Sasori_Te

I've never heard of a shadow kick. I have heard of a kick being described as a "shadowless" kick. It means having a kick that is so technically perfect that it's intentions are not telegraphed to the opponent at all. I read an article on this somewhere. Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

What some of you guys seem to be saying is that the amount of force delivered in a strike is directly related to the amount of follow through with the strike. This is nonsense. The amount of force delivered is determined by how much body mass you can put behind the strike and how much that mass is accelerated on the way to the target whether you follow through or not. Granted, and I never said otherwise, you need to have penetration of the target by using a point approximately six inches beyond the contact point as an aiming point. Still this has nothing to do with whether or not you follow through the strike or not. I'm wondering whether or not we might be confusing follow through with penetration.

Hi and Welcome!

Hello and Welcome!

Hi, Welcome to the boards!

Hello and Welcome!

Hi and Welcome to the forums!

Hello and Welcome!

I didn't read all of the other posts but here is what I found when I researched it. General Choi founded Tae Kwon Do after studying Shotokan in Japan. Now depending on where you look you will find people saying that some of the techniques in Tae Kwon Doe are from Taekyon or not. Some other arts are supposedly from the Taekyon lineage including Kuk Sool Won, Hapkido and Hwa Hwrang Do (spelling?) However, to answer the original post, Tae Kwon Do is not Karate. It is an empty hand style but Karate is uniquely Okinawan. Please feel free to correct what I said. I just found that stuff looking around.

This is Daoist or Taoist breathing. As Spookey said before. IT is meant to provide the maximum amount of oxygen absorption. It is also meant to build chi in the dan tien. I believe it is referred to as stoking the furnace, but I could be mistaken about that. I would have to look it up.

The instructor has the final decision. I'm sure he wasn't rude about it. I've had to ask students to go back to white belt from higher ranks because the style was totally different. Sometimes they stay and sometimes they go. In my experience the ones who complain about such things will go anyway for one reason or another.

First I would ask you how long you've been training in another art and then I would ask why you want to make your own style. Why do you feel it's neccessary to have your own style when there are already so many to choose from?

I would talk to the instructor and start learning the weapons that I need for my grading. Nothing has really changed except for your perception of what everyone else may or may not be thinking.

JerryLove. I'm not trying to form a scientific theory. Rather I use the laws of motion and some basic physics regarding the transfer of force to explain what happens when you hit a human body in two different fashions. I don't use bag gloves or hand wraps as I am unlikely to have either on the street. Alos, no matter how lightly you hit an object you will have return force. Remember, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Also, hitting lighter may fool you into thinking there is no recoil because it is at a level that is undetectable to you. I agree as far as the internal styles that root in order to strike. You put more mass behind the strike and therefore more force is transferred to the target. Since this thread didn't mention any strikes using chi I didn't address that. Shotochem, I will agree that a moving target can change the effect that I'm describing. Again a moving target was not discussed before. There are a number of factors that will affect which strike you should choose. I believe that I already said that both of these types of striking techniques have their place. Also, in the same vein a moving target, especially an inexperienced opponent will enhance the effect I described by moving in to the strike. Just some things to think about.

I disagree Shotochem. Unless you catch someone totally unaware, hitting them will be similar to hitting a water core bag or a standard heavy bag. That's not much give in my book. You also talk about the body as awhole as a softer less rigid material. Like I said before, only if the person is caught totally inawares.

Rich I totally agree with your view. If someone points a gun at you, you have to believe that they will use it. So, what have you got to lose by at least trying to fight back. The police will tell you to comply with an assailants demands. However, they will also tell you if you ask that complying may still get you shot. There are no guarantees. I'd rather get shot trying than get shot standing there counting on the good conduct of a guy pointing a gun at me.

Ripper I would certainly be interested to hear how muscles speed and gravity give you more power. Especially why more muscles equal more power. Please explain. I also think that there is a misunderstanding going on here. Grounding does give you more power by allowing you to accelerate more of your mass into the strike by dropping your center of mass as you move into a strike. This works by f=ma or force = mass * acceleration. A very interesting formula when you start figuring out ways to apply it to your training.

Once upon a time, when I was an orange belt, I had a similar incident. I was sparring a friend in class and he told me beforehand that he had forgotten his cup. He kept making face contact and groin contact which was illegal during sparring at our level. To make a long story short, I got a little irritated and honestly forgot all about his not having a cup on. I came up and underneath with a ridge hand to the groin. I hit him hard enough to knock him out. After he woke up a minute later, I apologized for forgetting, he went home and a few days later he came back and we laughed about it. The bottom line is that, in martial arts contact happens and if someone can't deal with that then perhaps they need to take up paint by numbers as a hobby. I'm sure your friend is fine with it.

JerryLove .... While I agree with you that energy is transferred no matter what, I believe we either have a difference of opinion as to the most efficient means of transfer or we have a misunderstanding and are actually talking about the same thing. As I wrote earlier, punching through an object and leaving the punch or kick in place re-absorbs more of the kinetic energy that was delivered to the target initially than if you quickly withdraw the strike. The amount that is re-absorbed and the effectiveness of any strike has a number of determining factors such as: mass behind the strike, acceleration of the mass, size of the area delivering the strike, the density of the object being struck as well as the area struck versus the center of mass of the object being struck ..... blah blah blah.....After putting a little more thought into it, each type has it's place and there are a number of factors that will make a case for either.

I believe that I would have to try no matter who it was. I don't think that I could live with myself if I knew that there was maybe something that I could have done to save a life by intervening. I tend to think things like, if it were my loved one I would hope whoever they were with would help them.

jr you are talking about exactly what I was saying in my original post. Penetrate and withdraw in order to leave the greatest amount of kinetic energy in the target.

I agree. At nearly 34, fights tend to hurt more now than they did when I was 19 or 20. I tend to be extremely brutal now and nothing fancy. The less time spent dealing punishment also lessens the time spent receiving it.

If you are punching to a harder target like the head, depending on which part of the head you are hitting. The face area can be punched through since there are many hard smaller bones that can be damaged by this type of punch. Also, keep in mind that boxers and kickboxers wear gloves. This dampens energy transfer so that the fighters can fight longer with less damage. Knowing the physics of energy transfer in a liquid medium, as well as knowing the different causes for knockouts will help immensely in this area.

off the top of my head, side step with a circle redirect to the rear culminating in an arm bar, elbow lock or a throw.

Now I think we understand each other. I agree, you should never over commit on ANY technique. That is exactly my point. Once you start the spin you are totally committed to , at the very least to finish the spin if you see that the target has moved. At most you are automatically overcommitted if you don't notice your target has moved and you miss landing the desired technique. I'm a big guy at 6'0 and 230 pounds. I'll be the first to admit that my spins are too slow (compared to someone smaller than I am at the same experience level). I have personalized my karate style as I believe that most people must in order to maximize my chances for success. Being my size with very fast hand speed and average foot speed, I tend to fight in close. I train to take a little in order to give a lot. I tend to jam spinning techniques and fight in very close range. I have practiced defending against spinning techniques for many years, since I was an orange belt, and have become proficient at it ( I got caught on the temple with a spinning crescent kick even though I saw it coming for a mile). At any rate, I've learned to see that spinning techniques are very perilous to perform. I would actually classify them as sacrifice techniques. Every technique has it's place thrown at the right place and the right time. With proper timing all things are possible. *L*