SevenStar

smack talk is a motivational thing. Boxers do it too.

Those are for safety. If you enter one, you'll probably understand. Size matters. given equal ability and skill, the one with the most attributes in his favor has the advantage. Now, if the smaller one is WAY better, then no, size isn't as much of an issue. But you are talking about competitions among PROFESSIONALS. trust me, size matters. Heck, you're in IL, so here's an experiment you can try. chicago has an MMA event called the Ironheart. Contact them, and tell them you want to fight someone two weight divisions above your own. If they are open to it, then go fight. Come back and tell us how it went... that's true, however, you can do it in Pride. However, it's another safety issue. chances are, that's NOT the case. they aren't setting up anything. nobody WANTS to be in such a disadvantaged position. That's not to say you can't counter from that position, but it's ridiculous to WANT to be there. compete. if you do, the sport will probably regain your respect.

I wouldn't see it as a waste of time as long as they don't conflict. For example, thai boxing and tai kwon do. different kicking methods, some different power generation methods, different sparring methods, etc. If you are training both at once, you may get confused, as one teacher tells you to do it one way, and the other teacher tell you another. However, if they are two unrelated styles - thai boxing and judo, for example, there is very little crossover, and confusion shouldn't be an issue.

naturally. None of them will work all of the time. Some are easier to set up than others, giving them a higher chance of working. But none will work all of the time.

disagree. For my last fight, I did less running than normal. During the fight, I felt it. I got fatigued WAY faster. you definitely need some type of cardio. Doesn't have to be running - it can be a bike or eliptical machine - but if I did those, I'd go further distances that I would for running. Three miles on an eliptical machine is nothing for me, but 3 miles of running is definitely more of a challenge. Ideally, you do both. combine 3-5 mile runs with wind sprints. I've had opposite effects. I'd wager that most boxers or thai boxers would say the same.

I saw ong bak a few months ago - I haven't seen the US version yet though. GREAT action. I don't think alot of it will apply to a muay thai class though. Alot of the stuff in it is the older muay, maybe muay boran or muay chaad cheurk or something...it's referred to as ancient muay thai, but technically, it's not the same thing.

Actually, I think the "tough guy" was thinking along practical lines - It's more aligned to reality. The problem I've seen with alot of people is that either 1. they think they are never supposed to be hit, and in the attempt to not get hit, they become WAY to defensive and get beaten anyway, or 2. thyey are afraid to get hit. Neither of these situations is optimal. Ideally, you don't want to get hit, but realistically, you probably will. So, you must be comfortable with the fact that you will likely get hit. Once you are comfortable with this, I think you'll see improvement overall with fighting. The problem is, point sparring is not conducive to this, as point sparring promotes not getting hit. I'm a firm believer in a continuous format of sparring, as opposed to the point method for this reason.

yes, it does - but it is taught in the form of kata, and kata is not learned until black belt typically. If you keep in mind that your goal is to eat up his space so that he can't strike you, you will fine PLENTY of strike defenses you can work on. For example, someone throws a haymaker. You step into him, jamming his space, effectively weakening any power his strike would have. As you step in, have your arm and shoulder high to block the strike and grab the cloth on the fold of the arm. If there is no cloth, grab the tricep. with the other arm, either grab cloth in the shoulder region, or if none is available just slam your forearm into his shoulder. Throw him with o soto gari. Last year, one of the judo clubs I belong to gave a demonstration. One of the segments I did involved self defense against strikes. As it was a demo, we rehearsed the strikes and responses, but to add more of a realism feel for all, I told him to throw then in any order he wished, and I would respond. The result was several people interested in the self defense aspect of judo. lol, true. My thinking is that the nature of the set up is gentle. Judo's main principle is "maximum efficiency with minimum effort". So, if you are pushing me, then the easiest way for me to throw you is to pull you and allow you to go the direction your body is already headed. That softness is "gentle". I think it's also "dentle" in that it emphasizes throwing/restraining, which is gentle, when compared to striking. Considering that kano was a pacifist, this makes sense.

1. running 2. sparring 3. bag work 4. weight lifting that's the order I prefer, if I have to rank them. That said, I try to do them all equally. I am in the gym lifting 5 days a week, rund three days and spend 4-5 days in class.

no prob. The gym on the southside is run by miguel torres, and if you keep up with the MMA scene, he fights regularly in the ironheart events. I'll talk to my friend and get an address for the gym. If tohkon's not too far, I would definitely check them out as well.

check out the tohkon guys. One of my current coaches trained up there, and he competes on a world level. Those guys are pretty good. http://www.tohkon.com/jump.html?about also, there is a MMA school in chi that teaches bjj and muay thai. A friend of mine trains in chinese shuai chiao (chinese fast wrestling) and he works out with them, if you're interested in that. He actually lives in hammond - I think the school is on the southside of chi.

actually, the instructor I'm referring to is brazilian. The other has brazilian heritage, but is american.

4 way tie between uchi mata, harai, ko uchi and o uchi. However, I use kata guruma alot, as well as harai/uchi tomoe nage is decent, but I find sumi gaeshi works better for me. I'm not a fan of hane goshi at all... o goshi is a throw so telegraphic that it can be hard to pull off unless you have multiple set up variations for it. I think ippon and morote are great, but I suck at them.

Also, cross training isn't uncommon. One of the instructors is also a bjj purple belt under de la riva.

I spar with the capoeira guys that train at our club. I've been hit by several of those kicks - they have applications. Also, they do alot of knees and takedowns. I train mainly thai boxing and judo, and what they do bears alot of similarity to what I do.

If that's the case, you should be able to spar with it, I'd think.

yeah, that's the way it was told to me as well. The alternating hand is used for defense. one guards the head, and the other deflects/catches kicks. As for the hand being bound in chains back in the day, I think that may be myth - unless they were long chains. Look at the things they do - the separation of the hands in jinga. In negativa, one hand touches the ground behind you while the other touches your face. in meihalua(sp?)the hands are apart on opposite sides of the body. With tightl chains, none of those techniques would be possible, nor would many others.

the open hand indicates a higher respect, although I'm not sure if there's an exact definition for it. When I trained longfist, we did the open hand to closed fist bow. We would always touch the hand though, it wasn't separated like yours. HOWEVER, when bowing to a teacher, we would open the palm on the side closest to the teacher, making a 'v' sahpe between our palm and fist.

you're too technique oriented. think in terms of principles, not techniques. Doing this, you can adapt your stuff and make it sparring applicable. Heck, if you can't actually test it, you don't really know how well you can use it...

you'd be surprised how many people - both trained and untrained - aren't used to it.

shuts down you mind.......i dont think so, if anything its like a boost for your neurons, opening new pathways for information to reach the brain, and allow quicker response of muscular and vascular systems, including the synthesis of ADP/ATP. sure, it 'could' cause a sensory overload of the brain when too much information hits the CNS, that is, assuming the user is completely unused to adrenal situations. otherwise adrenaline, (epinephrine,) is pretty-much the chemical that chemist mock to make speed, (psuedoephedrine,) and many military agencies mock in the production of combat-drugs. 1kickko was right. once the adrenaline begins to flow and the heart rate elevates past a certain point, you forget anything that is not ingrained into you. This is why you see some MA who are good in class but get killed in streetfights. their techniques aren't ingrained well enough. this is also why some people freeze in the face of danger - deer in the headlights syndrome. It's beacuse the brain is not functioning at it's normal capacity. you have forgotten everything that wasn't ingrained. That's why people say "you fight how you train"

yeah, by adrenaline, thats what the body employs it for. you're missing what I'm saying. Adrenaline saps your body's reserves. that's why people tire quickly during an adrenaline rush.

some things I noticed: 1. your lifting lacks any real back exercises. 2. it also lacks shoulder exercises. 3. you're doing a lot of high rep work - endurance work. I'm not sure that's the best way to achieve what you are looking for. 4. there is no mention of your diet. How you eat is the main factor in how "solid" you will become in a certain amount of time. 5. how much cardio are you doing? you didn't state a time frame.

I won my first match in my first judo tourney with tomoe nage. I'd say the generally more effective throws are harai goshi and uchi mata - that's why so many people use them. Different body types work better with different throws though, so it will still vary. for example, you say you often throw o goshi... I NEVER throw it. IMO, o goshi is an extremely hard throw to set up in competition.

I think it's a great step for tma. sami is not a pure taiji guy though. he also trains san shou and wing chun. his san shou record is something like 10-5