bustr

Obviously a curriculum that is geared toward children is a good indicator. Another kind of mcdojo is one where the instructor or senior students offer up criticisms of alot of different material even though they are un-qualified to perform such criticisms. Also alot of conflict with legitimate martial artists will indicate fraud. Real martial art masters such as John Kary, Chip Wright and Dan Inosanto tend to be well liked by everyone. People who constantly verbally run down these folks are just blowhards and should be black-listed. One more important indicator is a constant assertion that MMA/NHB is not real fighting. It may not be but it's the closest legal contest to it. Excessive criticism of the Gracies and reminders of how our style is superior to theirs and is too deadly for the ring are things to watch out for. Any good combatives instructor might assert that our style relies on fouling so we don't compete. This is a legitimate, well thought out argument and shouldn't raise any flags.

This might make you feel better. http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/12/27/hln.bio.billy.blanks/index.html

"Intresting. Could you please site your source for the origins of the ridgeand. The earlist I cant trac it back in Okinawan Karate is to about the 1850's." I saw it in a savate manual. Admittedly it's not an antique manual. The author's name is Muggeridge. I've never seen it in an Oriental form though. Where does it occur? I may very well be mistaken on the ridgehand. The kicks I've looked at over and over though.

Alot of karate is from the West. I have yet to see one old drawing of a side thrust or roundhouse kick. They're not to be found in the Bubishi, the Chapasarat or any kungfu drawungs. They only appeared after the FAR Eastern martial artists came into contact with Savateurs and Cornish wrestlers. Also the ridgehand strike is a classic savate move. I defy anyone to prove me wrong. BTW Israel is on this side of the Himlayas and the guy that created it was an European Jew with a boxing and wrestling background.

I've seen all of the good websites on this art. Does anyone here train in it? If so can you tell us a little about it?

Fireka If you have someone helping you out then you have a teacher. The regimentation of a "dojo" may leave a bad taste in your mouth after receiving private instruction. A good student only needs some constructive criticism from a more experienced practitioner. Strong self discipline will do the rest. It sounds like you have a pretty good deal with your teacher. There's no need to go to a school.

This guy recieved his black belt after teaching himself. http://www.oakknolls.com/jeffmartinez.htm

This isn't Shotokan but the info within is something I consider essential. http://www.taijiworld.com/download/RV.zip It will contradict some of the ideas that Shotokan teaches but it is sound info. Erle also has some videos on his site you may want to look at. Here's his list of free downloads: http://www.taijiworld.com/download/Free_books.htm

http://www.bodymindharmony.com/BAJI.HTM http://www.bajimen.com http://www.geocities.com/wutanak/baji.html http://www.kolumbus.fi/baji/introduction.htm

Try this site. https://www.kingdragon.net I believe the "Tulen" at the end indicates Barbara Nigell's branch of the Wetzel system. I can't tell you anything about that. I do have John Malterer's tapes and can tell you they are well worth the money. It might take 4-6 weeks to get them after you order but it's worth the wait.

"About Kungfu, I just say, go see some more kungfu books from your local library. There are hundreds of Kungfu styles. In at least dozens or even hundreds of them these kicks are found. Or heck, go see a Chackie Chan flick." I'll have to see a source that predates any contact with France before I'll be convinced that these kicks are Asian in origin.

Okay it's modified Shotokan The Pyong Ahn forms are just slightly modified Heians 1 thru 5.

"Well, side thrust and roundhouse are definitely old. Centuries old. They are just not found or used much in styles which were designed for armor" Karate is a civilian art "But in Korean arts (like Taegeyk) and Chinese arts (like Kungfu) it was common." Proof? Neither The Bubishi nor the Chapasarat (Muay Thai) contain these kicks. And I've seen no Chinese manuals with them either. The traditional TaeKYon I've seen uses forward stomps and back heel trips with no lateral kicking. However lateral kicks are well documented in French Savate; Spinning kicks in Danmye and Kapwara.

Karate as it is taught in the USA IS an Americasn art. Look at all of the fighting techniques such as side thrust, roundhouse and spinning kicks as well as jabs, crosses and ridgehands that don't occur in ANY traditional Asian forms. What most Americans would identify as "Karate" is actually a combination of Savate and boxing popularized by American born Bruce Lee. The only"karate" left in American Karate is in the katas.

Moo Duk Kwan is Shotokan with the serial number ground off. I've been learning the Heian and Tekki forms so I can rank in Moo Duk Kwan.

Sorry to hear that. Keep the group together and practice in a spare room.

Wait guys! Don't take this to McDojo. He's very legit. I was only curious if he had a background in Zipota, Combat LaRue or Savate. That's not the case though. He has a boxing background. HE apparently taught himself how to kick. I found some more material here. http://www.oakknolls.com/keichumain.htm

http://kgnet.com/keichu/ Does anyone know this guy? This website says he created his system from scratch and that he never trained in karate. What was his background then? Boxing? Wrestling? Savate? I've heard good things about Marx from some tough full contact, old school fighters. I'm not questioning his integrity. Western arts interest me and I'm curious about the background that lead to the creation of what is considered a legitimate form of combat by reputable people in the Texas and Louisiana karate scenes. Thanks

Thanks Blue. I guess some of these people feel threatened by anything new.

Don Rearic has been relentlessly attacking the Hikuta community (Mostly on the Hikuta message board. The hikuta people don't visit rearic's page). I'm not a student of that particluar art but I find it interesting and I give folks the benefit of the doubt as long as they're cordial. Anyway I posted on rearends forum that I thought there might be a good precedent for the art of hikuta and I backed it up with solid evidence. I didn't curse anyone in my post nor did I call names. Rearend banned me for the post saying it wasn't constructive. Here's the post: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kung Fu and Karate are both claimed to be the product of Bodhidharma's fitness program for monks. TaeKwonDo is also claimed to be thousands of years old. Strange that it uses the Heian katas from Shotokan karate. Concerning Hikuta Here are some links for ancient Egyptian martial arts. <> Martial dance of three Anubis’, from the tomb of Inherka, Rameses III Tahtib http://www.alliancemartialarts.com/tahtib.html Many references to wrestling, melee and stickfighting http://www.aafla.com/SportsLibrary/...02/jsh1502b.pdf Other Egyptian traditions that have survived for thousands of years are the tarot, The Parade of the Solar Boats and various "American" superstitions such as bad luck from walking under a ladder. Egyptian bare-knuckle boxing was supposedly documented by Harry Houdini on a visit there. Pharaonic culture still exists in Macedonia too unbeknown to the outside world. http://www.metimes.com/2K1/issue200..._of_ancient.htm I've never seen Al Abidin posting on the internet and arguing with anyone. Why is there such a need to destroy his credibility. The only thing blatantly wrong is the name of the style. Kuta means "basket lid" in Egyptian. Khu-Taa could mean "spirit valiant" but a poster on another forum who knew the language told me it was unlikely. What I saw on the Dok Lee tape looked like some modified bare-knuckle boxing. I don't recall anyone in the book or tape claiming that it was superior to other fighting arts. Al Abidin is probably teaching the techniques and history that was taught to him by Dok Lee. And again neither Abidin nor Lee are/were on the web running down other folks' styles. If Asian martial arts can fabricate histories then Western arts should have the same freedom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maybe it was a little too forward but hardly a bannable offense and the message wasn't even directed at any one person. Oh Well! Rearend is nothing but a keyboard warrior! His posts appear at all hours and every day. Someone like that can't be training alot.

Coltmakai Check out the site below. There is a list of schools. One is in Jackson. The other in Tupelo. If they're too far away then they may be able to find you a backyard school somewhere. If that doesn't work out then Id recommend going to a weekend seminar even if it requires some travelling. http://www.hardcorejkd.com/jkd/academy/instructors.php Enjoy

Thanks guys. ttt

Look at the bottom of this page. http://www.suwandaacademy.com/instructors.html

Thanks scaramouche

Jeez Crusher Most of the technical material of Eastern Martial arts comes from Savate, Boxing and folk wrestling, backhold and purring. Traditional Eastern MA used techniques that are universal like shin kicks to the groin and front puch kicks. The only thing unique were the side snap kicks. The side thrusts, round kicks and spins were adopted from Kapwara and Savate. They are not an original part of Eastern MA. This is what old Oriental arts looked like: http://www.usmta.com/Old-Modern-Muay-Thai-Frame.htm http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/bubishi_enter_1.shtml And here are some samples of Western arts: http://ejmas.com/jwma/jwmaart_wolf_0500.html http://www.bridgemansavate.com/html/quotes1.htm The boxing texts on this page look very similar to things I've seen in Shaolin styles. http://keith.martialartsman.com/bowie/bowieMain.html This may look like wild flailing but there are always preferred methods (styles) in any fighting tradition. The problem is that alot of arts never made an effort to distinguish themselves from sport boxing and wrestling and were thus absorbed into those traditions or simply died out when America was domesticated. http://ejmas.com/jmanly/jmanlyart_gorn_0401.htm