SevenStar

I agree. You could also use windmills (if that corresponds with your art) this is a good distraction technique as well as a good way to be constantly prepared with your hands ready for defense if necessary. windmills.... are those similar to cloud hands?

yeah, you can but calipers that measure bodyfat. Also, there are methods you can do with no tools, but they aren't as accurate.

that was the very reason I hated point sparring. I had been sparring full contact initially, so the transition to point sparring was odd for me. completely different mentality.

is it truly a koryu style?

circular or spiral?

as a result of oyama's ventures, he integrated things that he picked up from the thais into his style... the thing about the decision to train "hardcore" is that it should NOT be a decision. IMO, you should be able to walk into ANY school for a given style and receive such training. If only certain schools or certain students do it, then IMO, the style is flawed, as hard training is not part of it normal curriculum.

depends on who is throwing them and how the side kick is thrown. If it's a side snap kick, it may not adequately reach it's target. if it's a side thrust kick: does the person lean their whole body away from the kick, or are they upright? where is it aimed? there are alot of factors in a question like that. Theoretically, the teep should be faster, because it is not chambered - it lifts of the ground from directly where it is. on the other hand, a teep is not a power kick - so the sidekick should be stronger. that's not to say a teep can't inflict damage, but they are mainly probing and set up techniques - similar to a jab.

there are a million threads on six packs.... try searching. In a nutshell, situps won't do it. you can doo 1,000,000,000 situps per day and you will never see your six pack if you have fat covering it. cardio and diet are the biggest factors.

monday night, I put a bruise on someone's arm with a kick....and he was holding thai pads. you mentioning "spinning" through off the picture I had in my head... is it like a spinning backfist, only with the forearm? do you have a link that shows it?

competition.

I know it wasn't intended to be that - I haven't mentioned that at all. I'm skeptical that your forearm can match my kick in strength no matter what style I train in, considering the strength difference between the arm and leg...

I'm in Nap alot - next time I come up there, It would be cool to check your dojo out.

that's probably a stance issue. do you stand fully sideways, or are you more squared up to your opponent? Also, the rear roundhouse kick is best used when it is set up by something - punches work well. I wouldn't advise just throwing it by itself unless you have a very fast one.

Nothing wrong with punching from a higher, more mobile stance. look at boxers...

I haven't read this whole thread yet, so this maay have been said, but don't think about fighting in "stances" if you do, then you are thinking along the wrong lines. Stances are transitory - you don't stand in them permanently. For example, let's say you throw a punch. I step out into a high forward stance as I block. from there, I grab your sleeve and pull you off balance, as I bring my rear leg up to set up a shoulder throw. Now, as I turn and fit in for the throw, I am in a horse stance. You catch on to it and try to step over my leg. I readjust, and throw you with tai otoshi - putting me in another modified forward stance. you throw a punch and I step back as I parry, lightening the weight on my front foot so that I may counter with it - I am in a cat stance now. See where I'm going? stances are part of footwork - transitions while fighting.

do you mind driving to bellingham?

I don't understand the concept of "richer" I left TMA for sport MA - I don't care about "richness"...that's why there are still a ton of MAs in existence though - because different people are attracted to different MA for various reasons.

the best tip is to not stop training. everything else, you will learn. Really.

it's only discouraging if you are seeking a black belt. IMO, if a black belt is your sole motivation, then you really don't need to be training. FWIW, I got my brown after about 3 years - you get points for competing as well. I have beaten several people who outrank me - in my last tournament, I beat two black belts - which earns me more points, as ou get extra for beating people who outrank you. regulation is a good thing, IMO. it doesn't stop mcdojos at all - you can have your rank based off of points...that doesn't mean that you're good... However, what it does is keep everything consistent. I can go to ANY judo club in the country, and everything is the same. styles that are not organized can get cinfusing. Take chinese shuai chiao, for example. depending on whom you trained with, you may have a different name than someone else for the exact same technique. With judo's structure, this will never happen.

I'm not sure about seattle, but if you have a few spare hours, there is a wing tsun school in bellingham that also teaches muay thai.

are you saying that you can hit me with your forearm harder than I can kick you with my leg?

you get used to the pain and the workouts - you will be sore less and less, and you learn to shrug off the pain after you've incurred it. Better days are ahead definitely wear pads. it won't prevent you from toughening at all. shin pads are not thick, first off. you will still fell the impact and still toughen. Second, when it comes to toughening, bruising is bad. you can't continually toughen when you have to lay off a little due to bruising. As for pads, I use either ringside of twins. the mechanics of the roundhouse are actually very technical. you will learn it in time, just be patient - and work your knees alot. various knee strikes, like the long knee and the round knee work the same motion as the roundhouse kick and the teep. It sometimes helps to learn the knees first.

point taken. But there is a difference between proficiency and mastery - that's what the phrase is pointing out. just last night, I was talking to one of the guys in class - he just came back from competing in the arnold's over the weekend - he noted how different the intent was when you're competing against someone who doesn't know you in a competitive setting. As soon as he mentioned it, I thought of this thread. When you spar, you can hit hard - we do too... it's still not the same. No, please comment on it. in order to understand a competitor, you really have to be one...competing isn't in everybody. But for the one's that it's in - they enjoy it. By "we like to fight" I'm not referring to street fighting. I'm referring to competing. If it's in you, you like it. If it's not, you won't.

Also, prove it to whom? sticking with the example of judo - it's one of the biggest sports in the world. Even if I am the US national champ, chances are, the competitors in france and russia have never heard of me. Heck, not even all of the competitors in the US will have heard of me. the same applies to BJJ and thai boxing. MMA has a very small penetration into mainstream public. Some countries to this day don't know what the UFC is. to whom are they trying to prove that are good fighters? the 2% of the public that watches them? the only people I've EVER heard say that fighters feel they have to prove something are traditional guys who don't fight. Not even the traditional guys I know who fight say that...

No they don't. We compete because we like to fight - hence the term fighter. I personally don't care one way or the other what a person thinks of my skill. Every competitor that I know is like that. In addition, he made no distinction at all. He may have wanted to imply that, but he made no distinction.