everyone.

have you ever seen bill wallace kick? his front, side, round and hook kicks all use the same chamber - it looks like he is chambering a front kick, but he changes it to something else.

lead leg kick, rear leg pivot.

I've hear the same thing about chen style. Also, from what I understand, there is alot of grappling in chang style.

not really. the techniques of muay thai are vastly different than kung fu. On a very basic level, it looks similar, but heck, on a basic level, it all looks similar. unnecessary. I love looking into the history of japanese and thai arts. My knowledge will not be vastly increased if I find out there's a link between jjj and cma.

this interaction is where kempo originated. Also, similarity can be seen between sumo and shuai chiao - I'd be willing to bet a link can be drawn there. but you can't verify one to jujutsu.

he may be new as well. How long has he been training?

muay boran isn't really a sister style - it's a predecessor. it's a more traditional thai style which includes more grappling, more varied strikes and forms work.

I saw the subtitlled thai version months ago. Loved it.

I wasn't attempting to give detail - my bad. muay is a generic term - it means "boxing", if I remember correctly. muay is like kung fu - there are thousands of chinese styles, all deemed kung fu. There are also various incarnations of muay. Hoever, today, there is really only one that is widely practiced - muay thai. it came about around the 1920's when they decided to use gloves instead of wrapping the hands with hemp. In the past, there has been muay boran, muay chaiya, muay kaad cheurk - this muay introduced the use of hemp, muay lon lon, etc. I have never heard that muay boran is the grappling side of muay thai. pretty much all of the old muay had techniques you don't see today in muay thai - more grappling, and "flashy techniques" like double knees, double uppercuts and spinning kicks. for a basic synopsis of various old styles, you can check out http://www.ancientmuaythai.com

this is correct.

doesn't matter. they are very separate entities today. And actually, you can't verifiably link bjj to china. it is from judo, which is from japanese jujutsu - it's said by some to have chinese roots via gempin, but can't be verified. Naturally, the japanese say it is pure japanese. the chinese say otherwise. Who knows... or cares...

you can lift it straight off the ground, like a front kick. you pivot once you throw it, then pivot back. you don't have to be in a side stance. However, it is a chambered kick, and thai boxing does not advocate chambering. you thrust your hip in all forward motion thai techniques - long knee, short knee, teep...

awesome... I used to live in va beach. I trained at the chuck norris karate studio on va beach blvd when I was a kid. there is a guy named brooks miller who teaches in NOVA... dunno how far you're willing to drive...

not traditional muay thai, but traditional muay. muay thai is the muay that was born in the 1920's which is so popular today. What you probably saw was either muay boran - a more traditional muay that is widely known - or krabbi krabong.

cinterline is not unique to cma. bjj, judo and thai boxing all have their use of it as well. it's more prevalent in bjj than the other two though.

No.

not always...

it's a circling hand motion found in taiji. the purpose of it is to offbalance the opponent, but I know people who circle thehands in a similar manner for distraction purposes.

I know you don't want to hear the "practice more" thing - but that's it - practice. when you are new to something, you tend to be overly tense. The more you practice it, the more comfortable you get. The more comfortable you get, the more you relax. Take a student who has just started doing kata - he is tyupically very tense. over time, that fades away. Next, put gear on him and make him spar - his tenseness returns. Why? because he's doing something he's not used to. We have guys in the thai boxing class that have been wrestling all of their lives - when you grapple them, they are relaxed and efficient. When you put boxing gloves on them, they are the exact opposite - they get tense and stiff... they aren't used to it yet. with enough practice, they will relax, just as you will. I know people say "don't think", but i don't completely agree. you have to remain conscious of what is going on. If you and I are sparring, my brain is functioning. If I notice you have a tendency to drop your left hand, I'm going to exploit that. I don't think that the key is to not think at all, but moreso to think quickly. your brain should assess the situation, but your body should be prepared with an appropriate response - that response it what you shouldn't be thinking about. I don't think "he's dropping his left, should I use a hook punch, or kick him in the face?" instead I merely think "hmm, he drops his left", and my body does the rest.

leg blocks will come in time - just make a conscious effort to do them, and eventually it will click. Same thing with keeping your hands up. The issue of concern is parrying - if you are parrying and you are wide open, then your motion is too big. A parry is a very small motion - a slight redirect, not a hard, forceful block. Work on making your technique smaller.