Tal

Yes, of course you use the best tool for the situation. That's obvious. What I'm saying is that in the vast majority of situations, grappling is best left as a last resort IMO. This is speaking for someone with roughly equal skill in striking & grappling. A skill grappler that has no striking experience would probably better off getting into a grapple straight away. You can defeat an opponent quicker with strikes (a single strike an almost any neck pressure point will knock most people out), and you can get away easier. Getting away is a major factor IMO. Anyone could join the fight at any time, and the extra couple of seconds you have to get away when standing up might save your life. If you are including stand-up grappling here, then I agree to an extent. When I hear 'grappling' I tend to think groundwork automatically. If your opponent has a weapon drawn, then you have to close in and take control of the weapon. What I would fear is starting a grapple with an apparently unarmed opponent, only to have him draw the weapon when we're grappling. This is very dangerous, as you're right next to him don't have control of the weapon initially. You'll most likely get stabbed several times before you can take control of it. However, if you keep your distance and use your striking, then when he pulls the weapon you can close and take control of it before he has the chance to use it. How many seconds? The time it takes to choke someone is plenty long enough for someone to stamp on your head, and while you're choking it will be hard to defend yourself from that stamp. You also have to get into position to lock first. While you are doing this, people on their feet can hit you easily.

Whenever I'm in a tournament or real fight, I use MA.

There's this chick at my shotokan club who used to always flinch really badly when someone threw a punch or kick at her. Otherwise, she was an excellent karateka, but she couldn't spar well because of this problem. I just got her to stand against a wall, and I'd punch to her face, but stop a couple of inches short. I did this for about 15 minutes with her, until I was just touching her nose with each punch. It solved her problem.

Last time I hit something as hard & fast as I could was several hours ago (I train with a bag everyday). Last time I hit someone as hard & fast as I could was over two years ago.

My strategy would to get one guy on the floor, by tripping/throwing/whatever, and then incapacitate another guy while that one is on the floor. If you get the lead attacker on the floor, that will have a big impact. While he's down, you then get very violent on the next guy. As people have said, you need to be swift. I'd go for pressure point strikes on the neck and hope for a quick knock out (or kill). Then you throw whoever is closest to you, and then knock out someone else. Throw one guy, knock out the next and reapeat until they're all down. I havn't really had the chance to try this. I've fought multiple attackers before (4 of them), but I got beat down before I had the chance to do anything (they were experienced street fighters).

In a duel, a kenjitsuka would totally own an iaidoka. reason - the kenjistuka will draw his sword before the fight, and once the sword is draw, the iaidoka loses his advantage. And what if your opponent has some skill and parries your first cut or two - you're screwed.

The man with the short staff was very skilled. And that's staves you're talking about, not swords. They're very different weapons. Trust me, if you have a short sword and your opponent (of similar skill to you) has a long one, your opponent will cut you before you reach him nine times out of ten.

I've never had a sensei who wanted to be called anything other than sensei. But call your sensei what he wants you to call him.

I've always thought of grappling as a last resort. If your opponent is really beating you in stand up fighting, then you have to take him down and hope you have better grappling skills. You should also be prepared for a situation where your opponent takes you down. If he takes you down, you have to grapple. But IMO, you should try and stay on your feet for as long as possible. In an unarmed one-on-one fight, grappling has a lot of merits if you have the skill. Unfortunately, unarmed one-on-one fights don't always happen. If your opponent has a knife or any small sharp weapon, you are at a big disadvantage if you are grappling because he can slash and stab you almost at will. Yes, you may armbar him, but you'll have blood vessels slashed all over the place. If you stay on your feet, you have a better chance of avoiding knife attacks. You'll still probably get cut, but not as much as if you are right next to him in a grappling situation. The other problem is if there are other people around. They may be your opponent's friends, or they may just be random people. Some people will just join a fight if they feel like it. If you're on the ground choking your opponent, watch out because his friend(s) will come and kick you while you're on the ground. Its a lot easier to fight multiple opponents if you're stood up. Basically it depends on the exact situation. But I'd always be wary of taking someone down in case they pull a knife.

Its probably worse than nothing. Without a real instructor, people will just end up doing techniques wrong no matter how good the pictures are.

Personally, I would recommend you do a bit of kendo or kenjitsu before doing iaido. Iaido is great if you like taking hours to dress yourself, tieing the grip onto your tsuka (sword handle) repeatedly with utmost precision, remembering the names of all five thousand parts of the sword. Don't forget cleaning your sword either; you have to do that about 10 a day because if there is a speck of dust on your sword then your soul is unclean and all that. Yes, I'm exagerating, but I found it an extremely tedious art. I would leave it until you're already a master swordsman. Its fine being able to draw your sword perfectly, but someone is still going to kick your butt unless you've practiced kenjitsu first. I'm knocking iaido, just warning you: Its a very mental/spiritual thing.

Yes, I've trained with wakizashi. Just basics and kata. I've also sparred with a short shinai, which is a bamboo practice short sword. A wakazashi/short sword is really a back-up weapon, or something for small rooms. It doesn't have the reach to contend with a long sword. Unless you're very small (sorta like hobbits with short swords in LOTR), it would probably be better to train with a long sword first. Not sure what you mean by 'quick moves' but you can cut with a katana almost as fast as with a wakizashi. The two handed grip of the katana makes up for its weight. Also, quick moves aren't that useful if your opponent cuts you before you can reach him; and this will happen if your opponent has a long sword and is of similar skill to you. If you want a quick offensive sword, get a sabre or a rapier. Wakizashi is too short for a primary weapon, unless you yourself are very short. Wielding a katana and wakizashi simultaneously is another story. That's a very effective combo, but most people will still prefer just the katana.

Once you get some adrenaline running around you, you won't even feel your shins I don't know about 'desensitising' your shins. If you are blocking someone's foot with your shin, it shouldn't hurt too much.

LOL. Its even funnier to think some people will actually sign up to that. I love the way it goes on about practical self defense, but shows the guy doing a head kick on the front page.

Jujitsu throws are not judo throws. A jujitsuka will not just try and throw someone first thing. Strikes and unbalancing moves come first. The jujitsuka will momentarily disable or unbalance you so he can make the throw. Once he's in position to throw, it will most likely be too late. A karateka will have to rely on defeating the jujitsuka before he gets into a throwing position. Some of the basic throws you see look easy to counter; that's because they are basic. The more advanced throws are hard or sometimes impossible to counter once the jujitsuka has you and is ready to throw.

kanzashi, a girl may fare good or bad in a fight, just like a guy. It obviously depends on the girl's strength and skill, that of her opponent, and any other specific conditions of the fight. The techniques you should use are the same as what a guy should use. If you are small, then you shouldn't use techniques that rely on strength. If you're big and strong, then use your strength to your advantage.

A kick to the solar plexus is easy to block/avoid unless you're very fast. If someone is charging you, a kick will not stop them unless you take their legs out or you're much bigger than they are. They will have a lot of momentum, and if they hit your leg (or your leg hits them - its all relative) you'll probably be unbalanced. A better option IMO would be to move to the side and kick their knees or groin while covering yourself with your hands.

Yeah, I think its easier to train in different styles than similar ones. I do karate (striking), jujitsu (throwing and grappling mainly) and kendo (sword) and they don't interfere with eachother.

I've never been a fan of belts or below-black-belt grading systems in general. It seems silly to me to have nine kyu grades covering about the same amount of material as a single dan grade. If dan grades were done like kyu grades, the average sensei would be about 500th dan. I look at say, the yellow belts and the green belts in my club and there's hardly any difference in skill between them. In fact, there's no noticeable difference, its just the green belts know an extra kata or a different kick or soemthing. If they weren't wearing their belts, you'd group them all together in the same skill level. You should be able to look at a student say 'he's such and such a grade' based on his skill. If you cannot decide just like that, then you have too many belts.

Both 'legitetmate' and 'trick' breaking is done. The stuff you see at demos is more likely to involve tricks than breaking done as normal training in the dojo. I can break boards against the grain, anyone can with training (or without, if you're naturally gifted!). But me simply saying that over an internet forum is hardly evidence. You have to see it for yourself.

You tend to be a little cocky at times when writing on this forum, and if you are like that in real life I can understand people getting annoyed with you (to an extent, physical threats, however, are totally uncalled for). Try to stay in the background for a while. As a foreigner, you already stand out and people will be watching you. If you are indeed a lot better than your training partners, try to keep it to yourself until you get to know them better. Don't show off doing things they cannot do. If your instructor has only tought you basic kicks; just do those in the dojo, and don't do your 'cool' kicks. When you get to know people better, then maybe you can start to show your skill. Its a hard fact to take but often people resent it when someone new comes along and is better than they are. First thing, apologise to him and to his daughter. Perhaps you thought you didn't hit her hard, but maybe she did! Some people can shrug off a hard hit, some people will be very hurt by it. Try controlling your strikes a little more, and if someone complains you are hitting too hard, hit with a little less power. If his daughter is scared of you, then you are obviously doing something wrong. You are probably hitting her too hard. Go a little softer on her. Try talking to her as well; apologise and tell her you don't mean to scare or hurt her. If someone has seriously threatened to kill you, you need to tell the police right away. In fact, if you have good reason to believe that anyone is going to physically harm you, tell the police. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the police in England, but they are very good and friendly (as long as you don't get on the wrong side of them ). I know how hard it is to settle in and make friends in a new country. I moved here when I was twelve. I found a shotokan dojo near me and joined it. My english wasn't as good as yours is and I understood more of the Japanese that was spoken in the dojo than the English at first! Speak to your mom. Fear of telling people causes a lot of problems to escalate. I'm sure your mom can help you in this situation. Even if you can't sort it out completely, talking about it will probably make you feel better.

Why don't you share your thoughts on breaking, instead re-hashing more cliches.

eh? I didn't really understand your question.

Yes, they are good reasons for using bags. Everyone knows bags are good because pro fighters use them. I use a bag too, its good training. Bags don't hit back, but are still good training, therefore the 'boards (or bags) don't hit back' argument is stupid. Bag work, BTW, is potentially just as ego-inflating as breaking.

Of course size matters. Get two guys of identical skill (this is kind of hypothetical). One guy is big and strong, the other is small and weak. Big guy wins. There's this 4th kyu guy in mu jujitsu club and he's massive. He's 6'8" and very strongly built. No one in the club can beat him in grappling matches, and I mean no one, ever. That includes a pair of sandan black belts who are very skilled. Size may not be the deciding factor, but it sure as hell matters.