SevenStar

The complexity isn't in the number of techniques, but in the mechanics of doing them properly. For an obvious example, look at the thai roundhouse. As for limiting it's effectiveness, no, it doesn't. Having fewer tools means that you can master them quickly, as you will repeatedly work the same techniques. fear the man who practices one technique 10,000 times more than the man who practices 10,000 techniques one time...

CMA predates the shaolin temple. I seeyour point though...

I've never heard that. However, if you are punching with a horizontal fist and punch with the bottom two as opposed to the bottom two, you stand a chance of breaking the pink finger. Also, structurally, the vertical fist is the more "correct" way, but both are viable and effective.

bottom two, or bottom three?

even if you have no legs, you are sitting on something... the plat form you are sitting on would be what your legless torso would use to generate power.

That's my point - power doesn't come from the ground, which is what some people actually think. You are able to generate power because of the connection to the ground. nothing more. The only role the ground plays in power generation is the fact that you are touching it.

Also, it requires no equipment - not everyone has access to a bag.

1. you can do it solo. 2. you can work footwork and head movement. Alot of people I've seen - particularly newbies - tend to sit in front of a heavy bag and just hit it - they forget about their feet. While shadowboxing, they tend to move around. 3. it's an awesome warm up 4. you can do it in front of a mirror and keep your technique in check.

I shadowbox daily

http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=14736

my bad, I didn't see any of this - haven't been back to this thread. There's a thread called striking vs grappling - I'll find it. 47mm, I think you posted in it as well. It was a thread saying that if you HAD to pick striking or grappling, which would it be and why. I picked grappling. I'll go dig it up.

that's actually not true. There are several teachers out there, particularly in the CMA world who change the forms when they put them on video. They do this on purpose so they can distinguish people who actually learned from those who learned by video.

TKD is the result of many koreans thinking that tang soo do looked "too japanese". They wanted an art that expressed their own flair and style, thus tkd was born.

I do alot of outside learning, as you put it. I think if you are currently training in something, then books, videos, etc. can be a very valuable tool. If you are new or don't train at all, then it will be very harmful to you. That said, I own/ have access to several muay thai books and I own many judo books and videos.

pretty much what IA said.

LD, I wouldn't reccomend kicking a tree, even with the shin pads. people in thailand would kick bananna trees, but the bark of those is soft, and has some give.

who has a bb in kickboxing? for the record though, yeah, some schools do give rank. It's not nationally recognized. For example, a level 5 in the USMTA won't mean squat to the IMTF - it's only for structure within the organization and also to assist with class organization. For example, we have a curriculum of how we teach students. the level 1 students work basics, naturally. we have separate training days for level 3 and above, however, they are also permitted to come to the basic classes. some schools have organization via levels, like what we use, and others use a color system.

you can't learn by yourself... to try and do so will result in sloppy technique. that said, after you know how to do the technique, there are drills you can do solo that will help improve your form and skill.

yeah, bag conditioning is fine. IMO, that's all you really need for conditioning your striking surfaces.

http://www.jasondelucia.com/

you were right until you said this part. Jujutsu cannot be accurately traced beyond japan. There are various claims, but none that are historically verified. The main one is that a kempo master from china had run across a man in his travels who studied chin na. He only learned three locks from the man, and he showed the three locks to three japanese men. Those three men expaneded the three locks into an entire system of locks and created the first three jujutsu styles. As I said, that is word of mouth "history" and has never been verified. There are also several claims that jujutsu was created and developed in japan. The world will never really know. Some also say that jj came from shuai chiao, which is also false. Actually, shuai chiao bears more resemblence to sumo than jujutsu.

the plain and simple answer is - you don't. when I'm fighting, I odn't really care what style I am using - your instincts take care of all of that - what is ingrained is what you will use. I still think some are misunderstanding my definition of MMA though - it's not really just studying multiple styles, in the sense of tkd, karate, wushu, etc, as rick stated he has done. In the past I've studied kali, karate, jun fan, longfist, etc. but never considered myself an MMA until I started training stiking and grappling and also the the conditioning that comes with training combat sports - things that are common to the MMA venues.

I train daily, for anywhere from 2-3 hours per session, and I go to the gym daily.

it depends. If you are in a standard stance, you're not completely square to him, you are angled slightly, but you are still facing him - your center isn't directly in his line of fire, but is still accessible. By being more squared, I can use my weapons more readily than someone who is in a side stance. Asfar as angling goes, it's for strategy purposes. From a stadard stance, I want to stay to your left. Why? because your power hand an leg are on the right. If I am circling in that direction, I am circling directly into your power strikes - not smart. I want to stay out of range of your power shots and keep you within range of mine.