tufrthanu

I'm not sure anyone on this thread had any misconceptions about olympic sparring. As I have stated in their current forms both stop point and olympic sparring have major flaws. Even full contact kickboxing has flaws...no matter what any of them might tell you.

Oh yeah I forgot alot of various styles of karate...be they japanese, korean or okinawan use grapples as part of their system. However, I think it comes down to which one takes precedence. If it's 50/50 it could be either. 60/40 grappling I would classify as a grappling art. 40/60 grappling I would classify as a striking art. But obviously they have a considerable amount of each type.

Yes aikido is a grappling art. Basically any art standing or on the ground that uses grabbing as a method of fighting is considered a grappling art. These arts include but are not limited to: Aikido, Hapkido, Jujitsu, Aiki-Jujutsu, Hwa Rang Do, Kuk Sool Won, and a couple of chinese arts...I can't recall if it was Shuai Chou or Chuan Fa.

And of that group of masters that sucks at fighting there are many fine teachers that have produced devastating martial artists. Try not to focus so much on the "My sensei is tougher than your sensei" mentality. Most instructors will "escort" people from their school who are disruptive...no challenge necessary. And if the instructor is unable to do so...he has 30 students behind him waiting to help. All this without needing to accept a frivolous challenge to see whos tougher.

I think Aodhan makes a good point about the challenge thing. As to the freestyle sparring, it probably wouldnt be a bad idea if you wanted to be a real hardcore fighter...but if you just want to learn how to defend yourself in a safe environment the rules are necessary. Usually if someone gets grabby with my legs I pound a real hard kick into his hands and forearms to keep them away from my legs. I don't personally like stop point or olympic style fighting as they both have major flaws as it comes to real defense. However you will probably find alot of TKD dojangs practice what I call continuous free sparring. Which is similar rules...medium contact, targetting but no hitting to the head with the hands, everything above the belt except for sweeps if you want to do those. But, you dont just stop when you land a hit you continue to spar.

That guy that appeared on Dreamchasers was named Nat...he is or used to be a local instructor here at the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. I heard he got real ill and not sure if he still teaches or not. But yes he went over to train at a real Muay Thai place...he was a small guy and they told him he still needed to lose weight. He went up against a much younger man in his fight but the opponent had far more experience...fighters in thailand rack up alot of fights. There was also a thing on MTV where Kit Cope went with Master Toddy to fight in Thailand. I think these are the two that Khun Kao is referring to. Also there was an article in Black Belt magazine awhile back by a guy named Antonio Graceffo...who went and trained at a MT gym in Thailand.

Cheeks I had a similar experience coming off of a jump spin kick. I weigh 280 pounds and I didnt get completely airborne. When I twisted around the foot twisted underneath me and then I landed on the edge. The foot rolled over and the outside of my ankle hit the floor. Something inside my ankle made a loud pop that was heard by everyone in the dojo. Like you it swelled way up and I was out for quite a few weeks...could hardly walk for awhile. Just wondered if yours popped when it bent over?

Well probably my most offensive mistake was when I was a 1st dan...which I still am...hmmmm...well I'll think abotu that later. But anyway, I was doing pad kicks with a 3rd dan...highest ranked student at my old school except for the owner. Very nice guy...after we get done doing the kicks he says I want to try something. So I hold the pad and he tries to do some wierd perhaps not real well thought out kick. Basically a jumping forward facing round kick. Well he managed to hit the pad that the other student was holding...but missed mine and clocked my hand full force. I snapped and started yelling at him. He was very calm perhaps from the shock of being yelled at. I was sorry afterwards that I had done it and he complimented me on my performance in class, so I figured it worked out ok.

OK lol I just realized I didn't give you the guys name...its Milt Calander. In Mesa. Also theres a guy in scottsdale named Chris Hoshiyama who might be able to suggest something. Hes at the southwest center for the martial arts.

Aodhan I dont know if the guy is still there but a student of Robert Trias used to teach karate and judo there in Mesa. As a student of a school that tought hapkido techniques full speed I can tell you its a good way to get messed up quick. It's one thing to roll on the ground and put a lock on someone...it's entirely different when you try and throw them using that same lock. That's why I eventually looked for another school. Personally I would suggest you look for a non sporting school...JJJ, HKD, AKD...you might even be able to find some other styles down there like KSW or HRD that do that type of stuff. I don't know alot about chinese grappling arts but I'm sure theres some good versions of those out there too.

I tend to take Eternals viewpoint and focus on when an art went public. Which would mean 99 percent of the korean arts were started in 1944 or later. I would tend to ignore most martial arts history...they all seem to involve a monk in a temple somewhere. Unverifyable so. Obviously Korea was influenced by japanese and chinese MA. But you will never get any side to admit that. I'm sure japanese and chinese MA have been influenced by Korean MA as well. In the end...you should look at your styles history as a veracity test of your instructor. Does he say oh so and so created the style in 1962 from watching various other styles and training with so and so in this style (has to be a verifiable modern style) and created our style? Or does he say they got it from a 3000th generation monk who prayed to the ki gods for the perfect art. Otherwise just go in and leanr your techniques and forget about the history...it's pretty much pointless anyway. You won't defend yourself from a mugger by saying..Ah my martial art was created in the Silla Dynast...ack, arg .

I'm sorry I still don't understand the description. Is this a jumping kick?

Well because spinning increases the torque of the body any kick with a spin in it will necessarily be more powerful than a straight kick. Back kicks are more powerful than skipping side kicks. Back leg round kicks are more powerful than front leg ones, yes there is a spin in that kick if you think about it. But there does come a point when you start to lose momentum. For instance a spinning inside to outside crescent kick will be significantly more powerful than a straight standing one. However, a 360 spinning inside to outside crescent might not be quite as powerful...and increasing degrees of turn given the same push off point will continue to be weaker and weaker.

Ok but there are alot of kicks that use that muscle group.

Which muscle group would that be niel?

Rear leg right round kick.

Well depending on your foot problem you might. For instance I have neuropathy...which has been caused by low circulation. Dojang floors have tons of bacteria from people going barefoot...if I were to get cut it could be a very messy scene. I also wear Discipline shoes so far they seem ok the only problem being one of the glued in inserts had to be reglued. Its true that shoes can hinder flexibility of the foot...but they are also giving support to the foot. Most MA shoes are cut low to avoid this issue. Breaking will be affected due to the cushion on the inside of the shoe...however my point was more geared towards sparring...where hitting an opponent with your shoes on can be very painful. At my dojang I am allowed to wear my shoes when we spar so long as I pull my kicks a little more.

I use them because I have foot problems. Personally I think they make spinning kicks harder due to the increased friction, they are practically unusable in schools where they have installed those crappy sponge like interlocking mats, but they are good for practicing what it would be like to fight on the street. The reason they are not allowed in competition is that they are too hard on the mats and the opponents. Take the Arnold martial arts festival...they had 12000 competitors...that many people spinning and stuff with shoes on would have torn the carpets and mats to smithereens. Also shoes have sharp edges. Even the thin MA shoes. So certain kicks would have a much bigger effect on people that hit with them than a bare foot would.

Geez I dont. And I would think they would be quite rare, even in korea.

Find out how often the head instructor teaches. Find out who his main assistants are. Watch both beginning and advanced classes. It's one thing to suck at yellow belt...its another to suck at brown belt. Look at several schools to get the going rates and skill levels.

Good Luck!

Wow thats like half a mile from me. I didn't know there were any KSW schools in the TC or I would have looked into them. How much will you be charging for your seminar? If there is anything I can help you with on my end let me know Patrick S.

Well hopefully we can get an answer from someone thats done both. From the little of each art I've been exposed to though it seems like the following are some differences. JJJ= Japanese Ju Jitsu...BJJ=Brazilian Ju Jitsu JJJ tends to be mostly stand up, BJJ tends to favor being on the ground JJJ has alot of small joint manipulation, BJJ tends to go for just the larger joints JJJ uses some limited pressure points, BJJ does not tend to rely on pressure points. JJJ was developed specifically as a self defense art for police officers in feudel Japan and for samurai who had lost their weapons, BJJ developed out of more of the sporting aspects of Judo.

You brought up some very interesting points in your post glock. One of the ones I thought deserved more attention was the idea of once you have subdued an opponent what do you do. Because you are on the ground you cannot walk him anywhere to have someone call for help. And because you are the sole means of his submission you must maintain the hold until A) he passes out...in case of extreme pain or choke B) Someone comes to your aid or C) Another bad guy comes along.

Well I took a demo class with a third dan in this art...he called it Budo Taijutsu but I think its the same art. They had forms like kata but they werent like kata. The were just 2 or three moves strung together.