Bdaze

as you will probably learn there's no such thing as "unnnecissary pain" in the martial arts. if it gets to the point of being unnnesissary you most likely go home with a few broken bones. in my dojo there is strong emphasis on giving the person a taste of what it feels like. this conditions you to take a fall/hit and also makes you aware of what you;re doing to someone else. so maybe you'll think twice about breaking your freinds arms. hold back a little, but don't be afriad to give em a taste. it will help both of your techniques greatly.

Arnis.

Kusari-Gama perfected by Yamada Shiryukan mit is mainly used for disabling, disarming and entangling, then the sickle is used for the kill. Yamada however was eventually killed by Araki Mataemon, a swordsman who confronted him in a bamboo grove where he was unable to whirl his chain without getting it caught in the bamboo a VERY cool weapon. a slightly more exotic version of this would be the Ono, a short ax or hatchet with a cord atatcked to two weights or a small, crescent like blade.

personally i'd go woth fencing. i took both kendo and fencing and i had ALOT more fun with fencing. in kendo we spent the entrie class practicieing on srtike till our arms felt like they where gonna fall off and screaming at the top of our lungs in fencing we learned tatcits, combinations, entries, how to find and opening and generally coolers tuff. fencing is very fluid and fast while kendo is more analog and mechanical. got with fencing.

GoshinMan took the words right outta my mouth personally i'd go with jujitsu, but thats just personal preferance.either way it's probably a good idea to go check out the schools in person, maybe demo a class, then you can decide which you prefer. i say this mostly because there are many diferant styles and variants of shaolin kenpo as well as jujitsu which rely mostly on the person who teaches it.

hah, yeah, except a bullet moves at slightly under the speed of sound, it can't be blocked and the motion required to use it is the absolute minimum. if a 9 year old boy with no training what so ever can shoot and kill a 9 year old girl then i'd say it's pretty conclusive evidence that a gun is the easiest and most effective close range weapon. i doubt a small child could do the same with a sword, bo, or sai your chances of losing a fight with a gun against an unarmed or minimally armed (knife, club, etc.) assailant are almost none existant (assuming the assailant isn't a wizard ) anyway, i dont want this to get off track. i think i've explained my point.

basiaclly what i was trying to say is all weapons (except guns) at close range require some skill and are often relied on to often i think i phrased that incorrectly in my original post. i meant to say if you are not comfortable with the weapon then you wil rely too much on it and neglect other techniques or tactics you know. say you pick up your nunchucks that you had hanging on the wall cause you thought they where cool (hypothetic) and you atqacked the person, screwed up and hit yourself in the head (pretty easy to do if you have no skill with a weapon). you have just done more hamr then good and are not in a possition to stop someone. that was just an example, but im basiaclly saying if you have no other weapons available, i'd probably rather go with my hands. im comfortbale with those. of course i'd use an equalizer like a pillow or sheet to throw in their face while i atack them.

if someone came into my house and i bothered to shoot them, i wouldnt be concerned with beeing sued or going to jail. if theres a person who intends to do you harm, you take it as a serious threat on your life. jail sucks, and lossing money in a court case sucks, but not as much as dieing. anyway, i would either use my home made blunt sword (basically a peice of aluminium with a handle, about 4 mm. thick, but a blow from it is enough to break fingers/knock out, etc. if for some reason that was unavailable my next choice wouldbe my nunchaku. i am comfortable with them and i feel my skill level is high enough to take on an assailant. also, if those where unavialable i'd go for my handy snap off carpet cutter. once again, i am comnfortable with it. this is probably my favorite "tight budget" weapon. 3 for a dollar and they can cut flesh/muscle/clothing like a warm knife through butter. basically, the key is, anything im COMFORTABLE with. if you dont feel confident with a weapon, yyou're likely to perform poorly with it and then risk having it taken away and used on you.

I'm a big advocate for tattoos. I'm getting the Bunjikna symbol on my back when i attain my black belt. i also have the Montague symbol and two tribal designs of my own creation.

I saw the trailer for Underowlrd (movie comming out this friday about Vampires and Wearwolves/lupin) it looks okay, but i noticed theres a charecter doing somethin funky with two whips. it looked like Kali or Escrima. one of the various filipino styles. ill have to comferm on friday when i see it. just thought i'd let you all know. incase you were'nt planning on seeing it, now you have an insentive.

oh yeah, good point Sano. everone should be the best at everything automatically without any training what so ever. what was i thinking?!

Personally i'd start with a Jo/cane/escrima a smaller stick basically. lots of techniques, extremely effective, extrmely practical and also very readily available. those tech.s can be applied to basically an ridgid object that isnt bladed. not to mention it's very fun. theres nothing better than performing an arm lock with a cane then a choke with the crook foollowed by a nice big hip throw.

I am guilty of beeing a TYKD basher at one point, but i realize now it was because i was beeing ignorant. i used to say "it's a good art for winning tournaments, and im sure an educted fighter in that system would be able to defend them self with no martial artts background, but it's really all about scoring points" of course, that was then, this is now. i took a few classes with a TKD private instructor and found it to be mostly punches and sort of slightly more strike oriented jujitsu. AND, proof that it's not ineffrective, a freind of mine is a black belt in TKD and has been studying for about 10 years. he's been in two fights that ive actually witnessed, both he absolutley dominated (in both instances the fight ended with th opponent on the ground feeling very "tenderized"). so dont let anyone tell you it's not effective.

i assume you mean to train with. in which case i'd absolutley take a shinai. you can drop it, hit someone with it, hit yourself with it etc. basically screw up and not die plus when you hit another Kendoka with your shinai it makes a distinct sound when exicuted correctly. thats the only reason theyre made of split bamboo, to make the sound. if you're talking about which would win in a battle, i'd say shinai hands down. i mean seriously, those things hurt!

I'm also overweight (about 6'1 230 lbs, but the majority of it is muscle) and i find that the V possition works well as TKDlady suggested. Also you could try using a rope or strap to help you stretch. lay on the ground flat on you back and put your feet together. loop a rope around the top of your toes and gently pull the rope keeping consistant pressure and making sure the rope doesn't slide off. this is a good stretch for the whole back of your legs for the quadraceps try laying on you side and looping the rope around your ankle in back of you, now pull on the rope so your leg bends in back of you and the maintain consistant pressure. sort of like a sideways hurtlers stretch. just another option to the many that where offered. PS. i used to be 6' 240 lbs, then i stopped drinking soda completely. if you happen to be similairly aflicted with an addiction to fizzy drinks, this could be an excelant way to lose a few pounds esily.

the "X'" choke as you call it can be done on someone wearing a T-shirt by looping your thumb under the collar and then grabbing a hold of a chunk of trapazoid muscle with the fingers of the same hand. this might take a bit of work, it's dificult to get a grip strong enough, but it works extremely well. you can then proced to choke them until unconcuisness occurs also by putting one arm behind the head at the base of the skull and pushing back on their forehead (and maintaining pressure) you can suffieciently cut off the supply of oxygen to the persons brain, regardless of what clothing their wearing.

Just be weary of "womans self defense" classes. do a background check, visit the place, etc. most of those are just scams that teach how to kick a guy in the balls. take a real art or maybe the inbetween which would be a woman-only class at a real dojo.

hmmm, ineresting. i would like to try sparring at another dojo, but the only Bjj place around me is about an hour and a half away (boonies of newhampshire) i might try that shadow grappeling thing. mentally visualizing a technique really improves your ability to perform it i hear. thanks fot the input.

I dont necissarily plan to use them in a real life situation. like you said, these techniquesm are used to broaden your thinking and make you more flexible in your use of a weapon (say you dont have a bandana but theres a small peice of rope or a shirt handy, you could use that) and thats just what i intend to use them for. i've always been facinated by flexible weapons, but ive only used Nunchaku, chain whip and a rope dart once or twice. the idea of using something so...... im not sure what the word is..... seemingly benine i guess. anyway, the idea of using something like that couild take my training in a whole diferant direction. for instance i could apply the lock i learned with the bandana to my nunchaku. anyway, thnks for the suggestion. im not sure if ill actually take the class. but i can do a seminar that his school offers every few months on knives, swords and flexible weapons.

I love to train hard in my art, and i get alot out of my 2 hours twice a week in the Dojo. but for someone like me, thats not really enough. i feel i need to practice a technique hundreds of times befor i feel comfortable using it. unfortunetly, the only person i can practice with in the class outside of school is my freind, but he never wants to practice when we hang out. so is there a good way to practice my art by my self? i specifically mean techniques that involve joint locks and such, i know i can practice strikes by my self.

A freind of mine takes Arnis and some other filipino martial art. In the higher levels they use a bandana or handcerchief as a weapon. he taught me a few things he knew with the bandana. he showed me a few blocks and a joint lock that was pretty cool. also he showed me how it could be utilized in some throws used in my own art. thenn he showed me how to whip the bandana(both he and i can now cut skin with a flick of a regulair bandana) which could be used on the eyes. it peaked my interest. if anyone knows ny good sites or books on fighting with bandas or knows of any sites or books on other flexible weapons which could be applied to bandanas, it would be greatly apprecitaed.

theres a kind of break we used to do in kenpo where a person held a board with two fingers very loosley and you kick to break it. the dificult part is getting the right snap because it has no real support behind the board. so if you do a big kick with lots of momentum but no snap motion the board ould just fall out of their hands. maybe you know what im talking about, maybe this is really common in your art. maybe not, personally i think they show great skill and are pretty unique.

Take the force of the push and go with it into your stanceso you'r not off balance and trap both hands against your chest. do any technique that counters a double lapel grab, or, trap just their palms and bend down at the knees to break wrists. another idea would be try to get two hands between their and push them to the sides, leaving the entire front of their body as an open target. this requires a little more thought however.

Theres actually an article about this i found online. it's about using a Leatherman in combat. http://www.donrearic.com/fightingmultitool.html mwahahaha!!! Marvel at my mastery of theinternet search engines!!!

I've used my various Martial arts in several fights. In a town full of wanna-be gangsters, people feel they have alot to proove, and beeing the big guy i am, i tend to get in alot of fights(though not as many as some) as i've mentioned befor, my most recent fight was in the Gym Lockeroom. it was very sad. Someone threw a pair of boxers over the lockers and i threw them back. i didn't intend for them to land on this guys head, but they did. so he comes around talking about how he's gonna whoop me, etc. then he asks for my momeny, and i say "no, whats mine is mine" (i realise now that this next part was a dumb move) and he saiys" fine, well then tomorow better bring your Fing boxing gloves". the fight went like this, he camer up from the side while i was changing, punches me in the eye out of no where ( i was off gaurd cause i was changing you see, and he was using a combination lock as a fistload) then pulls my shirt over my head so i can't fight back. I manage to get his arm in a lock and throw him down. byt this time i got my shirt off and a teacher came and broke it up. the owrst part was seeing my freinds talk about how we're gonna "goo whoop his *ss" when i really didn't care. i lived to fight another day and i learned from that mistake, i hold no grudge. another time there was this big fight going down after school between the "punks" and the "goths" (usually i stay out of these trendy people polotics, but on this occasion a few of my really close freinds where involved) So i went to make sure none of my pals got ganged up on and got some serious damage done. if it looked like they where fine i wouldn't jump in, but unfortunetyl, such was not the case. 2 guys atacked my freinds, one of which had a knife, my freind managed to stop the guy with the knife with a punch to the wrist. then he picked up the knife and used it to keep distance between them. the other guy came up behind him and put on a Yolk hold (a very cowardly tactic) so i came over and did a technique on the uy who was now punching my helpless freind. basically i taped him on the shoulder so he'd turn around and atack, then i shot out past his arm and put in an elbow lock and stuck my fingers into the pressure point between his Jaw hinges. after he was down i realised i was no longer neded and the police where comming, so we left.