Bdaze

my first class I was so excited and eager to learn with images of so many kung fu movies and saturday morning cartoons buzzing through my head, I watched with anticipation as the Instructor showed me the most basic stances and footwork. (I was 5 when i took my first class) After a breif hiatus (6 years) i got back into the martial arts. my first class at my new and current dojo was exactly what I exected. never the less, I was intruiged and itching to learn the cooler, flashier techniques. it took some effort to remember that although the basics of any art are boring, they are still very very important.

hey, that's a good idea. apart from the fact that Brass Knuckles are illegal to use as anything other than paperweights.

I carry a number of differant weapons in differant situations. If I'm in the city at night or out in the boonies, I carry my pocket knife. it has great action, a good blade and I have practiced drawing it under stressfull situations many times. I feel most comfortable with this weapon. Also it is very heavy (unusually so for a folder) and can easily be used to hit vital points. If I am in school or at work I carry a metal tipped, ball point pen. If i notice somthing is out of place or I get the feeling a violent altercations is about to happen, I take it out of my pocket and get ready. I like this because even with the pen cap on, it is still a very effective weaopon. the best part is, pens are legel everywhere In my rear pocket I usually carry a bandana. It's there because, well, Bandanas are usefull. if necissry (this wouldn't be my first choice, but if it came to it...) I could use the bandana to entrap limps, whip eyes (I sewed a cracker into the corner), fill with rocks or change, etc.

Two suggestions 1: don't mention this to anyone else you know. If you're like me, you know alot of aggressive, boisterous fools who think they can fight that would want in on your sparring. trust me. this might be a bigger problem than you might think. 2: if for some reason you feel like placing bets on this.... DON'T. technically, friendly fighting on your own property is legal, but if money is invovled, it becomes a crime. Just some words of caution. I've done this with some friends, and apart from some odd looks from neighbors, it went very well.

I read an article given to me by a member of my class about playing "war games" inorder to increase your awareness. Things like noticing every time someone walks into a room, how many people are walking a group behind you, how many people are noticibley carrying knives (belt holster or pocket clip) Noting body possitionings and thinking about "If this person suddnely atacked me, what would I do to defend given their possition relative to me?" All of these can help increae your awareness and make your chances of being surprised much lower. It was an interesting concept, but it also left me thinking. At what point does it stop being a "war game" and start being actual paranoia? If you start thinking about the best ways of defending, you're bound to start getting jumpy.

I could not agree more. You have to train the way you fight, because you will fight the way you trained. We have started doing alot more fulll contact work in my Budo Taijitsu class. We have "GladiatoR" gloves which are like boxing gloves without the fingers covered. We do "The Gauntlet" or "randori" which is when we stand in a circle or a line and everyone has to atack the person in the center. we do it slowly to start, one person atacking at a time and they can only throw a punch kick or grab. The atacks aren't fast, but they're thrown with intent. if you don't move, you'll get hit. "Take a beating in the dojo so you don't on the streets" ~Anonymous

Jlee, i can sympathize. I too am in highschool and have to deal with ingnorant morons trying to pick fights every day Im on the opposite end of the spectrum to you though. Im a gentle giant. I vaery rarely feel the need to fight, but when i do, i generally have very little trouble winning. It's not that im a good fighter, it's just that everyone else is really bad. I think your actions were completely justified. one thing though, never shove someone. it lacks comitment and does basically nothing. if you're going to start a fight, start it strong with a punch or knee. suggestion number two: Don't ever get in a fight unnless you can avoid it. ESPECIALLY in high school. as you know, bullies have big strong stupid friends who carry knives and bats and guns like to roll up behind you and beat the tar out of you. this has happened to friends of mine more than once. winning a fight is great, but payback is a...... well, you know. just be carefull man. oh yeah, take Hapikido. it's good. and don't get yourself killed

"Omnia Mutantur Nihil Inerit" "everything changes but nothing is truly lost" maybe this will be the way of traditional martial arts. maybe the new system that were developed fom older ones will become the "traditional" martial arts of the future. i think it makes no differance really. Time will weed out all of the bad systems and what is left (be it traditonal or otherwise) will have survived the test of time and go on to inspire new and better systems. such is the way of things

The only time you should use a defense against a gun is when there is immediate and present danger of being killed or perminantly maimed. with that being said, there are really two tpyes of defenses aginst guns. Gun Drawn and Gun Holstered to defend against a holstered gun which the assailant is intending to pull out and shoot you with, your best option is to not let him get the gun out. if you are close enough and they reach down to their holster you can grab their arm and force it straight back towards the holster. Basically you force the gun back into it's holster before they can get it out fully. from here you can do something like: right hand elbow to the face, break the assailants grip and secure the gun major outter sweap from behind and sholder strike, then remove and secure gun while they're falling. basically, you can do any number of things to stop a holstered gun, but the most importnat thing is to NOT LET THEM GET IT OUT! Defense against a drawn gun is a precise science. in some circumstances your could olny have a few thenths of a second to react. naturally, if you are far enough to do so, RUN. if this is not the case, your first order or buisness should be to get out of direct line of the gun. side stepping or turning combined with grabbing the assailants arm to make sure he doesn't swing it around and shoot you is one of the simplest and fastest techniques you could apply. from here you could punch them in the face, sweep them, turn the gun in towards them and shoot. basically your possibilities are limitless there are littlerally thousands of ways to defend against a gun, just as there are thousands of ways to defend against a punch. but like Eg Shen says "Take what we want and leave the rest, like a salad bar"

Kenpo- ancient chinese martial art, striking/block oriented, but it depends on what style. Karate- .... hard to explina unless you know what style. i would say probably alot of strikes and katas. very traditional. but that depends on how it's taught Juijitsu- usually focussed on grappeling with a mix of striking. pretty well rounded. juijitsu was the base on which Judo and Aikido were developed. Aikido- VERY soft art. no strikes are taught (traditionally). uses momentum and circulair motions to throw or imobilize opponents. thats basically how they stack up. personally i would take Juijitsu and Kenpo or Aikido and Kenpo. that should give you a good mix of stirking and grappeling. you could take Karate instead of Kenpo. i just prefer Kenpo.

In my style (Budo taijitsu), the time between ranks changes for your first test, only one month. after that it becomes about 5 months between tests. once you get to 5th kyu it changes dramaticall. usually about 8 months to a year between tests. and of course sensei is never afraid to fail you if you dont know your stuff.

heh, the cop at my highschool is the fastest handcuffer in the state (no joke, he won a competition) maybe ill ask him

my legs are extremely flexible so people very rarely get anything on me there. my arms on the other hand are only mildly flexible. my shoulders are my greatest weakness. generally if i know a person is really flexible i try to go for something other than a lock. muscle crushes, pressure points and SOME chokes work very well. but i find i can only get these after i've tired them out for a while. try a calf crush if you can. it doesn't matter how flexible they are, the only thing that can save them is a high pain tollerence.

I definetley thing that you can have a natural ability to learn martail arts. I think it mainly has to do with the way you learn and remember things I am probably the quickest learner in my class (not to brag. i may learn quick but i am by no means the best) Sensei demostrates a technique and i make an image of it in my mind. taking note of things like which side to step to, foot possitioning and wieght distribution helps to duplicate the technique. once you've done it a few times and you think you have it down, running it through in your mind. visualizing it, or practicing it without a partner can help

Going crazy and beating the tar out of the first guy you get to isn't a bad idea. on the other hand, if the others are intent on beating the tar out of you, beeing intimidating wont help in a group, attackers feed of of each other for courage. After all, they can;t just back down in front of their mates? right? my advice is use people like objects. if you're big like me you can easily muscle people around and change their path of attack. throw or shove one into another. hit them so they back up into their buddy who's just winding up get one in a choke or arm bar and use him to fend off the others. if you're good enough the'll wind up kicking the **** out of their friend instead of you. because there are many of them and they have to look out for each other, and there is just you that you have to look out for you can use their lack of mobility to your advantage and most important; NEVER EVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GO TO THE GROUND!!! i dont care how good of a grappeler you are. you're going to wind up getting a boot party if take it to the ground