granmasterchen

for some of the individuals that truely arrive at some of the higher levels of understanding in martial arts philosophy you start to live your life as a part of martial arts, and martial arts is your life...it is all like a circle that connects us in one form or another.....so yes it is normal.

as a part of our oriental tradition we take them off .....but specific footwear designed for martial arts have made an appearance in the dojo....so that would be the only case and only because they are made specifically for martial arts and therefore are part of the uniform so to say....

the kickboxing that i took....was just kicks and some punches...the only punches were jabs and uppercuts, no hooks and no other hand techs...no pressure points , no grappling, no bare knuckle....nothing much beneficial to me as a martial artist....no katas no competitions or anything fun this was only at one specific study in monterey california with a man that claimed to be an 8th dan in 5 syles.....i studied all five under him and he was a fake , a complete mcdojo.....the other styles consisted of karates and weapons....i learned history lessons on these weapons, but not how to use any of the 13 that we were suppossed to train with, i learned how samurai bowed that was about it, everything else i already knew from my previous training to include every tech taught there and every kata....very sad and depressing......so if you are in the monterey area...watch out for a man that claims to teach asahi ryu and okinawan karate, kickboxing and weapons....what a fake.....

i started off wanting to learn self defense and how to fight, then to be like cain on kung fu, and then on to the dragon ball z type fighters, so i trained real hard for fitness and physical perfection, i started to meditate and give that a shot after i learned about chi and breaking....i started to look at forms and katas differently and finally started to like them instead of detest them....i started training hard core until i got into a serious accident, which left me physically impaired and told my life would be over with in five years and that i would never walk and be paralysed and full of pain until death...well i started taking the philosophical and mental parts to new levels pushing myself with the chi and that stuff, eventually i was able to over come alot of my problems and i am now physically training again, not like before but i am walking and living, so i started to appreciate everything that martial arts can do for you, not just physically but mentally and spiritually and to take the time to sit back relax and see what the different arts have to offer and what the martial arts really mean, what is beyond the image of the person that beats everyone up, the person that has mastered mind body and soul, i am far from there but i have made large leaps throughout my martial arts career and have understood where i need to go and how to continue it is all a matter of time for others to reach their own chosen paths and to grow as martial artists in that aspect as well and follow that path where ever it takes them, good luck on your journey of knowledge my friend.

first aid and cpr lots of advertising make friends with the community get as much martial arts knowledge as you can have a second job, that way you dont have to struggle for money, make the school your hobby or something not your primary job, if you make it your primary job you may become an instructor just looking to pay the rent, charging lots of money and falling away from your teachings...

japan....i just bought a pair at the 100 yen store, equilavelent to a dollar store in the states, but right now with the yen rate it equals about 90 cents or so, so less than a dollar

good post treebranch

my original style was called moodukkwon taekwondo the forms that we practice were the typical tangsoodo forms and also the japanese forms. we did point fighting only for tournaments mostly we trained for street fights and did moderate to full contact depending on the level of the students, we also did grappling, performed in full contact kickboxing tournaments for those that were interested and did no holds barred matches similar to the early UFC fights we used every part of the body, elbows, knees, finger attacks to the eyes, smashing the ear drums, spear hands, ridge hands, hand knives, numerous blocks, lots of kicks, starting at yellow belt we did spinning techniques, and starting at white we taught jumping kicks, we perform breaking using mostly concrete , using fist, ridge hand, chops, palm strikes, kicks, elbows, and even our heads for black belt testing we did real life self defenses along with ordinary self defenses to teach individuals how the body moves and reacts... knife and gun defenses starting at yellow belt we did take downs we taught lots of faking techniques and how to use your mind to defeat your enemy. for black belt test we had to know all of the pressure points and we started learning them at white belt we spoke english in class and didnt' use much of the oriental languages, just a few korean words here and there, coming to attention, and bowing... the weapons we practiced when i was there were knives, katana, nunchuku, tonfa, bo, jo, throwing daggers, shuriken, three section staff, and the chains, we learned weapons depending on the individuals maturity level, so adults could learn and some children as early as yellow belts. Breaking was mostly done by higher ranks, we did unique training methods like forte(hitting forearms together to strenghten) medicine ball, finger tip push ups, knuckle push ups, hand training ( example, 5 gallon bucket with apple at bottom, fill with sand and spear hand the apple out), we did submission holds, sleeper techniques, locks, and throws, wrist manipulation, and many techniques for life or death situations(finger attack to the eyes, ridge hands to temples, neck, spear hand to groin, and so forth,) for weapons we did training drills with katanas and cucumbers..a person would lay across two chairs head and shoulders on one and feet on another ..gi open with cucumber long ways up and down chest...the individual with the katana would then cut the cucumber with out cutting his fellow class mate open....this was performed by individuals with a green belt or above, and real knife use in our self defense starting also at green belt....well thats enough about me, I studied in a small town called Lisbon, OHio my head instructor was Tom Smith, he trained with bill wallace, billy blanks, chuck norris, richard stevens, nasty anderson and others....

I was hoping to get some great participation in this thread. I would like for you to write about your style, the style that you personally take, not the general out look or stereotype of your style. I want to know the different things that your instructors teach you and what things you do training wise,. I think this will help others reading greatly in learning what each style has to offer depending on instructors and schools instead of just the stereotyping that many styles receive. Please feel free to tell about your sparring, whether it is full contact, or point based or somewhere between do you perform breaking techniques? what kind of hand strikes? elbow? knees? headbutts? low kicks, high kicks, spinning , jumping? pressure points? self defenses? grappling? do you practice the native countrys' terminology? weapon use? what kinds of weapons? what levels do you learn weapons or special techniques? and also tell where this school was located and your instructors' names for the purpose of individuals that may be interested in learning more about martial arts in their areas.

weapons are just an extension of the body...

i would first suggest learning how to defend against knife attacks.. while learning how to defend you can see what types of attacks with a knife will be more effective than others..... from my personal experience i would say never try to stab either over head coming down or to thrust very bad in my oppinion.... the best way is to keep the attacker back at a distance by using slashing techniques, be fast , the faster you move the blade and your arm the better chance you have of not getting the arm caught and broken and the knife taken but like i said before talk to you instructor...

you may have got hit in the nice nerve that runs through the thigh, a nice target for the low kicks, you keep kicking the nerve and your opponent will be unable to stand and fight you.

well are we talking about knives made for fighting and killing or an ordinary pocket knife or steak knife...there is a huge difference. If i were you i would ask your instructor if the instructor can't help you , look around for someone that can, maybe your instructor can at least point you in the correct direction.

none of my friends are dumb enough to fight me, they know better, they have all seen small demonstrations of my prowess at combat.....in all honestly anyone that knows i am a black belt and wanted to start something with, they usually just back away when one of my friends tell them, hey hes a black belt, you dont want to mess with him. that is usually it.....

take the right side over and tie it to the left side, then take the left side and tie it over to the right, then add the belt....

what is wrong with you people????? calm down...... are any of you martial artists???? if so you should know when to stop your whining and prideful statements and talk about beneficial methods of learning and growing in the arts, that is the point of this web site is it not?? or was the point of it to allow a bunch of prideful people to just bark nasties back and forth at each other..... so calm down and just speak about the some good combative arts....that was the topic

you use what works you hit hard you hit fast and you hit them where it is going to cause pain and give you the ability to live

thats why you have to practice and gain skill, speed and power. What would you do block with your face? Dodging is another alternative if you prefer that method, but blocking is a nice thing to know.

i dont believe thats true at all your reaction time will depend on how much you practice and train the techniques that you judge to be street effective... I have learned numerous techniques over the years but there are certain techs that i find useful for myself in a street situation, these are the techniques that i train and practice harder than all the rest because i know they are effective for me. i practice the low kicks and some high fast kicks, back fists , jabs, and such i dont practice spinning or jumping kicks much and other things too much......mostly the basics are what is effective....mostly, at least for me...

my original style was a taekwondo that had the forms of karates and tangsoodo, and was more street fighting than tournament, so it wasn't the typical tkd, but that is what it was called, and it was a moo duk kwon as well white yellow purple green brown black kaju kenbo white yellow orange blue green brown red black itf and wtf tkd white yellow orange green blue purple brown red black tangsoodo, moo duk kwon white yellow orange green blue brown red black ninpo budo taijutsu white green black asahi ryu and shotokan karate and kickboxing and the thirteen weapons style white yellow green blue purple brown black hmmmm thats all that i have seen all the way through....hope that helps some....it seems to depend largely on the instructor and location ....

ok, thank you all for helping me out. I understand now, I see the light and have been enlightened.

from all the styles i have been to it was very tabboo to wash you belt..... uniforms in my opinion definitely need to be washed. Yet where i am here, in japan, the local karate schools, well some at least, not all, forbid the washing of the gi, the gi stays in the dojo and they hang them on a wall by the door, and the sweat drips off ......and they really smell, but that is part of their tradition.....so .....hmmmm....just something to think about, not saying you should or shouldnt just wanted to tell some of the things i have experienced around the world in my time. but again i;ll go back to my original stance and agree with SaiFightsMS also, just train in it....

I have seen this term floating around, yet i am not too familiar with it. I have heard that it is a rather new term that has become popular in the martial arts and I have seen it made in reference to katas/forms. Can anyone elaborate on what bunkai means exactly. please forgive my ignorance.

man,.....i forgot what this post was about.....i've just read arguements over bjj and nbt......wow.....with all the arguements going on and the little talk of what ever the subject was....i think i may be dumber..... can we just get back to the topic and talk like civil people once again....so everyone just go back and reread what white warlock said again...take a breath, expel all the negative remarks that are building in your head and speak positively..... every style has a strong side and a weak side.... we should all know that..... ninpo is a lot different than bjj..... the history is different and .....well,....yeah, both are good arts......lets work on this....what is good about your system and other systems, not what is bad.....speaking negative about one another doesnt' get us anywhere. We need to suck up our pride and focus on the benefits of each system...thanks for hearing me out

wow that summed up what i was trying to say nicely and it only took two and a half lines.,....man i talk too much.....