SevenStar

kyokushin is good. To address you question though, muay thai allows a higher level of contact. Also, the training regimen of thai boxers is frickin awesome. As it is "sport fighting", the intense training is geared toward winning.

at my second club - where I trian judo only - there is one woman and there are several kids - most of whom are girls.

at my main club (where I train MT, judo and bjj) we have only one woman. No kids, as they aren't allowed. However, then kenpo class upstairs has a fair amount of women and some big kids classes.

I do, but muay thai has it's own way of fixing it. I'm left handed, but I punch with equal strength in both arms. However, my left leg is the best kicking leg. For that reason, I would sometimes fight southpaw, as 1. it confused my orthodox opponents and 2. that was my power leg. Now, I usually fight out of an orthodox lead. muay thai does what's called swtich kicking - If I want more power into my lead leg kick, I shuffle my feet, bringing my left back some. now, it's a rear leg. Once I kick, I set it down in front, returning to my orthodox stance.

possibly. didn't sugar ray train in kenpo or something? I do see what you're saying, but the fact that I fight doesn't mean that everything I do must be geared towards thai boxing. I also enjoy competing in judo.

the jun fan group I played with when I first started training in muay thai did alot of pentjak stuff. I have a group of friends who train shuai chiao that use kuntao silat as their striking/weapons system.

fusen is stull around... look into kosen judo. It's not as big as kodokan, but it's out there. As for the fusen guys dropping to the ground - that's possible. BJJ guys to that to this day against judoka - it's called sitting guard or jumping guard. They do this in order to get to the ground safely. The leg and spinelocks are still in judo, I've got a list of them all. They aren't taught to underbelts because they have been banned, but some schools will still teach them to their blackbelts. Same thing goes for atemi waza. There's speculation about kano's true intent of judo. Some say that he never meant it to be the huge sport that it became, but did want a safer means of training, which is why he was able to incorporate sparring, consequently beating the non sparring jujutsu guys. It's my understanding that at least one jujutsu guy was killed. Back to the speculation, they say it was the government that forced judo to become a sport.

In my muay thai and bjj classes, we do all of the above. In judo, we don't do awareness drills, but we fight with contact and train with other stylists.

A buddy of mine just started attending our muay thai class, and going to start having his capoeria classes there. I was watching them tonight - they do ALOT of sweeps. My friend is the maestre, and he loves stepping in and doing takedowns on students when they kick high. Alot of what people see during demos is distance fighting - like watching any other striking style - in kicking range, they kick. When the capoeristas get in close, they do takedowns, knees and elbows. sukui nage, o soto gari, de ashi barai, o uchi gari and morote gari (double leg) are among the takedowns he did tonight in training. Afterwards, we all talked about the parallels between capoeira and muay thai - surprisingly, they have alot of similarities.

There are plenty of good kung fu schools, since you don't mind switching styles.

No, I'm thinking of san soo. I'll find some of the things I've seen and post them.

you still want to punch a bag though - those exercises won't build power, they will only condition your knuckles and wrists.

I don't. I train other things, but solely because I want to. I also train in bjj and judo.

I think "traditional" (I use parenthesis because the style is less than 100 years old) does include punches. Remember, it's an offshoot of tang soo do, which has punches and throws, in addition to kicks. Tae Kyon IS a traditional korean style, and uses no punching.

I've heard that san soo isn't actually a legitimate kung fu style. They say it's a good art, but it's not really kung fu.

I have NEVER heard that... I've always learned that the haymaker was the term coined for the wild, wide hook punch that you commonly see in the street. It IS supposed to be a finisher, but it's so telegraphic that it's rarely that effective.

that's because you've never REALLY seen it. True capoeira has a lot of infighting and takedowns. Some of them can be hard to pick up on if you are just watching two people, but if you have someone actually show them to you, you'll see them much easier.

The only problem I see with 5 min rounds is pacing. a round is only three mins. when you train for a 5 min round, you pace yourself differently, because you have 2 extra minutes to fight/get tired.

he's absolutely right. When the adrenaline rushes and heart rate goes above 120, anything not ingrained in your muscle mempry will fly out the window - you won't remember it. All ou will use is what's ingrained in your system, which in most people's cases, is basics. If you're not trained, or if you're not trained well, then you may resort to simple flailing, which we've all seen in streetfights.

people don't realize that there is significance to the yell that you do - at least in chinese martial arts. there are seven sounds used when exhaling. the different sounds stimulate different organs and produce different effects when striking. I don't use the seven sounds, however. I only really used them when doing forms, which I don't do anymore, since I no longer train in longfist. My thai kboxing instructor yells "aish!" when doing a hard strike. on occasion, I will yell "sugoi" which means "let's fight" in japanese. I usually do that at the beginning of a match. other than that, I don't yell at all, only exhale silently.

agreed.

has your teacher ever had any ring experience? point and continuous fighting won't cut it... you have to have some contact training in there. Here's a basic rountine you can try - this isn't a fight routine, just one I do to maintain. you'll have to intensify it. note that a round is 3 mins, so when I say 3 rounds, for example, that means three 3 min rounds with one min rest in between. the rest in between is "active rest" which means you will be doing something in between rounds. 3 rounds jumping rope 100 jumping jacks run in place - 200 count hindu squats - 50 reps pushups - as many as possible in 1 min stretch - 10 mins shadow boxing - 3 rounds with 5lb wrist weights or dumbells. rest is active rest. After the first round, active rest is slipping drills. after the second round, active rest is ducking. after the third, pushups. shadow boxing - 1 round without dumbells. active rest - hindu squats shadow boxing - 2 round with dumbells. active rest - jumping up and down on the balls of your feet - jump as high as you can, working your calves. skip knees - 2 rounds. active rest is footwork practice. 3 rounds jumping rope 10 mins ab work stretch. This should take you around 1.5 hours, and you can do it yourself. If you are with your coach, substiute some of the shadowoxing rounds with sparing and with pad drills. Add heavy bag work in there as well.

which will make them useless to a beginner or someone who hasn't perfected them yet, right?

it's both the training and the style. TKD is not known for street effectiveness, for example. But, with the right training, it can be effective. Some styles just fit the bill better - the fast punching and mostly low line kicks of muay thai are easier to apply in the street than high kicks, jump spin kicks, etc.

I think the russians are more fond of pick ups and leg locks than the japanese, but both are awesome styles. I don't know a whole lot about sambo, but one of my judo coaches also competes internationally in sambo, so I can ask him, if you want.